Kinston resident Mike Parker will be speaking on the 1862 Peninsula Campaign that occurred in Virginia during the Civil War.
The Kinston-Lenoir County Civil War Round Table meeting will begin with a meal at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Queen Street Deli, 117 S. Queen St.
The Peninsula (or Peninsular) Campaign was a major Union offensive against the Confederate capital of Richmond led by Major General George B. McClellan in the spring and summer of 1862, during the American Civil War.
After moving his Army of the Potomac by boat to Fort Monroe on the Atlantic coast in late April, McClellan planned an advance toward Richmond via the peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers.
“That campaign was a critical time for the fledging Confederate government,” Parker said. “In fact, the months comprising the campaign created a perfect storm that could have brought the Confederacy to its knees.”
A native of Roanoke, Va., Parker has been a teacher and journalist for more than 40 years. He has lived in Kinston since 1971. In June 2011, Mike retired from teaching English at Farmville Central High School.
He still teaches literature and writing in the Department of English at East Carolina University. He has taught a variety of classes from freshman composition to classical mythology, non-fiction writing and literature surveys.
He completed his undergraduate degree in English at The Ohio State University in 1971, and earned his M.A. and certificate of advanced study at East Carolina. His research interests include American literature, theory of writing, Civil War history and Native American literature.
He has written a weekly column for the Kinston Free Press for more than 19 years. He collected 80 of his columns and published them in a book titled “My Wife Has All the Answers.”
Mike received two North Carolina Press Association Awards for his work as a writer and is listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. He was honored with the ECU English Department’s 2000-2001 Bertie Fearing Excellence in Teaching Award. He was also named Farmville Central’s Teacher of the Year for 2006.
Mike is a member of the Rams Neuse Camp #1427 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Three of his great-great grandfathers served honorably in the War Between the States. He also enjoys serving as a tour guide on the CSS Neuse II.
Civil War Roundtable is a group of people with an interest in the American Civil War and its mission is to study the history of that war, to stimulate interest and promote education in a broad range of topics related to that war, and to aid in the preservation and enhancement of its battlefields.
The public is invited to attend this meeting. Dues are $25 a year. For information, contact Jane Phillips at 252-469-1424.