The Harrisburg Civil War Round Table will hold its annual Nye-Sommers lecture on Thursday, June 6, at the Central Penn College Conference Center, 600 Valley Road, Summerdale. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., and a buffet dinner will be served at 6:15 p.m. Anyone who wishes to attend the lecture only should arrive by 7 p.m. This lecture will also be broadcast via Zoom.

The Nye-Sommers lecture honors the memory of two pillars of the Harrisburg Civil War Round Table: Col. Wilbur S. Nye and Richard J. Sommers. D. Scott Hartwig will discuss "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Mediocre: Leadership at the Battle of South Mountain."

Fought on Sept. 14, 1862, the Battle of South Mountain was the important prelude to the Battle of Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862. The landscape of the battlefield was rugged and confusing for the participants and posed numerous challenges for the leaders of both sides. This program will analyze and assess the performance and decisions of the key leaders of the action that unfolded at Turner's, Fox's, and Crampton's gaps.

Hartwig retired in 2014 as the supervisory park historian at Gettysburg National Military Park after a 34-year career in the National Park Service, nearly all of it spent at Gettysburg. He was a key player in the design of all aspects of the Gettysburg visitor center. He is the author of "To Antietam Creek: The Maryland Campaign from September 3 to September 16" and "I Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and End of the Maryland Campaign."

The lecture is free, and there is a fee for the dinner, payable at the door. To make reservations for the dinner by noon on Monday, June 3, contact Brian Foster at hcwrt.membership@gmail.com or 717-962-6122 or visit https://harrisburgcwrt.org.

For more information, contact programs chair Stephen Smith at 717-433-0209.

The Harrisburg Civil War Round Table is celebrating its 65th anniversary.