Next Regular Meeting of the Civil War Round Table of the Mid-Ohio Valley

The next regular meeting of the Civil War Round Table of the Mid-Ohio Valley will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 19, 2019, at Fort Boreman Historical Park, located off of U.S. Route 50, Marrttown Road Exit, South of Parkersburg WV. The meeting will feature a Civil War period campaign meal comprised of Captain Sanderson’s boiled pork and bean soup, campfire cornbread, and a choice of water or coffee. After the meal service is completed, Capt. John Carlin’s Battery D, a Wood County Civil War re-enactors group, will perform an artillery firing demonstration, discuss artillery tactics and ammunition, and present a brief history of the battery.

Advance reservations are required. Please notify Leight Murray at Lmurray5154@gmail.com no later than Thursday, September 12, 2019, if you plan to attend.

John Carlin was born in County Meath, Ireland in 1823. At the age of nineteen, he joined the U.S. Army for a five-year enlistment and served with distinction in the Mexican War in Battery B, 4th Regiment, U.S. Light Artillery. It was here that Carlin learned skills that served his country well in the Civil War. In 1851 he settled in Wheeling and married Anna Dean Lyeth on December 23, 1856. In April 1862, at the urging of Governor Francis Pierpont, Carlin began recruiting a light artillery battery to support the Union war effort. The battery was commissioned in August 1862 with 100 volunteers. The men were primarily from Wheeling, the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, Eastern Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania. Some were recent immigrants from Germany and the British Isles. Most came from jobs in the region’s burgeoning industrial sector – nailers, coopers, machinists, molders, glassblowers, and tobacconists from the famous Wheeling stogie factories.

Carlin’s Battery is headquartered at Fort Boreman Historical Park in the Moore Cabin which was constructed prior to the Civil War. The location is one of the most scenic in the Ohio Valley. The earthen fortifications were constructed by Union forces to protect the vital intersection of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Ohio River. The site as listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Battery “D”, First West Virginia Light Artillery, served under General Robert Milroy in the Shenandoah Valley and saw action at Winchester, New Market, Piedmont, Lynchburg and Mason’s Creek and Cove. It also served garrison duty at Fort Boreman which was named after the first elected governor of West Virginia. The battery earned the reputation as being among the best in the armies to which it was attached. At least 23 members of the unit lost their lives as a result of battle, illness, starvation, the disease in Confederate prison camps, and in the explosion on the steamer Sultana.

Regular meetings of the Civil War Round Table are open to the public and there is no cost to attend. A modest donation in the amount of $ 7.00 is suggested to offset a portion of the cost of the event.

The Civil War Round Table meets on the third Thursday of the following months: January, March, May, July, September, and November. There are no membership dues or annual assessments. Education programs and historical marker projects are funded by support for our regular meetings and field trips.

The New Birth of Freedom Field Trip, October 17 – 20, 2019, will feature local connections to Revolutionary and Civil War campaigns in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania, including Valley Forge, Washington Crossing, Philadelphia’s historic district, a UNESCO world heritage site, and, Gettysburg.

The Civil War Round Table of the Mid-Ohio Valley is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation and is affiliated with the Marietta Community Foundation. Donations to the round table or the Marietta Community Foundation on behalf of the Civil War Round Table of the Mid-Ohio Valley Fund are tax-deductible.