At the university of southern mississippi. She taught previously in texas which accounts at least in part for the topic of our program today. As you can see in your program, she is fully immersed in the history of miss of mississippi. The civilshe launched war governors of mississippi project. With theship university of the southern of southern mississippi. I should draw your attention to the common theme you will hear in my introductions. Role as educators and as mentors of younger students. Is a former president of the mississippi has oracle and serves on the board of trustees for the society of. Boards. Everal editorial title ofn see from the her book in the program, her scholarship explores the intersection of military and social history. s texasst book hood brigade is the basis for her program today. Ladies and gentlemen, dr. Susannah ural. [applause] susannah ural thank you, john and thank you to everyone for coming out. Thanks to the library of virginia. It is a true pleasure to be back in richmond. As i was preparing, i kept noticing how many times i was talking about richmond but during a very different time. When john first talk to me about this program, one of the things i decided i wanted to think about with you today was the changing role of military history in the field of civil war studies. And it actually works quite nicely with the book because i kind of have a foot in each camp, if you will with how i designed the book and wrote it that is true to my roots as a military historian. It is why i went to graduate school and why i have been doing what ive been doing for the last few decades. But it brings in other fields. And how it is sometimes difficult and this is what i wanted to think about today to benefit from so many other fields that are becoming mayor very interested in military history and civil war military history in particular while remaining true to the Core Principles and tenets of the field of military history. That is what i want to look at with you today. Hoods texas brigade is one of the bestknown units of the civil war. They fought under robber delay. They fought at some of the bestknown battles including antietam, gettysburg. They would always add to the list of the battle of gainesville gain gainesville. Contemporaries and later historians have agreed that the texas brigade was one of the most effective units of the war and yet when i does into the intory when i dove the history, i thought we knew a lot about its combat experience and its Overall Service but we did not fully understand why it was so successful on the battlefield. What made this an elite unit . I concluded it is because we lacked the full picture of these men are really of the unit as a whole. I did not think we were in thehing unit history right way. Or i doubt we could approach this unit history in a better way. Modern unit history has largely abandoned this a laboratory tone which were often written by a veteran of the unit. Very heroic tales. By the time we got to the late 20th century, these had become pretty sophisticated analyses which really did accomplish that a unit history done well is a study of democracy at work. At war. Adam nolans fire brigade is one of my favorites. He knew that she made sure that we knew of individual men in the unit and he also brought brought in the home front factor. While i was researching my book, i was inspired to buy his approach and other unit histories from the early 20th and 21st centuries like Leslie Gordon, gordon greensboro. Those works helped me ponder s texasped ree hood brigade in such an effective unit. Did the world the texans came from influence their effectiveness in war . I am talking about expanding beyond questions of wealth and class which are important and were motivations for men to serve. What i wanted to think about was how the world they came from affected not only their decision o serve but the soldiers effectiveness in combat. Able to the families sustain themselves in the absence of their men. Did they have requests for assistance . Was also wondering what made this unit able to suffer such high casualties and continue to fight . They dont get consolidated. The unit remains of effective well through 1864 despite being in some of the most heavy fighting of the war and suffering as i mentioned tremendous casualties. The texas brigade their losses are opposite the norm. It is a 21 ratio. Most of soldiers most of the soldiers died from disease. They were an incredibly hard fighting unit. How do you sustain that and remain an effective fighting force . I decided that if we are going to understand military units and their effectiveness, we have to craft the fullest picture possible of their world. I meanay their world at home and at work. To me, that is what a unit history needs to be. Not just a study of camp life and campaigns. The facta study of that the unit cannot be separated from their homes and towns. To understand the texas brigades or any units effectiveness, you have to study the unit in its fullest sense. This approach really reflects a transition we are seeing in the field of civil war military history from the last decades. Social historians, cultural historians, environmental scholars the first two decades have witnessed a significant explosion of works examining the Civil War Soldier experience in an effort to place that experience in fields that have not traditionally intersected with military history. In many ways, my work reflects that movement and has benefited from those ideas. My study really is a community study. A social historians community study. That being said, i also believe that the nuts and bolts of a military unit are just as important are absolutely essential to understanding those soldiers experiences and i want to be sure not to forget that. In my expanded definition, i never lost sight of the fact that it was a military unit. This is a unique community was very different rules and expectations from civilian or any other community. Understanding its military structure and assignments. Interaction of the officers and the men and the respect or lack of respect are a essential to understanding the success of the unit in the field. Those that is studied military science in the audience way to go, rocket scientist. [laughter] i am encouraging scholars who work and go into military theory to really master traditions of that field as well and recognize how much we can benefit from each other. When writers, for example, use a lecture from a soldier a soldier, they have to consider and understand the military context in which the letter was written. It matters not necessarily we recognize that a battle may have just happens. That is pretty straightforward. How effective is the unit . How effective is the commander . What is the relationship with the men . That kind of context is important for us to remember and study. I also want to be clear about what more thing. I am not a military historian standing on a stage yelling at a bunch of people to get off my lawn. I want that to be clear. Military history is a big tent field and it has become stronger because so many people from other fields recognize there is a value in the field. Academicunate to be an working at the university i work with eight other military historians. Fantastic, fantastic job i have but we do not work in isolation. Historiansltural that are also military historians in that group that we are benefiting from the different groups. Onn i use the word expand our definition of unit histories , i can using that purposely. Can be beneficial as long as we are remembering the context and the tenet of these and the tenets of these fields. My book. The gold with blending military history with other fields to craft a full picture of a military unit to understand its effectiveness in war and in the uneasy peace that followed. Whatl share with you today i found and you can tell me later if you think i am full of a bunch of hooey. Brigadeok at the texas do you do that . Use we . To mele things stood out as i investigated that question of what made them a celebrated and effective unit. One, they had an incredibly high devotion to the confederate nation. They believed in confederate independence. Their determination to fight for that independence from beginning to end. Number two, they had superb officers at the company and regimental level. Number three, they had a strong belief personally that they had a key role to play in the war and that role had to be played here in virginia 1000 miles from home. Number four, they had the support of their families who were both willing and able, not always do things that go together, to sacrifice and support other texas brigade families and themselves while the men were gone in the field. The four key things i want you to be thinking about as i talk to you today but i want to give you a little background on the texas brigade itself. Number one, when of the interesting things about this unit is that this is not a creation of myth and memory. The texas for was celebrated during the war dust as it is recognized as a hard fighting and very talented unit today. Robert e late admitted that he relied on that he his texas soldiers in all kinds of tight places and argued we must have more of them following the battle of antietam. When general long street reunited with ee s of army he declared they were the best fighting brigade in the war. He cheered their arrival at the battle of the wilderness. Expressed his confidence that the men would turn the tide of the battle which they did. Other confederates that i am picked and i am picking on texans because as regards him and will tell texans love texans. [laughter] smitherate Major General said in the spring of 1862 the texans won immortal honor for themselves, their state, and their commander, general hood. I could talk a week and not say half of what they deserve. Properly lead, they would end the war in three months. He confided to his wife that bests texas boys were the material on the continent without a doubt. And even the foot soldiers agreed. They were referred to as the pride and glory of the army of Northern Virginia. Now, the other background i want to give you is which units im talking about. The three core regiments are the First Quarter of the texas fifth industry. At the beginning of the work, they are joined by a georgia unit and a South Carolina legion. The georgians and the south carolinians are transferred out following the battle of antietam and transferred in was the third arkansas which will be in the texas brigade for the end of the war. When you look at those three the first texas if i had to give you a picture of what the first texas is like, they are the ones i often called the diehards. These were the volunteers that were ready to go to war in the moment the secession process started. Texas secedes and they were chomping at the bit to go. They are rushing to virginia again because that is where they are convinced they can make the difference for they even have approval from Jefferson Davis that texas troops will be able to participate in the fighting and virginia. These are your diehards. They will suffer the casualties. Of a diehard, hard fighting, aggressive unit. The other units are not too far behind. They wait for actual permission before going to virginia but the moment they have it, they are on the train and ready to go. Unit. Ly motivated when it is organized in the summer of 1861 and when they arrive in richmond that fall. Other background to help you picture these men. You can see that some of them as they were in this in these early months of 1862. If you just look at those three regiments, the texas regiments is is a sense of who volunteering, two thirds came from middleclass households. Class. To upper and about 20,000. O fairly wealthy and fairly comfortable. Moderately to well educated. Most of them are not born in texas. Centuryy 19th americans, they were with families that cap traveling west and had arrived in texas. Like most 19th century americans, they often came from firming fan firming families. In with many range lawyers and blacksmiths and other careers. The companies are unified in their disdain for Republican Party policies. About two thirds of the texas officers and one third of the private came from households that owned in slaved men, women, and children. And if you are any kind of family, evenclass if you do not own slaves coming you have access to slave labor and the status, if you will, that comes with that class. The men rarely spoke directly about slavery. Particularly early in the war. In the first year or two, you could barely find it in their letters and i looked at a lot of letters. Even when Abraham Lincoln announced the emancipation proclamation and thousands of white southerners worried about the result of that, the texans talked a bit about it but they were not particularly worried like many of their peers were and i argue it is because it did not occur to them that they would lose the war or that slavery would end in their world. They did however address the issue clearly when they ran into africanamerican troops on the battlefield. Newmarket heights is an example of this where hoods texans participated in the capturing and enslaving of black soldiers and in some cases refused to give quarter. They argued that slavery was a Legal Institution and one that had been key to the socioeconomic success that many of them had enjoyed particularly in the 1850s. They strongly resented efforts to limit the expansion of slavery or threaten it in any way. Now we have some basic background on the unit. I decided itto why was so effective in battle. The first thing i told you they had superb company and regimental level commanders which were key to the success in sustaining the men. Thates not mean though they found those commanders right away. In fact, the seconds were famous at the start of the work for rejecting officers they did not like particularly if they were appointed rather than elect it by the men. They did not even necessarily like texans. Colonel an early but he was too restricting. The most successful commanders were disciplinarians when it came to drill and making sure the men were effective in a fight but they were more relaxed when it came to other camp regulations. Disappeared for a while, they trusted they would come back and a victim was not made about it. Jpl and made a big deal about everything and the men disliked him and they made life miserable for him until he left. Was too fancy. He was appointed. Williams of the fifth texans described schaller as a man so little worthy of remark that i deem it a waste of paper and ink as well as time and trouble to make the slightest mention of him whatsoever. [laughter] and then he continues. [laughter] he is a small and very driedup specimen of human enormousnd his an mustache covers his lack of intelligence. I wish you could see him. I know you would fully agree with me in thing that he is totally unfit to occupy the position he now holds. The men teased and tormented him until he at last left in disgust. The last the texans saw of him was his backside riding out of tailon his horse with its naked and sleek as a possum. They did not just pick on him. Their judgment knew no bounds. Aey made such a mockery of major that he resigned insisting if he had to associate with devils, he would wait until he went to hell so he could select his own company. The fifth texans did eventually accept jj archer although they were always suspicious because he was a marylander which meant he was too close to yankeedon for them. They did approve of this guy. Martin howdy martin. The whole saluting thing all the time was stupid. They would salute him and he would say howdy and that is how he got his name and they love that kind of a gala terry and nature. He is clearly in control. With horses, gentle on the bed too. He knows how to control the men without being too controlling. Guy,after the war, this giles who i was just chatting with one of you about, and by the way if you have not read his memoir, it is hands down either side of the work the best written. Long after the war, giles from texas that you can hear him smiling in the writing. He was reflecting on the optimism in the texas brigade in the summer of 1863 as they marched towards pennsylvania and he said some of that good cheer was aided by the whiskey. It was chain lightning. Many aknocked out valiant soldier especially those that accepted the rations of their abstaining friends. They never figured out where hood got the whiskey but every man in the regiment was a know nothing once they got their fell. Four states in 24 hours. The man hebered too was walking with when he walked into the keystone state. He had stepped out of line to wait for captain hart captain howdy martin strolling in front of his company. With his saber thrown over his shoulder. He asked him to join him in captioning capturing the state of pennsylvania. That moment signified to him the tight bonds between the Citizen Volunteer officers in the men of the texas brigade. A key relationship to the past and future success. Arm in arm, a captain and a fourth sergeant invaded the United States. And giles insisted that such familiarity between a captain and a noncommissioned officer would appear ridiculous and the eyes of a strict disciplinarian but captain martin was a man that we all loved and could approach. And they approached him a lot when they got in trouble. Artin was a lawyer they would get sent to the guardhouse. Martin was always there and he could argue their case pretty well. And get them back into the ranks. John c upton was another officer a loved and respected. Rejected a lot of the traditional uniform. Consider for example this description from Robert Campbell of what upton looked like. An old pair wore of pants, a dilapidated pair of cavalry boots come a huge saber and looked less like an officer than many of his men. The texas cattlemen walked called late along their lines during battle yelling about the noise. And he embodied the kind of man that they would accept as a leader and a disciplinarian. They loved John Bell Hood the most and i have to thank the American Civil War museum for allowing me to use this photograph in the book. And it came from the time period when he was with those men. The texans warmed to hood immediately. When the regiment first met him , they were allr well pleased with him. He is a texan himself and a good soldier and has the appearance of a brave man and just what they want. A man that will lead them onto victories or death. Lasted fory to hood the rest of their lives. It lasted long after hoods reputation had become tarnished after atlanta, after franklin and nashville. When his brigade, when their veterans organized themselves into a veterans association, they named themselves the hood texans brigade association. Date that hadr or led them but it was hood that they loved the most. Giles has always mused whether it was hood made the texas brigade or whether the texas brigade made hood. By the way, i know i am violating the rules of powerpoint. There is way too much text on the slide but and there is always a but what i want you to notice is the number of casualties the unit suffered. Exas, 50 . Taxe manassas, 50 . The first texas at the battle of antietam jack davis was talking earlier about the number crunching that social historians do i kind of like cleometric s. I remember crunching the numbers and looking at the casualty rates. I had a graduate student working with me and said there is a big 1862 its called antietam. It does not always work that it works in other areas. Antietam, the first texas it was that diehard very aggressive unit that pushed so far into the cornfield that they are basically surrounded by federal horses. The generally accepted statistic is about 82 or 83 fatalities. If you look at the report after the war when he is writing back and forth he argues that it was closer to about 86 or 87 casualties because some men had joined the unit whose names were not on the role. If you look at the summer of 1862 during that Campaign Season even if you just look at june 27 through antietam coming your looking at getting close to 2000 men killed, wounded, and missing. Look at gettysburg. Wildernessies at the of the 811 men engaged, they suffer 565 casualties. As i was writing this book and this was one of the reasons that youd the numbers cannot sustain those kinds of casualties and remain an effective fighting force in a war. You just do not tend to do that. A unit gets consolidated or will not be effective any more. Thised to figure out how was possible. I found out a couple of things. Number one, this texas brigade had very high return rates from hospitals and capture and it had desertionlly low rates. Over one third of the army of Northern Virginia was listed as deserters between 1863 and 1864. The twain 1861 and 1865, only 6 . Reggae deserted end of that 6 , a third of them abandoned the ranks between november of 1863 and the spring of 1864 when they were away from one of the commanders they , anded most, robert e. Lee felt they were being misled, woefully undersupplied and unjustly treated. This is when first core detached from the army of Northern Virginia and went to tennessee. They were miserable without lee. Jb robertson was facing courtsmartial charged with demoralizing his men because of complaining about a lack of shelter and clothing and they were led that winter by one of the regimental commanders, a fifth texas commander. He is trying to lead the regiment at the same time he is trying to lead the entire brigade. That moment of frustration, that they were just lost in that winter of 1863, 1864 is the exception rather than the rule for the texas brigade. The rule is that very few men deserted and if they were captured or in hospital from wounds or disease, they fought to get to the home of the brigade. The unit home. It leading to his fiancee he wrote a letter to her. Saying how much that as good as it is to be home, what he wanted to do was get back to the unit. That had become his home. I remember thinking that i dont know if i would say that your fiance. But it is a powerful statement of the families and communities that developed in the war. Speaking of those homefront families. One of the other points i asked you to remember was the ability of these families to sustain themselves and each other during the war. Throughout the war, they tended to raise money to build an outfit for the texas hospital in richmond for clothing and blankets to be sent to the men. That kind of fundraising is not unusual. But their ability to sustain themselves and the brigade families was a little different. Example in the governors papers. We know from studies by amy taylor, and reuben, Stephanie Mccurry that governors offices were flooded with all sorts of complaints. 19th century americans were fabulous. It is like writing to your governor was the twitter of the 19th century. They will spout off about everything. My cow died, what will you do about it . But what is fascinating is you can really tap into the frustrations of 19th century americans by look at those papers. I started to explore texas governors papers to see how many petitions, how many complaints or requests were coming in to have a son exempted , to have a son or has been sent home which was very common in governors papers including the texas governors collections. I could not find one. It does not mean that one or two do not exist but i could not find them and we locked. I argue that these families were financially stronger, wealthier when the war began so they were probably more likely to sustain themselves with the men gone. And for the families that were not, they were able to help take care of them. The woman on the left, maud the one theybably knew and recognized the most. She did a lot of the most successful fundraising for the brigade. She was absolutely adored by the men of the fifth texas. Her brother served in the unit. They helped make she helped make their flag. Biggest fact and the biggest sacrifice she personally made she came from a wealthy family and had a lot of roots in the wealthier communities of houston but she had been widowed while pregnant with her only son. He finally turned 16 and 1864 and she sent him to go join the fifth texans in the field and you can find him showing up in 1860arly months, january, five. Personally making that sacrifice. You see this again and again in these families whether they are particularly wealthy like mod young or not. Cartwright did not come from a wealthy family. His mother was widowed. Hey made a living raising hogs he and his brother volunteered early on. An accident on the train in mississippi and the brother continues on. In 1862, another brother volunteers and again joined the texas brigade. Again andis happening again even after they start having those high casualties that i put up there. You dont have to do this if you are worried about serving on her serving and honor. They could have served closer to home. Plenty did. It was perfectly acceptable. The texasought out brigade because they argued this was where they could make the biggest difference. And they wanted to be in a unit they argued could win the war. That faith was shared among the men and among their families at home. Most ofn you see here, them come from fairly wealthy families and most of them have more than one Family Member in the unit. Mod young center son. Lucy sullivan sent a son, a nephew, a soninlaw. Brother,ne sent her her husband, a nephew. Husband. Sent her each one of them by the way left some very rich records of their experiences in the war. Their ability to sustain the families including when some of their Family Members did not come home as was the case with lucy sullivans son robert and and erskines brother and husband died. First her brother at second manassas and her husband shortly after at the bottle of antietam. At the battle of antietam. The families shared the devotion that you saw in the men and that is what im talking about when i tell you i think we need that full picture of the multiple communities that make up and sustain military units to understand their effectiveness or ineffectiveness in war. One last thing i want you to think about. It was interesting to me while writing the book. Most of the war historians will tell you that one of the frustrating parts when we are writing is that we do not want to end our book in 1865. They kept writing letters but nobody thought they were particularly important because they were about everyday things. They did not save or donate them. It is hard to trace these men when they get home. , as jack davis mentioned earlier, one of the great things about the digitization of civil war era newspaper is is that you can find them and you can find what they get home. I wanted to find out do they come home a lot of these guys were in the same company and you were and you were recruited from nearby but what are they doing . Did they stay in close contact . Were they going into business together . One of the most interesting things i found was they very much either stayed together forming businesses together or,s you can see in these ads they used their service with the texas brigade almost look you would put a degree from an Ivy League Institution on a resume. For those of you in the back come if you cannot see all of , a former d. C. Farmer captain in the fifth texas, when he opened a school in october, 1865, months after getting home, he did not advertise his education or his experience as a teacher. Highlightedy mental with a spirit of energy and reminded readers that he was of the old texas brigade from virginia. That is all you needed to know. The other one that i loved dr. Rj breckenridge, his postwar ad referenced him opening a metal practice in houston. It does not mention that he was the original surgeon of the fifth texas and that he rose to the chief medical officer. The endorsement he offers in his ad was that he was a gentleman wellknown to the old texas brigade. And this is not a newspaper for veterans of the texas brigade. This is the houston triweekly telegraph. That is how they are advertising. They are using their connections within the brigade and that endorsement of having been a soldier in the texas brigade to wage the peace that followed the war. Examplen mentioned for that other veterans of the brigade would be welcome. When two men of fifth texas along with a mutual friend opened a store in houston, the they will always be made at home in the store. The texas brigade veterans and their families sustained each other after the war just like they had during the war. Mod young and veterans of the brigade worked to take care of sick and poor veterans of the unit. It actually also truly had an effect on their security, their. Ealth in the postwar period the number crunching i mentioned likeer sometimes it is digital history. It does not always provide the answers but it tells you where you need to look a little deeper. When you crunch the numbers and compare their wealth, they lost a huge amount of wealth. One interesting thing i found was that when compared to their neighbors in the same county and 1870, in nearly two thirds of the cases, the brigade familie losses were less than those suffered by the county as a whole. I argued that this is because these men and their families stuck together and cared for each other after the word just like they had during it. Thank you very much. [applause] john once again come we of generous time for questions. About 15 minutes or so. Iker phones will be coming to you. Microphones will be coming to you. One could argue that the low desertion rate had to do with the distance from their homes. Especially when vicksburg fell. Secondly, what was the relationship with the texas units that fought in the western areas. Susannah ural great questions. On the first one, you could argue that they did not have homes to go to. Texas was too far. Except for the fact that when they did get some furlough time and they could not get across mississippi especially after the fall of vicksburg, they went to their extended families in virginia. Most of these guys had moved west to texas. They would be allowed sometimes to go and spend a couple of months healing with a Family Member in north or South Carolina and western virginia. They definitely had places to go to even a temporary desertion. They did not tend to do that. And i argue they just believe in what they are doing too much. An uglhat you see in e unit. And they are very well lead. They are not as miserable as some units. They are not going through what Leslie Gordon talks about in the broken regiment where there were huge problems with leadership and cohesion. You dont have that with the texas brigade. Tremendous losses but also pride and security and our family. I blinked on your other question. Postwar reunion. They tended to get together with other texas units in texas sometimes. Those were not their favorites. They would say we went there but we really want to get together with our own unit. It is like any elite unit getting together with other soldiers. They like them. They are great. But they are not like us kind of a thing. They very much even if they would have those other reunions, they would always work to have their own. Hello. What was the process after in these many men particular battles of getting new recruits . How did they get them from texas or where did they get them . Susannah ural that was one of the reasons why i started crunching the numbers. It was not adding up. You can find the records of a number of these guys. Williams was one of them. 1862 and 1863. They would recruit a number of men and bring them back. After the fall of vicksburg go, that was difficult and the number of new recruits was minimal. Maybe a dozen in 1864. This is what i am showing you. , andyou track the wounded this is more of the number andching, in hospitals those that were captured and then exchanged, they are very quickly making their way and you can find them reappearing on the rolls. That is how they are able to do it. They also tended to reject guys who they did not necessarily view as worthy. Some of the western units under would you accept some of these fellow texans from the west . Elite it was kind of an attitude you guys have surrendered so i dont know if i want you in our unit. If you show up in the texas brigade, it is because you specifically wanted to be there. By 1862 and 1863 and certainly by the end of second manassas. You knew what you were committed to. John im taking a moderator privilege. Unitold us about the elite and how well they performed but also about the slaveholding among them and of course their devotion to the cause which as we all know was to the preservation of slavery. Do people talk like this do you get and how do you answer if you did, that they fought for slavery . But theyormed so well did so in the interest of slavery. How do you cope with that . Is ah ural part of it i am not married to it. Tend toit is i do not write about units because i love them, because i agree with everything that they do. Invested inularly some of the characters whose letters or diaries i am interested in. Once in a while, you know that one of them will die at the battle of wilderness and you miss them. I am interested in their effectiveness. Not that they are a glorious unit. They fought for something that all of us fundamentally disagree what i was most curious about is what makes an elite unit and elite unit . How does that happen. Why were they able to suffer the casualties that they did and keep on going . The irish brigade suffered tremendous casualties but they are not able to sustain that level of strength and fighting force as long. The iron brigade suffers tremendous casualties. Because ofweakened it. My answer is that im not interested in writing the glorious book of the texas brigade. Im interested in what makes it an effective unit. Thank you for your discussion. I had a question with all of the casualties and you mentioned they were close as a unit, does that carry over into those that lost Family Members as well . You mentioned veterans. Takesteps did they take to care of those that had lost loved ones within the brigade . Susannah ural during the war they talk about these families having a hard time. Young was maude probably one of the most effective. I think that because she left the letters that make it possible for me to know that. There is a powerful story that rick kaiser mint helped me uncover where after the work they find a texas brigade veteran who is just crippled down and hardly suffering on his deathbed. She is working with some other folks i think in baltimore. Isnt it terrible when you write them about them in your book and then cannot remember. She was doing some networking. Probably the bestknown case was the association was raising money for the monument. , his wifebell hood died in the yellow fever. They took the money raising they took the money that was being raised for the monument and used it to help the children. The other things you will see them doing are the things that are not necessarily that unusual. Testifying on each others pension applications. Time for thatn and i can clarify. It is also the closeness that they maintain in terms of opening businesses together, advertising to support each others businesses, that kind of networking that they do after the war. It is everything from that kind of daytoday business to really working to take care of veterans who had fallen on hard times. This years ago. I had a fascination with joshua chamberlain. Susannah ural we all went through that and it is ok. I dont know if what i learned back then was true but im still fascinated. But i also think that Hoods Division was on that side. I am curious from your study the after reaction after that key battle at gettysburg. What about the what ifs . I am curious of your thoughts on that. Susannah ural great question. This ina piece on civil war times and looked at the guy on the farce that on the far right. Lockridge wrote home to his wife in the immediate aftermath, weeks after gettysburg, just devastated. He literally had seen one of his good friends go down who was a schoolteacher. They had just fought so hard. Im going to put in a plug for our battlefield parks. You can study this all you want. Go to these parks. Walk the ground. You will understand what they are writing about in a whole new way. I was there with my brother and a friend. Route to of the third arkansas and triangle field and devils den. Let us go the fifth texas way. And ive only done that once. Because there are boulders and trees and we were exhausted going through that route up to little round top. In their letters, as they are writing home immediately after that come you have that kind of exhaustion and frustration. They are so close. Aftert, one month lockridge wrote the letter to his wife, Felicia Lockridge to you see on the right saying, it is terrible, what will we do . One month later he is saying i dont know, we almost won that. And we took more prisoners. They so fundamentally believe in who they are and what is happening that any negative they are hearing is like that is probably some rumors. , almost not quite logical ability to bounce back like that that is one of the other factors am talking about that helps sustain a unit and keep going militarily effectively. Thank you. [applause] learn more about the people the civil that shaped war and reconstruction every saturday at 6 00 p. M. Eastern only on American History tv here on cspan3. This is American History tv on cspan3. Each week and we feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nations past. Changed sincehas cspan began 41 years ago that our Mission Continues to provide an unfiltered view of government. We have brought you primary election coverage, the president ial impeachment process and now the federal response to the coronavirus. You can watch all of cspans Public Affairs programming. You can be part of the national conversations. Or through our social media scene. Cspan created by private industry. Americas Cable Television company as a Public Service and brought to you by your television provider. Tonight on lectures in history, Stony Brook University professor nancy toms teaches a class about the 1918 influenza pandemic and Public Information efforts in the United States to stop the spread of the disease. Here is a preview. All of the stuff i was looking at, and by the way, there are no antibiotics, and few vaccines in this time period, the way you kept from getting sick was by practicing these habits. Say theit is easier to phrase social distancing measures. If you go online or read in the newspaper, they are talking about that all the time now. When they tell us not to shake hands or to sneeze into your elbow, that is social distancing methods. Exactly the same stuff they were telling americans to do at the turn of the last century. Why is this important . Even though we have made astounding improvements in the health sciences, we still cannot cure a virus. Limited medications to this day to slow down a viral infection. When we are faced with a novel using these tactics is one of the most important ways we have to keep people from getting sick and dying. Have a highly contagious epidemic on your hands come your best bet is to try to slow its spread and these techniques are very valuable. That was a lesson Public Health experts learned in world war i that we still use today. About the Public Information campaign concerning the 1918 influenza epidemic tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on American History tv. Tv,his weekend on book tonight at 8 30 p. M. Eastern, in her book recollections of my nonexistence author rebecca recounts her journey to becoming a writer and feminist. I remember realizing at a certain point why was i not political when i was young and i realized that to be political, you have to have something in common with other people and then you have power. I started with none of those things and then ended up with plenty of both. Sunday at 9 00, Eileen Zimmerman looks at whitecollar drug addiction. Someone struggling with an addiction was also struggling with leak conditions and their inwith bleak conditions their life. Living one someone the side of the road. I was very wrong. Although addiction hits hard in those communities, there are also plenty of people at the top of the socioeconomic ladder struggling as well. Watch with tv this weekend on cspan2. Researchsmithsonian associate had the ewing talks about james smithson, the founding donor of the smithsonian institution. She describes how his enlightened ideas and desire for Public Access to scientific miss ewing is the author of the lost world of james smithson. This event was hosted by the Maryland Historical society. Lecture,for tonights exploring the world of james smithson, it is being presented by heather ewing. Heather ewing is a graduate of Yell University and the institute of art in london. She is currently a Research Associate of the smithsonian where she once worked as an architectural historian and is the author of anothe a number of books on the architecture and history of the institution. 018, she was the executive director for the center of italian modern art in new york and has worked as well for the john and mabel museum of art