Civil War in American public memory

Civil War in American public memoryWhose stories, whose history?Consider:Changes over time relevant to:Content and ideologyFormSponsorship and venue

What do these memorials/public history activities tell us about the Civil War? About its meaning?

How do the stories/memories/depictions change over time? Could say, overall, that the public history of the War tells us less about the past (the history) than the present it is an effort to give meaning, to assert the significance of the event (and less to actually teach about it in a detailed way).21860s-1880s: mourning citizen-soldiers1880s-1920s: reunion and reunification; glory of the Lost Cause1930-1950s: new modes of remembrance1960s+: telling new stories2011 commemoration of 150th1860s-1880smourning citizen-soldiersFocus on mourning and marking deathsCemeteriesSoldiers memorialsProminent role of veterans groupsNorth/South rituals similar but little sense of common causeMemory of the war evoked by partisan political organizations GAR, KKKSoldiers as symbols for the nation and remembering them the central focus of the period.First war in which they could be remembered as individuals and buried in marked graves.

GAR founded 1866, Union vetsKKK founded 1866 hooded costumes to identify w/ghosts of fallen comradesAlso active regiment and armies alumni groups

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Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, 1865. 6

Hazen Monument, Stones River National Battlefield in TN (near Murfreesboro). Oldest intact Civil War battlefield monument marks site of battle in late 1862-1863 where Northern troops forced a Confederate retreat. In June 1863, members of the brigade began erecting the monument to honor their fallen comrades on the very spot where theyd fought and died. Located in a small cemetery that held bodies of the dead. Other oldest monument, an obelisk, built at Vicksburg battlefield a year after Confederate surrender at the city. Established connection between military cemeteries and preserved military parks.7National cemetery systemAuthorized by Congress 1862Administered by War DepartmentBy 1865, 14 cemeteries designated; 73 by 18701863 Gettysburg dedicated national cemetery with battlefield park1864 Arlington National CemeteryCemeteries and battlefields often the same space and preservation of battlefields the first major preservation movement (before this, pres. Movement in infancy and had focused on a few houses e.g., Mount Vernon). Revolutionary War had been commemorated through preservation of sites associated with Washington. Some monuments but most Rev War monuments not built until the late 19th century. Creating physical monuments to mark war not seen as a major priority Mount Vernon (1850s) first major effort to recognize that if sites were important as a historical marker and should be publicly accessible, there had to be a specific effort to save them and special kind of ownership (either state/govt or public/private). Also argument that there was a greater good in doing so that a patriotic purpose could be served.

Tony Horowitz point in Confederates in the Attic most of the Civil War battles were actually around industrial/transportation sites e.g., railroad lines. The rural battlefields, however, were easier to preserve and now have come to symbolize/epitomize the war.

Multiple purposes real need to bury dead.Battlefields often devestated landscape could not be returned to farm lands or taken for granted as woods. Battlefield sites and cemeteries co-joined which marked them both as hallowed places.

Serve the Union cause mark the horrors and reaffirm patriotism.

Union soldiers reburied in individual, marked graves. Restriction against burying Confederates at military cemeteries on historic battlefields (buried in mass graves or moved for formal burial elsewhere).

Arlington on estate owned by Robt E Lees wife confiscated by fed govt in 1864 (over dispute about unpaid taxes) and then eventually signed over by Lee family. Used to bury Union dead. Section used as settlement for more than 1,100 freed slaves given land at Freedman's Village by the government, where they farmed and lived during and after the Civil War. They were evicted in 1888 when the estate was repurchased by the government and dedicated as a military installation.

Congressional legislation in 1867 reauthorized purchased of lands for burying places, asserted use of govts power of eminent domain to acquire private lands, called for reimbursement to owners whose lands had been or would be appropriated for military cemetery sites.

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Gettysburg 186391863 Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association formed no more fitting and expressive memorial of the heroic valor and signal triumphs of our armythan the battlefield itself, with its natural and artificial defenses, preserved and perpetuated in the exact form and condition they presented during the battle

Lincoln: a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live

Gettysburg By 1869, beginning of monuments Soldiers National Monument (at site of Lincolns speech)

Had been site of a major Union victory. In months after the battle, local people tried to buy up property and participate in tenure of the sacred grounds. First 25 years, a Union site exclusively. After 25th anniversary begins to tell a broader story. But still focused on story of military history and soldiers sacrifice not a story of disputes that led to the war or the differences that propelled Union and Confederate sides. Later battlefield history marked through interpretive signs, etc.

Focus on heorism, the physical intensity of the battle, and grief rather than, for instance, the emancipation of slaves (a major outcome of the war)

11By 1888 almost 100 regimental monuments (Union) most by veterans groups1880s first Confederate monument added

First RI Artillery, 1886From the front of the monument:Brown'sBattery B1st R.I. Lt. Art.lyFrom the back:Art.ly Brig2nd CorpsArmy Potomac

12Reunions/gatherings at Gettysburg1870s Northern GAR chapters met thereSouths criminal responsibility300+ Union/northern monuments, 2 Confederate1888+ North and South reunionsToday there are no victors, no vanquished. As Americans we may all claim a common share in the new America born on this battlefield.1913 largest gathering of Civil War vets all surviving, honorably discharged (50,000)

By 1890, more than 200 single soldier statues in the US

1880s-1920sReunion and redemptionReunions of veterans Union and ConfederateMonument building glorious Lost CauseReconciliation across regions/political divisions

"There are no better teachers for those who come after us than the silent monuments on the battlefields, marking the places where men died for a principle they believed right, whether they wore the blue or the gray uniform." Major Wells Sponable, 34th New York Monument dedication (1902), Antietam Battlefield, MarylandHere kind of benign sense of unity rallying the nation as a whole without mention of political/regional differences behind the war.19Memorial associationsUnited Confederate Veterans (1889)United Daughters of the Confederacy (1894)Sons of Confederate Veterans (1896)In South, challenge of how to remember a defeat? Articulation of Lost Cause war a glorious endeavor, morally righteous fight over states rights (erasure of slavery as cause of the war). Honor in victory. But this also homogenized the South, glossing over dissent within the region (e.g., in KY twice as many white men fought for the Union as for the Confederacy, but during this period 40+ monuments to the Confederacy and 3 to Union built).

Less activity outside the South not a regional issue but rightness of the war confirmed in the permanence of the nation. Still, UDC built 100s of monuments across the country including places like St Louis (a union stronghold), Montana (didnt even exist!). Gave air of respectability to their cause and allowed them to memorialize themselves.

Kentucky voted not to seceded and overwhelmingly men fought for Union but state has 72 Conf monuments, 2 Union. Monuments symbolize power and have their own symbolic power (Loewen) we point to them as authority20

Museum of the Confederacy (1896)"The clothes, the arms, the money, the belongings of the Confederate soldier, and the women whose loyal enthusiasm kept him in the field, are properly objects of historical interest. The glory, the hardships, the heroism of the war were a noble heritage for our children. To keep green such memories and to commemorate such virtues, it is our purpose to gather together and preserve in the Executive Mansion of the Confederacy the sacred relics of those glorious days. We appeal to our sisters throughout the South to help us secure these invaluable mementoes before its too late." Jeff Davis, pres of Confed, lived in home during the war. In 1890s, threatened with demolition. Confederate womens org rallied to save the building and to create a museum collection. State historical orgs in south also similar mission and in many ways became museums to the confederacy, not to states history21Confederate women

Hundreds of monuments to Confederate Women tying to southern culture not an explicit political cause

Also proliferation of Confederate monuments throughout the country creating a sense of consensus22

But also rallying around the political cause of white supremacy (not Confederacy per se, but its connection to racial ideology one that connected to Americas imperialist mission of economic and territorial expansion; to Jim Crow segregation; to ideas about immigrants). Stone Mountain, GA UDC memorial to Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis. Site of rebirth of KKK in 1915. (state acquired site in mid-1950s and monument completed in 1972). Large bas-relief carving in the world?23

Confederate monument,Arlington National Cemetery24

Monument Ave in Richmond established during these years. Crowds of tens, hundreds of thousands turned out for dedication (200,000 came to unveiling of Jeff Davis monument in Richmond in 1907)

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May the hands that fought be the hands that clasp and the hearts that bled by the hearts that rejoice.Dedicated 1914 on Jeff Davis birthday hundreds of Confederate and several Union vets, along with UDC. Speeches stressed common sacrifice and US glorious future. Lees grandson there is room in the hearts of the people of all the land for cherished recollections of the valorous dead.

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Faithful slave monument, Fort Mills, SCAfrican american counter-narrativesBlack counter-narrative focused on main issue of liberation liberation as the wars outcome (and slavery as its central issue); protesting white visions of enslaved people and asserting black role in liberation.

See this in monuments although generally many fewer. Also in celebrations/gatherings black soldiers reunions, Juneteenth Celebrations, work of black historians/scholars.

And in everyday forms of resistance story of black Charlestonians and Calhoun statue29

1876, Emancipation Memorial, LincolnPark, Washington, DCInitiated with money from former slave, other contributions by a colored infantry (just after Lincolns death). Sculptors original version appeared too passive and too white for its sponsors so new design modeled after real former slave. Dedicated in 1876 with more than 50,00 in attendance, mostly black. Parade of black military units, masons, etc.F Douglass speech at dedication called Lincoln a liberator although qualified in his praise Lincoln had been ready and willing at any time during the first years of his administration to deny, postpone, and sacrifice the rights of humanity of the colored people to promote the welfare of the white people.30

Lincolns memory seized by African Americans as a way to stake claims to citizenship and equal rights and to also question the limits of American equality. Rallies at the Lincoln Memorial Marion Anderson in 1930s (after being denied opportunity to perform at concert hall); March on Washington, 1963, Black Panthers in 1970s, Million Man March, etc. Turned this into a site that others also associate with American democracy and a place to stake right to protest, free expression.31

Also memorials as other types of protests despite the danger that many blacks faced. Protests to UDC proposed Mammy monument in Washington, DC 1920s

321930s-1950snew forms of remembrancePassing of remaining veterans passing of living memoryMovies, street names replace monument buildingIncreased role of federal government as collector and keeper of stories and storied placesBirth of a Nation (1915), Gone with the Wind (1939)Jezebel w/Betty Davis

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A New Deal for the Civil WarGettysburg, Antietam, etc. (battlefield parks) transferred to National Park ServiceCCC, PWA, CWA projectsWPA-FWP projects to collect storiesCivil Works, Public Works, Civilian Conservation Corps projects for erosion control, road maintenance, building visitor centers and administrative buildings, installing telephone lines, hired historians/authors to write about the parks

Pitcaithleys article when NPS took over management, agreed that it would not talk about causes of the war (a policy that generally stayed in place for more than 50 years).361960s-presentTelling new storiesTradition and resistanceNew social history esp. African American history and the role of slaveryContext and interpretationPersonalizing engagementTo tell the history to audiences that increasingly know littleTo protect historic sitesTo assert that the history matters38The South Rises AgainFlying in the face of resistance Confederate flags and reassertion of states rights

Georgia flag, 1956-2001

S.C. state capitol with ConfederateFlag, 1962-2000Conflict in SouthConflict between experts/professionals and popular historians39

Mississippi state monument atGettysburg, 1973

Georgia state monument, Gettysburg, 196140New modes of engagementReenactments and reenactorsExperiencesMake learning history fun and personalFilling gaps and challenging audiences

Roots (1977)

Bringing issue of war and slavery into American homes Ken Burns Civil War series in 1990s another example42Re-enactmentsLiving history sites Colonial Williamsburgs slave auctions; Conner Prairies Follow the North Star

Stone Mountain, GA

Denial of its past (or have to look hard to find it) a family friendly spot45Before Freedom Came (1991)Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond.The first comprehensive exhibition on African and African-American life in the antebellum south.

In contrast to the Museum of the Confederacy which has worked hard to become a more authoritative historical source. To incorporate new scholarship and to invite scholars into its conversations. Why this difference? Different kinds of sites, different kinds of management and money issues. Always going to have a smaller, niche audience. Harder to avoid its connection, unless changes its name. Different kinds of resources stuff! to tell its story.46

Slavery in NY in 2005-06. Thinking about relevance of the War (and of slavery) outside of the South. Here starting from a different place to establish that the war was relevant! That slavery existed. That the north not homogenous.47

African American Civil War Memorial and Museum, DC

Museum in 1999, memorial in 1997. Memorial and grounds now administered by NPS. Memorial surrounded by names of all 200,000+ men who served in USCT48Commemorating 150

On national level, NPS in the lead since it manages many Civil War related sites and is one of the few national organizations with this scope. Emphasis on presenting historical materials for the public. More than 70 NPS parks that have some connection with the War which they also connect to its legacy and the fight for civil rights.

Pitcaithley article (hes former chief historian of NPS) the more you can base your arguments or your presentation on original sources, the better off you are going to be.

He also comments about NPS decision that it needed to interpret and talk about the causes of the Civil War, something avoided for decades.50

Civil War Trust battlefield protection/preservation (formed in 1987).52

Lots of activity at state and local level. State commissions and state historical organizations53

Tie the commemoration to other contemporary issues building collections (digital); connecting to community revitalization.54

Very localized/individual commemorative activities such as crafts55