Remembering the Civil War — The Civil War still has a living — and highly contested — history… even today.
Tagged with “civil war” (4)
Leading the Charge: The Massachusetts 54th — A 1792 law prevented African Americans from taking up arms in the Civil War. As attitudes against blacks serving changed, black regiments were formed. But prejudices remained until the heroism of black soldiers won the attention of the nation.
In August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee, wrote to his former slave, Jourdon Anderson, and requested that he come back to work on his farm. Jourdon — who, since being emancipated, had moved to Ohio, found paid work, and was now supporting his family — responded spectacularly by way of the letter seen below (a letter which, according to newspapers at the time, he dictated).
"On Memorial Day, we pay public tribute to those who lost their lives fighting for our country. But how do we live with the memory of the dead the rest of the year?
In this hour, the History Guys explore Americans’ changing attitudes about death. A Gold Star Mother explains why she thinks there should be more media coverage of military deaths in Iraq. Historian Drew Gilpin Faust talks about how the Civil War altered the American way of dying. And BackStory’s own Ed Ayers tours Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery — and visits his own gravesite"