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
Government. Good afternoon, everyone. How are you all doing . Our topic for today is the second part of our civil war content for this semester. And i want to talk today about Economic Policy and social events that are tied to the economy. I have kind of titled this, feeding the confederacy. We will focus most of our attention on the Confederate States and we will talk about the crucial issue of how you make sure that your soldiers and your civilians have enough to eat over the course of the war. There are two key ironies of this confederate experience for me. And that historians who study the confederacy really point to. One is that the Confederate States of america is a predominantly agricultural nation. We have talked about this before. The vast majority of the population in the union and the confederacy are people who live on farms. But especially in the Confederate States. We are dealing with a population that is overwhelmingly people who live on farms. And yet they will struggle
There are two key ironies of this confederate experience for me. And the historians who study the confederacy really point to one is that the Confederate States of america is a predominantly agricultural nation, and weve talked about this before. The vast majority of the population and the union are people who live on farms but especially in the confederacy states. Were dealing with a population thats overwhelmingly people who live on farms. And yet they will struggle to feed themselves more often than they will run out of bullets and armaments. So this is surprising when you think of an agricultural nation. The second big irony here is that the foundations of the confederacy, the founding documents and the succession documents of the states before they joined the confederacy said we want a limited government with more power given to the states. And yet the confederate government is going to become stronger and more invasive than any Government People had seen to this point in order to
Groups. Long story short, i was invited to speak at a church in Washington County in july 2016. The church was celebrating their 150th anniversary, and they invited me to come up and 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
How are you all doing . Our topic for today is the second part of our civil war content for the semester. I want to talk today about Economic Policy and social events that are tied to the economy. I titled this feeding the confederacy. We will focus most of our attention on the Confederate States. We will talk about the crucial of we will talk about the crucial issue of how you make sure your soldiers and civilians have enough to eat over the course of the war. There are two key ironies of this confederate experience for me, that historians who studied the confederacy point to. One is that the Confederate States of america is a predominantly agricultural nation. The vast majority of the union and confederacy live on farms. But especially in the Confederate States. We are dealing with a population that is overwhelming people who live on farms. Yet, they will struggle to feed themselves more often than they will run out of bullets and armaments. This is surprising when you think of an ag