This article orginally appeared in the Neoga News

Lake Land College music instructor Nancy Caldwell has been selected as an Illinois Road Scholar by the Illinois Humanities Council and will present “A Soundtrack for Wartime: Songs of the Civil War,” on Wednesday, October 23, at 7 p.m., at the Lake Land College Kluthe Center in Effingham.

Illinois Road Scholar and Lake Land College music instructor Nancy Caldwell will give a presentation – “A Soundtrack for Wartime: Songs of the Civil War,” at the Kluthe Center on Wednesday, October 23, at 7 p.m., in room 201. 

Caldwell was selected as an Illinois Road Scholar by the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) for the 2013-2014 school year and will speak throughout Illinois.

During the presentation, participants will hear examples of Civil War songs and discuss their specific appeal to Americans during the war and beyond. This presentation recognizes the Civil War Sesquicentennial, commemorating 150 years since the conflict between the north and the south (1861-1865). 

According to Caldwell, music was an important emotional outlet during the war, and she developed the presentation to commemorate its sesquicentennial.

“Songs rallied the troops, passed the time for encamped soldiers, captured the drama of military campaigns and, most of all, created a feeling of inclusion,” explained Caldwell. “People singing songs about the Civil War understood that others shared their worry and pain, and this was a source of comfort.”

This event is free and open to the public.

To learn more about Caldwell’s presentation or to schedule her to speak, visit www.prairie.org/roadscholars.