Dr. Tim Drake of Clemson University will speak at the Washington Civil War Round Table at 6 p.m. on Monday night, November 27. The meeting will be held at the Fitzpatrick Hotel Restaurant on The Square in Downtown Washington. The public is invited and the cost is $10 per person which includes dinner.

Dr. Drake's presentation, "A Gathering Storm - the Social and Political Setting of Ante-bellum Georgia and South Carolina," will be a discussion of the real causes of the Civil War.

"Dr. Drake is expected to cut through and demolish the simplistic, boiler-plate, politically, so-called correct causes of the Civil War and present the actual facts from this critical time in our nation's history," says Round Table President Claibourne Darden.

Drake is a South Carolina native and is a direct descendanat of John C. Calhoun, Vice-President of the United States, 1825-1832, and a proponent of strict State's Rights. He had 16 direct relatives serve in the Confederate Army. He is also related to the family who printed the Confederate money and bonds in Columbia, S.C., and personally has an extensive collection of Civil War material, some of which he will bring to the meeting.

Membership in the Washington Civil War Round Table is open to everyone and is $15 for students; $25 for individuals; and $35 for families. To join, attend a meeting and sign up.