Dear Members and Friends of the Civil War Round Table of Gettysburg,

It occurs to me this will be the first that members without e-mail have heard from us since March. It’s not that we’ve forgotten you; with the print shops closed, we haven’t been able to run off paper copies to send in the mail. Those with whom we communicate electronically have actually heard more from the Round Table than was the pre-Covid norm, as we’ve tried to keep the group consistently apprised of our attempts to navigate this strange passage. If you do have e-mail, but haven’t been receiving the regular updates, it probably means we have no record of your e-address, a situation easily corrected. Just shoot me a message, brdgettysburg@gmail.com, and I’ll direct it to our communications team.

As many of you know, my previous life was spent in the ministry. A passage of scripture seems relevant, Jeremiah 8:20, “the summer has ended, and we are not saved”—at least not from Covid-19. I had very much hoped to return to in-person gatherings this fall. As the GAR Hall would hardly facilitate even minimal social distancing, we’d contacted Gettysburg Presbyterian, figuring we could spread out there. The Presbyterians said they would be happy to have us, but then came the state directive limiting gatherings to no more than 25 people, so we gave up on that option, as well. Bottom line: we’ll be meeting online again in September and October. Frankly, things aren’t looking good for gathering at the Dobbin House in December, but we continue to hold out hope.

This is not to say the online meetings have been a disappointment. Far from it. Each of our scheduled presenters—Mary Turk-Meena, James Broomall, Richard Goedkoop, Jared Frederick and Charlie Fennell—has been entirely supportive and cooperative. Richard, Jared and Charlie were to have led us on the battlefield; and adapting to online presentation surely required a lot of extra preparation on their part. I’m writing this on the morning after Charlie Fennell’s program on the fighting at Culp’s Hill. (This will be remembered, Charlie saying he was unaware of any successful head amputations.) We had viewers turning in from Los Angeles, New York, Ohio, New Jersey, Delaware, multiple locations in Virginia, and even picked up a new member from Georgia!

Add this: we’ve archived each of these online presentations, easily accessed via our website (cwrtgettysburg.org) or Facebook page. A big shout-out to Pete Miele, who is producing the monthly meetings; and to the communications team of Linda Joswick, Dave Joswick, and Lynn Heller, going over and above to keep the web and Facebook sites updated in the current uncertainty. The Round Table Board has upped the frequency of our meetings, facilitated on Zoom by Michele Hessler.

Elsewhere, you’ll find notice of our online/mail-in election of officers. According to our by-laws, this should have happened at our April meeting. Plan B was to elect when we next gathered in person, but who knows when that will be? As this seems the best we can do, I hope you will understand and participate. We have not let Covid-19 halt our mission of historical preservation. This spring, we received an appeal from Civil War Trails for new sponsors and, in addition to a donation, have taken responsibility for the Wayside Marker in Littlestown. I’ve been down there a couple of times since; our membership roster includes a number of Littlestown residents, and if any of you would want to volunteer to help with this, let me know.

Treasurer Dave Diner reports our finances are about where they should be for this time of year. I was a little surprised that our insurance bill went up substantially, particularly as we’ve not been meeting in person, but, of course, the bill’s been paid. We are, of course, hopeful most of our membership will reup for the coming year. Surely, at some point, we’ll get back to something approaching normal. In the meantime, please know we want you to stay safe and healthy, and that the Board is doing all we can to keep the Round Table turning.