Welcome to the web site of the South Bay Civil War Round Table, Silicon Valley California's own Round Table.

News/Updates

Meetings

We invite you to join us at our meetings, which are held monthly except for December. All meetings are open to non-members and are free. Meetings—except for the August picnic—are held on the last Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m., at Holder's Country Inn, 998 South DeAnza Blvd. (near Bollinger), San Jose, CA 95129. See directions to the meeting.

Dinner is available for ordering in the meeting room; plan to arrive 30-40 minutes early to place your order and enjoy informal conversations with other members before the formal start of the meeting. In addition to the evening's main presentation the meetings usually include a raffle, Civil War quiz, announcements, discussions, and stimulating conversation related to all aspects of the Civil War.

For more information contact John Herberich, President, at (408) 506-6214 or e-mail: jlherberich@att.net.

Upcoming Programs/Speakers

Date Location Speaker Topic
December No meeting    
January 31, 2012 Holder's Lee Meredith The Strategic Impact of Railroads in the Civil War

Preview of January 31 Meeting

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Lee Meredith on "The Strategic Impact of Railroads in the Civil War"

As we have studied the Civil War we have become aware of the major impact railroads had on the outcome of the war. Not even in existence 32 years before Bull Run, there were over 29,000 miles of track when the war started. The armies of McClellan, Lee, Grant, Sherman, and others could not have undertaken the massive movement of men and material without them. You can argue for Napoleon’s massive armies, however Napoleon fought on the relatively flat, cultivated open country of western Europe and Russia and not the mountainous, forested and wet lands of the eastern United States.

As you study the battles and leaders of the Civil War, one aspect of many of these campaigns is that they never would have been nor could have been fought without the railroads that were used primarily to move troops from location to location. This talk will focus on four of those campaigns that used railroads for extensive troop movements that affected the outcome of those campaigns. You know these campaigns but probably have never given much thought to the troop transporation aspects (and I’m not talking about Sherman’s railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta, which was used primarily for transportation of supplies.)

The first part of the talk will focus on the physical aspects of the nation’s railroads to set the stage while the last portion of the talk will discuss these four campaigns.

Lee W. Merideth has passionately studied history for over 50 years, devoting much of that time researching the Titanic disaster, World War II naval engagements, and the American Civil War. In his fifth grade reading class, his teacher had his students read Walter Lord's classic Titanic book "A Night to Remember" aloud in class. It was during one of these sessions that 76-year old Titanic survivor and local resident Winnie Troutt spent the day in the classroom, regaling the students with her memories of that night. Lee was immediately taken with both Winnie Troutt and the Titanic story. It is a story he has continued to follow to this day.

Around the same time, Lee became interested in World War II naval history. Being a voracious reader, he began collecting books on the subject and his other two favorite topics, the Titanic and the Civil War. The collection grew to over 1500 books on those topics alone. He also collected over 4,000 3" x 5" index cards with facts and figures, newspaper clippings, photo copies and anything he could find on the Titanic story, thinking someday he was going to write a book about it. After graduating from college with a Bachelor of Science degree in Graphic Communications from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Lee spent the next several years on active duty in the United States Army. He eventually retired with the rank of Major after 22 years on active and reserve duty. While serving his country, he graduated from the Command and General Staff College (CGSC). Upon completion of his active duty portion in the U. S. Army, Lee spent most of his working career in various management positions in the printing and publishing industry, culminating his career as the production manager for a weekly national electronics industry newspaper.

In 1999 Lee self-published his first Titanic book, 1912 Facts About Titanic, a chronological history of the ill-fated ship. He had been doing research on the book for five years but didn't have the time to actually write it until the late 1990's. Since the original publication, the book has sold over 82,000 copies in nineteen printings. In 2002, Lee published Titanic Names: A Complete List of the Passengers and Crew, a list containing pertinent information on all 2,208 passengers. This book has sold over 13,000 copies.

In 2001, while working as a volunteer tour guide on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet Museum and in response to a request from the staff, Lee wrote and published Grey Ghost: The Story of the Aircraft Carrier Hornet, and he has sold over 12,000 copies of the book.

Lee started Rocklin Press in 2001, and in addition to publishing his own books and Titanic related collateral material, he does book design, formatting, editing and indexing for several small and large publishers.

Much of Lee's time for the past several years has been devoted to Titanic-related events. He has become a fixture at the Titanic Artifact Exhibitions, traveling throughout the country and covering over 45 cities during the past nine years. Lee participates in exhibition openings and special events as well as television and radio interviews. He has also developed a training program for venue employees. Additionally, he has given over 150 lectures about the Titanic and Hornet to civic groups, libraries, schools and business organizations, as well as acting as a cruise ship lecturer. Drawing on his professional background, he has given numerous lectures to university students about printing, publishing, creative writing and research.

Conferences and Travel

In the menu to the left, Travel will link you to a page with announcements about conferences and travel opportunities that may interest round table members.

Directions to the Meetings

Holder's Country Inn
998 South DeAnza Blvd.
(near Bollinger)
San Jose, CA 95129
(408) 244-2798


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