Upcoming CCWRT Program
Wednesday, January 14, 2026 at 6:00 p.m.

Latest History Brief (December 2025) Posted

Roundtable Historian Dan Ursu’s December 2025 history brief has been posted. Dan’s latest history brief is Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, Part 2, Resaca to Allatoona Pass. Dan’s history brief continues his discussion of William Tecumseh Sherman’s pivotal Atlanta Campaign, and it can be accessed by clicking on this link.

January 2026 Roundtable Meeting: Dick Crews Memorial Debate – “Other than Ohio, what was the most important state, North or South, during the Civil War era?”

The January 2026 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable will take place on January 14, 2026 beginning at 6:00 p.m. This will be an in-person meeting. The meeting will feature the Roundtable’s Dick Crews Memorial Debate. The topic is “Other than Ohio, what was the most important state, North or South, during the Civil War era?”

At the time of the Civil War, there were 34 states in the United States, and two more states (West Virginia and Nevada) were admitted during the war. Of the 34 states in 1861, 23 remained in the Union, and 11 seceded to form the Confederacy. Whether it was as a source of manpower, of foodstuffs, or of manufactured materiel or for some other reason, each state was important to the war. But which state, other than Ohio, was the most important state during the Civil War? Ohio is excluded from the debate due to potential bias because the Roundtable is located in the Buckeye State.

Each debater will have five minutes to present a brief argument to make a case to the attendees at the meeting, and then each debater will take questions from the attendees for five minutes. This will be followed by a five-minute period in which the debaters will defend their arguments from the other debaters in a general discussion/rebuttal session (AKA “the scrum”). The assembled members and guests will then vote to choose which debater made the most compelling case. The winner will, of course, receive fabulous prizes. As in past debates, William Vodrey will serve as moderator.

The debaters (in alphabetical order) and their choices for the debate are as follows:
Ryan Bailey – South Carolina
Brian Burtka – Louisiana
Don Iannone – New York
David F. Parchem – Illinois
Jack Prause – Virginia

The January 2026 meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn Independence (6001 Rockside Road, Independence, Ohio 44131). Reservations should be made by sending an email to the Roundtable’s reservation email account (ccwrtreserve@gmail.com). Reservations must be made no later than eight days before the meeting (i.e., no later than January 6, 2026). When making a reservation, please include your name and the number and names of any guests. Please also indicate the meal choice for you (and any guests). The three meal options are apricot chicken, chef’s specialty apricot salmon, and grilled eggplant bruschetta. If a reservation needs to be canceled, it must be canceled no later than January 13, 2026. Dinner will be provided to anyone who has a reservation. The cost of dinner is $35 per person. It is not necessary to purchase dinner in order to attend the meeting, but reservations are requested from everyone in order to have sufficient chairs set up in the meeting room. Those who plan to attend the meeting without purchasing dinner should indicate “no dinner” when they make a reservation. Other details can be found on the Reservations web page by clicking on this link.

Roundtable 2026 Field Trip – Save the Dates

The Roundtable’s 2026 field trip is scheduled for September 17-20, 2026 to the Shenandoah Valley to study the 1862 Valley Campaign. A block of rooms has been reserved, and the itinerary has some very enticing activities on it. As of now, the following activities have been scheduled for the 2026 field trip: the First Battle of Kernstown, the Battle of Front Royal, the First Battle of Winchester, the Battle of Cross Keys, and the Battle of Port Republic. Check back for updates. A downloadable PDF containing information about the hotel, the tentative itinerary, and information about signing up for the field trip can be found by clicking on this link.

Meeting Summary: December 2025 – “Bleeding Kansas: The War before the Civil War”

The December 2025 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable featured a truly engrossing presentation by Andrew Mangels about the turbulent events in Kansas prior to the admission of Kansas as a state. These often violent events involved the struggle between those who wanted Kansas to be a free state and those who wanted Kansas to be a slave state. As Andrew discussed, there were a number of times when these events involved armed clashes between the two sides and sometimes were outright massacres.

Andrew presented the information in an engaging and thorough way and mixed in some humor, which made his presentation both very informative and quite entertaining. Andrew framed his presentation around a timeline of the events in pre-statehood, pre-Civil War Kansas, which provided a very effective way for him to convey the important milestones of this period. Within this timeline, he noted that Congress passed legislation during westward expansion to address the question of slavery in the new states (such as the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act). This legislation was intended to appease both the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions and to defuse the heated tension between these factions, but this legislation, rather than preventing civil war, merely delayed it.

Andrew also discussed the horrific violence that occurred throughout this period. Among these terrible events was the Wakarusa War, in which armed men from Missouri entered Kansas and joined with pro-slavery Kansans in a conflict with an anti-slavery militia group. Another was the Pottawatomie Massacre, in which John Brown and his followers went house to house, brought out pro-slavery settlers living in those cabins, and killed them. In response to this, a pro-slavery militia went after Brown and his followers. While searching for them, the pro-slavery militia burned the cabins of some anti-slavery settlers. Eventually Brown and his followers became engaged in an armed clash with the pro-slavery militia at the Battle of Black Jack. By describing these and other violent events, Andrew adeptly conveyed the brutality that existed in Kansas during this period.

A particularly interesting part of Andrew’s presentation was his discussion of the Kansas state constitution. Because of the two factions, Kansas submitted three different constitutions to the U.S. Congress for approval (the Topeka Constitution, the Lecompton Constitution, and the Leavenworth Constitution), each of which was generated by one or the other faction and proposed a position on slavery based on which faction wrote it. All three of these constitutions were rejected by Congress. Finally, a fourth constitution, the Wyandotte Constitution, which banned slavery, was submitted and approved by Congress, and Kansas was admitted as a free state.

Andrew’s detailed and articulate presentation beautifully captured and conveyed the tumultuous period known as Bleeding Kansas. Thanks to Andrew, the attendees at the meeting were led on a journey through a very turbulent and violent episode in U.S. history and came away with a deep understanding of this chaotic and terrible period. The Roundtable is grateful to Andrew for his extremely informative and very engrossing presentation.

Report of the 2025 Roundtable Field Trip to Vicksburg

Steve Pettyjohn wrote an excellent report of the 2025 Roundtable field trip to Vicksburg. This report is supplemented with outstanding photographs which were generously provided by Jose Esparza, and Steve also provided photographs. The report is a great way for those who were not able to go on the field trip to read about what took place, and the report is a nice way for those who went on the field trip to relive their experiences. The report of the 2025 field trip can be accessed by clicking on this link.

December 2025 Charger Uploaded

The December 2025 issue of The Charger has been uploaded onto the Roundtable’s website. The November 2025 issue can be accessed by clicking on this link.

Membership Roster and Contact Information

We have worked very hard to improve our membership database and contact information this year, but we know we probably have more work to do. Please be sure to keep us advised of changes in contact information by sending us the information at clecwrt@gmail.com. We monitor that email account on a regular basis, so this would be a big help in making sure we can keep you informed of group activities. If you want to see what has been posted on our Facebook page or Twitter account, you do not have to become a member of the Roundtable. Everyone is welcome to view our Facebook page and Twitter account. These can also be accessed by googling “Cleveland Civil War Roundtable” and either “Facebook” or “Twitter” and clicking on the appropriate link in the search results.