Don’t miss these informative talks by Vermont and Civil War historian and author Howard Coffin taking place in the same room from which teachers and school children watched the actual St. Albans Raid on Oct. 19, 1864 (and today it’s air-conditioned)!
“The St. Albans Raid”
Thursday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m. St. Albans Historical Museum, Bliss Room. Free admission.
On a drizzly autumn day in 1864, a band of Confederates robbed the banks in St. Albans, Vermont. Riding away in a blaze of gunfire, they escaped across the international border to complete the northernmost land action of the Civil War. Howard Coffin will discuss why the raid happened, how it happened, and the international consequences of the daring attack. Desperate times require desperate measures, and the Rebel assault on northern Vermont produced some remarkable history that, 150 years later, makes the St. Albans Raid still a fresh and surprising story. This program is sponsored by the St. Albans Raid Commemoration Committee. Location is accessible to all.
“Vermont & the Civil War”
Friday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m., St. Albans Historical Museum, Bliss Room. Free admission
In a farm field above the Champlain Valley, a Quaker preacher experienced a vision that foretold the Civil War more than 50 years before it began. In Waterbury, the home of a physician who sat beside Abeaham Lincoln when he gave the Gettysburg Address still stands. In a stone hut high in the Windsor County hills, a man spent four lonely years to avoid serving in the Union armies. These and many more Vermont Civil War sites will be discussed by Howard Coffin, based on his new book Something Abides. From Cedar Creek to Gettysburg, Vermonters were central to the Union cause. Vermont author and Civil War historian Howard Coffin addresses the Vermont contribution to the Civil War. Hosted by the St. Albans Historical Society & Museum and sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council, these events are free, accessible, and open to the public. Part of the St. Albans Raid 150th Anniversary Commemoration.
