Upcoming Events
Dr. James Broomall will present his latest book, Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men As Citizens and Soldiers, at the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA on Saturday, March 30, 2019. For more information please visit https://www.facebook.com/events/333866404147682/.
Dwight Pitcaithley, former chief historian of the National Park Service, will speak at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on the Shepherd University campus on Thursday, April 11, 2019. The lecture will focus on Pitcaithley’s latest work, The U.S. Constitution and Secession: A Documentary Anthology of Slavery and White Supremacy. Four Seasons Books will be joining us this evening and will have books available for purchase and signing following the lecture in the lobby of the Byrd Center. This event is co-sponsored by the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War and the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education. This event is free and open to the public but REQUIRES AN RSVP. To reserve your seat, please RSVP to Jody Brumage at jbrumage@shepherd.edu or 304-876-5648. For up-to-date information, please visit the Facebook event page!
On April 13, 2019, Dr. James Broomall, Dr. Peter Carmichael (Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College), and NPS Ranger Chris Gwinn (Gettysburg National Military Park) will lead a walking tour of Culp’s Hill at Gettysburg National Military Park. This event is free and open to the public. Those wishing to attend should meet at Spangler’s Spring in Gettysburg National Military Park at 9:30am. The walking tour will return to Spangler’s Spring and conclude at 12:30pm. Participants should wear appropriate footwear for a three hour walking tour on the battlefield. At 1:30pm, Dr. Broomall, Ranger Chris Gwinn, and John Heckman (The Tattooed Historian) will lead an interactive program featuring voices from the Battle of Gettysburg. There will be two book signings during the afternoon at the Gettysburg Heritage Center. At 1:00pm, Dr. Peter Carmichael will sign his latest work, “The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived in Civil War Armies.” At 3:30pm, Dr. James Broomall will sign his newest book, “Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men as Citizens and Soldiers,” and Dr. Carmichael will sign, “The War for the Common Soldier.” This program is free, open to the public, and will take place at the Gettysburg Heritage Center located at 297 Steinwehr Avenue, Gettysburg, PA. Many thanks to Gettysburg National Military Park, Shepherd University, Gettysburg College, and the Gettysburg Heritage Center for sponsoring the day’s events. For up-to-date information, please visit the Facebook event page!
Dr. James Broomall will be the featured guest on The Tattooed Historian Presents on April 18, 2019. The interview will take place from 7:00-8:30pm at the Garryowen Irish Pub located at 126 Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg, PA and will also be livestreamed on The Tattooed Historian Facebook page.
On Wednesday, April 24, 2019, join Dr. James Broomall at Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown, WV for the release of his newest book, Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men As Citizens and Soldiers. More details will be posted soon – be sure to check back!
On Monday, April 29, 2019, Dr. David Silkenat will present his latest book, Raising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War. The lecture will take place at 7:00pm in the auditorium at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education. Thanks to Four Seasons Books, three of Dr. Silkenat’s books will be available for purchase before and after the lecture with the signing taking place at the end of the lecture. The additional two books are Driven From Home and Moments of Despair. This event is free and open to the public. For up-to-date information, please visit the Facebook event page!
During his presentation, Dr. Silkenat will explore how the American Civil War began with a laying down of arms by Union troops at Fort Sumter, and it ended with a series of surrenders, most famously at Appomattox Courthouse. But in the intervening four years, both Union and Confederate forces surrendered en masse on scores of other occasions. Indeed, roughly one out of every four soldiers surrendered at some point during the conflict. In no other American war did surrender happen so frequently.
David Silkenat here provides the first comprehensive study of Civil War surrender, focusing on the conflicting social, political, and cultural meanings of the action. Looking at the conflict from the perspective of men who surrendered, Silkenat creates new avenues to understand prisoners of war, fighting by Confederate guerillas, the role of southern Unionists, and the experiences of African American soldiers. The experience of surrender also sheds valuable light on the culture of honor, the experience of combat, and the laws of war.
Dr. James Broomall will lecture at the U.S. Capitol Historical Society’s annual conference taking place on May 10-11, 2019 in Washington, DC.
On May 18, 2019, Dr. James Broomall will present his newest book, Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men as Citizens and Soldiers, at the Newcomer House from 11:30am-12:00pm and again from 2:00-2:30pm. The Newcomer House, part of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area, is located at 18422 Shepherdstown Pike, Keedysville, MD 21756. The Newcomer House is located approximately ½ mile east of Sharpsburg along Maryland Route 34 (Shepherdstown Pike) on the western edge of the Antietam Creek.
Shepherd University will host the national meeting of the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars later this spring. On Thursday, May 30, 2019, Dr. Broomall will lead the group on a tour of local Civil War sites.
On June 6, 2019, Dr. James Broomall offer a lecture on his newest book, Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men as Citizens and Soldiers, at the Loudoun Museum in Leesburg, Virginia at 6:30pm.
Dr. James Broomall will present at the 2019 Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, PA. This year’s CWI conference will take place from June 16-17, 2019.
Dr. James Broomall will participate in an episode on Civil War Talk Radio on October 2, 2019 to discuss his book, Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men as Citizens and Soldiers. The Civil War Talk Radio podcast is now in its 15th year, and features in-depth phone interviews with historians, authors, curators, artists and other people whose work is of interest to students of the Civil War era. Guest have included James McPherson, Joan Waugh, Gordon Rhea, Carol Reardon, Steven Woodworth, Peter Carmichael, and many others. Links to previous episodes back to 2004 are available at http://www.impedimentsofwar.org. Once the podcast episode is live, we will share the link on our website and social media feeds.
The George Tyler Moore Center’s 23rd Annual Civil War and American Society Seminar Series will take place this fall in Shepherdstown, WV from Thursday, October 10th – Sunday October 13th. For more information, please visit our seminar page.
Dr. Charles Holden, history professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, will present a lecture on Spiro Agnew at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on Thursday, November 7, 2019. More details are forthcoming.
On March 14, 2020, Dr. James Broomall will present his book, Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men as Citizens and Soldiers, to the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation at their annual symposium. The 2020 symposium, “West Virginia in the Civil War,” will be held at West Virginia Independence Hall and the First State Capitol in Wheeling, WV.