The Grand Rapids Civil War Round Table welcomes the return of Steve Soper with his new presentation, "Answering Lincoln's Call: The Civil War Regiments that Formed in Grand Rapids, 1861-1864"
Of the 18 towns in Michigan that served as military bases in one form or another during the Civil War Grand Rapids was the second largest after Detroit. We will take a look at Grand Rapids as a military base and review briefly the stories of those regiments that formed here.
Steve Soper has spent nearly 40 years researching the 3rd Michigan Infantry (1st organization) and has published a five-volume history of the regiment and biographical sketches of the men who served in the regiment. He has published "The Soldiers Who Died in Grand Rapids, Michigan During the American Civil War, 1861-1865," "The Five Men of the 3rd Michigan Infantry Who became Generals in the American Civil War," and "A Bloody Business: The Three Trials of George Vanderpool for The Murder of Herbert Field Manistee, Kalamazoo and Hastings 1869-1871." All are available on Amazon as well as the Grand Rapids Public Library.
Membership fees for the 2026-2027 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.
Civil War Notes
Our Next Meeting
Special Announcements:
Monument to the Third Michigan Infantry
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Wednesday
November 18, 2026
Steve Soper
Answering Lincoln's Call:
The Civil War Regiments that Formed in Grand Rapids 1861-1864
We Meet At:
Orchard View Church of God
2777 Leffingwell Avenue NE
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525
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
"Why, my darling, during these continuous ten days' march, the ground snowy and sleety, the feet of many of these soldiers covered only with improvised moccasins of raw beef hide, and hundreds of them without shoes or blankets or overcoats, they have not uttered one word of complaint, nor one murmuring tone; but cheerily singing and telling stories, they have tramped-tramped-tramped."
~ General George E. Pickett
in a letter to his future wife, Sally
Rackansackers was a jocular name bestowed to Confederate units made up of volunteers from Arkansas and Texas.
General Nathaniel Lyon, while in Missouri, called a regiment of volunteers his "Iowa Greyhounds" as a token of admiration for their long legs. Early in the war, they set a record probably not matched by those whom General Stonewall Jackson called his "foot cavalry". During one twenty-four hour period, the Iowa Greyhounds march just over forty-eight miles.
Famous Wall Street businessman J.P. Morgan made a fortune when financed the purchase of five thousand rifles from an arsenal in New York for $3.50 each. He then sold them to the Union Army for $22.00 each. Morgan was pocketing a 25 percent commission, plus interest, while Union soldiers were shooting their thumbs of with the defective rifles.
