News and upcoming events

The August meeting will be on Wednesday the 11th at 6:30 p.m. in The Library Center, 4653 S. Campbell Ave., Springfield, Mo.  Dr. Thomas Curran will present a program, "Confederate Women and the Civil War Military Justice System in the St. Louis Area."  During the Civil War, hundreds of women who sympathized with the Southern cause passed through the military justice system as prisoners in and around St. Louis. Those accused of the most serious infractions were confined to the nearby Alton prison, the former Illinois State penitentiary.  These women came primarily from states primarily along the Mississippi River, especially Missouri, and each spent many months in custody.  This presentation focuses on those women and their experiences.

Morkan's Quarry: Civil War novel set in Springfield, Missouri, published by the University of Arkansas Press.  Steve Yates, whose previous fiction has been published in the Missouri Review and other venues, makes he debut as a novelist with Morkan's Quarry.  From the University of Arkansas Press catalogue: "In 1861, the Civil War severs Michael Morkan from everything he loves and all that defines him -- from his son, Leighton; from his love, Cora Slade; and from the quarry he owns in Springfield, Missouri.  Forced to give his black powder to the Missouri State Guard, he finds himself indelibly labeled a rebel traitor and is imprisoned in St. Louis.  Back in the Ozarks, Leighton joins the Federal Home Guards in hopes of paroling his father.  When Leighton finally frees him, the two are pitched in a last gambit for their quarry and for the legacy of the name Morkan."  For further information call the University of Arkansas Press at 1-800-626-0090, or visit their website: www.uapress.com