Talk on Civil War to be hosted by History Society

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Historical Society of Bloomfield will present “The Role of New Jersey in the Civil War.” The program will treat the battlefront, enlistment motivations, training, camp experience, military discipline, combat and a comparative evaluation of the state’s military record. Home-front politics will also be discussed. The notion of New Jersey as a pro-southern and pro-slavery state will be rebutted.
The event will be May 24, 7:30 p.m., at the Bloomfield Civic Center, 84 Broad St.

Presented by William Gillette, emeritus professor of history at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Gillette graduated from Georgetown University, received his MA from Columbia and earned his doctorate in history from Princeton in 1963.

Gillette has received several awards. For his book, “Jersey Blue: Civil War Politics in New Jersey, 1854-1865,” he won the McCormick Prize in 1997 for the best recent book on NJ history. In 2002, New Jersey Monthly listed “Jersey Blue” as one of the top 10 nonfiction books about our state.

Gillette was a Fulbright lecturer in Austria, Japan and Russia and served in the U.S. Army in South Korea in the late 1950s. He is the author of three books and 225 articles. He has given 111 historical talks in every county in the state.

The event is open to the public, free of charge and refreshments will be served. More information at www.hsob.org, or 973-743-8844.