Warren Lasch on South Carolina and the Civil War

As Chairman of the team that excavated the H.L. Hunley, a historic Civil War-era submarine that sank in the Charleston Harbor on February 17, 1864, and was not discovered until May 3, 1995, I am deeply interested in Civil War history and the role of South Carolina in the conflict.

 

South Carolina’s fierce commitments to the preeminence of states’ rights and the institution of slavery predated the war by many years. Politicians like John C. Calhoun and Preston Brooks called for the secession of South Carolina from the United States years before the state formally seceded on December 20, 1860, becoming the first state to do so. South Carolina played a pivotal role in the Civil War, and the first shots of the war were fired nearby Charleston at Fort Sumter. On April 12, 1861, in the Charleston Harbor, South Carolina secessionists successfully wrested the island base of Fort Sumter from the United States troops stationed there.

 

Throughout the war, South Carolina served as a major source of troops for both armies, with the majority of the white residents joining the Confederacy, and the majority of the freed former slaves forming regiments in the Union army as the war progressed and more and more men and women were liberated.

 

Though the Southern soldiers generally did not possess as much naval experience as members of the Union army, the Confederacy did win a major naval victory in February 1864 when the H.L. Hunley destroyed the Union ship the USS Housatonic, marking the first time in history a submarine had sunk an enemy warship. All crew of the H.L. Hunley were lost after the vessel sank under mysterious circumstances immediately following the history-making attack.

 

Just as South Carolina played a pivotal role in the start of the Civil War, so it also figured prominently in the end of the war. The Confederate soldiers evacuated Charleston in February 1865, and on the 21st, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of the first official black regiments formed after the Emancipation Proclamation, marched into the city and raised the Union flag over Fort Sumter.

Warren Lasch on How to Lower Your Golf Score

An accomplished motor transport executive and Civil War history enthusiast, Warren Lasch enjoys playing golf in his free time. There are many ways to improve your game and lower your score. Practice makes perfect, as the old maxim goes, but golf also features a number of elements that allow players to lower their scores by working on a closed skill set.

Golf Scorecard

As many experienced golfers will tell you, the short game is one of the most important and difficult aspects of the sport. Defined as everything within 50 yards of the pin, the short game encompasses skills such as sand shots, chipping, and putting. With sand shots and chipping, a golfer can significantly improve his or her score by getting a feel for the range of clubs and learning how to read greens and hole locations. Overshooting or undershooting the green results in an extra chip to set up a putt, which often means an extra stroke on the hole. Once a golfer becomes confident in his or her short iron game, he or she can begin to place the ball more accurately on the green and reduce the number of additional chip shots and three-putts.

In terms of putting, many golf pros are quick to remind you that a 5-foot putt counts the same as a 250-yard drive. By striving to take no more than 2 putts on every green, a golfer can reduce his score by 5 to 10 strokes per round. As with chipping, it is important to take note of the topography of the green to avoid making putts that catch a downhill slope and roll away from the cup.

On drives and approaches, it is a natural instinct to want to play the hole aggressively, a tactic that often results in difficult lies and even out-of-bounds shots. By learning when to play a hole assertively and when to lay up for a clean shot at the green, one can minimize the variance in his or her score and begin to lower it at a consistent rate.