York Civil War Round Table
The York Civil War Round Table is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote, interpret, preserve, and protect the Civil War heritage of York County, Pennsylvania, through the education and exchange of information with its members and the general public.
Membership is free and open to anyone interested in learning more about the American Civil War.
Founded as the White Rose Civil War Round Table, the York CWRT holds monthly meetings the third Wednesday of every month except December at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the York County Heritage Center at 250 E. Market St. (the historic Lincoln Highway) in York, Pennsylvania. Each meeting features a guest speaker talking about a Civil War topic of local or national interest. There is no admission fee or membership requirement to attend any of these meetings.
Other scheduled events include an annual clean-up day at Gettysburg National Military Park as part of the “Adopt-a-Position” program. Members and guests tidy up the area around the 102nd Pennsylvania/62nd New York on the John Weikert/Althoff Farm Lane. A free battlewalk with local experts is usually included to round out the day. Other regularly scheduled battlewalks by Dr. Charlie Fennell occur in the autumn.
For details, email yorkcwrt@yahoo.com.
Here is the current schedule; as mentioned the public is welcome and there is no charge!
2019 York Civil War Round Table Events
January 16, 2019 – Randy Drais – “William H. Tipton: The Man Behind the Camera, How He Influenced the Gettysburg Battlefield”
February 20, 2019 – Kelly D. Summerford – First Person Portrayal – “William C. Goodridge: York Businessman, Abolitionist and Conductor”
March 20, 2019 – Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – “Erin Go Bragh: Human Interest Stories of the Irish in the American Civil War”
April 17, 2019 – Michael Wunsch – “Lincoln, Hamlin & Johnson: The National Party Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, June 7-8, 1864”
May 15, 2019 – Kevin Shroyer – “Virginians in Blue”
June 19, 2019 – Michael Jesberger – “Stealing the Body of Abraham Lincoln: Strange but True Tale of our 16th President”
July 17, 2019 – Ronald D. Kirkwood – “Too Much for Human Endurance: The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg”
August 21, 2019 – Richard Lewis – “Cloaked in Mystery: The Curious Case of the Confederate Coat”
September 18, 2019 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – “The Battle of Hanover: Prelude to Gettysburg”
September 22, 2019 – Field Trip and Tour of Hanover, PA – Led by Licensed Battlefield Guide Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – Sunday – from 10 A.M. to 12 Noon
October 16, 2019 – Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – “Great Care was Taken: The York, PA, U.S. Army Hospital in the Gettysburg Campaign”
November 20, 2019 – James A. Hessler – “Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard: Longstreet, Sickles, and the Bloody Fight for the ‘Commanding Ground’ Along the Emmitsburg Road”
December – No Meeting! Happy Holidays!
2018 York Civil War Round Table Events
January 17, 2018 – Gene Barr – “A Civil War Captain and His Lady: Love, Courtship and Combat from Fort Donelson through the Vicksburg Campaign”
February 21, 2018 – Cooper H. Wingert – “Abolitionists in South Central Pennsylvania”
March 21, 2018 – Joseph Mieczkowski – “The 1863 New York City Draft Riots” Note: Talk was rescheduled to July 18, 2018, because of snow.
April 18, 2018 – Michael S. Jesberger – “The H. L. Hunley: Confederate Submarine” – Rescheduled from March 2017
May 16, 2018 – Eric J. Wittenberg – “The Battle of Trevilian Station”
June 20, 2018 – James McClure – “Who was Chief Burgess David Small, at York’s helm when the Confederates came to town in 1863?”
July 18, 2018 – Dr. Jennifer M. Murray – “On A Great Battlefield: The History of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1863 – 2016” – NOTE: Jen had to cancel because of moving out of the area to take a new position. Joe Mieczkowski’s talk on the draft riots will replace her planned talk.
August 15, 2018 – Ray Kinard – “Hanover Branch Railroad: Gateway to Gettysburg”
September 19, 2018 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – “The 1st U S Sharp Shooters: The Most Significant Union Reconnaissance at Gettysburg”
September 23, 2018 – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – 10 AM to 12 Noon
October 17, 2018 – Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – “ The Second Day at Gettysburg: The Attack and Defense of Cemetery Ridge, July 2, 1863”
November 14, 2018 – Scott E. Rosenau – “Lincoln and the Founders: Completing the Unfinished Work” – Date change due to Thanksgiving
December – No Meeting! Happy Holidays!
2017 Speakers and Events
January 18, 2017 – Chris Brenneman – “Secrets of the Cyclorama”
February 15, 2017 – James McClure and Scott L. Mingus Sr. –“The Ground Swallowed Them Up: Slavery and the Underground Railroad in York County, Pa.”
March 15, 2017 – Michael S. Jesberger – “The H. L. Hunley – Confederate Submarine”
April 19, 2017 – Mark Grim – “Imprisonment, Trial and Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators – An Overview”
May 17, 2017 – Daniel Vermilya – “From Battlefield to the White House – James Garfield”
June 21, 2017 – D. Scott Hartwig – “Gettysburg: Sorting Fiction From Fact”
July 19, 2017 – Tom Huntington – “Searching for George Gordon Meade: The Forgotten Victor of Gettysburg”
August 16, 2017 – Linda Clark – “Wounded Houses, Shattered Lives: What Was it Like For the Gettysburg Citizens of 1863”
September 20, 2017 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell Jr. – “Farnsworth’s Fatal Charge with the 1st Vermont Cavalry”
September 24, 2017 – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with Dr. Charles C. Fennell Jr. – Tour of South Cavalry Field including Devil’s Kitchen – 10 AM to 12 Noon
October 18, 2017 – Scott L. Mingus Sr. – “Confederate General William “Extra Billy” Smith: From Virginia’s Statehouse to Gettysburg’s Scapegoat” – special 20th anniversary meeting
November 15, 2017 – Kevin Rawlings – portraying “The Thomas Nast Patriotic Civil War Santa Claus”
December – No meeting! Happy Holidays!
2016 Events
January 20, 2016 – Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – “Fighting Parsons: Civil War Chaplains” – Rev. James Banach – as Rev. James Allen Brown: Chaplain 87th PA & Military Hospital York, PA
February 17, 2016 – Stephen H. Smith – “Examining a Unique African American G.A.R. Post as the Grand Army of the Republic Celebrates 150 Years”
March 16, 2016 – Scott E. Rosenau – “Lincoln’s Rise to the Presidency”
April 20, 2016 – Thomas A. Bogar – “Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination: The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford’s Theatre”
May 18, 2016 – Wayne E. Motts & James A. Hessler- “Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg: A Guide to the Most Famous Attack in American History”
June 15, 2016 – Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – “The 87th Pennsylvania at Second Winchester”
July 20, 2016 – Michael D. Smith– as Brigadier General John Buford
August 17, 2016 – Gerard E. Mayers– “Getting the Message Out: Text Messaging Civil War Style”
September 21, 2016 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – “Pettigrew’s Debut at Gettysburg: Breaks Federal 1st Corps Line on McPherson’s Ridge, July1st “
September 25, 2016 – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with DR. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – 10 AM to 12 Noon
October 19, 2016 – Kendra Debany – “Gettysburg House Historian: Examining the History of the Henry Culp and Nicholas Codori Farms on the Gettysburg Battlefield”
November 16, 2016 – Edward H. Bonekemper, III – “The Myth of the Lost Cause: False Remembrance of the Civil War”
2015 Events
January 21, 2015 – Randy Drais – General George Pickett’s Official Report of the Battle of Gettysburg
February 18, 2015 – Chaplain Ron Bupp – From Round Ball to Minnie Ball
March 18, 2015 – Dr. Chuck Teague – The Final Fourteen Days of Father Abraham
April 15, 2015 – Mike Reetz – as Brigadier General Horace Porter – The Revolutionary War Echoed Through the Life of Horace Porter
May 20, 2015 – Michael Sipes – as Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early, C.S.A. – The Army of Northern Virginia’s 1863 Campaign North into Pennsylvania: Viewpoints on the Movements of the Second Corps
June 17, 2015 – Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – The Northern Central Railway in the Civil War 1861-1865
July 15, 2015 – Eric W. Buckland – Mosby’s Rangers
August 19, 2015 – Dr. Philip J. Avillo – Reconstruction After the Civil War, 1865-1877: A Struggle for Freedom
September 16, 2015 – Matt Atkinson – Robert E. Lee Comes Home from War – 1865 to 1870
October 21, 2015 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – Pennsylvania Reserves Saves Little Round Top: Into the Valley of Death
October 25, 2015 NOTE DATE CHANGE!!!! – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – 10 to 12 Noon – Tour
November 18, 2015 – Brian J. Blake – General Francis Barlow: The life of an American citizen-soldier
2014 Events
January 15, 2014 – Eric Lindblade – The Battle was Grand, Sublime, and Awful: The 26th North Carolina and the Battle of Gettysburg
February 19, 2014 – Michael A. Riley – Major General John F. Reynolds
March 19, 2014 – Gary L. Casteel – Monumentation and the National Civil War Memorial
April 16, 2014 – Mike Plunkett – Paddy Has Gone For A Soldier: Songs and Stories of the Soldiers of the Irish Brigade
May 21, 2014 – Gail Stephens – Jubal’s in the Valley: The Battle of Monocacy 150th Anniversary
June 18, 2014 – Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – The Underground Railroad in York County
July 16, 2014 – George F. Franks, III – Battle of Falling Waters 1863: Custer, Pettigrew and the End of the Gettysburg Campaign
August 20, 2014 – Brian J. Blake – George Pickett: Southern Patriot or War Criminal
September 17, 2014 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – The Battle of Antietam 152nd Anniversary
September 20, 2014 – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – 12 to 2 p.m. – Tour
October 15, 2014 – Ronald L. Hershner – Letters From Home: York County, Pennsylvania during the Civil War
November 19, 2014 – Daniel Roe – Lewis Miller and the Civil War
2013 Events
January 16, 2013 – Cooper H. Wingert – The Confederate Approach to Harrisburg
February 20, 2013 – James E. Schmick – Civil War Harrisburg
March 20, 2013 – Richard Kohr – Gettysburg at Arlington
April 17, 2013 – Dr. Charles Teague – From Calamity to Crisis: Oliver O. Howard, Out of Chancellorsville and into Gettysburg
May 15, 2013 – Randy Drais – Exploring the Battle of Gettysburg
June 26, 2013 – Scott Mingus and Jim McClure – More Civil War Voices from York County
July 17, 2013 – Lila Fourhman-Shaull – Civil War Stories from Prospect Hill Cemetery
August 17, 2013 – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with Chris Army – 9 a.m. to noon, the Harman Farm. Meet at West End Guide Station on US 30
August 21, 2013 – Jerry W. Holsworth – Stonewall Jackson and Winchester, Va.
September 18, 2013 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – Clash of Sabers at East Cavalry Field
September 21, 2013 – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – 12 to 2 p.m.
October 16, 2013 – Ed LeFevre – Maj. Gen. William “Extra Billy” Smith
November 20, 2013 – James Hayney – The Gettysburg Address: Facts and Myths
2012 Events
January 18, 2012 – Suzanne Doucette – Southern Lady, Union Spy: Elizabeth Van Lew
February 15, 2012 – Debra McCauslin – Echoes from the Past: African-American Voices at Gettysburg
March 21, 2012 – Dick Simpson – The Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas: March 7-8, 1862
April 18, 2012 – Dr. Lawrence E. Keener-Farley – Floating Iron: The New Navies of the Civil War
May 16, 2012 – Edward H. Bonekemper, III – Lincoln and Grant: The Westerners Who Won the Civil War
June 20, 2012 – Jason Amico – Battlefield Photography: How the Images Changed the War
July 18, 2012 – Stephen Recker – Antietam Through Old Photographs
August 15, 2012 – Jeffry D. Wert – A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee’s Triumph, 1862-1863
September 19, 2012 – Scott Mingus – J.E.B. Stuart’s Ride Through York County
October 17, 2012 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – In the Eye of the Storm: The Philadelphia Brigade at Gettysburg
October 20, 2012 – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – Time TBA
November 14, 2012 – Dr. Mark A. Snell – General William B. Franklin and the Battle of Fredericksburg
2011 Events
January 19, 2011 – Lila Fourhman-Shaull – Guided Tour of YCHT Civil War Collection
February 16, 2011 – George F. Nagle – Pursuing a Course Unwise, Fanatical, and Disorganizing: Harrisburg’s Anti-Slavery Activists
March 16, 2011 – John T. Krepps – A Strong and Sudden Onslaught: The Cavalry Action at Hanover, Pennsylvania
April 20, 2011 – Dr. Lawrence E. Keener-Farley – The Gathering Storm: The Coming of the Civil War
May 18, 2011 – Joseph Stahl – Identification Discs of Union Soldiers in the Civil War at Gettysburg
June 15, 2011 – James McClure and Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – Civil War Voices from York County, Pa.: Remembering the Rebellion and the Gettysburg Campaign
July 20, 2011 – Wayne E. Motts – …For The Last Time On Earth: The Life and Death of First Sergeant Aaron T. Mc Naghten
August 17, 2011 – Jean Hershner – The Cartridge Box: The Inside-Out Newspaper of the U.S. Army Hospital at York, PA
September 21, 2011 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – Assault on Little Round Top: A Southern Perspective on Lost Opportunity
September 24, 2011 – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – 1 p.m.
October 19, 2011 – James A. Morgan, III – A Little Short of Boats: The Fights at Ball’s Bluff and Edwards Ferry, October 21-23, 1861
November 16, 2011 – Dr. Charles Teague – Mr. Lincoln Goes to War
2010 Events
January 20, 2010 – Bruce Liddic – George Armstrong Custer: From Ohio to Pennsylvania, Boyhood to Generalship
February 17, 2010 – Cal Doucette – A Conversation With Horace Greeley
March 17, 2010 – Dick Simpson – Missouri 1861 and the Battle of Wilson’s Creek
April 21, 2010 – Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign
May 19, 2010 – Matt Atkinson – Storming Through Mississippi: The Campaign and Seizure of Vicksburg
June 16, 2010 – Jim McClure – York County ‘s View of the Civil War: Then and Now
July 21, 2010 – John Ream – Civil War Hospital Stewart John Weakley of the 87th PA
August 18, 2010 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – Fighting or Flying Dutchmen: The 11th Corps from Barlow’s Knoll to Cemetery Hill
September 15, 2010 – Tyrone Cornbower – Sheepskin Fiddlers and Straw Blowers: Field Music in the Civil War
September 18, 2010 – Battlefield Walk at GNMP with Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr.
October 20, 2010 – Jay Jorgensen – Edward Porter Alexander : Confederate Cannoneer at Gettysburg
2009 Events
January 21, 2009 – Dr. Chuck Teague – The Shadow of Napoleon on Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg
February 18, 2009 – Jim Lewin – Lines of Contention: Political Cartoons of the Civil War
March 19, 2009 – Scott L. Mingus, Sr. – Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863
April 15, 2009 – Joe Mieczkowski – Senator Simon Cameron: Civil War Secretary of War
May 2, 2009 – Monument Clean-Up Day Adopt-a-Position at Gettysburg
May 20, 2009 – Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. – The Pennsylvania Railroad in the Civil War
June 17, 2009 – Scott D. Butcher – York : Prize of the Confederacy
July 15, 2009 – Craig Caba – Aspects of the J. Howard Wert Gettysburg Collection
August 19, 2009 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – Confederate Disaster on Oak Ridge
September 16, 2009 – Bill Woodworth – The Piper Farm Attack at Antietam
September 19, 2009 – Dr. Charles C. Fennell, Jr. – Battlefield walk at GNMP
October 21, 2009 – Jim Hessler – Sickles at Gettysburg
November 18, 2009 – Timothy H. Smith – Abraham Lincoln – 25 Hours at Gettysburg