Southeast Missouri's complicated Civil War history will be the topic of discussion at the 2015 Harold Holmes Dugger Lecture at Southeast Missouri State University.

The lecture titled "Southern Cross, North Star: The Cultural Politics of Civil War Memory in Missouri and the Middle Border, 1865-1915″ will be presented by Dr. Christopher Phillips of the University of Cincinnati.

The lecture, sponsored by the Department of History, is based on his book "The Rivers Ran Backward; The Civil War on the Middle Border and the Making of American Regionalism," which will be released in October by the Oxford University Press.

Phillips noted that in post-war Missouri, people had different views of who they were. He will dive into the cultural politics of the post-war era that left Missouri residents with dual identities, both northern and southern.

Phillips also will discuss the German immigrant influence in the area during and after the war. Germans mostly supported the Union even though they lived in a slave state. Around 31,000 Germans from Missouri served in the Union Army and approximately 27,000 Missourians, both military and civilian, were killed during the Civil War. Missourians accounted for 13,883 of the war's military casualties, but accurate accounting is impossible because Confederate records were not well kept.

Phillips was appointed distinguished lecturer by the Organization of American Historians in 2009. He has written seven books and a dozen essays on the history of the border slave states that remained part of the Union after the South seceded.

"I grew up across the river in Illinois, and I was raised on a whole different narrative on the war," Phillips said. "The war in this area turned into something the people didn't expect. War loyalties were divided with many people being neutral."

Missouri entered the Union in 1821 as a slave state following the Missouri Compromise of 1820, in which Congress agreed that no state north of 36°30' (Missouri's southern border with Arkansas) could enter the Union as a slave state. Maine entered the Union as a free state in the compromise to balance Missouri.

Local civil war enthusiast Matt "Johnny Reb" Varnum has been reenacting for 15 years and has become very interested in the local history.

"This area is full of Civil War history. We were the 11th star on Lee's flag, but we were occupied by the Union for most of the war," Varnum said. "We had border battles, bushwhackers and soldiers in both armies, there is a lot here."

The event will be held at 7:30 on April 16 in the University Center Ballroom. It is free and open to the public.