To win the Civil War, the Union sent more than half a million soldiers into the field between 1861-1865. They all had to be recruited, paid, transported, fed, supplied, armed, and cared for after the battles. All of that cost money and permanently changed our economy and monetary system. Dr. Preston Pierce, the Ontario County historian, will tell how that happened and how those changes affect us even today, including the design of the cash in our wallets and the existence of a central bank that has such a huge effect on our pocketbooks. His talk is free and open to the public. Read more about Pierce’s research on this topic here.