Ohio Connections – The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable

The Battle of Chickamauga: The 21st Ohio at Snodgrass Hill

By Daniel J. Ursu, Roundtable Historian
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2021-2022, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was the history brief for the October 2021 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable.

The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable just returned from our excellent fall field trip planned by President Mark Porter to Chickamauga and Chattanooga. Therefore, I thought that it would be appropriate to focus on some aspect of the field trip for this history brief. During our battlefield visits it became obvious to me that the stand of the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Snodgrass Hill would be ideal. Our guide, Robert Carter, termed it every bit as heroic and consequential as the stand of the 20th Maine on Little Round Top at Gettysburg. Indeed, the length of the line defended by the 21st Ohio was far greater than that of the 20th Maine at the end of its line. Also, the stand of the 21st Ohio was longer in duration, as it began in the early afternoon and ended with the fall of darkness.

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.

So Long, Farewell…

By Paul Burkholder
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2012, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in May 2012. It was the final President’s Message of Paul Burkholder’s Presidency.

Our May meeting ends my term as president of the Roundtable.

I suspect I was like many future Roundtable presidents when, four years ago, Jon Thompson and Mel Maurer approached me about serving as treasurer/vice president/president. I really wanted nothing to do with it and immediately started scheming on polite ways to say “no,” such as: “I’m too busy!” “Public speaking makes me violently ill!” “I’m too involved at church!” “I gave at the office!” “The dog ate my homework!”

Cleveland’s Civil War Roundtable Takes an Excursion into Fiction

By Karen R. Long
Cleveland Plain Dealer Book Editor
Originally Published: Monday, September 19, 2011
Copyright © 2010 Cleveland Live, Inc.

Editor’s note: The novelist Robert Olmstead spoke to the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable at its September 2011 meeting. In attendance that night, at the invitation of CCWRT member William Vodrey, was Karen Long, the Cleveland Plain Dealer Book Editor. This piece was published in the Plain Dealer the following Sunday.

Cleveland Civil War Roundtable: 1956 – 2006

By Dale Thomas
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2006, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: This article was originally published as part of the Roundtable’s 50th anniversary celebration in November 2006.

Early Years

I was a Johnny-Come-Lately as far as the Civil War was concerned. Forty years ago I was given a copy of Ben Ames Williams’ House Divided. From that day on my interest in the war and its personalities became an obsession. When the Cleveland Roundtable came into being I found a group of men who shared my enthusiasm. Many close friendships developed, friendships that continue to this day. It has been a rewarding experience.

– John Cullen, 1994

Cleveland Civil War Roundtable 60th Anniversary

By Mel Maurer
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: Mel Maurer is a past president of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable and served for many years as its Historian. The address below was delivered at the November 9, 2016 meeting of the Roundtable commemorating the 60th anniversary of the club’s founding.

Three score years ago this month – our founders brought forth in Cleveland a new Civil War Roundtable dedicated to the “belief that the American Civil War is the defining event in U.S. history.”

The 51st Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Charger in the spring of 2001.

The 51st Ohio Volunteer Infantry was formed from the Dover/New Philadelphia area of Ohio in October of 1861. After training, the unit was sent to Louisville, Kentucky. Their first casualty was a private who fell off the steamboat and drowned in the Ohio River. The 51st was at the Battle of Perryville but saw no action.

Silent Witnesses to the Civil War, Part 3: Lakeside, Maple Ridge, Coe Ridge, and Chestnut Grove Cemeteries

By Dale Thomas
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2005, All Rights Reserved

Part 3 of a 3-part article on cemeteries in in the western suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio that have connections to the Civil War.