Welcome from President Robert Fugate
Notes from the Round Table
President Welcome to our 2023-2024
Campaign Year! I am excited about our lineup of speakers this year and look
forward to the opportunity to join together with you in our mission of the
serious study of the American Civil War. In writing this address, I reflected on why we study the Civil War and why we meet together for that purpose. We could cite the importance of the Civil War in general - that it represents the pivotal moment in our nation's history, that it decided the type of country we would be in the succeeding 160+ years, or that the influence of the war is still being felt in many ways today. But for me, and I expect for many of you, studying the war is interesting because of the people of the past that we can learn about - what they did and why, how they did things as we do now or differently - to me it's like an epic adventure novel with a vast list of characters. Because the war was so
extensively documented, we can know a lot more about the people involved in the
Civil War than we can about those involved in probably any other momentous event
in history that preceded the war. And because we know so much about them, the
Civil War era people become living personalities for us. For some of us, they
really aren't that far removed from the present. For instance, my mother's
grandfather was a soldier who Just as the study of the
Civil War is for me largely the study of its participants, the Atlanta Civil War
Round Table is largely its members. Recently, the Board has focused on learning
more about the members through taking surveys and studying trends. Our aim is to
provide the best experience we can for you through the Tuesday night meetings as
well as other programs, to encourage attendance, and to grow our membership.
Please help us by continuing to give us your input, encouraging fellow members
to attend, and letting your friends know about what we offer. Thank you to all who serve
on the club's Executive Committee and in other leadership roles: Loran The photograph accompanying
this address is of longtime Round Table member and former president Grant
Moseley and me visiting Chickamauga Battlefield together last year. To me, Grant
was the animating spirit of the Atlanta Civil War Round Table; always
enthusiastic, generous with his time, and
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