Almost here: The 2017 Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College

          The 2017 Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College is less than a month away and Your Loyal Blogger is already fired up. Each year, hundreds of Civil War enthusiasts attend the five-day CWI to hear the leading experts of the day discuss the War and the era. It is an opportunity to learn history from the best experts in the field and then follow them into the fields to walk the pathways of legends.

          This year’s CWI is scheduled a bit earlier in June than usual, which means the annual wait between conferences was shorter than the norm, a wonderful note for YLB. It also means the wait for the 2018 conference will be more than a year and that will just suck.

  

Debating tour bus policy with long time pal Buck Weber.

        The schedule for this year’s Institute is available at  http://www.gettysburg.edu/cwi/conference/schedule.dot and there is no reason for YLB to rewrite everything you can read there for yourself. There are seats available for this year’s conference, still, if you are interested.

          The highlight of this year’s visit for YLB figures to be the opportunity to listen to and then tour with Carol Reardon, a professor of history at Penn State. Reardon will lead a tour of the Antietam battlefield and YLB was lucky enough to be assigned to that tour. Reardon’s book, Pickett’s Charge In History & Memory is the best book on the War YLB has ever read, a stunner. If you happen to make your living in the public relations field, this book will interest you.

          Battlefield tours are a traditional part of the CWI. Each attendee has a chance to

Your Loyal Blogger with professor Susannah Ural at

last year's CWI after a tour that followed the steps of

General Hood's Texans during the battle.

tour twice during the conference. Typically, one tour is an all-day job at a battlefield other than Gettysburg. There is an introductory Gettysburg tour on the first day, which will be led by Arizona State’s Brooks Simpson this year. YLB has toured with Simpson during previous CWIs and he is a delightful guide. The second tour is usually a half-day deal at Gettysburg. The College is within sight of the Gettysburg battlefield, and played a role during the fighting. Attendees have a chance to select their favorite tours and the CWI team does a pretty good job of matching folks with their preferences.

          A day after walking Antietam with Reardon, YLB will follow another expert in the footsteps of the Armistead Brigade as it joined in the Confederate attack on July 3, 1863. Armistead’s men briefly pierced the Union line before the attack failed.

          For YLB, the lectures are the highlight of every CWI. A lot of notebooks have been filled in the six previous conferences. After the lectures, the CWI makes sure the lecturers are available to us attendees. We ask questions during the Q&A that follows each talk and there is typically a chance to chat with the speakers after they have left the stage. Since we all eat at the same place, there is also chance to dine with some of the speakers.

          Dr. Peter Carmichael, who prefers to be called Pete, runs the CWI and had a brainchild that really shows what the spirit of the CWI is all about. At dinner during a night or two each year, several lecturers conduct Dine Ins with small numbers of attendees to address specific subjects related to the War or the War era. Not all attendees can participate, as the numbers are held down to promote a more intimate gathering. YLB has been lucky enough to be selected for a few Dine Ins and the experience is tremendous. These are discussions, not lectures. Attendees talk, argue and learn from an expert. What could be better than that?

          It’s almost time to go. Hope to see you there.

          Thanks for reading.

There is no reason to rehash the story of the night YLB searched this

same area well after dark. The missing cellphone turned up the

next day at a different location. Some visits to Gettysburg remind

you that the losing general's name was, after all, Lee.