Announcements

2022 Battlefield Tour - West Virginia, June 1-5, 2022 See our Battlefield Tour page for more information


Grapeshot

With the Government-ordered shutdowns, people should check with the sponsoring organization as to whether the event has been cancelled, and/or whether the event will be broadcast on Zoom.

2022
March 2nd, Kankakee Valley CWRT: Gordon Ramsey on "Civil War Balloons"
March 4th, Northern Illinois CWRT: Max and Donna Daniels as "Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln"
March 7th, Rock Valley (Rockford) CWRT: Alan Ovies on "The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac"
March 8th, McHenry County CWRT: Gene Salecker on "Nathan Bedford Forrest's 1864 Railroad Raid"
March 11th, Chicago CWRT: Mark Laubacher on "The USS Red Rover: Hospital of Firsts"
March 15th, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Neil Chatelein on "Defending the Arteries of Rebellion"
March 19th, Salt Creek CWRT: Steven Alban on "The Actual Causes of the Rebellion According to the Words of Joshua Giddings and Abraham Lincoln"
March 24th, South Suburban CWRT: Eric Linblade on "The 26th North Carolina"
Apr. 1st, Northern Illinois CWRT: "General Robert E. Lee"
Apr. 2nd, Two Old Goats in Cedar Lake: David Keller on "Command at Antietam"
Apr. 4th, Rock Valley (Rockford) CWRT: Rick Schaus on "Lee is Trapped and Must Be Taken: Eleven Fateful Days After Gettysburg"
Apr. 6th, Kankakee Valley CWRT: Roy Jackson on "Civil War Railroads"
Apr. 8th, Chicago CWRT: Jeffrey Hunt on "Meade and Lee at Rappahannock Station and Mine Run"
Apr. 12th, McHenry County CWRT: Steve Albans on "The Actual Causes of the Rebellion According to the Words of Joshua Giddings and Abraham Lincoln"
Apr. 16th, Salt Creek CWRT: Gene Salecker on "Nathan Bedford Forrest's 1864 Railroad Raid"
Apr. 19th, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Ken Rutherford on "America's Buried History: Landmines in the Civil War"
Apr. 28th, South Suburban CWRT: Gordon Dammann on "Civil War Medicine"
May 2nd, Rock Valley (Rockford) CWRT: Chris Mackowski on "The Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy"
May 6th, Northern Illinois CWRT: TBD
May 10th, McHenry County CWRT: Fred Reczkowicz on "The Battle of Ball's Bluff"
May 13th, Chicago CWRT: Dr. Thomas Carson on "Lincoln as Moral Exemplar"
May 17th, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Mark Bielski on "The Fall of New Orleans: A Mortal Blow to the Confederacy"
May 19th, South Suburban CWRT: Brian Conroy on "Little Egypt's Civil War"
May 21st, Salt Creek CWRT: Father Bob Miller on "Jeremiah Tracy, Civil War Chaplain"
June 3rd, Northern Illinois CWRT: TBD
June 6th, Rock Valley (Rockford) CWRT: Dave Oberg on "Sons of Thunder: The History of Battery H, 1st Illinois Light Artillery"
June 10th, Chicago CWRT: Lauren Szady on "Civilian Life During the Civil War"
June 17th, Salt Creek CWRT: Theresa Kaminski on "Dr. Mary Walker"
June 21st, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Jerry Wooten on "The Battle of Johnsonville"
July 11th, Rock Valley (Rockford) CWRT: Steve Acker on "The Life of a Soldier at Petersburg"
July 19th, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Derek Maxfield on "Hellmira"
Aug. 16th, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Charles Knight on "From Arlington to Appomattox--Civil War Day by Day"
Sept. 9th, Chicago CWRT: Sean Michael Chick on "Grant's Left Hook: The Bermuda Hundred Campaign"
Sept. 15th, Salt Creek CWRT: Jerry Allen on "Murphy's Law and the Peter Principle: The Holly Springs Raid"
Sept. 20th, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Eric Wittenberg on "Seceding from Secession"
Oct. 14th, Chicago CWRT: Charlie Knight on "Robert E. Lee"
Oct. 18th, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Brian Conroy on "Irish in the Civil War"
Nov. 11th, Chicago CWRT: Mary Abroe, The Nevins-Freeman Address. Topic TBA
Nov. 15th, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Frank Varney on "Grant: A Reassessment"
Dec. 9th, Chicago CWRT: Garry Adelman on TBA
Dec. 20th, Lincoln-Davis CWRT: Pat Brennan on "Gettysburg in Pictures"
Jan. 13th, 2023 Chicago CWRT: Rob Girardi on TBA
Feb. 10th, Chicago CWRT: Bruce Allardice on "Who Needs Ultra? Northern Newspapers and Military Secrecy"
Mar. 10th, Chicago CWRT: Dwight Hughes on "Unlike Anything That Ever Floated"
Apr. 14th, Chicago CWRT: Al Olives on "The Boy Generals. George Custer, Wesley Merritt and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac"
May 12th, Chicago CWRT: Brian Swartz on "Passing Through Fire: Joshua Chamberlain in the Civil War"
June 9th, Chicago CWRT: Tom Cartwright on TBA

Speakers Bureau
Looking for a good presentation on the Civil War for your library, school, historical society, or civic group? The Coalition of CWRTs of Northern Illinois has put together a Speakers Bureau to help you find one.

Best of all, most presentations are FREE!! Click here for a Speaker Registry printable list, with details and contact information.

Virtual Book Signing
Bjorn Skaptason at the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop reminds us of their series of Virtual Book Signings. For more information on these and upcoming events, visit Virtual Book Signing or Abraham Lincoln Bookshop.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please Contact Us