Upcoming CCWRT Program
Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at 6:00 p.m.

Meeting Summary: September 2026 – “A Civil War Road Trip of a Lifetime”

The September 2026 meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable featured one of the most distinctive presentations ever given to the Roundtable. The speaker was John Banks, the author of the book A Civil War Road Trip of a Lifetime, and John’s presentation was structured around his book, which describes his visits to very many Civil War sites and his interactions with people at those sites. John’s outstanding presentation was lively, humorous, and extremely engrossing. John explained early in his presentation why he wrote the book and why he made so many visits to Civil War sites. John’s objective was to visit lesser known Civil War places and to tap into the many stories that are connected to those places. In addition, John wanted to interact with locals at those places who, as John said, are interesting characters and who are passionate about the Civil War. As John’s presentation made clear, he accomplished his goal brilliantly.

For example, one person whom John described is Sid Champion V, a direct descendant of the people who owned the Champion Hill property at the time of the 1863 battle. John discussed how Sid not only showed John some witness trees from the battle, but actually cut off a sizable piece from one of the witness trees and gave it to John as a keepsake of his visit. John also related that Sid showed John around Champion Hill on an ATV and that Sid made clear that John was responsible for being aware of low-hanging branches, because Sid was not going to warn John about them.

John also described someone named Lester Sonny Mason, who spent $55,000 to make a diorama about the Battle of Antietam. This battle is also the place where John met someone named Richard Clem, whom John refers to as his Civil War Poppa. As John described, Clem has found thousands of artifacts from that battle, but on one day, when Clem was at the site of a Union army hospital, he found an incredibly rare artifact. This artifact is the identification tag of a Vermont soldier named William Secor, who was the only soldier in his regiment to be killed at Antietam. Clem’s story fit well with John’s lesson about the importance of serendipity in exploring the history of the Civil War, not just for the people about whom John spoke, but also about John’s quest to find interesting characters who are passionate about the war.

John described several other truly engaging stories from his book that covered topics from the Sultana to Castle Pinckney to the Roulette Farm at Antietam to the Battle of New Market Heights (not, as John emphasized, the Battle of New Market), where United States Colored Troops played an important role, to Cumberland Church at Farmville, where a person named Dirk Warner learned about a young bugler named Joseph Law, who was killed by a piece of an artillery shell and was subsequently buried on the battlefield. After much effort, Warner thinks he has located Law’s burial site and now wants to have the site examined with ground-penetrating radar to verify his suspicion. Warner’s determination in this search typifies John’s stated goal of identifying people who are passionate about the Civil War and also encapsulates the mantra which John enunciated that it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

As noted above, John’s presentation was not the typical presentation for a Roundtable meeting, which usually involves a discussion of a certain topic related to the Civil War. Instead, John’s distinctive presentation involved a series of very intriguing anecdotes about contemporary people who, as John said, are passionate about the Civil War. The unspoken message in John’s anecdotes is that, even more than 160 years after the Civil War, there are still people who are ardently passionate about this war. The Roundtable thanks John for his exceptional and wonderfully engaging presentation.

Capturing History: Mystery, Myth, Legend, and Oral Storytelling (Free Event)

Kelly Boyer Sagert, the president of the Quincy Gillmore Civil War Roundtable, has organized a one-day conference that focuses on various aspects of how history is recorded and conveyed. This free conference, which takes place on September 26, 2026, is designed for readers and writers of history and includes a free light lunch for everyone who pre-registers. Details about the conference, including the schedule of speakers and information about registering, can be found on a downloadable PDF by clicking on this link.

September 2026 Charger Uploaded

The September 2026 issue of The Charger has been uploaded. It can be accessed by clicking on this link.

Cleveland Civil War Roundtable Named 2026 Civil War Round Table of the Year

Emerging Civil War (ECW) is an organization that provides a national platform for sharing original scholarship related to the American Civil War. ECW is the collaborative effort of more than 35 historians who are committed to sharing the story of the Civil War in a way that is accessible for the general public. ECW’s initiatives include its award-winning series of books published by Savas Beatie, LLC; an annual symposium; a speakers’ bureau; and a daily blog (www.emergingcivilwar.com). ECW announced on January 30, 2026 that it was sponsoring a Civil War Round Table of the Year Award for 2026 and that all Civil War roundtables were invited to submit nominations for that award. In its announcement, ECW stated that the award is to cover the previous calendar year, and ECW listed several criteria for the award. These criteria included meetings, membership, external education initiatives, external preservation initiatives, and ECW participation. The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable, with input from several members of the Executive Committee, wrote a nomination for the award and submitted it for consideration. (Our Roundtable’s nomination is available on our website by clicking on this link.)

After reviewing the nominations, ECW selected the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable as the 2026 Civil War Round Table of the Year. In its announcement of this decision, ECW noted that while many Civil War roundtables in the country are decreasing in membership, our Roundtable has had a robust increase in membership of 25% per year in recent years, and we routinely have between 70 and 120 attendees at our monthly meetings. ECW also indicated that our Roundtable has an annual field trip to a Civil War site and invites members of other Civil War roundtables to participate, which is an effective way to foster camaraderie between different roundtables.

ECW also noted that in 2025 our Roundtable organized a week-long program that featured living historian Dr. Curt Fields, the nation’s preeminent portrayer of Ulysses S. Grant. This program included several presentations by Dr. Fields at schools and at evening venues, and it involved over 1,300 students and over 450 community members through Dr. Fields’ lectures. Also discussed in ECW’s announcement of the award is the participation of our Roundtable in the annual National History Day competition, where members help students by acting as judges for the students’ projects. In addition, our Roundtable sponsors our own awards to National History Day students for exemplary projects related to the Civil War. ECW said that activities such as these demonstrate that our Roundtable extends beyond our meetings to community programs that expand knowledge of the Civil War across the city.

ECW concluded its announcement by stating that our Roundtable has shown that it is possible nowadays for Civil War roundtables not just to survive, but to thrive via engaging meetings, community outreach, and an astute and wide-ranging perspective.

We are extremely grateful to ECW for giving this award to our organization and thrilled that our Roundtable has been so recognized. Being named the 2026 Civil War Round Table of the Year is a tremendous honor and a powerful affirmation of the purpose and dedication that define our organization. Our collective efforts have long reflected a standard of excellence, and it is gratifying that what we do as an organization has been nationally recognized.

What makes this moment especially profound is that it represents far more than a single submission. This award reflects years of sustained commitment to strong programming, meaningful engagement, and the preservation and thoughtful interpretation of Civil War history. This distinction meaningfully elevates our Roundtable within the broader Civil War community, and it is something we should carry with pride, not only as acknowledgment of past efforts, but also as inspiration for the future.

Congratulations to every member of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable. Each of you has played a part in shaping an organization that is respected, valued, and now nationally recognized for its contributions. This is a collective accomplishment and a testament to the passion, care, and devotion that characterize our organization. To every member of our Roundtable as we begin the 2026-2027 meetings, welcome to the Civil War Round Table of the Year.

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.