decades. >> tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a. the national civil war museum is right here in harrisburg, pennsylvania. inside, we will take you and show you how this museum tells the national story of the civil war. welcome to the national civil war museum inheritor, pennsylvania. we opened in 2001. we were one of the first museums to talk about the entire civil war under one roof. the mission of the museum is to educate on the civil war, the causes leading up to the civil war, the war years, and the years after the war, including lives ofction and the the veterans who far during the civil war, including the fraternal organizations that they belonged to. when you first come into the museum, the first galleries he addresses the causes of the war. that, you have an exhibit gallery that talks about slavery during the war. the on that, we have galleries the talk about the first shots of the war am a down in fort sumter in north carolina. and the making of the armies. this museum talks about the entire war come all the various battles, the politics behind the war. so it really gives a really good general overview of what to the civil war, during the civil war, and after. the gallery we are standing and the spring and summer of 1863, starting with the battle of chancellorsville and moving into july in the battle of gettysburg. josephon army, under hooker decided it was time to have an advance on the confederate army in northern virginia. they selected a dance was going to take place at the crossroads of chancellorsville, virginia. the northern army intended to move around the find of the army of northern virginia, across the before they river really had a chance to realize what was going on. it turned out that the northern army of the potomac under general hooker really didn't have the communications set up to be able to full or follow through with their plan. general lee,t attempting to fend off the federal flank attack in the spring of 1863, divided his army into three different parts, which was unheard of during the civil war. one part he kept in fredericksburg as a block against the federal army that was just across the rappahannock river. part oflee also kept the army with him at chancellorsville to but a large portion went with general jackson on a flanking movement around the union left flank. maneuver quickly enough, using the talented generals under him to gain the upper ham, by winning the battle of chancellorsville. the first part of like to show you is this gauntlet, which belonged to general thomas j stonewall jackson, one of the commanders of the confederate army. he went ahead of his line on a scouting mission and, upon his return, because of the dark knight, his own men did not realize that he and his staff had been out beyond their lines and he was fired upon. general jackson was wounded in the left arm and right hand on may 10. he succumbed to the effects of his wound and pneumonia. that is how general jackson met his end. this is one of the gauntlets he was wearing during the campaign. we also have a paragon lets that belonged to general lee. these goblets were worn by general lee during the chancellorsville campaign, which was considered to be one of his finest hours. that the move into pennsylvania would be a turn in the war. way.dn't turn out that were the confederates defeated at the battle of gettysburg and forced to retreat into regina, that pretty much guaranteed that the war would continue on. it was also a turning point in the war. bumper tohad finally a serious defeat and it showed that the south was an invincible and it gave the northern armies new hope. the exhibit space we are in now talks about the end of the war. from the surrender at appomattox up through the years after the war. it talks a bit about the lives of veterans after the war. this figure represents from slaughter. -- represents efraim's slaughter . he was a former slave. he was with the 37th united states colored troop, a hard-fought unit in 1864. he participated in several battles, including the battle of newmarket heights. after the war, efraim slaughter moved to harrisburg, pennsylvania where we are now. this very lifelike representation of efraim slaughter is actually in his older years. image of efraim slaughter because he was a local to harrisburg. he died in 1843. we wanted a representation of the veterans of the war in their old age to be in this gallery. efraim slaughter, he is actually buried about half a mile from the museum. so definitely very local. he has family that is still in this area today. recently,r of fact, boost kepi that belonged to a -- it was donated to the museum from his family. you can see the showcasing us. those were fired at his funeral in 1943. we have seen some of the artifacts that are on permanent display. my have pulled some of the artifacts that we have in storage. in total, we have over 4000 , three-dimensional artifacts. this is a small selection of the number. right here, we have a commission signed by president lincoln and secretary of war edward stanton. this belonged to general john buford, who was a calvary commander for the army of the potomac at gettysburg. this is a really nice piece here at the national civil war museum. we like to keep things balanced. so i post this commission, which is actually signed by president franklin pierce. what is interesting about this is the secretary of the war in 1853 was jefferson davis. both of these commissions were for john buford. this was as a first lieutenant in 1850 three. and this as a major general in 1863. band.here, we have a hat this is a navy item from the uss monitor, famous for being one of the first ironclad, the famous monitor anden the the merrimack. this is an original hat band worn by one of the sailors on the monitor. those are very rare. we are excited to have it in the collection. right down in front here, we have what is known as a henry rifle. this was when of the first, if ,ot the first, repeating rifles successful repeating rifle used during the war. the u.s. government didn't purchase many of these. they were one of the official reit -- one of the official reasons was they were afraid the soldiers would waste ammunition, believe it or not. this could hold 15 rounds of ammunition. you can see right here under the barrel is the magazine. you can see the spring. you would just load the magazine and you could fire 15 shots. the confederates referred to this weapon as they rifle that the yankees would load on sunday and fire all week. au have to remember, this was hugely forward technology. far with single shot muzzleloaders for centuries. now all evasive and, you had these weapons that could fire 15 shots as quickly as you can say 15 shots. it was huge, mind blowing really. advances thatthe was made during the civil war. speaking of weapons, we have a war heroa civil shotgun. what is unique about this is there is a coffee grounder -- coffee grinder right here in the box of the shotgun. you grind up your coffee there and it comes out right through this whole here. that might seem kind of odd, to have a coffee grinder integrated into a weapon. but back then, that is what infantrymen loved. they loved their coffee. and this was a convenient and easy way for them to get their coffee while they are on their march. companies like winchester, cold, colt and others made the brighter in the stock and however, it was never mass-produced. it wasn't efficient. none were ever ordered. right here is one that worst -- we are especially proud of, as most americans are. this is a medal of honor, which was donated to the museum by the -- soldiers'stors ancestors if you use ago. this was to lieutenant james vernay of the 11th illinois infantry. the siege of vicksburg, he volunteered to pilot a steamship past the confederate batteries at vicksburg, which was an amazingly dangerous thing to do. general grant needed to get troops and supplies south of vicksburg in order to cross the river with his army and come up behind vicksburg. lieutenant vernay volunteered to help pilot the steamship and he was successful, although his ship did take 16 direct hits. he still managed to get the ship through and down to where it needed to be. on the reverse of the metal, -- original inscription. to jane's major james d vernay for gallantry in vicksburg city april 22, 1863. tos was presented in 1896 then brevet major vernay. it wasn't unusual for soldiers who were awarded the medal of honor to get them years after the actual war had ended. medal is ofticular that variety. the -- thetself, original case that it is in, was made by tiffany and company in new york. they were only famous for their lands and jewelry, but in the civil war, they made weapons. they made swords, highly sought after, presentation quality swords. and they had the contract for the medal of honor as well. the last two pieces we have, right here, we have a model 1849 colt pocket revolver. this was done up on the field of gettysburg many years after the battle. veryu can see, it is corroded. but the interesting thing about here,s the brass piece you can actually still read the serial number, which is really quite interesting. and in addition to that, the revolver is still fully cap and fully bashfully cap -- capped and loaded. it is really interesting because it can actually allow you to use your imagination. this revolver, while we will probably never know exactly who carried it, we can imagine who might have carried it and what were the circumstances of him losing this weapon on the field. but it's really a very interesting artifact from the battle of gettysburg. the last piece we have here is a bible. this bible is interesting in that it was carried by a confederate private named adam troutman. he was with the confederate army of northern virginia at the battle of antietam. he was hit by a musket ball during that battle. however, this bible, which he was carrying with him in his pocket, stopped that ball and most likely saved his life. and you can see the musket ball was to write there. -- was see the impact wedged right there. you can see the impact. private trout meant presented this bible to his brother. unfortunately for him, he probably should have kept it because he was killed in battle later in the war. but at the battle of antietam, this did save his life. i hope that people who come and visit the museum will leave with of the country and why it is the way it is today. the civil war was a defining moment in our country's history. a lot of what goes on today is still affected by what happened during the civil war, whether it is race relations, how we display a flag, and there are so many other things, from clothing sizes to your boots that you amount of an amazing change happened in a very short period of time, which tends to happen during wartime. but the civil war really helped the finest nation. and i hope it gives people a clearer sense of where we are, because of where we've been. weekend, we are featuring the history of harrisburg, pennsylvania, together with our comcast cable partners. learn more about harrisburg and other stops on our city start at www.c-span.org/citiesto her. you are watching american history tv. >> on lectures in history, arizona state university professor jonathan bard teaches a class about the rise of andrew jackson and his presidency. he focuses on jackson's clashes with wig party members henry clay and any webster and the