Upcoming CCWRT Program
Wednesday, September 9, 2026 at 6:00 p.m.
September 9, 2026: First Meeting of 2026-2027!
September 2026 Roundtable Meeting: “A Civil War Road Trip of a Lifetime”
The September 2026 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable will take place on September 9, 2026 beginning at 6:00 p.m. This will be an in-person meeting. The speaker will be John Banks, and the title of John’s presentation is “A Civil War Road Trip of a Lifetime.”
Over more than a year, John Banks crisscrossed the country exploring battlefields, historic houses, forts, and more. He rode on the back of an ATV with his “psychotic connection” in Mississippi, went under the spell of an amateur hypnotist at a U.S. Army fort in Tennessee, admired a sunset from the grounds of the notorious Andersonville prison camp in Georgia, prayed during a tense boat ride in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, and briefly interviewed Louie the wild boar in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Join him on a road trip like no other.
John Banks is author of A Civil War Road Trip of a Lifetime, Connecticut Yankees at Antietam, and Hidden History of Connecticut Union Soldiers. His work has been featured in such notable publications as The New York Times, Civil War Times, Civil War Monitor, Civil War News, America’s Civil War, and Military Images. Banks and his friend Tom McMillan, a historian, author, and former journalist, co-host “The Antietam and Beyond Podcast.” Banks attended Mount Lebanon (Pennsylvania) High School and graduated from West Virginia University (BA in Journalism). A longtime journalist (The Dallas Morning News, ESPN, The History Channel), he is secretary-treasurer of The Center for Civil War Photography.
The September 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 September 1, 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 grilled sirloin, bourbon salmon, and grilled eggplant bruschetta. If a reservation needs to be canceled, it must be canceled no later than September 8, 2026. Dinner will be provided to anyone who has a reservation. The cost of dinner is $40 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.
Click on the book titles above 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.
August 2026 Charger Uploaded
The August 2026 issue of The Charger has been uploaded. It can be accessed by clicking on this link.
Program Schedules of Other Cleveland-Area Civil War Roundtables Posted on This Website
In addition to the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable, two other Civil War roundtables in the Cleveland area are the Northeast Ohio Civil War Roundtable and the Quincy Gillmore Civil War Roundtable. Both of these roundtables, like the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable, have a lecture series with monthly meetings that feature a presentation about a Civil War-related (or sometimes other historical) topic. To make visitors to our website aware of these presentations, the program schedules of the Northeast Ohio Civil War Roundtable and the Quincy Gillmore Civil War Roundtable have been posted on this website. Both of these program schedules have a nice mix of interesting topics and speakers, and all of the presentations are worth attending. Below are links to the web pages for each of these program schedules. Each web page contains the program schedule and also information about attending the meetings as well as a link to a downloadable PDF of the program schedule.
The Northeast Ohio Civil War Roundtable’s program schedule can be accessed by clicking on this link.
The Quincy Gillmore Civil War Roundtable’s program schedule can be accessed by clicking on this link.
2026 Roundtable Field Trip – Updated Information Document (4/23/2026)
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. This document was recently updated to include the order form for the box lunches. This order form should be completed and returned by September 1, 2026 as indicated in the instructions on the form.
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, you do not have to become a member of the Roundtable. Everyone is welcome to view our Facebook page. These can also be accessed by googling “Cleveland Civil War Roundtable” and “Facebook” and then clicking on the appropriate link in the search results.
Cleveland Civil War Roundtable Monthly Meetings
Meeting Time: Monthly meetings of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable are typically held on the second Wednesday of the month from September through May. Meetings ordinarily begin with a social hour at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the program at 7:00 p.m. Meetings usually end by around 9:00 p.m. All of our meetings are currently held in person, and barring any future health-related restrictions, we anticipate that all meetings will be held in person.
Meeting Location: In-person meetings are held at the Holiday Inn Independence, 6001 Rockside Road, Independence, Ohio 44131.
Reservations: For in-person meetings, you must make a dinner reservation for any meeting you plan to attend. Reservations must be made no later than eight days prior to the meeting (so we can give a head count to the caterer). For information on making a dinner reservation, click on this link. It is not necessary to purchase dinner in order to attend a meeting. Anyone is welcome to attend the presentation without purchasing dinner. We ask that people who are not purchasing dinner make a reservation so that enough chairs will be set up in the meeting room. Simply make a reservation at the reservation email address (ccwrtreserve@gmail.com) and indicate “no dinner” in the reservation. If dinner is not purchased, there is no charge to attend a meeting.