FOC Member Lecture Series
The Devil’s Own Purgatory: The United States Mississippi River Squadron in the Civil War 

Join Friends of the Cabildo for a virtual evening with Dr. Robert H. Gudsmetad as he discusses his new book The Devil’s Own Purgatory: The United States Mississippi River Squadron in the Civil War (LSU Press, 2025). This program is provided free to members of the Friends of the Cabildo. Tickets for non-members are $10 per lecture or $25 for access to all lectures in the yearly series. The program will take place virtually on Zoom. Please register and/or purchase tickets for the lecture at the Friends of the Cabildo website.

About the Book

The Devil’s Own Purgatory is the first complete history of the Union navy’s Mississippi Squadron, a fleet that prowled the Mississippi River and its tributaries during the American Civil War. The squadron battered Confederate forts, participated in combined operations with the army, obliterated the Confederate fleet, protected Union supply lines, fought a river-based counterinsurgency war, raided plantations, and facilitated the freedom of thousands of enslaved people.

About the Author

Robert Gudmestad is professor of history at Colorado State University. He is the author of A Troublesome Commerce: The Transformation of the Interstate Slave Trade and Steamboats and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom.