Historians and professors discuss developments in weaponry and tactics that played an instrumental role in the fighting between Union and Confederate forces. This event was part of a symposium on Technology and the Civil War hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

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MIT professor Merritt Roe Smith delivers the keynote address of the 2012 Smithsonian Institution’s “Technology and the Civil War” symposium. He talks about the North’s weapons production and manufacturing industry, and how that gave the Union an advantage over the Confederacy.

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Professors and historians discuss Mark Grimsley’s 1997 book, “The Hard Hand of War,” which looks at Union military policies toward Southern civilians. "The Hard Hand of War" was the featured book of the 2012 Civil War Institute Conference at Gettysburg College.

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Author and historian Mark Grimsley explains how American military conflicts through history have contributed to the formation and understanding of racial identities. He discusses the roles of African Americans on both the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War. Mr. Grimsley spoke at the 2012 Civil War Institute Conference at Gettysburg College.

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Peter Carmichael looks at the military executions in General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s command. He talks about the different forms of punishment used under Jackson’s leadership in 1862, and the reactions of Confederate soldiers to these measures. Carmichael is the director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, and he spoke at the Institute’s 2012 conference.
 

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Craig Symonds of the U.S. Naval Academy talks about the war’s Western Theater river operations in 1862. Symonds details the strategies employed by the Union to win several key battles, and credits those victories to the cooperation and combined tactics of General Ulysses S. Grant and Naval Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote. The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College hosted this event.

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Two history professors talk about aspects of the war in the West - from the Mississippi River to Arizona - including the roles played by Hispanics, and Confederate attempts at westward expansion. The National Park Service and the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission co-hosted this event.

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In this discussion from the 2012 Civil War Institute Conference at Gettysburg College, history professors and bloggers talk about the debates and controversies of emancipation – its timing, its initial results, and its post-war effects into the 20th century.

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Author William Styple discusses Gen. George McClellan’s working relationship with staff officer, Col. Thomas Key. Styple says Col. Key exercised unique influence over McClellan, often to a detrimental effect. The Library of the Chathams in Chatham, New Jersey hosts this talk.

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The National Park Service rededicates Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial. As the nation marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and after a six-year restoration effort, Americans can once again see the house much as Lee knew it.

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