Adjutant’s Call - May 2022

Link to Original PDF of May 2022 Newsletter

Circular Memorandum #536 - May 2022

“Abraham Lincoln, Divorce Attorney” Presented by Thomas Flagel

Meet our Speaker Thomas Flagel

Thomas Flagel is a professor of History at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. He holds degrees from Loras College (B.A., History), Kansas State University (M.A., European History), Creighton University (M.A., International Relations), Middle Tennessee State University (PhD., Public History) and has studied at the University of Vienna. Author of several books and articles on the Civil War. Among the books Flagel has writer are The History Buff's Guide to the Civil War, The History Buff's Guide to the Presidents: Top Ten Rankings of the Best and Worst, The History Buff's Guide to World War II, The History Buff's Guide to Gettysburg, War, Memory, and the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion, Gettysburg Battle Briefings (volume 3) An Introduction to the Battle, Flagel has spoken multiple times at Gettysburg, including the 150th Anniversary Commemoration. He has also worked with multiple historic preservation groups, including the American Battlefield Trust and the National Park Service. Originally from Iowa, he currently resides in Franklin, Tennessee. He has also lived in Austria and the Czech Republic. Among his ancestors are several American Civil War veterans, including a great, great, great grandfather from the 2nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry.

"Abraham Lincoln, Divorce Attorney"

During his long legal career, Abraham Lincoln presided over 140 divorce cases. These filings may appear to be purely personal matters, anecdotes long past of two people unable to form a more perfect union. Under closer inspection, nearly all reveal a society - Lincoln included - struggling with massive and unforeseen changes, including fundamental questions about human rights. To explore these cases is to see the nation at its heart, a civil union suddenly asking how, or if, its bond should endure.