Property onoric spotsylvania battlefield in central virginia. He has worked as a historian for the National Park service and fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Parks. I am not crying. My eyes decided to water at an awkward moment. [laughter] sorry, chris. [laughter] [indiscernible] he was also a historian for the National Park service at fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park where he at four major battlefields. As well as the building where Stonewall Jackson died. Chris has authored or coauthored a dozen books on the civil war and his articles have appeared in all the major civil war magazines. He serves on the board of directors for the Virginia Battlefield trust as a National Advisor on the board for the civil war chaplains museum in lynchburg, virginia. Please help me to welcome him. [applause] dr. Mackowski you are going to see something rare, a Chris Mackowski powerpoint presentation. I know. The reason i am doing it is so i have an excuse to show e
2015 graduate of hood college in frederick, maryland. Focusing on public history. Worked in a number of other civil warrelated jobs and also at fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park and also writes on the history of pennsylvanias coal region in his blog, winning histo history. This talk today is entitled discovering Clara Bartons missing Soldiers Office. Mr. Wynn. All right. Thank you very much. Hello, everybody. Good morning. Im so excited to be here this morning and talking about something that i am very passionate about. The story of clara barton and her role during the american civil war. As was said, i am the director of interpretation at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office museum and the National Museum of civil war medicine. Ill explain a little bit about how that connection works here in just a bit. I want to talk a little bit just kind of introduce what im going to be discussing today. I would say, can we see a show of hands how many of you have heard of
The casualties were astounding, a stouinstounding to soldiers, generals and those left back home. Amidst the staggering losses at cole harbor, for every soldier killed, wounded or captured, there was a family. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters that also felt the loss. The loss of the men that fell at cole harbor in the spring of 1864 reverb rasreverberated thr kmunlts a communities across the north and south. The battlegrounds left indelible kbag impacts on the living left behind. So, too, were the believes of the men who fought that bloody spring. Indeed, in spite of so many lost lives, those believes and ideas about nation, government and home became even more deeply enslie enshrined in the hearts and minds of those left to fight on tonight to reflect upon and learn from today. Writing soon after the war with a perspective on hindsight. Sally putnam came to believe that in its own unique way, cole harbor had been a landmark event in the 1866 Campaign Across Central
Men ever went into battle. We fight for the principles of free government, and for the existence of a nation whose institutions are the hope of the downtrodden people of every land. Our success in this Campaign Must ensure the integrity of the United States by the final overthrow of the rebel down. Success will give a new life to our country, and a new faith to the stability of free government to the world. It will also determine the next presidency as certainly as if the votes were counted. But if we fail in this campaign, that failure will be the greatest disaster in modern history. Upon general grant there now concentrates the deepest interest with which the world ever watched the actions of a single soldier. He is the foremost man in the greatest contest of the age. When the nation and the world wanted to know how the civil war was going, they looked to virginia. That spring, robert e. Lee and his army showed clearly as the confederacies greatest hope. Ulysses s. Grant had come eas
Years after the war, that is filled with literary inventions. I suspect that is one of his many literary inventions. Its true that soldiers of the army of the potomac had done that before in earlier battles. This would be in november of 1863. But theres no evidence that it actually happened here at cold harbor. But everybody knew it was going to be a fierce and terrible day. 4 30 a. M. , the signal gun goes off, and this huge union monolith heaves forward. Or parts of it do. Thats the sad thing about the battle of cold harbor. Down on the lower end of the battlefield, general hancocks second corps punches forward. Across from them at one spot, they make a breakthrough in a salient in the federal line where general breckenridge is positioned. But lee has a lot of reserves. One myth is that lee did not have reserves, that his line was thin. Thats not true. Some parts of the confederate line this entire divisions behind them and that was the position on the lower end of the battlefield wh