WBR Museum presents Civil War lecture Aug. 8

PORT ALLEN - The West Baton Rouge Museum presents, "A Yankee Blitzkrieg Stumbles: Baton Rouge, April 5, 1862," a lunchtime lecture on August 8, 2013 at noon, as part of the ongoing Atchafalaya National Heritage Area Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemorative Speakers Series.

Louisiana historian, documentary director, and author, Charles Elliott, teaches Louisiana and American history at Southeastern Louisiana University, and is a recipient of the William S. Coker Prize in Gulf South History. The lecture is free and open to the public. Visitors are welcome to bring a bag lunch to the lecture.

What happened on April 25, 1862? It was three months before the Battle of Baton Rouge and it was the day before New Orleans fell to the U.S. Navy fleet under Admiral David Farragut, and the Confederate government decided to abandon Baton Rouge, moving first to Opelousas, and then to Shreveport. Elliott will discuss the military decisions and home front war zone in Baton Rouge that fateful day in 1862.

The speaker series is sponsored by the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, a program of the National Park Service, the Office of Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne and West Baton Rouge Museum.

The West Baton Rouge Museum is located at 845 N. Jefferson Avenue in Port Allen. For more information please call (225) 336-2422 x15 or visit www.westbatonrougemuseum.com.