CINCINNATI
 CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE
Serving Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Since 1956

Special Hamilton CWRT Meeting with Jim Bissland, April 9th. Different Location and Reservations Required.

Meeting Location will change, and reservations will be required for the April 9th meeting with Jim Bissland. The meeting will begin at 6 PM, and will be held at the Symmes Tavern on the Green, 500 Wessel Drive, Fairfield OH 45014. Dinner will be a buffet, have choice of beef or chicken entree, and will cost $25. Dinner reservations will be required by Sunday, 6 April, to Glenn Purdy at 513-737-7377 or email to glennp@ix.netcom.com. Restaurant location is near the intersection of Nilles Road and Pleasant Avenue (US 127) in Fairfield.

Jim is the author of Blood, Tears, & Glory: How Ohioans Won the Civil War. The book discusses "how Ohio men and women led the nation to victory. No State did more than Ohio to assure victory for the Union. While Easterners were battling to a bloody stalemate, Midwestern farmers, shopkeepers, and country lawyers fighting elsewhere were shaping the war's outcome. Dismissed by haughty Easterners as "armed rabble or drunkards, these citizen-soldiers, white and black, often were poorly trained and poorly equipped--but they were tough, confident, and supported by strong women who found their own ways to get into the fight." For more information on the book, see Orange Frazier Press.

Civil War History Day at Main Library, Feb 24th. (Go here for details.)

Lincoln Bicentennial Lecture with Dr. Chris Phillips at NKU, Feb 12th. (Go here for details.)

Civil War Medal of Honor Tour at Spring Grove Cemetery with Jack Simon, Veterans' Day 2007.

CCWRT Member and Spring Grove Cemetery researcher Jack Simon led a driving tour of the Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients at Spring Grove Cemetery on a soggy Veterans Day, 11 November 2007.  The one-hour tour included a short history of the Medal of Honor, visiting the five Civil War recipients' gravesites, and a visit to the 5th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Association monument. See photos here.

Proposed Fortification Study Group

Jack Simon has proposed to set up an informal discussion group within our Round Table on the topic of Civil War fortifications. The group would meet three or four times a year on a day and time different from the Round Table's regular meetings. No dues, no officers, just informal presentations and discussion of any facet of Civil War fortifications. Possible locations could include a library or a restaurant. Membership in the Round Table would be required. If you are interested, please contact Jack by phone or email as listed in the CWRT Officers section on the last page of the newsletter or in the "About Us" page of this website.

Paul LaRue & Washington Senior Research History Class Honored by The History Channel

Many of you were present in February 2006 when Washington Court House teacher Paul LaRue and members of his 2005-2006 Senior Research History Class presented their project work for the year to CCWRT. One of those projects culminated in the passage of state legislation setting September 22nd for commemoration of Emancipation Day in the State of Ohio. Paul and this year's class have been honored by History Channel for their work to preserve the history of the Gist Settlement in Highland County, including the installation of markers for several USCT veterans buried at the Gist Settlement. See History Channel's statement here. Below, Paul and two class members unload the new VA grave marker they have obtained for Benjamin Lay, a 27th USCT veteran. As the History Channel statement indicates, the class' Gist Settlement project was featured as the cover story in the Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal (Volume Vol. XI, 2007, No. 2). To obtain this issue, contact the Ohio Genealogical Society at www.ogs.org, or contact Dan Reigle of CCWRT. The class' project is described more completely on their website WCH Senior Research History.

Last Living Hamilton County Union Veteran to be Honored on October 14th

One of the National Programs of the Sons of Union Veterans is to identify and suitably mark the grave site of the last Union Veteran to die and be buried in every county in the USA. The General William H. Lytle Camp #10 located in the Cincinnati area has has identified and held ceremonies in both Clermont and Clinton Counties.

On October 14, 2007 at 1:30 P.M. in the Spring Grove Cemetery the General Lytle Camp will honor Frederick Pfiester by placing a bronze plaque on his grave site.

• Frederick was born 9 April 1846 in a house on Main Street in Cincinnati.
• On 2 September 1862 at age 16, he enlisted in the 11th OVI as a drummer boy and served for 30 days.
• He enlisted a second time on 2 May 1864, at age 18, in the 137th OVI and served for 90 days, and was mustered out at Camp Dennison on 19 August 1864.
• Pfiester was a life long Cincinnati resident.
• He retired in 1936 as Superintendent of the Butcher's Hide Association. He was reported to be the oldest man holding executive office in the United States at that time.
• He was a member of the Cincinnati Board of Alderman from 1880 to 1884 and a member of the Ohio Legislature 1888-1889.
• As a life long member of the Grand Army of the Republic, he was Commander of the George H. Thomas Post #13 for 50 years and Ohio Department Commander in 1937.
• Frederick was a member of the St. Peter Evangelical Church and the Mason McMillian Blue Lodge # 141.

Dedication of Morgan's Raid OHS Marker in Springdale, Sept 11, 3 PM

An Ohio Historical Marker will be dedicated in Springdale on Tuesday, September 11th, at 3 PM. The marker will observe the location in Springdale where Morgan's group turned south to head into Glendale. The location will be the southeast corner of Route 4 and Kemper Road. Dave Mowery researched and wrote the initial application for this marker, and will be one of the speakers at the event, along with Springdale Mayor Doyle Webster and an OHS representative. As we approach the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, it is important that public officials know that there is significant interest in the Civil War, so please attend this event if it is possible for you to do so. In addition, Dave has worked hard on this, and deserves our support.

Copperheadism in Butler County, Ohio: Ohio Historical Marker Dedicated at 1858 Morgan Township House on June 16, 2007.

See David Mowery's article and photographs on this house and the dedication here .

CCWRT Member Lois Lambert Wins Book Award

At the annual conference of the Ohio Genealogical Society on April 14th, CCWRT member Lois Lambert won OGS' "Oliver Hazard Perry Award for Ohio-related Military Historical Records" for her book, 91st Ohio Volunteer Infantry With the Civil War Letters of Lt. Col. Benjamin Franklin Coates. It was published in 2005 by Little Miami Publishing Company, Milford. The book is being stocked in the major Cincinnati-area bookstores, and is also available from the publisher at http://www.littlemiamibooks.com/. Dan Reigle's review of the book is available here. Congratulations to Lois!

New Meeting Location: Sharonville Conference Center (for April & May, 2007)

The meeting site location for the April 19th and May 17th meetings has changed!

The Quality Hotel and Suites in Norwood, OH, the site of our regular monthly meetings the last eight years, has unexpectedly lost their restaurant and catering service prior to the hotel's planned on August 2007 termination date. Attempts to negotiate a new arrangement with another caterer and restaurant manager will not be completed in time for our last two meetings of this campaign year.

Given the late date, and our desire to hold these meetings, the officers of the Round Table have decided on the following:

The April 19th and May 17th meetings will be held at the Sharonville Conference Center, 11355 Chester Road, Sharonville, OH 45246 (Ph. 513.771.7744). For those of you not familiar with that location, it is Exit 15 as you travel Highway 75 North/South. The conference center is directly across the street from the Sheraton Cincinnati North, and just north of Princeton High School. More detailed directions to the Sharonville Convention Center are provided at the bottom of this message.

We realize this site change might be a little longer drive for some of our members and visitors, but we had to concede on something in order to ensure these meetings took place as planned. We encourage all members who have made reservations for the April meeting, and those who plan to attend the May meeting, as well as any visitors who might want to attend as a result of viewing this site, to show up and give us your support on this unexpected, and last minute, change in plans. And, if you had made plans to arrive after dinner to hear Terry Winschel speak, we hope you will still attend and not let the location change alter your plans for the evening.

The Sharonville Convention Center, of all the options considered, has been one of the most professional, flexible and accommodating of our needs. The April and May dates are available, with a little flexibility on our part regarding room location from meeting to meeting. They will provide the catering support and the cost of the meals will be the $25.00 price we communicated to our membership in an earlier message. The menu for the April meeting will be: Spinach Salad, Grilled Pork Chop, Glazed Baby Carrots, Twice Baked Potato & Fluffy White Cake Topped with White Chocolate Mousse and Strawberries. The meeting times remain the same.Social Hour: 6:00 to 6:45; Dinner: 6:45 to 7:45; Business Mtg: 7:45 to 8:00; Terry Winschel's presentation on Companion to the Fishes: The Saga of the Gunboat Cincinnati: 8:00 pm. Parking is free.

A decision on where we will meet for the September meeting, and the remainder of the upcoming campaign year, will be made over the summer months. One of our primary objectives in making this decision will be to minimize any loss of members, because of distance traveled, if a meeting site change becomes necessary. The Quality Hotel and Suites will again be considered, if they satisfactorily resolve their current catering problem, and the promised price increase they signaled to us meets with our approval. We will provide time, during the May business meeting, for an open discussion on meeting site preferences. We realize we may not be able to meet everyone's needs, but we do need to determine if the Sharonville location, or any other more northerly site, should be considered as a possible replacement for the Quality Hotel & Suites, if relocating on a permanent basis is required. We will also provide an update on what we learned about other possible meeting sites, and their costs, as a result of this unplanned emergency search for a meeting site location.

Driving directions to the Sharonville Convention Center are:

From the North (Dayton): Take I-75 South to the Sharon Road Exit (#15). Turn right on Sharon Road. Go one block to Chester Road and turn right. The Convention Center is located ½ mile on the left.

From the West: Take I-275 around the north side of the outer-belt (North/East) to I-75 South. Take I-75 South to the Sharon Road Exit (#15). Turn right on Sharon Road. Go one block to Chester Road and turn right. The Convention Center is located ½ mile on the left.

From the East: Take I-275 around the north side of the outer-belt (North/West) to I-75 South. Take I-75 South to the Sharon Road Exit (#15). Turn right on Sharon Road. Go one block to Chester Road and turn right. The Convention Center is located ½ mile on the left.

From the South: Take I-75 North to the Sharon Road Exit (#15). Turn left on Sharon Road. Go one block to Chester Road and turn right. The Convention Center is located ½ mile on the left.

Expanded and Reprinted Geaslen Book Now Available at Ramage Museum

Our Moment of Glory in the Civil War, Chester F. Geaslen's 1972 history of the events of the Fall of 1862 in the Cincinnati area, has been long out of print. It has now been expanded with new contributions by Dr. James A. Ramage, Jeannine Kreinbrink, and Bob Clements. The book is now available at the James A. Ramage Civil War Museum in Fort Wright and at the Behringer-Crawford Museum in Devou Park. See more information here: Geaslen Book Signing.

Our congratulations and appreciation to the editors, to the City of Fort Wright and the Behringer-Crawford Museum, and to the Geaslen Family for making this important publication available.

Update: CCWRT 2006-2007 Preservation Project: Richmond & Perryville

We are now in the second phase of our Perryville and Richmond Battlefield Dedicated Preservation Fund Raising Project.  We are pleased to announce that 14 members contributed to the project during the first phase in which we teamed with the Civil War Preservation Trust.  We were able to take advantage of the large matching dollar incentive offered by the Preservation Trust to help save a total of 454 acres of unprotected land at both the Richmond and Perryville Battlefields!  Member contributions combined with the $1.00 for $2.00 match from our Preservation Fund (with a $250.00 cap) allowed the Round Table to make a contribution to the Civil War Preservation Trust of $850.00.  When you multiply this total by the large $1.00 for $12.30 match by the Preservation Trust, our $850.00 contribution equaled $10,455.00 or almost two acres saved!  You can see a copy of a letter that the Civil War Preservation Trust sent us as an acknowledgment of our contribution at the link below.

Read CWPT's thank-you letter to CCWRT: (Here)

Although we have already accomplished so much, further preservation is still in need! The second part of our dedicated fund raising program for the Perryville Battlefield runs from January to May.  All monies received between now and our last meeting of this campaign year will go directly to the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association.  The Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association (PBPA) is a non-profit organization devoted to the interpretation and preservation of the battle lands and the historic town of Perryville. Founded in 1991, the organization has been successful in its numerous achievements in the field of preservation. In 1993, the Congressionally-appointed Civil War Advisory Commission named Perryville as a Priority-One Class-A Battlefield. This designation ranks Perryville as one of the top eleven battlefields in need of preservation and ranks the site as one of the top eleven battlefields in terms of overall historic importance out of 384 conflicts included in the study.

Contributions can be made at the check-in-desk during our monthly meetings, or by mailing your gift to our Treasurer, Jim Stewart at Cincinnati CWRT, P.O. Box 621082, Cincinnati, Ohio 45262.  Checks should be made out to the "Cincinnati CWRT" and the memo line should indicate "Perryville Battlefield".  A receipt will be provided as all contributions are tax deductible under our status as a 501(C)3 organization.  Donations can be accepted anytime from now until the May 2007 meeting.

Take CWPT's Virtual Tour of Perryville

Nov 9th Book Event at NKU: New Book on Sue Mundy

Northern Kentucky University's Friends of Steely Library will present the first public reading of former Kentucky Poet Laureate Richard Taylor's newest work, SUE MUNDY: A NOVEL OF THE CIVIL WAR, on Thursday, November 9, 2006, at 7 p.m. in the loggia of Steely Library, on the Highland Heights campus. The reading is free and open to the public.

Books will be available for purchase at a reception following the reading, with a portion of the proceeds donated by the NKU Bookstore to the Friends of Steely Library. For more information, contact Julie Matthews at (859) 572-5636 or matthewsju@nku.edu.

For a description of the book, see: Civil War Terrorists

For Q&A with Professor Taylor, see: A Conversation with Richard Taylor