Sesquicentennial
Speakers Bureau

 

The year 2011 marked the beginning of the four-year national commemoration of the150th anniversary of the Civil War.  West Virginia, the only state born of the Civil War, will celebrate her 150th birthday during this time in 2013. With these important observances in mind the Humanities Council created the Sesquicentennial Speakers Bureau.

The bureau features five respected speakers with expertise in a variety of Civil War and statehood related topics. Each has agreed to present their listed topic for three different groups. The Humanities Council pays the fees and expenses of the speakers. We require only that groups hosting a speaker publicize and promote the event so that an audience of at least 40 people can be expected.

In 2011 Sesquicentennial Speakers gave presentations in Buckhannon, Berkeley Springs, Institute, Wheeling, Keyser, Weirton, Beckley, Frankfort, Huntersville, Lost River, Hillsboro, Shepherdstown, Romney, and twice in Bluefield. Now for the year 2012 the available speakers and their topics are listed below.

• Each of the five speakers is available for three presentations of their listed talk beginning January 1, 2012, through October 31, 2012.
Speaker fees and travel are paid directly by the Humanities Council.

• Publicity material is provided to host organizations and press releases sent to area media about each presentation by the Humanities Council.
• All lectures must be publicized, free, and open to the public with an audience of no fewer than 40 persons.
• Requests for speakers should be received no later than the 10th of the month prior to the presentation month, i.e. May 10th for a June 20th presentation.
• Booking in advance is advised.

Contact program officer Mark Payne at 304-346-8500 or payne@wvhumanities.org to schedule one of the following presentations from January 1, 2012, through October 31, 2012.

 

West Virginians at War, 1862
Dr. Mark Snell

Mark Snell, director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd University, takes a broad look at unionists and secessionists during the second calendar year of the Civil War. The presentation includes battles involving Confederate (West) Virginians engaged at forts Henry and Donelson, Fredricksburg where (West) Virginians of the Stonewall Brigade fought, and the Union army's Seventh West Virginia Infantry before concluding with Lincoln's constitutional dilemma over the West Virginia statehood bill.

 

Was the Civil War a Just War?
Dr. Aaron Sheehan-Dean

Sunday, February 19, 2012, 2:00 p.m.
Blennerhassett Museum, Parkersburg

Aaron Sheehan-Dean, Eberly Professor of Civil War Studies at West Virginia University, examines the framework of just law theory to consider fundamental questions about the nature of the conflict. How were non-combatants and prisoners of war treated? What were the roles of guerrillas and irregular forces? What was the relationship between civilian and military authority in the North and the South? The answers reveal much about how the war fits into the larger pattern of global warfare and democracy in the modern era.

 

Robert E. Lee's Forlorn Hope: Outwitted and Outgeneraled in West Virginia
Hunter Lesser

General Lee led Confederate troops to the mountains of what would become West Virginia in his first command of the Civil War. Feuding generals, fatal missteps, measles and mud led to humiliating defeat. Lee's failure tarnished his reputation and Southern newspapers ridiculed him as "Granny Lee." Yet Lee found a legendary war horse in these mountains and gained lessons in leadership that shaped his career. Civil War historian and author Hunter Lesser examines the early difficulties of this iconic military leader.

 

Scratch 'em and Sue 'em: Post Civil War Legal Issues
Dr. Kenneth Bailey

For several years following the war much of West Virginia's court system was consumed by war-related legal issues. Former Confederates were "scratched" from the voting rolls and sued for alleged wrongs on civilians during the war. Historian Kenneth Bailey discusses legal cases dealing with the reconstruction era questions of voting, false arrest, belligerent rights, property disputes, acts of Confederate county officers, value of Confederate money, etc. from the end of the war until the "let up" restored rights to former rebels.

 

The 35th Star: West Virginia Statehood
Joe Geiger

Joe Geiger is the State Historian with the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and an adjunct professor of history at Marshall University. He describes the issues and processes that led to the creation of the Mountain State including Lincoln’s election, the outbreak of war, the Reorganized Government of Virginia and the Wheeling conventions.

Contact the Program Officer