Lecture presentation on the Civil War

Sunday April 19, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Lecture presentation by Dr. Louis Gerteis, University of Missouri-St. Louis Professor of History and author of Civil War St. Louis (University of Kansas, 2001)

"Creole St. Louis in the Era of the Civil War"

In the first half of the nineteenth century, St. Louis grew to become one of the ten largest cities in the United States. As the city grew, newly arrived merchants and manufacturers from the Northeast displaced St. Louis' old creole elite. Although no longer dominant in public life after the mid 1840s, the creole elite retained its wealth, its social standing and its pro-slavery culture. The upheavals of the Civil War era provide glimpses of Creole Culture as the nation struggled with fundamental issues of identity and loyalty.

Hear Dr. Louis Gerteis speak about these issues of identity and loyalty at the Historic Chatillon-DeMenil House, which was completed in the waning years of the Civil War by a prominent French St. Louis Family. Dr Gerteis will be on hand to sign his book, which will be available for sale at the House on the day of the lecture.

April 19, 2009: Lecture presentation on the Civil War by Historian Dr. Louis Gerteis, author of Civil War St. Louis.

Special emphasis will be placed on the Franco-American residents of St. Louis at the time of the rebellion, and Dr. Gerteis will be available to sign his book, available for purchase at the DeMenil’s Book and Gift Shop on the day of the lecture.