Enduring Questions about an Enduring Time
When does the commemoration begin? What are we commemorating?

I am asked these questions often (along with "How in the world did you 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 multiple facets of the Civil War from multiple perspectives: Union, Confederate and African-American; battlefront as well as home front; and military tactics as well as cultural and social topics. After all, we can't really 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 begins in 2009 with two events that help place the coming of the Civil War into context. First, the Commission is proud to sponsor the first official sesquicentennial event in the nation, a symposium on April 29 at the University of Richmond, "America on the Eve of the Civil War." Dr. Edward L. Ayers will chair the conference, gathering noted scholars from across the United States to discuss events of 1859 and how they lead to a country divided by war only two years later. It should be an innovative program and I hope that you will be able to join us.

We are also planning a joint meeting in June with the West Virginia Sesquicentennial Commission, marking the national kickoff of the sesquicentennial. The joint-state event is being held in conjunction with a series of events for the 150th anniversary of John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry. At the time of the raid, of course, Harper's Ferry was in Virginia. The separation of the western counties of Virginia to form a new state, West Virginia, is a product of the Civil War and a topic of sustained interest that will be examined an upcoming law symposium.

The Commission has developed a number of other plans for the commemoration, including traveling exhibitions, educational DVDs, annual conferences 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 it begins now. Come join us.