Lincoln Forum - Part I

Carol and I returned today from our first ever visit to the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg. Founded about 13 years ago, the Lincoln Forum holds an annual two day - three night symposium with speakers and other programs about our 16th president. Since 2009 is the bicentennial of Lincoln' s birth there was an especially impressive list of speakers. These included John Marszalek on Sherman, Jean Smith on Grant, Allen Guelzo on the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and Jean Baker on Mary Lincoln. Of special note were Harold Holzer on his new book about Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter and the key note speaker, Ken Burns.

It was all very worthwhile and is going to lead to a series of posts as I try to sort out my reactions and what I learned from the experience. As first time attendees, we wondered how welcoming the atmosphere would be and it couldn't have been any better. We were all asked to stand at dinner the first night and we had to total somewhere between 25 and 30% of the 260 or so people in attendance. I had the opportunity to meet the Director of the Lincoln Cottage at the Soldier's Home in Washington, D. C. as well as the director of the William Tecumseh Sherman Home in Lancaster, Ohio. I got a lot out of meeting them and hope to visit both sites at some point in the future.

I also had the chance to personally thank Gerry Prokopowicz in person for his kindness in having me on his Civil War Talk Radio Show. During the interview he had asked me about a character from the 33rd New Jersey named Robert Harriot, who went by the name "Mickey Free." Whatever his name really was, he tried to climb on to the platform during Lincoln's visit to Jersey City on the way to his inauguration only to be knocked off by a policeman. Harold Holzer mentions this incident in his book (about which more in a later post) without naming the individual. I mentioned this to Gerry who said that he had been reading Harold's manuscript as the same time as my book and made the connection.

Of special note was those one of a kind incidents that happened Tuesday morning. Carol and I were sitting in the breakfast room at the Best Western in Gettysburg looking out on Lincoln Square (the conference was at the Holiday Inn). A car pulled up outside the hotel, a man got out and I said to Carol, "That looks like Brian Lamb, the CEO of CSPAN." The reason he looked like Brian Lamb was because he was Brian Lamb. I went out in the lobby a few minutes later and he was asking for directions to the Lincoln Forum. Given that opening, I didn't waste any time offering to help and introducing myself. Brian couldn't have been nicer to me and then to Carol when she joined us a few minutes later - a perfect gentleman just as he appears on television.

This was also a very different experience from a book buying perspective. Usually I come back from this kind of thing with every book that strikes my interest. In this case I only bought one book plus I sold three copies of the "The Mutinous Regiment." This is another example of why I need to listen to my senior partner more often as I wouldn't have brought the three without her urging and she wanted me to bring more. All in all, it was a wonderful experience and I will write more about the content over the next few days - I guess this is Civil War month on this blog!!