WELCOME TO
THE CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE
OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA


The Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia was established in 1951 with Bruce Catton and Virgil Carrington "Pat" Jones among its founding members. Its purpose is to stimulate and expand interest in the military, political, diplomatic, economic, and socio-cultural history of the United States and particularly the Civil War. It is also committed to preserving historical sites and landmarks through initiatives such as, among others, its annual Edwin C. Bearss Award. Among its achievements, the Round Table spawned the National Civil War Centennial Commission. 

The Round Table meets monthly from September to June at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia or via Zoom.  At its in-person/hybrid Zoom meetings, the Round Table caters dinner followed by a presentation by a noted author or scholar on a topic related to the U.S. Civil War.  Recent speakers include: Fergus Bordewich, Gary Gallagher, Jon Meacham, Frank Smith, Allen Guelzo, Michael Burlingame, Don Miller, Daud Watts, and Gail Stephens, to name only a few.

The Round Table also sponsors visits to battlefield sites, tours of museums, and other events.  Recent tours have featured the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, The National Museum of the U.S. Army in Fairfax, the Lost Avenue, Appomattox,  Ball's Bluff Battlefield, Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, and many more.

Activities To Be Expanded for Virtual Attendees.  As a result of the recent pandemic, the Round Table discontinued its in-person meetings and instead hosted its speakers via Zoom.  This change allowed attendees from all of the world share with us their passion for the study of Civil War history and enjoy fellowship and camaraderie with other history enthusiasts.  Because our Round Table in the past has been comprised primarily of members who live in the DC area, however, we often reported about current and upcoming events and activities occurring locally.  Now that we have members joining from outside the DC area, however, we would like to use Zoom technology to offer those attendees an opportunity to share information about Civil War events, sites, artifacts, and stories related to where they live.  One idea suggested recently is to have members or historians on site at the Battle of Stones River share with us photographs and other media they have about that battle.  Another is to have one of our members located in Missouri give us a virtual walking tour of the bridge that Archer Alexander (of Emancipation Memorial statue fame) reported to Union troops would be sabotaged by the Confederate troops.  Conversely, we hope to have members who reside in the DC area give virtual walking tours of locations in the Capital City and nearby battlefields for attendees who are unlikely to visit our area. 

If you would like to make a presentation (either in-person or via Zoom) to our Round Table about an event, tour, experience, or story, please click HERE for more information (https://cwrtdc-meetings.blogspot.com/p/make-presentation.html)

All Are Welcome.  All are welcome to attend the Zoom presentations, and we urge you to become a member, using the menu located to the right of our page HERE (https://cwrtdc-meetings.blogspot.com/).  All are also welcome to join us in-person for our dinners and the speaker presentations, including members and non-members (and whether Civil War history buffs or newly interested in studying this conflict).  Reservations are required for dinner and a fee is charged. Or feel free to attend in-person or via Zoom only to listen to the speakers' presentations. For more information about our meetings and for directions, click on the "MEETINGS / TOURS" tab above. 

Please click on one of the tabs in the menu bar above to learn about our group and for more information about our dinners, speakers, events, tours, history, and membership. Or contact us at admin@cwrtdc.org with any questions.

Schedule of Speakers/Tours 2024-2025

Meetings in Red = In-Person and via Zoom
Meetings in Black = Via Zoom Only
Tours/Events = Blue
To Be Scheduled = Green
DATE            SPEAKER        TENTATIVE TOPIC
Sept 11, 2024  Carolyn Ivanoff  17th CT at Gettysburg
Oct. 08, 2024   R. L Hodge          Alexander Hunter
Nov. 09, 2024   Moser/Mazzuca White House Area Tour 
Nov. 13, 2024   Kim Holien         Grand Review of 1861 
Dec. 11, 2024   Rachel Swarns   272 at Georgetown U.
Jan. 08, 2025   Doug Egerton    T. W. Higginson 
Feb. 11, 2025   S. Blumenthal    Meeting w/LGDC
Mar. 12, 2025   Leigh Fought      Douglass & Women
Apr. 09, 2025   TBD                     Meeting at GWU 
May 14, 2025   Scott Berg          Sioux Uprising
June 11, 2025  TBD                     TBD 


The following have agreed to speak, but we have yet to work out a schedule, which we will do in the next couple of weeks.

John Banks (author of A Civil War Trip of a Lifetime a-review of the Civil War battlefields as the exist today)



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For a list of previous speakers, click HERE 

For audio and video recordings of past speaker presentations, clicking HERE or visit http://cwrtdc-audio.blogspot.com/
            
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