THE CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE
of South Central Connecticut
Our Mission
Our mission is to honor and remember the men and women of the Civil War era and to keep alive our American Civil War history for future generations.
Our History
More than a decade after the founding of the nation's first Civil War Round Table in Chicago in 1940, the movement had spread to New York and then Connecticut with the formation of a group in Hartford. Much help and encouragement was given to these early round tables by the noted author and historian Bruce Catton.
Hamden resident Al Redway attended meetings in Hartford and met many New Haven area buffs. Al decided to organize a meeting to discuss forming a Civil War group here. In December 1959 the first meeting was held in the Governor's Board Room at the New Haven YMCA. To Redway's delight, 25 people attended. Al organized and presided at this founding session. Yale's Professor Rollin Osterweis was seated as our first president.
​Meetings were moved to the SNET building on George Street in New Haven. The round table met there for almost 20 years. During this time the group also organized the American History Round Table of South Central Connecticut in 1968 so as to include other interests in the speaking programs. In 1980 the group moved to Hamden, with meetings being held at the Miller Library where the organization prospered. In 1984 it was expanded to include the Abraham Lincoln Association to focus on the history of this great wartime president.
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After COVID hit in the Spring of 2020, the Roundtable began holding its monthly meetings by way of Zoom. The annual June luncheon and some other meetings throughout the year are now also available for in-person attendance at the West Haven Veterans Museum.
