Re: Civil War Prisoners

Date: March 21, 2004

"Pulitzer-winning historian to speak on Civil War prisoners

Professor Mark E. Neely, Jr., winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize in history, will be a featured speaker in the 26th annual Evening Series Lectures cosponsored by The Museum of the Confederacy and the Library of Virginia. Neely will be one of four historians presenting the lectures to be held on consecutive Wednesdays, March 17, 24, and 31, at 5:30 p.m. at the Library of Virginia auditorium.

Neely’s March 24 lecture will examine "The Fate of Civil Liberties in the Confederacy and the Union." Neely, McCabe Greer Professor of History at Penn State University, won the Pulitzer Prize for "The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties." He is also author of "Southern Rights: Political Prisoners and the Myth of Confederate Constitutionalism" and coauthor of "The Confederate Image, The Union Image," and "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: The Civil War in Art."

The 2004 Evening Series is entitled "'The Hard Hand of War': Explorations into the Treatment of Civilians and Prisoners in the Civil War." The title is borrowed from the prize-winning 1995 book by Mark Grimsley. Conventional wisdom holds that the Civil War was the first "total war." Students of world history know that wars ravaged civilian populations long before the 1860s, but the names of William T. Sherman, Andersonville, and the Immortal 600 provide ample evidence that America’s "civil war" was anything but. This year’s lecture series continues a Museum of the Confederacy tradition of sponsoring expert speakers who take an unflinching look at grimmer or controversial aspects of the war.

Dr. Grimsley, Ohio State University professor of history, will kick off the series March 17 with a lecture on "Union Military Policy Toward Southern Civilians." Grimsley has also written "Virginia Campaign, May-June 1864" and "The Collapse of the Confederacy" and edited a book of essays entitled "Civilians in the Path of War."

The series concludes March 31 with a point-counterpoint discussion about the "The Treatment of Prisoners" in the Civil War featuring Dr. James G. Gillispie and Ms. Mauriel Phillips Joslyn. Gillispie, history instructor at Sampson Community College, N.C., is the author of two recent articles published in North & South magazine: "Guests of the Yankees: A Reevaluation of Union Treatment of Confederate Prisoners" and "Postwar Mythmaking: Popular Writing on the Treatment of Prisoners, 1865-1920." He has completed a book manuscript on the subject. Joslyn, a member of the Georgia Civil War Commission, is author of "Immortal Captives: The Story of Six Hundred Confederate Officers" and the United States Prisoner of War Policy and an article on "The U.S. Policy of Retaliations on Confederate Prisoners of War" published in The Journal of Confederate History; he has also edited several books on Confederate history.

The speakers will be available to sign their books, some of which will be on sale at the lectures. Admission to each lecture is $5. For reservations, please call (804) 649-1861, ext. 10. The Library of Virginia is at 800 E. Broad St.

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