Our May Speaker
Eugene D. Schmiel is a retired U.S. Department of State Foreign Service officer. He was an assistant professor of history at St. Francis University (PAP and has taught at Marymount, Shenandoah, and Penn State universities. He holds tha ph.D. degree from The Ohio State University and coauthored, with his wife Dathryn, a Book on life in the Foreign Service.
Topic:
Citizen-General
Jacob Dolson Cox and the Civil War Era
"Jacob Dolson Cox, a former divinity student with no formal military training, was
among those who rose to the challenge. In a conflict in which "political generals"
often proved less than competent, Cox, the consummate citizen general, emerged as one of the best commanders in
the Union army.
Welcome!
Oct. - Terry Bryan - "Money and Banking in Delaware during the War"
Nov. - Fred Seth - "Delaware's Ironclads, the monitors built in the first state, 1862 -1863."
Dec. - I need to get the name of that singer from Ft. DE for this year - help!!!
Jan. - Willian Connery - try again for Lee's birthday
Feb. - Jeff Munn - topic TBA
March - Bill Sheridan - the Irish 69 (for St. Paddy's Day!)
UPCOMING SPEAKERS
Sept. - Kathryn Canavan
"Lincoln's Last Days"
What else was going on inside Pertersen's Boardinghouse on the night President Abraham Lincoln died there?
Kathryn Canavan who became a first-time author at 65, will bring us the stories about the ordinary people who surrounded the dying president during his last nine hours.
It is natural that she writes about the Lincoln assassination, the most consequential crime in American history, because Canavan began her journalism career as a crime reporter. To get a story, she has reported at gunpoint, lived with the Moonies, negotiated with a killer and joined Tug McGraw in the Phillies dugout.
She eventually worked as reporter or editor in four states. Her freelance writing has been published in USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer and History News Network among others. Named a National Health Journalism Fellow at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism in 2011, Kathryn is a 2017 Individual Artist Fellow of Delaware Division of the Arts, awarded the Established Professional Award for Creative Nonfiction.
She is a former dinosaur docent at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and former long-time volunteer with Cub Pack 506, the nation's first Cub Scout pack exclusively for boys living in shelters or on the streets.
Aug. - Paul Bretzger
"Gen. Hancock on First Day of Gettysburg"
Paul E. Bretzger received the 1987 History Award at Stockton University for outstand senior theis and is an architect living and working in New York City.
General Winfield Scott Hancock was perhaps the most influential officer in the federal lines, though he command only one of seven Union corps at gettyburg.
Understanding Hancock's pivotal actions at Gettysburg is essential to understanding the battle itself.
PREVIOUS SPEAKERS
THIS MONTH'S SPEAKER IS:
David R. Craig
GREETINGS FROM GETTYSBURG
Mr. Craig has showcased 160 beautiful historic postcards, memorializing important and noteworthy scenes as though browsing a family picture album.
His book is as much about the visitors to Gettysburg as it is about the soldiers and the battle struggles.