cleveland – Page 15 – The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable

Visiting the New Lincoln Library and Museum

By William F.B. Vodrey
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2006, 2007. All Rights Reserved

Last summer (2006), I visited the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, IL. My companions on the trip were Mel Maurer and his grandson, Eric. We had a great time and hope to go back again. Anyone interested in Lincoln will find Springfield and its many Lincoln-related sites well worth the trip, but the museum is the center of it all. It strikes a nice balance between mass-market appeal and scholarly discussion of the Civil War president.

The Changes at Gettysburg

By Dick Crews
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2005, All Rights Reserved

Civil War buffs such as ourselves like to argue about the most important battle of the Civil War. Tourists who vote with their feet and their dollars like Gettysburg – by far. Gettysburg receives over 1,800,000 visitors per year. No other battlefield receives over a million visitors per year.

Gettysburg Field Trip – September 2008

By Paul Burkholder
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

From Thursday, September 25 through Sunday, the 28th, twenty-five of our members, led by president Jon Thompson, participated in the Roundtable’s annual field trip, this year to the hallowed ground of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The club’s return to Gettysburg was driven in part by the ongoing work being done by the Park Service to restore the battlefield to its 1863 state, in part by the opening of the new Visitor Center there, and in part by the unveiling of the freshly restored (and moved) Cyclorama. Without cutting to the chase too quickly, let me report with some relief that those responsible for these changes have produced admirable results on all counts (save, perhaps, for the funding of these many projects, but more on that later).

Report: Friends of the Hunley Oyster Roast, October 23, 2009

By John Harkness
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: The Friends of the H.L. Hunley held their 5th Annual Oyster Roast in Charleston, South Carolina on October 23, 2009 from 7-10 p.m. as their major annual fundraiser to support conservation of the raised Confederate submarine. CCWRT member John Harkness and his wife, Marguerite, are members of the Friends of the Hunley and drove to Charleston to see what this event was all about.

This was our first (but won’t be our last!) “oyster roast.” You can keep your puny Yankee clam bakes. A meager dozen clams — hah! This was downright filling & FUN!!

A Visit to the H.L. Hunley and a Dose of Southern Culture

By Paul Siedel
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved

Every year it happens; we receive invitations to fundraisers for our pet causes and each year we say, “Next year I’m going to do this.” Well, this year was my year to take in the annual “Friends of the Hunley” barbecue and oyster roast in Charleston, South Carolina. What an experience it was!

The Bower: A Surprising Find

By Paul Siedel
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2017, All Rights Reserved

Last June, while attending the Civil War Institute in Gettysburg, I decided to take a detour on my way home and look for a house called “The Bower.” Located somewhere between Martinsburg and Charlestown, West Virginia, it was, during the Civil War, owned by the Dandridge Family, and the house was offered by them to General Jeb Stuart to serve as his headquarters during the autumn of 1862 shortly after the Battle of Antietam.

On the Set of the Movie Gods and Generals

By David R. Thomas
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in February 2002.

For three weekends this fall, I was on the set for the upcoming film Gods and Generals, based on the novel by Jeff Shaara. The film covers the years from John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry up to the Gettysburg Campaign. I had a wonderful experience working with this movie.

Jon Thompson Poetry Prize Winners

Each year the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable sponsors The Jon Thompson Poetry Contest at Lee Burneson Middle School in Westlake as part of the school’s annual “Civil War Days” event. (See more on Burneson Middle School’s “Civil War Days.”) The contest is named in honor of Language Arts teacher (and past CCWRT president) Jon Thompson, who devoted over 35 years to the students of Lee Burneson before retiring in 2006.

The Lee Burneson Middle School 2007 Civil War Ball

By Mel Maurer
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2007, All Rights Reserved

Each year the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable sponsors The Jon Thompson Poetry Contest at Lee Burneson Middle School in Westlake, Ohio. The contest is named in honor of Language Arts teacher (and CCWRT member) Jon Thompson, who devoted over 35 years of his life to the students of Lee Burneson before retiring in 2006.