Roland Maust, pastor of Grace Brethren Church of Uniontown, Pa., and Civil War historian.
Roland Maust, pastor of the Grace Brethren Church, Uniontown, Pa., and a Civil War historian, is the speaker at the California University of Pennsylvania Civil War Roundtable presentation on Thursday, October 9. A story in Saturday’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tells the details. A portion of the story appears below. Click here to read the complete article.
Ohio prison escape plot focus of Cal U roundtable
Don’t expect to see clips of Steve McQueen hurtling in a motorcycle over wooden obstacles as he attempts to elude Nazi captors during Thursday’s California University of Pennsylvania Civil War Roundtable presentation.
Instead, feast your ears on the story of “The Almost Great Escape,” detailing the 1864 plot to rescue Confederate prisoners from the Union prison on Johnson’s Island in Sandusky Bay, Ohio.
Roland Maust, pastor of Grace Brethren Church of Uniontown and Civil War historian, will recount “The Almost Great Escape” in the university’s Kara Alumni House. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., with the meeting set to commence at 7 p.m.
Previously, Maust, who appeared before the roundtable with presentations about Union Gen. Herman Haupt, who operated Northern railroads during the War; and Union nurse Anna Holstein, said he “had never heard about the prison escape attempt and that’s what attracted me to the story. Tell me something I’ve never heard before. This is an unknown chapter of Civil War history, especially in Pennsylvania.”
Maust, 62, obtained a bachelor’s degree in music education from Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind., and a master’s degree from Grace Theological Seminary.
An accomplished Civil War historian, Maust’s landmark book, “Grappling with Death: The Union Second Corps Hospital at Gettysburg,” is sold at Gettysburg National Military Park bookstore, and he admits he developed an interest in the prison and escape attempt honestly: his oldest son, Russell, and his wife, Crissy, live on Kelly’s Island on Lake Erie, not too far from Johnson’s Island.
Click here to read the complete article.
