shocks me. if you look around you will find the legacies of the civil war, the legacies of the verdicts of appomattox. -- an if there were verdicts, and there were, someone really lost this war here, l and someone really won this war. that t affair of honor honor to soldie honor as it wasrs called among these soldiers was just that. and it should have been. that was a soldier's surrender. this was a military surrender. it was not a political treaty. what they proposed in terms was not a political treaty.n. that had to come later in something call reconstruction. the verdicts of appomattox said ad

to the united states just won a civil war, it had to somehow now put that union back together without a blueprint to do it. they just freed 4 million slavesical t fromim bondage overnight in and historical times to something called freedom and something called some kind of civil and political liberty. how to do that? and every day on our front pages today, on our news kmemcommentary program, on our blogs, gadgets, all around us just open the gadgets, and you'll find a debate about racial legacies of the verdicts, and you'll find a debate about federalism.today the action in american politics today is not really in the u.s. congress. it's in the state. it's in the states legislature.

it's not state legislatures where we are experiencing a r royaling evrevival.on f it's been going on for three decades, of state's rights doctrine. and we have people running for president now who are addvocates of state rights doctrine. they advocate doctrines and procedures and meanings of constitution that some people who won here at appommattox had reason to believe were buried in the slaughter of the civil war, but were not and the reason we still are having royaling debates about race and about federalism is because they probably are eternal questions of the american condition. human equality. it's a permanent dilemma of the human condition.years ag

we've come light years since 150 years ago on that question. our friends from 1865 wouldn't really get that. vote we still have a long way to go a long to protect the rights of both. we still have a long way to go for all kinds of other forms of equality. and we h are having as never n the before at least in the last 50 - years never before a vigorous e debate about the relationship of the state the federal power and just what that federal government that was saved here, preserved here, was given rebirth here has the power to do. the legacies of appomattox regular sis of the civil war are alive as the red buds. they are often not as beautiful

but they are even more important because they are permanent. i'll end with my friend who said it is easy to declare men free before god. it is always much harder to declare them free and equal before other men. thank you. [ applause ] >> tell us your name.ohn >> i'm paul from atlanta georgia. >> looks like you've been doing this stuff, living history sorts events for a long time, john. >> yes i've been doing living history within the park services as a volunteer since 19 7 2. >> what makes this 150 th event

so special to you? >> well, i had the privilege of being in several of the parks services 150th events in the felt lik southeast, and i felt like that i wanted to close without by y and being in here at appomattox in t yo the time andu day it took place. >> tells about the unit you're with today and character you've been playing over the last >> couple days? >> i'm representing a confederate artillery men lee's army surrendered their guns and parked them and that's what i'mo you here doing representing a prepa member. >> how do you prepare for the events? >> research. do your research. read about what took place.yourse and allow yourself to become comfortable, and you try to o betr portray someone from the past as accurately as you can because we -- living historians, our goal is to speak for those who longer can speak for themselves.

>> in doing research in particular, is there one or two that stands out?john: >> well i'm my open park, the national battlefield park as we on portray alabama battery, the esaw m battery on top of the mountain who first opened fire on the union forces from on top the to ap mountain. >> when it got there confederates were in rough shape. in particular, what was the artillery like at that point? >> it had been greatly reduced in numbers. it was short on horses and battery wagons and such as that, so it was not as up to full strength at all. batteries reduced down from four guns, shorter than the union's six gun battery down to two or one.ral >> what was the sentiment in the unit you were involved with?

>> well, the -- what we thought about most and talk about most was what these men were experiencing that night. whether both sides, there had to be trepidation on the bly a confederate side, certainly, and there was probably a sense of relief as well as a sense of dispair, and those soldiers ic surrendered, the 25000 that that could stick it out you wonder o if they knew if they had a home to go to or what type of situation they would find returning home. >> looking at 150 years later what's the lesson?is >> the lesson is that this is really the turning point in american history where we go bei from being these individual states to truly the united think states. and i think evenint a bigger point is if we don't remember our t. history, we may be prone to repeat it. >> we started this by talking , about living history, your part of living history.i it's easier, i guess, when

there's 150 years to remember. beyond this day, beyond the closing of the civil war effectively, how do you continuer genera that tradition with other john: generations? >> well we hope to find young people that come along to do ing living history along with us. we use history clubs, that sort of thing, to recruit young people. i do a tremendous number of school programs, the field trips where they come out and the goal is to get children, young este adults interested in the history. they may not get interested in civil war history, but as long as they are interested in a form ofd history, wehie feelin hwh good about what we do.ou >> john, thank you for joining us on american history tv.or hav >> thank you for having me. my pleasure.nd whe >> tell usre your name and where you are from.omas >> thomas downs from cleveland, ohio. >> thomas tell us about the re pla soldier you're playing today and. the unit he would have been with.who

>> what's the specialness to you as a person who participates in these events? >> well, it was the beginning of the end of the civil war. everyone thinks when lee surrendered, the war ended, which, of course, was not true. johnson surrendered two weeks later with scattered fighting upreunif until the early fall, but it was the bend of the division of the united states and beginning of the reunification of the country, if you will. >> assume you had a couple days to spend with some of your fellow wreenactors folks who his participate in the living histor history here.e conv what's the conversation been about? >> a lot of it has been the -- just the realization of the significance we are herela on this site 150 years later to the day of the actions happening. >> do you, yourself do you know

relatives and ancestors of yours who fought on the yankee or confederate side? any >> sadly, i don't think i had any relatives in the union and t you none in thein confederacy. >> what got you interested in doing this in the first place?thomas: >> good question. since as long as i can rememberi have i've been interested in the civil war, past life, all that i can't answer but i just always had a lifelong interest the in the c civil war. >> aside from being the event that ends effectively, certainly, a major portion of the civil war, how does this r batt differ from the otherle battle experiences that you have gone out to participate in? >> well, primarily because this his is not a battle. this is more or less a ceremony. offending my southern brethren, the surrendering of lee's army captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2008 captioning performed by vitac

nts here. what about the people who are all around us here? what are folks asking? thomas: just asking why we are here, where we are from. basically a lot of the questions you are asking. what got us interested? why do we do it? some of us a been sleeping in mud for nights and we will do it again. at my age that is not what most people pick as a recreational activity. >> typically during one year how many weekends do you spend participating in an event? thomas: my schedule, probably half a dozen or eight. being from cleveland, this is a 9 hour drive so this is probably the outside perimeter of my activities, but we do a lot of things in southern pa and maryland, about six hours from home and then we also do local

events back in ohio. >> it seems like a substantial and steady crowd. does that surprise you? thomas: no. yesterday, yes, the weather was absolutely foul. but today? no. again, people are still in dressed in their history. we are what we are today because of what happened 150 years ago and people still want to find out about that. who we are, where we came from, and why we are here today. >> are there lessons that you look back to that are applicable today? thomas: absolutely. without getting political, a lot of things happened during the civil war that still apply today. one general one is that when people stop talking and compromising, they start shooting. that better not ever happen again. >> thomas, thank you for joining us. thomas: thank you.

>> tell us your name and where you're from. tyler: my name is tyler mink from baltimore. >> tell us about the soldier you are playing today. tyler: there was a generic confederacy -- at generic confederate major, he was the same age as i was. >> before we started i am as you for union officer because of your dark gray coat. tell me about your uniform. tyler: a lot of fabric is being imported from europe. there is a manufacturer named kate lives in ireland and is shipping in fabric from the u.k.. it is normally what you would think of as confederate gray.

these are three layers of braid it is for a major. one for the tenants, 34 kernels. it is the same pattern that exists today if you look at marine corps dress uniforms. i have the same thing on my cap. three layers of braid for a major. these would have been done by hand. officers uniforms were privately purchased by officers, historically, so they would have been made by taylor's. >> who does yours? tyler: i don't remember the name of the guy who made this one but he did a really good job. >> you have played as you're playing a confederate major today. have you taken on other roles? tyler: i am with the fife and

drum corps, i had came originally as a fiver. >> what got you hitch rested in living history to begin with? tyler: i've always been interested in history, material culture, and things from the past. i thought that it looked like fun and it combines my passion for material culture with getting to teach people about history. >> how is this event organized? how do you know what to do and when? with the signing of the letters of surrender their at the mclean house, how do you know where to be? tyler: the simple answer is you either get told or you have some sort of schedule that you need to follow. having an accurate timepiece is really important out here. make sure that your watch is wound and that you know where you are going. >> meaning that your act -- actual watch winds? tyler: yes, it winds by key.