Im alice baumgartner. Im an assistant professor of history at the university of southern california. And this is my first inperson conference in since the pandemic and after two years where giving a conference paper was basically sitting alone in my apartment justiculating at my laptop. Its really wonderful to i guess be able to justiculate in person to you guys today. So just wanted to give a big thank you to the organization of american historians for putting together this conference and for accommodating all of the different varieties in which people chose to participate even though i know that came at some great logistical challenges. I also want to think Raylan Barnes who unfortunately cant be here today. But who is really the one responsible for bringing us all together today . She originally conceived of the round table as one that would be focused on the civil war in the west. But ultimately last year around february decided to focus it on 1862. This is the year when the Republ
Peter good afternoon. I am the director of the institute. It is my pleasure to invite aaron sheehandean, the professor of southern studies at lsu. He is professor of southern history as well as civil war and published a number of scholarly works, including a monograph on a book published by the university of virginia. He has done a number of things as well as the editor with myself for civil war america which is published by unc. Aaron came to cwi in 2013. This is your third year at lsu. We will have to note if theres a change in his accent. Do you have a cajun accent now . He is shaking his head no. He will speak on the war in 1865. Welcome aaron sheehandean. [applause] aaron thank you, pete. I have not developed an accent. The giveaway is i talk too fast. People know that i am a yankee. My students in particular i will do my best to speak slowly. I do cook jambalaya. Native in that regard of the food of baton rouge. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to start things off. I
Mistakes in that film can be attributed to that book. [laughter] hes also produced bedford books has a wonderful series of historical documents, and he is the editor of the documents for the emancipation proclamation. If you are a history teacher, make sure you assign it. He is now working on two different books, one about citizenship which he originally worked on, but he is now more focused on a book about, when did the civil war really and . It didnt really end with appomattox, which is the mythology. Part of the talk today is dealing with that. It is my pleasure to introduce michael. Please give him a warm welcome. [applause] prof. Vorenberg thank you. That was very nice. Dimension of the collection of the emancipation proclamation and a series in which it appears some of the bedford book series, is a wonderful series. I can say i was inspired in part and can and should be bit to brooks own book. Can contribute it to brooks own book. I appreciate appearing at the u. S. Capital histo
And in pennsylvania, he was known as a civil war scholar. His first book is about crime and punishment in the 19th century south. Life afterk, reconstruction, was a finalist for the pulitzer prize. That makes him the ideal speaker to set the stage or the symposium, with his talk on reckoning with reconstruction, on its sesquicentennial. Ladies and government, let me introduce ed ayers. [applause] ed good morning everybody. Great to see you. I will be honest, i came in from california, two weeks, which is just long enough to become acclimated with the west coast. I am ignoring the fact that i got in at 2 30. That is muchow much i care about you. People know some things about reconstruction, many of them are partially true. I found that many audiences, even those who come to a talk on some facet of the American Civil War as well as those who are freshmen in college, readily admit they do not have the full story of reconstruction fully nailed. Here is what i think the common stock of know
Okay . So lets just go back and look one way to look at this is to look at the maps that i hate which are just Electoral College which suggest that we live in red or blue states, you know, that we are a certain kind of people. Actually you see, this is a more accurate, you see this has west virginia. It may be that we dont have county level data, okay. Are you less confused . Right . What you did is called our attention to the fact there are brand new states that are just voting for the first time which is another advantage the republicans have. All of these situations actually play to the advantage of the republicans, that they have not only the army but also new states that have been formed under the aegis. Okay . Anybody else have another question . Yes. Theres one on each side. Dr. Ayers, writing a book about the shenendoah valley and activities there, will you address in that book or today the importance of david hunters actions at the battle of piedmont 5 june, his subsequent mov