Ohio State History Professor to Speak at Civil War Round Table

The Tuscarawas Valley Civil War Round Table will meet on Thursday, May 14 at 6:30 PM in the Community Room of the Dover Public Library, located at 525 N. Walnut Street in Dover. The featured presenter will be Dr. Joan Cashin, who will present on her book, War Stuff: The Struggle for Human and Environmental Resources in the American Civil War.

In War Stuff, Cashin explores the struggle between armies and civilians over the human and material resources necessary to wage war. This war ‘stuff’ included the skills of white Southern civilians, as well as such material resources as food, timber, and housing. At first, civilians were willing to help Confederate or Union forces, but the war took such a toll that all civilians, regardless of politics, began focusing on their own survival. Both armies took whatever they needed from human beings and the material world, which eventually destroyed the region’s ability to wage war. In this fierce contest between civilians and armies, the civilian population lost. Cashin draws on a wide range of documents, as well as the perspectives of environmental history and material culture studies. This book provides an entirely new perspective on the war era. A book signing will follow the program.

Dr. Joan E. Cashin is an award-winning scholar of nineteenth-century American history and is Professor of History at The Ohio State University. Cashin specializes in the social, economic, and cultural history of the United States, including the antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Cashin is also the author or editor of five books on the American Civil War.

The mission of the Tuscarawas Valley Civil War Round Table is to educate the community about the American Civil War, to preserve Civil War heritage and to remember those who struggled for their cause. For more information or to register for this free community program, please call the Dover Public Library at 330-343-6123 or visit www.doverlibrary.org.