HUGHESVILLE – On Monday, April 16 at 7 p.m. the East Lycoming Historical Society will meet in the museum on Main Street in Hughesville. The program is entitled, “East Lycoming Soldiers in the Civil War.”

This will be the second presentation by the society for the sesquicentennial remembrance of the American Civil War. It will be presented by local Civil War historian Robert Ferrell.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the other states of the North raised hundreds of regiments of volunteer soldiers to fight for the Union. The men of the eastern portion of Lycoming County enlisted in locally raised companies which were subsequently organized into regiments of Pennsylvania volunteers. Other local men who had moved away from Lycoming County joined units that were raised elsewhere in Pennsylvania or in other states. Still other local men were conscripted into regiments when the United States was forced to draft soldiers in order to obtain the necessary manpower to fill the army’s ranks.

This presentation will relate the stories of the various units that were composed in whole or in part of soldiers from eastern Lycoming County. The histories of these units and the battles and campaigns in which they participated, will be discussed.

Additionally, the experiences of certain individual soldiers will be explored in more detail, thereby giving the audience an appreciation of the heroism and the sacrifice of local residents on behalf of the Union cause.

The program is open to the public and refreshments will be served after the program. For more information call 584-3578.