Next Meeting - October 26, 2011

Please join us on Wednesday, October 26. Speaker will be Jim Schmidt, author of “Notre Dame and the Civil War, Marching Onward to Victory"

Even the causal Civil War enthusiast can probably name one or more colleges or universities that played a part in the Civil War. West Point, the cadets at VMI, the 20th Massachusetts Infantry (the “Harvard regiment”) or Company A of the 11th Mississippi Infantry (the “University Greys”) for example. Few institutions of higher education made the range of sacrifices as the University of Notre Dame during the Civil War. Notre Dame gave freely of its students as soldiers (North *and* South), sent its priests to the camps and battlefields as chaplains, and its Holy Cross sisters to the hospitals as nurses. Some of the boys, men, and women made the ultimate sacrifice and never returned.

Though far from the battlefields, the war was ever-present on campus, as Notre Dame witnessed fisticuffs among the student body, provided a home to General William T. Sherman’s children, responded to political harassment, and tried to keep at least some of its community out of the fray. After the war a proud Notre Dame welcomed back several bona fide war heroes (including generals and a Medal of Honor recipient) and became home to a unique veteran’s organization.

Jim Schmidt is a bio-analytical chemist with a life-long interest in military history, contributing articles for “North & South”, “The Artilleryman”, and “Learning Through History” magazines. His column, "Medical Department" appears regularly in “The Civil War News”. His books include “Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War” (2008), “Years of Change and Suffering: Modern Perspectives on Civil War Medicine” (2009), and “Notre Dame in the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory” (2010). His fourth book, “Galveston and the Civil War: Voices of an Island in the Crossfire” is scheduled to be published in 2012.

Learn more at Jim’s blog at: http://notredamecivilwar.blogspot.com Signed copies of “Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory” (2010) will be available at the meeting for $20.