Civil War 150th Plans Announced; Philadelphia Mayor Honored

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Civil War History Consortium of Greater Philadelphia will present its History Leadership Award to Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter at a November 15 reception at the National Constitution Center. The award recognizes his support for history and culture during his decades of public service in the city. Also at the event, the Consortium will announce its schedule of events to commemorate the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

The Consortium and its member organizations are planning a full schedule of events and activities to commemorate the region's role in the great struggle to preserve the Union and to extend civil rights to African Americans. Highlights include:

• A parade and grand review on April 16 to commemorate Philadelphia's response to President Lincoln's call for volunteers after the firing on Fort Sumter;
• Annual battle re-enactments in Fairmount Park;
• Online guides to Civil War sites and collections in the Greater Philadelphia region;
• A range of exhibitions and public programs by its partner organizations.

"Philadelphia has been called one of the great battlefields of the Civil War -- a battlefield of commerce, politics, and national finance," explains John Meko, chair of the Civil War History Consortium. "It was also one of the great battlefields in the struggle for freedom and equality for African Americans."

Philadelphia was an important manufacturing and transportation hub, producing everything from uniforms, weapons and ammunition to medicines and surgical equipment for the Union effort, moving soldiers and supplies to the front, and returning wounded soldiers to its many hospitals, where they were cared for by thousands of volunteers. Philadelphia was also a center for African American support for emancipation and civil rights: its free black population was the largest north of the Mason Dixon Line and made it possible for the Philadelphia area to house the largest training camp for United States Colored Troops, as they were known at the time -- Camp William Penn in Cheltenham Township.

The November 15 reception is presented by the Consortium in partnership with the National Constitution Center, the African American Museum in Philadelphia and The Abraham Lincoln Foundation of the Union League of Philadelphia.

For more information on the Consortium and its programs, visit http://www.civilwarphilly.net/

SOURCE Civil War History Consortium of Greater Philadelphia