The Second Saturday Speaker Series will continue at 2 p.m. March 8 at the Steamboat Era Museum, 156 King Carter Drive, Irvington. Keith Kehlbeck will present “Steamboats During the Civil War.”
Admission is by season subscription or $5. Purchase tickets at the museum, 438-6888, or www.steamboateramuseum.org.
Kehlbeck will share his knowledge of antebellum commerce and transportation and the role steamboats played during the American Civil War, 1861-1865. In places like the Northern Neck, Union steamboats enforced a blockade, conducted raids against locals they termed “secessionists” and pushed the expansion of steam powered warships to greater limits, reported museum manager Candee Pevahouse.
This presentation will cover topics such as the “Anaconda Plan” blockade of the South during the war, the creation of the Potomac Flotilla and typical operations of ships from that flotilla during the Civil War, said Pevahouse. The disruption of everyday life and regional commerce also will be discussed, as well as the impact and threats that the “dreaded” steamboats posed.
Kehlbeck is a writer, historian and marketing consultant with clients in the hospitality, nonprofit and publishing sectors. At the age of 10, his family took a trip to Washington, D.C., sparking what would become a life-long interest in the Civil War.
He is the author of Gone to God: A Civil War Family’s Ultimate Sacrifice, a nonfiction history told with diaries and letters written by soldiers and their family members, published in 2013. His most recent book, Aim High: The Life and Times of John Arena, a biography, came out last year.
He has a bachelor’s in history from Wabash College in Indiana, graduating summa cum laude. He serves as board president of the Steamboat Era Museum.
