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"Person of the Year" 1862

Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Richmond, Virginia
Saturday, February 25, 2012

Each year, Time magazine selects a person who had the most influence on events during the previous twelve months. If the same question were posed in 1862, who would Time have selected as the Person of the Year?

Five historians will ponder that question and present their candidates for Person of the Year 1862 at a forum organized by Museum of the Confederacy and hosted by the Library of Virginia. American History TV will have LIVE coverage of the day-long event. Nominees are kept secret until the historians announce their candidates. At the end of the day the audience will vote on the nominees for Person of the Year 1862 and the winner will be announced.

Historians presenting nominations are:

James McPherson, Civil War Scholar & Princeton University History Professor Emeritus

David Blight, Director of Yale University’s Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance & Abolition

Robert Krick, Former Chief Historian at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park

Brig. Gen. John Mountcastle (Ret.), Former U.S. Army Chief of Military History

Emory Thomas, Civil War Scholar & University of Georgia History Professor Emeritus

We’ll also open our phone lines and take tweets during the day so viewers can talk directly with the historians about their nominations, and propose their own candidates.

This is the second forum of its kind by the Museum of the Confederacy & the Library of Virginia. Last year, the audience voted Abraham Lincoln as the winner of Person of the Year 1861. This year continues the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865.

Updated: Sunday, March 31, 2013 at 3:20pm (ET)

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