The Capital District Civil War Round Table has launched a new monthly podcast covering all things Civil War.
Hosted by Round Table member Nick Thony, each episode will feature a discussion with a historian, writer, or Civil War enthusiast. Continue reading
On Wednesday, May 30 at 6 pm the Old Stone Fort Museum is set to host members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War for a traditional Decoration Day ceremony on the lawn of the Revolutionary War stone fort.
With the help of the public, the graves of Civil War soldiers will be decorated with flowers and the Schoharie County American Legion Honor Guard will honor veterans of America’s other wars.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of Decoration Day, now known as Memorial Day. Continue reading
U.S. Grant Cottage State Historic Site is set to open for the 2018 season on Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28, with new exhibits and the return of a popular program highlighting Cottage caretaker and Civil War veteran Oliver Pendelton Clarke and his wife Martha.
A new exhibit in the Grant Cottage Visitor Center, “Let Us Have Peace: Reconstruction and the 1868 U.S. Presidential Election,” celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ulysses Grant’s first run for President. The exhibit includes items such as a period ballot box, tintype photos, 1868 ballots, and publications covering the election.
Pete Gilbert Jr. is set to lead a round table discussion on the 118th New York Volunteer Infantry, on Sunday, March 25th at 2 pm at the Ogdensburg Public Library.
The 118th New York Volunteer Infantry, or “Adirondack Regiment,” was formed with enlistees from Clinton, Essex, and Warren counties in 1862, and eventually took part in the Peninsula Campaign, the Bermuda Hundred Campaign, and the battles of Cold Harbor, Petersburg, the Crater, and Richmond. Continue reading
Solomon Northup, who was lured away from Saratoga Springs and into slavery before the Civil War, wrote a book, Twelve Years a Slave, following his fortuitous rescue in 1853.
Some of his post-slavery life can be tracked via property records, court documents, and newspaper stories. Thus, it is known that he purchased a home for his family in Glens Falls, that he undertook a lecture tour throughout the Northeast, and was involved in the apprehension and trial of the two men who had kidnapped him. Continue reading
The next North Country Civil War Round Table will be held on Sunday, November 19th, at 2 pm at the St. Lawrence County Historical Association. Rather than featuring an in-depth lecture on an aspect of the war, visitors who own items with provenance to the Civil War period are invited to bring them to the event for a “show and tell” session.
Local Civil War military expert Dixie Dave Ellis will be on hand to help identify artifacts brought by participants. Show-and-tell objects do not need to be military in nature: documents and stories are welcome. Continue reading
Artists Wanda Burch and John Kenosian will perform concert at The Arkell Museum, Friday evening, November 10, at 7 pm.
Home Voices: the American Civil War Experience through Words and Music will feature guest artist, soprano Gisella Montanez-Case Wanda Burch, historian and writer, Glen, NY, and singer/songwriter John Kenosian, Clifton Park.
Providing perspective on the human side of the Civil War, this program explores the dreams and imaginings of those who fought the war as recorded in their letters, journals and memoirs.
Sometimes published as poems or songs or printed in newspapers, these rarely acknowledged writings reflect the personalities and experiences of their authors. Some expressions of fear, pain, loss, homesickness and disappointment are related with grim fatalism, some with glimpses of humor. Continue reading
Author Glenn Pearsall is set to speak about and sign his new fiction book, Leaves Torn Asunder on Tuesday, October 24 at 7 pm during a free event, open to the public, at the James Vanderpoel ‘House of History’ in Kinderhook, sponsored by the Columbia County Historical Society Volunteers.
Based on true events, Pearsall’s research included diaries, soldiers’ letters home, visits to Civil War battle sites and historical documents such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. One of the main characters in the novel is an outspoken abolitionist. Continue reading
The dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863, is mostly remembered for the short speech that President Abraham Lincoln delivered there that day. At the time, however, most of the public attention went to a much longer, formal oration by Edward Everett, former Massachusetts governor, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State.
But there were other speakers at Gettysburg as well, including two New Yorkers, Secretary of State (and former U.S. Senator and governor) William H. Seward, and Governor Horatio Seymour.
At the time, Seward and Seymour were nationally recognized and influential leaders and their short speeches were widely noted and reprinted in the press. Continue reading
This autumn, the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site will continue their readings and discussions series with a “follow up” which takes up where the previous Civil War topic concluded.
Jefferson Community College history instructor Josh Canale will guide the discussions during four Tuesday 7 pm sessions on September 12, 19, 26 and Oct 17. Facilitating with Josh is the College’s past president and history instructor Dr. John W. Deans. Continue reading