Corky Reed to Speak at Civil War Roundtable

[Diane Merkel]

LBHA member Corky Reed, who portrays Lt.Col. Charles J. Reed, will be the guest speaker for the Peninsula Civil War Roundtable luncheon on Tuesday, May 16, at 11:30. The topic of his presentation will be "General George Custer and the Little Big Horn Campaign."

The meeting is at Dominic's Restaurant at Coyote Point, 1700 Coyote Point Drive, San Mateo, California. Domenic's is part of of the clubhouse of the San Mateo Municipal Golf Course.

[Melani]

Yes, he finally made it after the first cancellation, and so did I! Though I almost didn't--the Peninsula CWRT does not receive high marks for communication, and their website is somewhat out of date and with no contact info. My kind friend from SFCWRT got them to contact me with directions, and I'm so glad she did.

Corky is a very entertaining speaker, full of enthusiasm. He was wearing the uniform of a cavalry private, which he explained in detail. (He said his folding campaign hat was of much better quality than the much-hated originals, which tended to get thrown away by their disgusted wearers.) He then spent quite a bit of time setting the political stage leading up to the LBH campaign. I personally would have preferred a little more time devoted to battle details, just to promote discussion . He described the village as somewhat bigger than I am used to hearing, and he really didn't like Reno. He didn't say much about Custer's portion of the fight.

The thing I found a little different was that he emphasized the idea of rounding up the Indians and sending them back to the agencies (he pointed out that "reservation" is a modern term). I have always felt that the order to report back by January 31 was designed as an excuse to go after the "hostiles," not a real expectation of compliance. This led to the only question following the talk, from someone who asked if Terry wasn't violating orders when he went from "round-up" mode to "attack" mode. That seemed to imply that the Indians might have been expected to go peaceably ;D. There were no other questions, which I found disappointing, but I got the impression they had to be out of the room by a certain time, which tended to cut things short.

Anyway, a good time was had by all, and especially me. I'm sure there will be more time for details this summer, as he said to say hello to you, Diane, and that he would see us at LBH.

[Diane Merkel]

Thanks for the report, Melani! I haven't met Corky yet, and have only talked with him once by phone, but he seems like quite a character!