Monthly Archives: December 2024

Meeting of January 21, 2025

Join us at Harry’s Hofbrau in Redwood City on Tuesday, January 21. Harry’s opens at 11 am for cafeteria style lunch; our meeting will start promptly at 12 noon. See the MEETING INFO menu item for directions. This month’s topic is

Mark Costin on “The Overlooked Conflict, the Trans-Mississippi Operations, Part II: The Battle of Pea Ridge”

The Battle of Pea Ridge, March 6-8, 1862, was the decisive battle for Union control of the state of Missouri. This talk introduces the conditions in the Missouri/Arkansas area in late 1861 and early 1862 and then gives a detail description of the battle and the leading figures on both sides. The battle is often overlooked but offers many unusual features: Indians, Texas Rangers, a Union general named Jefferson Davis and phenomenally bad luck by the Confederates.

Mark Costin is an engineer living in Sunnyvale, CA working on functional safety for automated and autonomous vehicles. A long time history buff, this is Mark’s second presentation the SBCWRT on the subject of the war in the Trans-Mississippi. He holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, an M.Eng from McMaster University and B.Eng from McGill University.

Meeting of February 18, 2025

Join us at Harry’s Hofbrau in Redwood City on Tuesday, February 18. Harry’s opens at 11 am for cafeteria style lunch; our meeting will start promptly at 12 noon. See the MEETING INFO menu item for directions. This month’s topic is

Kathryn Olivarius on “The Role of Disease and Infection in the U.S. Civil War”

During the United States Civil War, diseases like dysentery and sepsis—not bullets—killed and estimated two-thirds of the 750,000 war dead. And at least 200,000 Union soldiers—mostly unmarried men in their teens and twenties—contracted venereal disease. Some died from it. But many others survived the war and brought it home, making this war for freedom a super-spreader event for syphilis and shame.

Kathryn Olivarius, Assistant Professor of History, at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA on Wednesday, August 21, 2024. Photographer: LiPo Ching

Kathryn Olivarius is Associate Professor of U.S. History at Stanford University. Her research focuses on the antebellum South, the Caribbean, slavery and disease. Her BA degree in History from Yale University and her Masters and Ph.D. in U.S. History are from the University of Oxford.