Fall Lecture Series — Transports and Blockade Runners: Great Lakes Steam at Sea in the Civil War

Join us for the our 2025 Fall Lecture Series, presented by Impact Employment Solutions. Offered as a hybrid event, participants can choose when registering to take part in person at the museum or online via Zoom. Please select in-person or virtual when selecting tickets on Eventbrite. 

Great Lakes–built steamers once bound for freshwater trade were pressed into Civil War service along the Atlantic—and vanished. Rumors soon swirled that Confederate agents had turned some into elusive blockade runners. Join maritime historian Walter Lewis to dive deeper into this captivating tale of shifting loyalties, high‑stakes transport, and intrigue on the open inland seas.

This lecture is free, but registration is required. Donations are always happily accepted.

About the Presenter

Walter Lewis holds an M.A. in History from Queen’s University in Kingston.  Currently, he serves as the Production Editor of “The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord”, the journal of the Canadian Nautical Research Society and the North American Society for Oceanic History. He is best known in the Great Lakes community for the Maritime History of the Great Lakes (.ca) website, which he has managed since 1998. In 2008 Dundurn Press published “The River Palace: the many lives of the KINGSTON”, co-authored with Rick Neilson.  In 2023 he was awarded the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History’s C. Patrick Labadie Award for Historic Preservation. He has presented in a variety of contexts, including a Great Lakes cruise ship, on a range of topics both historical and on the technical side of digital content management in the cultural sector.  He is currently a member of the executive committees of the Toronto Marine Historical Society, the Canadian Nautical Research Society and the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History and serves on the Advisory Board of the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

Meet our Sponsor

Impact Employment Solutions (IES) stands as a beacon of opportunity, offering a comprehensive suite of employment services tailored to meet the diverse needs of clients and job seekers alike. Specializing in temporary labor, temp-to-hire workforces, and direct hire permanent placements in HR, engineering, and technical trades, IES exemplifies dedication to facilitating seamless transitions into fulfilling employment opportunities.

Headquartered in Toledo, IES has forged enduring partnerships with numerous esteemed clients across Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Florida, and Canada. Their tailored approach ensures that each client’s unique operational landscape and requirements are met with precision and excellence. With a track record of success and unwavering commitment to client satisfaction, IES continues to shape the employment landscape, one successful placement at a time.