[FCHSM] Indians in the Civil War & other events

[James P. LaLone]

Mid-Michigan Genealogical Society presents at their meeting Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Roger D. Winthrop who will speak on "Michigan Indians or Anishinaabe Soldiers in the Civil War".

 

Roger D. Winthrop is an "independent historian" with degrees from Kentucky and Wisconsin who has a long-standing interest in the Civil War, and a more recent one in Michigan's First People.

 

Mr. Winthrop years ago set out to write a 'Regimental' history of a Michigan unit and was trying to choose one when he kept encountering the roster of Company K, First Michigan Sharpshooters, the only all-Indian unit to serve the Union in the East.  He could not shake the questions : "Who ARE these people? Why are they fighting?"  Answering them took years of research under the guiding hand of an Odawa elder who could take him through the veils of language and culture that separated him from understanding. What was found was not what either of them expected, and from their research is emerging the first complete and coherent story of the Anishinaabeg experience in the Civil War.

 

He will focus on Co. K, but will comment on WI and, to lesser extent, MN Natives if for no other reason than to demonstrate that the reasons they fought were substantially different, quite dependent upon localized socio-politics.

 

Anyone with interest in a particular name associated with Co. K should contact him directly at <rdwinthrop at a1access.net> prior to 27th so he can more adequately address their questions that evening.

 

Imperfect but useable rosters of Co. K can be found in Ray Herek's
THESE MEN HAVE SEEN HARD SERVICE: THE FIRST MICHIGAN SHARPSHOOTERS IN THE CIVIL WAR [Wayne State Press, 1998] or online at either of these websites:

http://www.michiganinthewar.org/sharpshooters/1mssa.htm


http://members.aol.com/roundsky/company-k.html



Meetings are held at Plymouth Congregational Church

2001 East Grand River Ave., Lansing, MI. 7pm-9pm.  

All are welcome.



 Don't forget the dinner before meeting at the Old Country Buffet in Okemos.



Also:

The Mid-Michigan Genealogical Society is hosting an evening with Colleen Fitzpatrick on July 20, 2007.  She calls herself a Forensic Genealogist.  Her talk for MMGS will be on applying forensic tools to analyzing old photographs.   You can read more about her at:  http://www.forensicgenealogy.info/index.html  This is part of our society's 40 th anniversary celebration.  Please come and enjoy this noted genealogy speaker:  http://www.msu.edu/user/pfaff/MMGS/flyer.pdf   Colleen Fitzpatrick is also a rocket scientist employing her scientific skills to genealogy research.

Thanks, Jim.
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