SCOTTSDALE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE MEETING
Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 6 PM
On Tuesday, February 25, 2025, the Scottsdale Civil War Roundtable will host Historian and Dr. Alex Rossino.
A resident of western Maryland, Dr. Alex Rossino is an independent historian and author. He earned Master’s and Doctoral degrees in History at Syracuse University before working for nine years as a historian at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Dr. Rossino turned his attention to the American Civil War in 2011 and after several years of research, he produced Six Days in September: A Novel of Lee’s Army in Maryland, September 1862.
The book proved to be popular among historians and enthusiasts alike, leading to a sequel titled The Guns of September: A Novel of McClellan’s Army in Maryland, September 1862. His most recent work of history is entitled Calamity at Frederick: Robert E. Lee, Special Orders No. 191, and Confederate Misfortune on the Road to Antietam (October 2023), completed his in-depth study of the Lost Orders saga from the Confederate perspective
Alex Rossino’s lecture will focus on the loss of Special Orders No. 191 (as well as No. 190!). “There is probably no other document in the history of the American Civil War with which even casual readers are so familiar. Lost outside of Frederick City, Maryland, and discovered by a soldier of the 27th Indiana regiment, these Lost Orders provided General George B. McClellan with the one piece of information he needed to stymie the Confederate’s hopes of attacking Maryland and potentially surrounding the capital. In this lecture, Dr. Rossino will make a case for the identify of the Confederate messenger that lost the orders as well as the precise location where they were found.
Dr. Rossino’s lecture will begin at 6PM in the Copper Auditorium located on the lower level of the Civic Center branch of the Scottsdale Public Library, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale. Doors will open at 5:00 PM to meet the speaker, browse the book sale, and view Civil War videos. Parking is free at the adjacent covered parking garage.
The public is welcome to attend the monthly meeting of the Scottsdale Civil War Roundtable. To view our current speaker schedule for March through May, 2025, visit our website: www.scottsdalecwrt.org.
IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT THE JANUARY 21, 2025, 6pm SCOTTSDALE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE MEETING
We regret to inform you that Gary Gallagher will not be appearing at our January 21 event. On Saturday, Dr Gallagher, who lives in Los Angeles, had to evacuate his home due to the fires. Given the uncertain situation he understandably is cancelling his near-term engagements. We hope all turns out well for Dr Gallagher and will be working with him to schedule a visit to the Roundtable during our 2025-26 season.
Fortunately, Don Frazier, who spoke to the Roundtable in 2020 on the New Mexico campaign, has agreed on short notice to come next week. Don’s topic will be “Confederates v. Germans in the Texas Hill Country”, the little known and compelling story of the sometimes violent confrontation between the Confederacy and German immigrants in the Lone Star State. It’s a tale representative of the divisions within both sides of the Civil War.
Dr Frazier is the award-winning author of books on the American Civil War in Texas and Louisiana, Texas History, Military History, and the US-Mexican Borderlands, along with being Director of The Texas Center at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. Don is also head of the state’s Texas 1836 Project and is currently preparing a series of YouTube videos on the Texas Revolution which will be released soon.
Dr. Frazier was chosen for a military history fellowship at the United States Military Academy at West Point, a fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association, as well serving as a scholar-director of the Texas Historical Foundation.
