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
ACWRT(UK) 2020 Programme
25 January 2020 - Professor Rodney Steward - The Confederate Act of Sequestration - tales from the Civil War's ragged edges.
24-26 April Conference: Gettysburg's elite units and the forgotten battles. Main speakers are Scott Mengis and Eric J Wittenberg with Eric Bush possibly filling a cameo slot.
18 July TBC
19 September TBC
14 or 21 November AGM
Further details and dates to follow in due course.
Meeting Booking Form download and email to msomervi@blueyonder.co.uk
Details of how to book for the next meeting
See full article
2019 Conference report
Here are the details of our recent conference
See full article
Meeting Dates 2019
26 January Mike Somerville
9th March Rod Gragg
12th - 14th April - Annual Conference - The War in the Carolinas
15th June Rick Hatcher The Ironclad attack on Fort Sumter April 7 1863
27th July Joe Whitehorne The Jackson-Loring Controversy,1861-2;The Campaign Jackson Lost
14th September Derek Young D H Hill
16th November (AGM)
15 December - Christmas Lunch/Dinner - contact Jim Carroll
16/11/2019 -
NEXT MEETING - Members talks and AGM
AGM prompt start at 12:45
Jim Carroll - By the Blood of Our Alumni - Private Military Education and the American Civil War
Peter Barratt - FIRE ON THE ROANOKE: The Battle of Plymouth, April 1864
We close our lecture programme for 2019 with our usual opportunity for UK members to give short presentations following our AGM, which will start at 12.45 pm.
Jim Carroll enlisted in the United States Navy in 1972 as a seaman apprentice and retired as a commander in 2001. He is a federal citizen of the United States and has made England his home as a settled/spousal resident since 2009. He is a graduate of the US Naval War College/School of Command and Staff and earned a MS/D at Norwich University.
Peter Barratt has been a member of the Round Table for many years. His main area of study is the naval side of the Civil War. He is the author of two books on the war at sea, Circle of Fire – the Story of the USS Susquehanna in the War of the Rebellion, (2007), and Farragut’s Captain – Percival Drayton 1861-1865 (2019), and has an article on the Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina, due to appear in the autumn 2020 issue of Civil War Navy History Magazine. He has just returned from a book signing and presentation on Percival Drayton at the Union League Club in Philadelphia. He lives with his family in Kent and has spent most of his career in printing and publishing. He has been with the London Gazette for over sixteen years.
25/1/2020 -
JANUARY MEETING - The Judge and His Henchmen: The Tyranny of Confederate Confiscation - Rodney J. Steward, USC
There are many windows through which a glimpse of the Confederacy’s true character might be gained, but none provide as penetrating a view as that onto how the Confederate government interacted with the home front. Our January speaker continues our 2019 Conference theme of 'War in the Carolinas' with a look at the murky world of Confederate politics.
See full article
Preservation news
Adopt-a-Cannon
Our current $500 preservation pledge is for ongoing maintenance for the cannons at Charleston
See full article
Crossfire magazine
An Officers Pay Slip
In Search of Lieutenant George Washington Ward
By Charles Priestley
See full article
UK People in the Civil War
click image to zoom
by Maurice Rigby
Editorial note: This is the first of many (I hope) small vignettes of Britons who played a role in the American Civil War. Contributions are welcome from any source so get digging!
Webmaster adds: image is Owen Reynold's photo of Joe Hudson's prize-winning 'Blockade Runner'.
Arbuthnot Blain; was a cabinet maker at 35 Paradise Street, Liverpool, and had died at his residence 10, Wheathill Farm, Roby, Huyton, on June 23 1868 aged 72. Born in Donegal about 1796, his firm had furnished the cabins for the Alabama, the fittings and furniture being selected by James Dunwoody Bulloch. The firm of A Blain & son had been established in 1796 by his father, and that his son, William Hughes Blain had now carried on the business around 1864. William was a familiar figure in shipping circles, a portion of which supplied the ships, and the admiralty, with furnishings and upholstery. William Blain passed away at Croft House, Huyton, on February 25th 1909 and was buried in Huyton churchyard.
See full article
