april 2025 guest speaker

Cmdr. Jeff Toalson (L) and 1st Lt. Cmdr. Ron Perry (R) welcome Dr. John Coulter II to the April meeting of the James City Cavalry. We learned about the life of General James H. Lane, his service as the youngest general in the Army of Northern Virginia, his 3 wounds in battle, his service from Big Bethel to Appomattox and his postwar 30+ year career as an engineering professor at V.P.I., the Miss

1st Lt. Commander Ron Perry welcomes Melody Bage to our March meeting.  Melody gave a very thought provoking and informative talk on 'Mourning Rituals during the WBTS.'  More soldiers died during this war than all other American wars 

combined.  When you add in the numbers of Americans, both military and civilian who also died of disease the number is staggering.  We lost an entire generation of ci

1st Lt. Commander Ron Perry (L) and Commander Jeff Toalson (R) welcome Andrew Morehead as our February speaker.  This talk could have lasted 3 hours and the crowd would have wanted more.  The process of the removal or the monument, which was his grave marker and the removal of the General A.P. Hill's remains for transfer to Culpeper for reburial was a fascinating story. 

Compatriot Bill Miller (L) is introduced as our November speaker by 1st Lt. Commander Ron Perry.  Bill's talk 

"Sideshows of the Big Show" featured a variety of stories and humorous anecdotes from the Peninsula, Stone's 

Mountain and Appomattox. 

1st Lt. Commander Ron Perry (L) and Commander Jeff Toalson (R) welcome Mr. Larry Floyd to the October meeting.  Larry related stories of the 1912 Hillsville Courthouse Shootout.  When the verdict was read the guilty party declared he would not go to prison.  Gunfire erupted.  57 shots were fired in 90 seconds, 5 people were killed, and many were wounded.  Larry brought samples of the various weapo

Captain Bob Kennedy, USN-Retired, spoke to the James City Cavalry on August 28 about the submarine H. L. Hunley.  His talk covered her development, rail transfer to Charleston, sea-trials, attack and sinking of the USS Housatonic, her loss, recovery and restoration.  Captain Kennedy is holding a replica signal lantern of the one used by the Hunley to signal 'mission complete headed home.'   Bob is

1st Lt. Commander Ron Perry (L) welcomes President Jefferson Davis, and his wife Varina, to the July meeting of the James City Cavalry.  Mrs. Cookie Batten and Mr. Sam Winkler provided a marvelous first-person presentation of the life of Jefferson Davis and their lives together during the most turbulent time in our nation's history.  

1st Lt Commander Ron Perry welcomes our guest speaker Mrs. Melody Bage.  Melody had our full attention as she gave a marvelous presentation on the lives of the wives of Generals Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart and James Longstreet.  We learned many marvelous tidbits and were once again reminded how fragile life was in the mid-1800's with measles, smallpox, scarlet fever, typhoid 

Commander Jeff Toalson (L) welcomed Mrs. Billie Earnest to the April meeting.  Billie gave a marvelous talk on the life of William Mahone with emphasis on his railroading career, his move from the Democratic to Republican party post-war, and his interest in the education and encouragement of success for the Negroes.  

1st Lt. Commander Ron Perry (L) welcomes our February speaker, Dr. Eric Schweickart of the Colonial Williamsburg Archaeological Department.  Eric was joined by Crystal Castleberry who is a Public Archaeologist with C.W.  Eric gave an enthralling talk on the discovery and identification of the 4 C.S.A. soldiers all of whom probably died in the Union hospital in the Baptist Church next door to the M

L-R 1st Lt. Commander Ron Perry, Tom Campbell and Commander Jeff Toalson

Compatriot Campbell gave us a stimulating 45 minute review of WW2 in Italy and how the war impacted the 5 people who shared their memories, letters and  V-mails with him to assist him in telling their story in The Red Rebel of San Giovanni. 

1st Lt. Commander Ron Perry welcomed Mr. Henry Kidd of the Dearing-Beauregard Camp of Petersburg. Henry gave us a marvelous program on the summer efforts in 1864 by Union forces to try to capture Petersburg. These efforts came to a dramatic conclusion with the tunnel under the Confederate works, the huge explosion, and resulting fiasco in execution of the assault by the Union forces. 

August 2023 Guest Speaker Larry Floyd (far right) is welcomed by Commander Jeff Toalson (L) and Ron Perry 1st Lt. Commander (center). His talk totally focused on the conversion of pistols, post-war, from percussion to cartridge.