Detroit Civil War riot to be topic of Historical Society Winter Speakers Series

Mike Nagle

Detroit Civil War riot to be topic of Historical Society Winter Speakers Series

LUDINGTON — Local historian Mike Nagle will be the next speaker at the Mason County Historical Society’s Winter Speaker Series on Monday, Feb. 6. Nagle will talk about Michigan’s home front during the Civil War and the racial conflict which erupted the city of Detroit in March 1863. 

Michigan’s residents were opposed to slavery and supported the Union strongly during the Civil War, but not all of the state’s residents were equally united in their support of equal rights or the forced conscription of its male citizens to fight in the war. Detroit was not the only northern city to experience racial violence during the Civil War, but it foreshadowed conflicts which would emerge in the city’s future; particularly during the Second World War and decade of the 1960s.

The program begins at 6:30 p.m. and will take place at the Mason County Research Center, 130 E. Ludington Ave. Cost is free to historical society members and $10 for non members. 

Nagle is a history professor at West Shore Community College and is the author of “Justus S. Stearns: Michigan Pine King and Kentucky Coal Baron, (1845-1933)” and his latest release “The Forgotten Iron King of the Great Lakes: Eber Brock Ward, (1811-1875).”

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