National Honors for Civil War Round Table

A Roanoke Civil War group has been honored by a national organization for the local group’s remarkable post-COVID comeback story.

The Roanoke Civil War Round Table was selected by the national Civil War Round Table Congress to receive the Congress’ Dr. John A. Bamberl Phoenix Award for 2026.

The award criteria states that the “CWRT Congress Phoenix Award recognizes a local CWRT for recreating itself after a period of stagnancy or extinction. The process of recreating a formerly vibrant organization that lost its way is one that requires dedicated leaders, members who understand the value of public history and a vision of the future. The program achieves success through commitment, adaptability, and community.”

In that regard, while the Roanoke CWRT (founded in 1983), carries a proud history of bringing to Southwest Virginia some of the country’s finest historians and speakers, who with insight, wisdom, pathos but sometimes humor, offer new perspectives on the four years of the tragedy that has been called “America’s defining event,”[1] the Civil War, the Round Table came out of COVID facing an uncertain future. Attendance at meetings had at times dwindled to 10 – 12 attendees, with a treasury hardly sufficient to support ongoing operations. In late 2023, however, the Round Table launched a revitalization program. As a result of the work of its dedicated leaders and with the support of our local community, the Roanoke CWRT returned to its vibrant roots. The Round Table has grown to an organization of sixty-one paying members, with still further growth eyed. In addition, individuals not yet members often drop in (ten at our latest meeting) to hear about speaker topics of particular interest to them, leading to new Round Table members.

The mission of the Congress of Civil War Round Tables, cwrtcongress.org, “is to inspire Civil War Round Table leaders to adapt, adopt, and maintain strategies for sustainability.” The Congress supports Round Tables across the nation because, as its “Value Statement” posits: “The relevance and complexity of the Civil War era, including the events leading up to the War and the Reconstruction/Jim Crow era following it, has never been more apparent to the public at-large. Thus, Civil War Round Tables (CWRT) have a wonderful opportunity to be constructive centers of education, activities and dialogue among members and the public.”

The Roanoke CWRT is a key local participant in that educational effort. The Round Table and its speakers address a multitude of Civil War-related topics, including social, political, religious and even wartime environmental issues, along with the more traditional subjects of battles and leaders, including how the war affected Southwest Virginia.

The Round Table already is a recent recipient (in November 2024) of a Kegley Preservation Award for Heritage Education, granted by the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation in recognition of the Round Table’s past and ongoing educational efforts.

A representative of the Congress of Civil War Round Tables will formally present the Phoenix Award to the Roanoke CWRT at a future Round Table meeting.

[1] Kudos (and credit) to “Emerging Civil War,” the “public history-oriented platform for sharing original scholarship related to the American Civil War,” for this apt description of the conflict.  https://emergingcivilwar.com/mission-statement/.