Michigan Civil War Blog

Appearance and book signing

Join author Jack Dempsey, 5:30 PM — 7:30 PM, as he discusses his Michigan Notable Book, Ink Trails: Michigan's Famous and Forgotten Authors, co-authored with his Michigan Notable Author brother Dave, and featuring a chapter on pre-eminent Michigan and Civil War historian Bruce Catton. He will also have copies available of Michigan and the Civil War: A Great and Bloody Sacrifice, also a Michigan Notable Book.

Leland Township Library
P. O. Box 736
Leland, MI  49654-0736
231-256-9152

Book signing

Book signing at Cottage Book Shop at 2 pm this Saturday with Jack and Dave Dempsey with their newest book, Ink Trails, Michigan's Famous and Forgotten Authors. The book features a chapter on Bruce Catton, America's premier Civil War historian. They will also have copies of Michigan and the Civil War: A Great and Bloody Sacrifice available. 

Barbara Siepker
The Cottage Book Shop
Box 115
5989 Lake Street
Glen Arbor, MI 49636
231-334-4223
1-800-303-6956
cottagebooks.com

Appearance in Benzonia

Bruce Catton: Civil War and Civil Rights

June 13, 2013, 7-8pm at Mills Community House, Benzonia. In his 2011 landmark study of the Civil War Centennial, American Oracle, David Blight took fellow Michigander Bruce Catton to task for his troubling omission during the heart of the civil rights movement of the African-American dimension to the conflict. Jack Dempsey, former chair of the Michigan Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee, will present a spirited defense of America's greatest Civil War historian and put Catton's work in a more balanced framework. Jack Dempsey is author of the 2012 Michigan Notable Book Michigan and the Civil War: A Great and Bloody Sacrifice. He and his brother Dave co-authored the 2013 Michigan Notable Book Ink Trails: Michigan's Famous and Forgotten Authors. For info contact Louis Yock, bmuseum@att.net or call the Benzie Historical Museum at 231-882-5539.

Book signing in South Haven

From the website of Black River Books, 330 Kalamazoo St., South Haven, 49090, 269-637-7374:

Jack Dempsey Visits Black River Books

 

"Ink Trails," by Jack and Dave Dempsey, "...takes you on an amazing ride on the back roads and highways of Michigan's literary history, visiting eighteen authors where they lived and worked. Jack Lessenberry is quoted saying "Ink Trails" is a "literary adventure" and "...a book that belongs on every Michigander's shelf. Jack Dempsey also wrote "Michigan and the Civil War." He dropped in last summer, (see below,) and signed our copies of that book. He'll be signing both books on Saturday, June 8 from 2:00 - 4:00pm.

War on the Waters, I

Craig Symonds' 2008 Lincoln and His Admirals is truly an admirable book. Beyond the Monitor and the Merrimack, beyond the Kearsarge and the Alabama, beyond almost all other short-hand accounts of the naval aspect of the Civil War, the book tells the fulsome story of ships and their role in the conflict. How many Civil War enthusiasts know that African-Americans served aboard U.S. Navy ships from the beginning of, even before, the War? How many understand Lincoln's approach to naval affairs? How many have looked at the OR but not the ORN? This is a classic volume that belongs in every Civil War library.

Did Michigan have any role in this sphere? The book makes a mention, at page 301: "That night a large crowd, led by the band of the 27th Michigan regiment, marched to the White House to serenade Lincoln in celebration of Grant's presumed victory in the Wilderness." Oops: that's an infantry unit! Guess you have to go to Michigan and the Civil War: A Great and Bloody Sacrifice to find out.

But post no. 2, to emerge in the next few days, will tell a story about Michigan and the naval side of things that neither book mentions ...

Coming to Fremont

March 7 , 2013, 7:00 p.m.

Jack Dempsey will give a talk based on his book Michigan and the Civil War: a Great and Bloody Sacrifice which was a 2012 Michigan Notable Book title.  Community Room at the Fremont Area District Library, 104 E. Main Street, Fremont, MI 49412, 231-924-3480.

Coming to your town

Michigan & the Civil War-A Great and Bloody Sacrifice

Guest Lecturer: Jack Dempsey
Date: February 21, 2013
Location: Sloan Museum
Time: 6pm-8pm

This will be a book signing and presentation. Space is limited. Reservations Recommended. Reserve your seat at 810.237.3409. Sloan Museum is located on the Flint Cultural Center Campus , at 1221 E. Kearsley Street, Flint, Michigan 48503

Book talk tonite

Civil War class has book-signing session

BENTON TOWNSHIP - Lest We Forget's Civil War class at 7 p.m. today will feature a book-signing session by Jack Dempsey, author of "Michigan and the Civil War: A Great and Bloody Sacrifice."

Tonight's class session at the Blue Lecture Hall at Lake Michigan College is free and open to the public. Dempsey has pledged all proceeds from the book to go toward the war's sesquicentennial commemoration.

The book ranges from Michigan's antislavery heritage to the end of the war in which the Fourth Michigan Cavalry captures fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The 192-page book sells for $21.99 a copy.

Dempsey is a former assistant state attorney general, runs a Civil War blog, and is vice president of the Michigan Historical Commission. -- The Herald Palladium [BH paper] Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 5:00 am

 

 

Midland appearance and signing

'The Civil War: 150 Years Later
Michigan Women in the Civil War

Thursday, November 8 at 7:00 pm in the Library Auditorium

This year continues the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. Don’t miss “Michigan Women in the Civil War” with special guest Jack Dempsey of Ann Arbor. Mr. Dempsey, the award-winning author of Michigan and the Civil War: A Great and Bloody Sacrifice, is president of the Michigan Historical Commission and chairman of the Michigan History Foundation. The evening’s focus will center on the significant contributions of Michigan women throughout the war. Copies of Mr. Dempsey’s book will be available for purchase.'

The Dow Library is at 1710 W St. Andrews, Midland, MI 48640.

Visit and book signing

Thursday October 11 6:30-8:00 pm
Jack Dempsey, author of the 2012 Michigan Notable Book Michigan & the Civil War: A Great and Bloody Sacrifice, will visit the library to discuss his book. Copies of his book will be available for purchase and signing. All author proceeds are donated to Michigan's Civil War Sesquicentennial commemoration.

The Library is located at 330 Family Drive, Milford, MI 48381.