This mornings line up. On my far right you to your left, we have john hennessy, and historian. He is also a the author of an acclaimed book on second bull run. To his left, scott hartwig. He is a long time friend and supporter of cwi and also a historian. Retired historian from Gettysburg National park. He is also written a book on the battle of antietam. It is a two volume study and the second volume will be out in a few years. Excellent. Good. To the left of scott is jennifer murray. Jen murray also cut her teeth as a historian right here at the Gettysburg National park. And she is a professor of history at the university of virginia at wise. And many of you met ken know. He was your advisor at auburn where she completed her dissertation. And last, we have brooks simpson who he just said who needs no introduction. You do need introduction. And everyone, on cspan audience, they know you, brooks. He is a professor of history at Arizona State and his specialty as you know is the preside
Who writes his memoir 40 years after the fact, writes it in a flowery 19th century flowery style. When wallace says they arrived here in the morning and lit their camp fires, hell Say Something like, you know, the ste ste steely ska gave way to the orange sun and which was great. You have to balance what wallace says in his memoir with his telegrams from the battlefield. His after reaction report two weeks later because wallace had a way of making himself sound really good. And, you know, he did a very brave thing here. Cant get away from that. And as i say in the book, i believe and i think the judgment of history is that what wallace did here did safe washington, d. C. So this battle took place on july 9th, 1864 and right now its november 2nd, 2007. Its a beautiful day. But one thing to keep in mind about this battle is it was very, very hot. They didnt have thermometers, at least no one referred to a thermometer in their memoirs, but it had to have been in the upper 90s and very, ve
Are spending much time at all training for the crater. I think it gets back to how we tend to want to remember this story. The story of the black Union Soldier is front and center. I couldnt be happier about that. I think theres been a danger in the way the story has been pushed over the last few years. It is the moral narrative of our civil war memory. We want to correct for forgetting about them for so long. I think we tend to gloss over some of the darker sides of black soldiers. I dont think were comfortable talking about black soldiers massacrering others. That doesnt fit into our minds right now. I think we want to believe if those black regiments had been allowed to lead the assault that would have been it. We can imagine black soldiers charging over brandfield hill into petersberg. Thats a very soothing image. Anyone who has studied civil war battles, theres nothing that goes as planned. Is there any surprise given this massive detonation. No one can really predict what it will
You can read faster than i can talk so i wont read the slides. I want you to see beautiful places i love. They are history and parks and recreation and National Resources and frankly the lungs of the city are largely these forts and the parks. So there we start. As frank said the city was unprotected down below. This is Fort Washington. If you havent been there, you should go. Its quite different from the forts that were built during the civil war. After bull run, lincoln knew the city was vulnerable. Thats when he ordered director Major General john g. Barnard to design forts around the city to protect it. Here they are. These are the ones available there. It was quite an amazing feat to build all those. It was just tremendous. Here they are there. Ive circled them here on this old map, the ones that are under government ownership today. The park service owns all the ones in washington, d. C. And one in maryland and one in virginia. The ones in virginia are owned by local governments.
Tonight watch as the National Park service commemorates 150th anniversary of the battle. Well also take a look at how the attack failed and why the u. S. Colored troops were unjustly blamed. Author kevin levine on the contribution of the u. S. Colored troops and immediately following the civil war. Here are some of the highlights for twheekd. Friday on cspan and prime time, well visit important sites in the history of the civil rights movement. Saturday night at 8 00, highlights from this years new York Ideas Forum including cancer biologist andrew hessel. On sunday, q a with new york congressman charlie wrangle at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Friday night at 8 00 on cspan2, indepth. Saturday on afterwards at 10 00, retired neurosurgeon and columnist ben carson. And saturday, Lawrence Goldstone on the competition between the Wright Brothers and glen curtis to be the predominant name in manned flight. American history tv on cspan3 on friday at 8 00 eastern. A look at hollywoods portrayal of slav