Local lore, several presentations on tap this summer at Cedar Hill Schoolhouse
The first shots were fired 150 years ago in a conflict that would define some of America’s darkest years.
All over the country, historical groups are reflecting on the Civil War, which is recognized to have officially started in April of 1861 with a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter. Locally, the Bethlehem Historical Association is marking the occasion with a special display on the Civil War and the local connections to that bloody and extraordinary struggle.
Curating the exhibit is Slingerlands resident Robert Mulligan, who has been putting together displays and lining up artifacts since November. He’s been a Civil War buff for much longer though, having first participated in a recreation of the Battle of Antietam 50 years ago. He turned his interest in military history into a career, serving as the military curator at the New York State Museum for 25 years before retiring.
He’s still a fan of history though, and a member of the Bethlehem Historical Association and the Capital District Civil War Roundtable, where he met most of the fellow Civil War history enthusiasts who will be speaking during the run of the exhibit.
For Mulligan, his passion was always present.
I’ve always been interested in military history, and particularly in soldier life, he said. `When the opportunity came to pretend I was a soldier, I snapped it right up.`
As for his focus on Civil War history … well, there just hasn’t been another American war that was anything like it. The battlefields are close to home, the history isn’t too far removed by the sands of time and there are ample records to peruse.
`This was the first army in history, where just about everybody in the Union Army could read and write,` he said. `How many diaries do we have from the Crusades? How many soldiers marched to Moscow with Napoleon’s army and wrote letters home?`
But that’s only the first part of Mulligan’s July 24 presentation, `How and Why Do We Remember the Civil War?` Many areas of modern life were shaped during the Civil War, he said, including paper currency, income taxes, the formation of the Associated Press and the institution of the Pledge of Allegiance.
`We remember it,` Mulligan said. `We see it in the movies, we see it on television, we read books about it.`
Visitors to the Association’s home at the Cedar Hill Schoolhouse will be treated to displays of original and recreated uniforms, weapons, documents, photos and more. Of note is Mulligan’s own soldier kit, complete with tent, artillery munitions, a silver platter memorializing a local soldier and all sorts of information about American life during the war.
There are four Sunday presentations scheduled at the Cedar Hill Schoolhouse, 1003 River Road. All begin at 2 p.m. and run under and hour.
Mulligan’s presentation will be on July 24. On Aug. 14, Mark Bodnar will give a Powerpoint presentation called `The Civil War in Albany Rural Cemetery.` He’s tracked down almost 800 veterans buried in this cemetery, some from Bethlehem.
On Aug. 28, Michael Aikey, director of the NYS Military Heritage Museum, will show his Powerpoint presentation entitled `Father Abraham’s Boys: When We Sent Our Children to War,` exploring some of the many New Yorkers who were sent to war ` more than from any other state.
On Sept. 11, Valerie Thomas will discuss `Mary Edwards Walker, MD.` She was not only the first woman to qualify for the title of `doctor,` but also the first woman to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The museum is always open to the public on Sundays from 2- 4 p.m., and admission is free. The Civil War exhibit will run until mid-September.“
