MTSU is helping to bring history to the community during Rutherford County Heritage Month with a special public event, “The Legacy of Stones River,” set Saturday, Oct. 18, at Murfreesboro’s First Presbyterian Church.

With the help of MTSU’s Department of History and the Public History Program, two speakers will address the impact of the Civil War from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 18 at First Presbyterian, located at 210 N. Spring St. just off East Main Street near Murfreesboro’s Public Square.

Erskine Clarke, whose most recent book is “By the Rivers of Water,” will speak on “American Missionaries in West Africa, Slavery and the Civil War” at 9:45 a.m.

Beginning at 10:30 a.m., environmental historian Megan Kate Wilson, author of “Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War,” will speak on “Among the Ruins: Charles F. Morse and Civil War Destruction.”

A discussion and book signings with both speakers are scheduled from 11 a.m. to noon.

“These will be engaging talks about topics that have not been broadly addressed in the past, and they illustrate some of the new directions Civil War studies are taking,” said Dr. Rebecca Conard, a history professor at MTSU and director of the university’s Public History Program.

Cost for the event is $10 per person, which also includes a continental breakfast at 9 a.m. and a 1 p.m. lecture by a park ranger and guided tour at Stones River National Battlefield.

The registration deadline is Thursday, Oct. 16, for this event. You can register online at www.nps.gov/stri/planyourvisit/legacycurrent.htm or in person at the battlefield’s visitor center bookstore, located at 3501 Old Nashville Highway north of Murfreesboro.

In addition to MTSU’s Department of History and the National Park Service, “The Legacy of Stones River” is co-sponsored by the Friends of Stones River National Battlefield, the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area and the Rutherford County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

For more information on this public history event, visit www.nps.gov/stri/planyourvisit/legacycurrent.htm or email rebecca.conard@mtsu.edu.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)

This photo from MTSU’s Albert Gore Reserach Center shows a portion of Murfreesboro’s Public Square circa 1864, when the Union Army used the Rutherford County Courthouse as a headquarters after the Battle of Stones River.