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Public Programs

Second Friday Lecture Series

The Second Friday Lecture Series is a monthly Civil War lecture program organized by the Civil War Museum of Kenosha, Wisconsin. All programs are held for an in-person audience at the museum. The lectures are recorded and posted to the museum’s YouTube channel.

The Second Friday Lectures begin at 12:00pm and there is no cost to attend. The Civil War Museum graciously thanks the Milwaukee Civil War Round Table and Iron Brigade Association for sponsoring this series of lectures.


“What Did Lincoln Know About Science, and Did It Matter?”

Friday, February 14  |  12pm – 1pm  |  Presented by Dr. James M. Cornelius

James M. Cornelius, Ph.D., the curator of the Lincoln Presidential Library from 2007-2018, has been working on this topic for more than a decade and given two preliminary public talks on the subject.  It begins from the well-known surprise that Abraham Lincoln was our only president who held a scientific patent, then takes up the mental world of his era concerning such largely uncovered topics (at least in Lincoln circles) as ‘race science,’ phrenology, genetic inheritance, astronomy, geography, weaponry, folk vs. “real” medicine, natural history and discovery, even linguistics.  Some of these fields may have influenced his presidential or other political actions.  Parts of the talk may be unpalatable to polite conversation about him, and that is why the topic needs addressing.  

Cornelius, a native of Minneapolis, is married to Anne.  They were classmates at Lawrence University in Appleton and have two grown daughters. He is the secretary for and editor of the Abraham Lincoln Association’s newsletter For the People (Springfield, Ill.), former editor (2018-2023) of the Journal of the ALA, and the author or editor of half-a-dozen books on Lincoln and his times.


Wildfire, Miss Clampitt, and the Wonder Girl from the West: Early Women Sculptors of Abraham Lincoln

Friday, March 14  |  12pm – 1pm  |  Presented by Mr. Dave Wiegers 

In the middle of the 19th century, women were not generally a force in American sculpture. Art, and especially sculpture, were a male-centric occupation. Three women sculpted images of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s and 1870s, and each has an interesting story. Two of these women sculptors, Vinnie Ream (Hoxie) and Sarah Fisher Ames, would produce images of Lincoln that would be displayed in the United States Capitol building. A third, Edmonia Lewis, broke many barriers of race and gender to become a well-known sculptor. Each of these women has a unique story and, other than Ream, they have not had their stories widely told.


Two Histories Merge at the Underground Railroad: Abolitionists Seth Paine and Harriet Tubman

Friday, April 11  |  12pm – 1pm  |  Presented by Nancy Shumm and E. Olivia Darden

Author of The Anointed One, Nancy Schumm, and Narrator of the Audiobook, E. Olivia Darden will present Seth Paine and Harriet Tubman in a new light focusing on Seth’s work on the Midwest Underground Railroad, black history, and his collaboration with others in Chicago and Lake Zurich that mirrored the work of Harriett Tubman along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. While Harriet and others were hard at work in the East, abolitionists in Chicago assisted freedom seekers escaping from southern states leading them to the Great Lakes and Canada. This program will include readings from the book, details of the Underground Railroad activity in the Great Lakes, and the work of Harriett Tubman in the East. 

The untold story of humanitarian and progressive activist Seth Paine comes to life in the narration of The Anointed One by activist and Harriet Tubman descendant E. Olivia Darden, Esq. When author and Baltimore resident Nancy Schumm and Darden met, their common interest in civil rights and humanitarian works inspired them to combine their efforts to promote the historical biography of Lake Zurich founder Seth Paine.

About the Narrator:

Olivia Darden, Esq. is a maternal descendant of Marylander Rev. Samuel Green, Sr. (1802-1877), an Underground Railroad Conductor, Visionary Founder of Morgan State University, and first cousin to Harriet Tubman. Attorney Darden, a native of Annapolis, MD, is the 11th African American woman admitted to the Maryland Bar. She is the founder of Addison-Darden, a unique mother-son law firm established April 1, 1988. Her early legal career focused on class action civil rights cases on behalf of Black and female police officers, firefighters, longshoremen, and steel workers in Maryland and across the nation. As a result of her pioneering civil rights litigation, she has earned national, state, international, and local recognition, including induction into the 2020 Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, the 2022 U.S. President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2023 Global Woman Impact Award.

About the Author:

Nancy Schumm is the author of The Barns of Lake County, Wisconsin Barns, and Pioneer Gardens of the Midwest. Her writing has been featured in trade magazines, the Chicago Tribune, and Pioneer Press. Schumm has been featured on Wisconsin Public Radio, WGN-TV, and in a documentary film The Barn Raisers. As a humanitarian, Schumm aligns with Seth’s thoughts and actions.  For over 30 years, Schumm has studied the history of the Lake Zurich, Illinois area in which Seth played a role.


New Philadelphia, Illinois: Seven Ways to Freedom

Friday, May 9  |  12pm – 1pm  |  Presented by Dr. Kate Williams-McWorter and Dr. Gerald McWorter

From a distance, New Philadelphia looked like a typical Illinois pioneer town of the mid-1800s. But New Philadelphia was not a typical pioneer town. As travelers got closer, they would find a small but bustling community where Black and White villagers lived and worked side by side. For formerly enslaved Free Frank McWorter, the town meant new beginnings and an opportunity to free family members enslaved in Kentucky. New Philadelphia, which he founded in 1836, is the first U.S. town platted and registered by an African American.

Gerald McWorter and Kate Williams-McWorter’s presentation will tell the story of this unique central Illinois town from its inception to its recognition at the United States’ 424th National Park in December 2022.

Gerald McWorter is professor emeritus from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a founder of the field of Black Studies. His great-great-grandfather Frank McWorter was the first African American to found a town in the U.S., New Philadelphia in 1837, and with his wife Lucy freed 16 family members from slavery and helped countless others.

Kate Williams-McWorter is associate professor emerita from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and co-authored the book New Philadelphia with her husband Gerald.


The Congdon Brothers and Significant Others: Their Civil War Times

Friday, June 13  |  12pm – 1pm  |  Presented by Michael T. Sullivan

Eli, Hannibal, and Sylvester were brothers, farmers, soldiers, and friends from Palmyra, Wisconsin. They were respected for what they did and the American Civil War made them forever friends of the country.  While holding the military rank of private, the brothers honorably served in Wisconsin military units within the Union Army. They made it home, partially, but the home front presented its own family and personal struggles.  

Wisconsin Author Michael T. Sullivan’s presentation will introduce you to the Congdon Brothers and their extended families. Their acts rise from browned and fragile pages where they have respectfully remained silent for many years. 

Public Programs

Public programs are free to attend and pre-registration is not required unless otherwise noted.

Too Much for Human Endurance

“Too Much for Human Endurance”: The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg

Saturday, March 22  |  1pm – 2pm  |  Presented by Ron Kirkwood

The blood stains are gone, but the worn floorboards remain. The doctors, nurses, and patients who toiled and suffered and ached for home at the Army of the Potomac’s XI Corps hospital at the George Spangler Farm in Gettysburg have long since departed. Happily, though, their stories remain, and noted journalist and George Spangler Farm expert Ronald D. Kirkwood brings these people and their experiences to life in “Too Much for Human Endurance”: The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg.

Using a massive array of firsthand accounts, Kirkwood re-creates the sprawling XI Corps hospital complex and the people who labored and suffered there—especially George and Elizabeth Spangler and their four children, who built a thriving 166-acre farm only to witness it nearly destroyed when war paid them a bloody visit that summer of 1863. Stories rarely if ever told of nurses, surgeons, ambulance workers, musicians, teenage fighters, and others are weaved seamlessly through gripping, smooth-flowing prose.

Ron Kirkwood has spent the last eight years researching the George Spangler farm in Gettysburg and has written two books on it: Too Much for Human Endurance”: The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg, which was published in 2019, and the sequel Tell Mother Not to Worry in 2024. He retired after a 40-year career in newspapers and magazines including USA TODAY, Baltimore Sun, Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News, York (PA) Daily Record and Midland (MI) Daily News. Ron edited national magazines for USA TODAY Sports, was NFL editor for USA TODAY Sports Weekly, and managed the Harrisburg copy desk when the newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012. He is a native of Dowagiac/Sister Lakes, MI, and a graduate of Central Michigan University.

Special Exhibition of the Allied Orders

Special Exhibition of the Allied Orders

Saturday, March 22  |  10am – 3pm  

This is a supplemental display to the author program by Ron Kirkwood. 

For the Union veterans of America’s Civil War, the war did not end in 1865.  They continued to recall and record their experiences, joined the Grand Army of the Republic, and established five descendant orders to carry on their work. 

These “Allied Orders” were the Woman’s Relief Corps, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and the Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.   

Remarkably, these five Allied Orders are still active.  They last met in Kenosha in June 1951.  On March 22nd, each organization will return to Kenosha and the Civil War Museum to set up temporary exhibits, meet the public, and discuss what they’ve been up to for the last 75 years.

Shipwrecks in Kenosha Harbor

Shipwrecks in Kenosha Harbor

Saturday, April 5  |  1:30pm – 2:30pm  |  Presented by Brendon Baillod

This program is being held in conjunction withy the Kenosha County Archaeological Society

Brendon Baillod is an award-winning maritime historian based in Madison, Wisconsin.  He is the current president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association and the author of Fathoms Deep But Not Forgotten: Wisconsin’s Lost Ships, a compendium of over 400 Wisconsin shipwrecks.  Brendon is an avid collector of antiquarian Great Lakes books, maps, ephemera, and photos with one of the largest private collections in existence. He continues to look for lost ships on the Great Lakes and conducts regular fieldwork using side scan sonar.  He has appeared on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, and Travel Channel discussing Great Lakes maritime history and shipwrecks. 

Kenosha Pops

Kenosha Pops Season Opening Concert

Saturday, June 14  |  2pm – 3pm 

The Kenosha Pops kick off their summer concert season with their annual indoor option concert in the Civil War Museum’s Freedom Hall. The concert features some of America’s most recognizable patriotic songs and marches.  What a great way to celebrate the 250th Birthday of the United States Army! 

Special Exhibition Programs

Special Exhibition programs are free to attend and pre-registration is not required unless otherwise noted.

 


Beyond Board Games: Historic Military Gaming

Saturday, February 22  |  10am – 4pm 

Sunday, February 23  |  12pm – 4pm 

Historic Miniature Gaming and the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society are coming to The  Civil War Museum!

 On both Saturday, February 22 and Sunday, February 23, visit the museum and explore the fascinating hobby of building, painting and sculpting terrain for gaming with historic miniatures.

Anyone interested in getting an “A+” in history should get to know the hobby and the folks at the Historic Miniature Gaming Society! 

At this event, you’ll see Civil War miniature battle games that are both easy to learn and vastly rewarding. 

Take command and witness how this hobby of “chess on a grand scale”  uses strategy and tactics to challenge the imagination.

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