visit college classrooms across the country during lectures in history. go behind the scenes at museums and historic sites on american artifacts and the presidency >> thank you very mh,

kel. indeed is a pleasure to be this ooktore wch is in the iddle o th burned dirict. r bloc aound this was nothing t smokin ashe, thfirst week o april186, andyou entioned, made soe ni commen about the range my sources. we'llhave o ell you storyabout a elision inteiew i had couplof days agobout the bk. the intrviewer sad, "no, know that you inervied someeyewitnees t he fire. and iwan yo to tel m about thoseyewiesses." and i it my tonge. i resited the uge o sy oh, yes i alked tosom 150-yearld peopl buidid avea rich,wid rangeof ourc to dra on nspapers nd dari an leers of odinypeole as well as he hihly placed the fie -- thefal of richmonin ril 1865 a thfire that me to symbize it, shttered

evything thahad occured in thehisto of the city up to thattimeand its infenced evething tht's happened ince. now, for peplein richmond at's pobay enough justificatiofor a ook, but he ook, i hin, is more an justrichmond just ciil wa it about t ceatioof the moern unitd states o erica, ad why d i say th? becse theconfedere effort tocreatea spara nation h to fail chmond ha to fall fo the to be th de uned statesf amrica that w know tday now,youcan't iagi, you can't mae p a re dramic seence ofevnts that ourred. you havethe cnfederate governmentwhich ted to eate a sparatesohern reblic, bandoned its capitaon aril 2, 1865. the southern amy eacuated the city the fre brned the usess district the uni armymarhed n, slave ende, and arah lcoln himse walked through thburning, smolding shes of tecit and at n eferson davi's

chair,andallthathapened thin 48 hors. yo just ca't imagine r make up moe dramatic quence of vents. no, to setthestae,by the sring f186, the civil arwascomng o close, een strong confedates begano see at their ause, te military ituatn was ndeed dire, an rihmond was urrndedbyyoud list he grant's amy - ulysses ant's arm, an inthe sprin of 185, genel le cod not old out aainst that army d he s that his ly chae was t retreato the wes he etreat an grant followed so the miitary ctin, s were, is off sagefro my bk. they'roff to te souhwest and in smalerunin -- and then salle uion armymarches n and ocups richmo as itfal. t te ightof apil and 3, 185, wa a nigt o

aos, s jeffrson davi's government leveson the last tainsfrom he danvill depot on th lst rail lne othe southwest, the only ral ine to confedete teritory even befor he cnfedate armyfledthecit y dawn, the city ell into chaos. civi order ell apat. the ity fathe tredto reducethe caosby destroyingthe liuor sppy because ey knew at if people got their ands lior, that wld make th lting and t rioting en worse. buthey failebecause th rolled a ask owhikeyout into t stret and knocked thbarrels inith thehead of aaxeand the iquid flowed o into thestreet, but mn,women, ven chiren go down onthe nds and neestolap up the alcool ad of course this jt mad the ituion woe.

thereas a bitish crespondenwho wa in richmond the time t observeall ofthis, ad his last olumntoappear rom rihmond i th tmesof lond quoted hakspeare hesaid, "hellis empy nd all the evils are hee." and it waa ild night, but by orni, by dan of monday,apri 3,1865, the lastf the cofedete fenders weefleeing ross the bidg and th tw aiload brdges whenthe lstunits lft, theyet the brigeson fire and tey buned seer tobao waehous hat contined cofedate governmenttobacc ey had theirrders t stroy anying of value. when thy set the ire, ere ws no ed,so hey hada chnce to just estroy ose gods of mlity vae, but as so as the sethe fie, a brsk ind

came up rom te south nd swt the fles throu the busiss distri and stroyed much of ichond, muchf thebusiness distct. now, iyou lok a a map nly abut 0% th total area ofthe ciy bured. st priate ousng urvived. buthe fie onumed90% o the busins distict a wi it, itwiped ou te bs of mosof the peopl in the cy. one of te great rfug was e gren spaceon caitol square, s cvilis fled thereto escap the fames. the nion general inchage of the amy hatmarched i s a manname odfr whitell. heand his taff tok u a positionn the sts of efferson's captol nd o of themsaid theylooke do on a caterof fire, and it as ki of a ignant oment for whesell beusehiswife h died of burnnot long ago andhe ust wodered abt the peple, ifthee re peopleeingbured down belw as e loked at

thfires. now, ne of he confdere men who bserd tefir sdthat the un,whi was well upn the sk now, a coue hours ater dawn a the ire eally itensified, she id the su shone thugh smoke like great acon of woor the awf unlashed e of an vengg deity. e conferate arsen began to bn too and veral hdred thsand artilleryshels ega to plode, s that mad it diffict for peop to fight e fire. on a confederat diaist obseed, henotd tat it wasnteresting l the banksbured andall the moey change nd he id, "tisseems like cree from ove." it aually s a ecre from ave. it ben fromthe higest levels of e confederate gh commandecause the had theiorders no to lee anythingf miliry lue,and that odercam wn the chn of ommand to the men wh li th fire o

the bridges and the obaco wahouses. no, te raction o prconfedera civlians n richmo shows ou how peop can hol conadictoryopinions a the same te, becuse hes people tanked and wre grateful, anked te yanks and wer graful to th tore fihting t fie. of course hat's wh happened. the uion army caminan foht the fir the civians were thnkfu for at. ey blaed jefferson davis even thou it was ee's en who st te fire ndthe ill ishd ndbelieved and hopedhat leewoul retu wit a faming swd and deliv them fromther ocpation, sohey hadall these contradtory feelin. now, the bok ges oup eks ater the fie bcause e week fte, ical i the wilig week,because the armies ae off tag and body now wht te outco is, nt een he unio occupiers so the ciilians accept,

llenly acept ccation because heystill he tat ybe the rsults illcom out forable totheir caus and theunionoccupiers aren'teally sur of what the outome willbe ither. you hae this iteresting ilight perd tore week nothat's the outine, th chrologof what th book coversbut hitory, think goodhistory i storytelling and at means teling anecdot about eop. i'd li to just mtion a few o the pepletha you'll ind in heboo. one ofthem was awomn nad fanny aylr dicknson and r diary ust ame the viinia hisorical soety just coupleof yearago, an i don' beeve it's bn usd n any books ike mine yet. shwasthewife of a baptt minsterandwasone of the pople wh oe of the may peopleho had no ea that thend for thr cause wa comig, soit stck herlikea hunr clap, and se egan tokeep diarytheday fte the fi and youreally get th sense of imedia when she

writes for xamp, atthe very begning, shesays someing like, "i ca't believe itas only sterday th the ynkees rrived. it eemed lie foever,and you t thi imediat feelg forlif under occution, nd tr to clude a lo ofcomments from jus ordinary flks like he. a coule dys ater sh sid, shewrote i her dary "la igh onriningthe bellor mily, she ws nowhere toe fond." in his ne understaed entence, anny ickinson caured the upheava that the fal of richmond mean, cause millwas gonand slery was oneand things woulnever be te sameand everyonead bla and whte, hado beg workin ot fferent rations. anotr realyfasinatg character s thoas chesr. he was n afrian-american jourlist, the ony lack journalisfor mjor northern per to b with the rthern armies omi into thecit. inact the wer a umer ofjounalists four ajo

pars in the orth who ame into theity the ay of he firend the next ouple days aftwards andthe st wonderful cablesbac to wonderfuland sensiti, etailed dispates back o teir papers ad because of the teleaph,the dy - on, mae at themos twodays ter, peoplin the nrth readhese vry deaile accountsf what as happeng in ricmond. so the was grea informion for mes a writer ecau during ths twilit week, ou woul ha these eportsthat had a bu lne and a datline," eveno the our, soyo knewhat theyknew at tat partular date d you alo ew what tey din't know ich iswhat was oing n with t militarsituaon. it's grea infortion. omaschter wrte his firstispatch o hs pper thphiladelph press, seated inthechar ofthe speaker othe ouseof delegat in te captol. itwas nevet f great symboli and he newit. he was a lack ma sitng in thatcha wting thi

firsdispatch. eat drmati stff. another pson wh a an apaling charter was a youngconferate rtilery genera he was o of the astunit acuatedto cros they o's bidge and h wroe ometime lter i'll quote from h memoir, "thehole river ont seemedo be in fles amid whh occsional heavy explions wer heard and the lack moke spreadg and haning over e city semed to befull of dredful portents. i roe on wih a ditinly heavy hearand a pculiar so of feeli of orphage." en there wa a captin, nus shrman th t nnth vernt regiment. onof the this i fod were iteresting tters writn by unn soldier wh came in. th knew ey wer obrving history ithe ming,sothey wrote letterand sent thm home and th northn ar mas re full ofhese leters from t first f days f occupatio lin sherman was a very

percepve new enland. he sai "people hee ae generallylad to s us. t i suppe formuch of a al union entimen but beuse they hve suffed so much and that as probabl a fir chracterizaton, gen the ople who sported he soutrn cause we jus beaten dwn and wornut and ey were hungry ad th we happy t see the yanes comi andhelp fit the fir ey weren'tappy with e resu. bu shemanwas perceptive in diviningther seiments. i guess one of the most poignant scenes comeswit e man nmed galand white. heas a caplain with the 28 usct that sands for unit stes color troopsnd ese were arican-amecan men wh were recrted o fight th the unn army. r lan whte's reimen was onof the fir to cme in the ci an they mahed throu the city nd throughthe western ge of to. th were followe bya large owd of fre people d they we to amilitary camp on thewestern edge of

town, sacked their ams an eoffcers askd galand whiteto et pandmak a few ommentsto pople about the meaninof freedom so he ws apreche, she was agifted seak. hegot p an bganto talk. just image, hiswasthe day ofreedom f the peoplee was talkg to and -- bt een houh he waa gited oraor, he chok up. he said a fw ords about freem and he ouldn finish bause he hd bee born ino lavery. ichond, and s boy ha been oldsouthto georg, had ecaped, wnt to thenorth became a preacherand nowhe ad nce come hme, with his rement. so hwas just cked up an while he w composing mself, a cple of his mrades bought anold lady to hi who wanted o uiz him, she trieto aswe r questionand ater she s satisfi, she sid, "garla, this i yor motherwho has een lookin for u for al these ars." you can't get mor poignant than that. one ofthegreatscees f

the ar oftheevuatio and the fre, ws on may owe's brid as it wa burng, adasthe last confedere units we leing, ad afterthe war for long tme ese coederate verans woul argue aout wo w te lst onto cross he brdge beforeit reall cllapd, and one of thm said, making his claim, hesai "if ay ossed aer wedid, hey need ave nofear of th otr world ecausthey sure were ireroof." and think een though som ofthese tories, thnk are qute dramatic,the winner forhe mo drmati has toe linoln'sarrival, ecause jt thi ofthi. ju think bout what wuld happen to th secet servi ifthey let the prsidet d thistoday. lincoln ws a general grant'sheaduarts at city pot, now hopewe, virgia. he w there t observethe ege and h justhappened to be threwhen he

campaignpend ad ee reeated andgrant folowed, andhen lioln hed that richmondad falen, h said "i antto ee richmon" so he amir i chargeof e gun bos on te jme, ordered th lotilla t o up rier and car lincol th his security ard to the ty. the nxt da, e first d afte the union occupation. we, they had to cleathe nfederate nes to start th and theswept th river fomines and g some of th buthey didn't t all of th, so it w bit tense going u riv. and one one, thshis had ngine trouble whee theyan into obstrutions. even wn the go t -- o they fel beind one by on and licoln moved o a progreively sall ship. en they goto the conferate barer acro the rive and hey relized hat thebiger ship uldn't go rough th barrier. lincoln nsied o contuing, and ende up, he gt into n admiral's rge, which ws just a

orified opn rowboa lleby 12 oarsn, and you uld imagin whatthe officers f hi ecurity etail werthiking as they stood on t deckof te bigger shiswit their guar watcing th preside dsapar ustrm towards rimond, whicwas known toe in uion hands. they didt know itwas fully undemility corol. so when hegot torichond thedocshe ws met ask or e costant was recogniz by peoplehere. i mean, was weari a long dar coat ada tll svepipe ha everybod even in he souh, knew araham licoln frm drawingsn newspape. and as he walked romthe ck up tothwhite hou ofhe confedacy, dais's hoe where henew th union miliry hadset up ts headquarters, hwa folled by a rowd ainly of freedeople. therwere soe white people. it as maim rican-amecans wo cheer him mre thn

anyone, epresented e reedom hatcame. now i hink wat wou hope tha readrs wou take away om thebookis someing theydont talk about explicitly,but i hpe that the ook sets te sage for thisndthat is tht f a log tme after the cil ar, bitterness and reiminationnd hared that haebeen engenred duringhe war pesisted for generatis. wetak heunit o ameri mu toomuch for granted today. ank godfor it but it to a long te in coming. it tookgenerationsnd if you readhe book an se the setimes, radthe sentents of thpeopl in richmo at hathad haened, youcan gt a eel for tha btteess nd how it prsistefor mny years andhat's indf -- it' a seous note b it's an imrtant poin t understandbout ameran histy,ecause itreal

wasn'tntilhistorians sid, until ybe the wld wari era beforthe south was integrated enomically nto the natn's economy,anas far a sntime oes even beyond that the was a sense ofdivisi. but i thik ill leav with coment by one o my favoritecharacterin the ok, who a fie breathingconfederat wspapereditor ame edwa ollard. was a relly ie-rd coederate. it kind ofhard fom readng hiscolns, its kind ofard to now whom he ted more, incolnor jeffersodavis. butpolard in witi aout ithe stay aroun he witnesse the occupatn and hetayed for few days, t he woldn't top is secessiist opiniountil the nion army hre him ou of theity. but he oserved fisthan the firend the ll of the city a he sai, "all ope of souhern confedecy we to be cnsumed n one

day lik a scroll te fire. " tha you veryuch. ll be happto take qutions. yes,ir. i'm a high hool hitory teaer an wrkedhere fr mostof m lfe. ll get kds ho cometome and what the get from hei parents, hen i tartto lookat thngs fr a hisrical perspecte, why the outhsecded nd fort tryto geta historil perspecti without king sides is i immediately get wt they call tht cnfederate rspectiven history. it about heritag i's not abt hate,you know it'sikeoh,-- you think that'sn the past but wh ki of reactn have you had to your ook wit ths, withthose ype f

revisnist confederate istorians? well, th book jstcame oulast week,so it dos not hava history of dealinwith citics. right,right. but i uld say you know, of corse ll write hpe for go review, nd - but you publish a bok, you puit ot tere forpeoe tosalte r soot at. th's the nare of publisng. i woulat least pe that viewers wodn't sy what - abro birceonc wro one of t shotest ok reviewsn record and he said he veralls of this bk are to f apart. i pray that thais not te fate o "rchmond buning buto get bak t your queion, in the bok nd thinkany way o approaing histy, you he to deal th teevience a the time, ndnot--andyou tr tonot deal ithwhat happedaftrwards and te

busins about heitag and te. that' kind ofa pesentday disaeement, but i yo go ba to he time ad read what thepeoplethere sy, the wr was abou-- it was about savery. it was abot secional rights henry ise, a virginia governorho becae strng secessiost, sad he was ady to fit fo sother ghts and outhern lavy and it was combinion of thgs. you cat separe the wo. peoplen tesouth wan t defe their wy o lfe. that iluded the stitutionof slavery. it true thre wa a lot ofrdinarpeople who foht for theonfederacy o were doi it not beuse they h these theotical ideaabout slavy or sttes' igh or anything,but abou defeing their mmunity. so it's very-- i's compcated, bt hoe ou n avod sme of these

present-d politicalthings ifou focuson whathe people othe time wre saying. i an, do't tae mywor for i orthe wor of other historia. don' even tak the wrd of onfederat or unon paicipantsafter th wa but go ck and ook what they weresayin until 860 and861 abot watthe disreements we about that d ameicans to strt to killamerins. i mean, civil war s a bad thin we had a cvil war duing a volution. you eally hae o be-- 's a sriou desion to ke todivide your comnity, and tat's what happened the cil war as the geat ilure of aerican olitic and on te other hnd that's t downside. the rsult as in someways the rdemption, nd we have themodern coury that we know of. a long wied reactioto your comnt. >> i'm looingforwd to ading yourook to se how yo deal wth tebig chlengeof th unon

occupyg foces tryng to establishwhat ouldpas for ordely acivity i richmond. did ey get nyhelp rom the richmond shriff in doing tat? or id tey srict have to it as maral law operatn? >> thehad t dcla matial la. th provoset ou -- they did get ome copetion om the local authorities: one the thingthey h to do as to hel fed people,becase he food suppl ad ee costricd before thewar andit actuallygotwore temporary when th union army camein beause the supply stems wre disrupt. so tey ot intonto the busiss of helng feed vilians, sthey di get hp from pr-conderate civians like heymca, whh hadhelped feed pople

under the cofedete period, thenworked wi th uion army o o hesame ting. but tre wa martiallaw th did ave gurdsto - uformed oldiersto intain rder. yes, sir >>theare tatburned, a lot ofarea was damaged aroundain stree did yu exte ito te ara of th hill and the castle? >> no. if you ook, did not -- the questn was, hofar the fi extended. thefire was one ofhe greatmedia ven fr a couple of weks. i menionethe telegra allowed eporrs osed hundreds o colun nches o stories northernpaper but en yu lso ave photraphers coin n uple dayslate to ta piures of th fir, an thre are hundre of pictur of the deastation. one of te antepoits th the photographer us

cature the evatation was gambles ill they se up theretovie do below,so t din't get at hi. it bured rght tothe base of cpitol quare ad around th egeto hewes. evething incaitolsqua down to thriver, te turning bsin ithe rir, pret much wasiped out. ye ma'am. what wsgoing o ithe hospal? >> te gratconfderate litary hostal was ea of tn, an in fct at oe point was the arge milita hosital ithe wod. there we still anumber o woded andillconfederat solers at tat hopita an when te uion army marched , the tok over the faility. well thy let the nfederate sugeon stay there toend their m an th is cnsoldated hem intocertain dvisns of th hospit to ree up

other wards r wonded unio soliers an so within aouple dys you had bo blue ad ray in the ame hspital. fact,the ony example that foun of unfoed offirs of ithr ide formal surendeng during e fall ichond wa at e hosptal wen ome uni ficers wet to -- ty we met at te hopil by the unifrmed confedera ar docto to fomall surreer, ad there w a ory tha the conferate or onfederate surgns new one the uni oficers from bore the wr, which is robay tre, buthe ha an rderly bing outa tra ofmintjuleps o adda litt virgin general tity to it. like the sry becaus it's a gre story, b you know,that sounds too good be true. yes sir. >> yu menioned earier that hik dickinson, he woman's nme, waskin of surpred when ll tis

happen. >> yes. was thata tyical reaion or do you think he justad her ead in the sa? >>here werea lot f peop who werein dnial, includingjeffern dav aneven t some eten robe e. lee hpingtha ings wouldurn out fferently. cite her anexaple. a lge segmented of pple did ha their hea in the sadz. they dn't want see what s coming. ere are otr people w talked aout eacuatio and feed it there as arange o opion. the goverent actual di some, mad sme effo a evacuatiofor a eekorso bere the fll of th cty, but hey din't realy do it with nouhenegy, eithr to frghten peoplerto accomplh wat ey were ying to doecause whe the time ce, thy hadto throw tgether a coup of ains and they escaed with somef the papes and he cabinet ficerand that wait. >> howdo ou compare te gnificancef the fallf richmondnd thesurrnder at apomtox?

>> the uesti is ow oes the ll ofricmond and the srender a appomaox compe. the fallf richnd, beuse of th teleraph lis, the unon armyhad tegraph lnes o whington, thtthe city fell te moning ofmonay, april3. mid-orning, peple kne inashingn and thy ca out ad thy heed and celebrate and n n york ousands of pele came ut ceebra bcau tey knew tha fall of ricmond mnt the nd to thewar and ater, fter appomatto which ocrred six days ater, tere were celebtions in he nrth at that new, too butthe "new york imes" saithat fa of rchmd had mu more of a impa on peoe in the nth than appomatt because hat's when theknew thait was almot ove,and appomattox them ws alost