History department to sponsor Civil War forum

by Jennifer ten Boom staff writer

Bloody battles. Brother against brother. The Battle of Gettysburg. Those are the tenns that come to people's minds when they describe the bloodiest war in American history: The Civil War.

A forum will be held next weekend, on Saturday, Nov. 20, about the Civil War. The title of this forum is 'The Civil War That Nobody )(nows." The forum will start at 8 a.m. and last until 5 p.m.

In this forum, topics that are not normally discussed are brought to light.

The forum's creators have invited a number of speakers from different colleges and disciplines to specifically talk about topics not normally discussed at forums of this kind.

This forum was organized by the students from the History Club, who wanted to sponsor a forum on the Civil War in conjunction with the Honors Civil War class. Dr. James Hedtke, chair of the history department, agreed to help the students sponsor this forum.

One of the forums that is offered is about Santa Oaus and is presented by Mr. Kevin Rawlings, a social historian.

The Santa Claus concept that people know today was created by Thomas Nast during the Civil War to help Union families cope during the Christmas season.

Another lecture is about southern plunderers, presented by Mr. Karlton Smith from Gettysburg National Military Park.

A common misconception of the

Civil War era is that the Union Army members were the only plunderers. Smith will prove that tie of Gettysburg. offered, including one by Dr. Jolyon Girard, a professor of history at Cabrini College. this idea is ~rong. His talk will be about how the Confederate Army plundered Gettysburg and the surrounding counties during the Bat-

Dr. Lee Jennings, the head historian from Fort Delaware, will speak about the Civil War Prisons. One of these prisons, in fact, was in the Philadelphia area. Fort Mifflin was a P.0.W holding for Confederate officers.

Two more forums are offered about the African-Americans who fought during the Civil War.

Not many people know that 10 percent of the American army consisted of African-American soldiers. Dr. James Paradis will talk about The Sixth United States Colored Infantry in the Civil War.

Girard will lecture on the crisis out at sea called The Trent Affair.

Dr. Randell Miller from St. Joseph's University will also come to discuss the enduring meaning of the Civil War.

Dr. Russell Weighley, a professor from Temple University, will speak about the relationships of the African-American troops and their meaning of the Civil War.

In addition, three other talks are

The third talk is by Lt. Colonel Conrad Crane, a professor of history at the Military Academy at West Point. Crane will talk about he little-known battle that took place in New Mexico during the war called the Battle of Valverde. Hedtke said that the department has many reasons for presenting the forum.

'The individual perspectives are important, from the fighting soldier to the women who helped in the war," Hedtke said.