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| Missouri monument at Vicksburg (NPS photo) |
Ever-evolving views on monuments, battlefield preservation and Civil War memory will be covered in this year’s seminar held in conjunction with the Chickamauga Civil War Show.
"Written in Blood and Carved in Stone: Remembering
the Civil War at Chickamauga, Shiloh and Vicksburg" is the title of the Feb.
4 Western Theater colloquium put on by the Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia. It’s
set for 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Dalton Convention Center, 2211 Dug Gap Battle
Road.
There’s a lot to tackle at the program, with three
scholars looking at “how the nation's earliest military parks came into
existence, how each contributed to the memory of the war, and how their
commemoration of the historic landscape changed over time.”
First up (9:15 a.m.) will be Jim Ogden, chief historian
at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. He will speak about that
site in northwest Georgia and Chattanooga, Tenn.
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| Smith |
Author Timothy B. Smith, who teaches history at the
University of Tennessee at Martin, will focus on Shiloh (10 a.m.). Part of his
talk will be about 150 years of battlefield preservation since the Civil War, he
told the Picket.
His upcoming book, “Altogether Fitting and Proper: Civil
War Battlefield Preservation in History, Memory, and Policy, 1861–2015”
(University of Tennessee Press), according to one review, “combines a detailed accounting of federal, state, and
private activity with an instructive critique of the role post-Civil War racism
played in affecting and influencing various preservation efforts. Tim Smith
reminds us, in very concrete ways, of the malleable nature of Civil War memory.”
Smith also writes about the conflict between preservationists and commercial developers, the evolution of public policy on the management of parks and the ways the conflict has been
remembered over the years.
At 11 a.m., historian and curator Michael Panhorst will
speak on '"Vicksburg National Military Park: The Art Park of the
South."
“I plan to address how and why Vicksburg
National Military Park was created, what it contributes to the memory of the
war and how the park and its meaning have changed over time,” Panhorst said.
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| Panhorst |
The author has written about the
evolution of battlefield monuments. In an article for Essential Civil War Curriculum, Panhorst showed their emphasis went from remembering the fallen and
survivors to, in many cases, reconciliation. He discusses how Southern states
eventually began funding monuments. He notes the first battlefield
monument to African-Americans was erected at Vicksburg in 2004.
Panhorst also has interest in the
design, architecture and artistry of Civil War monuments. His 2015 work, “The Memorial Art and Architecture of Vicksburg
National Military Park” (Kent State University Press) says most dedicated at the park by 1920 were built in the classical revival
Beaux-Arts style.
The lectures will be followed by a discussion panel from
11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The talks in the lecture hall on the upper level of the trade
center are free. To
learn more about the colloquium or other Bandy Heritage Center programs,
contact project director Brian Hilliard at bhilliar@daltonstate.edu or
at (706) 272-4452.
