Living History Schedule Released at NCWM

NCWM Announces Spring/Summer Living History Schedule

(Harrisburg, PA) -The National Civil War Museum today announced their living history schedule for the 2010 spring/summer season. Encampments include Confederate artillery, Confederate & Union infantry units, loading and firing demonstrations and much more!

Living history schedule*:

May 29-30 Encampment of the Midway Southern Guard (15th Alabama)

June 19-20 Encampment of the North & South – Federal Generals Corps & Lee’s Lieutenants

July 10-11 Encampment of the 1st Maryland (CSA)

July 17-18 Recruiting tent with the 142nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

July 24-25 Encampment of the 4th Maryland Light Artillery (CSA) & the 42nd Mississippi, Company F

July/Aug. 31-1 Encampment of the 31st Virginia, Company C

August 7-8 Encampment of the Federal Generals Corps

August 14-15 Encampment of the United States Colored Troops

August 21-22 General Longstreet’s Encampment

August 28-29 Encampment of the 4th Maryland (CSA)

Sept. 18-19 Encampment of Purcell’s Battery
Artillery demonstrations at 11am, 1pm & 3pm

Museum visitors will see the flash and smell the smoke of Civil War muskets and rifles. Visitors are encouraged to visit the camps and ask living historians questions about their attire, food rations and daily life. Most infantry groups perform loading and firing demonstrations each day.

*Programs are weather contingent. Visitors should check the Museum’s website for more information and updates to this schedule, as they are subject to change.

About The National Civil War Museum
Opened in February 2001, The National Civil War Museum is a non-profit educational institution dedicated solely to the American Civil War. It is the largest Civil War museum that addresses the war from both the Northern and Southern perspective, and from both a military and civilian perspective. The Museum protects some of the nation's treasures, including General Robert E. Lee's personal Bible, and more than 24,000 artifacts, documents and photos, worth an estimated $20 million. Admission to the Museum is $9.00 for adults, $8.00 for seniors, and $7.00 for students with reduced rates for children and families. The Museum offers complimentary ample parking. For more information, please call 717.260.1861, or visit the Museum’s website at www.nationalcivilwarmuseum.org.

New Director Named to the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute

Gettysburg College has named Peter Carmichael its new director of the Civil War Institute and Robert Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies.


Carmichael is currently the Eberly Family Professor of Civil War Studies at West Virginia University. Michael Birkner, who is the Benjamin Franklin Professor of the Liberal Arts and a professor of history, served as interim director for the Civil War Institute this year. Gabor Boritt, who was the founding director, retired in 2009.

"The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College occupies an important place in thought about and study of the American Civil War,” said Gettysburg College’s Interim Provost James White. “As the CWI's new director, Dr. Peter Carmichael, a noted historian of this epic conflict, will nurture and advance the Institute and work to make its programs ever better."

“I am very excited about the Civil War Institute and building on this incredible legacy of Gabor Boritt,” said Carmichael. “There’s no other place like Gettysburg College to be a public intellectual and where you can bring together students, scholars and the public to study the Civil War. I have visited here numerous times, but to think about this place to live in and to teach is extraordinary. I am honored.”

Carmichael has published a number of books, most recently a study of Southern college students during the Civil War era, “The Last Generation: Young Virginians in Peace, War, and Reunion (2005).” He is currently researching the experience and wartime representation of Confederate slaves, and how the mythical idea of loyal African Americans defending the South animates current cultural wars over "Southern heritage." Carmichael earned a doctorate and a master’s from the Pennsylvania State University, and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

For over 28 years, The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College has hosted visiting educators and students, sponsored conferences, lectures, concerts, and movie premieres, as well as other educational programs on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Each summer, the CWI hosts hundreds of Civil War enthusiasts, scholars and prominent historians for an annual conference in Gettysburg. The Institute also co-sponsors the annual Dedication Day, Nov. 19, which is the anniversary of Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” with the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania and the Gettysburg National Military Park. CWI also co-sponsors and publishes the annual Robert Fortenbaugh Lecture. In addition, the institute coordinates the annual Michael Shaara $5,000 Book Prize for Civil War fiction.

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.

Museum Curator Nears End of Picket Duty

Curator has been living the life of a Civil War soldier for two weeks

(Harrisburg, PA) – Despite two blizzards that blanketed the Harrisburg area with almost four feet of snow, the curator of collections for The National Civil War Museum has continued on his mission to live the life of a Civil War soldier on the picket line 24 hours a day for a 2-week period. Titled, “In Their Footsteps: Walking the Picket Line”, Kelley has been residing in reproduction winter quarters on the Museum grounds in an effort to raise awareness and funds for The National Civil War Museum’s education department since February 6. He wraps up his duty on Saturday, February 20 around 12:00pm. Afterward, Kelley will venture into Gettysburg to have a tintype photograph taken to commemorate his experience.

Kelley, a former Marine and native of Vermont, has survived through two winter storms, extreme winds, green wood that wouldn’t burn, a missing door, and marches through giant snow drifts into areas such as downtown Harrisburg, Camp Curtin, Fort Couch and the Lincoln Cemetery. During the Museum’s Community Free Day on Saturday, February 13, Kelley was greeted by President Lincoln and General Grant, as they applauded his efforts. He has also received a steady stream of visitors with many questions during his encampment, and has given more than a dozen interviews to various national and local media outlets.

“My experiences during the last two weeks have made me develop a new and heightened appreciation for what Civil War soldiers endured during winter encampment. While I have only been in winter quarters for two weeks, these soldiers would have lived in this difficult conditions for a much longer period of time, meanwhile also worrying about being shot or plagued with disease…this is only a snap-shot of what they went through and I am deeply humbled,” stated Kelley.

During this time, Kelley has kept a daily journal to document his experiences for the world, which have been imported into a blog created and maintained by local students from Hershey High School. The Museum’s Facebook page has received a dramatic increase in the number of fans since Kelley began his quest with more than 1,560 fans and counting. He has also acquired followers on Twitter. Videos posted on Facebook, the blog and YouTube have included topics such as Kelley’s experiences during the blizzards, cooking lessons, his marches, and an interview with a local historian about Civil War soldiers buried in a nearby cemetery. Fans and followers have shown their support of Kelley with comments such as, “this is a fantastic thing you are doing,” and “love, love, love the journal posts!”

Money that has been raised as a result of this initiative is being directed to the Museum’s education department. CEO David Patterson commented, “Although donations received for “In Their Footsteps” have not quite been what we had hoped for, the exposure The National Civil War Museum has received has been tremendous, as well as the outpouring of support for Brett from the community.” Patterson continued, “Although Brett’s duty will end on Saturday, it is our hope that individuals will continue to read his journal entries and watch his videos, as they are all part of the educational experience we offer here.” Donations can be made through the end of the year on the Museum’s website: www.nationalcivilwarmuseum.org or by calling 717.260.1861 x. 1108.

About The National Civil War Museum
Opened in February 2001, The National Civil War Museum is a non-profit educational institution dedicated solely to the American Civil War. It is the largest Civil War museum that addresses the war from both the Northern and Southern perspective, and from both a military and civilian perspective. The Museum protects some of the nation's treasures, including General Robert E. Lee's personal Bible, and more than 24,000 artifacts, documents and photos, worth an estimated $20 million. Admission to the Museum is $9.00 for adults, $8.00 for seniors, and $7.00 for students with reduced rates for children and families. The Museum offers complimentary ample parking. For more information, please call 717.260.1861, or visit the Museum’s website at www.nationalcivilwarmuseum.org.