The 49th Annual Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture will take place at the Majestic Theater on Nov. 19, coinciding with the 147th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's delivery of the "Gettysburg Address."

The 7:30 p.m. lecture, "Loyalty and America's Civil War," will be delivered by Edward Ayers, president of the University of Richmond. Ayers' lecture will focus on Civil War America and the fundamental categories of loyalty that shifted beneath people's feet. His talk will explore a remarkable and revealing time in American history and identify the key struggles of the Civil War era. The lecture is open to the public at no charge and is sponsored by Gettysburg College's Civil War Institute and Department of History.

In addition to the lecture, Jeff Shaara will award the $5,000 Michael Shaara Prize for Excellence in Civil War Fiction to Cornelia Nixon for her book, "Jarrettsville." The Michael Shaara Prize was established in 1997 by "Gods and Generals" author Jeff Shaara, and is named in honor of his father, author of the novel "The Killer Angels." The prize, administered by Gettysburg College, honors a novel about the Civil War and encourages fresh approaches to Civil War fiction.

About Ayers

In 2007, Ayers became president of the University of Richmond. Previously Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia, Ayers was named the National Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2003. A historian of the American South, Ayers has written and edited ten books. "The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction" was a finalist for both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. Ayers has received a presidential appointment to the National Council on the Humanities, served as a Fulbright professor in the Netherlands and been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

About Nixon

Nixon has authored four books including three novels and a book of literary criticism. Her novel, "Now You See It," received the Carl Sandburg Award for Fiction. She has also published stories in magazines, including Ploughshares, New England Review, Iowa Review and Gettysburg Review.

About the Fortenbaugh Lecture

The lecture was sustained during its first two decades by an endowment contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Clyde B. Gerberich of Mt. Joy, Pa., in honor of Fortenbaugh, who taught history at Gettysburg College from 1923 until his death in 1959. The endowment has been substantially supplemented by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Harry D. Halloway Fund and Helwett Foundation. Bruce Catton delivered the first Fortenbaugh Lecture in 1962. He was followed by, among others, David Herbert Donald, John Hope Franklin, David Brion Davis, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., C. Vann Woodward, Eric Foner, John Keegan, Drew Faust, Jean H. Baker and Ira Berlin.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition that includes Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate and other distinguished scholars among its alumni. The College enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Kendra Martin, director of media relations & news content, 717.337.6801