MARCH 4th
The official newsletter of
Multi Lakes Association for Civil War Studies
November 2014
President – Larry O’Donnell - hlodonnell@comcast.net
Vice-President – David Difatta - CW4168@wowway.com
Treasurer – Judie Gondek - mimittens@sbcglobal.net
Secretary – Becky Efird – befird@ctk.me
Newsletter Editors – Judie and Richard Gondek-mimittens@sbcglobal.net or
rgondek06@sbcglobal.net
Web Designer/Technical Advisor –Tim Puzella tpuzella@gmail.com
Website – www.fouthtexas.org
MEETING DATES
Meetings are held the FIRST Friday of the month, with the exception of December. All
meetings will begin promptly at 7:30 pm. Location is at Holy Cross Lutheran Church
30003 Ryan Road Warren MI. The church is located between 12 and 13 Mile Roads on
the West side of Ryan.
.Nominations will be accepted at the November meeting for Multi Lakes officers. If you
would like to nominate yourself or someone else, you have November, December, and
January to do it. Elections will take place in January.
UPCOMING EVENTS
• December 13 – Holiday Get Together at the Efird’s. Time TBD. Updates will be
forthcoming
Secretary’s Report:
Treasurer’s Report: Judie Gondek -
TREASURER'S REPORT
Nov 14
PREVIOUS BALANCE
Oct 14
4TH TEXAS
CFI
MLACWS
TOTAL
$566.37
$3,606.31
$3,331.89
$7,504.57
DEPOSITS/CREDITS
4TH TEXAS
CFI
Fundraising Efforts
MLACWS
Wolcott Payment
Memberships Pd.
John Moriarty
Bryan Malcho
Dave Prince (2015)
Interest
DEBITS
4TH TEXAS
Richard Gondek Powder Reimb
CFI
The following items are for
Wolcott Mill Farmer's Mkt
Withdrawal/Start Money for Wolcott
Darleen Coulter
Judie Gondek
Civil War Preservation
MLACWS
Christ the King Luth 2/25 Meijer
Gift Cards
Don Cartwright
Hudson Battery
Mike Martin
CURRENT BALANCE
4th TEXAS
CFI
MLACWS
$724.50
$550.00
$30.00
$30.00
$30.00
$28.00
$80.00
$8.88
$49.05
$586.57
$50.00
$200.00
$200.00
$150.00
$538.37
$3,606.31
$3,371.89
TOTAL
$7,516.57
CFI –
An e-mail has already gone out thanking everyone for all of their help and support, but it
doesn’t hurt to remind everyone again. The weather cooperated this year, it was still
pretty cold in the evening, but the daylight hours were just about perfect. Attendance
was down, but we still made out pretty good at all of our fundraising efforts. Becky was
doing a great job on Saturday keeping all of the totals separate, but by the time Sunday
rolled around and we had so much going on, everything got mixed in together. All we
know for certain was that we raised $179.00 for the pie auction. Tony Cobb did a
fantastic job at getting the money for us. Overall, through the Farmer’s Market, sutler’s
raffle, and quilt raffle, we raised $586.57 that we donated to the Civil War Preservation
Trust fund with the money going specifically towards the purchase of 4 additional acres
of land adjacent to Gettysburg Battlefield which includes General Lee’s
headquarters. That total is different than what I had said we raised in my earlier e-mail,
I had forgotten to take out the reimbursements that we had to make. Sadly, we only
made $9.00 from the children’s bazaar. There just weren’t any kids around. We also
cancelled the school/recess demonstration due to lack of kids. There were a few
hiccups, and a few of us have met with the Wolcott staff to address the issues that
happened. We have been assured that more hopefully more will happen on their end to
ensure a more successful event next year on October 10 & 11.
Again, thanks to everyone who helped out this year, and we missed those of you who
couldn’t attend.
CEDAR CREEK/RICHMOND
Back to back weekends? Sure, why not. Once Wolcott Mill was over and done with,
had to wash everything then pack it back up in the truck. The Difatta’s, Denise Devoe,
and Richard and I headed out the Cedar Creek for their 150th. We arrived on Thursday
after spending the night in Somerset, PA. We looked across the field (way across the
field) and who do we see? Larry and James O’Donnell setting up their “offices”. They
had arrived a bit earlier than us and were in the special impressions area. On Friday we
hit the sutlers where Connie (and David) and Denise did some serious damage, me, not
so much. Friday, also saw our “homes” invaded. Yes, the 4th Texas arrived. While we
were out sightseeing, the guys came in and made camp near ours. It wasn’t so bad and
it’s always good to have our friends close by. They had a couple of guys from the 5th
join them, Gator and Jared. While our guys stayed in their shebang, Gator and Jared
campaigned it, at least the first night. It was almost brutal cold, mostly due to the wind
that blew just about all weekend. It was very impressive to watch all of the military units
doing their drills right in front of us preparing to go into “battle”. The nearby Belle Grove
plantation was open all weekend and had presentations going on in almost all of the
rooms.
After Cedar Creek the Difattas and us parted ways with everyone and headed to
Richmond. As many times as we’ve been to Virginia, we have never taken the time to
visit the capitol of the Confederacy. On Monday we decided to do tour of the battlefields
in Fredericksburg and the surrounding areas. We started off with the battle of
Fredericksburg where watched the film in the visitors center. Great film with some
standout performances by some of the extras, by the way. Some of them seemed very
familiar. We then continued on to the Battle of Chacellorsville, where once again we
watched the film in the visitors center. This tour will now be known as the “Homage to
John Fross” tour. It was also great to see Jake Work immortalized on film. From there
we did the circle tour that took us to the Battle of the Wilderness and on to The Battle of
Spotsylvania Court House. Visiting the actual battlefields always makes me in awe of
the men who marched on those grounds. On Tuesday, we started the day by going to
the Tredegar Iron Works museum. They had some interesting displays, but we all
wished they would have had a little more about their part during the civil
war. Afterwards we spent more than a couple of hours at the Hollywood Cemetery. We
found some graves of 4th and 5th Texans, and saw the gravesites of Jefferson Davis and
his family, General Pickett and his family, as well as other dignitaries. The cemetery
itself is quite large and impressive; if you have a chance, go see it. After the cemetery
we went exploring other battlefields, including Gainesmill and Cold Harbor. Wednesday
was our museum day. We started off at the Museum of the Confederacy. Good luck
finding the museum, and don’t drive in a pickup truck with your tent wood on top. All
that’s around is parking garages. We had to park some distance away. The museum
itself was pretty good. It has three floors of displays. The second floor is battle flags,
the main floor had a couple of rooms that showcased artifacts from the war, including
Lee’s hat from his surrender at Appomattox as well as his articles from his field
camp. The lower level showcased the “homefront”. There were examples of dress of
men, women and children and life as they lived it during the war years. This is one of
the first times I’ve been to a civil war museum that has more than a passing casual
reference to what was happening to those left behind during the war. The tour of the
White House was really nice, our tour guide was very engaging and
knowledgeable. Most of the furnishings that were used by the Davis family while they
lived there, have been returned to the building, which is pretty fantastic.
After we finished the museum and white house tour, we decided to go back to the
American Civil War Center at the Tredegar Iron Works. What a disappointment. Unless
you are completely clueless about the civil war or are taking a group of school kids,
don’t go. It is a museum in the round/timeline. A lot of reading, with each area giving
that timeline a perspective of north, south or slave/African-American. And how many
museums are going to have the same photo copy of the refugee family with that old
woman smoking a pipe? Really, there are no other photos of families being cast
out? Once we finished with the museums, we took a drive and saw all the monuments
in the middle of the city. On Thursday we headed home, while Connie and David went
down to Petersburg to do more sightseeing. All in all, it was a great road trip.