Upcoming CCWRT Program
Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at 7:00 pm

May 2021 Roundtable Meeting

After more than a year of canceled or remote meetings, we are going to have the chance to resume in-person meetings! Our next meeting on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 will be held at our new home: The Holiday Inn Independence on Rockside Road.

We have been working with the staff at the Holiday Inn for over a year to establish our new home there. Our meeting will be conducted in a way that meets all COVID-19 regulations established by the state of Ohio. Masks will be required before dinner, and the table arrangements will meet social distancing standards.

We are also planning to have a remote option available for people who may either not feel comfortable with in-person meetings or just can’t make it to this one.

More information will be posted later, but right now we need your help to plan the May meeting. If you plan to attend in person, please let us know by sending an email to clecwrt@gmail.com. Include the number and name(s) of any guest(s) who will attend with you, so we can obtain an accurate number of attendees at the meeting. Please send the email as soon as possible, since we need to begin the process of organizing the meeting with the Holiday Inn. Your help with this is sincerely appreciated.

We will be following up with how to make a dinner reservation or participate remotely. Please be on the lookout for further information on the website.

The speaker for the May meeting will be Terry Winschel, and the title of Terry’s presentation is “Shut Up as in a Trap: Citizens Under Siege at Vicksburg.” Terry’s presentation focuses on the plight of the civilians in Vicksburg during the Union siege of the city. Most works on the Vicksburg campaign focus almost exclusively on the military operations centered on the fortress city and fail to address a key element in the equation – namely the civilian population of Vicksburg who experienced war in all its horrors during the long 47 days of siege. Who were these people and what is their story? In his presentation Terry recounts the hardships of these men, women, and children who experienced the most terrifying ordeal of their lives in a struggle to survive. Tapping on period letters, diaries, and memoirs, Terry weaves a moving account of life in the beleaguered city. His program paints a vivid portrait of life underground where citizens sought shelter from the storm of lead and iron that rained upon their city and details the suffering and death of Vicksburg’s gallant residents. His words are brought to life by slides featuring scores of faces of the citizens of Vicksburg who stood firm in the midst of conflict. Their lives directly impacted by the cruelty of war more so than people in any other American city, North or South, the people of Vicksburg have left a legacy of courage and fortitude that will inspire all who hear their story.

Terry, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and also holds M.S.S. (Master of Social Science) and Ed.S. (Education Specialist) degrees from Mississippi College. Terry retired in 2012 following a 35-year career with the National Park Service, most of which time he served as Historian at Vicksburg National Military Park. In 2016 Terry returned to work in a part-time capacity with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as Historian at the Engineer Research and Development Center. Terry has written 100 articles on the Civil War and is author of several books including Triumph & Defeat: The Vicksburg Campaign, Volume I and Volume II, The Civil War Diary of a Common Soldier: William Wiley of the 77th Illinois Infantry, and Vicksburg: Fall of the Confederate Gibraltar and co-authored (with William Shea) Vicksburg is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River.

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Click on any of the book links to purchase from Amazon. Part of the proceeds from any book purchased from Amazon through the CCWRT website is returned to the CCWRT to support its education and preservation programs.

Petersburg Field Trip

The long-awaited Petersburg field trip took place April 30–May 1. There were 13 hardy members and guests who spent two informative and interesting days on the battlefield supplemented by two evenings with getting to know each other at dinner. Pamplin Park did a wonderful job of hosting us. Tim Talbott, Director of Education, was our guide for the two days on the battlefield and did an excellent job of guiding us through this long and complex campaign. Amanda Powell, our coordinator for the event, also did a wonderful job in setting up our lunches, dinner at Pamplin Park, and a night at the Museum of the Civil War Soldier, which is located at Pamplin Park.

I have heard nothing but positive feedback by those who attended, and we are all looking forward to Mark Porter’s planned trip to Chickamauga and Chattanooga in September!

Latest History Brief by Roundtable Historian Dan Ursu

Roundtable historian Dan Ursu’s latest history brief is Grant Attacks Pemberton at Champion Hill and Advances to the Big Black River. This history brief continues Dan’s chronicle of Ulysses Grant’s Vicksburg campaign.

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 Lily Korte has been posting on Twitter and Facebook, you don’t have to join or anything like that. Just google either “Cleveland Civil War Roundtable” and either “Facebook” or “Twitter” and you can see our posts.

New Recruits in the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable

New members in the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable are encouraged to introduce themselves to the group by emailing a photograph and a short biography to the Roundtable (clecwrt@gmail.com). If you don’t want to send a picture or bio, just let us know and give us approval to post your name on the website as a new member.