Here are a couple more appearances I’ll be making in 2011.
June 29th, 2011 – Gettysburg, PA and Manassas, VA, The Civil War Institute of Gettysburg College, 29th Annual Summer Conference, Mobilizing for War. I provided a copy of the press release here. This is a week-long conference, and will include one day of touring the Manassas battlefield with the focus of the tours being the First Battle of Bull Run. There will be anywhere from five to eight tour buses and tour guides, each conducting their own custom tour. My tour will be Hidden Mysteries of First Bull Run. This tour will be geared for tourists already familiar with the battlefield and the campaign.
October 1, 2011 – Aurora, CO, The Rocky Mountain Civil War Roundtable, in conjunction with Aurora Community College, presents the Rocky Mountain Civil War Symposium, The Eastern Theater from First Manassas through the Seven Days Campaign (go here for registration info). I’m not sure yet what I’ll be speaking about, though it will be a topic concerning First Bull Run for sure.
I’ll post updates here as speakers and topics are updated, but so far for sure I know that Ethan Rafuse and Ed Bearss will also be leading tours at Bull Run, and Ethan and Jim Morgan are part of the Rocky Mountain lineup .
If you do decide to attend any of my speaking events, do me a favor and lay off playing solitaire or any other card game for at least 48 hours beforehand. The Queen of Diamonds has been known to exaggerate negative reactions to public speakers. Just ask Laurence Harvey (above). Thanks in advance.
If you’d like me to speak to your group, leave a comment on the Book Me, Danno page or shoot me an email at the address to the right.
Harry Smeltzer
Bull Runnings 
Can’t handle hostile questions from the audience?
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It depends on how hostile.
Q&A is usually my favorite part of the presentation. The tour will be the first time I’ll be fielding questions repeatedly and while the presentation is in process, however. Guess I’ll need to think of some guidelines to lay down in that regard.
I was just looking for a reason to use a picture from The Manchurian Candidate, which is a great flick that never, ever should have been remade. But come to think of it, yes, I would prefer that no one shoots me during any of my presentations.
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Harry, if anyone gives you guff about General Irvin McDowell, give them this. I have been parked in the Arizona Room of the Burton Barr Central Library, which is a kind of rare book room housed in the Phoenix Public Library. Arizona and most of the west were still territories at that time and General McDowell was responsible for it all.
George Armstrong Custer chose to ignore McDowell’s orders. Custer had discovered gold on the Sioux reservation and was selling mining rights to gold prospectors on the Sioux reservation. Corrupt Indian officials from the Federal government failed to stop it. The Sioux were being crowded off their land and were dying from starvation and disease. Negotiations were failing miserbly.
McDowell ordered Custer to return the land to the Sioux, kick the prospectors off, and make a lasting peace with the Sioux. Custer ignored McDowell. Eventually Sioux leaders had had enough. Led by Crazy Horse and Little Crow, Sioux warriors murdered Custer and all of his officers.
The corruption that took place in the Federal government around the time of the Civil War was very real. McDowell had to deal with that corruption in a vast territory with little manpower to back him up. Irvin McDowell shined like a golden light during these tough times. He had military professionalism and defended the disenfranchised.
There are at least two Fort McDowells named after Irvin McDowell. One used to be called Angel’s Island in San Francisco and is now renamed Fort McDowell. The original Fort McDowell is in Scottsdale, AZ and was created in 1865. In 1890 it was turned over to the Yavapai Nation because it was no longer needed as an armed garrison.
And, yes, I have yielded to your spelling of Irvin McDowell’s name.
Susan Evelyn McDowell Cole
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