The Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable (SICWRT) was founded in 1955 by Gordon “Bish” Thompson, a newspaper columnist with the Evansville Press. As one of the oldest Civil War roundtables in the country, the SICWRT remains a popular and vibrant group. Throughout its history the SICWRT’s traditional approach has remained the same – good speakers, good fellowship, and respect for the rich history of the U.S. Civil War.

Formation and Growth (1955 – 1979)

The SICWRT was first conceived in Bish Thompson’s column in The Evansville Press. The new group was dedicated to the proposition that “birds of the Blue and Gray should flock together.” On 17 February 1955, Bish glanced back to the old “literary societies” of Grandfather’s day and suggested that these sessions attended by men and women of common interest sounded like fun.

“I have mentioned the formation of a Civil War society to several men within the past week,” he wrote. “All expressed interest. If there be other amateur students of 1861-65 history who’d like to hear and be heard at informal chew-fats, let them drop me a card. We just might start a literary society of our own!”

Response was quick, enthusiastic, and voluminous. Although it was originally designed as an all-male project, the founding fathers made the mistake of underestimating the power of women and the SICWRT quickly became co-educational.

On a chilly evening on 21 March 1955, a small group met at Riverview Inn in Newburgh to discuss their next steps. Shortly after on 9 April 1955, they legally incorporated as the Civil War Round Table of Vanderburgh Court House, Inc. The group’s chairperson took the facetious title of General. The foundation stones laid in the beginning still support our organization:

• No member shall be expected to do anything he or she doesn’t want to do.
• Our sole purpose is to amuse, entertain, and educate ourselves, informally and without strain. If it ceases to be fun the organization is automatically disbanded.
• No member shall be expected to attend any meeting if there is anything else he’d rather do.

The first speaker was Circuit Judge Ollie C. Reeves, who on 4 April 1955 spoke on “John Brown at Harper’s Ferry.” Among other sage observations that evening was this: “I don’t know what the rest of you are doing here but I know why I came. For years I’ve known I can close the door to my law office and step across the hall to open another door marked ‘Civil War.’ In that ‘other world’ I can find escape from today’s stress and worry. In it I can find humor, heroics, bungling, honor, adventure, men of character and men of little worth . . . everything is there. When I return from that ‘other world’ I am refreshed, inspired and filled with new awe for our forefathers and what they did.”

Thereafter the group hosted many speakers on many topics and the membership grew steadily without membership campaigns or publicity.

On 9 April 1957 – the anniversary of the Battle of Appomattox Court House – the group hosted Gen. Ulysses S. Grant III. Proclaimed an “honorary citizen of Evansville” by Mayor Vance Hartke, Grant briefly surveyed his grandfather’s early history and highlighted some of his campaign experience.

Each year the SICWRT hosted an annual Appomattox Day Banquet featuring a prominent national scholar or speaker. Meetings often drew over 300 attendees. Twice a year the group chartered a bus and visited a battlefield. Men, women, and children made these trips. Most were members of the group but some were not and all events remained open to the general public.

By 1979, after a strong run of over two decades, the SICWRT became defunct. It would remain dormant until being resurrected in 1990.

Rebirth of the SICWRT (1990 – present)

In 1990, perhaps inspired by Ken Burns’s Civil War documentary, the SICWRT was resurrected with great success. Ron Keeping, Ron Harper, and Tim Hermes – the new organizers – met on the third Tuesday of each month at the Newburgh Library. Keeping acted as the “un-official chairman” at the time. As the SICWRT had done before its hiatus, the group heard from guest speakers and reviewed Civil War memorabilia. One month, the roundtable even re-enacted the Battle of Shiloh with miniatures.

In 1991 the SICWRT acquired a replica cannon to display in the Newburgh Library. The cannon, which was made of hollow sheet metal, was built by Dale Brand, owner and operator of a sheet metal company. It was left to the roundtable by Brand’s widow.

Change occurs in any organization and that held true for the SICWRT as well. After an extended period of meeting in Newburgh, the SICWRT returned to its roots in the early 2000s under the leadership of Tom Murray and met in Evansville at various public library branches. More recently the group has met on the third Thursday of each month at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police in downtown Evansville.

Past Chairs and Generals

Past Speakers, Presenters, & Events

Our speakers are frequently nationally-known scholars and published authors in the field of Civil War history. Because we draw large crowds, the SICWRT has become a nationally-recognized venue for the most noted and popular speakers in America, including U.S. Grant III, Ed Bearss, and Bruce Catton, among others. What follows is a list of some past speakers and events, but it is not an exhaustive list since much of the archival information can no longer be located.