CWRT Meeting Nov 2023: Ernest Dollar on “Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War”

Ernest Dollar on “Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War” For More Info: WWW.ChicagoCWRT.ORG In the popular memory of the Civil War, its end came with handshakes between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia. But the war was not over. There was a larger, and arguably, more important surrender yet to take place in North Carolina. Yet this story occupies little space in the vast annals of Civil War literature. Reexamining the war's final days through the lens of modern science reveals why. This final campaign of the Civil War began on April 10, 1865, a day after the surrender at Appomattox Court House. Over 120,000 Union and Confederate soldiers cut across North Carolina's heartland bringing war with them. It was the final march of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's effort to destroy Southern ability and moral stamina to make war. His unstoppable Union army faced the demoralized, but still dangerous, Confederate Army of Tennessee under Maj. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. Adding to the chaos of the campaign were thousands of distraught and desperate paroled Rebels streaming south from Virginia. The collision of these groups formed a perfect storm for grief-stricken civilians caught in the middle, struggling to survive amidst their collapsing worlds. Ernest Dollar will explore the psychological experience of these soldiers and civilians caught this chaotic time that's captured in his new book, Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War's Final Campaign in North Carolina. Using an extensive collection of letters, diaries, and accounts, Dollar demonstrates the depths to which war hurt people by the spring of 1865. Hearts Torn Asunder recounts their experience through a modern understanding of trauma injuries. Durham, North Carolina native Ernest A. Dollar Jr. graduated from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro with B.A. in History and B.F.A. in Design in 1993 and M.A. in Public History from North Carolina State in 2006. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve/North Carolina National Guard from 1993-1999. Ernest has worked in several historic parks in both North and South Carolina, including as executive director of the Orange County Historical Museum, Preservation Chapel Hill. He currently serves as the director of the City of Raleigh Museum and Dr. M. T. Pope House Museum.