Attend A Free HGAC Educational Lecture
Historic Gettysburg Adams County will continue its year-long celebration of its 50th anniversary as an organization with a special series of four speakers beginning in July. As always, HGAC’s Educational Speakers series is free and open to the public.
All sessions will be held at the historic 2023-year-old G.A.R. Building at 53 E. Middle Street in Gettysburg. All sessions are on a Wednesday. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the presentations will start at 7 p.m. No reservations are needed, and the hall is handicapped accessible.
The lineup of speakers:
--July 9. Author Ron Kirkwood returns to the G.A.R. Hall to speak on his new book about the field hospital at the George Spangler Farm, “Tell Mother Not to Worry.” In his previous book, “Too Much for Human Endurance,” Kirkwood argued that the George Spangler farm was the most important farm in the Battle of Gettysburg. His newest work continues the Spangler saga.
-- July 23. Historian Jean Howard-Green will speak on the history of African American churches founded in Gettysburg, including St, Paul AME Zion, Asbury Methodists and Wesleyan Methodists. Howard-Green is the current president of the Lincoln Cemetery Project Association, which is dedicated to preserving Gettysburg’s historic Black cemetery.
-- August 6. Meet Thaddeus Stevens, the greatest unknown person in American history! The Great Commoner (in the person of Ross Hetrick) will regale listeners with tales of his personal history. Hetrick is the president of the Thaddeus Stevens Society and the founder of Thad’s Place, the first stand-alone museum dedicated to Stevens, which opened in Gettysburg last year.
-- August 20. Writer, actor and director Bo Brinkman, and founder of the Gettysburg Film Commission, will give listeners an advance look his newest project: “A Gettysburg Christmas 1863,” which will recount the first Christmas after the historic battle. The film is a follow-up to his “Gettysburg Christmas” movie filmed in Gettysburg in 2023. (Fans of the 1993 film “Gettysburg” will know Brinkman from his role as Major Walter Taylor).
Hope to see you at the hall!
HGAC 50th anniversary Speaker Series
HGAC thanks author Ron Kirkwood for his excellent and informative talk on the importance of the George Spangler Farm during the Battle of Gettysburg at the first Educational Speakers program for 2023.
Kirkwood, author of “Too Much for Human Endurance: The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg," spoke on Tuesday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the historic G.A.R. Hall on 53 East Middle Street in Gettysburg, PA 17325.
Kirkwood argues in “Too Much for Human Endurance” that the George Spangler farm was the most important farm in the Battle of Gettysburg, revealing factors that have been overlooked for generations. The book and his presentation also offer newly found information about Confederate Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead’s time at Spangler and how the Spangler family and their farm suffered while their land was occupied -- along with stories of the agony and heroism of the surgeons, nurses, wounded and mortally wounded at the two hospitals on the Spanglers’ land.
Kirkwood is retired after a 40-year career as an editor and writer in newspapers and magazines including USA TODAY, where he edited national magazines for USA TODAY Sports and was National Football League editor for USA TODAY Sports Weekly. He also worked for newspapers in Baltimore, Harrisburg, York and Wilkes-Barre.
Kirkwood has been a Gettysburg Foundation guide at the George Spangler Farm Civil War Field Hospital Site since it opened in 2013.
