Category Archives: Meeting archive

Meeting of February 8, 2024

Drew Gruber on “Decimus Et Ultimus Barziza”

Decimus Et Ultimus Barziza had a life which as his name implies, was anything but typical. Join Drew Gruber as you follow this soldiers journey from his hometown of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, through his enlistment with the famous Fourth Texas Infantry, his daring escape from a Union POW camp, and his equally boisterous post-war shenanigans. It’s a story you won’t soon forget.

Drew is the Executive Director of Civil War Trails, the world’s largest “open air museum” offering over 1,500 sites across six states. He sits on the board of the Williamsburg Battlefield Association and previously served as member of the Commonwealth’s Board of Historic Resources. In 2013 he was the recipient of the Lawrence T. Jones III Research Fellowship in Texas Civil War History. When he’s not working in Civil War land he loves brown spiritus liquors, tinkering with his old car, gardening and he is very curious about fly fishing.

Meeting of April 10, 2014

Betsy Carpenter on “Elias Wright: Teacher, Military Leader, Surveyor Extraordinaire”

Elias Wright

We met Civil War Brevet Brigadier General Elias Wright (1830-1901), a Captain in Company A, 4th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry Regiment, who fought in the Peninsula Campaign, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, and who went on to serve as Colonel of the 10th United States Colored Troops at the Battle of Fort Fisher. Betsy described his contributions to South Jersey, including his 30-year collaboration with Joseph Wharton that resulted in his comprehensive survey of the initial 96,000 acres that formed the nucleus of today’s Wharton State Forest, the state’s largest forest. Originally a native of Durham, New York, he married Julia Ashley of Port Republic in 1855, lived in Weymouth Furnace, Elwood, Batsto, and finally Atlantic City where he died.

Betsy Carpenter at Kaaterskill Falls, near General Wright’s birthplace in Durham, Greene County, NY

Betsy Carpenter, a long-time resident of New Jersey’s Pinelands National Reserve, has served as Public Programs Coordinator for this State’s Pinelands Commission, and today continues as a historic researcher and freelance writer.