Welcome

JOIN US FOR OUR IN-PERSON MEETING ON 

TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2026 AT 7:15 P.M. (Pacific Time)

FOR A PRESENTATION ON: 

 

"FINDING THE STARS IN YOUR COURSES"

 

WITH  Austin Krause, Board Member, Pasadena Civil War Round Table

            

 

 

CLICK HERE for more detail.  

 

 

 

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We also announce the upcoming meetings of our "Sister CWRT," the Inland Empire CWRT:

 

Sunday, June 6, 2026 - 2:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) 

A.K. Smiley Library - 125 W. Vine Street - Redlands

John Fitzpatrick -  "Dropping Dimes:  Can Great Britain be Held Accountable

and Liable for Enabling Confederate Commerce Raiders During the Civil War?"

 

This meeting is in person only.

 

AND

 

Monday, June 15, 2026 - 6:30 p.m. (Pacific Time)

 

Joe Boslet, Author - Little Round Top at Gettysburg:  A Reassessment of July 2, 1863

 

This meeting is via Zoom only.

 

Check out their website for more information and to access the Zoom link:   INLAND EMPIRE CWRT

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
 Inland Empire Civil War Round Table
40th Anniversary and Symposium 
June 26 and 27, 2027
Redlands, CA

Featured presenters will include Gary Gallagher, Joan Waugh, Curt Fields (as General Grant),

Robert Broski (as President Lincoln), Dwight Pitcaithley (retired Chief Historian for the National Parks Service),

and representatives of the Lincoln Memorial Shrine in Redlands.

 

Watch for details coming this summer.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR SISTER CWRT ON RECEIVING THE

FIRST INTERNATIONAL CWRT CONGRESS' PHOENIX AWARD!

(This award recognizes a CWRT that ceased to exist or was dormant but was revived.)

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SPECIAL LIVE-STREAM & IN-PERSON CELEBRATION

Saturday - July 4, 2026

An 1899 memorial gathering at Owen Brown's grave, 10 years after his death

On behalf of Altadena's Owen Brown Gravesite Committee, you are invited to participate in an Independence Day live-stream celebration the morning of July 4, 2026. Owen Brown was the son of John Brown, 19th Century patriarch of the most prominent Abolitionist family in America. Owen and his brother Jason settled in Altadena in the 1880s, looking for peace as they processed the trauma of losing four family members (their father by execution) in the pre-Civil War fight to end American slavery. 

The event will start with a 10-minute hike up to the LA County Historic Landmark of Owen’s gravesite from the top of El Prieto Road in the Meadows. Those who can’t make the hike can join us via Zoom as part of a nationwide July 4th event.

There will be three celebrations rolled into one:

1) The 4th of July — America’s 250th birthday this year 
2)  The Owen Brown gravesite's inclusion in the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom Program (Altadena now has a National Park site!), and becoming an LA County Landmark.
3) John Brown America 250’s program, “Renewing the Revolution” will live-stream from historic sites across the United States such as Harpers Ferry, Underground Railway locations, and Altadena! The goal is to bring the Brown Family quest — and the Abolitionist effort to end American slavery, into conversations surrounding our country's 250th anniversary. 

This program starts with the hike from the top of El Prieto Road in the Meadows to Owen Brown’s gravesite on “Little Round Top” — named for the pivotal battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War. Owen and Jason Brown homesteaded this land, now Altadena, after Owen spent 20 years on the lam avoiding arrest for his part in the raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. The raid, 18 months before the outbreak of the Civil War, has been called its first, unofficial battle. 

Earlier in 1859, on July 4th, John and Owen published  “The Declaration of Liberty,” which paralleled the language of the Declaration of Independence — arguing that, logically, Americans should not rest until the country lived up to the words “all men are created equal,” and free its enslaved population. John and Owen took it a step further, asserting that all women should also have equal rights with men! 

Owen Brown is Altadena’s own local hero of national significance, far ahead of his time, whose legacy we will celebrate this Fourth of July. Members from different civic groups will read parts of the Declaration. Historians will provide context as needed, and the program will be live-streamed across the United States. This will connect Altadena to other Americans celebrating our country's 250th birthday — at the same time acknowledging there is still work to do.

The hope for this celebration is to bring people from all quarters together in service of a larger cause in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire, and inspire the healing and rebuilding of a community where everyone can live and thrive.

Information on the event will be updated to this website in the coming weeks.  Be sure to click on the link below for details.
 

OWEN BROWN GRAVESITE

 

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Can't get enough of Civil War history? 

 

Check out the website for the
Southern California CWRT Alliance
to find out what programs are happening
at other local Civil War Round Tables this month:
 

SoCal CWRT Alliance Website

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The Pasadena Civil War Round Table meets monthly in Pasadena to provide a forum for discussion and education about the conflict that so deeply affected the very fabric of our nation.  Our monthly meetings bring to Pasadena many of the leading experts on the Civil War, including noted authors, historians, re-enactors, and Civil War enthusiasts on a wide variety of topics.  We also raise funds to support the preservation of Civil War battlefield and historical sites.