September 10, 2024

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, September 10, 2024 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  Kevin Pawlak

Lucky year 13 kicks off with a return visit from another of our old friends, Mr. Kevin Pawlak.  Join us tonight as Kevin discusses his book, “John Brown’s Raid:  Harper’s Ferry and the coming of the Civil War”.

Co-written with Jon-Erik M. Gilot, Kevin will discuss on the most significant events that helped to trigger the American Civil War.  The first shot of the American Civil War was not fired on April 12, 1861, in Charleston, South Carolina, but instead came on October 16, 1859, in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia—or so claimed former slave turned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Brown led a band of nineteen men on the nighttime raid that targeted the Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. There, they planned to begin a war to end slavery in the United States. But after 36 tumultuous hours, John Brown’s Raid failed, and his subsequent trial further divided north and south on the issue of slavery. Herman Melville and Walt Whitman extolled Brown as a “meteor” of the war.

Kevin Pawlak is a historic site manager for Prince William County’s Office of Historic Preservation and a Certified Battlefield Guide at Antietam National Battlefield. He previously worked as a Park Ranger at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Kevin has written seven books about the American Civil War, including John Brown’s Raid: Harpers Ferry and the Coming of the Civil War, October 16-18, 1859, part of the Emerging Civil War Series.

As always, attendance is free, but membership is encouraged.  Membership fees allow us to continue fine speakers every year. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.