Videos

Appomattox Courthouse is commonly known as the site of General Lee’s surrender to General Grant and the end of the Civil War. Chief of Education Ernie Price talked about life after the war, highlighting the local…

Historian Gary Gallagher talked with Lincoln and Civil War scholar Allen Guelzo about his previous work on President Abraham Lincoln as well as his current project on Confederate General Robert…

Bernard Powers gave a tour of sites in Charleston related to black heritage. At Hampton Park he talked about the connections it has to one of the first Memorial Day commemorations on May 1, 1865.…

Boston College history Professor Heather Cox Richardson argued that Southern social, political, and economic ideologies prevailed in the American West following the Civil War. This was a…

Gettysburg National Military Park ranger Angie Atkinson talked about the formation and combat experience of the Union Army’s Irish Brigade. She described the standing of recent Irish immigrants…

To mark the 198th anniversary of Ulysses S. Grant’s birthday, the Grant Monument Association hosted a discussion between retired General David Petraeus and Elizabeth Samet, editor of an annotated…

Rea Andrew Redd talked about the presidential election of 1864. He outlined the Republican and Democratic platforms, the different candidates and the logistics of getting soldiers to vote. This talk…

Author Elizabeth Varon talkcd about political rhetoric used in the Union during the Civil War, which she argued made Northerners believe they were saving the South. She explored the…

Author Peter Carmichael used letters written by Union and Confederate soldiers to examine their battle experience, mental state, and political outlook. He argued that the daily life of a…

Historians Joan Waugh and Gary Gallagher answered - what caused the Civil War? Ms. Waugh and Mr. Gallagher co-authored, The American War: A History of the Civil War Era. Their remarks were…

Gettysburg National Military Park ranger Karlton Smith talked about the role of Confederate Gen. James Longstreet in the 1865 Appomattox Campaign. Using maps and describing troop movement, he…

Scott Mingus, co-author of Targeted Tracks, talked about the importance of the Cumberland Valley Railroad during the Civil War. This was a one-track railroad running from Hagerstown,…

Keith Snyder from the Antietam National Battlefield shared personal accounts of soldiers who fought in the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. Through letters, photographs and diary…

Dwight Pitcaithley is a former National Park Service chief historian and editor of “The U.S. Constitution and Secession.” He offered an analysis of the 67 Constitutional amendments…

University of Virginia professor Elizabeth Varon talks about Elizabeth Van Lew, who operated a Union spy ring out of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Her remarks are part of…

Historian Fergus Bordewich argued that Congress, led by the Republican Party, played a vital role in the Union’s victory in the Civil War.

Art historian Judy Scott Feldman analyzed artistic portrayals of the American Revolution and Civil War. She talked about the influence of paintings, sculptures and memorials on how history…

Drew Gruber talked about the 1862 Battle of Williamsburg in Virginia - and why it was overshadowed that year by larger and bloodier battles. He also explained why Williamsburg’s colonial history has…

Matt Atkinson, a Gettysburg National Military Park ranger, discussed the post war life of former Confederate General Robert E. Lee. He highlighted Lee’s efforts to promote a reconciliatory…

Stephanie Jones-Rogers detailed her research into Southern white women slaveholders who, she calculates, comprised 40 percent of slave owners in some regions. The previous estimate had been…