The Little-Known Significance of California in the Civil War

Civil War Books & Authors

Inland Empire Program Schedule 2026

Inland Empire

Civil War Round Table

A 501(c)3 registered non-profit organization.

EIN: 36-5074542. Donations are tax-deductible

Winner of the First International CWRT Congress PHOENIX AWARD

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Inland Empire Civil War Round Table Patron Recognition

We sincerely thank our Dedicated Patron Donors. The continued support of individuals who have contributed $50 or more is invaluable to the Inland Empire Civil War Round Table and the advancement of our educational and preservation efforts.

2026 Patrons

Heather St. Clair* - Loma Linda Mike Hoover* - Grand Terrace

Janet Whaley* - Pasadena Stephen Smith* - Grand Terrace

Paul Gomez* - Rancho Cucamonga Don McCue* - Redlands

North Jersey Civil War Round Table* - New Jersey

Old Baldy Civil War Round Table of Philadelphia*

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Generals Sedwick-Granger Camp 17*

Donald Forden & Donna Kisk* - Laguna Woods

Brian Cieslak* - Riverside Richard Foy* - Laguna Woods

David Holtz* - Northridge Kevin Phillips* - Riverside

Richard Jankowski Jr.* - Voorhees, NJ.

Steve Madden* - Redlands, CA

David Twichell* - Highland, CA - John Serrano* - Redlands

Jeffery Boutwell* - Columbia, MD - Kevin Donovan* - Roanoke, VA

Dennis Doyle* - Joilet, IL - Nonie Kleinhans* - Redlands

Stephen Romaine* -

Michael Reed* - Laguna Woods

Dwight Pitcaithley* - Las Cruces, NM

Lety & Perry Danesh* - Grand Terrace

Nancy & Rodney McGee* - Redlands, CA

Richard Rosenthal* - Morris Plains, NJ

Mark Radeleff - Highland, CA

* Donation given for the acquisition of historical artifacts for the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands, CA.

2025 Patrons

Heather St. Clair - Loma Linda James Shuttleworth - Rowland Heights

Elizabeth Courtney - San Dimas Frank Sheridan - Redlands

Mike Hoover * - Grand Terrace

Jim & Emily Bueermann * - Redlands

To become a Inland Empire Civil War Round Table Patron click here.

For a listing of all our past presentations, click the link below.

https://www.inlandempirecwrt.org/past-presentations

On Tuesday, October 15th, at 7:15 p.m., Eastern Time

The African Americans in the Civil War Era Round Table welcomes

Dr. Cheryl Renee Gooch

She will give a presentation on:

Hinsonville's Heroes: Black Civil War Soldiers of Southeastern Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Topic: AACWERT Presentation - Hinsonville's Heroes, by Dr. Cheryl Renee Gooch

Time: Oct 15, 2026, 07:15 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83314815203?pwd=zfWxamAHzHZBjTbcDPEeKTZ62gufqS.1

Meeting ID: 833 1481 5203 Passcode: 618456

Dr. Cheryl Renee Gooch

Dr. Cheryl Renée Gooch is a historian, scholar, and academic leader whose research and public-history work recovers and interprets overlooked African American histories. She is the author of "Hinsonville’s Heroes: Black Civil War Soldiers of Chester County, Pennsylvania" and "On Africa’s Lands: The Forgotten Stories of Two Lincoln-Educated Missionaries in Liberia." Her historical research and interpretive planning have contributed to projects for the National Park Service, Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, and Historical Society of Pennsylvania. She served as historian and principal writer for the Delaware History Museum’s permanent exhibition, "Journey to Freedom", chronicling the Black Delaware experience from the seventeenth century to the present. Through scholarship, exhibition development, and public history, Dr. Gooch brings overlooked voices and enduring stories of freedom, resilience, community, and African American achievement to wider audiences. Her work reminds us that recovering the past is not simply about preserving history—it is about transforming how we understand ourselves, our communities, and the American story.

In this compelling author talk, Dr. Cheryl Renée Gooch explores the remarkable history of Hinsonville, a free Black community established in the 1830s by African Americans who migrated from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland with a determination to preserve their independence, build community, and shape their own future.

Located near present-day Lincoln University, Hinsonville became a vital center of Black agency, faith, education, and resistance. Although the community no longer appears on contemporary maps, its legacy endures at Hosanna Church and Cemetery, where ten of the community’s Civil War veterans are buried.

As documented in Dr. Gooch’s book, Hinsonville’s Heroes: Black Civil War Soldiers of Southeastern Chester County, Pennsylvania, eighteen men from the community served in the United States Colored Troops, becoming agents of emancipation. Hinsonville’s story reaches far beyond the Civil War. Its residents and their descendants were connected to the Underground Railroad and abolition, the founding of Ashmun Institute—now Lincoln University, the movement for Liberian colonization, and the broader struggle for African American advancement and self-determination.

At the heart of Hinsonville’s history is a persistent consciousness rooted in emancipation—a determination to resist oppression, build institutions, and create opportunities for future generations.

Dr. Gooch’s commitment to Hinsonville’s legacy extends beyond her scholarship. She also serves with Friends of Hosanna AUMP, a registered Pennsylvania nonprofit dedicated to preserving the built and social history of Hosanna Church and Cemetery. Through scholarship, leadership, and historic preservation, she continues bringing Hinsonville’s extraordinary story to new generations.

Free and Determined to Be Free invites AACWERT participants to rediscover a community whose residents were not simply witnesses to history. They were agents of change who helped shape it.

On Sunday, October 18th, at 2 p.m. at the A.K. Smiley Public Library

125 W. Vine St., Redlands, CA

The President of the African-Americans in the Civil War Era Round Table

and USCT Reenactor, Julian Della Puppa

Will give a presentation on

Pre-Civil War Black Militias and the Creation of the U.S.C.T.

United States Colored Troops

The connection between pre-Civil War era Black militias and the creation of the United States Colored Troops (USCT) is a complex historical subject rooted in the history of state-sanctioned armed organizations. Pre-Civil War Black Militias: Before the Civil War, Black militias were rare and often depended on state laws and social dynamics. Historically, many states, both North and South, had laws banning Black men and Native Americans from serving in the U.S. Army or state militias.

Louisiana Native Guard: A notable exception existed in New Orleans, Louisiana. Because of the state's unique cultural history involving Spanish, French, and Creole populations, a regiment of the "Louisiana Native Guard" was accepted into the Louisiana militia in 1861. These were free Black men with Black officers and enslaved men as enlisted soldiers, led by state-appointed white commanders. However, it is important to note that the Confederate States of America did not officially authorize or use them as soldiers; they were essentially a state-level organization.

Creation of the United States Colored Troops (USCT)

The formal creation of the USCT was a gradual process driven by battlefield necessity, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the urgent need for manpower as the war progressed:

Initial Reluctance: Early in the war (1861–1862), President Lincoln was hesitant to authorize Black regiments due to concerns about potentially alienating Border States. Consequently, Black men who escaped to Union lines were often utilized as teamsters, laborers, and scouts rather than combat soldiers.

Transition to Combat Units: By mid-1862, some Union generals, acting without direct War Department authorization, began forming Black regiments. These included units like the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry and additional regiments of the Louisiana Native Guard.

Official Recognition: The landscape shifted significantly with the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863), which officially opened armed service to "persons of African descent." General Order No. 143 formally established the Bureau of Colored Troops on May 22, 1863. This created a centralized, federal administrative structure, organizing regiments into the numbered USCT designations we recognize today. The USCT eventually comprised approximately 10% of the Union Army by the end of the war, participating in nearly 450 battle engagements

Julian Della Puppa is an Archivist and public historian, and a USC alumnus with a Master's degree in Management, Library, and Information Science. He is the president of the African-Americians in the Civil War Era Round Table. He has worked at the USC Shoah Foundation as a metadata archivist, helping preserve Holocaust and other historic genocide materials for use in education. Julian has previously worked at the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, where he assisted in teaching the public about California's role in the Civil War as a living historian and guide. He is also a part of the 97th USCT living history group and regularly participates in events that allow him to speak about the contributions and the lives of African American soldiers during the Civil War.

On Monday, October 19th, at 6:30 p.m., Pacific Time

The author and Historian, Gene Salecker

Will give a presentation on

The Sultana Disaster and an introduction to the new Sultana Museum

Here is the link to the Zoom presentation

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84301493509?pwd=dybjihUah43npbTkRbSAZZxUiCG1qN.1

The Sultana disaster was the deadliest maritime tragedy in United States history, occurring in the early morning hours of April 27, 1865. The commercial side-wheel steamboat, which was built with a legal capacity of 376 passengers, was dangerously overcrowded with over 2,000 people—mostly newly released Union prisoners of war returning home after the Civil War—when its boilers exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis

The explosion, fire, and subsequent sinking killed an estimated 1,800 people. The catastrophe received comparatively little public attention or news coverage at the time, as it was overshadowed by the recent assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the conclusion of the Civil War.

Gene Eric Salecker is a military historian whose eight published books include Destruction of the Steamboat Sultana: The Worst Maritime Disaster in American History (2022) and The San Francisco V-J Day Peace Riots: Celebration turned Deadly, August 13-15, 1945 (2026). He owned the largest collection of Sultana artifacts and memorabilia, which he donated to the Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Arkansas. A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University, he is a retired police officer and retired middle school teacher who currently serves as the historical consultant for the Sultana Disaster Museum. He lives in River Grove, Illinois, with his wife, a cat, a rabbit, and dozens of tropical fish.

His presentation today will be on the explosion and burning of the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River at the end of the Civil War. The boat was bringing home recently released Union prisoners of war when her boilers unexpectedly exploded. Although it is the worst maritime disaster in American history, few people have heard of the Sultana because of many other historic events happening at the same time.

Topic: The Sultana Disaster - Gene Salecker

Time: Oct 19, 2026 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84301493509?pwd=dybjihUah43npbTkRbSAZZxUiCG1qN.1

Meeting ID: 843 0149 3509

Passcode: Lincoln

On Monday, September 21st,

The author and Civil War Historian, Patrick Kelly Fischer

Gave a presentation on

Desert Empire: The 1862 New Mexico Campaign.

Here is the link to the recorded presentation

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ypbSI802mxnQ8E_2hc7JsD6gkQVO2Ez5/view?usp=sharing

In late July of 1861, Lieutenant Colonel John Baylor and 258 Texas cavalry thundered into the small village of Mesilla, tucked along the Rio Grande River in the New Mexico Territory. They skirmished with U.S. regulars seeking to retake the town, and quickly forced them to retreat. It was a small victory that fueled visions of something much, much larger.

These Texans were the vanguard of the newly-formed Confederacy, seeking to fulfill long-held Southern dreams of expanding their influence westward to the gold fields of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean ports of Southern California: a Confederate version of Manifest Destiny from “sea to shining sea.”

The fighting at Mesilla was the opening act of one of the least-studied campaigns of the Civil War. For the next year, troops from Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California would fight for control of the Southwest, its gold fields, and a route to the Pacific for the Confederacy. They marched across thousands of miles of scorching desert and over towering mountain passes, struggling with each other, hostile tribes, and the brutal elements, with the fate of the region hanging in the balance.

Patrick Kelly-Fischer is a historian with Emerging Civil War. He graduated from Bard College in 2009 with a B.A. in Political Studies, and began writing for Emerging Civil War in 2021. Living in Colorado, he has a particular interest in the role the Southwest played during the war, especially the 1862 New Mexico campaign. Originally from upstate New York, Pat now lives in Denver with his wife Emily, and their dog Cincy, where he works for a network of nonprofits. When he isn’t working, reading or writing, you can probably find him hiking or rooting for the Steelers.

On Monday, August 17th, 6:30 pm, Pacific time

The author and Civil War Historian, Kevin Phillips

gave a Zoom presentation on

The Little-Known Significance of California in the Civil War

Here is the link to the recorded presentation

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LisG0M86EIkn7ljUiTEcWXwbb0QTF37g/view?usp=sharing

This presentation will explore California’s role in the wider context of the Civil War. The discussion will examine the military, economic, and strategic importance, as well as the vast but little-recognized contributions to and impact upon the larger war efforts. Additionally, we will consider the political and military conditions in California throughout the war and those California personalities, both famous and little known, who impacted the conflict, in the larger arena and within California.

Kevin Phillips is a former Police Lieutenant, retiring after 26 years of service. A decorated combat veteran, including two Purple Hearts, Kevin has served multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Balkans. Kevin possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from National University and is currently a consultant with the VIK Consulting Group, specializing in Emergency Management and Public Safety Services. A dedicated student of history, Kevin the process of completing his first book, “A Far Off Affair: California and the Civil War, which will be available in the Fall of 2026.

Kevin is a member of the Inland Empire CWRT, Pasadena CWRT, and Orange County CWRT, the American Battlefield Trust, and the Southern California Chapter of the National Infantry Association. A resident of Riverside, California, Kevin is a proud father and doting grandfather.

FROM OUR FRIENDS AT THE LINCOLN SHRINE AND THE

WATCHORN LINCOLN MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION IN REDLANDS

Liberty’s Legacy: Celebrating 250 Years
of Independence

As we honor a monumental milestone in American history -- the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence -- the Watchorn Lincoln Memorial Association invites you to join us for Liberty's Legacy: Celebrating 250 Years of Independence, a program that reflects not only our nation's past but also focuses on the enduring ideals that continue to shape our society today.

Taking place on September 29 and 30, this two-day program will include a keynote address by noted historian Jon Meacham and a symposium featuring scholars discussing the significance of the Declaration of Independence to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

Keynote Address: Jon Meacham
September 29, 2026 - 7 p.m.
University of Redlands, Memorial Chapel

Meacham will explore the founding ideals embedded in the Declaration of Independence and their profound influence on American history.

This special keynote address is open to the public at no cost; but advance registration is required.

September 30, 2026, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

University of Redlands, Orton Center

Symposium: “Impact of the Declaration of Independence on President Abraham Lincoln’s Perspectives on Liberty and Slavery”

Join us for an immersive all-day symposium featuring five distinguished scholars discussing President Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War with particular focus on the impact of the Declaration of Independence on Lincoln’s perspective on liberty and slavery.

The fee for attending the symposium is $125.00 per person. The fee includes lunch and closing reception at the Lincoln Memorial Shrine, fostering meaningful discussions and connections among attendees. Click on the link below to find out more information on each of the symposium speakers.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Use the link below to register for the free keynote address and the separate symposium registration for the following day. If you plan to attend both, you need to use both registrations.

https://www.lincolnshrine.org/america250/.