QUINCY — A slate of nationally-known speakers along with local historians will be featured at the Quincy Civil War Symposium V. The fifth symposium, sponsored by the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County and Tri-States Civil War Round Table will take place Oct. 4 and 5 at the Kroc Center.
“History is something people need to be exposed to. History repeats itself, and we certainly would not like to repeat a civil war, so studying that and where we came from is very important,” said Tim Jacobs, a member of both sponsoring organizations and a symposium organizer. “We’re so fortunate to have a community that sees the value in showcasing history,” he said.
“We’re able to keep this a free symposium, plus we can showcase our beautiful town with all its Civil War architecture, the cemeteries, the Illinois Veterans Home.” The program begins at 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 4 with Timothy Smith, author of the newly-released “The Iron Dice of Battle,” speaking on Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston.
Returning for a second time to the symposium, Smith “is one of the foremost experts on the western theater of the Civil War and has written extensively on Vicksburg and Shiloh,” Jacobs said. Three Illinois generals — Ulysses Grant, John Logan and John McClernand — will be the focus of a presentation by Harry Laver, a professor at the U.S.
Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Saturday, Oct. 5 program begins with “early bird” presentat.