Gettysburg historian to speak on General Charles Graham, commander of the gunboats that attacked Fort Clifton
David Malgee, Gettysburg historian, will present a program on Brig. Gen. Charles K. Graham on Wednesday, May 9th at the Colonial Heights Public Library. Graham quit his job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to enlist in the Federal army. He was wounded at Gettysburg and after he recovered he commanded General Butler’s Naval brigade that bombarded Fort Clifton at least eight times during May and June 1864, including the main attack on the fort on May 9th. Malgee has gathered over 400 pages of research on General Graham in preparation for the first biography on Graham to be published. Malgee’s research on Graham led to the discovery of the long-lost U.S. flag that flew on the Brewster, a Federal gunboat sunk by the guns at Fort Clifton. In addition to Graham’s Civil War career, Malgee will also discuss his personal life before and after the war. Malgee’s interest in Graham dates back to the early 1990’s when he was chairman of the Fort Clifton Festival while president of the Colonial Heights Historical Society. He refers to General Graham as “a bit of a mist on the face of history,” and hopes to shed new light on this little known general.
A native New Yorker, Malgee holds a B.A. in history from the University of Richmond and is a member of the Society of Military Historians. He now lives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and is active in the Gettysburg Foundation where he leads a bi-weekly “Gettysburg” discussion group and gives tours of the battlefield. While living in Virginia, he wrote several historical brochures on Civil War sites in Colonial Heights, and the text for a number of state highway markers and Civil War Trails signs. He is currently finishing a biography of jazz pianist George Giroux.
The program starts at 7:00 p.m. in the large meeting room at the library. It is sponsored by the Colonial Heights Historical Society and is free and open to the public.
