Brunswick Civil War Round Table A standing ovation at Hatch Auditorium

Originally published May 2020 · p. 6

Union Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant received a standing ovation from a near capacity audience of 597 following their performance at the Tuesday, March 3, meeting of the Brunswick Civil War Round Table at Hatch Auditorium on Caswell Beach. The generals were played by associate professors Derek Maxfield and Tracy Ford of Genesee College in Batavia, N.Y. They staged a three-act play, entitled “Now We Stand Together Always.” Accompanying the generals was Jess Scheuerman, a librarian at Genesee who set the stage for the program, and before each act. Their performance was part of the Round Table’s series of monthly meetings featuring renowned Civil War historians, authors, and college professors from around the country, with a goal of educating and entertaining everyone, not just Civil War enthusiasts. Backstage, both Maxfield and Ford were overwhelmed by the size of what promised to be a large and receptive audience. It was the Round Table’s second largest audience ever! A shocked Tracy Ford explained, “Most of the Civil War round tables we perform at have about 40 or 50 in the audience. At one Civil War function we had close to 200. This three-act play will be performed tonight to our largest audience, ever!” The evening’s performance was complete with stage props, military uniforms, and an adequate supply of bourbon (i.e., a liter of unsweetened tea) primarily consumed by Sherman as he conversed with Grant in each act. Act I took place in Vicksburg, Miss., mid-June, 1863, where they discussed ways to overcome Confederate control of the Mississippi River. Act II took place in a Cincinnati, Ohio, hotel room during March 1864, where, despite Sherman’s frequent sips of bourbon, serious discussions ensued on how to end the war. The final act took place at City Point, Va., in March 1865. This meeting focused on a plan to finally close out the war. During every act, the audience was treated to a unique theatrical performance based on historical facts, recollections of past battles, Sherman’s opinions of generals under Grant’s command, Sherman’s periodic outbursts, and clever interjections of sobriety as well as wit and humor. Their goal at every performance is to bring these three critical phases of the Civil War to life. As Derek Maxfield explained, “we felt as actors we could better communicate important strategic events during the Civil War that would help create a sense of reality for our college students, in addition to reading about these events in a two-dimensional way in a Civil War history book.” To their surprise, several years ago when they began performing for their students, word spread about their program format. They began to receive invitations from Civil War-related organizations and round tables. Once word of their unique program format reached Brunswick Round Table president Mike Powell, it was clear in his mind that, “this would bring another educational, yet entertaining, dimension to our monthly guest speaker programs, and certainly create a totally unique experience for our members and guests.

Everyone is invited to attend these monthly meetings. The visitor fee is $10, and can be applied toward the $25 annual membership dues. For more information about the Brunswick Civil War Round Table or the upcoming meeting, contact President Mike Powell at 910-278-3545, or email to mpowell260@gmail. com. The organization’s website is Brunswickcivilwarroundtable. com. You can also visit their Facebook page for interesting facts, comments and updates.

Note: We are approaching our 10th anniversary of the Round Table this coming June. Our growth over the years has been simply amazing, and we attribute our success primarily to meetings such as this one where our members and guests look forward to each month’s meeting knowing they will be informed and entertained. If you are as enthusiastic as I am about our organization’s success and believe it will make for interesting reading for your subscribers, please let us know. With 1,387 members, and still growing every month, we must be doing something right! Many thanks again for your support of our Round Table. We are just so pleased with how we have grown over the years since our first meeting in May, 2010. So while it will be our 10th anniversary this June, we will delay that celebration until we are back on track, hopefully in September, without the need for hasmat suits, surgical masks, gowns, and gloves!