In a three-semester series (one course held this fall, winter, and spring), Captain Jim Bloom will detail the Union's efforts in the Civil War to gain control of the Mississippi River. This first course details the campaign in the southern Mississippi and includes overviews of the battles leading to the capture of New Orleans as well as colorful anecdotes about notable participants. Jim will continue this lecture series in OLLI’s winter semester with Part 2: Mississippi Thunder: Closing the Upper Mississippi: Cairo to Fort Pillow. Jim discusses the fall of the river from Memphis to Vicksburg in the third and final course of the series in the spring semester.

Instructor: Captain Jim Bloom retired from a 31-year career as a U.S. Navy officer and physician in 2011 and returned to his childhood home in central Pennsylvania. A 1975 undergraduate of Penn State, Capt. Bloom attended the University of Pittsburgh medical school, then entered active duty with the Navy. In addition to clinical duties, Capt. Bloom served as Deputy Chief of the Medical Corps, 6th Fleet surgeon, and Commanding Officer of Naval Hospital Sigonella, Sicily. He is a popular OLLI instructor and is currently the vice president of the Central PA Civil War Roundtable.