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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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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A panel of scholars talks about the contributions and sacrifices of African Americans who served in the U.S. Colored Troops. This discussion also includes a look at the role abolitionist Frederick Douglass played in the recruitment of black soldiers, and their eventual acceptance into the Union Army by President Lincoln and his generals. The New-York Historical Society hosted this event.

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Walter Stahr discusses William Henry Seward, who was Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State and closest adviser during the Civil War despite previously being Lincoln’s rival for the presidency. Mr. Stahr is the author of “Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man.” This talk took place at the Kansas City Public Library in Missouri.

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Historian and author Craig Symonds talks about the various naval aspects of the war – from technological developments, to the battles themselves; from the Union blockade, to the rivers of the Western Theater. Symonds is history professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy, and the author of “The Civil War at Sea.” He presented this talk at the Smithsonian’s Ripley Center, on the National Mall.

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