The War Governors' Conference took place in the immediate aftermath of Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Spearheaded by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, the Altoona, Pennsylvania conference was meant to aid Lincoln with political support at a time when he desperately needed it. The thirteen state executives present offered firm support in the name of emancipation and also called for 100,000 supplementary troops to help quell the rebellion. The governors pledged that their states would raise the appropriate quota of troops to serve on the front lines. The Loyal War Governors' Conference could be considered one of the great political events of the Civil War era. Its ramifications on the war effort could probably never be fully recounted. In the end, the governors stated that the conference and the Emancipation Proclamation gave "new life, new vigor, and new hopes to the hearts of the people" with a renewed sense of "devotion to the national cause."
Join us for a four day commemoration featuring lectures, films, new exhibits, interactive displays, reenactments, and the Pennsylvania Civil War Roadshow. Below is a complete listing of events (subject to change). Check back soon for additional details. Call 814-942-3916 for more info!
Thursday September
27, 2012
To Preserve the Nation: Penn State Altoona’s Seminar Commemorating
the 150th Anniversary of the Loyal War Governors’ Conference
101 Misciagna Building, Penn State Altoona Campus – Ivyside
Park
(12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.)
Introduction
Jared Frederick, Penn State Altoona
A Turning Point: The
Military Situation in September 1862
By Jeffry D. Wert,
Civil War Historian and Author
By September 1862, the course of the Civil War had reached a
decisive crossroads. Union military
fortunes had suffered reversals in the preceding two months in the East and in
the West. Confederate advances in
Kentucky and across the Potomac River into Maryland, heralded the possibility
of Confederate independence. At stake
was not only Abraham Lincoln's secret proposal for the emancipation of slaves
but the Union itself. At Sharpsburg,
Maryland, along Antietam Creek, would come a reckoning and, with it, a
reshaping of the conflict.
The Meaning of
Loyalty: The Context of the Loyal War Governor's Conference
By Robert M. Sandow,
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania
The Loyal War Governor's Conference is remembered as a
statement of political support for the Lincoln administration in the wake of
Antietam and the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. This presentation will
situate the conference in the military and political context of Fall 1862. In
addition to summarizing Governor Andrew Greg Curtin's motivations for calling
the meeting, it will discuss the partisan implications of notions of loyalty
and treason so frequent in the writings and speeches of its attendants. Lastly,
it will suggest ways in which we can read traces of those partisan debates over
patriotism in the final resolutions of the meeting.
Fighting a War Worth
Winning: Civil War Governors and Northern Strategy
By Dr. Aaron
Sheehan-Dean, West Virginia University
Early in the Civil War, Massachusetts Governor John Andrew
proposed that the North incite a slave insurrection in the South as a way to
undermine the Confederacy. Pennsylvania
Governor Andrew Curtin objected, demanding that U.S. forces fight according to
"civilized methods." The
disagreement between these two prominent political leaders reflected the
divisions among northerners themselves, some of whom urged the administration
to pursue Union and emancipation at all costs while others believed that in
order for the U.S. to retain its standing in the world northern armies had to
fight with restraint and respect for non-combatants. This paper will examine
how Civil War governors shaped northern military affairs. In the Civil War, as
in today's conflicts, Americans struggled with the ethical and moral dimensions
of armed violence: against whom could
lethal violence be used? Under what
conditions? Even more than the president
or congress, governors understood the needs, hardships, and attitudes of
civilians, which makes them an ideal source for understanding how the Civil
War's participants answered these timeless questions.
"A Viler Enemy in
Our Rear":
Pennsylvania Regimental Resolutions of 1863
By Dr. Timothy Orr,
Old Dominion University
The Civil War represents a unique moment in the span of
Pennsylvania's political history. During the spring, summer, and autumn of
1863, a massive disturbance spread through the ranks of Pennsylvania's
volunteer regiments. Provoked by the antiwar rhetoric of the commonwealth's
Democratic "Copperheads," dozens of Pennsylvania regiments passed political
resolutions and proclamations. This talk will analyze Pennsylvania's
resolution-drafting campaign to suggest that, contrary to popular theory, the
commonwealth's two-party system did not moderate partisan conflict.
Pennsylvania soldiers embraced political extremism, using the hiatus in active
campaigning to dictate wartime policy to the people of their state, amounting
to a “democracy of bayonets” as yet unseen elsewhere in American political
history.
Book Signing by
Seminar Participants
Misciagna Building,
Penn State Altoona Campus
Showing of the movie Glory.
Devorris Downtown Center, 1431
12th Ave.
(7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.)
Join us for a screening of the 1989 Civil War classic
starring Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington chronicling the 54th
Massachusetts, whose members included central Pennsylvanians. Pre-movie introduction by historian Jared
Frederick.
Devorris Downtown Center - 1431 12th Ave. Altoona, PA
Friday September
28, 2012
Ceremony and
Tree-planting with state and local representatives at Baker Mansion
3419 Oak Lane Altoona, PA
(10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.)
Join us for recognitions and speeches by state and local
representatives to commemorate the War Governors’ Conference at one of the
area’s most historic landmarks. Tours of
Civil War exhibits at Baker Mansion to follow.
Opening Ceremony of
the Pennsylvania Civil War Roadshow
DelGrosso’s Amusement Park
4352 E. Pleasant
Valley Boulevard, Tipton, PA
(12:00 p.m. Roadshow open all day!)
Pennsylvania Civil
War Roadshow travelling museum and exhibits open throughout the weekend. See the debut of local exhibits at the
state-sponsored mobile museum in conjunction with Harvestfest--one of the
premier cultural festivals in the state!
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| Pennsylvania Civil War Roadshow interior exhibits. |
Saturday September
29, 2012
Pennsylvania Civil
War Roadshow at Harvest Fest
DelGrosso’s Amusement Park
4352 E. Pleasant
Valley Boulevard, Tipton, PA
(All Day!)
PA Civil War Roadshow, Lectures, Exhibits and Reenactments.
Featuring talks by historians, displays by historical groups, Civil War music,
Berdan Sharpshooters, Civil War medicine, unique gifts, and battle
demonstrations at 2:30 and 4:00 p.m. both days!
Battle Demonstrations:
2:30 p.m. and 4
p.m. at the Tipton Creek Railroad at DelGrosso’s Amusement Park.
Lectures at the PA Civil War Roadshow:
11:30 a.m. - Caring for the Wounded: The Daughters of Charity by Julie Decker
11:30 a.m. - Caring for the Wounded: The Daughters of Charity by Julie Decker
12 p.m. - The Story of the 110th Pennsylvania: A
Blair County Regiment by Michael Gherrity
12: 30 p.m. – Adventures of the Berdan Sharpshooters by
Calum Monroe
1 p.m. – Civil War Heroines: The Story of the Vivandières.
4:30 p.m. - Curtin Turns the Tide in Pennsylvania by Robert Broadwater
4:30 p.m. - Curtin Turns the Tide in Pennsylvania by Robert Broadwater
Ongoing demonstrations and displays by:
Civil War Reenactors at the Tipton Creek Railroad at
DelGrosso’s Amusement Park.
Armed Forces Mothers
Armed Forces Mothers
The Blair County Historical Society
The Blair County Genealogical Society
The Tyrone Historical Society
The Penn State Altoona History Department
The 110th Pennsylvania Infantry Reenactors
46th Pennsylvania Regimental Band
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| Civil War Reenactor Display |
Sunday September
30, 2012
Pennsylvania Civil
War Roadshow at Harvest Fest
DelGrosso’s Amusement Park
4352 E. Pleasant
Valley Boulevard, Tipton, PA
(All Day!)
PA Civil War Roadshow, Lectures, Exhibits and Reenactments.
Featuring talks by historians, displays by historical groups, Civil War music,
Berdan Sharpshooters, Civil War medicine, unique gifts, and battle
demonstrations at 2:30 and 4:00 p.m. both days!
Battle Demonstrations:
2:30 p.m. and 4
p.m. at the Tipton Creek Railroad at DelGrosso’s Amusement Park.
Lectures at the PA Civil War Roadshow:
12 p.m. – Civil War Nurses by Julie Decker
12:30 p.m. - Pennsylvania’s Civil War by Dr. Steven Andrews
1 p.m. – The Loyal War Governors’ Conference by Jared
Frederick
Ongoing demonstrations and displays by:
Civil War Reenactors at the Tipton Creek Railroad at
DelGrosso’s Amusement Park.
The Blair County Historical Society
The Blair County Genealogical Society
The Tyrone Historical Society
The Penn State Altoona History Department
46th Pennsylvania Regimental Band
46th PA Regimental Band
Hi I am looking for any information for a local SUV camp in Blair county, Pa.
ReplyDeleteI have a orginal CW Doc on Hugh Smith Sgt. 84th Pa Inf Co E Buried at St Marys Cem Holidaysburg, Pa his wife was Catherine Brady they had 14 children and 1 of the daughters married a James Van Zandt who was a congressman and lived in altoona, Pa. The VA hospital was named after Mr. James Van Zandt..