2026: America Turns 250
Throughout 2026, we will be hosting programs that celebrate our American heritage and what it means to be free. We will be featuring guest speakers throughout the year, as well as a lecture series, Washington’s Generals, which will be a year-long series presented by Director Cait Clark. Follow us on social media for last-minute updates, and email us with any comments, questions or concerns!
February 2026
March 2026
April 2026
May 2026
June 2026
July 2026
August 2026
September 2026
February 15, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Richardson & Bretz Building
Kicking off our new Washington’s Generals lecture series is Nathanael Greene: Washington’s Favorite General. It is said that Greene was the one tasked with taking Washington’s place had he been killed or captured. Learn about the humble beginnings and impressive military career of Nathanael Greene, Washington’s favorite general.
February 21, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Richardson & Bretz Building
Faith was important to Mercer County settlers, and they dotted the county with churches of many different denominations. Karen Bennett, the presenter for last October’s popular “Rocks of Ages: Tombstone Art and Cemetery Research,” will take a look at some of the early Mercer County churches.
March 15, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Richardson & Bretz Building
Our second lecture of the Washington’s Generals lecture series is Daniel Morgan: The Rebel With a Cause. The early years of Daniel Morgan’s life are a mystery, but his contributions to the Revolution are not. Plagued by a past of poverty and terrible injuries, Morgan was a rebel long before the war broke out.
April 11, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Garst Museum
Horatio Gates arrived in the Continental Army with a distinguished military record and sky-high ambitions to match. He would go on to oversee one of America’s greatest victories, as well as one of its most humiliating defeats. Along the way, he may have even set his sights on Washington’s job itself! But was Gates truly a villain, or simply a flawed man caught between his ambitions and his moment in history?
NOTE: Due to scheduling conflicts and Easter celebrations in April, this program will be given at the GARST MUSEUM in GREENVILLE, OHIO.
April 19, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Richardson & Bretz Building
From 1843 to 1923, there were several incidents of vigilantism in Mercer County. Local people took the law into their own hands to enforce their own beliefs and prejudices on others, including reservoir builders, manumitted slaves, Union soldiers, suspected criminals, accused sex workers, World War I “slackers”, and Catholics. People were intimidated, property taken or destroyed, rights curtailed, and in one case, lives lost. For violating the Rule of Law, they suffered few consequences because most of their actions were supported by a significant portion of the population.
May 3, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Richardson & Bretz Building
Before there was a Continental Army, before Washington took command, there was Old Put, the most famous soldier in America. He killed wolves, survived being burned at the stake, and inspired a nation. So why did George Washington stop trusting him? Is Israel Putnam a legend or a hero? Come decide for yourself at our next Washington's Generals lecture.
June 28, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Richardson & Bretz Building
At merely 19 years old, Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette of France set sail for America, defying his king’s wishes. He would rise from eager volunteer to indispensable general, earning Washington's deep personal trust. Still, the revolution he helped win in America would not save him from the one that consumed France, leaving the hero of two worlds a prisoner in his own homeland.
July 12, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Richardson & Bretz Building
Arriving at Valley Forge in 1778, the man known as Baron von Steuben took a disorganized militia and implemented a rigorous training program. He created a "model company" to train others, introduced standardized drills, and taught effective bayonet tactics. Crucially, he overhauled camp hygiene by separating latrines from kitchens, drastically lowering disease rates. Von Steuben codified these methods in the “Blue Book," America’s official military manual for decades. He also commanded troops at the decisive Siege of Yorktown, cementing his legacy as the father of the United States Army.
August 23, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Richardson & Bretz Building
The nickname "Mad Anthony" conjures images of reckless bravado, the visual of someone who charges headlong into danger without thought or calculation. The truth of Anthony Wayne, however, is far more compelling. Wayne was a surveyor, a tanner's son. Eventually, he would become one of the most disciplined battlefield commanders in the Continental Army. Washington turned to him again and again, not in spite of his boldness, but because of the iron will beneath it.
After the war, Washington’s trust in his abilities would take Wayne to the wilderness of Ohio where he would found the city of Greenville, Ohio.
September 20, 2026, at 2PM ~ The Richardson & Bretz Building
Judas sold only one man," Benjamin Franklin wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette. "Arnold three millions."
Before he became America's most infamous traitor, Benedict Arnold was one of Washington's most trusted generals. He was a fearless, aggressive commander whose leadership at Saratoga helped turn the tide of the war. Few officers gave more to the Revolution… and none fell further. Passed over for promotion, haunted by political enemies, and embittered by a country he believed had forgotten him, Arnold made the choice that would earn Franklin's ire, along with that of Washington himself.
This program traces the journey from battlefield hero to American Judas, examining what made Arnold indispensable, and what destroyed him. Join us as Cait Clark’s Washington's Generals Lecture Series continues.