Kalamazoo Civil War Round Table
Dedicated to preserving the History and Stories of The American Civil War
The next KCWRT Meeting....
Friday, April 25 from 7:00 - 9:00pm at Westwood United Methodist Church - Basement
The speaker is John Horn. His most recent book is Grant Lays Siege to Lee: Petersburg, June 18-July 1, 1864 . His program will focus on
the battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, in which the 5th Michigan and Brig. Gen. Byron Root Pierce participated. Pierce was a 5th Michigan man about whom John wrote a thumbnail biography for a series of postwar official reports that SavasBeatie will be publishing. He played a prominent role in the fighting.
April 21
1861 - Upon the outbreak of the Civil War threats were made against the safety of the USS Constitution. On April 26, the ship began a three-day trip to New York, towed by the steam gunboat R.R. Cuyler.
1863 - Union Colonel Abel Streight began a raid into northern Alabama and Georgia with the goal of cutting off railroad traffic between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Streight surrendered on May 3 to a force 1/2 the size of his own.
1865 - The steamboat Sultana left New Orleans. The craft exploded on April 27 killing about 1,700 people.
U.S. Civil War Quote:
"We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us."
- Abraham Lincoln on holding elections during a military emergency.
KCWRT Activities
Albert Castel Book Award
Historical Preservation Efforts
Albert Castel Book Award
To stimulate new scholarship on the Civil War, every other year KCWRT presents the Albert Castel Book Award to the author of the best recent book on the Civil War in the Western Theater.
WMU History Day 2023
Historical Preservation Efforts
Albert Castel Book Award
To help promote local interest in the Civil War, KCWRT awards an annual prize for the best Civil War-related entry in the Kalamazoo District Michigan History Day Competition.
Historical Preservation Efforts
Historical Preservation Efforts
Historical Preservation Efforts
KCWRT has conducted fund raisers to support numerous preservation efforts over the years. Generally, this is in the form of a donation to a preservation fund organized to save a specific Civil War site from development.