O
n Friday, May 2, scholars from six colleges and
universities gathered in the Dirksen Senate Office
Building to discuss various aspects of the end of the
Civil War and slavery in the United States. All the topics
had a modern aspect, relevance, or comparison, and all
the talks from "'A Just and Lasting Peace': Ending the
Civil War" are airing on C-SPAN over the course of the
summer and fall.
Anne Sarah Rubin (University of Maryland,
Baltimore County) discussed Sherman's 1864 March
through Georgia and the way it presaged the modern
concept of total war. Both Paul Finkelman (Albany Law
School) and Brown University's Michael Vorenberg
examined the trial of Andersonville commandant Henry
Wirz and the challenges of trying him for what were
essentially war crimes before the concept of war crimes
existed.
Several speakers dealt with the challenges of peace.
Carole Emberton, from the University of Buffalo, spoke
about the Freedman's Bureau during Reconstruction;
she covered both material issues like starvation and
abstract concepts like emancipation as she highlighted
the fact that people then (and now) can starve even
when working.
(cont. on page 2)
2014 SYMPOSIUM CONSIDERS
END OF CIVIL WAR
SPRING LECTURES,
PAGE 7
Matthew Pinsker
MARKETPLACE,
PAGE 11
SAUND DOCUMENTARY,
PAGE 8
THE
CAPITOL
DOME
A NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY THE
UNITED STATES CAPITOL HISTORICAL SOCIETY
VOLUME 51, NUMBER 2 SUMMER 2014