Virginia Historical Society Podcast

On February 19 at noon, Turk McCleskey delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Fellow Travelers on the Road to Black Ned’s Forge." Edward Tarr, known widely as “Black Ned,” became a blacksmith while enslaved in Pennsylvania. After purchasing his freedom, Tarr and his white wife moved to Timber Ridge, in modern Rockbridge County, Virginia, where his forge on the Great Wagon Road became a well-known landmark. In 1753, Tarr helped found the Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church. When he bought a 270-acre farm on Mill Creek in 1754, Tarr became the first free black land owner west of the Blue Ridge. The son of Tarr’s last master attempted to re-enslave him, but with the help of his neighbors, Tarr preserved his independence. Exceptional free persons of color, such as Edward Tarr, can be found in every region and in every period during the history of slavery. As Edward Tarr’s story illustrates, these were more than isolated individuals: by the coming of the American Revolution, they constituted a self-aware, cohesive set

On February 5 at noon, John O. Peters, author of "From Marshall to Moussaoui: Federal Justice in the Eastern District of Virginia," was interviewed by The Honorable Henry E. Hudson, Judge of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia, on the fascinating stories in Peters's book. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has, arguably, the most interesting and important history of any trial jurisdiction in the country, state or federal. The Honorable Henry E. Hudson, Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District, will interview John O. Peters, author of From Marshall to Moussaoui: Federal Justice in the Eastern District of Virginia, who will explain what makes this such a great story. Peters will discuss the role of Chief Justice John Marshall, who sat on the bench of this court for thirty-four years as a trial judge, including the trial of Aaron Burr for treason. Other topics will include the court's role during the Civil War and Reconstruction; the trials of s

On December 4 at noon, Graham Dozier delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "A Gunner in Lee's Army: The Civil War Letters of Thomas Henry Carter to His Wife" In May 1861, Thomas Henry Carter raised an artillery battery and joined the Confederate army. Over the next four years he rose steadily in rank from captain to colonel, placing him among the senior artillerists in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. During that time, Carter wrote more than 100 revealing letters to his wife Susan about his service in the South’s most successful army. In this lecture, Graham Dozier will discuss the process of editing the letters; tell the story of Tom Carter's life before, during, and after the Civil War; and share some of the many fascinating observations that can be found in the letters. Graham Dozier is the managing editor of publications at the VHS and the editor of A Gunner in Lee’s Army: The Civil War Letters of Thomas Henry Carter.

On November 6 at noon, Mark A. Bradley delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "The Life of Duncan Lee, Red Spy and Cold Warrior." Duncan Chaplin Lee was a Rhodes Scholar, patriot, and descendent of one of America’s most distinguished families—and possibly the best-placed mole ever to infiltrate U.S. intelligence operations. In his new book, Mark A. Bradley traces the tangled roots of Lee’s betrayal and reveals his harrowing struggle to stay one step ahead of America’s spy hunters during and after World War II. Drawing on Lee’s letters and thousands of previously unreleased CIA, FBI, and state department records, Bradley tells the unlikely story of a spy who chose his conscience over his country and its dark consequences. Mark Bradley is a former CIA intelligence officer and is currently serving as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division. He is the author of A Very Principled Boy: The Life of Duncan Lee, Red Spy and Cold Warrior.

On Tuesday, November 11, at noon, Karen Abbott delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War." After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Rose O’Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring. Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies’ descendants, Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little-known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women—a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow—who were

On October 15 at 5:30 p.m., A. Scott Berg delivered the J. Harvie Wilkinson, Jr., Lecture entitled "Woodrow Wilson-Across Three Centuries." One hundred years after his inauguration, Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, and one of the most enigmatic. A. Scott Berg will speak about his newest biography, Wilson, the most personal and penetrating study about not only Wilson the icon but also Wilson the man.

On October 30 at noon, Rose Marie Mitchell delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Richmond’s Old Stone House and Poe Museum." Even though the Old Stone House in Richmond is often called the Poe House because the legend has grown that the writer once lived in the structure, the story is not true. Poe never lived there. How then did the connection between the man and the house eventually become a reality and not just an Idea? After countless years of interest in Edgar Allan Poe and over three years of research, Rose Marie Mitchell has gathered the facts and stories to bring it all together to show how the house and the man are connected and how the Old Stone House is worthy of preservation in its own right and certainly worthy of being a memorial site for the internationally known and respected author.

On October 9 at noon, Lorri Glover delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Founders as Fathers: Going Home with Virginia's Revolutionary." Set against the backdrop of Revolutionary Virginia, Lorri Glover’s new book, Founders as Fathers: Family Values and Revolutionary Politics, offers an intimate portrait of the lives of the country’s most celebrated political leaders, revealing, for the first time, how they struggled to balance civic duties against domestic responsibilities and contended with a revolution that remade family life every bit as much as political institutions. Glover’s lecture will bring to life the surprising, profound connections between family and politics in the lives of the Virginians who became the principal architects of the American Republic: George Mason, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Lorri Glover, the John Francis Bannon Endowed Chair in the Department of History at Saint Louis University, has written several books about early American history from

On September 25 at noon, Alvin Townley delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Defiant: American POWs in Vietnam's Most Infamous Prison." Defiant: The POWs Who Endured Vietnam's Most Infamous Prison, the Women Who Fought for Them, and the One Who Never ReturnedDuring the Vietnam War, hundreds of American prisoners of war faced years of brutal conditions and horrific torture at the hands of North Vietnamese guards and interrogators who ruthlessly grilled them for military intelligence and propaganda. Determined to maintain their Code of Conduct, the POWs developed a powerful underground resistance. To quash it, their captors singled out its eleven leaders and banished them to an isolated jail that would become known as Alcatraz. None would leave its solitary cells and interrogation rooms unscathed; one would never return. When the survivors of Alcatraz finally came home, one veteran would go on to receive the Medal of Honor, another would become a U.S. Senator, and a third still serves in the U.S. Congress. A pow

On September 11 at noon, James C. Thompson delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment—Paris, 1785." In the summer of 1784, Thomas Jefferson traveled to Paris as minister of the United States to France and lived there for five years. During this time, he made a series of excursions with Pierre Cabanis, a philosophe and an influential member of French society. Cabanis acquainted Jefferson not only with the city and its people but also with the enlightened ideas in French thought. James Thompson provides rich details of this transformative period in Thomas Jefferson’s life in his book, Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment—Paris 1785. James C. Thompson has taught philosophy at Strayer University in Alexandria. He is the author of Beyond the Veil of Reason—Thomas Jefferson’s Early Political Initiatives, The Birth of Virginia’s Aristocracy, and Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment—Paris 1785.

On August 28 at noon, Anne Rutherford Lower delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Sheltering Arms: A Legacy of Caring." Sheltering Arms HospitalSheltering Arms: A Legacy of Caring is a new book featuring photographs and stories from every era of the organization’s rich history. Published in honor of Sheltering Arms’ 125th anniversary, the book chronicles the healthcare institution’s growth from humble beginnings in a donated house in downtown Richmond to a nationally recognized physical rehabilitation leader in 2014. Anne Lower has been an ardent supporter of Sheltering Arms for decades and has served as a member of the board of directors, president of the board, member of the women’s council, and as patient advocate. She is the author of Sheltering Arms Hospital: A Centennial History (1889–1989) and served as a valuable resource during the production of Sheltering Arms: A Legacy of Caring.

On August 14 at noon, Kathryn Shively Meier delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Nature's Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia." Nature's Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 VirginiaIn the Shenandoah Valley and Peninsula Campaigns of 1862, Union and Confederate soldiers faced unfamiliar and harsh environmental conditions, which contributed to escalating disease and diminished morale. Using a wealth of personal accounts, medical sources, newspapers, and government documents, Kathryn Shively Meier reveals how these soldiers strove to maintain their physical and mental health by combating their deadliest enemy—nature. To survive, soldiers forged informal networks of health care based on prewar civilian experience and adopted a universal set of self-care habits, and they periodically had to adjust their ideas of manliness, class values, and race to the circumstances at hand.

On July 24 at noon, Thomas E. Buckley delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Establishing Religious Freedom: Jefferson's Statute in Virginia." The significance of the Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom goes far beyond the borders of the Old Dominion. Its influence ultimately extended to the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the separation of church and state. In his latest book, Thomas Buckley tells the story of the statute, beginning with its background in the struggles of colonial dissenters against an oppressive Church of England. Displacing an established church by instituting religious freedom, the Virginia statute provided the most substantial guarantees of religious liberty of any state in the new nation. The effort to implement Jefferson’s statute has even broader significance in its anticipation of the conflict that would occupy the whole country after the Supreme Court nationalized the religion clause of the First Amendment in the 1940s. Thomas E. Buckley, professor in residence in

On July 10, Kitty Snow delivererd a Banner Lecture entitled "From a Richmond Streetcar: Life through the Lens of Harris Stilson." Streetcar motorman Harris Stilson spent countless hours using his camera to capture Richmond and its everyday citizens nearly 100 years ago, giving us a priceless look at the city’s many slices of life. This lecture, presented by Kitty Snow, Harry’s great-granddaughter, will reveal the city’s past as told through Harry’s prolific images and her thoughtful narration.

On June 26, Heath Hardage Lee delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "Winnie Davis: Daughter of the Lost Cause." Varina Anne “Winnie” Davis was the youngest daughter of Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his second wife, Varina Howell Davis. Winnie’s birth in June 1864 was hailed as a blessing by war-weary southerners. Her arrival seemed a good omen that might signify future victory. After the war, Winnie, who spent her early life as a genteel refugee and a European expatriate, was christened the “Daughter of the Confederacy” in 1886. This role was bestowed upon her by a southern society trying to come to terms with defeat. Particularly idolized by such organizations as the United Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Winnie became an icon of the Lost Cause, eclipsing even her father in popularity. Her controversial engagement in 1890 to a northern lawyer, whose grandfather was a famous abolitionist, shocked her friends, family, and the southern groups that idolized her. She

On June 12 at noon, Kevin P. Duffus delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "War Zone: World War II off the North Carolina Coast." For seven months in 1942, black smoke and orange flames from torpedoed vessels filled the ocean skies off the coast of North Carolina. Explosions rattled window panes and the nerves of coastal residents. Beaches were awash with wreckage, oil, empty lifeboats, and bodies. War Zone follows the accounts of three climactic engagements between U.S. forces and German U-boats off North Carolina’s coast when the battle of the Atlantic hung in the balance. This story is told from the perspective of everyday people who faced daunting challenges with perseverance, patriotism, and uncommon valor. Kevin Duffus, a researcher and filmmaker, is the author of several books, including Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks: An Illustrated Guide, The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate, and War Zone: World War II off the North Carolina Coast.

On June 5, Elizabeth Varon delivered the Hazel and Fulton Chauncey Lecture entitled "Lee at Appomattox." Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House evokes a highly gratifying image in the popular mind—it was, many believe, a moment that transcended politics, a moment of healing, a moment of patriotism untainted by ideology. But as Elizabeth Varon reveals in her latest book, this rosy image conceals a seething debate over precisely what the surrender meant and what kind of nation would emerge from war. In Appomattox, she deftly captures the events swirling around that well remembered—but not well understood—moment when the Civil War ended. Did America's best days lie in the past or in the future? For Lee, it was the past, the era of the founding generation. For Grant, it was the future, represented by northern moral and material progress. They held, in the end, two opposite views of the direction of the country—and of the meaning of the war that had changed the country forever.

On May 22 at noon, Andrew O’Shaughnessy delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire." The loss of America was an unexpected defeat for the British Empire. Common wisdom has held that incompetent military commanders and political leaders must have been to blame. Weaving together the personal stories of ten prominent men who directed the British dimension of the war, historian Andrew O’Shaughnessy dispels the incompetence myth and uncovers the real reasons that rebellious colonials were able to achieve their surprising victory. British victories were frequent throughout the war. Yet roiling political complexities at home, combined with the fervency of the fighting Americans, proved fatal to the British war effort. Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy, the Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello and professor of history at the University of Virginia, is the author of The

On May 7, Gary W. Gallagher delivered a special evening Banner Lecture entitled "The Spring of 1864: A Season of Hope in the United States and the Confederacy." Many people consider the summer of 1863 to be the Civil War's great turning point, after which the Confederacy stood no chance of achieving independence. In fact, citizens in both the United States and the Confederacy entered the spring of 1864 with hopes for a favorable outcome of the war. This lecture will assess opinion inside and outside the armies as the campaigning season approached in April, highlighting the importance of U. S. Grant and R. E. Lee to expectations in their respective nations. It will also underscore the importance of engaging contemporary evidence, rather than retrospective accounts, if we are to understand historical events. Gary W. Gallagher is the John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia and the author of many books and articles, including Becoming Confederates: Paths

On April 17, Mitchell Zuckoff delivered the 2014 Stuart G. Christian, Jr., Lecture entitled "Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II.