The area west of the Mississippi River played an important role during the American Civil War, as a Rogers State University professor will discuss during her Sept. 28 public lecture on the Claremore campus.
Dr. Jane Johansson will present her talk, “A Constant School of Excitement: Albert C. Ellithorpe and the Civil War on the Frontier,” at 6 p.m., Monday, Sept. 28, in the Baird Hall Performance Studio. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Ellithorpe, a Union officer, served in the First Indian Home Guards, a tri-racial unit comprised of whites, refugee Muscogee Creek and Seminole Indians, and African Americans.
Campaigning in Arkansas, Indian Territory and Missouri, Ellithorpe wrote of guerrilla warfare, the role of Indian troops, the plight of refugees and the internal problems of the Army of the Frontier.
Dr. Johansson, who is based out of the Pryor campus, recently completed a book on Ellithorpe and the Civil War. Ellithorpe’s writings reveal a messy, complex situation peopled by real (i.e. imperfect) human beings rather than a glorious, grand war of Good versus Evil.
Dr. Johansson serves as a Professor in RSU’s Department of History and Political Science. She specializes in the history of the American Civil War and worked for several years as co-editor of the Papers of Will Rogers Project. She holds a master’s degree in library science and a doctoral degree in American history, both from the University of North Texas.
The lecture is presented by the School of Liberal Arts, RSU and the Faculty Development Committee. A map of the Claremore campus can be found at www.rsu.edu/campusmap.