Monthly Gathering—November 2005

Michigan and the Civil War

by Harley Berger, vice president

Michigan played a crucial role during the four years of the Civil War. The eighth most populous state in the Union when the fighting began, Michigan saw 87,000 of its citizens serve in uniform, with one in six losing their lives. Michigan’s participants included soldiers, politicians and ordinary citizens, such as Julia Wheelock, “Michigan’s Florence Nightingale,” the flamboyant “Boy General,” George Armstrong Custer, drummer boy Johnny Clem (“Johnny Shiloh”), Sarah Emma Edmonds and “Michigan Annie” Etheridge, two of the few documented cases of women who fought disguised as men, and “boy soldiers” like 16-year-old George Sidman of Owosso, one of 67 Michiganians to receive the Medal of Honor during the war.

Join us on Saturday, November 19, when our guest will be Richard Bak, prolific local author of A Distant Thunder: Michigan in the Civil War, and 25 other books covering wide variety of subjects, including Charles Lindberg’s historic flight, Joe Louis, Ty Cobb and the Lincoln assassination, to name but a few.

Come and hear the story of the Wolverine State during America’s greatest conflict, filled with tales of uncommon sacrifice, epic adventure and heroic service.

Page last updated: Monday, September 1, 2008