Please join us for a Chambersburg Civil War Seminars & Tours Lecture Series! Our next lecture will be: A Spirited Rivalry or a Bitter Enmity? by Al Ovies. Zoom Login details will be sent with your email registration confirmation.

Synopsis

An analysis of the deterioration in the relationship between George Custer and Wesley Merritt. The time period covered will be from the pursuit of Lee's beaten army after Gettysburg through the opening days of the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864. It ends with the battle of Crooked Run/Guard Hill on August 16, 1864. I will not be covering the Bristoe/Mine Run and Overland campaigns in any great detail. It will include the battles of Buckland Mills, Yellow Tavern, Haws Shop and Trevilian Station. I will talk briefly on how each man handled their relationships with the press.

Biography

Adolfo Ovies migrated to the United States from Cuba in 1960, making his new home in Connecticut. With Gettysburg just a short distance away, the ten-year-old Adolfo made his first trip to the battlefield. It turned out to be one of the most impactful moments of his young life, as the American Civil War bug bit him deeply. The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac springs from Ovies’ life-time passion for the Civil War, and George Custer’s role in particular.

Ovies serves on the Advisory Board of America’s Civil War magazine, where his article on the Battle of Yellow Tavern was recently published. Ovies is an active member of the Miami Civil War Round Table, and is the administrator of the group’s Facebook page.

Two volumes of his trilogy have already been published, with Volume 3 scheduled for the latter part of 2024. For Ovies, it has been a 10-year labor of love. Next up for Adolfo is a much needed treatise on Wesley Merritt’s Civil War career.

Adolfo currently resides in Miami, Florida with his wife Juliet.