Muhlenberg County Public Libraries’ popular “Thursdays at Thistle” program continues May 17 with an afternoon discussion program about the War of 1812.
Dr. William H. Mulligan Jr. will visit the library to discuss Kentucky’s important role in the war.
Mulligan’s program, “Kentucky and the War of 1812,” will focus on the impact the war had on Kentucky as well as how soldiers from Kentucky impacted the course of the war. While many textbooks focus on sailors and clashes over sovereignty as the main causes of the War of 1812, two-thirds of American casualties in the war came from Kentucky. Mulligan contends that the events preceding the war had a huge impact on Kentuckians, leading them to join the military in droves and fight for what was important to them. Mulligan will use contemporary evidence to demonstrate that Britain’s support of Indian raids on frontier settlements was a hot topic and major contributing cause to the war and Kentucky’s involvement thereof.
Mulligan is a 25-year veteran of Murray State University’s History Department. He has extensively studied and lectured on America’s military history, among other topics. He has served on Kentucky’s State Historic Preservation Board as well as serving as president of both the Jackson Purchase Historical Society and Murray State’s Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Mulligan has lectured at programs and conferences across the world and now sits on Kentucky Humanities’ Speakers Bureau, for which he developed the “Kentucky and the War of 1812” program.
This Speakers Bureau program will be held May 17 at 2 p.m. at Muhlenberg County Public Libraries’ Thistle Cottage. The program will be presented free of charge. Light refreshments will be provided.
For more information about this program, contact Muhlenberg County Public Libraries at 270-338-4760.
The Speakers Bureau is a presentation of Kentucky Humanities. Local funding is provided by the Felix E. Martin Jr. Foundation.
Dr. William H. Mulligan Jr.
