Please join John as he delivers an exciting, highly illustrated presentation on the life and accomplishments of legendary Cherokee Chief, Civil War General, and Oklahoman General Stand Watie at the second Randall University Civil War Symposium in Moore this Friday, April 27th, beginning at 2:00 p.m. More information appears in the Oklahoman newspaper article that follows.

Free two-day Civil War symposium this weekend at Randall University in Moore

From Staff Reports - NewsOK Published: April 22, 2018 5:00 AM CDT

Two respected authors will deliver keynote speeches at a Civil War symposium this week at Randall University in Moore.

All talks will be held in the university's Mabee Auditorium near 3701 S Interstate 35 Service Rd.

The events are free and open to the public.

Norman author and historian John J. Dwyer will begin at 2 p.m. Friday with a presentation on Stand Watie, a Cherokee who was the last Confederate general to surrender. His concession came in what is now Oklahoma on June 23, 1865.

After his talk, Dwyer will sign copies of The Oklahomans, which won the Will Rogers Medallion for nonfiction last year. Dwyer, an adjunct history professor at Southern Nazarene University, is writing a follow-up to the book.

Dr. Pamela D. Toler, of Chicago, will discuss the role of nurses during the war. The talk grows out of her book, "Heroines of Mercy Street: The Real Nurses of the Civil War," which was the basis for a PBS documentary.

Her talk will be at 7 p.m. Friday. She also will sign copies of her book.

In addition to the keynote addresses:

• Beau Cantrell, an attorney and past president of the Oklahoma City Civil War Roundtable, will discuss the role of Indian Territory delegates to the Confederate Congress at 3 p.m. Friday;

• Ben Odom, current Roundtable president, will give a presentation on "Heroes of the Blue and the Gray" at 4 p.m. Friday;

• Dan DeKalb will deliver a talk on the Battle of Fort Donelson, a Confederate fort on the Tennessee/Kentucky border that was captured by Union soldiers in 1862, about 6 p.m. Friday;

• Mike Sheriff will talk about April 1865, a key month in the war, at 9 a.m. Saturday;

• Jeff Massey, past president of the General Stand Watie Society, will give a presentation on General William Tecumseh Sherman's march to the sea at 10 a.m. Saturday;

• and Eric McBroom, a local commander of Camp 481 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, will conclude the conference with a discussion of the "Guns of the War" at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Randall is a liberal arts college associated with the Free Will Baptist denomination in Oklahoma.

For more information, go to www.ru.edu/current-students/events/civil-war-symposium.