They do to continue to promote American History and their work is absolutely invaluable. Our next speaker today is kevin pawlak at antietam, and he has his own battlefield where he oversees the bristol station battlefield and he oversees a civil war hospital area. Kevin is the coauthor of to hazard all the 1862 antietam campaign. Today he will talk about the aftermath of the antietam campaign, it often gets overlooked tying, and set in the larger context, kevin will talk about the Loudoun Valley campaign of 1862. Ladies and gentlemen, kevin pawlak. Well, thank you, chris, for that introduction and thanks to all of you for tuning into our virtual symposium. We hope youll be able to join us next year in 2021 when well be reprising our topic of what was supposed to be this years topic of fallen leaders, but today im going to speak with you about the Loudoun Valley campaign which is a campaign that does not get a lot of study at all in the larger scale of the civil war. I probably wager th
The stories behind them, what were some of the men thinking as they participate with this units, and we will end with what they do at gettysburg. With that, we will get started. All right. So, the irish brigade. One might question how do you get interested in this topic . Why would you choose the irish brigade . When i started here as an intern in 1998, the summer of my junior year in college, i was all about history. I wanted to delve more into some of my ancestry and all the stories that i had heard was that we are of irish descent. I was not a great genealogist at that point, but it is still interesting anyway. I had a chance, an opportunity, over the next couple summers as i worked at gettysburg, to really look at this part of the battle. And did a campd fire program on it, somewhat similar to the one you see now, but later on what i was able to do was get married and eventually take a honeymoon to ireland, so what a perfect chance to visit the mother country. We traveled all aroun
Our first speaker tonight keith snyder. He has worked for the National Park service for 33 years it four National Parks. Harpers ferry National Historic park, the National Mall in memorial parks, monastics national battlefield, and anti to no battlefield where he currently holds the position of visitor services. Keith received his undergraduate degree in 1984 and Park Administration with the concentration in American History from shepard university. His masters degree in strategic studies was earned the United States Army War College in 2003. He has also served in the air force and Air National Guard for 40 years, and recently retired as a colonel with 167th their left wing. He lives in martins bird, West Virginia with his wife cindy. Please welcome our first speaker as he talks about the battle of antietam from the perspective of the soldiers who experienced it firsthand. applause thank, you kevin. It is great to be with you. I certainly had a very enjoyable drive down here. This is s
[inaudible conversations]. And when we get to q a at the tiller because we are audio recording and cspan for book tv is filming as well. We really like to have your questions and there. We will have a signing at this table and if you could just leave your chairs where they ar are, we have a couple more readings today would be fantastic. Today we are excited to welcome robert plumb here to celebrate his book, for a bit the better angels. And to come to National Prominence during the civil war to document tell the conflict left openings for women to assume roles usually held by men to show the depth of their passion and commitment. Segments tireless work of the underground railroad traces from massachusetts to Clerk Position in washington where she began the work that led to her establishing the American Red Cross. Chronicles held. Beecher stowe and abolitionism. And to write Uncle Toms Cabin. While julia ward was inspired by battle hymn of the republic. And also to demonstrate the patri
Talk about what it mightve been like trying to start a church in the immediate aftermath of the american civil war. My wife and i drove up and we walked into the back of the sanctuary, and there was one lady sitting in the sanctuary, and she jumps up, runs to the back, shakes my hand, and says my family and i have something we think you may have an interest in. Would you come out to the car after the program . I said, sure. I go out to the car, she opens the trunk and tells me to hold my arms out. And shes in and out the truck, and the stack is growing taller and taller. And i say, what do we have here . And she says, these are my grandfather Thomas Wallace colleys seven volumes of handwritten journals of his service in the first virginia cavalry and his postwar life. I thought i was going to fall over in the parking lot. As a historian, you dream about things like that. I want to thank all of the colley family. They are the most wonderful people i have ever had the pleasure to work wi