getting in the downs minivan i m going cross-country. that is not stressful to think about it all, isn t it. going live on c-span is nothing compared to that. he is a specialist in history of the united states. he is a graduate of the iowa workshop which is many know is a program of note for aspiring fiction writers. it is promoted peace, i do not know the title but i know that it won the flannery o connor award. is a very good writer who has decided to turn to the craft of history. his most recent book is entitled the end to war: fighting the civil war after appomattox. i am not the most perceptive but i am guessing your trick is different than what we heard from patrick gallagher last night. [laughter] peter carmichael: we re looking forward to hearing your presentation, the a war that could not end at appomattox. greg downs. [applause] gregory downs: thank you so much and i want to thank also allison jordan and diane and everyone at the cwi for inviting me and taking car
america. american history tv was live today from gettysburg, pennsylvania, on a symposium on the end of the civil war and its aftermath. coming up next, all of our coverage from the day including consequences and treason and loyalty in the civil war era. the talks were part of the annual conference. good morning. i am peter carmichael. i am a professor of history at gettysburg college. director of the civil war institute. it is my pleasure to introduce gregory downs. greg has recently accepted a job at uc davis on the other side of the coast so this summer he will be packing up his family and getting in the downs minivan i m going cross-country. that is not stressful to think about it all, isn t it. going live on c-span is nothing compared to that. he is a specialist in history of the united states. he is a graduate of the iowa workshop which is many know is a program of note for aspiring fiction writers. it is promoted peace, i do not know the title but i know that it w
good morning again, i am peter carmichael. i am a member of the history department and the director of the civil war institute and it is my pleasure to introduce lesley gordon. she started her academic career at the college of william and mary ann went on to the university of georgia where she studied. she completed her dissertation on general george pickett which became a book which is a model biography, published by the university of north carolina. and the inspiration for all of this of course begins right here at the civil war institute in 1983. she was one of the high school scholarship recipients that came here. one of many who was gone on to have academic careers. as you all know we have a strong contingent of high school scholarship award winners this summer as well. she now teaches at the university of akron undergraduate as well as graduate students. for a very long time she was the editor of the journal of civil war history and i believe her tenure is coming to a c
different. it is a valor and honor. those concepts take a different form here. and many respects, in a standard guess, they are prisoners of war, and then you move right back to the battles. often, and addressing the story, there is an and knowledge of that, and then no detail, and you move on. andersonville has a name brand recognition. the public often doesn t know any of the details beyond the name and that something unusual took place there. host: let s start with the basics. when was it built? what was its purpose? mr. leonard: in the fall of 1863 as the exchange system of the previous two years falls apart, due to the presence of black soldiers in the field, and the question over how to treat like soldiers black soldiers. with afederacy is faced problem. there holding the mostly in the richmond area. thousands, 10,000 prisoners in richmond it has a drag effect on the community. resources are going in to maintain the prisoners. if you are in the confederate army, or
conversation202-748-8900. that is for eastern and central time zones. if in the pacific or mountain 8-8901.nes, 202-74 you can also post questions and comments on our facebook page. facebook.com/cspanhistory. mr. leonard, thank you for joining us this afternoon. mr. leonard: it is my pleasure to be here. host: let s start with where is andersonville? for someone who is not aware of andersonville s significance, where does it fall? mr. leonard: it is important to start with this idea that military prisoners and prisoners of war are often left out of the mainstream telling of the war. quite frankly, there are no winners in this story. this is not a battlefield. it is something entirely different. it is a valor and honor. those concepts take a different form here. in many respects, in a standard telling of war, there is a knowledge meant there is an acknowledgment yes, they are prisoners of war, and then you move right back to the battles. often, and addressing the story, th