Welcome to the website of the American Civil War Round Table (UK)
We’re a growing group of mostly British-based members, who get together and share information about all aspects of one of the greatest conflicts of the 19th century. You will also find here articles taken from our thrice yearly magazine ‘Crossfire’, that is free to members. If after browsing our site you would like to join us we’d be very happy to enrol you, whatever colour you prefer!
Our Round Table comprises people from all walks of life who are interested in any or all aspects of the war, but who also care enough to contribute to the growing number of initiatives to preserve this heritage for future generations. We meet frequently, mostly in London, to hear a wide variety of presentations on the war. Our speakers have included such published historians as Ed Bearss, Amanda Foreman and Gary Gallagher.
Why all this interest in American events of the past with so much history of our own? Surprisingly, we are the first in the line of Civil War Round Tables set up in the 1950s - almost exclusively in the United States. We have maintained a natural affinity with events of the Civil War. With many of its participants hailing from these islands it is perhaps not surprising that British viewpoints have been brought to bear on this all-American affair.
Forthcoming events
SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE (UK)
VIRTUAL CONFERENCE 2020
LINKS IN DETAIL BELOW SO THAT OTHERS MAY VIEW WHEN CONVENIENT
The Virtual Conference idea is simple, on 25-26 April we sat and watched a selection of seven videos of the Civil War at the same time you would have been listening to our speakers at Wokingham. We then discussed them with other members of the group on our WhatsApp or Facebook groups. The videos included talks by our American speakers, Eric Wittenberg and Scott Mingus.
We also simulated some other Conference favourites – an Icebreaker Quiz on Friday evening. An Auction by e-mail, and even some Civil War era music to listen to while you prepared your own three course dinner on Saturday night.
All the videos are still available on the internet if you want to watch them.
Click on More below for further information and LINKS
Opening the Gettysburg Campaign: The Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863
Eric Wittenberg, Gettysburg Foundation, Sacred Trust Talks 2013
First Posted 24 Jul 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrxjsJiOuuc
Why not take a few minutes to check out one of the American Battlefield Trust's four-minute video shorts? This one on “Battlefield Fences of the Civil War” piqued my interest
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/videos/battlefield-fences-civil-war?utm_campaign=040120&utm_medium=update&utm_source=email&emci=8470aab0-c672-ea11-a94c-00155d03b1e8&emdi=3ec12168-0375-ea11-a94c-00155d03b1e8&ceid=123305
Jubal Early’s March to the Susquehannah River
Scott Mingus Sr. Gettysburg Foundation, Sacred Trust Talks 2013
First Posted 23 Jul 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up0XPcq6Dqk
From Gettysburg to Madison County, Kentucky and Back To Gettysburg: A Local Boy Comes To His Own Hometown To Fight in the Civil War's Greatest Battle
Wayne E. Motts, National Civil War Museum, Harrisburg
First Presented Saturday February 22, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEcNPOzNx3o
Gettysburg Civil War Photography Extravaganza with Garry Adelman, Civil War Trust
First posted 16 Mar 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo9nGNjC5Dw
Care of the Wounded
Ranger Matt Atkinson, Gettysburg National Military Park
First Posted 8 Oct 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYyjXypmZww
Clash at East Cavalry Field
Ranger Chuck Teague, Gettysburg National Military Park
Posted 31 Oct 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NHeBlJwc3I
“A Bloodstained Artefact from Gettysburg”, Produced by the Civil War Trust together with the National Civil War Museum.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/videos/bloodstained-artifact-gettysburg?utm_campaign=040120&utm_medium=update&utm_source=email
“None but Demon’s Can Delight in War” - Culp's Hill, July 2-3 1863
John Archer, Mosby Heritage Area Association (C-Span Video)
First Presented 10 August 2016
https://www.c-span.org/video/?416483-4/culps-hill-gettysburg
2020 Conference Has been re-scheduled for 4-6 December at the same venue - Wokefield Park
More detail of speakers and programme as and when available.
ACWRT(UK) 2020 Programme
18 July – This Meeting has been CANCELLED due to the COVID-19 epidemic
We will be replacing this meeting with an ONLINE EVENT, Details to be announced.
19 September - STILL UNDER REVIEW.
16-18 October - Field Trip. SEE ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW
14 November - AGM. VOLUNTEERS TO SPEAK NEEDED and WELCOMED!!! Being kept under review but currenty going ahead..
4-6 December Re-scheduled Conference at Wokefield Park. Being kept under review.
19 December (Saturday) - Christmas Lunch at Union Jack Club. UNDER REVIEW but currenty going ahead.
2020 Field Trip Metz & Sedan
Field trip 16 - 19 October Franco Prussian War 1870 Metz & Sedan.
POSTPONED UNTIL 2021
Dates and other information when available.
Preservation news
01/06/2020 SHENANDOAH VALLEY BATTLEFIELDS FOUNDATION - DONATION REQUEST
In last month’s Vedette we mentioned an appeal being organised by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation to support some of the smaller historic sites who don’t get Federal or State funding to help them through the shutdown. A $500 donation has been approved by the Committee, but under our Constitution we need to formally put this to our members to have their say. In the circumstances we cannot do this at a meeting and waiting till the shutdown ends would rather defeat the object of the donation. So we are seeking deemed consent through Vedette. If anyone has objections to this use of funds please contact Mike Somerville to make your views known. If we have not heard any objections by 15 June 2020 we will make the donation.
Information can be found on the Foundations’s website
https://www.shenandoahatwar.org/
Book reviews
2/3/2019 -
Farragut's Captain - Percival Drayton 1861-1865 by Peter Barratt
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British historian, Peter Barratt has produced a fine biography of Civil War naval officer and the hero of a number of its famous naval actions, Captain Percival Drayton, USN.
Drayton was an accomplished and experienced naval officer who was born in
Charleston, South Carolina in August 1812 into a distinguished colonial family.
In September of 1865, friends of Drayton commissioned a memorial plaque to honour him and his remarkable career in the service of his country. The memorial plaque was placed in Trinity Episcopal church near Wall Street in New York City.
Adorning the memorial and placed above the inscription are the words which perhaps best summarize Drayton’s character:Peter Barratt has done a great deal of research in uncovering background information on a figure of Civil War history who contributed quietly and in an unassuming way to ultimate victory for the Union. Despite the fact that he was a scion of a prominent slave holding family of Charleston, he never held a slave; and even faced his own brother in one of the earliest actions of the conflict. This was Percival Drayton– navy captain and
hero of several engagements that led to eventual Union victory. Peter Barratt used
resources and personal contacts at the Union League of Philadelphia, the personal
insight of Captain Jack Lieberman, US Navy (retired), a Drayton expert; and other
troves of primary resource materials.
The book is concise, but well written, well sourced and informative, telling an exciting tale of devotion to duty by Percival Drayton in spite of hardship, toil, family discord and danger.
In just 172 pages, Barratt was able to capture the essence of the character and
determination of a remarkable patriot and to bring his story alive for the reader. Little has been written of Percival Drayton, and Barratt, using letters, correspondence, and other primary source material gathered over many long years of research to craft a very sympathetic, but realistic portrait of a model warrior of the sea.
I can recommend this quick read to all who wish to augment their knowledge of the Civil War at sea and of the Navy. They will come away with a much-improved view of one of the unsung heroes in a true conflict of ‘brother against brother’, whom, I hypothesize, lost his life due to his strenuous service in war, though having obtained peace.
Anthony (Andy) Waskie, Ph.D.
Temple University, Philadelphia
1/3/2019 -
Bull Run to Boer War: How the American Civil War Changed the British Army by Michael Somerville
The American Civil War is often said to have predicted the way in which later wars such as the Boer War and the First World War would be fought. As a result the British Army has been criticised for not heeding its lessons, a view that can be traced back to the 1930s.
This book challenges that long-held view, and demonstrates that the responses to the lessons of the war in the British Army were more complex, better informed, and of higher quality, than normally depicted.
Key to this new interpretation is that it takes a nineteenth century perspective rather than pre-supposing what the British should have seen based upon hindsight from the South African veldt or the Western Front trenches. It demonstrates that strategists and policy-makers reacted to the changes in the nature of warfare suggested by American experience, looks at how officers in the cavalry, infantry, artillery and engineers applied their observations in America to the technical and tactical issues of the day, and even examines the war's influence on the development of aeronautics.
In studying how the Civil War changed the Late Victorian British Army, the book provides insight into its learning process, and concludes that although sometimes flawed, its study of the American Civil War meant that it was better prepared for the wars of the twentieth century than previously acknowledged.
Crossfire magazine
1/5/2020 Latest Three Issues of Crossfire
Number 121 Contents - Spring 2020
The Battle of Springfield, Missouri, Jan 8 1863 - William Piston
Under a Sulphorous Sky - Manxmen and the Battle of Gettysburg - John Murray
A Postmaster in the Cavalry - Pvt George R Adderton 63rd NC - Charles Priestley
Two Scouts of the border Part 2 - Steve French
Barnacles - Alabama Crewman George Gitsinger - Maurice Rigby
Lonesome Pine - Fort Pillow - Tony Daly
We've all gone Quackers - Fake remedies - Greg Bayne
Letter from CW Alabama - Alabama at Gettysburg - Erick Bush
Buddy can you spare a dime? The CSA Tobacco tax - Greg Bayne
Number 120 Contents - Winter 2019
Railroads in the Gettysburg Campaign - Scott Mingus Sr
Two letters from Polignac - Charles Priestley
Depicting Combat: Veracity in drawings by Frank Vizetelly and Alfred Waud - Graham Whitham
Letter from CW Alabama - CSS Nashville, Selma & the Mobile Bay Squadron - Erick Bush
Two Scouts of the border Part 1 - Steve French
Barnacles - Alabama Crewman Richard Hambly - Maurice Rigby
From the White House to Gettysburg and to Arlington - Robert Tyler Jones - John Murray
Number 119 Contents - Summer 2019
Was 'Secession' taught at Westpoint? - Tony Margrave
On the Cleburne Trail in Cork and Cumbria - Charles Priestley
The Wounding of General Hood and the story of a picture - Tony Margrave
Lonesome Pine - Burning Bridges in East Tennessee - Tony Daly
Letter from CW Alabama - Cmdr. Catesby ap Roger Jones - Erick Bush
A man of the 55th Virginia - William B Hardy - Richard O'Sullivan
Wilder's Lightening Brigade at Hoover's Gap - Eric Wittenburg
James Pendlebury's Civil War - John Murray
Fakes news and hacks - the editor lets rip - Greg Bayne
All hail Farragut - the editor lets rip Part 2 - Greg Bayne
