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Kalamazoo Civil War Round Table
Dedicated to preserving the History and Stories of The American Civil War
The next KCWRT Meeting....April 17th at 7:00pm
This month’s speaker is Benjamin L. Cwayna
Benjamin is an attorney in private practice and well-known leader in the Civil War reenacting and living history community. Benjamin commanded the 12th South Carolina/4th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, Inc., a nationally known reenacting organization, for many years. He has appeared on the “Addressing Gettysburg Podcast” with Matt Callery and has devoted his life to preserving the memory of the Civil War through living history demonstrations, presentations, and leading tours on numerous battlefields. A graduate of Michigan State University and Michigan State University College of Law, Benjamin and his son, Grant, reside in Grand Ledge, Michigan, where he is an active member of the community; serving on the Grand Ledge Public Schools Board of Education, a member of the Grand Ledge Rotary Club, and numerous other civic organizations.
April 17th
1861 - Virginia left the Union. Within the next 5 weeks Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina seceded bringing the total of Confederate states to eleven.
1863 - Union Colonel Benjamin Grierson left La Grange, Tennessee with 1,700 cavalry troops on a mission to destroy enemy supplies, telegraph lines and railroads in Mississippi. The raid ended on May 2 when Grierson and his men rode into Union occupied Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1864 - Confederate forces under General Robert Hoke attacked Plymouth, North Carolina. The rebels were attempting to recapture ports lost to the Union two years before.
1864 - Union General Frederick Steele sent Colonel John Williams to gather corn that had been found west of Camden. On the way back the wagon train was attacked and stopped by Confederate General Samuel Maxey's troops.
U.S. Civil War Quote:
"By some strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land."
- George McClellan spoke this self-appraisal shortly after he assumed command of the Union forces around Washington in 1861
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.