Seminary Ridge Symposium

Glenn LaFantasie and Tom Desjardin, presenters
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Director of the Seminary Ridge Symposium and a professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, Kent Gramm is the author of three books on the Civil War: Gettysburg: A Meditation on War and Values; November: Lincoln's Elegy at Gettysburg; and Somebody's Darling: Essays on the Civil War, and contributor to the volumes The Gettysburg Nobody Knows and Giants in Their Tall Black Hats: Essays on the Iron Brigade.

Kent Gramm

Glenn LaFantasie will open this year’s Symposium with “Little Round Top, Then and Now.” Prof. Lafantasie is the author of two acclaimed, best-selling books related to Little Round Top: Twilight at Little Round Top and Gettysburg Requiem: The Life and Lost Causes of Confederate Colonel William B. Oates. Formerly the deputy historian of the U. S. State Department, Glenn LaFantasie is Frockt Family Professor of Civil War History and Director of the Center for the Civil War in the West at Western Kentucky University. He has written for North and South, Civil War Times Illustrated, American History, MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, America’s Civil War, and The New York Times Book Review.

Wayne Motts and Timothy Smith will lead an extensive tour of Devil’s Den and Little Round Top on Saturday morning. Attendees of past Symposia are familiar with Tim Smith as an accessible, engaging, and forceful authority on the Battle of Gettysburg. Together with Garry Adelman, he has authored the definitive Devil’s Den: A History and Guide. Garry Adelman is also the author of Little Round Top: A Detailed Tour Guide and The Early Gettysburg Battlefield. Wear walking shoes and bring an umbrella!

Tom Desjardin, an entertaining and compelling speaker and tour leader, has worked as a battlefield guide at Gettysburg National Military Park and is the author of Stand Firm, Ye Boys from Maine, a meticulous study of the engagement of the 20th Maine versus the 15th Alabama on Little Round Top. He is also author of These Honored Dead and Through a Howling Wilderness. Examining memoirs, letters, dispatches, and battle reports, Dr. Desjardin has concluded that during the “hottest moments” of the desperate fight for the Union flank, the odds were “close to even” on what is today the most-visited location on the Gettysburg battlefield.

Harriet Tubman, the former slave who led many others to freedom, has recovered from the illness that prevented her from appearing at last year’s Symposium (at 160 years of age, she must be allowed an occasional bad day) and will be present this year to exhort, instruct, and inspire. Miss Tubman is played by Millicent Sparks, who is on the staff of Philadelphia’s Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum.


The Symposium will conclude with a panel discussion featuring our guides and speakers. Your questions and observations will be welcomed.

Join us for what promises to be an exceptional Seminary Ridge Symposium.