Videos

McKendree University professor Lauren Thompson talked about how, despite prohibitions against it, Union and Confederate soldiers often fraternized, sharing coffee, tobacco, and newspapers. T…

U.S. Naval Academy professor Wayne Hsieh described how Civil War generals were able to see aerial views of the battlefield for the first time through military balloons and how they could com…

Author Tom Wheeler talked about how Abraham Lincoln used the new technology of the telegraph to communicate directly with his Union generals and helped win the Civil War. The Virginia Center…

Author and journalist Howell Raines talked about Union soldiers from Alabama who aided General Sherman in his 1864 March to the Sea during the Civil War. The Montclair Public Library in New …

University of Oxford history professor Adam Smith talked about how the politics and opinion of Northern communities shifted during the Civil War to support for both the war and destruction o…

Author William Styple talked about artist James Kelly who interviewed dozens of Union Civil War generals after the war to understand their war and depict it in art. The Macculloch Hall Histo…

Vanderbilt University history professor emeritus Richard Blackett talked about Underground Railroad and the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law. The Virginia Civil War Museum in Richmond, …

Historian Timothy Smith discussed the Vicksburg Campaign, which ended with the Confederate surrender on July 4, 1863. Union control of the Mississippi River split the Confederacy in half and…

Carnegie Mellon University professor Edda Fields-Black talked about Harriet Tubman’s role in the 1863 Combahee River raid, a secret military mission against Confederates in South Carolina wh…

Author Elizabeth Varon discussed Confederate General James Longstreet, who later embraced Reconstruction and became an outcast in the South. The Atlanta History Center hosted this program.

Historians Edward Achorn, Joseph Fornieri, Ronald White, Harold Holzer, and Erin Carlson Mast discussed President Abraham Lincoln as a communicator and shaper of public opinion. This event w…

Historian Jonathan White talked about how even though the slave trade was outlawed, it persisted through the 1860s. He describes some of the slave traders who were prosecuted during Abraham …

Historian Edward Achorn talked about the 1860 Republican convention and how unlikely Abraham Lincoln was as a political nominee. This event was part the 2023 Lincoln Forum held in Gettysburg…

Historian Ryan Quint discussed Confederate Major General Jubal Early’s attack on the defenses of the bridge at Monocacy, Maryland in 1864. Union retreat opened the road to Washington for Ear…

Historians Jake Friefeld, Brian Mitchell, and John Rodrigue talked about how the nation moved from the Emancipation Proclamation to the 13th Amendment and what life was like for African Amer…

Historian Ronald White talked about Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, an unlikely Civil War General who became a hero of the 1863 Union victory in Gettysburg. This event was part the 2023 Lincoln…

Historian Craig Symonds talked about the similarities and differences in leadership between Civil War Admiral David Farragut and World War II-era Admiral Chester Nimitz. This event was part …

Author Candice Shy Hooper talked about Absalom Hanks Markland, also known as “Grant’s postmaster general,” a U.S. Post Office Department special agent who ensured that military mail was deli…

Historians Allen Guelzo, Michelle Krowl, Dana Shoaf, Melissa Winn, and Jonathan White discussed soldiers and civilians who died in the Civil War. This event was part the 2023 Lincoln Forum h…

Pastimes Productions executive co-producers Doris Kearns Goodwin and Beth Laski talked about their recent miniseries on Abraham Lincoln’s life. This event was part the 2023 Lincoln Forum hel…