UCA to Host Civil War Sesquicentennial Event

The University of Central Arkansas will sponsor a free seminar on Arkansas’ experience in the Civil War on Saturday, Aug.  27 at 2 p.m. in the Brewer-Hegeman Conference Center on the UCA campus. 

 “Civil War Battles: The Dishonorable Men Who Fought Them and the Weapons They Used” is one in the series of seminars, lectures and workshops in the Exploring Our World series sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts at UCA.

The seminar is free and open to the public. Professional development credit will be available for Arkansas educators.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

The seminar features an exploration of the Civil War’s soldiers, its technology, and one of its lesser-known battlefield frontiers.  Professors Lorien Foote, Roger Pauly and Buck Foster, of the UCA History Department, will examine affairs of honor among soldiers and the violence that structured their lives, technologies that changed the experience of the Civil War for the men who fought, and insight on the many battles and faces of Fort Smith, a city that changed hands multiple times during the war and experienced a constant influx of soldiers, refugees, runaways, and deserters.

Dr. Foote has published several books, the most recent The Gentlemen and the Roughs: Manhood, Honor, and Violence in the Union Army, which was named Honorable Mention for the Lincoln Prize. 

Dr. Pauly has published two primary-source readers, one scholarly article and one book, Fire Arms: The Life Story of Technology. His book was used as the basis of the first episode of the PBS series, Ground War, which premiered last May. His latest book, Fortitude and Foresight: A History of Faulkner County is scheduled for publication this year.

Dr. Buck Foster has taught courses in American history, military history and the Old South. He is the author of Sherman’s Mississippi Campaign.

For more information, visit uca.edu/world or call (501)450-5261.