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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

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 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.

Wade Park Manor

By Mel Maurer, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2008, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: In 2008, the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable moved its meeting site from the Cleveland Playhouse Club to Judson Manor at University Circle. Judson Manor is a beautiful facility with a long history dating back 85 years to its original incarnation as the Wade Park Manor residential hotel that we thought members might find interesting. Judson Manor remained the site of the Roundtable’s meetings until 2020, when the site had to be changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sheridan’s Butterfly

By Jim Heflich
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2017, All Rights Reserved

General Philip Henry Sheridan’s famed Civil War career – most notably his “hell for leather” charge at Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864 – eventually led to his post-bellum appointment as Commanding General U.S. Army on November 1, 1883 – succeeding William Tecumseh Sherman. He remained in that post until his death on August 5, 1888.