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 Enduring
Questions about an Enduring Time
When does the commemoration begin? What
are we commemorating?
I
am asked these questions often (along with "How
long did it take you to learn to pronounce 'sesquicentennial'?").
While the first battles of the Civil War began in 1861,
the issues leading up to the Civil War developed long
before that and legacies of the war continue even today.
No event in this nation's history has had as much impact
as the Civil War, and the goal of Virginia's sesquicentennial
commemoration is to better understand our past by examining
many facets of the Civil War from many perspectives:
Union, Confederate and African-American; battlefront
as well as home front; and military tactics as well
as cultural and social legacies. After all, we can't
understand the magnitude of the war without understanding
why they took up arms in the first place and what effect
all the fighting had.
For those reasons, Virginia's sesquicentennial commemoration
began in 2009 with two events that helped place the
coming of the Civil War into context. First, the Commission
was proud to sponsor the first official sesquicentennial
event in the nation, a symposium on April 29, 2009 at
the University of Richmond, "America
on the Eve of the Civil War." Dr. Edward L.
Ayers chaired the conference, gathering noted scholars
from across the United States to discuss events of 1859
and how they led to a country divided by war only two
years later. It was a groundbreaking program that receved
high praise.
 We
also worked with the West Virginia Sesquicentennial
Commission to mark the national kickoff
of the sesquicentennial. The joint-state event was held
in conjunction with a series of events for the 150th
anniversary of John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry. At
the time of the raid, of course, Harpers Ferry was in
Virginia. The separation of the western counties of
Virginia to form a new state is a product of the Civil
War and a topic of sustained interest that will be examined
an upcoming symposium.
To round off our inaugural year, the Commission distributed
a copy of "Virginia
in the Civil War: A Sesquicentennial Remembrance"
to every public elementary, middle, and high school
in Virginia. Teachers greatly appreciate this resource,
which provides a comprehensive overview of the Civil
War. I hope that you will order a copy.
The
second year of the sesquicentennial continued strong
with the second Signature Conference, "Race,
Slavery, and the Coming of the Civil War: The Tough
Stuff of American History and Memory."
The program, now available on DVD, featured noted historians
like James Horton Pulitzer Prize-winning author James
McPherson, David Blight, Spencer Crew, Ira Berlin, and
many more.
Many
exciting programs are planned for 2011, including the
opening of the highly-acclaimed sesquicentennial exhibition
at the Virginia Historical Society, "An
American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia,"
the third installment of the Signature Conference series,
"Military
Strategy in the American Civil War," chaired
by beloved historian and Commission member James I.
Robertson, Jr. Then, on July 21, 2011, the Commission
and the National Park Service will co-host a major 150th
Anniversary Commemorative Event at the Manassas
National Battlefield Park, to mark the sesquicentennial
of the First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run, and launch
the Civil War 150 HistoryMobile tour.
The
Commission has developed a number of other plans for
the commemoration, including successful document
digitization legacy project, Walk in Their Footsteps
application, and much more. We are joined in our planning
efforts by local
sesquicentennial committees in every region of the
Commonwealth, and funded in part through the generosity
of our partners and members of the Civil
War 150 Council. Together, it is our hope that you
will travel throughout Virginia during the sesquicentennial
to experience the history firsthand - - walk along the
battlefields, see the sites, hear the stories, and understand
the emotions.
We
are commemorating a time that defined a nation like
none other . . . and is happening now, throughout Virginia.
Come join us.
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