Odawa and the Civil War - Company K with Eric Hemenway

NOTE: This lecture to be rescheduled due to widespread power outage.
It will not be held on April 3rd, 2025 at 7 pm. You can still register, and you will be notified via email of the new date & time once it's rescheduled. If you can't attend the live presentation, we will be sending everyone a link to the recording of this program once it's been held.

Group photograph of Company K after the Battle of the Wilderness

Company K, of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters, was the largest all-Indian regiment in the Union Army during the Civil War. Company K fought in some of the most pivotal battles of the Civil War. Numerous Odawa from Northern Michigan were part of this unique company, which included the areas of Cross Village and Petoskey. This talk will focus not only on the battles of the Civil War but also the social and political world in which Company K was coming from.

Eric Hemenway is an Anishnaabe/Odawa from Cross Village, Michigan. He is the Director of Repatriation, Archives and Records for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian, a federally recognized tribe in northern Michigan. Eric works to collect and preserve historical information for LTBB Odawa. That information is used to support the LTBB government and create educational materials on Odawa history, such as: exhibits, signage, publications, presentations, curriculums and media. Eric has worked on numerous repatriations of native, human remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). He is a former member of the NAGPRA Review Committee and currently sits on boards for the Michigan Historical Commission and Little Traverse Conservancy.