July 13, 2012
WHEELING, W.Va. – A Civil War re-enactor and scholar who portrays a regimental surgeon will discuss the medical advances born of the country’s bloodiest war at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 28, 2012, at West Virginia Independence Hall in downtown Wheeling.
Peter J. D’Onofrio of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, will document how the Civil War led to many medical advances still used today. This event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.
D’Onofrio is the regimental surgeon for the 5th Kentucky, Company B. He also is president, chief executive officer and a founding member of the Society of Civil War Surgeons Inc., a nonprofit with more than 350 members in 40 states and three foreign countries that educates the public about the life, times and role of the Civil War medical professional.
D’Onofrio, who has a doctorate in American history with an emphasis on the Civil War from LaSalle University in Louisiana, is editor and publisher of “The Journal of Civil War Medicine.” He also served as a consultant to the National Park Service and a television series, and has appeared on an episode on battlefield medicine for A&E Network’s “Civil War Journal.”
For more information, contact Travis Henline, site manager at WVIH, at (304) 238-1300 or email him at travis.l.henline@wv.gov.
West Virginia Independence Hall, originally built as a federal custom house in 1859, served as the home of the pro-Union state conventions of Virginia during the spring and summer of 1861 and as the capitol of loyal Virginia from June 1861 to June 1863. It also was the site of the first constitutional convention for West Virginia. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1988, the museum is maintained and operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, with the cooperation and assistance of the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with the exception of major holidays. The museum is located on the corner of 16th and Market streets in Wheeling.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The Division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the Division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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