Civil
War Sesquicentennial in Programs: Virginia Leading
the Way
Virginia
is recognized as the national leader of the sesquicentennial
by virtue of its strong state support, well-developed
initiatives and partnerships, and comprehensive approach.
The Commission is leading a statewide coordination
effort and planning a number of major programs and
annual events that includes:
Statewide
Coordination: The Commission coordinates,
unifies, and supports the rich network of existing
museums and Civil War sites in the Commonwealth. Working
with the Virginia Tourism Corporation, the Commission
promotes Civil War museums and historic sites with
a view to making it easy for visitors and citizens
to plan visits to Civil War-related sites throughout
the Commonwealth. As part of this coordination effort,
each locality was asked to form a sesquicentennial
committee to work with the Commission and to coordinate
planning at the local level. Nearly all of the localities
in Virginia have created such committees.
The multi-faceted coordination effort includes:
Traveling Exhibition: An American Turning
Point: The Civil War in Virginia: The
Commission is working with the Virginia
Historical Society (VHS) in the production of
a three-part major exhibition, An
American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia,
which will depict life both on the battlefront as
well as the home front, and will be rich in artifacts,
documents, and high-tech components. The gallery exhibition
opens at the VHS in Richmond on February 4, 2011,
and then will travel over the next three years to
Roanoke, Abingdon, Lynchburg, Winchester, Quantico,
Hampton and Appomattox. A complementary panel exhibit
will also be developed for travel within and outside
of the Commonwealth.
Civil
War 150 HistoryMobile (tractor trailer) Exhibition:
The Commission is also developing a Civil
War 150 HistoryMobile that will be derived from
An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia.
The HistoryMobile will be housed in a 53' single-expandable
tractor trailer and contain high-tech interactive
displays to present both battlefront and home front
stories, as well as local history and tourism information.
The HistoryMobile will travel throughout Virginia
and beyond, drawing audiences to events and activities
in the Commonwealth.
The
Commission received a We the People grant from the
National Endowment for the Humanities in the amount
of $950,000 in support of the Civil War 150 HistoryMobile
and the VHS-led gallery exhibition in 2009. The Commission
is only the third recipient of this prestigious Chairman's
Special Award grant.
Civil
War 150 Legacy Project: Document
Digitization and Access: The Commission
and the Library
of Virginia are partnering to identify
and locate original manuscript material concerning
the Civil War. These materials may include letters,
photographs, diaries, maps, and other Civil War-era
materials.
The Library of Virginia is sending teams of archivists
to scan privately-held manuscript material for inclusion
on both the Library of Virginia and the Virginia Sesquicentennial
of the American Civil War Commission websites. The
teams are coordinating visits with local sesquicentennial
committees to ensure coverage of the entire state.
Virginia
in the Civil War: A Sesquicentennial Remembrance -
DVD Educational Resource: Working with
James I. Robertson, Jr., Distinguished Alumni Professor
of History at Virginia Tech and Executive Director
of the Center for Civil War Studies, the Commission
developed a DVD to serve as an educational resource
throughout the commemoration, Virginia
in the Civil War: A Sesquicentennial Remembrance.
In November 2009, over 2,000 DVD sets were distributed
to each public elementary, middle and high school
in Virginia to be used as a supplemental teaching
resource. In addition, each public library system
and every local sesquicentennial committee in the
state received the DVD set.
Divided
into nine 20-minute segments to facilitate ease of
teacher use in the classroom, segments focus on the
background of the war, military campaigns, the African-American
experience, leading Virginia personalities, the common
soldier, home front activities, and legacies of the
war. In 2010, this program was nominated for an Emmy
award and won two bronze Telly Awards in the categories
of education / academic use and history/biography.
Walk
In Their Footsteps database: The Commission
has developed a new
web resource and app that will enable people to
see places that their ancestor’s regiment served
in Virginia during the Civil War, and then to easily
plan visits to those sites. Information on each regiment
- - whether Union or Confederate - - that fought in
over 100 battles in Virginia is provided, along with
detailed information about the battles. Visitors will
be able to print out a “Battle Plan” of
Civil War sites in Virginia that they want to visit
in person, literally walking in their ancestor’s
footsteps. This comprehensive database will offer
a launching point for people across the nation to
map out and visit the actual sites where their ancestors
served in Virginia during the Civil War.
Signature
Conference Series: The Commission is
sponsoring an annual conference series featuring the
nation’s finest historians that focuses on fostering
broad public understanding of the history of the Civil
War. While each conference stands on its own, taken
as a whole, the series will address the full spectrum
of Civil War history.
The first Signature Conference was the first major
sesquicentennial program in the nation and was widely
hailed as setting the standard for the sesquicentennial
commemoration nationwide. The second conference drew
similar widespread praise, and both programs brought
several thousand attendees from across the country
and internationally.
The complete Signature Conference series is below:
2009:
America
on the Eve of the Civil War
Conference Chair: Dr. Edward L. Ayers
Location: University of Richmond
Date: April 29, 2009
2010:
Race,
Slavery and the Civil War: The Tough Stuff of American
History
Conference Chair: Dr. James O. Horton
Location: Norfolk State University
Date: September 24, 2010
2011:
Military
Strategy in the American Civil War
Conference Chair: Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr.
Location: Virginia Tech
Date: May 21, 2011
2012:
Leadership and Generalship in the Civil War
Conference Chair: Lt. Gen. John Knapp
Location: Virginia Military Institute
Date: March 22, 2012
2013:
The Home Front in the Civil War
Conference Co-Chairs: Dr. Scott R. Nelson and Dr.
Carol Sheriff
Location: College of William and Mary
Date: April 20, 2013
2014:
Civil War in a Global Context
Conference
Chair: Dr. Peter N. Stearns
Location: George Mason University
Date: May 31, 2014
2015:
Memory of the Civil War
Conference Chair: Dr. Gary Gallagher
Location: University of Virginia
Date: TBD
Anniversary
Events: The Commission worked in partnership
with Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and the
West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission
to "kick off"
the sesquicentennial commemoration nationwide at Harpers
Ferry in summer 2009, in conjunction with the 150th
anniversary of John Brown's Raid.
Other major anniversary events are:
2011:
First Battle of Manassas (150th
Anniversary Event: July 21, 2011 - Manassas
National Battlefield Park)
2012:
Battle of the Ironclads; Peninsula Campaign (Hampton
Roads; peninsula area)
Seven Days Battles (Richmond)
Jackson’s Valley Campaign (Shenandoah Valley)
2013:
Emancipation Proclamation
Chancellorsville (Fredericksburg/Stafford)
2014:
Overland Campaign (Spotsylvania)
Siege of Petersburg
2015:
Appomattox Courthouse
