In 1861. It started in these refugee camps. Im going to start with two stories. The first one might be familiar. The story of how the contraband decision got handed down. It happened Important Role virginia. Baker,ownsend, James Shepherd mallory get a boat where the union just arrived. There are confederates all around and these gentlemen had been building confederate fortifications for their master. They knew they were about to go to North Carolina and would be leaving their families and they decided to chance it. Next morning, a confederate soldier comes under flag of truce and says, please return the slaves. Were rebels really entitled . Werent they foreign country . You say you are a foreign country. Said, im confiscating these three men as contraband property of war. He even gave the confederate soldier a receipt. This spreads incredibly quickly. It is an in between status. Property likee of smuggled goods but you are a person. But whatever the ambiguities of contraband, it defini
Let me go ahead and introduce our panelists. To my far right, david, who teaches a range of courses on civil war and southern history, reconstruction and civil war. This first book is an excellent moment of despair, suicide, divorce, and debt in civil war era North Carolina. Next to david is james brumar. He recently assumed the directorship of shepherd universitys george tyler center for the study of civil war. Shepherd university, as many of you know, is just across the potomac river, and, of course, just in West Virginia. He also is an assistant professor of history in the University History department. Hes published a number of articles. Hes done field studies for the National Parks service and hes just on the cusp of submitting his first book manuscript for publication at the university of North Carolina press. Next to him is james Jason Phillips. The professor of civil war studies at West Virginia university. His first book published by the university of Georgia Press entitled di
Conference. Jim was one of the organizers of that event. Questions asked answered questions from a young journalism professor there. Most easily one of the patient question answers ive ever met in all my years. Patientsaciousness and many years ago made a profound i was on me because Getting Started with writing research about civil rights history so ioa great deal of personal gratitude to jim. It is exciting to have him come up. During his tenure at the park service, he worked here at fredericksburg. Has been with the park Service Since 1982. In 1988, he landed at chickamauga. 400 given more than lectures, talked to countless young historians. He has spent many years tutoring of civilng generations war buffs. But very few of us working in the field not anyone who has made a greater impact on the study us of a war history as jim. It is my pleasure to introduce to you in man who is truly a ogden. Jim [applause] thank you, chris, and i think im going to have to start off by getting out o
They are returning to tables that had empty chairs around them throughout the war and now will be permanently empty, because many thousands of those men will not return back to their families. They are dealing with scenes like this, largescale property destruction, destroyed by battlefield engagements or by the destruction of military installations. The march to the sea, this particular image of richmond being destroyed as the union army marched in in a grand victorious manner. The smoldering ruins, if you will, left all across the south. We talked a little bit before about the crisis in faith that southern veterans had, that they had prayed to god in many ways for that speedy and big victory and now are returning home as defeated men, as losers, if you will. There are many ways sort of embodying if you will rem, sitting in the corner losing their religion because god had turned away from them. Some came home completely disillusioned, angry, frustrated. One veteran, though, remained so
In the United States army and traveling home. Going away. Going back to where you came from. John julie was one of the soldiers who did not surrender. He went with the confederate government when Jefferson Davis evacuated richmond and headed west. Along the way, as he escaped into the carolinas, he was seeing a lot of signs the war was coming to a horrific conclusion. , abandonedong fences muskets of struggling soldiers. Some were broken, that other barrels of others, bent, and choked with mud. The cartridges landsat confusion along the road. Heart seemed slow, for here lies unmistakable evidence of a set of determination. A shameless indifference as to whether the world knows it or not. Professor miller the lecture today will examine particularly the transition that confederate veterans will go through as they go from soldier back to civilian. We will look at a few particular things. The hardships they pay they faced. The limited assistance they found, particularly as they were dealin