As I briefly mentioned at the beginning of our last meeting, the main topic of the April Board of Directors’ meeting focused on a long-time issue: Monthly operating costs that regularly overrun revenue. Some Board members have been regularly kicking in personal funds to cover monthly shortfalls. Highly laudable, but beyond the scope of their responsibilities. Of course, we could take the easy way out and dip into revenue generated during last year’s Pop-up Museum. But that approach would conflict with the mission of our Roundtable, which is to raise funds to preserve battlefield land and the legacy of the Civil War. As we work through options, we pledge to keep you updated. But know that shutting down our Roundtable is NOT an option under consideration.
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The May Newsletter, among other items of news, features two men awarded a Medal of Honor (MoH)—one of them for having captured a Confederate flag. A fair number of modern-day historians suggest it may have been best, at the outset of the war, to have created a unique award for this action. (Roughly 40 percent of Civil War MoH awards were awarded for enemy flag capture.) However, this approach would not have taken the sensibilities of the people living in the 19th century into consideration. Surprisingly, though, nothing much at all was done to tighten up Medal of Honor criteria until after World War I broke out. And even then, it took until 1963 before modified criteria for the Medal of Honor was finalized!
BARRY