Virginia Center for Civil War Studies – The Home of Civil War History at Virginia Tech

Civil War Weekend

Thank you to the speakers and guests who helped make our 2025 Civil War Weekend a huge success! We heard from a stellar group of speakers and enjoyed fellowship with other history enthusiasts — all in the comfortable surroundings of the Inn at Virginia Tech.

A highlight of the weekend was the announcement of a major donation to Virginia Tech from speaker Sue Heth Bell – read the details here: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/04/univlib-Wharton-Collection.html

William C. “Jack” Davis and Sue Heth Bell, speaking at Civil War Weekend 2025.

Brian McKnight speaking at Civil War Weekend 2025.

This year’s theme was “Civil War Duos.” The Civil War era fundamentally transformed human connections—from friendships and marriages to political alliances—bringing some Americans together into productive new relationships while driving existing partnerships apart. Our speakers explored an array of different partnerships that took new forms amid the challenges of slavery, sectional conflict, and war.

Keynote speaker Ilyon Woo shared the incredible story of the enslaved couple who escaped to freedom in disguise, the subject of her recent Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Master, Slave, Husband, Wife. Our distinguished speakers also investigated the critical relationships between leaders on both sides: Lincoln and McClellan, Lee and Jackson. We learned about how war transformed romantic pairings in the North and the South, and how the United States Army and Navy slowly worked their way toward a more harmonious collaboration as the war went on.

Stay tuned for details of Civil War Weekend 2026 – coming soon!

Free webinar — Lincoln’s Peace

When did the American Civil War truly end? Was it on April 9, 1865, as conventional wisdom holds, when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox? Or was it ten weeks later on June 19 — Juneteenth — when Black Americans in Galveston celebrated the end of slavery? Or was it a few days after that, when the Cherokee leader Stand Watie became the last Confederate general to surrender? Not until August 20, 1866, was there something like an official end, a mere declaration by President Andrew Johnson that the war was over, even as racial violence and political chaos continued to tear the country apart.

In a free webinar on April 22 at 7 p.m., Michael Vorenberg, the author of Lincoln’s Peace: The Struggle to End the American Civil War, will discuss the multiple endings and non-endings of the Civil War. To search for the Civil War’s endpoint is to grapple with the war’s true nature and legacy, and to confront whether any war has an obvious ending, and if it does, who gets to say when it’s over.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register:

https://virginiatech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ov7TwXjmQjOpdAU-8i_O_A

Vorenberg is a professor of history at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island. He is the author of Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment, and The Emancipation Proclamation: A Brief History with Documents.

2023-24 Year in Review

As we wrap up the 2023-24 academic year, we want to share with you all of the exciting recent events from the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. This year we sponsored four free guest lectures including an in-person talk with NPR host Steve Inskeep, continued the annual Civil War Weekend (a tradition for more than 30 years) and visited numerous fourth-grade classrooms across the New River Valley. Click the links below for YouTube and C-SPAN videos of our recent events. And if you are in Southwest Virginia, check out our Civil War Driving Tour:

Photos from 2023-24 events:

Spring campaign trip to Fredericksburg, VA in March 2024.

Author and NPR host Steve Inskeep spoke in October at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg on his new book, "Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America.”

VT student Jillian Sasso working as a Historical Interpretation and Education Intern at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, thanks to a funded internship from Virginia Center for Civil War Studies.

Emily Lapisardi portraying Mrs. Greenhow at the 2024 Civil War Weekend.

The Traveling Trunk visits a fourth-grade classroom in spring 2024.

The Traveling Trunk Spring 2024 presenters: Director Paul Quigley and VT students Jillian Sasso and Miles Abernethy.

Author Kenneth Noe, who gave a free online lecture on his book "The Howling Storm Weather, Climate, and the American Civil War."

William C. "Jack" Davis speaking at Civil War Weekend in 2024.

Professor Kidada Williams speaking in a lecture in April 2024, available on our YouTube channel.

Who are we?

Civil War history lives at Virginia Tech. From its home in Virginia Tech’s History Department, the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies promotes greater understanding of the Civil War era among academics and the public. Whether you’re a student or a professional historian, a serious history buff or someone who just likes to learn, we have something to offer you here.