Sacred Trust 2023: Commemorating the 160th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg

Mark your calendars and plan to attend the Sacred Trust 2023 Talks & Book Signings event during the 160^th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3.

Sacred Trust 2023 features renowned authors, historians and National Park Service Rangers presenting talks on the American Civil War and its cultural impacts, leadership lessons, true stories and myths, and elements of those historical events still relevant today. This year’s schedule of presenters:

July 1, 2023

Saturday Daytime Talks:

9:30 a.m. Robert O’Neill – “Small but Important Riots: The Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville – Thirty Years of New Perspectives”

11 a.m. Allison M. Johnson, Ph.D. – “The Left-Armed Corps at Gettysburg”

1:30 p.m. Ronald S. Coddington – “Civil War Portrait Photography: Reflections of a Generation”

3 p.m. Doug Douds – “A Comparative Analysis of George G. Meade and R.E. Lee’s Commanding Machines at Gettysburg”

Saturday Evening Event

New for 2023: A Sacred Trust Evening: Provisions & Civil War History

5 p.m. Dinner and cocktails (cash bar), a meet and greet with the evening presenter William C. “Jack” Davis, retired Executive Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies and professor of history at Virginia Tech

6-6:45 p.m. Book signing

7 p.m. Sacred Trust Talk “The President and His General: Lee and David, A Partnership that Worked” – Free ticket required

8 p.m. Book Signing

Tickets are required for the July 1 evening. The purchase of a dinner reservation offers early access to a free ticket for the 7 p.m. Talk. Dinner reservations close June 12, 2023.

July 2, 2023

Sunday Daytime Talks:

9:30 a.m. Brian Steel Wills, Ph.D. – “Promise Tempered: William Dorsey Pender at Gettysburg”

11 a.m. Dan Welch – “‘Where all so well did their duty’” George Sears Greene’s Brigade at Gettysburg”

1:30 p.m. Tamika Nunley – “The Demands of Justice: Enslaved Women and Insurgency in Virginia”

3 p.m. Wayne E. Motts – “Fort Sumter to Gettysburg: Unique Connections Between the Opening Shots of the Civil War and its Greatest Battle”

Sunday Evening Talk:

7 p.m. – Jeff Shaara – “A Conversation with Jeff Shaara” | Free ticket required – Bestselling author Jeff Shaara will discuss the inspiration for some of his works related to American history in a conversation with Gettysburg Foundation President and CEO Wayne E. Motts.

July 3, 2023

Monday Daytime Talks: 

9:30 a.m. John D. Hoptak – “‘All the Boys in Our Place Were Ready; Hardly Anyone Who Could Carry a Musket Stayed Home:’ South Central Pennsylvanians, 54th Massachusetts Infantry”

11 a.m. Megan L. Bever, Ph.D. – “Martial and Moral Heroes: Questions of Drinking and Masculinity Among Civil War Soldiers”

1:30 p.m. Patrick Brennan – “Colorizing Gettysburg and the Pursuit of the Past”

3 p.m. Sarah Handley-Cousins, Ph.D. – “Disability and the American Civil War”

Monday Evening Event

7 p.m. Gary W. Gallagher, Ph.D. “Bruce Catton and the Army of the Potomac Trilogy”  | Free ticket required

Individuals are encouraged to transact early to obtain tickets. Tickets are limited to four tickets per transaction. To obtain free tickets for the evening talks, visit GettysburgFoundation.org/Sacred-Trust on the select dates as outlined.

A complete schedule of the talks and book signings along with topic descriptions and presenter bios are available at GettysburgFoundation.org/Sacred-Trust.

The Sacred Trust event is co-hosted and presented by Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg Foundation and complements other Museum & Visitor Center activities, including Gettysburg National Military Park’s special battle anniversary Ranger programs.