Welcome to the Civil War Roundtable of Gettysburg. "The most important Roundtable,
in the most important small town,
at the most important battlefield,
in the most important country in the world."
—Joe Mieczkowski, past president
      
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April 22
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
The March meeting will be live-streamed and NOT a gathering at the GAR Hall.
This meeting will be streamed live at the below address:
https://www.facebook.com/CivilWarRoundTableOfGettysburg/live/
You do not need to be a member of FaceBook to view this meeting.
For further instructions on how to sign into the meeting, please view this PDF.
Clara Barton and the Missing Soldier's Office
Carolyn Ivanoff
Miss Clara Barton was known as the Angel of the Battlefield for her service as a nurse and relief worker during the Civil War. In March of 1865, with written permission from President Lincoln, Barton established the Missing Soldiers Office in her boarding house on 7th Street in Washington, D.C. As the Civil War was coming to a close, over 40 percent of the dead remained unidentified. Tens of thousands of grieving families did not know the fate of their loved ones. From the time she first went onto the battlefield Barton was acutely aware, and deeply concerned, for the fate of the men whom she cared for and their families. Her war time diaries are filled with the jotting of names, rank, regiments, and wounds these men suffered. Whenever she could, after their deaths she noted their burials, comrades, and family members. With the opening of the Missing Soldiers’ Office, Barton dedicated herself to the search for the missing and the identification of the dead. She financed this work from 1865 until 1868 by living frugally, lecturing about her war time experiences, and eventually received $15,000 from Congress. By time the office closed in 1868, Barton had worked herself into exhaustion. Before the advent of typewriters or computers, the office had published five separate rolls containing over 6,500 names. Her office had processed over 60,000 inquiries. More than 23,000 unknown dead had been identified, 13,000 at Andersonville alone. In 1868 Barton left for Europe to recover her health. Upon her return to the United States Barton would dedicate herself to the founding of the American Red Cross and by the end of her life in 1912 her work would touch millions of lives around the world and continues to do so today.
Carolyn Ivanoff is a retired high school administrator and educator. She writes and speaks frequently on American history at local, state, and national venues. In 2003 Carolyn was named Civil War Trust's (now American Battlefield Trust) Teacher of the Year. In 2010, 2011 and 2013 her education programs received Awards of Merit from the Connecticut League of History Organizations. In 2016 Carolyn was honored by the Connecticut Council of Social Studies with the Bruce Fraser Friend of the Social Studies Award. In 2018-19 Carolyn served as project coordinator for the 17th Connecticut Flagpole preservation and rededication project on Barlow’s Knoll at Gettysburg National Military Park. This project was honored with a 2019 Award of Merit from CHLO for preservation. She is currently working on a manuscript of unpublished first-hand experiences by members of the 17th Connecticut Regiment at Gettysburg.
Our meetings are the Fourth Thursday of each month.
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Join or Renew Your Membership |
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OFFICERS |
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Bruce Davis ..............................................President Hilda Koontz............................................Vice President Eleanor Cingire Bilz...........................Recording Secretary Linda Seamon...............................Membership Secretary David Diner...................................................Treasurer Roger Heller .......................................Program Director Linda Joswick .............................................Webmaster Lynn Heller.................................Facebook Administrator |
402.686.6969 717.642.6017 717.420.2183 717.359.7339 717.420.5730 717.398.2072 717.253.5477 717.398.2072 |
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BOARD MEMBERS |
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Fred Hawthorne (5/22), Roger Heller (5/22), Michele Hessler, Abbie Hoffman, Peter Miele (5/21) , Bill Myers (5/21) |
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Next Board Meeting:Board Meetings are are virtual meetings until it is safe to meet again. Minutes will be posted. |
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COMMITTEES |
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Plaque Committee: Book Award Committee: Field Trip Committee: If you are interested in more information, or joining, one the committees, please contact any Officer or Board Member. |
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EVENT INFORMATION |
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Save The Date
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Dear Members and Friends of the Civil War Round Table of Gettysburg,
I’ve been thinking on a line from a Tennessee Williams play. A character asks, “What’s the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?” This is the answer: “Just staying on it, I guess….” Maybe the same can be said for a cold covid winter: Just coping may be a victory of sorts. On the upside, I guess: It was so frigid and windy on January 28 that a lot of our members might not have come out for an in person gathering. As it was, the coronavirus-forced adaptation to livestreaming gave us the luxury of hearing Pete Miele’s excellent presentation from the warmth of our own homes, joined by viewers from upstate New York, Georgia, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Oregon, California, Wisconsin, both Carolinas, Fall River, Massachusetts, Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma and Missouri and Kansas, and across Pennsylvania. While many of those may have friends of Pete, it was still pretty neat.
Unlike last year, when the coronavirus threw our elections off-kilter, we’re going to stick with the timetable set forth in the by-laws: A nominations committee of Richard Mancini, Linda Seamon and Michele Hessler will present a slate for consideration in March with the election held in April. We’ll follow a process much like what we finally resorted to last fall—what amounted to an e-vote.
If we have your e-mail address, by now you’ve received multiple invitations to join our new group e-mail program through groups.io. So far, we have 125 “subscribers”—not that it costs anything. This is proving to be a very efficient way to communicate. If you aren’t receiving these mailings, but would like to, let me know via my personal e-mail: brdgettysburg@gmail.com.
It occurs to me that our February meeting will mark the one-year anniversary of our last gathering at the G.A.R. before the virus shut us down. I can’t thank you enough for your patience and support. Dave Diner tells me we’ve had a remarkable number of membership renewals. That means a lot. If you’ve not reupped, it would be a source of encouragement if you did. Of course, the greatest encouragement will be seeing your faces when we’re on the battlefield this summer.
While you’ll find everything you need to know about our February program elsewhere on this page, this may be worth noting: Gene Schmiel had originally been scheduled to address us in November 2019, but the meeting was cancelled on account of weather. That shouldn’t be an issue this time! |
SPEAKERS |
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May 27
June 24 (29)
July 22 (29)
Aug 26 (31)
September 23
October 28
November 18
December 2nd (Holiday Banquet)
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News Briefs
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