Patrick Schroeder, Historian at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Virginia, will present Surrender at Appomattox at 7 p.m. Saturday June 13 at the Smithfield Community Center during the 23rd Annual Civil War Weekend.
(Peterboro, NY – April 2015) 150 years ago the surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865 relieved the United States of war, but within the week many were mourning the loss of President Lincoln whose design it was to heal the nation. 2015 Peterboro Heritage programs will feature Sesquicentennial events commemorating the end of the Civil War, the death of Lincoln, and the legacy of Lincoln.
Patrick Schroeder, Historian at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Virginia, will present Surrender at Appomattox at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 13 at the Smithfield Community Center (5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro).
Schroeder will describe the events and terms of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Northern Army of Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant. The program covers how the surrender meeting came about at that location, the personalities, primary source accounts, and details of the meeting that effectively closed the war and reunited the Nation. Schroeder will also explain the 2015 activities at the national park during the Sesquicentennial year of the surrender.
Schroeder was born in Virginia and raised in Utica returning to Virginia with his family when he was a teenager. He has a B.S. in Historical Park Administration and an M.A. in Civil War History.
Schroeder is an independent researcher, a Civil War author, and owner of a small publishing company.
The public is encouraged to attend the Surrender at Appomattox program.
Admission is a Lincoln bill for adults and a Lincoln penny for students. The program is free to Civil War reenactors and volunteers, and Saturday Civil War Weekend visitors with hand stamps.
During the 23rd Annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend June 13 and 14 Harold and Jan Reichard will exhibit their large collection of artifacts and information on the Lincoln death and funeral. The Reichards have collected Civil War items for many years as they have developed this special display. Articles in the Reichard exhibit range from Jan’s piece of lace on Mary Lincoln’s mourning dress to a reproduction of Lincoln’s funeral casket made by Harold. The coffin will also be part of the Processional Honoring Civil War Veterans at 11:00 Saturday, June 13 at Civil War Weekend.
The New York State Historical Association opened Autopsy for a Nation: The Death of Abraham Lincoln on April 1 at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. The exhibit commemorates the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. This installation includes the autopsy and physician’s report from the collection housed at the Fenimore Art Museum. The exhibit will also display other Lincoln-related items from the period of his death.
The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum will continue the Lincoln legacy observance with Lincoln, the film and discussion at the Cazenovia Public Library Thursday, Sept. 24 at 6:30 p.m., The Excelsior Cornet Band Concert Friday Oct. 23 and on Saturday Oct. 24 a panel on The Emancipation of Abraham Lincoln: Head, Heart, and the American Memory. The evening keynote address by Harold Holzer, President of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, will beLincoln and the Abolition Press: An American Evolution.
For updates and more information, visit www.PeterboroNY.org, civilwarweekend.sca-peterboro.org or call 315-280-8828.