introduce

jonathan to you all. he is your first speaker, and i'm delighted to be to to enjoy yet another presentation from him. jonathan nogales, director of university's mccormick civil war institute and, a professor in our history department. he's the author and editor of 15 books and has published more than 100 reviewsessays and bookn scholarly and populapublication. najjar has consulted on public projects with organizations such as the national park service,■-americot and national geograic he is the recipient of numerous awards for his teaching scholarship, including shenandoah university's exemplary teaching award, the first year seminar, the university's wilkinse state cour education in award.

the highest honor that can be given to anyone teaching at a college or in vgirçgales is nexd i want to read that one? a book that focuses on the battle of cool spring and its on soldiers and july by savage beauty. all support the mccormick civil warsheets about. the book are located at the front the room and i know you won't be disappoint by that. so with further ado, have a wonderful day. i to you, jonathan noyalas. thank you, dr. coker, for that introduction. i feel very blessed and fortunate to work at an administration that so supportive of the civil course o

really kind of brought me to shenandoah. so thank you for that. and also our president, who is not here today,racy fitzsimmons, and our university provost, dr. karen abraham. our official remarks thiswanted to w announcements and go over some so first and foremost, i want to thank all you for attending so many of you are here for the ninth year o the 10th year or whatever it is. some of you are here for the first time. if you're here for the first hopefully you're going to come back next year. and for many, ny come. so within your folders, there are things related to today. so obviously the schedule, there is a comment. so we're to know about, you know, how you learned about this, what you might like to see at future conferences. so throughout the course of the day, if you have ideas in your mind about fut that yellow card

and then give them to one of my conferences assistants thisng as morning. or you can give it to me. also make certain that you've received your lunch ticket. that's the real winner of right? the culinary delights of allen dining hall. you can access those without. that lunch ticket. we also have information about fall seminar and tour program in november coming up. so if you are interested in that, there are multiple ways that you can register and you certainly look at the flier that is in your a book raffle as we do every year. again to raise money to support student research and our other . so i a student in the back, josw many raffle tickets he sells. so if you want josh to graduate from shenandoah or buy■7 ticket. if not, we'll see him next because he is supposed to graduate december, so hei do wae

donors, whether you're you're giving donations or buying raffle tickets, these things make an impact. or the first time ever, the university fees mccormick civil wa to scholarships to and teachers institutions throughout the country. institute does is making history acceiband so we're able to do tt significant a significant ■way through, awarding scholarships. so thanks to all of you who ha donated to our efforts over the course of the years, a few other things before we start. so we are fortunate to hav c-span us today. so during the q&a session, i will=k have students with microphones. so if you have a please raise yourhone to get to you.

well know i love to run a tight schedule. exist for a reason. it's to keep things on track. so if you have a question that would like to ask of one of our historians today aren't able to fit itregularly allotted time. all of our historians are happyo speak with you during breaks. so see that as anwell. and final out in the back of the room, we have, aepreseat from the fort collins war center. so several years the civil w der an invitation with t civil war o really help provide and assista. and so we do programs out at fort colliercourse of the year. so patrick stein, who is a good friend, he's a memberf fort coc center as.

am i. is back there with information about fort collier, about upcoming programs? if you'd their contact list? form back. and finally, years i think the l war institute has become somewhat of a family. i've gotten to know of you so very of sadness and joy. so one of our lome attendees 've decided to dedicate thise conference in his honor on thej. since the beginning of my career as a jelinek just celebrated their 50 year wedding anniversary so congratulations to.

in the late sg.of 1862. lieutenant william wheeler the 13th new york light artillery could not believe his saw as the army of, which he was a part. general john c fremont's army was coursing of the shenandoah wheeler saw troops in, his army ral lewis division act veryru towards of the valley whout, regard to allegiance, whether they were pro confederate, pro-eu or enslaved. he thoexhibited throughout thate spring, 1862 went beyond the normal practices of an army and they really crossed over into an

wheeler, who was a native of new york city, he was a of yale college graduate, 1855, and would ultimately be killed in fighting outside of marietta, georgia, 1864. he wrote a letter to his aunt that late spring from the camps in page county,n virginia and he wrote how the of soldiers in the army of which he was a troubled, very deeply. and he wrote in part there the feeling that we were fair and bg country and that our opponents were fighting to their fire sides and homesteads. it is by no means agreeable to deprive farmers of their■" grain hay and to carry our favorite horses. amid the teand supplications of the womenfolk.

■das wheeler continued on in tht letter he for moment, stepped outside of himself. he wanted to empathize with exp. and so he tried put them. he tried to put himself into their shoes. how he feel if this happening in connecticut. how he feel if this was happening to of his own on in ts letter to his aunt. isv■k cannot help mentally transferring the whole trouble to the northern country if louisiana tigers or some such notorious corps should have a chance. march through connecticut. when wheeler got to the end of the struggled to remember why it that he enlistedujmind when he enlisted.

he enlisted to presee thunion. ultimately, to destroy the institution of slavery. and he thought this would all take place on the battlefield. he did not enlist to fight against civilians. and hethe letter. indeed, i am sometimes inobject. because my mind losses and miseries which are daily before my eyes. i think the realitythat wheeler was not alone in his a objections, certainly at this early point in the conflict, from the early stages of the civil. there were tho i united states army who believed engaging in a policy of concealing. what one harbors weekly unquote approach tog war.

people like him that engaging in thisic conciliation. individuals like lieutenant general winfield scott geor vmc. they thought that engaging in this gingerbread arowar. that if they could confine the conflict to the battlefield if they cou l civilians out of it, which as i think f us in this room understands how difficult this ws i mean we're in a commuy right now winchester that essentll door multiple battles numerous occupations fighting literally in the streets of this this wasr ideal let's confine it to the battlefield. let's keep civilians out of the conflict. and ultimately, if we do these things, it willut a quick end to the war. those■tual who favored

this policy of, conciliation, levels of general scott or george mcclellan or down to the lowliest private, theyelieved that refraining from waging war, civilian populatio wultimately o win the war.st, they thought that if we don'tf advery against civilians, it mightit'sd that when the war bens confer, f you're in a place like, wi county, virginia, where we're at right now, not everybody supported the confederacy, 15% of this city's population were pro-union. and then there's another segment of then who are what i like to call leave alone. family that lived at fort collier during civil r cat.

guys, in his early kids. his primary concern is ur they that if you engage in would sway. want to more aggressively support the union. and favored conciliation, they thought that it would perspectives on civilin so a pro confederate resident of■& front royal, lucy bourque wrote in her diary on march 1862. that soldiers were nothing more l of despotism for. as she wrote, the arch fiend lincoln. and they also thought that if you in this policy of conciliation it would make it easier once the conflict ended to up the nation's wounds and the country among those individuals who believed approat

early on in theax conflict, but for much of the war. is that man rithonel thorburn? so if hoban spent a considerable portion of his military service in the shenandoah valley, so from his time as colonel of the virginia u.s., what became the first west virginia through his tenure as division. in 1864? witnessed civiliansmaelstrom and he largey believed that the practice of waging any form of war against. he thought that taking civilian property, however much you took he thought that destroying civilian property that for5 any short term benefits it might produce. what ultimately in the long run prove detrimental? on july 22nd, 1864.

this four days aer his fought a very, very fiee the river ate of cool sing. ■that battlefield with me at the university of course property. the battle of cool spring, the vindictive spirit that is manifest south. maybe just. but it is not calculated too the fraternity with. justice must be with mercy. the government should be mild and forgiving as well as firm and true to its own integrity. belief more than two years in february of 1862, captain philip h. sheridan this is the same.

sheridan who in the autn 1864 commanded the army of the shenandoah in the valley, hat destructive period of the burning in late september and early he thought early in the■ conflt that mishandling relations with civians could lead to very large and deep political troubles in the future. in the early part of 1862, sheridan, serving as the chief commissary quartermaster for major general samuel curtis's army of, the southwest. so curtis's was tasked tasked driving general stirling price out of missouri. and during price's curtis's, the all kinds of challenges he confronted whether was a major challenge. th nature, the landscape was a significant challenge. but one of the most significant

dilemmas he confronted was that because the horrific weather conditions, because the nature of the roughich his army travers using up horses a very alarming rate. and an army at this is only going to move as fast as you have fresh horses torward. and so he was always obses certe army had enough of horses. and it was s4■riresponsibility n that the army had enough. so february 18th, 1862, general curtis issued an order which really didn't. it did not s well at all with phil sheridan. and here's the order. necessary to your loss in you will buy or press in a service as to keep up the @qefci transportation of this a. 6 this an order that greatly

troubled sheridan while he was authorized to purchase them, sheridan believed the instctionso horses into service was really to stealing. and here's what he wrote curtis. i will buy artillery, cavalry or quartermaster stock, which is the only authority i have to make purchases and, which is the only way that purchases can be made. i will not. jayhawk or steel in any way on any order nor will i acknowledge the right of any person unmy dio do so? sheridan thought in particular that this was a troubling practice which to engage in a state like. missouri as all know, was a and sheridan and i think rightfully horses into the service of the uld not only

further solidify confederate allegiance, but it might actually sway unioniate side because they might saying, okay, sherid takes these horses, we're loyal to the union. is this what it means to remain loyal to the union. so sheridanasy about this. and what of sheridan's staff officers he wrote that state of line. if the people were fairly dealt ple getting for the property taken would go fo side. and sheridan considered tpolicy. this is also interestingly enough, a perspective that confederates share. in the summer of 1864 as confederate jubal early army is moving through the shenandoah

valley in the maryland en route. eventually to the gates of the capital. there were some in earliest command, including this man right here, brigadier general warren, who believed that as the army moved further, as army got into places like berkeley county, west virginia, and specifically the city of martinsburg, where live a place that confederate soldiers in 1861 called quote unquote, litt massa because the strength of the union, a sentiment in martinsburg gabriel war and thought that as early as martinsburg impulse to want to take things he said we should frain from it because. he thought that there would coe go into that city and just take things fromzç civilians. now, unfortunately, that did not

happen. when martinsburg in john b gordon's out as were and wrote in a letter to his wife. but warren, i think thought more some other confed commanders. he thought that doing this in a border■are in a state of constag alienate potential suppo there d be other adverse consequen wrots wife on july six, 1864, from the army's camp near sharpsburg, maryland. fear that it will stir up the yankee officers, ed li up his dd thus prolong the war. so i want totep back a moment from this and offer, maybe a little bit of a broader e. i don't think he's far off the

mark here. union ben butler when he occupied new orleans. in may of 1862. and you think about butler's women's order and all the stuff that that that became a rallying cry to help recruits into the confederate army. because he's doing this, you rate conscription is going effecti mg effort and support for the draft because butler it brought troop confederate forces who were going after butler. i don't think this is some kind of irrational idea. i think there is precedent en help understand if we do this, we can pont of. now beyond concerns about how waging war on civilians might as how they might benefit the

opposing side. er who simply believed that anything negative of toward civilian simply it was uncivil. thought it would have an adverse development as human beings. this is a moment, i think, the o wrote a great book about quakers from il war, i think captured this this very, very well. and nelson observed that there are so many■ soldiers the outset of the conflict, in particular, that they thought if theyyn enge in these types of activities againstuld lose their sense as e value of human. they would lose their sensitivity aso wrong to destroy private

property. there s soldier who wrote very simply that if i stay in this army for the three years of my enlistment he wrote and i'm quoting now, will become a total barbarian barbarian. others thought that it was unwise to wage war against civilians anddiscipline. and so maintaining discipline in an army. this is a very critical thing to do, potentially subjecting soldiers who lag behind, who are more interested inting and pillaging that it could subject them to being irregular forces, bushwhackers and the like. so throughout the course of the conflict, officers on both sides and this is not unique to one side or the other, thiss for both sides, they always constantly trying to figure out what can we ? kind of orders cat in place to make certain that these typeofhappen? that discipline does not break down and men are not

unnecessarily into harm's way. so they're issuing orders preventing this type of behavior. and also, they throughout the conflict, protective orders fo's mornin in the spring of 1862, josiah baker, who is ■)ere onheside, ta resident ofth the confederacy when he union forces coming into winchester there in the early spring 1862. he was deeply concerned about what might happen. things on his 150 acre property. and so he went to the first officer he could find. that guy right there, major jonathan lockwood of the seventh virginia u.s issue a protectiver and lockwood did. and here's the order and the order prohibited troops from

trespassing upon the premises. and it noted that those who did would be strictly punished. so what does the punishment look like? united states army regulations article 52 clearlytes what happens if you don't have orders from an officer to go and ou just go under your own power to a property and take stuff that doesn't belong to you and? the regulations state any officer or soldier who shall plunder and pillage every offender being duly convicted thereof shall suffer death or. such other punishment as shall be ordered by the of a general court martial. while waging war in any form against might indeed as idid lead to breakdowns in discipline. while it mightllthere is eviden. there are some soldierwho thought if you weighed everything in the balance, the pros and the cons, recognizing

that we do not, in an ideal world, that their actions were indeed justified. so i want to spend some this morning talking about how they felt they were justified, because this whole presentation dr. finkelman, next up willive all the perspectives about military law and those types of things. but this is a very intimate exploration morning. first and goes, are going to justify actions because they recognize the of doing so for reasons of survival, self-preservation, what we might call self-care. so if we look, for instance, at isaac barker, isaac barker was a indiana who served in 147th indiana regiment. he served in the final months of th

and if you look at his letters, he is really to survive. and in his letters, hero writesa lot about how he misses mom's home cookeal certainly fare is t anywhere remotely close to mom's chicken soup. so barker isto myself more comf? how can i benefit from the environment around me? es in one of his letters about going to a■arm and just taking cherries from this now he was taking these cherries only for himself to

like i need. engaged this type of activity. this unique. so during stonewall jackson's ae examples that exist of confederate soldiers who see the uniform on their back as a free pass to go any piece of property and take whatever it is,ant. and this is something that, quite honestly, if you look at the large array of diaries and letters written in the moment, this was something that bothered confederate sympathizers the valley. so you also have to understand right, that not everyone who was a confederate sympathizer as it was like, hey, great, we're going to open up my farm and you could have whatever you want. not the case. the stein that liveat fort collier, sconfederacy bills eveh for stuff had taken from his property.

these are part of his confederate file now at the nation archives. so confederate civilians, they tracy to succeed, but they don't want it to personal expense. and so as confederate soldiers are coming and just taking, their civilians are bothered. this. there was one confederate civilian wro t soldiers are more troublesome than the yankees because they gyw■ fear. now as conflict wore on for union sdiers, those who once favored thisconciliation that we talked about earlier in my remarks this morning, those perspectives began to harden. they began to harden was of thr withe and more union soldiers,

in encounters, ■ícivilians. as they had more and more encounters with enslaved populations, they began to feel that it was okay to do whatever they civilians because of how institution of slavery was. one of these individuals who transformed perspective so samuel woodworth enlisd e fid mechanics in the summer of 1863, when he enlisted. he brought with him no outrd to. so he was a guy that loved the n. he wanted the union. obviously to win. he wanted to be rt triumphant effort. but he really seemed to favor a

policy of conciliation. but the more he encountered enslaved people, he ou the end,n did, whether it was on the battlefield or the home front, anything that they did, that might help bring abo that it was indeedf@ justified. on october 15th, 1864, he wrote his wifei have come to the war. i have had an opportunity learn something of the hard institution of slavery. oh, how wicked and how cruel. i have conversed with a great many from all parts the south and that i've come io our lines for protection. and it has drawn tears from my eyes to listen to theirad ory. what he writes here is repeated time and time and time again

among literally oth of letters from union soldiers. there is not that makes union soldiers favor emancipate nation more th s slavery firsthand. this is one of many examples. others thought that taking war to■6 civilian populations was warranted, particularly in areas where civilians were violent and aggressive■x■d toward union occupiers. i'm not talking what women? winchester. confederate women inincheste like, you know, getting off the sidewalk when a union soldier was walking down or not talkingn on. july 25th, 1862. there were at least one. there was at least one civilian sympathizer.

more inbushot and seriously woua the 23rd massachusetts infantry. while soldier was on picket duty so this image here on the screen is actually showing that newburn. so it kind of gives you a at the time. ■q killed but wounded. and the massachusetts thought that if we don't get this under control right could spiral very, very rapidly. now, unfortunately, they were persons who fired the shot. but what they were able to do was identify the building from shot was fired. so ultimately they decided to send a very clear message by tearing that house down.

henry valentine, who wteran of e recalled that soiers we■orderedm the cut down or pulled up the corn, destroy the pea outbuildings. the larger part of men directed their attention to the house itself. they were just in the humor for the operation, and soon everything was level with the ground. as the war goes on, attitudes evolve. perspectives change. it's rather interesting to kind off this because early in the conflict, people like winfield, scott mcclellan, lieutenant wheeler and thorburn, others, they thought that the speediest way to about an end to the war was iliation. clearly, by late 63, early 64, that was not working. and so they to think that maybe being more aggressive in military policy, civilians would

actually speed up the end of the conflict and end the■ conflict more swiftly. and so you to see people changing their mind. among those individuals who changed their mind was joseph. on october 4th, 1864. so this is just, you know, a couple of months after he's a letter to his brother about how conciliation and still in the summer of 1864 is the best approach. by■v october, the first week of october, 1864, ae army of the shenandoah engages in campaign of the burning slow to alter his perspective as the army was in harrisonburg. he wrote a letter to his brother about how, in retrospect, burning taking things of military, destroying things of military value, making certain that they were not accessible to

confederate forces was really strategically beneficial and would bring about a much swifter end to the conflict. now thorburn recognizes this, that this is perhaps the lesser of two evils. and you start see soldiers on both sides, civilians on both sides thinking about this. so what's worse to, burn a barn or kill aa&an? writes, to destr. but it is believed to be military necessity and the end will justify the means which, though not a very good rule. as an individual man may do in war for all elements of war are the taking of life is certainly worse than the destruction of property. %2there is no ideal. there is no perfect solution. in tobin's mind. but the of his perspective.

again, not■6 something else that is not unusual abo thought. it's this process of rationalization. soldiers throughout the conflict as they are engaging in is type of activity. they're trying to rationalize in thei mind in order to sleep at nigh this just or not. after. or excuse me. three months before. perspective confederate cavalry from general john mccausland is command raided into southern part of pennsylvania and as we all know burned chambersburg one of the members of mcclellan's command was j. kelly bennett served in the eighth virginia cavalry. and bennett received this order. they were going to go into

rn it. and as torches were basically being pasd aroundhe recorded his diary, how heht was wrong, that we should not be about what he has written in his diaryy. how he was condemning the acts of. individuals like union gener■a d he thought, well, now we're of to about this. he begins to rationalize in own mind and he begins to rationalize it in the context of the destruction that did occur. thought, well this is this is a this is fair retaliation. this is a fair ren to communitie shbut what's interesting about bennett is, in some weird way, he believed that the destruction

confederates soldiers engaged in was more humane and civil. and he wrote in part that burning, per se is wrong. no man can deny, but there may be circumstance under which it is not only justifiable but becomes duty instead of snatching from the hands of the ladies what they had saved from burning houses and throwing it back into flames. our men could be seen all over the city, checking the fire or carrying trunks, etc. for the ladies. how beautiful. it's one of those kind of justified taking war to civilian ldiers who never thought that it was acceptable in any form. they maintained throughout the conflict that it was wrong. they maintained that was unjust. and if you read diari aletters s

throughout the course of the conflict, you see a lot of examples of how thisype of aggressive activity really appalled them. so for example during the trevelyan raid in of 1864, sergeant james avery of the fifth michigan cavalry, as he oftentimes in his diary, he recorded how distraught he was over seeing men from his command just out and taking things without orders, looting, pillaging, destroying and the like. so one of his typical diary entries related to this comes from the trevelyan raid. he wrote, duty is duty. but i have known men under, the guise of duty to pillage buildings of even beds and carpets. what is the need of this lawlessness? no good soldier will do such thing. i say such men were not soldiers. busneaking dogs.

i would that perspective is not unique. you think about your life. there are things that you■1 see. there are things that you experience that really are truly appalling. and you might say to your spouse or friend, wow, that's bad. that'st it in your diary. this isrible. but only a small percentage of human beings will actually do something to remedy the problem. it's veasy to confide a friend or a piece of paper, but actually up to do something to stop that is think remarkable and■ there are examples of up when.

they see these types of things happening, saying enough is enough. this needs to be stped.want to look at a couple f examples to illupoint, both of y in late may of 1864, union david hunter, from the moment he took command on 21st, 1864, he implemented a very aggressive policy toward confederate civilians. and what hunter did, by the way, was without precedent. it had been done everywhere, but he was aggressive toward confederate civilians because he believed and is right in this, that confederate civilians, the key toirregular partizans

bushwhackers. and so when hunter came to the valley, he recognized there was no way the united states was ever going to assert control partizan problem was dealt with first. and so he directed that, if un'm talking military destroyed or taken by those irregulars that hunter directed that any. sympathizer who lived within a ten mile property was taken or destroyed, that people living within a ten mile radius who were confederate sympathizers would pay five times the value offurthermore, e attacked. beyond

attacking wagon that if you're attacking a soldier, a human army guerillas or bushwhacrs. houses of secessionists would be burned without mercy. two days after hunter came to the valley, he implemented policy in newtown, virginia which is prese day. stephen. so on that day, a contingent of union cavalry entered stephen's city and they burned structures that believed were connected to an attack upon a union wagon train the previousthat attack ar hunter out his order. needless to say, the anxiety levels went way up among the civilians virginia, and they reacted to this in in a rather interesting way that i think goes beyond justiscussions of

civilians and ser offers insight into issues ofal after this proy was burned, ale burned. there was a contingent ci from newtown, all of whom were coed sympathizers, wanted to meet general hunter to talk about how we avoid this type of thinin future. well, hunter wouldn't meet with them. he's like, i am not even talking towhat he will what did ultimately doff officers, his cousin david hunter strother met with these confederate civilians and. they asked him, what can we do in ordero certaithat our property is not victimized from perspective. he said, it's really se. your wd

do we will safegua your property. these are confederate civilians. confederate sympathizers who presumably want the confederacy to. but now they're balancing that loyalty to a cause with loyaz8uy to their house, to their family, and to their property. guess what wins out?loyalty to d omit, really, when strother tells them this is the deal, they rat out one particular wom name was mary wi. mary wilson was a 60 year old widow, notorious for having her resident be a gathering place for. bu bushwhackers. for those of you aren't aware, these areentially people who are supportive of the confederacy but are not part of any organized regular unit. as.

they please and do what they want. so when hunter learned of this, he said, okay, guess what we're going to do. we are going to go and burn down the widow wilson's. so may 25th, contingent of soldiers from the 20th pennsylvania calvary, they show up in newtown. they're ready to then learn somr ■>wn the home so the way this this is the fint of a conac that the order was written, it stipulated that could onurhat wy secession if she didn't own it. nt house. the cavalryman from the 20th cav did not home. and so they thought, well, this is a conundrum. they well, let's do the next best thing. so they decided actually empty the contents of the home ■ffurniture, the clothing, chai,

everything, pile it up in the middle of the street. and when the soldiers started to do widow wilson, like, house, but at least i'll have my stuff that was inside of the house. so she actually does something that is maybe a little bit unthinkable. she actually helps the union soldiers. just door.eed a hand wh i'll help you. let's help clear up my closet. and she realizes the error of her ways. because once the home completely empty union take her, they put her in a rocking chair. they tire to the rocking chair inll of her possessions, and they burn her. now, after her possessions were reduced to a pile of ashes those union, theunr at the hands. they her to the back of a horse so that she would walk behind the horse and basically■ started dragging her south toward bel

grove, which is where hunter's headquarters was located. so just as the column moves out, so this is actually a sketch that the valley pike leading into new town. so she's kind of coming towards us with the calvary. and so just as this column starts moving south, there's a massive downpour and. the jovial part of me, myere kif know, have a weird sense of humor. she's probably thinking, what comes and is one unidentifieduts soldier. from the 20th pennsylvania cavalry who■> looks behind and sees the 60 year old widow being drug exhaust tired. oliver possessions hdestroyed. and he simply thought, you know this is wrong. like we can justify burning her ■?stuff and we understand we hae to get her to hunter's

headquarters. wrong and other guys in that ut also tho start thinkingr mothers and grandmothers again thut wheeler trying to empathize a little bit. let's in their shoes. so this soldier called the column to halt untied, put her on the back of the horse and way to the headquarters. in case you're up releasing her, so she wasn't su else. now, while this union calvary man took it upon himself to juso something about it. there are also exam bills that exist of entire units collectively saying this is wrong we ought not to do this. and while there are many episodes thatustrate this, i want to talk about one

to show how a unit collectively says this is a wrong, unjust, immoral order. on the evening of october third 1864, philip sheridan, commander of t army, shenandoah, he received some rather startling engineer officer, someone he first lieutenant john rogers miggs had benow, historically, t general williams wickham command was conducting a survey near. dayton and dayton, by the way, where this institution began in 1875. little of shenandoah university trivia for you belies death was not military act. he thought that since migs was killed essentially inside of union, that he had to be

murdered. bu. and so without investigation into what happened, sheridan sought immediate revenge for the son of union quartermaster general montgomery c sheridan ordered that every single dayton, virginia and a five mile radius ordered them burned to the ground. so the task of burning dayton virginia fell upon the shoulders of 116th■! ohio. when the buckeyes received order, they hadom emotions. ohio guys are usy od, right? we have our ohio, some of our ohio contingent. so during the time in dayton and rockingham county, they spent some time in that community, got

and i've never been in this e a very difficult thing to dsomeone you like somezpe you have gotten to know might be easier to destroy property. 'portrait. but you know these■ú people. so in the early hours of oc (■xs commanded by fella you see there in the center of the screen, lieutenant colonel thomas wildes, he received this directive from sheridan. he was he was distraught over it, but he knew he had to carry out this order. so he sent his men to go round door to door, knocking on every the community will be destroyed. and he wants to give residents of dayton time to gather as many of their possessions as[mis wasr

wildes and his men to do. it was a heart rending scene. one member of 116th ohio wrote such mourning such lamentation, i never saw nor never want to see crazy made crying for help, whilems around yankee soldiers necks and implore them for mercy. i can't imagine how the anxiety t2and levels of the residents of dayton were going unquantifiable off the charts, because as the day wore on, soldiers om custe'e burning theom periphery of dayton. so smoke is build are bringing r possessions out of their homes. really thinking like for them, the end of the almost to them, an apocalyptic scene.

one resident wfires on every si. and what littletalehat was had was taken on sleeping stretched on thee.nse blanket o. now settled over the■] country r the moment that wilds this order. he had really serious misgivings about it. so much he decided to write a note to sheridan,racter as wrote the character of the i urged and begged sheridan to r order. when sheridan receid this note from lieutenant colonel wildes, his initial reaction was one of e staff officer recorded that. read the note and swore. re swore he was in great grief over the death of his valued staff■p officer. what's interesting about this whole episode is at the end of the day sheridan dayton.

the question becomes why■ó for the longest time one of the here and the historian john wall, a good friend, passed years ago really that the ultimate of the did it out of respect for wilde's that he respected ability a hou you know what i'm going to take his judgment on this and we're not going to destroy dayton. something else. so sheridan wrote about why he rescinded the order. he memoirs, but never fully explained why he did some of y'm working on a biography of phil sheridan rig now, and i came across this other explanation. i'm not certain it holds any real weight. but there was a member of

general alfred to torvalds staff tauber was sheridan's of cavalry ande surmises that sheridan never actuallyn dayton, that he was going to take them anyway. and that whilecertain how much t argument h if th reaction that the staff officer recorded about sheridan swearing is in fact true. but nonetheless just putting it out ther a another potential region reason as to why did what he. as a postscript to story the citizens in marker a bronze tablet s memory. it sits at the corr main

inscription on thecreen throughout the years of the confttitude, attitudes, necessity of war against civilis and other simply. you know what? at no time the conflict does it anow. now, whether or not these rs or remain the same. soldiers on th sesrecognized hor against civilians■sn any form, whether it's killing civilians. historian jim mcpherson. you know, he estimated that out 50,000 civilians died during the war from different things. so wheth ultimate form of aggression, whether it's, you know, taking cherri and selling them or whatever the case is, soldiers recoized tran.

there opinion, who epitomize this perspective more than thomas or so thomas, or wasth west virginia infantry from the time of his enlistment in the summer of 1862, until he mustered out lot time in the valley at pohe witnessed war bed against civilians. nearly three decades after the ■iconflict, or took time to reflect on those war really offr up those experiences to future generations as lessons. ouwhat it means go to war, and then how consists of much more than armies fighting ea on a battlefield. i think quite frankly, rea■■ding

r's postwar writings, he was very bothered by how things were beco ized. and he and his comrades did not see war as something romantic. they saw it as tragic and cataclysmic. a lesson be learned from one of the reasons i love orr's writing is because he puts on what i teach to my students all the time. that history is a powerful sson, is a great teacher. you need to have history that is usable to learns that the civil war is something that people can learn. i think it's clear. after reading hision on the burning in the valley that he thought thewas militarily necessary, it union victory. but he saw and what he did, it haunted him for the rest his life orhat the desolation that occurred in the valley during the burning late

should as a reminder to all politicians, especially those people who are charged with making the decision to go to war, that you better hard befot final decision, that m be the . i think"k or recognized that war at times unavoidable. he certainly saw his service as just but he thought there was a civil war. part and i'll close my remarks with this the cruel fate of war had swept all they had away. you, you, who havelways enjoyed peaceful homes, know nothing of. the alarms and horrors o war ins countlesshoan more.

he is writing this at a timeng to war with spain over in cuba. with that. thank you all veryso we a few m. we have to get our our microphone people here so we'll get -- first andlç the. ■-jonathan have you found instances of so■■8ldrs have changed the their attitude toward slavery? having that's a great question. so. ■iduring the war, no, but i thik

as you get to that postwar pd?confederates recognit conflict john mosby is one of them. i mean, john, after the war writes extensively about how yeah i know that lost causes don't tockedt slavery kind of had to do with the war and then also i think there are individuals who recognize after the fact that it was it was bta wrong. couple. one is just maybe perhaps out of humor and curiosity. one local farm family that you mentioned, that bell, the confederate ask for the you stuff that they took if they were at all were they reimbursed withfederate money which would become useless the war and

the second question really as my primary one is i for my master's at liberty university. i'm actually. researching the two tier nition of equality within the abolitionist movement among christian ministers. curious as to your research, if you would, those who saw the horrors of slavery, if they wrote anything on extending the right to vote. african americans. so. ns. so first question about the stein no evidence that the they did pay them, obviouslyhem it would be confederate money. now, maybe8's great. by 63, when inflation is crazy, you think is bad. now you should tnkconfederacy. so no, there's no record that they receive financial ensation as to your your lastchanging towards enslaved ee

es a lot more slowly i would a. all right. so as as you have encounters with enslaved pple and so this is this is you know it's histor. so there's a book that came ou'l scott wrote this and this is a book. towards black people among white northerners and. so you can be both abolition minded also not wantfranchise te and which is what you see certainly i mean lincoln is someone who goes to this evolso lincoln's not wanting ex. and frederick douglass, i think as a significant factor in changing those perspectives.

but you don't have i don't think you have as much for voting rights, equality as you do for individuals who abolition. time for a few more questions. it's not exactly a question, but a very sad comment in a way that when.is almost the old days soldiers could even think about th and 're doing. and now, with the days of ai and drones and you■v just. yeah, they're not involved. i mean, civilians saidvilians '. and, you know, right. throughout all of military history, the a numerous examples, al, you're an air force guy, right? there are exampl guys who are, you know, going on long range bombg missions and it weighs on them psychologically. 're causing massive amounts of destruction. they don't know tom. b-52.

yeah. yeah. i think we have time for. one more question. so we'll get get. and then remember, if youo speak with during breaks as well could you comment on what happened front royal of whheicer decided tohe prisoners of war. oh the front royals. yes. yeah. so i mean, this is all connected to jthis is in september of 1864 there was incessant back and forth between mosby andheridan where you know moseby is taking me o sheridan's p.o.w.s and executing in clarka( county. and then you have, you know, union cavalry in september 64 are engaging in in those

hangings there. that happens like back and forth betwe tone of the very sat happens with the front royal executions is there was a young teenage his name escapes me at the moment, but a young teenage boy who when mosby's command■c s through front royal was excited and he thought he would like join the party. and he did. and ended up being captured. he was killed because they thought, you know, he's partizd him. and after wasxecuted union calvary, they put him in a wheelbarrow, took to the home of his mother, knocked on the door and dumped his there in front. so it's it's unimaginable all right how