Brown Bag lectures return to Railroad Museum Aug. 10

Las Cruces Railroad Museum’s popular Brown Bag Lecture series returns to the museum at noon Tuesday, Aug. 10, with George Hackler’s presentation "The Mormon Battalion March Through Southern New Mexico."

In 1846, 500 members of the Mormon community volunteered for military service in what would become the “Mormon Battalion March,” the City of Las Cruces said in a news release about Hackler’s program. “In exchange for aiding the country in the war with Mexico, the soldiers would receive government assistance to relocate their families to new lands in the West. The journey took them from Iowa to California. Hackler will detail the route the soldiers took through southern New Mexico, which is largely overlooked in the history books,” the city said.

Hackler is a native of Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley. His interest in Southwest history was planted very early as a curious youngster on the family farm below Rincon while he was collecting arrow points and potsherds. Hackler graduated from New Mexico State University with a double major in physics and mathematics and worked for 18 years in the Physical Science Laboratory at NMSU in rocket flight determination.

Hackler's additional work experience includes three years at the Martin Denver Company working on the Titan One intercontinental ballistic missile, 17 years at Burn Construction Company and finishing his career designing and building rocket test facilities at White Sands Missile Range-NASA. He also served for 12 years on the Las Cruces Public School Board of Education and did volunteer work for the Bureau of Land Management on wilderness study areas for 17 years after his retirement.

For more information, contact Bryan Lee at 575-541-2217 and BLee@las-cruces.org.

Las Cruces Railroad Museum, 351 N. Mesilla St., is accessible from RoadRUNNER Transit Route 5, Stop 17.

Visit www.las-cruces.org/Museums and follow Las Cruces museums on Facebook and Instagram @LCMuseums.