The Grand Rapids Civil War Round Table is proud to begin its 2025-26 season with the return of Dr. Roger Rosentreter and his presentation, “Rest Easy, The Regulars are on the Field.” During the early days of the Civil War, as thousands of Yankee volunteers learned the trade of soldiering, the disciplined veterans of the nation’s small U.S. Army played key roles on several battlefields. Equally important, the army’s administrative departments evolved to manage an unprecedented 2½-million-man war machine. On the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, Dr. Roger Rosentreter chronicles the often-overlooked role of the “regulars.”
Roger L. Rosentreter, who earned his doctorate degree from Michigan State University, teaches history courses at Michigan State University. He also spent thirty years with Michigan History magazine and has written and published extensively on Michigan history. Recent publications include Michigan: A History of Explorers, Entrepreneurs, and Everyday People (2014) and Grand Rapids and the Civil War (2018). “Come on, You Wolverines: Michigan in the Civil War,” (offering a new look at many ignored or forgotten aspects of the state's involvement in the Civil War).
Harriet Tubman was an invaluable commander of a unit of black scouts and spies for the Union Army that operated from South Carolina to Florida. The nine-member unit made multiple trips through swamps and up rivers to gather information on Confederate Army strength and defenses and to look for slaves to enlist in the Union Army. Trained by Colonel James Montgomery, a fierce anti-slavery fighter and guerrilla warfare expert, the black troops conducted river raids with the aid of Tubman. During one raid in June of 1863, Montgomery and Tubman captured three Confederate gunboats while destroying millions of dollars' worth of stores, freeing about eight hundred slaves, and looting thousands in property.
New Orleans, Louisiana fell to the Union on April 29, 1862, after Admiral David Farragut led his fleet up the Mississippi river. They passed two poorly-guarded Confederate forts with minimal casualties in the process. The river soon belonged to the Union from New Orleans to Vicksburg, Mississippi.
"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."
~ Union General John Sedgwick, May 9, 1864
Just before he was shot and killed at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
Pauline Cushman was the only female spy who was caught and sentenced to be hanged. The day her sentence was to be carried out, Union forces routed her Confederate captors, who fled without her. President Lincoln named her an honorary major in the Union Army.
Membership fees for the 2025-2026 season are $30.00.
Checks can be made out to GRCWRT.
Get your membership/renewal form on our website
membership page or at one of our meetings.
Dues are based on the meeting year, September - June.
We are always looking for new speakers. If you would like to give a presentation to the GRCWRT, or can recommend someone, please contact our program director.
Wednesday
September 17, 2025
Dr. Roger Rosentreter
Rest Easy,
The Regulars are on the Field
We Meet At:
Orchard View Church of God
2777 Leffingwell Ave. NE
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Located at the southwest corner of
3 Mile Road NE and Leffingwell Avenue NE
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Program begins at 7:00 pm
Civil War Notes
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Monument to the U.S. Regulars
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
