Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Civil War 1863 Richmond Bread Riots 20240712

Wrote it. Because today, we can definitely go to the stores and not be able to find everything we want to, such as Hand Sanitizer or toilet paper or pasta. And this was one of the big problems that provoked the bread riot, were shortages in the market. So well be talking about that tonight. And what i want to do at the beginning of the talk is kind of set the stage for the bread riot , give you an idea for the conditions under which it could occur. Then i will talk about the riot itself, and then ill end with the aftermath of the riot. I have a slight up here of robert keene. He wrote some insightful things in the days leading up to the bread riots. I want to share something from his diary. On march 7, this is what he said. He was an official in the War Department. He said, flour in the city is 30, but butchers are closing their stalls. Meat, 1. 25 per pound. Farmers are making preparation. Then he went on to say, they resent the secretary scheduled prices, which are often 50 below the market or neighborhood price. And this price schedule he is talking about i will go into a little more detail but basically it was the government setting prices that farmers had to abide by when they sold goods to the army. So the farmers resent these prices. The impressment of flour, corn, and meet as soon as they are brought to towns is causing a universal withholding of surplus. The army will be starved and famine will ensue in the cities unless the secretary changes his policy and buys in the market for the best price. Concluded, there is a manifest uneasiness in the public mind, different from anything i have noticed heretofor. Now, by 1863, the war had done change the structure of the south, the socioeconomic structure of the south. During this time period, women were supposed to be subservient to men. Womens domain was the hearth and home. They were supposed to be the Spiritual Center of the home. They were supposed to basically take care of their family and their husband, attend church. But they were not the breadwinners. They were not supposed to be out in the public sphere. They were not supposed to participate in the political process. But as the war occurs, you have men leaving homes, leaving behind businesses and farms, and so women really come into this new role of managing business and going out and earning money. So their status changed as a result of the war. And another thing that happened as a result of the war is the disparity that existed between the upper and the lower classes becomes more and more obvious. Before the war, you had the wealthy, the upperclass people, seeing it as their duty to care for the poor, to be benefactors, to clothe them and feed them. With the coming of war, the upperclass focus and the middle class focus is on, how do we support our troops . How do we support the soldiers in the field . So there is this shift so there is not people looking out for the poor and taking care of them. And then theres this also, because of the extreme shortages that occur, they hit these people in the poor and the working classes the hardest. So if you look at the memoirs of the women who wrote during the or upper, upperclass middleclass women, theyre certainly lamenting the shortages of luxury items. But at the same time, you have poor people who cant even put food on the table. And as i was reading over this talk, i was struck by the similarities to today. I had a friend do a post on facebook saying she was going through a feed. She was noticing people complaining about how much longer it takes things to get from amazon, the slow food delivery, and not being able to go out to dinner. And people were talking about , you know, theyre doing household projects. So you have people who are middleclass, uppermiddleclass certainly complaining about the changes that covid19 has brought. But there are people out there who are wondering how theyre going to put food on the table and how theyre going to pay their rent. So i think there are some similarities that we can find in this circumstance. Now, another thing that happens is congress produces some legislation that is quite unpopular. In fact, in april of 1862, they past the first conscription act in American History, the draft. And this calls for men between the ages of 18 and 35 to be drafted. And then in september, there was a second act that raised that age to 45. But there were some exemptions to this act and some provisions. And one of those is that men, if they had the money, could purchase a substitute. And there are accounts of some substitutes being paid as much as 4000. So this really gives credence to that cry, a rich mans war and a poor mans fight. There are also some exemptions to the draft. Some people that are considered essential workers. National and state officers, railroad workers, druggists, professors, teachers, miners, ministers, pilots, nurses, iron furnace and iron foundry workers. All those people were exempted. As you are thinking about that list of exemptions, there is one other set of essential workers that are not exempted, and these are the farmers. Farmers are essential to grow those crops, to feed the army, and to feed people on the home front. But they were not exempted from the draft. There was an act that was passed, the 20 negro act. Thats what it was called. It exempted overseers of 20 or more slaves, or enslaved people. So this is, yet again, something that appears to be and is geared toward benefiting the upper class. Because only about 12 of the population owned 20 or more people, enslaved 20 or more people. So this created a great deal of unrest. And then at the same time, the confederate government begins or continues to print and print more money. That money is not backed by anything other than the of other than the hope of future cotton sales. That means as more money floods the economy, that money becomes useless. The value of the dollar declines. And it declines along with shortages increasing due to the blockade and due to farmlands being ravaged. Richmonds population in at the beginning of the war was just under 38,000. And we dont know exactly what the population was by 1863, but jb jones, who was another employee in the War Department, wrote there was 100,000 people in the city. This certainly seems believable. Richmond was overflowing with refugees, with government employees, with soldiers and prisoners of war, men in hospitals. So it very likely could have had a population of 100,000 by this point. And between october of 1861 and 624, march of 18 624, for 31 months straight, the price index rose by 10 each month. So every month, the price was compounded by 10 . Wages did not keep up with the prices. Robert keene wrote in his diary, i recently made a rough calculation to compare the present currency with a sound one in the matter of my household expenses. The result is that my salary of 3000 will go about as far as 700 would in 1860. The daily dispatch in talking about the increase in prices blamed the problem on speculators. And you do find a lot of this, not only in the press, but in the memoirs of the day. And they showed that in 1860, a bill of a Grocery Store family cost fix . 55 a week. Week, but by a 1863, it was 68. 25. Just think about this. This at a time when a woman serving as a war matron in a hospital was making 35 a month. And groceries for a week are close to 70. So its no wonder that children were being put to work. Young girls began working in the Confederate States laboratory on Browns Island. The Confederate States laboratory employed around 300 women and girls. According to one of the richmond newspapers, young girls between the ages of nine and 12 were rolling 1200 cartridges a day. They were being paid between 1. 50 a day and 2. 40 a day. So certainly that is not going to be enough to support a family. But with children in the workforce and women in the workforce, the intent was to make ends meet. In the lead up to the bread riot, i think this is one of the things that definitely increased tensions in the city, in addition to the legislation and the shortages. There is an explosion on Browns Island at the Confederate States laboratory. And in this explosion, there are missed my slide there. There are about 45 women and children, a few men, who were killed, and about another 20 who were injured. So this was a catastrophe that really hits home among the working class. And then, following this, is on, themes set confederate secretary of war, introduced his price schedule. And this price schedule was in response to an act that had been passed by congress to regulate impressment. Impressment of porridge, so food for animals, crops, and also property. By property, what theyre talking about is enslaved people, because the army impressed enslaved people to build dig trenches, build fortifications, work for the army. Theseet a price for various commodities. It is something farmers were not happy about. So some farmers boycotted and refused to bring goods into the city because they knew when they did that, the army would seize their goods and they would only pay what was in setons price schedule. In addition to this, there was a new act that required merchants to get a passport in order to enter the city. So this was just one more bit of red tape. And then finally, Mother Nature conspired. This winter of 1863 and 1864 was a harsh winter. Over half the days in february and march, there was either snow or rain. And on march 19, there was a tremendous snowfall of nine inches. And then the next day, there was another inch and a half added to that. And then all of a sudden on march 22, as so often the weather does in the spring in this area, you have this complete change. Its a bright, warm, sunny day, and that produced a rapid thaw. Keene reported, high water and deep mud would be the consequences. Even those farmers who were willing to get passports, who were willing to risk the chance of their crops being confiscated by the army, even those farmers who wanted to bring crops into the market, they werent able to do that. Now, one thing i found very frustrating as i was researching this talk is that robert keene does this amazing job of setting the stage for the bread riots. And then, of all things, he is silent from april 2 to april 6. And when he begins writing again , he does not talk about the bread riot. Fortunately, there were other people that did mention what was going on. And one of those was jb jones, who was a war clerk. On april 2, which is the day of the riots, he reported, this morning, early, a few hundred women and boys met by concert in the capital square, saying they were hungry and must have food. The number continued to swell until there were more than a thousand, but few men were among them, and these were mostly Foreign Residents with exemptions in their pockets. So there is a poke at the exemption law. Jones was correct in his assessment that the meeting had been prearranged. One of the leaders of the bread riot was a woman named mary jackson. And she was a 34yearold huckster, or seller, in the market. She had been in the market for seven years. She had a husband who was a painter. He was a little bit younger than she was. Together they had four children. One of them was a son who was in the army. In fact, mary jackson had made herself well known by continually going to the War Department and seeking a discharge for her son. But mary jackson spread word the day before. She was talking up this riot that was going to take place. Riot, but a protest that was going to take place. Mary jackson was described by the richmond examiner as a good specimen of a 40yearold amazon, with the eye of a devil. Another paper said she had a vixenish eye. And i will talk a little bit more about the portrayal of women in the bread riot as we go on. But mary jackson arranged for women of the town to meet in Belvedere Hill Baptist Church in oregon hill, which is a working class neighborhood. And at this meeting, they decided that they would go with a body to the Provision Stores and demand goods at government prices. So that was their goal. They wanted to be able to go to the market and pay the same price that the army was paying for the goods that it purchased for the soldiers. Maam, its kind of an now, its kind of interesting about this meeting that took place in the church because, immediately after the riot, the pastor of the church paid for an announcement in the paper that said, so far as known to this church, not one of the members knew about the meeting being held in our meeting house. So the pastor was very quickly to distance himself from this discontent. But this crowd of women decided together at the capitol. So, they went to Capitol Square plan was and their to seek out governor fletcher. So they went to the governors mansion. They were told fletcher had actually gone over to the capitol to begin his days work. And the woman who kind of led the delegation approaching the staff at the Governors Office rs. Johnson. And she also is described in an unflattering way, a toothless old woman. But she spoke to colonel bassett, who was on fletchers staff, and said that they wanted bread and bread they would have or die. And french said, you are not proceeding in the right way to get bread. And so the governor is already gone, but because this is a very big crowd and a noisy crowd, the governor, governor john leger, did eventually come out and speak to the crowd. What he told them is, i dont have the authority to make farmers sell you goods at the government prices. I cant do that. Definitely not what these ladies wanted to hear. So they left the Capitol Square. And according to jb jones, about 9 00 a. M. , the mob emerged from the western gates of the square and proceeded down 9th street, passing the War Department, crossing main street, increasing in magnitude at every step. By preserving silence and, so far, good order. Had this gathering of over 300 women come from . We are going to take a look here at our map of richmond with the capital the center. These women came from all over. You had women coming from what was the west end of the city at the time, from oregon hill and penitentiary bottom and sydney, and also up at sheep hill. And then from the east side of the city, you have them coming from rockets landing and fort mayo. There were also women that came from the outlying counties, so obviously this is something that was planned. This is something that had advance word, and people stopped what they were doing so that they could gather. Now, this riot was not without precedent. In atlanta, georgia, there had been a riot in march. Also in march were riots at salisbury, high point, and raleigh, north carolina. There was one in mobile, alabama. Thats what this illustration is of. And then on april 1, just a day before the bread riot, there was one in petersburg. Jones said, not knowing the meaning of such a procession, i asked a pale boy where they were going. A young woman, seemingly emaciated, but yet with a smile, answered that they were going to find something to eat. I could not, for the life of me, refrain from expressing the hope that they might be successful, and i remarked they were going in the right direction to find plenty in the hands of the extortioner. So jones is a bit sympathetic towards these workers. So the women left the capitol. They headed down main street and then another group headed down perry street. Targets were the shaco slipin the area, places like pollard and son, and tyler and son, and also the government commissary was one of the targets. The riot begins with around a little over 300 women. Some accounts put it over a thousand people, mainly women, but some men involved as well. But these people did a great deal of damage. Tyler and son lost over 6,000. Tj hicks lost 3500. And i should note that tj hicks was a jewish businessman. And in some of the writings, you do see that there is a great deal of antisemitism, and the people are often equating the speculators with jewish jewish businessmen. One interesting incident that i came across as i was researching for this talk was in the testimony following the riots. They did have trials of the s. Iters the rioter in the story of james knotts, he said he instructed someone to throw a box of needles out the window, hoping, he said, that it would appease the mob until the officers could come up. When i read that statement, i thought, thats just strange. Why would you think in the middle of the riot, people would stop to pick up pins and needles . I just thought, thats odd. And then a few days later, i was reading in jb jones diary, and on april 17 he said, pins are so scarce and costly, it is a pretty general practice to stoop down and pick up any found in the street. That gave me pause. Here we have this going on twice, these references to pins and needles. So i asked our Collections Department if we had anything. And we actually had two different items, or sets of items. We have these brass pins. They are looking a little tarnished because they were in a blockade runner, the georgianna that sank off the coast of south carolina. But the note with them, the donor said brass pins were unavailable in the confederacy. Prizedd pins were a commodity in the south. These needles, even more interesting, because the donor of them, catherine stiles, wrote this nice little note. Needles that were left as a supply from buying from the women in halverson county, georgia in 1864 and 1855. Never going out on horseback without a few to use as money or give when absolutely needed. So this is something of so, this is something of value. I just found that an interesting aside. The riot how does this riot end . Well, because of the noise, mayor mayo did read the riot act on scene. Jefferson davis appeared on the scene, as well as governor lecher. All three of these men tried to put down the riot. What was effective in ending the riot was the arrival of the public guard, which was commanded by lieutenant edward scott gray. And he had about 20 men with him. They went down main street in pursuit of the rioters. The crowd was ordered to disperse or they would be fired upon. We dont know who that someone is. 25 years after the riot, the richmond dispatch held a paper debate about who put down the riot. And they asked the question, was it governor letcher or was it Jefferson Davis or was it mayor mayo . There were very few votes for mayo, giving the order to fire. Five of them give the governor a prominent role in putting down the riot, and four of them have letcher issuing the fiveminute warning, disperse or you will be fired upon in five minutes. Jefferson davis figures in eight accounts, and only two of them have him as showing the order to fire upon the crowd if they didnt disperse. So this is quite a fascinating thing. 25 years after the bread riot, the richmond dispatch was asking this question, inviting people to write in. And you have people swearing they were standing right next to Jefferson Davis when he gave the order. You have another set of people swearing they were right by governor letcher when he gave the order. So the editor finally had to conclude that to reconcile the different accounts seems impossible, but the governor of virginia, the mayor of the city, and several state functionaries took part in the suppression of the rights seems certain, and it may be assumed, therefore, it was one of some consequence. So, thats the conclusion they came to. You most often today find, in a ccounts of the bread riot, it was Jefferson Davis who gave the order. Its primarily because they are relying on verena daviss memoir. She left an account in her memoir of Jefferson Davis, and talked about how he received word in his office that there was a serious disturbance, that the mayor was there, that the governor was there. State forces had been called out. So he hurried down to main street. And she paints this wonderful picture of Jefferson Davis hopping up on an overturned gray and addressing the crowd. And he says to them, you say you are hungry and have no money. Here is all i have. It is not much, but take it. And with that, he emptied his pockets of the change, threw them into the crowd, took out his watch, and said, we have no desire to hurt anyone, but this lawlessness must stop. I will give you five minutes and then you will be fired upon. That is the account in history, but there is debate about that. Most of the accounts mentioned it was the public guard that was called out. This was formed by james monroe after the planned revolt in 1800. Verena says the guard that appeared was the confederate armory guard, and there was such a guard. It was the first armory battalion, also known as the ordinance battalion. That does beg the question, is it possible that davis ordered one guard to fire and the governor ordered the public guard . Who knows . That will most likely remain a mystery. Now, although it was an event of some consequence, the riot was relatively short, starts about 9 00, over by 11 00. Mary jackson, who had orchestrated that meeting, the huckster, she was arrested around noon at broad and 1st street. There were 44 women and 29 men who were arrested. And 12 women were convicted. And Michael Chesson, an historian whose brother, an authority on the bread riots, makes a convincing argument that the charges that were brought against old, for lack of a better word, ugly women were the charges that stuck. So, women who were elderly, who were past their prime, even if they were widowed, even if they had sons in the army, those were the women that were convicted. Whereas the young, welldressed, attractive women somehow managed to get off. And so you have these descriptions of mary johnson, who is a toothless old woman. She was actually the only woman indicted for a felony. She was sentenced to five years in the Virginia State penitentiary. There were also four men who were convicted of felonies for their role in the riots. Afriend of mary jackson and butchers apprentice also ended up being convicted of robbing a wagonload of beef. She was 40 years old. She was six foot tall, broad boned, and muscular, so not falling into that attractive category. She was fined 1000 and sentenced to six months in prison, but the sentence was commuted because she had a tumor on her neck and her doctor advised that she be released. Mary jackson, we do know that she was denied bail, and that the last record that Michael Chesson found of her is the november 1863 sentinel reported that she was going to be tried for a misdemeanor, but because of the evacuation fire, the Court Records were burned. So we dont really know what became of mary jackson. Public officials, the press, and welltodo citizens blamed the riot on undesirable elements. This is an image from harpers weekly, a northern newspaper. But very often what you come across are very negative descriptions of the riots. The richmond examiner declared the riot has been perpetuated by a handful of prostitutes, professional thieves, irish, and yankee hags, gallows birds from all lands but our own. So, foreigners, outsiders, unionists. The people who committed this riot werent needy. They were just greedy. Sally putnam, who wrote her memoir in 1857, said they were a combination of dutch, irish, and free negroes. And that, i think, is the only reference i found to africanamerican people being involved in the riots. But she definitely points out they were free. There was this attempt to portray these people in a very negative way, and to say they are not confederates. There is no way that loyal confederate women would do this. And theres this denial that need exists. Actually, it was the working poor who were involved in the riot. These were people who did not own substantial property. They were not, for the most part, slaveholders. Theyre just your working class and poor people who are struggling to participate in the who participated in the riots. Mayor mayo said there is no reason why there should have been any suffering among the poor of this city. More money has been appropriated than has been applied for. But the riot yesterday was not for bread. Boots are not bread. Brooms are not bread. Mens hats are not bread. And ive never heard of anyone eating them. So, the confederates very much attempted to downplay the seriousness of the riot. They wanted it and they wanted to keep word of the riot from leaking out. They did not want northerners to hear about it. So, secretary of war stettin issued an order suppressing news of the riot going out over the wire. The richmond examiner did not comply. They were very antidavis, but it makes sense that paper did not comply. The others did, initially, but as soon as the trial for the rioters began, they began printing the court testimony, so word definitely got out. There were prisoners being exchanged who talked about the riots as well. Even though the confederates tried to say this riot was just greedy people from the north, people who are outsiders, people who are not us, they had to actually recognize that there was a need. And so you see, after this, the Richmond City Council Creating a free market and a fuel depot. And they handed out tickets to people that were deemed deserving poor. So, they closely examined and felt like if you were working or trying to find a job, you might be worthy of some of these tickets. But there was a process for that, and the Confederate Congress did follow up by passing one more exemption act on may 1. They decided that individuals who were deprived of white or slave labor, indispensable to the production of grain or provision. In other words, men and agricultural areas providing these systems could be exempted. Partially as a result of these actions, more effort to provide for the needy and the exemption for certain farmers, this kind of goes a ways in preventing another riot because there is not another bread riot in richmond. And also, its kind of a twohanded approach. They needed other bit of help, but they also put cannon on main street between 14th and 15th street. Farmers market, one of those is on 17th street. So, there was this attempt to show for it, and then at the same time, provide a little bit of assistance. As a result of this, there is not another bread riot in richmond. But problems remain. Shortages continue to increase, and so does inflation. By the end of the war, the confederate dollar was only worth about a penny and a half. Alright, so, thats the bread riots. So what im going to do now, hopefully i can have a look at our wonderful chat box, and i think it has filled up. So, let me see what i got here, as far as questions go, and i will try to answer them as i see them here. Lets see. Scrolling here. I would much rather be doing this live and hear your voices. Alright, lets see. So, someone said, did Elizabeth Van lu or any of her family members participate in the bread riot . Great question, and no, neither she nor her family members participated. And again, this is something you see the working class, the poor people. Elizabeth, although she was a unionist, was definitely not in need. Lets see. In the pricing schedules, where they to prevent price gouging or were they left to ensure that the army had goods . And it was not well, i guess on some level, it might be price gouging prevent price gouging, because the army needed goods for the soldiers and they felt like they should not be able to pay a fair price. So, perhaps because there had been some prices that were a little too high, thats why these price schedules were put in place. So, part of it could have been because of the price gouging, but its also the need to be able to supply the army, so the government felt like they had established a fair rate. But that rate didnt really keep up with inflation. So, it wasnt fair. Or at least the farmers didnt perceive it as fair because it certainly wasnt equaling prices that were in the market. I hope that kind of makes sense. And thats a good question. I have somebody who said, was the jewish merchant believed by the rioters to be one of the speculators . I cant say the name has come up. Not being a native richmonder, i dont know how long they have been in business. Maybe someone does. But his name does not come up in anything that ive read, or the name has not come up in anything ive read about the riots. And this is a good question here about the fact that some richmond residents had farms outside the city, and were they able to bring goods from those farms into richmond for their own personal use . And they were. Of course, you needed to get a passport to come into the city, but not only do you have people who own farms getting produce from outside the city, but you have wealthy people like mary chestnut getting produce from farms outside the city, or constance kerry, both of these women write about feasts that they got from farms. That was a way to do that. If you had a farm or relatives who had a farm or knew someone, you could get your own produce that way. So, were women reading accounts of the bread riots in newspapers and did participation cross class lines . Certainly, women, men, people were reading of other bread riots, either in newspapers or maybe in letters from families, so people were aware of these previous bread riots, and it does seem to be kind of a wave that builds. You hear of rioting and other places decide its a good idea. But as far as crossing class lines, no. It was primarily your workingclass and needy people who participated in the bread riots. I think there were a few examples of people who may have kind of gotten caught up in the events of the day. I remember reading about a doctor, or a surgeon, who ended up being arrested and accused of participating in the riots. Of course, he denied being involved. So, i think there were things that happened along those lines, but its pretty much the people who are suffering the most who are rioting. And is there a list of those charged, whether or not convicted, available . Many public records were destroyed in the fire when richmond fell. Lets see, im trying to see the rest of that question. The note, the information that i have found, have been the richmond newspapers. There are accounts of the trials of the rioters. You get a lot of names and descriptions of what happened from those. But as far as there being an organized, specific list of rioters and their convictions, there is nothing like that that i know of. There is also a request to make my notes available. And i will say that one of my main sources ill put out a plug here for mike gormans website, civil war richmond, he has excellent newspaper accounts on his website about the richmond bread riots. I also used Michael Chessons a new look at the richmond bread riot, that was published in 1984. Then catherine titus, who wrote an article, the richmond bread riot of 1863 class, race, and gender in the urban confederacy. Gettysburgr the College Journal of the civil war , fromolume 2, article 6 2011. And that is online, so you can actually pull up her article. And then, as i mentioned, mike gormans civil war richmond has excellent newspaper accounts of the bread riots. I also drew from jb jones diary of a confederate war clerk, and robert garlic keen, his published memoir, or diary. Wow, ok, were still getting a few messages. Curious about light these riots why these riots lets see. Im having trouble scrolling, so lets see here. Alright. Sorry about the pause. Curious to know why the riots occurred across the confederacy in 1863, but didnt reappear after that when things got materially worse. Whats up with the timing . Thats a good question, and its one i dont really feel like ive fully answered or have read a good answer for, but the confederate response was minimal. It was not enough to alleviate the problem. They only got worse. Althought of force, could have done something to stymie them, that too doesnt seem like its as much as you might need. So, i dont really have a great answer for that, because you would think there would have been continued riots. I dont know if it was just the people gave up, realized it wasnt an effective way, or they felt like they got enough from the government, or as much as they were going to get. And then i have a question about after the current pandemic is over, will the acwm continue to host these virtual history happy hour meetings . And this is from someone in maryland. So, yeah, thats a good question. I will say that as i was thinking about this tonight, and as we were planning and kind of spreading out richmond and appomattox, it did make me aware of how much we can do if we do things virtually. So hopefully well find a way to do more virtual programs. We are certainly being thrust into the new virtual realm and learning it and trying to get the hang of it. But i think its an excellent idea, and i think well definitely be thinking about how we can do more virtual programming, or at least make our programs available. Alright, lets see here. I think lets see. I think that was all for the questions, so thank you all so much for joining me tonight. I hope everyone has had a great evening and continues to stay safe. And social distance, wash your hands, do all that good stuff. And also, continue to go to our website, hcwn. Org, to check out the great resources we have, parents at home trying to teach their children. So, thank you all. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend, featuring museum tours, archival films, college lectures, and discussions on the presidency, the civil war, and more. You can watch these on cspan. Org history. Here is a quick look at one of our programs. Week, American History tvs reel america shows archival films that provide context for todays issues. The farewells were everywhere. Farms. The shadowy on the tracks. The lavish apartments. The uptown flats. Shrubbed estates estates. The modest houses of the suburban streets. Everywhere the men were borrowed were taken for keeps. The youngest, the cleanest, the best. Man went into battle in his own way, through his own job. Than half of them saw combat service. Notall percentage of these, nearly as many as you may imagine, were in the front lines in range of the enemy. [explosions] for anyone in this latter group, a very special experience, he was at any moment expendable. Him, the baseball parks were full of exciting rallies. Parties werebeach not as pleasant as they had been a few summers before. In him, the rivers ran high the boating was not so good. Decks weree flight not as wide as the fields of texas. Ar the rest, there were thousandodd military jobs, each dependent on the other, each vital to the winning of the war, each made memorable by the fact that it represented the protection of the lives and security of all of us. But whether in combat or not, whether a machine gun 300 yards from the enemy or a switchboard 300 miles from the enemy, the serviceman learned about war. He knew of the loneliness of it. He knew the unending boredom of it. He knew the mud of it. The dust of it. He knew the food of it. He knew the coffee of it. Whether in the heat of the equator or the cold of the arctic, through it all, he worked and waited and suffered and endured. Until one day, he heard the bells of peace. Turn his back on the darkened batter filled battlefields and raised his arms to the bright and new future. Brief look at one of our many programs available in its entirety on our website, at cspan. Org history. American history tv, exploring our nations past every weekend on cspan3. American history tv on cspan3. Exploring the people that tell the american story every weekend. Up this weekend, sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern, for films profiling the auto, dairy, restaurant and Airline Industry negatively expect it today. And on the presidency, the nixon administrations native american reform. Indian lands. N of explore in the American History tv this weekend on cspan3. This is American History tv on cspan3. For each weekend we feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nations past. Next, on lectures in history. Professor brandon little teaches a class about the u. S. Military in the 1890s. He covers reforms designed to make the officer corps more professional, a new focus on sea power and an International Incident with chile. This class was taught online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Weaver state provided the video. State provided