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Wednesday, September 21, 2011 7:30 p.m.
Grosse Pointe War Memorial, 32 Lake Shore Road, Grosse Pointe Farms
Michael W.R. Davis will present a program relating to his latest book (published in July 2011),
The St. Clair River,
an area that has been
utilized for recreational purposes by generations of Grosse Pointers. This river, separating Michigan from Ontario, is one of the world’s
greatest natural waterways and a key link in the Great Lakes chain. This book covers the river’s recorded history from the French fur
trappers of the 17th century to the resorts like the Old Club, with its many Grosse Pointe members, to the modern ocean going ships
which connect the area directly with the rest of the world.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 7:30 p.m.
Grosse Pointe War Memorial, 32 Lake Shore Road, Grosse Pointe Farms
Jack Dempsey will present a program relating to his new book (published in April 2011),
Michigan and the Civil War: AGreat and Bloody
Sacrifice
in recognition of the sesquicentennial of the of the American Civil War in which Michigan lost over 14,000 residents.
On May 16, 1861, only a month after Union troops surrendered Fort Sumter, members of the First Michigan Regiment marched into
Washington, D.C. The mere arrival of the regiment, the first from a western state, was met with jubilation and they were invited to an
audience with President Lincoln, and it was then, popular lore has it, the President exclaimed,
“Thank God for Michigan.”
His utterance would turn out to be prophetic in the long war ahead, as time and time again the courageous interdiction of Michigan forces
would turn defeat into victory for the Union. Michigan’s role in the war continued to the very end, when the 4th Michigan Cavalry captured
the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis as he was escaping to Florida, effectively putting an end to any further hostilities.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 7:30 p.m.
Grosse Pointe War Memorial, 32 Lake Shore Road, Grosse Pointe Farms
Anthony J. Yanik will present a program relating to his latest book (published in September 2011)
The Fall and Recapture of Detroit in the
War of 1812: In Defense ofWilliamHull
just in time for the bicentennial of the opening campaign of the War of 1812 in Detroit, a location
the War Department considered one of the significant launching points for the invasion of Canada.
Detroit’s surrender only two months after the declaration of war shocked the nation and led to the court-martial of Brigadier General William
Hull. Hull was sentenced to death—the only commanding general ever to receive such a sentence in U.S. military history. Mr. Yanik’s book
exams and reconsiders Hull’s abrupt surrender and the general’s defense that the decision was based on sound humanitarian grounds.
FALL 2011
Dr. Frank Bicknell Lecture Series