CUDDEBACKVILLE, NY — The Neversink Valley Museum of History & Innovation will hold its second installment of its History Lecture Series on Wednesday June 3, at 7:30 p.m. with local historian Frank Salvati presenting “The Ghost Dance: Tragedy at Wounded Knee and the Milford, PA Connection.” The event will be held at the D&H Canal Visitor’s Center, 58 Hoag Rd. (just off of Route 209). Light refreshments will be served.

Unable to accept harsh reservation conditions, the Lakota Sioux, starving, miserable and desperate, turned to the Ghost Dance religion in a last-ditch effort to improve their grim lives, leading to the tragedy at Wounded Knee. A witness to this tragedy, Father Francis Craft, originally from Milford, PA, suffered severe injuries during the massacre. Craft alienated everyone, from the military to his superiors in his order, to the Sioux. The man fought in four wars, was a certified surgeon, a devout Christian with a religious fanaticism bordering on insanity.

Salvati is a resident of Port Jervis, a passionate student of the Indian wars, with a particular interest in the Northeastern United States, and a popular speaker on the French and Indian Wars, the American Revolution and the War of 1812.

Visit www.facebook.com/pages/The-Neversink-Valley-Museum-of-History-Innovation.or call 845/754-8870.