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THE SECOND ANNUAL
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CIVIL WAR CONFERENCE
THE 1864 SHENANDOAH
VALLEY CAMPAIGN
May 31 – June 4, 2000 -
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Why was the Shenandoah Valley targeted for
devastation in 1864?
What was the impact of this destruction on
Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, the political leadership in Washington
and Richmond, and the future of the war?
THE PROGRAM
Join
Gary Gallagher and an exceptional group of colleagues for four and one-half
days of lectures, extensive walking-tours, and lively discussions focused
on one of the most compelling military episodes of the Civil War – the
1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign.
The
1864 campaign in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia combined elements of
high drama and substantial military and political consequence. It
was critical to the North, especially to the Federal army trying to take
Richmond, that the South be deprived of the important strategic and agricultural
assets of the Valley. As Bruce Catton wrote, “A garden spot was to
be turned into a desert in order that the Southern nation might be destroyed.”
A victory in the Valley was also crucial to Northern Republicans as a means
of countering both war weariness and the Democrats’ contention that the
war was a failure. With the stakes high, a campaign to take control
of the Valley began.
Pitting Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early and his Confederate Army of the
Valley against Major General Philip H. Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah,
the 1864 Valley Campaign involved a series of marches and battles that
offered a striking counterpoint to the siege of Petersburg. The campaign
included major engagements at Third Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Tom's Brook,
and Cedar Creek.
Jubal Early, facing an opponent roughly three times his size, waged a campaign
designed to control the Valley's vital food and fodder and tie down thousands
of Union troops and one of Ulysses S. Grant's best generals. The
Confederates demonstrated remarkable resiliency against heavy odds before
suffering defeats that ceded control of the Valley and virtually guaranteed
Abraham Lincoln's re-election in November 1864.
Using a combination of lectures and walking tours, the conference will
place the 1864 Valley campaign in the broader perspective of the war.
Together we will evaluate military leadership on both sides, examine in
detail the principal battles between mid-September and mid-October, and
assess some of the important ways in which the campaign reverberated beyond
the military sphere.
Participants will walk the battlefields of Third Winchester, Fisher's Hill,
Tom's Brook, and Cedar Creek with the goal of understanding what transpired,
how and where events might have gone differently, and how leadership and
chance played key roles in determining outcomes. The tours will include
many sites that remain in private hands and normally are inaccessible to
the public.
Four and one-half days of lectures, walking
tours, and discussion will give you a richer understanding of this pivotal
operation and the terrain over which it was waged.
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PROGRAM FEATURES:
The
U.Va. Civil War Conference offers you the opportunity to join talented
historians for four and one-half days of lectures, extensive walking tours,
and lively discussions offering a fresh perspective on the 1864 Valley
campaign. Note: some of the battlefield walking tours will be strenuous,
and all will be held rain or shine.
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PROGRAM LOCATION:
The conference site, Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), is on the northwest
edge of Harrisonburg,
Virginia, in the heart of the
Shenandoah
Valley. EMU is approximately 3½ miles west of Interstate
81 (Exit 247) on Vine Street/Mt. Clinton Pike, off U.S. 33. This
route from I-81 is well marked with EMU directional signs. The
Shenandoah
Valley Airport (airport code = SHD), 20 miles south of Harrisonburg,
is the nearest airport. It is served by US Airways and offers auto
rental service. The Charlottesville airport is 50 miles away, Washington
(Dulles) is 120 miles away, and Richmond and Roanoke airports are both
about 135 miles away. Harrisonburg is also served by Greyhound-Trailways
Bus Line. Eastern Mennonite University offers air-conditioned lodging
and classrooms and a number of amenities.
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PROGRAM FACULTY
William W. Bergen is an assistant dean at
the University of Virginia School of Law with a longtime interest in the
Army of the Potomac’s senior generals. He has led many battlefield
tours over the past 25 years and has lectured on the Civil War.
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Keith S. Bohannon, who did his graduate work
at the University of Georgia and Penn State University, is the author of
The
Giles, Alleghany, and Jackson Artillery and co-editor of Campaigning
with 'Old Stonewall': Confederate Captain Ujanirtus Allen's Letters to
His Wife. He is working on a study of the Civil War in northeast
Georgia.
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Peter
S. Carmichael is a member of the Department of History at Western
Carolina University. The author of Lee's Young Artillerist: William
R. J. Pegram, as well as several essays and articles in popular and
scholarly journals, he is completing a study of Virginia slaveholders'
sons and the formation of southern identity in the late ante-bellum years.
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