Friday, April 24, 6:30 pm
Michigan State Capitol
Built in the years following the Civil War, the Michigan State Capitol stands as a memorial to the Michigan faithful who answered the call to preserve the Union and end the scourge of slavery. The architecture of the building, including the early use of a tall cast iron dome, echoes the renovations carried out on the national capitol during the Civil War, and the grounds are dotted with memorials honoring Michigan men and women who sacrificed much during the war years. This walk will include information about both the Capitol’s exterior architecture and the memorials, including the statue of Austin Blair, Michigan’s Civil War Governor, the First Michigan Sharpshooters Monument, the Grand Army of the Republic monument, and the Women’s Relief Corps Monument. The walk will also tell the story of the first painting of the Capitol’s dome by a disabled Civil War Veteran, Allen Shattuck.
Hosted by the Historical Society of Greater Lansing and the Michigan State Capitol Tour Service
Mount Hope Civil War Cemetery Tour
Saturday, April 25, 1:00 pm
1800 E. Mt. Hope Ave.
Descendants of Civil War soldiers and local historians will present brief biographies of 6 Lansing Civil War veterans buried in Lansing’s Mount Hope Cemetery, including Luther Baker, who led the party that captured John Wilkes Booth, Charles T. Foster, the first men from Lansing to enlist, and an African American soldier who served with the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the first northern raised regiment made up of entirely African Americans.
Dr. George E. Ranney, recipient of the Medal of Honor during the Civil War, will be honored by fellow Medal of Honor recipient and Korean War veteran Duane Dewey. Dewey will lay a wreath at Ranney’s grave. Dewey received his medal for shielding his fellow squad members from a live grenade with his own body, causing him to sustain serious wounds when the grenade exploded.
Hosted by the Historical Society of Greater Lansing and the Curtenius Guard Camp #17, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
Saturday, April 25, 4:00 pm
Dart Auditorium, Lansing Community College
500 N. Capitol Ave., Lansing
Historian Steve Miller of Chicago will give a keynote address on the capture of John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, led by Lansing’s own Luther Baker, cousin of Lafayette Baker, founded of the Secret Service. The speech will detail Baker’s chase as Booth slid through the shadows away from Washington and into the former Confederacy. Miller will also examine the men that made up Baker’s party, focusing particularly on Luther and Lafayette Baker, and their return to Lansing.
Hosted by the Historical Society of Greater Lansing and Lansing Community College
Thank you to the Michigan Humanities Council for supporting this program with the gift of a quick grant!
Civil War Foods of the North and South
Sunday, April 26, 2015, 1:15 pm
Michigan Historical Center Auditorium
702 W. Kalamazoo St., Lansing
Food historian and MSU Professor Helen Veit will speak on the first two publications in the American Food in History series, Food in the Civil War Era: The North, and Food in the Civil War Era: The South. Veit’s presentation will include recipes, historical misunderstandings about food, differences between food in America’s vastly varied landscapes, and will reveal a peak into the food ways common in America 150 years ago.
Hosted by the Historical Society of Greater Lansing and the Michigan Historical Center
Sunday, April 26, 2015, 2:30 pm
Michigan Historical Center
702 W. Kalamazoo St., Lansing
Join historian and Save the Flags co-chair Matt VanAcker for a behind the scenes visit the Michigan Civil War Battle Flag Collection. Approximately 90,000 Michigan soldiers fought in the American Civil War and almost 15,000 made the ultimate sacrifice. The bullet torn, blood stained battle flags that these men carried and died beneath were their proudest possessions, they stood for the Union, for their loved ones back home and also as the rallying point in combat.
The Michigan Capitol Battle Flag collection, includes 240 battle flags carried by Michigan soldiers in the Civil War, the Spanish American War and World War I. This visit to the flag storage facility at the State Historical Center in Lansing will focus on the Civil War collection, flag terminology, the importance of flags in battle, some specific regimental histories in connection with the flags and the history of the collection including current conservation efforts.
Sponsored by the Historical Society of Greater Lansing, Save the Flags, and the Michigan Historical Center
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