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
At which the civil war is still very much a part of living memory. Right . There are livingductions of the war, people involved in combat who are still alive. In 1912, state of pennsylvania issued an invitation of honorably discharged veterans of the civil war to come to gettysburg for a reunion of sorts. And you probably have already seen pictures of this or read about it in David Wrights book. I want to spend a little time talking about that. That marked something of the high water mark. It was kind of the peak of their aspirations. They invaded the north. The defeat of gettysburg was in many ways the beginning of the end. It proved at least on the battles there was no way for the confederacy to take the war to the end. So here we have some pictures. This is actually a picture of new york veterans having a meal at gettysburg. If you were to look at the public narrative, the narrative you would find in newspapers and commemorative pamphlets in public pronouncements, the sentiments exp
Beneath to United States. The civil war did not permanently shatter you are nag nation. Yet it was a supreme test for a country that now stands in blessed unit, you are north and south. You are here together tonight here is evening we look back with learn from the greatest teacher anyone can have, history. Armed with an understanding of the time. Private maddux would like that. Thank you. [ applause ] the Overland Campaign was the largest and the bloodiest campaign of the entire civil war. Both armies lost half of their original fighting forces. The casualties were astounding. Astounding to soldiers, to generals, and to those left back home. Amid the staggering losses sustained at cold harbor and during the Overland Campaign, for every soldier killed, wounded or captures there was a family. Mother, brother, brother, sister, that also felt the loss on the fields of 1864 reverberated through communities across the north and south. The empty chairs at kitchen tables across the country and
The arsenal at harpers ferry. There is no mention of the there thought of freeing the slaves. T theres none of that. None of it does it imply. Does it imply that it was a good thing . Oh, no. Its almost encyclopedic. A its one of those entries like e let me get the facts down and lets be done. Done. In fairness, most were done like that. Its odd they would have fas commemorated that. The it, too, is part of john t brown is part of kind of a segregationist memory,ever white supremacist memory, as wa well, because everyone agreed that john brown was crazy, right . In my High School History rown d textbook, we had a picture of john brown and there was an aust article that studies pictures or john brown because there are fairly neutral pictures of john brown and then there are pictures that make him look crazy. My textbook had the crazy picture. And my picture had the caption, john brown, possibly a monomaniac. Nice neutral statement for your history textbook. So the booklet is fascinating
This class is about one hour and 10 minutes. Ok. So in getting ready for this, i wanted to do like a little background work on the socalled semicentennial of the civil war, which was of course 1911 to 1915. I found this quote. Ill tell you where it comes from in a little bit, but it seems to me to encapsulate the feeling of the early 20th century. The days of the civil war now belong to the historians, the poets, the writer of romance, in the dramatist. Now i think you would add the reenactor there, probably. But of course, this is a period at which the civil war is still very much a part of living memory. Right . There are livingductions of the there are living veterans of the war, people involved in combat who are still alive. In 1912, the state of pennsylvania issued an invitation to honorably discharged veterans of the civil war to come to gettysburg for a reunion of sorts. And you probably have already seen pictures of this or read about it. I want to spend a little time talking a