Mark Christ will deliver a lecture on the Civil War in Arkansas at Sloan-Hendrix High School in
Imboden on Tuesday October 15 at 6:30 at the Bill McCurley Gymnasium. The lecture will be in
conjunction with the exhibit “Civil War in Arkansas, 1861-1865†that will be appearing at Sloan- Hendrix.
The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, in cooperation with the Old State House
Museum and the Arkansas Humanities Council is offering the traveling exhibit about the states
involvement in the Civil War to towns and communities all over the state through 2015 to share
information about Arkansas’ Civil War heritage. The exhibit will be displayed at Sloan-Hendrix
from October 7 – October 20
Christ is the community outreach director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program,
an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. His numerous works on the Civil War in
Arkansas have gone beyond accounts of battles to examine the effect of the war upon those who
fought as well as on the civilian population.
His Civil War Arkansas, 1863: The Battle for a State won the 2010 Douglas Southall Freeman
Award, given for the best published book in the field of Southern history, and the 2013 Booker
Worthen Literary Prize that is awarded by the Central Arkansas Library System.
Among the other works that he has written or edited are “Rugged and Sublimeâ€: The Civil War
in Arkansas; “Getting Used To Being Shot Atâ€: The Spence Family Civil War Letters; “All Cut
to Pieces and Gone to Hellâ€: The Civil War, Race Relations and the Battle of Poison Spring;
“The Die is Castâ€: Arkansas Goes to War, 1861; and “The Earth Shook and Trees Trembledâ€:
Civil War Arkansas 1863-1864.
Sentinels of History: Reflections on Arkansas Properties Listed on the National Register of
Historic Places that he edited with Cathryn H. Slater won an Award of Merit from the American
Association for State and Local History
Christ has two volumes slated for publication in 2014: The Diary of Jacob Haas as a Soldier in
the Civil War and “I Do Wish This Cruel War Was Overâ€: First Person Accounts of Civil War
Arkansas from the Arkansas Historical Quarterly.
The Civil War Trust, the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United
States, awarded him its 2013 State Preservation Leadership Award.
Christ is the chair of the Arkansas Humanities Council and serves on the board of trustees
of both the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission and the Arkansas Historical
Christ received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and his
Master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Paul Austin, Executive Director of The Arkansas Humanities Council, will introduce Christ. The
lecture is free and open to the public. The audience is also welcomed to attend a reception for
Mark following the lecture sponsored by the Lawrence County Extension Homemakers Clubs
and the Imboden Friends of the Library.
For more information contact Mitch Walton at 870-869-2384.