A Special Program with Wayne E. Motts: Brigadier General George Sears Greene: Soldier, Engineer, Visionary. Join us on March 14, 2026 | 11:00 AM. The Camp Curtin Historical Society/Civil War Round Table and The National Civil War Museum proudly present a special program featuring Wayne E. Motts, CEO of The National Civil War Museum. This program is Free and open to the public. Regular Museum admission applies for entrance to the NCWM Galleries. Mr. Motts will deliver an in-depth presentation on the life and legacy of Brigadier General George Sears Greene—one of the Civil War’s most remarkable, yet often overlooked, leaders. A Rare Artifact on Display As a special highlight of the program, Brigadier General Greene’s original jacket, preserved in the collection of The National Civil War Museum, will be on display during the event. Following the presentation, the Camp Curtin Historical Society will unveil a newly installed wayside marker at Reservoir Park, enhancing interpretation of the park’s important role in Harrisburg’s Civil War history. About George Sears Greene Though best known for his brigade’s steadfast defense of Culp’s Hill at the Battle of Gettysburg, Greene’s contributions extended far beyond the battlefield. Before and after the war, he enjoyed a distinguished […]

Lessons in History: Preserving the Past — The Conservation of Katherine Wilson Curtin’s DressSaturday, March 21 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM The National Civil War Museum is proud to present our March Lessons in History program exploring the remarkable conservation of a rare garment belonging to Katherine Wilson Curtin, wife of Pennsylvania’s Civil War Governor Andrew Curtin. Representatives from the Daughters of Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865, Katherine Wilson Curtin tent will discuss their conservation efforts. This elegant French-made purple velvet and silk dress, dating to the late nineteenth century, offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the personal life of one of Pennsylvania’s most important wartime families. More than a beautiful artifact, the dress tells a story of status, mourning customs, craftsmanship, and the social world surrounding the Commonwealth’s wartime leadership. During this program, guests will learn how historians and textile conservators stabilized and preserved the fragile garment so it could safely be exhibited and studied for future generations. The presentation will examine the challenges of conserving historic clothing, the techniques used to protect delicate fabrics, and what such artifacts reveal about the people who lived through and shaped the Civil War era. Join us as we […]

Opium Slavery: Civil War Veterans and America’s First Opioid Crisis Saturday, April 18, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PMLocation: Education Gallery (First Floor) Join The National Civil War Museum for a powerful and eye-opening program with author Jonathan S. Jones, as he discusses his new book, Opium Slavery: Civil War Veterans and America’s First Opioid Crisis. During the Civil War, opium and morphine were widely used and considered essential to battlefield medicine. These powerful drugs eased pain, treated illness, and saved lives. Yet when the war ended, thousands of veterans returned home physically wounded—and unknowingly dependent on the very medicines that had sustained them. In the decades that followed, addiction—often described in the nineteenth century as being “enslaved” to opium—became a hidden epidemic among former soldiers. Veterans and their families struggled with the medical, social, and emotional consequences of dependency. At the same time, prevailing cultural attitudes framed addiction as a sign of moral weakness, unmanliness, or mental instability, limiting effective treatment and deepening suffering. Drawing on veterans’ firsthand accounts, hospital and asylum records, government reports, newspaper coverage, and contemporary advertisements, Dr. Jones uncovers the largely forgotten story of America’s first opioid crisis. His research sheds new light on […]

A Hell of a Regiment: To Gettysburg and Beyond with the Twentieth Maine Saturday, June 6, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PMLocation: Education Gallery (First Floor)ISBN: 9780811778152 One of the most famous regiments of the American Civil War, the 20th Maine earned lasting renown during its dramatic defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg under the command of Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Drawing on previously untapped sources, Peatman offers a fresh account of the regiment’s transformation from inexperienced recruits into one of the Union Army’s most legendary fighting units. His work explores the leadership, discipline, and determination that helped shape the regiment’s enduring legacy. Admission This program is free to attend. Regular Museum admission applies for those wishing to tour the National Civil War Museum galleries. About the Author Jared Peatman holds a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University and is a Senior Fellow at the George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership. He is also the director of curriculum for the Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg and the author of several works exploring leadership and the Civil War.

An eye-opening portrait of Lincoln behind the scenes: Here is the career-long party politician whose brilliant coalition-building during the Civil War set the political foundation for emancipation and Union victory. Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincolnwith author Matthew Pinsker Saturday, July 11, 2026 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PMLocation: Education Gallery (First Floor)ISBN: 9780393240788 Join Matthew Pinsker at The National Civil War Museum for a fascinating presentation on his new book, Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln. In this engaging program, Pinsker explores a side of Abraham Lincoln often overlooked — Lincoln as a skilled political strategist and party leader navigating the turbulent years before and during the American Civil War. Drawing from years of research, Pinsker examines how Lincoln balanced leadership, politics, and principle while guiding the nation through its greatest crisis. Matthew Pinsker is one of the nation’s foremost historians of Lincoln and the Civil War. He holds the Pohanka Chair in American Civil War History and serves as Director of the House Divided Project at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Admission to the presentation is free. Regular admission applies to the Museum galleries. “A landmark book…Team of Rivals on steroids…It is hard to […]

Lessons in History with Garry Adelman Saturday, August 22, 2026 | 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. The National Civil War Museum is pleased to welcome renowned Civil War historian, author, and speaker Garry Adelman as part of our popular Lessons in History lecture series. The Civil War in Detail Join the American Battlefield Trust and the Center for Civil War Photography's Garry Adelman for an exploration of the largely unseen buried deep within Civil War photographs. Most of the roughly 10,000 documentary Civil War photographs were recorded on large glass plates and most of these glass plates have survived the ravages of time, These glass plates negatives are at least 30x larger than 35mm negatives and unlike today’s digital cameras, the hi-resolution digital scans of these plates do not substantially pixelate upon zooming in. The details that emerge are as broad and varied as the war itself. From pickle jar labels to battlefield features, pets, games, engineering, technology, celebrity lookalikes, all come into sharper relief. Most moving are the details that reveal humanity among Civil War-era people--young, old, black, white, male female, which can have the unexpected effect of fostering sympathy for, and less judgment of, the people of the […]