Jim Morgan presented an outstanding program for November.  Morgan told the story of how 50 former Union and Confederate officers served as mercenaries in the Egyptian Army from 1869 to 1882.  He explained the varied conditions that led to the Egyptian adventure, including the career of U.S. Army officer Charles P. Stone, the cotton boom of the 1850s, and the domestic politics of the Ottoman Empire.  He also explained the Egyptian service of several individuals involved.

Speaker:  Jim Morgan, a lifelong Civil War enthusiast, is a native of New Orleans, La.  He grew up in Pensacola, Fla., and served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1969 to 1971.  Morgan later received his master's degree in Political Science from the University of West Florida and master's degree in Library Science from Florida State University.  In 2014, he retired from the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., where he had held various positions for more than 33 years.

Morgan is past president of the Loudoun County Civil War Round Table in Leesburg, Va., and co-founded and chaired the Friends of Ball's Bluff.  He served on the Loudoun County Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee (2009-15) and on the board of the Mosby Heritage Area Association (2009-17).

He and his wife, Betsy, live on John's Island.  Morgan volunteers at Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter. He is a co-founder and past president of the Fort Sumter Civil War Round Table and served on the board of the Friends of Charleston National Parks.  He has written tactical studies, both published by Savas-Beatie -- A Little Short of Boats:  the Battles of Ball's Bluff and Edwards Ferry, and Six Miles From Charleston, Five Minutes to Hell, about the Battle of Secessionville.  He has also written for Civil War Times, America's Civil War,  The Artilleryman, Blue & Gray, and other periodicals.