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CWI Summer Conference Schedule

2027 Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College Summer Conference

June 11-15

*SUBJECT TO CHANGE*

Friday, June 11

TimeEvent
12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m.

Check-in, College Union Building (CUB)

CUB Lobby

3:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Welcome, Jill Ogline Titus (Gettysburg College)

CUB Ballroom

3:15 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Deserter Country: Civil War Opposition in the Pennsylvania Appalachians, Robert Sandow (Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania at Lock Haven)

CUB Ballroom

4:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.Break
4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Arlington’s African American Story, William Blair (Penn State University)

CUB Ballroom

5:45 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.

Dinner

Dining Center

7:15 p.m. – 8:15 p.m.

Keynote Lecture:

“Such Then is the Decision”: General Meade and the Battle of Gettysburg, Jennifer Murray (Shepherd University)

CUB Ballroom

8:15 p.m.

Ice Cream Social

Mr. G’s Ice Cream

College Union Building Bullet Hole Patio

Saturday, June 12

TimeEvent
7:15 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Breakfast

Dining Center

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Concurrent Sessions

(Attendees pick 1, no reservations required)

  1. Robert E. Lee and the 1861 Campaign in Western Virginia, Mary Hall (St. Mary’s College of Maryland)

    CUB Ballroom

  2. The Brooks-Sumner Affair: Masculinity, Honor, and Antebellum Political Culture, Michael Pierson (University of Massachusetts—Lowell) and James Broomall (University of Richmond)

    Masters 110/Mara Auditorium

  3. College-Educated New Englanders, Honor, Nationalism, and Leadership in the Civil War Era, Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai (Massachusetts Historical Society)

    Science Center 200

9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.Break
9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Concurrent Sessions

(Attendees pick 1, no reservations required)

  1. Burton and His Bullet: A New Spin on the Minie Ball, Dana Shoaf (National Museum of Civil War Medicine)

    CUB Ballroom

  2. Enslaved Americans’ Interactions with Federal Officials During the Civil War, Cooper Wingert (Fordham University)

    Masters 110 (Mara Auditorium)

10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.Break
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon

Civil War Navies: A Roundtable Discussion, Laura June Davis (Columbus State University), Benjamin Armstrong (United States Naval Academy), Peter Luebke

Moderator: John Coski (Independent Historian)

CUB Ballroom

12:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

Lunch

Dining Center

DINE-IN DISCUSSIONS (pre-assigned)

  1. The Spirits of Rebellion: Whiskey Sellers in Civil War Missouri, Megan Bever (Missouri Southern State University)
  2. The Start of an Uneasy Alliance: Two Enslaved People Reach U.S. Lines Before Emancipation, Michael Pierson, (University of Massachusetts—Lowell)
  3. Copperheads or Loyal Opposition?: Debating Dissent in the Civil War North, Robert Sandow (Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania at Lock Haven)
  4. Medicine and Memoirs, Lindsay Privette (Anderson University)
  5. Devils in Disguise: Civil War Boat Burners and Irregular Naval Warfare, Laura June Davis (Columbus State University)

The Grille & the Atrium (Dining Center)

2:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.

Active Track Tour, part 1

The Union Third Corps at Gettysburg, Timothy Orr (Old Dominion University)

**Pre-registration required; Attendees meet bus at corner of Constitution Ave and Lincoln Ave**

2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions

(Attendees pick 1, no reservations required)

  1. “My Heart Nearly Died Within Me”: Sharpsburg’s Civilians and Antietam’s Long Aftermath, Ashley Luskey (Gettysburg College)

    CUB Ballroom

  2. Black Soldiers in White Union Units, Bryan Cheeseboro (Civil War Defenses of Washington)

    Masters 110/Mara Auditorium

  3. Civil War Chaplains, Daniel Brennan (Gettysburg National Military Park & West Virginia University)

    Science Center 200

  4. Using Material Culture in the Classroom: An Interactive Workshop for Those Working With Students, James Broomall (University of Richmond)

    Science Center 300

3:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.Break
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions

(Attendees pick 1, no reservations required)

  1. The 19th-Century Origins of the Political Supreme Court, Rachel Shelden (Penn State University)

    CUB Ballroom

  2. Late to the Fight: 1864 Union Soldier Enlistees in Combat, Alexandre Caillot (Independent Historian)

    Mara Auditorium (Masters 110)

  3. Connecticut in the Civil War: Slavery, Sacrifice, and Survival, Matthew Warshauer (Central Connecticut State University)

    Science Center 200

4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Dinner

Dining Center

5:45 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.

Evening Gettysburg Battlefield Tours

**Pre-registration required; Attendees meet buses next to CUB, on Lincoln Ave **

  1. In the Footsteps of a Regiment: The 124th New York at Devil’s Den, Peter Vermilyea (Housatonic Valley Regional High School) and Michael Rupert (Licensed Battlefield Guide)
  2. Hidden in Plain Site: Gettysburg Through the Eyes of the Enslaved Men Who Marched With Robert E. Lee, Kevin Levin (Independent Historian)
  3. Meade’s Defense Against Pickett’s Charge, July 3rd, Carol Reardon (Penn State University)
  4. “The Federal Army was Cut in Twain”: The 21st Mississippi in Barksdale’s July 2nd Charge, Dan Welch (Gettysburg National Military Park)
  5. Seminary Ridge Sampler: The Seminary Ridge Museum, the Historic Cupola, and Lee’s Headquarters, Codie Eash (Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center)

Sunday, June 13

TimeEvent
7:15 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Breakfast

Dining Center

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Concurrent Sessions

(Attendees pick 1, no reservations required)

  1. The Gabor Boritt Lecture:

    “Our Fathers Brought Forth”: Lincoln’s Gratitude in the Gettysburg Address, Andrew Lang (University of Texas)

    Masters 110/Mara Auditorium

  2. Beyond Lincoln: How Veterans, Politicians, Poets, and Filmmakers Address the Changing Meaning of the Civil War, Barbara Sanders (Gettysburg National Military Park)

    CUB Ballroom

  3. Edwin Booth and the Culture of Post-War Reconciliation, Elizabeth Reese (Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House)

    Science Center 200

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Active Track Tour, part 2

The Union 3rd Corps at Gettysburg, Timothy Orr (Old Dominion University)

*Pre-registration required; attendees meet buses at corner of Constitution Ave and Lincoln Ave**

9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.Break
9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Concurrent Sessions

(Attendees pick 1, no reservations required)

  1. An Officer of Six Navies: The Life of Confederate Commander Hunter Davidson, John Coski (Independent Historian)

    CUB Ballroom

  2. President Lincoln’s Cottage: A Home for Brave Ideas, Callie Hawkins (President Lincoln’s Cottage)

    Masters 110/Mara Auditorium

  3. The History of the Abraham Lincoln Papers, Michelle Krowl (Library of Congress)

    Science Center 200

10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.Break
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon

Concurrent Sessions

(Attendees pick 1, no reservations required)

  1. The Simpsonville Massacre, Steve Phan (Camp Nelson National Monument)

    CUB Ballroom

  2. The Robert Bloom Lecture:

    “Deeper into the Gulf of Treason”: the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi West, Molly Hutchins Goff (Honey Springs Battlefield)

    Masters 110/Mara Auditorium

  3. Requiem for Reconstruction: Black Countermemory and the Legacy of the Lowcountry’s Lost Political Generation, Robert Bland (University of Tennessee—Knoxville)

    Science Center 200

12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m.

Lunch

Dining Center

1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.Using the Gettysburg Battlefield in the Classroom: An Overview Tour for Those Working With Students, Peter Vermilyea (Housatonic Valley Regional High School) & Jared Peatman (Four Score Consulting & the George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership)
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions

(Attendees pick 1; no pre-registration required)

  1. The Surgeon’s Battle: How Medicine Won the Vicksburg Campaign and Changed the Civil War, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette (Anderson University)

    CUB Ballroom

  2. Portraits of Resistance: Activating Art During Slavery—Jennifer Van Horn (University of Delaware)?

    Masters 110/Mara Auditorium

  3. Reenlistments in the Confederate Army of Tennessee in 1864, Keith Bohannon (West Georgia University)

    Science Center 200

2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.Break
2:45 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.

Faculty Book Signing & Coffee/Cookie Social

CUB Lobby

4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions

(Attendees pick 1, no reservations required)

  1. Abraham Lincoln and the Power of the Emancipation Proclamation, Jonathan White (University of Texas at Austin)

    CUB Ballroom

  2. The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, Robert Mackey (United States Army)

    Masters 110/Mara Auditorium

  3. At War With King Alcohol: Debating Drinking and Masculinity in the Civil War, Megan Bever (Missouri Southern State University)

    Science Center 200

5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Dinner

Dining Center

DINE-IN DISCUSSIONS (pre-assigned)

  1. Every Man His Own Historian: Comparing Soldiers’ Diaries and Memoirs, Mary Hall (St. Mary’s University)
  2. What if Lincoln Lived?, Andrew Lang (University of Texas)
  3. Finding Kate Hewitt…the Secret Fiancee of General John Reynolds, Jeffrey Harding (Licensed Battlefield Guide)
  4. Rethinking Reconstruction’s Afterlife: Memory, Archives, and the Production of Civil War Era History During the Age of Mass Culture, Robert Bland (University of Tennessee--Knoxville)
  5. “It Proclaimed Freedom”: United States Colored Troops’ Monuments and Memorials, Steve Phan (Camp Nelson National Monument)

The Grille and the Atrium (Dining Center)

5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Ideas to Chew On: Teaching History in Today’s Classrooms-- An Informal Discussion (**for those working with students**)

Peter Vermilyea (Housatonic Valley Regional High School) & Jared Peatman (Four Score Consulting & the George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership)

The Grille

7:15 p.m. – 8:15 p.m.

Loyalty and Dissent in the Civil War North: A Roundtable Discussion, Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai (Massachusetts Historical Society), Jennifer Murray (Shepherd University), Matthew Warshauer (Central Connecticut State University), Robert Sandow (Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania at Lock Haven)

Moderator: Jonathan White (University of Texas at Austin)

CUB Ballroom

Monday, June 14

TimeEvent
7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Breakfast

Dining Center

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Full-Day Battlefield Tour:

“Towards the Susquehanna”: The Battle of Wrightsville in History and Memory, Pete Miele (Susquehanna National Heritage Area)

(Attendees must pre-register; this tour will include a boxed lunch)

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Hybrid Tours (3 hours of classroom work, breaking for lunch from 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m., followed by 4 hours of touring)

(Attendees pre-register for one)

  1. The Impact of Weather on the Gettysburg Campaign: A Hands-On Tutorial and Tour, Jeffrey Harding (Licensed Battlefield Guide) and Jon Nese (Penn State University)

    **This program will begin in Masters 110/Mara Auditorium**

  2. Stories in Stone: Selected Gettysburg Monuments and Their Hidden Tales, Dana Shoaf (National Museum of Civil War Medicine) and Melissa Winn (National Museum of Civil War Medicine)

    **This program will begin in Science Center 200**

9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Hybrid Tours (4 hours of touring, breaking for lunch from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., followed by 3 hours of classwork)

(Attendees pre-register for one)

  1. Carl Schurz, German Americans, and the XI Corps at Gettysburg, Heath Anderson (Wright State University)

    **Pre-registration required; this program will meet at Musselman Stadium bus loop; afternoon session in Masters 110/Mara Auditorium**

  2. Freedom Lies Just North: The Underground Railroad in Adams County’s Quaker Valley (Independent Historian) and Cooper Wingert (Fordham University)

    **Pre-registration required; this program will meet at Musselman Stadium bus loop**

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Dinner

Dining Center

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Farewell Dessert & Drinks Social

Atrium Patio

Tuesday, June 15

TimeEvent
7:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Breakfast

Dining Center

7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Check out

CUB 126

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