“Jefferson County, 1865,” the fifth in a series of seminars on the Civil War sesquicentennial will take place in Middleway, Harpers Ferry and Shepherdstown June 22, 23 and 24. Co-sponsored by the Jefferson County Historical Society and Historic Shepherdstown, this year’s seminar will feature key 1865 events in the county, particularly in Harpers Ferry, and an assessment of the Civil War’s overall impact on Jefferson County.

Participants may attend either one, two or all three days. The seminar is open to the public, but all participants must register in advance. Teachers in the Jefferson County schools, including substitute teachers, are eligible for staff development credit for each day of attendance (details on the District website). Anyone interested should register with Donna Northouse, dnorthouse@gmail.com or 304-876-7012. The registration deadline is June 19, 2015.

Each day will begin at 8:45 a.m. Details, including specific locations, will be available upon registration.

Speakers on the first day, at Middleway Community Center, will include Doug Perks, President of the Jefferson County Historical Society and the main organizer of the event, on “Jefferson County, 1865;” Jim Glymph on “Small Arms Ammunition;” Don Watts on “Was It PTSD?;” Steve French on “Captain Blackford;” Philip Wingert on “James Burton;” and John Bagladi on “No Heroes, No Generals: The Common Soldier.”

The second day will include a tour of Harpers Ferry’s Lockwood House, the original home of Storer College, and the rest of the Storer Campus in the morning and a visit to the National Park’s display on the Freedman’s Bureau in the afternoon.

The third day, at Shepherdstowns Entler Hotel, will feature morning talks by Jim Glymph, “{How to Identify a Civil War Site,” and event organizer Donna Northouse on “Charles Town Writers of the Civil War: Martin Delaney, John Peale Bishop, and Daniel Bedinger Lucas.” The afternoon session will open with Terry Tucker, local singer and songwriter, performing songs based on the period poems of Daniel Bedinger Lucas, followed by a talk by Ted Alexander, Antietam National Battlefield Chief Historian, on the role of minorities in the Civil War.

The seminar–and the whole series–will be summed up at the end of the day in a keynote panel discussion between Ted Alexander and Harpers Ferry National Park Chief Historian Dennis Frye. Local historian Doug Perks will be the moderator.