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Brown Bagging Through History
< < Back toAuthor Diane Vezza came to Campus Martius to speak about her recently published a book entitled Letters Home.
Letters Home is a detailed work of historical literature compiled painstakingly over the last six years. It focuses on George Turner, an officer in the Civil War, who wrote a series of 96 letters to his family.
His life ended during the battle of Missionary Ridge in Tennessee when he was shot in the head and died at the age of 23. Turner had received a degree from his hometown school of Marietta College, and been promoted from a private to an officer during his short life.
Campus Martius is a museum in Marietta, so Marietta history is special to the staff. Turner was from Marietta, and although he died in Tennessee, his body was returned and he was buried in Mound Cemetery in Marietta.
Vezza said that her studies show that he was a brilliant man. "Apart from writing beautiful poetic letters with historic significance he excelled in college. And he took courses like Astronomy and Advanced Mathematics, things that would make any of our eyes cross. He detailed the flora and the fauna that he came across, he would sketch them. His letters are so important."
This is not Vezza's first book nor was it her first speaking engagement. "I went to Marietta college and received a degree in business. So for me to be undertaking projects like this it shows that I am truly passionate about this. I just love the Civil War."
The book is roughly two hundred pages and centered around one man. However Vezza in her archival research found others' stories that intertwined with his. Turner is the focal point however she brings a Russian General into the picture along with accounts of President Grant and other famous officers of the Civil War.
On December 6th 2013 when Vezza actually spoke there were a lot of empty seats. "There is usually a better turnout" said retired teacher Judy Piersol "We think it's probably the weather."
Indeed this was a bleak winter day, the sky sprinkled tiny cold drops of rain as the wind whipped right through your clothes. This however did not stop Vezza and her audience from having an enjoyable experience. Vezza gave a compelling account of her book and the pains she took to compile it.
The audience was silent entranced by her telling tales of battle in the Civil War, and why this one man was important enough to write a book about.
Once she opened up the floor to the audience they teased her for having a crush on one of the civil war officers and other things. Many of the audience members knew Vezza personally. Several times the entire room would be laughing showing that even on a serious subject like this there is room for levity.
Brown Bagging it through history is a program that Campus Martius runs in which they have a guest speaker who is a historic expert in some field and invite people to bring their lunches. "If you come to Campus Martius for this there is a good chance you will stay for the speaker then go around to the exhibits and you could be here for a few hours," said Bill Reynolds staff Historian. "So it being lunch time I recommend that you bring a lunch."
This program comes around only once every month, on the first Friday. "However there are many other programs for people to be interested in" said Reynolds.
The book is for sale for $21.99 and as Vezza put it "They're going to love reading his letters, and they're going to love the military history, and the history of Marietta College, and the history of Marietta."