The May Meeting of the Rufus Barringer Civil War Round Table will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at the Civic Club on the corner of Pennsylvania and Ashe St. in Southern Pines. Socializing begins at 6:30 p.m. Our speaker will be Jim Burnett, and the title of his presentation will be “Against All Odds: How the Second Battle of Sabine Pass Changed the Civil War in Texas.”

Over the years, our CWRT has had very few presentations about the important Trans-Mississippi Civil War. This key battle is thoroughly discussed in Jim’s book, Saltgrass Prairie Saga: A German American Family in Texas, which was published by Texas A&M University Press in 2025. It was selected by the Texas State Historical Association as the 2026 winner of the Kate Broocks Bates Award for Historical Research.

The book covers both the military and home front aspects of the Civil War in Texas, as viewed through the experiences of a family who came to the state from a small German village in 1845. They settled on the Texas coastal prairie east of Houston, became firmly established as rural Texans, and then found themselves caught up in the War. Seven members of this family served in several CSA units, something of an anomaly for Texans of German heritage.

The first and second battles of Sabine Pass and the battle of Galveston were all fought within fifty miles of this family’s farms. Jim’s talk draws extensively upon first-hand accounts in a large collection of letters, two diaries, military reports, and other archival sources.

Jim Burnett holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University. He began writing following a thirty-year career with the National Park Service and is the author of three non-fiction books and more than fifty feature articles. He is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and our Civil War Round Table.

Meetings are open to the public. For more details about this meeting, contact Matt Farina at 910.246.0452 or mafarina@aol.com.  The Rufus Barringer Civil War Round Table is a 501(c)(3), incorporated, non-profit, educational organization. The purpose of the organization is to promote, educate, and further stimulate interest in, and discussion of, all aspects of the Civil War period.