Sarah polk was very big on diplomacy and her strong suit happened to be intelligent political discussion. She took an interest in politics, and she was her husbands partner. She grew up in a political household in tennessee. Her father was a local politician, so she grew up loving politics. She married james after he want to see in the legislature, because if she would not married him if he had been content to be a clerk. Unfortunately for James Kaye Polk, he died three months after leaving the white house, and sarah began a 42 year widowhood. Pulled place became a shrine and she would invite anyone she wanted to come for a visit to see the objects they had collected throughout their long and illustrious political career. She lived there for many years on her own and during the civil war, generals on both sides would come and visit her to pay their respects. Thats very interesting as a commentary on what a beloved status she had. She was earnest about her husbands work. She went to eve
Our stops by going to cspan. Org citiestour . They were very bride wheels compares the careers in leadership start want tof the things i make sure before we go into our , is to thank those of you who have come from other and some of our supporters. One of the people not with us today but is a life member an honorary member of our board is James Robinson junior. He has had some Health Issues but he is recovering and i know he is back on the speaker circuit. Nick who has also had a few Health Issues and not able to travel right now. One of the great collectors, folks who hut is folks connected with the Shenandoah Valley battlefields. Two people who are very has made to me, sarah all of this work behind the scenes. She is constantly making sure that something needs to be done and it gets done. Like that. Meone last but not least, my wife elizabeth. Elizabeth has come down from virginia to join us. Into myill do is move part of the presentation. We are going to talk about the leadership. W
I appreciate that. I can just look at kevin if i need. Kevin, you teach, right . In addition to blogging. Er, in sorry, pete. Blo and so,gg youre used to being front of unruly crowds. G and you may also have some experience with a particularly nerve wracking speaking engagement. One of those engagements wrote youre not quite sure where the subject matter of your talk fits with the event at hand. And then, adding to that, you learn that perhaps, i dont know, cspan is going to broadcast your talk live on television because, hey, you know, live television. Ppen this stills, happens apparently. But if youve done any public ae speaking, you also know that yu moment where a that sense of re calm settles over you. I know that pete knows that because ive now watched him speak beautifully a number of times in the past couple of days. I just want to let you know, e thiss not happening to me right now. And so, without further ado. As many of you may know, on november 29th, 1864, approximately 700
Washington journal is live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Next on American History tv, Brian Craig Miller of Emporia State University discusses confederate general John Bell Hoods campaign into tennessee in the fall of 1864, resulting in the almost total destruction of his army. This event is from the Gettysburg College Civil War Institutes annual summer conference that took place in june. Its about an hour and 15 minutes. Good afternoon. Im peter carmichael, the director of the Civil War Institute. Also professor of history here at Gettysburg College. Its my pleasure to introduce Brian Craig Miller. Brian is associate professor and associate chair of history at Emporia State University in eastern kansas. He teaches a variety of courses in 19th century u. S. , including the civil war, of course. He is the author of several books. John bell hood and the fight for civil war memory published by the university of tennessee. And he has recently edited a punishment on the nation an iowa sol
Through the first thing i would say is there is this misconception that people say oh, shermans men cut a swath 50 miles wide or 60 miles wide. That is i always tell my students you dont want to think of it like a lawn mower strip. It is not 50 miles wide of lawn mower. It is 50 miles from the edge of one column through four columns to the furthest edge of the other. So in many ways it is very what is the word oim looking for. Not sporadic or episodic. But sometimes a house is targeting and other houses a mile away are not targeted. That being said, where shermans men and him and African American African Americans is a really interesting question. I love pauls that shermans army was probably one to great armies of liberation. They are not probably very willing liberators. Sherman was not certainly not a fan of racial equality or after the war according civil rights to African Americans. He did not he was perfectly content as they went on the to plantations to have his men liberate the