On February 20, 2016 the Library of Virginia hosted The Road From Appomattox Symposium. C-SPAN posted some of the lectures, so I thought a post on them would be in order. Here is the description of the Symposium:
The 2016 symposium will explore “The Road from Appomattox: Political Violence, Military Conflict, and National Reunion” and feature lectures about violence and the contest over the scope of African-American freedom, a comparative look at the U.S. Army’s treatment of Southern civilians and Native Americans, and the relationships between the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. The symposium will consider questions of continuity between the Civil War and postwar violence and the role of violence in shaping postwar America.
Here are the speakers:
The speakers are Dr. Edward L. Ayers, past president of the University of Richmond and author of The Promise of the New South; Dr. Douglas Egerton of Lemoyne College, Syracuse, New York, author of The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era; Dr. Gary W. Gallagher of the University of Virginia and author of The Union War and The Confederate War; Dr. Mark Grimsley of Ohio State University and author of The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy Toward Southern Civilians, 1861-1865; and Dr. Caroline E. Janney of Purdue University and author of Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation.
Here is a link to the video of the first talk by Ed Ayers:
http://www.c-span.org/video/?404846-1/civil-war-reconstruction
There is also page with links to q&a with the authors:
https://acwm.org/2016-symposium
The lecture by Ayers emphasizes the importance of the Election of 1864 in shaping the early Reconstruction. The fact that 4 in 10 Northern men did not support Lincoln would mean that support for Reconstruction policies would be divided.
Ayers also puts an interesting weight on Sheridan in the Election of 1864.
Here is the second lecture in the symposium. Black Activism During the Civil War History professor and author Douglas Egerton discusses black activism during the Civil War and into the early years of Reconstruction.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?404846-2/black-activism-civil-war
Next is Professor Mark Grimsley speaking, giving a talk comparing Union treatment of white Southern civilians to US treatment of defeated Native Americans.
Here is a description of the video:
U.S. Military Conduct in the Civil War and Reconstruction Professor Mark Grimsley compared the conduct of the U.S. military toward Southern civilians and Native Americans during the Civil War and Reconstruction. He argued that Union troops in the Civil War were “merciful” toward white southerners, and while property was sometimes destroyed, civilian casualties were typically unintentional and few in number. By contrast, he said U.S. military attacks on Native Americans in the West frequently left entire villages destroyed with large numbers of women, children, and elderly among the dead.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?404846-3/us-military-conduct-civil-war-reconstruction
This one is Caroline Janney speaking about the limits of reconciliation after the Civil War. More on the lecture from C-SPAN:
National Reconciliation After the Civil War Caroline Janney talked about national reconciliation and its limits in the post-Civil War era. She argued that the Spanish-American War in 1898 bonded former white Confederates and Unionists into one national army, helping to reunite the country. But, she said this reunion came with restrictions that denied equality for African-American soldiers, a division mirrored in American society at-large.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?404846-4/national-reconciliation-civil-war
Thanks to Al Mackey for alerting me to these videos.
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