Mary Elizabeth Bowser was a former slave who became a Union spy in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. She was part of a pro-Union underground spy ring run by Elizabeth Van Lew, the daughter of a prominent Richmond citizen. In this program, authors Elizabeth Varon and Lois Leveen talk about the life and story of Ms. Bowser, as well as her relationship with Ms. Van Lew. The two authors also discuss how they wrote and researched their books. The event took place at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond.

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The Catoctin Center for Regional Studies hosted a two-day conference on African Americans and the Civil War at Frederick Community College in Maryland. In this program, you'll hear first from historian James McPherson, who examines the reasons for recruiting black soldiers for the war effort. He also discusses the shift from fighting to preserve the Union to fighting to end slavery. Then, Columbia University history professor Barbara Fields looks at racism and slavery during the Civil War era and the motives behind emancipation.
 

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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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Historian Frank O’Reilly of the National Park Service discusses the Battle of Chancellorsville, which was fought from April 30th to May 6th, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The fighting resulted in more than 30 thousand total causalities. Historians widely consider the Battle of Chancellorsville to be Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory.

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Scholars discuss the contributions of U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War and how they are remembered at various battle sites. The panel also takes a critical look at the characterization of black troops in the 1989 film “Glory,” which focuses on the 54th Massachusetts – one of the first all-black units to fight for the Union. This event was part of a conference at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

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Civil War scholars give a historical perspective on the physical and mental battlefield trauma suffered by soldiers in fighting the bloodiest war in American history. More than 625,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some historians believe the death toll exceeded 700,000. This event was part of a conference at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

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Each year, Time magazine selects a single person who had the most influence on events during the previous twelve months. If the same question were posed in the year 1863, who would Time have selected as the Person of the Year? The Museum of the Confederacy and the Library of Virginia considered that question by inviting five historians to nominate someone for the title. Before the audience cast their votes for Person of the Year 1863, each historian presented an argument for their nominee and responded to questions from the audience. 

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Iver Bernstein discusses the causes and consequences of the New York City Draft Riots of mid-July 1863, that resulted from the federal draft for additional troops to fight in the war. Mr. Bernstein spoke at the U.S. Capitol Historical Society’s 2012 Civil War Symposium.

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In this program, a look at battlefield medicine with Barbara Sanders, an education specialist at Gettysburg National Military Park. She talks about Jonathan Letterman, medical director of the Union Army of the Potomac, and how he devised systems of transport, supply and treatment that led to vast improvements in the care of wounded troops at Gettysburg - and for the remainder of the war. 

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This is a look at the names, people and stories behind the photographs of black Americans who fought for the Union. Ron Coddington -- author of the book “African American Faces of the Civil War” – details their contributions to the war effort.  The New York Public Library hosted this discussion.

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