Past Civil War Programs

Since 2014 the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, and the Captain Thomas Espy Post, have brought more than seventy-five Civil War historians here to Carnegie to speak in the Lincoln Gallery as part of our 2nd Saturday Civil War Lecture Series. These lectures are free and open to the public, and are held on the second Saturday of each month, from January – June, and September – November. We invite our community, our patrons, and all Civil War enthusiasts from the greater Pittsburgh area to attend these events…

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to briefly pivot our 2nd Saturday Civil War Lecture Series to a digital platform. We are grateful to all of our speakers who continue to work with us to present and record their material online for a wider audience to enjoy.

The 2nd Saturday Lecture Series is made possible by the Massey Charitable Trust.

For more information please contact Espy Post Curator, Jon-Erik Gilot, at gilotj@einetwork.net.

2024:

2023:

2022:

2021:

2020:

2019:

2018:

2017:

  • November 11 – Tom McMillan: Gettysburg Rebels
  • September 9 – Beth Parnicza: The Looting of Fredericksburg
  • June 10 – Chris George: Day-by-Day with the 123rd Pennsylvania
  • May 13 – Bill May: John Wilkes Booth
  • April 8 – Gettysburg and Lincoln: The Aftermath and the Address
  • April 8 – Frank Waters: Civil War Photography
  • February 11 – Kathleen Thompson: To the Breaking Point: The Toll of War on the Civil War Soldier
  • January 14 – Rea Redd: Of Altars and Amputations: Gettysburg’s Churches Become Battlefield Hospitals

2016:

  • November 12 – Kristopher White: Don’t Give an Inch: The Second Day at Gettysburg
  • October 8 – Alan Mesch: Pennsylvania’s Forgotten General: Maj. Gen. Charles F. Smith
  • September 10 – John Rathgeb: Civil War Medicine
  • June 11 – George Franks: The Battle of Falling Waters, July 14, 1863
  • May 14 – Carleton Young: Voices from the Attic: The Williamstown Boys in the Civil War
  • April 16 – Kevin Knapp: Military Ballooning during the Civil War
  • April 16 – Anthony Waskie: The Grand Army of the Republic
  • March 12 – Gary Augustine: Shiloh: The Battle that Changed the War
  • February 13 – Ken Serfass: Conversation with U.S. Grant: Presidential Reflections
  • January 9 – Harry Smeltzer: Kilpatrick’s Family Ties

2015:

  • November 14 – Kristopher White: Valley Forge Winter: Christmas of 1862 in the Army of the Potomac
  • October 10 – Michael G. Kraus: Collecting the Civil War
  • September 12 – Rea Redd: Gettysburg & Lincoln: The Aftermath and the Address
  • June 13 – Jim Smith: Professor Guibert and the 1913 Blue & Gray Reunion
  • May 9 – Kristopher White: Lee’s Greatest Victory/Lee’s Greatest Defeat
  • April 11 – Meg Thompson: The Election of 1864 Leaves a Legacy of Soldier Voting
  • April 11 – Ken Serfass: On the Subject of Surrender
  • January 10 – Lincoln Degree Masons: Freemasonry in the Civil War

2014:

  • November 8 – Len Barcousky: Civil War Pittsburgh: Forge of the Union
  • October 11 – Jeanne Finstein, Judi Hendrickson: 19th Century Mourning Customs
  • September 13 – Kristopher White: The Battle of Antietam
  • April 5 – Kristopher White: Gettysburg: The Aftermath
  • April 5 – Lisa Potocar: Sweet Glory: A Novel