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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.
March 29th
1865 - Union General Grant began his offensive at Petersburg, Virginia. Petersburg fell on April 3. This was the last campaign of the war. (Appomattox Campaign)
U.S. Civil War Quote:
"In your hand, my fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it...We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at his inauguration ceremony on March 4, 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.