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” presentations at 8 a.
m. by Quincy University assistant professor of history J. Matthew Ward on “Garden of Ruins,” his book about the Civil War in Louisiana, HSQAC board member Dr.
George Crickard on Lincoln’s medical maladies and Beverly Vaillancourt on a video project focused on Woodland Cemetery. Additional presentations will come from Curt Fields, the official Grant living historian for the Grant homestead in Ohio and the Dent home in St. Louis, on how Grant saved Gen.
Robert E. Lee’s life after the war when many called for his execution for treason, Brian “Fox” Ellis, a historian and storyteller from Bishop Hill, in character as Peoria riverboat pilot Henry Detweiler who hauled troops and supplies on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and Sam Wheeler, director of history programs at the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission. Wheeler, a featured speaker at all five symposiums typically covering Lincoln-related themes, will highlight “Mary Lincoln and her mental problems throughout her life,” said Beth Young, a symposium organizer.
“He’s getting quite a national reputation.” Books written by the featured speakers will be available for sale and signing. “By studying history, we’re hoping people who attend the symposium learn enough about it to recognize past mistakes so that we can have a better future,” Young said.
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