Monthly Archives: July 2013

Meeting of August 20, 2013

Dr. John Edmonds on “The Union Cemetery”

Meeting notes provided by Charlie Sweeny: Dr. Edmonds described not only the history of the cemetery and its connections to Civil War veterans, but also recounted the many contributions made by California Civil War volunteer soldiers.

John retired from 40 years in the Sheriff’s Office. He also retired from working as a psychologist and is presently writing books, including one on the topic of his talk. John has been very involved in the restoration of Redwood City’s Union Cemetery.

Meeting of July 16, 2013

Charles Sweeny on “The Short of the Long Division: A Capsule Version of North-South Enmity”

Charles is the Secretary of the PCWRT and a long-time student of the Civil War. He provided the following meeting summary.

In short, the South in 1860 was polarized with great consuming fear of the murderous black revolts on the order of Haiti and other instances of blacks slaughtering whites. The North was taken by the religio-political maelstrom fomented by the abolition movement. Such a climate of fear colliding with roaring righteousness from New England created such clamor that reason could not be heard. The division began in the 18th century and went on and on.