The first lecture of the series will be on March 8 at 7:30 p.m. Carolyn Ivanoff will present “A Hard Road to Travel – From Connecticut to Gettysburg, 1863 (17th Connecticut).” Ivanoff will speak about the men who served with New Canaanite Private Justus Silliman who were imprisoned in the Gettysburg School on July 2 after being wounded and captured in that Civil War battle. This program received a CHLO Award of Merit in 2011.

On March 12 at 7:30 Mark Albertson will present “America, Europe and the War of 1812.” This event is co-sponsored by the Navy League Council. Albertson teaches history at Norwalk Community College for the Lifetime Learners Institute and is an avid speaker and a historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine.

The third lecture will be on March 22 at 3 p.m. and is co-sponsored by Staying Put in New Canaan. A. James Bach will present “New Canaan Men at War.” He will discuss Canaan Parish’s involvement in neighboring battles and skirmishes, and the famous and infamous soldiers involved in these events.

The lecture series is free to members of the New Canaan Historical Society, Staying Put in New Canaan, Navy League Council and students. Admission for all others is $10 per lecture or $25 for the series.

Spencer will discuss the antecedents, causes, and significant events of the war, which began 200 years ago this year. However, the highlight of this program is his presentation of 12 songs which were popular during the period or which were written about some aspect of the war.

Included are songs used as recruiting tools to induce young British men to sign up for military service, and a song of lament from the perspective of a woman whose husband has been impressed into the service. Other songs describe seafaring battles during the war, the soldiering life, and the patriotism of the period.

Music has been an important part of every war that humankind has ever conducted. Music has provided encouragement for the cause, patriotic zeal, propaganda, and comfort to those whose lives have been changed by war. It has provided documentation (sometime accurate, sometimes not) of the circumstances of the conflicts.

This program presents music that was popular during the War of 1812, and gives insight into the personalities and events on both sides of the confrontation. The songs add an emotional, human, and cultural connection to the conflict, encouraging the listener to bridge the distance in time and adding color and depth to the facts of this war.

Rick Spencer has been in the business of historical performance for over 25 years. He worked for 20 years as a researcher, historian and presenter of traditional maritime songs and sea chanteys at Mystic Seaport and has performed widely in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Rick is best known for his work as a developer and presenter of theme-based historic music programs. He currently holds the positions of executive director and curator of the Dr. Ashbel Woodward Museum in Franklin, CT.

For further information, contact the Historical Society at 860-346-0746. The Society is located in the General Joseph Mansfield House and currently has two exhibits for public viewing: Hard & Stirring Times: Middletown and the Civil War and Within These Walls: One House, One Family, Two Centuries, the story of the Mansfield House and the family who lived there.

McGill, a descendant of slaves, is no stranger to the heat, sweat and backbreaking work that African slaves who were brought to this country bore on a daily basis. As a young man, he himself toiled in tobacco fields.

Now, as a field officer at the Charleston Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, McGill has established the Slave Dwelling Project and has made it a personal mission to preserve humble shelters that serve as a reminder of what life was like for the slaves who worked plantations, more modest farms and businesses in both the North and South.

In connection with the Slave Dwelling Project, McGill has so far spent the night in 28 documented slave quarters. Bush-Holley House, home of the Greenwich Historical Society and one of the few historic homes in New England to address its connection with slavery, will be McGill’s second stay in the North.

“My experiences have all been different, but I’ve come to understand that despite their lack of all but the most rudimentary amenities, these dwellings were the one place where slaves could experience some serenity in their lives,” McGill said.

Prior to his overnight stay, Mr. McGill, along with Coming to the Table, an organization that addresses the legacy of slavery in America, will conduct a panel discussion at the Greenwich Historical Society.

Experts participating in the discussion include Dr. Allegra di Bonaventura, assistant dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Yale University; Dionne Ford, writer, Coming to the Table member and FindingJosephine.com; Grant Hayter-Menzies, biographer, historian and Coming to the Table member; Rev. David Pettee, Coming to the Table member; John Pfeiffer, adjunct professor, Lyme Academy of Fine Arts and Old Lyme town historian; and Dale Plummer, Norwich city historian and chair of the Emancipation Proclamation Commemoration Committee.

The panel discussion is set for Friday, March 30, 7 to 8:30 pm at the Vanderbilt Education Center,Greenwich Historical Society, 39 Strickland Road, in Cos Cob.

Visit www.greenwichhistory.org to reserve online or call 203-869-6899, Ext. 10.

Antietam is known as the bloodiest single-day battle in American history with about 23,000 casualties after 12 hours of savage combat on Sept. 17, 1862. Twelve Washington men fought at the battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, Maryland.

Learn about what these men faced and endured in one of the Civil War’s signature battles. Keven Walker is a long-time employee of the National Park Service and the author of the book, Antietam Farmsteads: A Guide to the Battlefield Landscape. This presentation is not to be missed!

The Gunn Museum’s exhibit, Letters from the Battlefield: Stories of Washington’s Civil War Soldiers, will be open for viewing before and after this presentation, from 12-4 p.m.. The exhibit runs through Oct. 30.

This program is free and open to the public. It is made possible due to the support of the Community Foundation of Northwest Connecticut. Registration is requested, but not required.

The Gunn Museum is located at 5 Wykeham Road, at the intersection of Wykeham Road and Route 47, on Washington Green. Call the museum at 860 868-7756 or view www.gunnlibrary.org for information.

The public is invited to bring their Civil War artifacts to be evaluated by Thomas Zanavich, a long-time dealer and the guest curator of the current exhibit.

Civil War artifacts

Zanavich will answer your questions and verbally appraise items for estimated age and value. Do you have artifact that you suspect might be from the Civil War?

Bring it in to for our expert to identify. There is no charge for admission or appraisal, but donations will be appreciated. Registration is required, call 860-868-7756 to reserve your spot.

The Gunn Museum’s exhibit, “Letters from the Battlefield: Stories of Washington’s Civil War Soldiers,” will be open for viewing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the day of the appraisal. The exhibit ends on October 30th.

This program is made possible due to the support of the Community Foundation of Northwest Connecticut. The Gunn Museum is located at 5 Wykeham Road, at the intersection of Wykeham Road and Route 47, on Washington Green.

Call 860-868-7756 or view www.gunnlibrary.org for information.

Dr. Matthew Warshauer is a professor of history at Central Connecticut State University. The author of three books, he is a specialist in 19th-century political and constitutional history. He currently serves as co-chair of the Connecticut Civil War Commemoration Commission, and is helping to coordinate activities across Connecticut to focus on the importance and lasting legacies of the American Civil War and Connecticut’s involvement in it.

Although most may not immediately think of Connecticut when considering the Civil War, the state was extensively involved in the conflict. Connecticut sent more than 30 regiments to the front, had an extensive industrial capacity and an active home front. Connecticut is also home to more than 130 Civil War monuments.

Book signing will be available. There is no charge, and the public is welcome. Geer Village is located on at 77 South Canaan Road in Canaan. Further information may be obtained at 860-824-8133.

“Connecticut in the American Civil War: Slavery, Sacrifice and Survival” is the fourth in a series of author’s presentations for Geer residents and the public. Geer is a community-owned, locally operated, non-profit corporation that provides senior housing for independent living, skilled nursing care, adult day care, and outpatient rehabilitation.

Tom Calinan -former state troubadour

In 1861, Fort Sumter was lost to the Confederates on April 14, Joseph Mansfield was promoted to brigadier general, in charge of the defenses of Washington by President Lincoln on May 14, Union troops were badly defeated at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, and ordinary citizens volunteered to fight to save the Union.

Company G of the 14th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry will bring that calamitous year to life with an encampment in the backyard of General Mansfield’s home on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The day will feature demonstrations of camp life including drilling and firearms demonstrations, cooking, and other skills that kept the soldiers ready for combat. Participants will be able to interact with the reenactors some of whom appeared in the films, “Glory,” “Gettysburg,” and “Gods and Generals.” Members of Company G also travel to Gettysburg twice a year to help maintain monuments to the 14th Connecticut erected there.

The day’s events will also feature the music of the Civil War era at 11 a.m. performed by Connecticut’s first Official State Troubadour, Tom Callinan. Tom has developed a program of diverse songs entitled “Brother Against Brother,” drawing from songs from the Union, the Confederacy, abolitionists, and slaves, as well as original and other contemporary songs about the nation’s turmoil on and off the battlefield.

His repertoire ranges from “The Battle Cry of Freedom,” and “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” to “The Bonnie Blue Flag.” Tom performed at the dedication of the monument to Connecticut’s 29th Colored Volunteer Infantry in the Fair Haven section of New Haven and at the dedication of the monument to Connecticut’s 9th Volunteer Infantry Regiment, “The Irish Regiment,” at Vicksburg.

At 1 p.m., Dean Nelson will present his program, “Connecticut Yankees: Likenesses from the Rebellion.” Dean is the administrator for the Museum of Connecticut History in the State Library in Hartford and is now curating an exhibit titled, “Connecticut for the Union” with a vast array of Connecticut materials drawn from major public and private collections.

His presentation will feature many images drawn from this exhibit and in his words, “tons of the best Connecticut Civil War pictures and accompanying Connecticut sound bytes.” Dean has been a Civil War enthusiast starting from his childhood addiction to the TV show, “The Blue and the Grey” and avid collection of Marx Civil War play sets. He is an expert on Connecticut’s Civil War arms demonstrated in his article, “Connecticut Arms the Union,” appearing in the Spring, 2011 issue of Connecticut Explored.

Admission for this event is $5, with children under 12 free. In the event of heavy rain, the encampment will be cancelled, but the music portion and talk will be held. The Mansfield House, the headquarters of the Middlesex County Historical Society, is located at 151 Main St., Middletown and is handicapped accessible. The society’s exhibits, “Hard & Stirring Times: Middletown and the Civil War and Within These Walls: One House, One Family, Two Centuries” will be available for viewing. For further information call the society at 860-346-0746.

However,  the state attorney general’s office, working on behalf of the Connecticut Historical Society, blocked the town’s plan to demolish the building because of its protected status as part of the  downtown historic district. Richard Termini, owner of Rick’s Antiques and Coins on North Colony Street and the building on Center Street that houses J. Christian’s Restaurant, wants to turn the building, which was previously owned by American Legion Shaw-Sinon Post 73, into offices and luxury apartments. Read full story.