Monthly Archives: June 2022

Meeting of July 26, 2022

Mark Costin on “Confederate Campaign to Invade New Mexico, Battles of Valderde and Glorieta Pass”

The New Mexico campaign of 1862 was the only major Confederate campaign to expand the boarders of the Confederacy. Confederate Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley invaded the northern New Mexico Territory in an attempt to gain control of the Southwest, including the gold fields of Colorado and the ports of California. The talk will cover the campaign with particular attention to the two major battles of the invasion, the Battles of Valderde and Glorieta Pass.

Mark Costin is an engineer living in Sunnyvale, CA, working on functional safety for automated and autonomous vehicles. A long-time history buff, this is Mark’s third presentation the SBCWRT about the war in the Trans-Mississippi. He holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, an M.Eng from McMaster University, and a B.Eng from McGill University.

Quiz for July 26, 2022

Civil War Quiz: What Do You Know About Little Known Facts Regarding Stonewall Jackson?

Q#1 – What was Stonewall Jackson’s middle name?

Q#2 – How did Jackson’s Paternal Great Grandparents John Jackson and Elizabeth Cummins meet and end up in America?

Q#3 – Where was Stonewall Jackson born?

Q#4 – How did Stonewall Jackson learn to read and how was a Negro slave involved?

Q#5 – What was the reason that Jackson began his studies at West Point at the bottom of his class?

Q#6 – Jackson graduated 17th out of 59 students in the West Point Class of 1846. What reason did his classmates give that could have resulted in Jackson graduating first?

Q#7 – While on duty in Florida during the Second Seminole War, what future Union general was Jackson’s commanding officer who Jackson frequently disagreed with and each filed numerous complaints against each other?

Q#8 – After leaving the Federal Army in 1851, Jackson became a professor at the Virginia Military Institute. What did he teach?

Q#9 – What was Jackson’s view on slavery?

Q#10 – Brig. General Barnard Elliott Bee Jr. gave Jackson his nickname of Stonewall. Where on the battlefield of First Bull Run/Manassas did Jackson earn that nickname?

Q#11 – In his exceptionally successful 1862 Valley Campaign, what Union commander did Jackson repeatedly defeat in the Shenandoah Valley?

Q#12 – What breed of horse was Jackson’s Little Sorrel?

Q#13 – When Robert E. Lee took over command of the Army of Northern Virginia in June 1862, he created two command structures; one assigned to James Longstreet, the other to Stonewall Jackson. What was the first official designation for these two command structures?

Q#14 – What day of the week did Stonewall Jackson die on and what were his last words?

Q#15 – What was Jackson’s sister Laura Jackson Arnold’s reaction to learning of her brother’s death?