In 1994, Civil War enthusiast John Wayne went looking for fellow Civil War buffs, in the hopes of forming a Civil War Roundtable in the area. At the time, John and his wife, Nancy, were members of the Southern Ontario Civil War Roundtable which met regularly in Toronto. However, the drive to and from the meetings was becoming too long, and the Waynes hoped to do something on a more local scale.

John placed an ad in the London Free Press in the hopes of drumming up interest in such a group. To his surprise, he received 36 calls in response to the ad, and soon after that, the first meeting of the Southwestern Ontario Civil War Roundtable was scheduled.

The first meeting (and several thereafter) took place at the office of Motion Health Care Systems, where John was working at the time. John switched jobs after that and the Roundtable took to holding its meetings in various locations, including the homes of different members and the common room at the Waynes' apartment building.

Approximately a year and a half after the founding of the Roundtable, the group was growing to overflow the capacity of its current meeting places. At that time, one of the members, Jack Phillips, approached his church, the Central United Church in St. Thomas, about holding the meetings there. The Roundtable has held its meetings at the Church ever since.

In 1998, the Roundtable began preparations to dedicate a plaque, commemorating Canadian involvement in the Civil War at the Westfield Heritage Center at Rockton, Ontario. They approached a local monument company who made the plaque, which was paid for through donations and fund-raisers.

On August 1st, 1998, the Roundtable held a dedication ceremony at Rockton, that was attended by approximately 25 members and their families, and even former president, Abraham Lincoln (actually Fred Priebe, a school teacher from Michigan who portrays Lincoln).