University of Richmond begins presidential inaugural festivities with symposium on the Civil War
April 11, 2008
Three perspectives on the Civil War from three prominent historians opened the inaugural weekend of President Edward L. Ayers at the University of Richmond April 10.
Ayers, who discussed Reconstruction, is a Southern history scholar and author or editor of 10 books, including "The Promise of the New South: Life after Reconstruction," which was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
He was joined by Drew Gilpin Faust, president and Lincoln Professor in History at Harvard University. She discussed the enormous number of Civil War deaths and the physical, emotional, spiritual and political toll they took.
The third speaker, Gary W. Gallagher, is the John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia. His talk examined the portrayal of the Civil War in films, particularly during the past 20 years.
Faust, whose latest book, "The Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War," said that the 620,000 Civil War deaths would equate to six million today, "something that's unimaginable." The logistics of dealing with that many dead led to mass graves, civilians searching battlefields for loved ones, and no means of identifying soldiers who perished.
Eventually the government stepped in to help ID the deceased, bury them and try to notify loved ones. After the war, the government began a massive search operation, finding and reburying the bodies of some 300,000 Union soldiers in newly created federal cemeteries.
Ayers described Reconstruction as two years of profound confusion that followed four years of unimaginable slaughter. There were predictions in the South that within 50 years the African-American race would be gone. However, Southern blacks took the initiative to reunite their families, often searching years for loved ones sold during slavery. Despite those who believed they could not survive on their own, blacks created businesses and acquired property. "They showed a great thirst for learning," said Ayers.
Hollywood influences what people believe about the war, said Gallagher, author of "Causes Won, Lost and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War."
He said films depict the war as one of four traditions: the Union Cause, the Lost Cause, the Emancipation Cause and the Reconciliation Cause.
The Lost Cause, he said, is losing ground in Hollywood after earlier gaining favor in its two most famous films, "Birth of a Nation" and "Gone with the Wind."
The Union cause, an effort to show the war as a means to maintaining a viable republic, is harder to explain in film. Modern movies have typically shown the Union cause, and Union soldiers, negatively, he said.
Since the movie, "Glory," the Emancipation Cause has moved to the forefront, he said.
Ayers' installation ceremony will begin at 12 p.m. April 11 in the Robins Center, followed by a picnic on the campus grounds, open houses and a musical celebration beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Millhiser Green.