The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College (CWI) is offering the members of First Defenders Civil War Roundtable of Berks County a 15% discount to attend the CWI Summer Conference from June 12-17, 2020. You can find registration details about our conference on the CWI website and the full schedule of events. CWI believes in our mission, and is making this special offer to recognize the efforts of our organization in promoting the study of Civil War history.
For more than 35 years, the Civil War Institute has hosted a premier annual summer conference bringing leading historians and diverse public audiences together for lectures, battlefield tours, small group discussions, and roundtable conversations about the Civil War era. Sessions, lodging, and meals are held on the 200-acre Gettysburg College campus, and there are part-time and full-time packages available.
For 2020, CWI is excited to feature leading Civil War scholars, Harold Holzer, Catherine Clinton, Brian Wills, Jeffry Wert, Carol Reardon, and Scott Hartwig within a lineup of more than 40 distinguished speakers and tour guides. The conference will feature a wide range of topics, including POW prison escapes, soldier impressment, the Civil War in the West, the guerrilla experience, and more. The 2020 program will also debut debates between leading scholars about Civil War generalship. This year’s topics include George B. McClellan at Antietam, James Longstreet, and Nathan Bedford Forrest.
In addition to touring the Gettysburg battlefield, participants will also be able to visit other nearby battlefields such as First Manassas, 2nd Fredericksburg and Salem Church, Antietam, Cool Springs, Spotsylvania, and Bristoe Station. Attendees who prefer a shorter, more physically active experience can choose to sign up for the new “active track” package, which features lectures and a day and a half of walking-intensive tours of the Gettysburg battlefield with historian Timothy Orr. The 2020 conference offers something for everyone, from longtime students of the Civil War to those who are new to Civil War history.
For those who have never attended a CWI program, or for those who are veterans of the series, this discount offer is not something to be overlooked!
