MCCWRT Meeting June 11: John Brown: Hero or Terrorist?

The McHenry Civil War Round Table (Illinois) will be meeting Tuesday, June 11 at the Woodstock Public Library in Woodstock, Illinois.

It will be in person and via Zoom.

Presenter will be Bob Pressman on "John Brown:  Hero or Terrorist."

Meeting starts at 7 p.m. and runs to 8:30.

The library is located at 414 West Judd Street.

All are also invited to attend a pre-meeting get together for dinner or snacks at 3 Brothers Restaurant on Illinois Highway 47.    No need to RSVP.  Just show up.

(Personally I regard John Brown as quite a terrorist and a major reason the war was fought.)

--Old Secesh  (With a name like that, how could I not?)

Match Each General With the Site of His Death or Mortal Wounding-- Part 2: Robert E. Rhodes

These extra hard questions (I only got two matched and some of these men I'd never heard of before) were submitted to America's Civil War by Stewart  Douglas, a reader of them magazine in the United Kingdom.

Five More of which I only got Zollicoffer right and that was kind of an educated guess.

1.  Joseph Mansfield

2.  Lloyd Tilgham

3.  Robert E. Rhodes

4.  Daniel Chaplin

5.  Felix Zollicoffer

********************************

A.  Obequon

B.  Antietam

C.  Mill Springs

D.  Deep Bottom

E.  Champion Hill

********************************

ANSWERS

1.  B

2.  E

3.  A

4.  D

5.  C

Bring Back America's Civil War and Civil War Times.  --Old Secesh

Match Each General with the Site of His Death or Mortal Wound-- Part 1

From the July 2021 America's Civil War.  (I sure miss this magazine).

1.  J.E.B. Stuart

2.  George Duncan Wells

3.  Philip Kearny

4.  Samuel Zook

5.  Edward Don Tracy

**********************

a.  Cedar Creek

b.  Chantilly

c.  Port Gibson

d.  Gettysburg

e.  Yellow Tavern

**********************

Answers

1 e

2 d

3 b

4 d 

5 j

I only got Stuart right and had never heard of Wells, Zook or Tracy.  Shows what I don't know.

--Old Secesh Don't Know Much.

Rock River Valley CWRT 'Talks' 2024-- Part 2

JULY 1:  Bjorn Skeptason  "Battery H in the Atlanta Campaign"

AUGUST 5:  Bob Girardi  "Civil War Engineers"

SEPTEMBER  9:  Dwight Hughes  "Battle of Hampton Roads"  Okay, about time they had a talk on the naval side of the war!!

OCTOBER 7:  TBA

NOVEMBER Douglas Egerton  "Thunder at the Gates"

DECEMBER 2:  Daniel Weinberg  "Dealing in Historical Artifacts"

So, That's What They Talk About.  --Old Secesh

In Case You're Wondering About the 'Talks' at CWRTs: Rock Valley CWRT Speakers for 2024

JANUARY 8:  Steve Acker "Life in the Trenches at Petersburg"

FEBRUARY 5:  Dave Powell  "Joseph Johnston and the Atlanta Campaign"

MARCH 4:  George Dammon  "Civil War Medicine"

APRIL 1:  Stanley Campbell  "Money & Banking in the Civil War"

MAY 6:  Dave Oberg  "History of Battery H, 1st Illinois Light Artillery"

JUNE 3.  Bob Pressman  "Religion in the Civil War"

Six More Months to Go.  --Old Secesh

Some More on Rockford's Veterans Memorial Hall

From Wikipedia.

Official name Veterans Memorial Hall and Museum.  Formerly the Soldiers and Sailors memorial Hall.

Construction on the hall began in 1901 and was finished in 1902.  But it wasn't formally dedicated until June 3, 1903, when President Theodore Roosevelt visited Rockford for the opening and dedication.  (That's pretty good to have a sitting U.S. president do the dedication.)

It originally was built to honor Winnebago County veterans of the Mexican War, Civil War and Spanish-American War but it was decided that it should honor Winnebago Count vets of all decades.

The architecture of it is classical Greek revival.

On the same day that Roosevelt dedicated the building, the local Civil War veterans held  the first meeting in it.  Over its existence, the hall has hosted some sixty different veterans and veterans-associated groups.

--Old Secesh

Rockford's Veterans Memorial Hall-- Part 5: About That Moving Statue

In 1984, the statue was moved to the southwest corner of Greenwood Cemetery at Main and Auburn streets, where it stood atop a column that once was a part of the facade of the Carnegie Library, now being replaced by a new building across Wyman Street from Memorial Hall.

When the new roundabout at Main and Auburn, now called Veterans Memorial Circle, was completed in 2014, the statue was removed, restored and reinstalled on the same column in its present (and hopefully last) location.

--Old Secesh

Rockford's Veterans Memorial Hall-- Part 4: Saved From Wrecking Ball Three Times

Memorial Hall has been saved from the wrecking ball three times and was renovated twice in 1966 and 1998.  To protect its historic value, it was designated an Illinois Landmark in 1974 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Outside the east entrance of Memorial Hall is a recently renovated space entitles "Armistice: A Memorial to Peace."  Central to this memorial is a replica of a Civil War soldier on a column, affectionately known as "The Boy in Blue."

It was originally a part of a fountain outside the old courthouse on West State Street from 1900 to 1967.

While a new courthouse was being constructed, the statue was put in storage until 1969, then paced inside the front lobby of the new building.

--Old Secesh

Veterans Memorial Hall in Rockford: SUVCW

A successor organization to the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) is the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) which was established in 1881.  Also, the Ladies Auxiliary was founded.

Both organizations are to carry on the mission of the GAR.

A local camp (different groups in the SUVCW are called camps) of the SUVCW was organized in Rockford and met at the Memorial Hall from 1903 to 1957.

They reorganized in 2005 as the Logan Camp No. 26 and still meets in the same Post Room where the original camp met.

To continue the legacy of the GAR to honor the memory of Civil War vets, the SUVCW cleans and replaces grave markers of Civil War veterans, and members conduct ceremonies to commemorate the history of the war.

They meet the first Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT Discussion Group Meets Saturday May 25

The McHenry County Civil War Round Table (MCCWRT) meets this Saturday at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  This week's discussion will revolve around April-May 1865 Escape from Richmond and the capture of Jefferson Davis.

Panera Bread is located at the intersection of Main Street and U.S. Route 14 (Northwest Highway) and the meeting runs from 10 a.m. to 11:30.

There is also Zoom available.

Come On By.  --Old Secesh

Veterans Memorial Hall & Museum in Rockford, Illinois-- Part 2: It Was a GAR Thing

Display cases throughout the building contain artifacts, photographs and other items from America's wars, including recent conflicts in the Middle East.  The museum contains 15,000 such pieces in its collection.

When memorial Hall opened in 1903, the first organization to meet in the Post Room was a local contingent of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the first and eventually the largest veterans organization of the Civil War veterans in the country.

Founded in Decatur, Illinois, in 1866, its peak membership exceeded 409,000 Union veterans, including five U.S. presidents.  

This national organization established the pension system for veterans, funded homes and hospitals for soldiers, widows and orphans; and created Memorial Day to honor all deceased veterans.

--Old Secesh

Veterans Memorial Hall and Museum in Rockford

Also from The Cabin fever Quarterly Magazine, 2024.

The Rock River Valley Civil War Round Table is just one of several regional military-related organizations to find a home at Veterans Memorial Hall.  At least eight other veterans groups have offices or hold meetings there, and the magnificent edifice is often used as a venue for many municipal events.

Designed in a Classical Greek Revival style, the Hall is one of only three such buildings to survive in Illinois to honor veterans.  It's also the only building in Rockford, maybe even the state, that was dedicated by a sitting U.S.  President Theodore Roosevelt did that in 1903, soon after construction was completed.

The top floor contains an auditorium with a raised stage and a curved balcony.  A wide wooden staircase leads down to the Great Hall where names of Civil War battles adorn the tops of walls.  Two tablet rooms contain bronze plaques which list the names all veterans from Winnebago County who served in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War and were buried by 1903.

--Old Secesh

Bruce Allardice

Bruce Allardice joined the Chicago CWRT in 1987, has served as president of that group, and is currently president of the Northern Illinois CWRT.  They meet on the first Friday of the month in the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.  They also offer hybrid meetings with live and Zoom.

"The Civil War ended almost 160 years ago, and yet we are still talking about it," says Allardice.  "There's nothing comparable to CWRTs  with regard to World War I or II, even the Revolutionary War.  The issues are still with us."

One of his favorite battle site experiences was walking the path of Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, he remembers.

"It was a real revelation," he recalls.  "I don't know how the [Confederate] soldiers got as far as they did, advancing into those Union guns."

--Old Secesh

Bruce Allardice and the Northern Illinois CWRT

Bruce Allardice is a recently retired history professor from South Suburban College in South Holland, Illinois.  He is the author of five books on the Civil War and a frequent presenter at CWRTs (Civil War Round Table) throughout the northern Illinois area.

"I've tried to visit all Illinois round tables," says Allardice.  "I finally spoke at Rock River Valley (CWRT) in July 2022 and again in August 2023."

Allardice's great-grandfather served as a lieutenant in the 113th Illinois Infantry during the Civil War, and he frequently saw his presentation sword when visiting his grandparents as a child.

"He was overage and sickly the whole time," says Allardice, "and his regimental commander called him the worst officer in his command."

Nice Guy.  --Old Secesh

THE McHenry County Civil War Round Table-- Part 2

Attendance at meetings averages between ten and fifteen, while discussion groups are smaller.  We also have ZOOM in both venues. 

"COVID took a toll on us as well as other groups and we are still recovering," says Jim Stannis.  "But we are starting to grow our membership again."

Several members of the McHenry group have presented Civil War topics to adult education classes at McHenry County College and they've assisted the McHenry County Historical Society in restoring artifacts and writings.

Membership dues are $25 a year, and part of the money is used to support a $1,000 scholarship to the annual high school winner of a historical contest.

--Old Secesh