CWI Director Pete Carmichael will officially launch the tour for his new book, The War for the Common Soldier, at 6:00 pm on Friday, November 2 at Harrisburg's National Civil War Museum. His lecture, The Fate of a Confederate Deserter After Gettysburg," will focus on the experiences of John Futch of the 3rd North Carolina, who slipped away from his camp in August 1863, accompanied by twelve other men. In this lecture, Carmichael will dig deeply into a set of letters Futch dictated to a comrade, bringing to life the world that confronted him after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg.
Carmichael will deliver a related talk at Shepherd University at 7:00pm on Tuesday, November 6, 2018 at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education. His lecture, Tracking down a Confederate Deserter after Gettysburg," is the second program in the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War's Signature Speaker Series. In his talk, Carmichael will explore the social, cultural, and military context of desertion, delving deeply into the reasons that men left the ranks and the responses of Confederate commanders to this breach of military discipline. Both presentations are free and open to the public.