The Filson will host a Civil War Field Institute whose mission is to explore the complex history of the Civil War era in Kentucky, the Ohio Valley region and the Upper South through a series of field trips and lectures. This Institute will focus on the Cumberland Gap’s pivotal role in the Civil War and how the area’s significance lay in its routes north and south, the topography and geography, and the divided nature of its citizenry.

Sites on the tour include the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Harrogate, Tenn., which holds the second largest collection of Lincoln memorabilia and papers in the world; Cumberland Gap National Historical Park; Camp Wildcat in London, which hosted the first battle of the Civil War in Kentucky; and Camp Nelson in Nicholasville, Ky.

The Institute’s tour guide and keynote speaker is Dr. Brian McKnight, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. He is the author of Contested Borderland: The Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia, which won the James I. Robertson Literary Prize in 2006. His newest book is Confederate Outlaw: Champ Ferguson and the Civil War in Appalachia. This past spring, McKnight was the featured Civil War historian on the Ashley Judd episode of NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” 

Please call The Filson Historical Society for more information or to make reservations, at (502) 635-5083. You may also reserve your space by visiting www.filsonhistorical.org.