Videos

Historic site manager Paige Gibbons Backus discussed the state of medical knowledge at the beginning of the Civil War, including surgical practices and diseases common among the soldiers. She also described advances…

Caroline Wood Newhall, a postdoctoral fellow at the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, discussed her research on black prisoners of war in the Confederacy. She talked about the…

About a month after the Battle of Antietam, Union forces under General George McClellan crossed the Potomac River in pursuit of General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. Author Kevin Pawlak talked about…

During the Battle of Gettysburg’s second day, Union commander George Meade called for reinforcements to beat back an assault his left flank, leaving only a single brigade to defend his right flank on Culp’s Hill.…

Located in Charleston harbor, Fort Sumter was still held by Union forces in April 1861, despite South Carolina’s secession in 1860. National Park Service historian Mark Maloy described the events of April 12,…

In October 1862, Confederate cavalry under General J.E.B. Stuart pressed into Maryland and Pennsylvania--including the town of Chambersburg--to raid for horses and other supplies. “Emerging Civil War” blog…

Historian Gary Gallagher addressed the misconceptions Americans have about the Civil War and outlined four concepts he believes are crucial in understanding the conflict. This talk was part…

Garry Adelman of the American Battlefield Trust tackled the whole Civil War in 56 minutes. He began with the lead-up to the war, from the Compromise of 1850 to Bloody Kansas to Abraham Lincoln’s…

Elmira, a Union prisoner of war camp located in New York, opened in July 1864 after many other Union prisons were at capacity. Almost 3,000 Confederate POWs died at the camp from disease, exposure to the elements or malnutrition…

Clemson University history professor Orville Vernon Burton talked about the origins of the 14th Amendment, and why it was essential and necessary to ratify after the South’s defeat in the…

William Blair talked about how the 14th Amendment was used after the Civil War to punish former rebels for secession. He described how the different sections of the amendment applied to…

Professor Barbara Krauthamer talked about using photography to chart the history of American slavery, both before and after emancipation. Professor Krauthamer discussed the “legacy of…

Brandon Bies is the superintendent of Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia. He talked about the recent discovery and excavation of the remains of two Union soldiers and several…

In late-April 1865, with the Civil War drawing to a close, the barge Black Diamond sank following a nighttime collision on the lower Potomac River with a steamer loaded with Union troops. The…

Historian Harold Holzer and Valerie Paley of the New-York Historical Society talked about artifacts featured in their joint publication “The Civil War in 50 Objects.” In this program, they…

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…

Historian Harold Holzer and Valerie Paley, chief historian at the New-York Historical Society, talked about artifacts featured in their joint publication, The Civil War in 50 Objects. In this…

Gettysburg National Militaryl Park ranger Bert Barnett detailed Union General Sherman’s early 1865 campaign in South Carolina following his “March to the Sea” in Georgia. He explained how…

Civil War scholars Gary Gallagher, Edna Greene Medford, and Elizabeth Varon discussed the current debate surrounding Confederate monuments. They offered their ideas on how to display and…

A group of historians discussed the different ways women experienced the Civil War, depending on class, race and geography. They examined the relationship between Union generals and their…