NEW MADRID -- The author of Missouri's most recent book on the Civil War will speak at the Feb. 6 meeting of the Col. A.C. Riley Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Phil Gottschalk, retired editor of the Columbia Daily Tribune, will speak on the Confederate Army's Missouri Brigade, the subject of his new book, "In Deadly Earnest."

The dinner and speech are open to the public. Reservations are required.

Gottschalk spent 20 years researching and writing the book, which was released last month.

The person for whom the New Madrid chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is named, Col. Amos Camden Riley, commanded one of the regiments of the Missouri Brigade. Six companies of his regiment, the First Missouri Infantry, were recruited in the Missouri Bootheel in the summer of 1861.

The lecture will be held at Rebecca Sharp's in New Madrid.

Reservations for the dinner may be placed with Jim McGhee in Dexter at 624-8088 or with Riley Bock in New Madrid at 748-5144.