Ferryville Tourism Council to host final Chautauqua Summer Program August 11

Bob O’Connor ...
Bob O’Connor ...

The Ferryville Tourism Council is announcing the third and final Chautauqua Summer Program in its summer series. The program will be held Wednesday, August 11 at 6:30 p.m. in the Ferryville Village Hall, along Wisconsin Hwy. 35 on the south end of the village.

The final  program of this summer’s series will be given by Bob O’Connor, an author and historian from Charles Town, WV. His topic will be “Mrs. Slater, the Missing Lincoln Conspirator”. Sarah Slater was a courier for the Confederacy, moving parcels from the South to Montreal, Canada. During the course of her movements, she came into contact with John Wilkes Booth and John Surratt. She was very secretive by always wearing a mourning veil to cover her face. This greatly led to her anonymity both during her movements and after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln when no one could describe what she looked like.

How did she escape from being captured? Was she really an additional conspirator to the assassination? Join the August 11 Chautauqua program and find out through O’Connor’s presentation.

O’Connor has written 19 books with Civil War themes, and he will have some of them available for purchase following the program. He will also be presenting a different program Thursday, August 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library in Lansing. The topic of that program will be “Southern Oasis at Gettysburg,” a compelling presentation that will share information about the northernmost Confederate hospital during the Civil War.

For more information, check out ferryvillewi on Facebook or call Joanne White at 608-734-9018.