Welcome to the website of the American Civil War Round Table (UK)
We’re a growing group of mostly British-based members, who get together and share information about all aspects of one of the greatest conflicts of the 19th century. You will also find here articles taken from our thrice yearly magazine ‘Crossfire’, that is free to members. If after browsing our site you would like to join us we’d be very happy to enrol you, whatever colour you prefer!
Our Round Table comprises people from all walks of life who are interested in any or all aspects of the war, but who also care enough to contribute to the growing number of initiatives to preserve this heritage for future generations. We meet frequently, mostly in London, to hear a wide variety of presentations on the war. Our speakers have included such published historians as Ed Bearss, Amanda Foreman and Gary Gallagher.
Why, you may wonder, with so much history of our own? Surprisingly, we are the first in the line of Civil War Round Tables set up in the 1950s - almost exlusively in the United States. We have maintained a natural affinity with events of the Civil War. With many of its participants hailing from these islands it is unsurprising that British viewpoints settled over this all-American affair. And both North and South - the Blue and the Grey - looked hopefully to Britain and its empire for signs of support: and warily for signs of hostility. The war sparked heated debate in a Britain that had set its moral face against slavery while supporting a new industrial age that included a cotton industry dependent upon Southern slaves.
Latest news
President's Report - April 2012
By Greg Bayne
In my role as President, I am often reminded of the simple generousity of people. At our April conference we will have in our raffle items donated to the RT by Ruth Wray, the widow of John Wray. We will also have some books donated to us from John Brewer from Cardiff whose father, Berkeley Brewer, was a lifelong civil war enthusiast. His only request is that we make a donation from the proceedsto a CW preservation project, preferably Gettysburg. I think we can manage that. We have also received a number of books from John Laskey, who has left Blighty and set up an encampment in Connecticut. Another set of books has been collected from another CW enthusiast in Essex. The piece de resistance has to be the two Sumter flags donated by Rick Hatcher. All these items will be at the April conference.
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Forthcoming events
9/6/2012 -
Flora and Fauna of the Civil War
Speaker Kelby Ouchley
During the Civil War, humans impacted plants and animals on an unprecedented scale as soldiers on both sides waged the most environmentally destructive war ever on American soil. Refugees and armies alike tramped across the landscape foraging for food, shelter, and fuel. Wild plants and animals formed barriers for armies and carried disease, yet also provided medicine and raw materials necessary to implement war, greatly influencing the day-to-day life of soldiers and civilians. Of the thousands of books written about the Civil War, few mention the environment, and none address the topic as a principal theme. In Flora and Fauna of the Civil War, Kelby Ouchley blends traditional and natural history to create a unique lecture that explores both the impact of the Civil War on the surrounding environment and the reciprocal influence of plants and animals on the war effort.
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Preservation news
It’s About Time - A UK Memorial for Britons in the Civil War?
by Basil Larkins
It has been estimated that several thousand Brits took part in the American Civil War but their involvement is for the most part lost in the mists of time. Some like Colonel Fremantle were observers of the conflict while others took part. Most of them were already in America when war broke out and either volunteered or were conscripted into the armies of both sides.
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Book reviews
One War at a Time: The International Dimension of the American Civil War
By: Dean B Mahin, pp 343 Available from Brasseys, 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, Va.20166, and most U.K. bookshops. Dollar Price: $27.95
Review by: Alan Milne
What role did Lincoln play in foreign policy? A long-prevalent view has him wisely leaving it to the superior wisdom and experience of Seward. Lincoln's main role is to contribute a few specimens of folksy metaphor to explain or justify the administration's actions.
Dean B Mahin challenges this view with cogent argument. For him, Lincoln is the prime mover, the master and commander of Union foreign policy. His Lincoln works hand-in-glove with Seward, but takes the decisive role in determining the Union's foreign policy towards Britain and France.
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Battles and campaigns
Menage a Trois -The Deerhound Story
By Greg Bayne (with a lot of help from Len Ellison, Charles Priestley and Maurice Rigby)
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The testimony to a good lecture is whether or not it sends me to the reference books. So it was with Len Ellison’s talk on the Alabama. Of course we knew the story, but Len put paid to some of the myths surrounding her and added a few extra snippets into the mix as well.
Picture Credit: We are grateful for the permission to use the picture of the Deerhound that resides at the Royal Mersey Yacht Club
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Profile
Barnacles – Alabama Crewman
By Maurice Rigby
Robert Egan was born in Standish Street, Chorley, on September 20 1846, the eldest son of a builder's labourer James and Elizabeth Egan nee Snape, and was baptised at Saint Gregory's Roman Catholic Church one week later.
The public health conditions in Chorley were in a terrible state during the late 1840's and early 1850's, with the local River Chor carrying most of the sewerage. What water supplies that were around came from very old wells and springs, with the odd private water pump like the one situated in Standish Street with a charge of a 1d (one penny) a week to use it.
This photo shows Captain Semmes with two of the five boys who were on the ship. We are pretty certain that the boy on the left is Thomas Parker and we would like to think that the “grumpy” one is Robert Egan
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