The Civil War history of Galveston is one of the last untold stories from America's bloodiest war, despite the fact that Galveston was a focal point of hostilities throughout the conflict. As other Southern ports fell to the Union, Galveston emerged as one of the Confederacy's only lifelines to the outside world. When the war ended in 1865, Galveston was the only major port still in Confederate hands.

Join author Edward T. Cotham Jr. to learn more about the military engagements that engulfed the Galveston and its strategic waterfront during the Civil War. Special attention will be paid to the Battle of Galveston, in which Confederate forces retook the city on New Year's Day 1863. That's 150 years ago.

Cotham is an independent scholar of Civil War history and a former president of the Houston Civil War Roundtable. Copies of his book, Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston, will be on sale as well.