The John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History’s 2019 Signature Conference will take place at UVA’s Small Special Collections Library auditorium on Friday, March 29, 2019. Doors open at 9:00 AM, coffee and tea will be available, and introductory remarks will start at 9:45 AM with our first talk beginning at 10:00 AM. The full conference schedule can be found below or downloaded at the following link (Word) (PDF).
This year's theme is "Theaters of War" and our speakers will examine both the East and West during the conflict. Our conference lineup includes historians Gary W. Gallagher, Stephen Cushman, Christopher Phillips, Tamika Nunley, and William Kurtz. Elizabeth Varon and Caroline Janney will moderate a round table discussion at the end of our conference.
The conference is free and open to the public and no advance registration is required. Paid parking is available nearby at the Central Grounds Parking Garage located next to the UVA bookstore. Please be advised that unlike previous years you pay for your parking in advance, not when you leave the garage. Follow signs to use payment kiosks that are available on each floor of the parking garage. Please allow extra time to arrive at our conference as a result. You can also pay for your parking in advance using the ParkMobile app and reserving a space in "Zone 5515." We should be done no later than 4:30.
Copies of our speakers' books will be available for purchase and there will be a chance to meet the authors and have your book signed during our lunch break or after the final panel. Please visit our website for the latest updates.
Conference Schedule
Session 1
9:00: Doors Open
9:45: Opening Remarks from Caroline E. Janney
10:00-10:40: Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia, Emeritus, “Central and Peripheral: Assessing the Importance of Theaters during the Civil War”
10:50-11:30: Tamika Nunley, Oberlin College, “‘I wore the uniform of those men in Blue’: Making the Case for African American Enlistment”
11:40-12:20: Stephen Cushman, University of Virginia, “Mark Twain’s Mississippi Theater”
12:20-1:20: Books Available for Purchase -- Break for Lunch
Session 2
1:30-2:10: William B. Kurtz, University of Virginia, “General Rosecrans’s Wars: Infighting in the Union High Command”
2:20-3:00: Christopher Phillips, University of Cincinnati, “The Western Way of War”
3:10-4:10: Roundtable, “Do Theaters Matter?”, Moderators Elizabeth R. Varon and Caroline E. Janney
4:15: Concluding Remarks from Caroline E. Janney