The area west of the Mississippi River played an important role during the American Civil War, as a Rogers State University professor will discuss during her April 13 public lecture on the Claremore campus.
Dr. Jane Johansson will present a lecture titled “A Constant School of Excitement: Albert C. Ellithorpe and the Civil War on the Frontier” at 6 p.m., Monday, April 13, in the Baird Hall Performance Studio.
Ellithorpe, a Union officer, served in the First Indian Home Guards, a tri-racial unit comprised of whites, refugee Muscogee Creek and Seminole Indians, and African Americans.
Campaigning in Arkansas, Indian Territory and Missouri, Ellithorpe wrote of guerrilla warfare, the role of Indian troops, the plight of refugees and the internal problems of the Army of the Frontier.
Dr. Johansson, who is based out of the Pryor campus, recently completed a book on Ellithorpe and the Civil War. Ellithorpe’s writings reveal a messy, complex situation peopled by real (i.e. imperfect) human beings rather than a glorious, grand war of Good versus Evil.
Dr. Johansson serves as a Professor in RSU’s Department of History and Political Science. She specializes in the history of the American Civil War and worked for several years as co-editor of the Papers of Will Rogers Project. She received a master’s degree in library science and doctoral degree in American history from the University of North Texas.
The lecture is presented by the RSU Faculty Development Committee and the School of Liberal Arts. A map of the Claremore campus can be found at www.rsu.edu/campusmap/.