Contact: Pattye Archer

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University Libraries is bringing home one of the university’s distinguished alumni for a lecture and book signing on April 4.

U.S. Civil War military historian and MSU alumnus Timothy B. Smith will discuss his latest book “Bayou Battles for Vicksburg: The Swamp and River Expeditions, January 1-April 30, 1863” (University Press of Kansas, 2023) during the 6 p.m. event which is free and open to the public. The book is Smith’s fourth in his five-volume history of the Vicksburg Campaign.

Susannah J. Ural, the university’s Frank and Virginia Williams Chair for Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Studies, said the lecture is hosted by the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana and the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, along with MSU Libraries, and will be in the John Grisham Room, third floor, Mitchell Memorial Library.

“Dr. Smith is an award-winning historian of the U.S. Civil War and a recognized authority on the military history of the western theater of operations—which includes campaigns from Atlanta to the Mississippi River,” Ural said. “He’s always a hit with audiences, whether on the battlefield tours or the lecture circuit, and we’re excited for this opportunity to host him at MSU.”

“It’s natural for MSU’s two premier Civil War collections to collaborate on events like these,” she said. “This is especially true for an event focused on the Vicksburg Campaign, which was central to Ulysses S. Grant’s career and to his relationship with President Abraham Lincoln.”

Executive Director of the Grant Presidential Library Anne Marshall agreed.

“We are partnering in order to bring related scholarly content to the public,” Marshall said.

Organizers scheduled the event for Thursday evening, allowing community members to attend, Ural said. The campus gates will be raised at 5 p.m. for easier parking.

“We hope to fill the Grisham Room with our university and regional supporters on Thursday evening, and that includes our students,” Ural said. “Beyond what they can learn from this celebrated historian, I think they’ll be excited to hear from a fellow Bulldog alumnus.”

For more information on the Williams Collection of Lincolnian, visit https://www.library.msstate.edu/williamscollection. For more information on the Grant Presidential Library, visit https://www.usgrantlibrary.org/.

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