A new Civil War documentary film will be offered to the public on Thursday.

The film will be shown, beginning 7 p.m. at the Mower County Historical Center on the county fairgrounds in southwest Austin.

Limited seating is available.

Refreshments will be served after the showing, according to Shirley DeYoung, MCHS administrator.

The film is entitled "Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars" and is 75 minutes in length.

Co-writer and director Michael Gray will be present to discuss the film and answer questions.

If the Civil War was a defining moment in American history, then the story of the 1st Minnesota is at the center of this national story.

While Minnesotans in the regiment fought in the Civil War, others fought at home, where the Dakota Indian tribes rose against mistreatment by the same generation of pioneers that sent its sons to fight for the Union Army.

In the post-Civil War era, the rights of African-Americans, both as a cause of the war and their status in its aftermath were minimized, while the whole culture of the American-Indian was almost extinguished.

Narrated by Peter Graces, Gray's film features commentary from prominent Civil War historian Prof. Gary W.

Gallagher, University of Virginia, and Dakota tribal elder, the Rev. Clifford Canku, as well as an original score by Elliott Sokolov.

The movie examines the paradoxes of American society that led to the Civil War and continues to confound many today/

The Mower County Historical Center is located

on the county fairgrounds at the intersection of 12th Street and 6th Avenue Southwest. For more information, call the Historical Society at 437-6082.