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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for National Civil War Museum
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SUMMARY:Dread Danger: Cowardice and Combat in the American Civil War\, via ZOOM
DESCRIPTION:Dread Danger: Cowardice and Combat in the American Civil War\nby Dr. Lesley J. Gordon\, via ZOOM.\nClick here to join: Civil War Book Talk with Dr. Lesley J. Gordon Zoom Link\nWhen confronted with the abject fear of going into battle\, Civil War soldiers were expected to overcome the dread of the oncoming danger with feats of courage and victory on the battlefield. The Fire Zouaves and the 2nd Texas Infantry went to war with high expectations that they would perform bravely; they had famed commanders and enthusiastic community support. How could they possibly fail? Yet falter they did\, facing humiliating charges of cowardice thereafter that cast a lingering shadow on the two regiments\, despite their best efforts at redemption. By the end of the war\, however\, these charges were largely forgotten\, replaced with the jingoistic rhetoric of martial heroism\, a legacy that led many\, including historians\, to insist that all Civil War soldiers were heroes. Dread Danger creates a fuller understanding of the soldier experience and the overall costs and sufferings of war. \nProfessor Lesley J. Gordon earned her BA in History from The College of William and Mary\, and her MA and PhD in American History from the University of Georgia. She taught at Murray State University and the University of Akron before becoming the Charles G. Summersell Chair of Southern History at the University of Alabama in 2016. Professor Gordon has authored three monographs\, co-edited four volumes of essays\, and co-written a textbook about the American Civil War. She has also published numerous book chapters\, journal articles\, book reviews and encyclopedia entries\, and presented her work at scholarly conferences across the country and abroad. Professor Gordon has been a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians since 2009 and has had her lectures and presentations featured on C-span. She has served as editor of the academic journal Civil War History (2010-2015)\, President of the Society for Civil War History (2022-2024) and is currently Chair of the Editorial Board for the University of Alabama Press \nISBN Number: 9781108729192 \n 
URL:https://www.nationalcivilwarmuseum.org/event/dread-danger-cowardice-and-combat-in-the-american-civil-war-via-zoom/
LOCATION:ZOOM
CATEGORIES:Speaker
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SUMMARY:Civil War Book Talk with Dr. Judith Giesberg "Last Seen - The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families"
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a free\, in-person book talk\, Last Seen\, with Dr. Judith Giesberg on April 26\, 2025\, from 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm\, followed by a book signing.\nAbout the book: Drawing from an archive of nearly five thousand letters and advertisements\, the riveting\, dramatic story of formerly enslaved people who spent years searching for family members stolen away during slavery. Of all the many horrors of slavery\, the cruelest was the separation of families in slave auctions. Spouses and siblings were sold away from one other. Young children were separated from their mothers. Fathers were sent down river and never saw their families again. \nAs soon as slavery ended in 1865\, family members began to search for one another\, in some cases persisting until as late as the 1920s. They took out “information wanted” advertisements in newspapers and sent letters to the editor. Pastors in churches across the country read these advertisements from the pulpit\, expanding the search to those who had never learned to read or who did not have access to newspapers. These documents demonstrate that even as most white Americans—and even some younger Black Americans\, too—wanted to put slavery in the past\, many former slaves\, members of the “Freedom Generation\,” continued for years\, and even decades\, to search for one another. These letters and advertisements are testaments to formerly enslaved people’s enduring love for the families they lost in slavery\, yet they spent many years buried in the storage of local historical societies or on microfilm reels that time forgot. \nJudith Giesberg draws on the archive that she founded—containing almost five thousand letters and advertisements placed by members of the Freedom Generation—to compile these stories in a narrative form for the first time. Her in-depth research turned up additional information about the writers\, their families\, and their enslavers. With this critical context\, she recounts the moving stories of the people who placed the advertisements\, the loved ones they tried to find\, and the outcome of their quests to reunite. \nThis story underscores the cruelest horror of slavery—the forced breakup of families—and the resilience and determination of the formerly enslaved. Thoughtful\, heart-wrenching\, and illuminating\, Last Seen finally gives this lesser-known aspect of slavery the attention it deserves. \nAbout the author: Dr. Judith Giesberg is professor of history and Robert M. Birmingham chair in the humanities at Villanova University. She is the founder and director of the Last Seen archive\, and the author of several books on Civil War history\, including Army at Home\, Emilie Davis’s Civil War\, and Last Seen (ISBN 9781982174323). \n \nPhotograph (c) Mark Tassoni
URL:https://www.nationalcivilwarmuseum.org/event/last-seen-an-in-person-book-talk/
LOCATION:The National Civil War Museum\, 1 Lincoln Circle at Reservoir Park\, Harrisburg\, PA\, 17103\, United States
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