Episode 4 - The American Civil War

The fourth episode of American History Too! delves into the United States’ deadliest conflict to date – The American Civil War.  To help us with this mammoth task we bring on board University of Edinburgh lecturer, Dr David Silkenat.  David teaches a course here at Edinburgh on the American Civil War and, among his various publications, he has published a well-received, award-winning book entitled Moments of Despair: Suicide, Divorce, and Debt in Civil War Era North Carolina.  David guides us through how the Civil War legacy’s remains a contentious bone in the American South.  We then turn our attentions North and discuss the role of Copperheads (opponents of the war) in fomenting dissension – both rhetorical and violent – against the both the conflict and Abraham Lincoln.  In particular, David – a native New Yorker – offers us his take on the New York Draft Riots of July 1863 that ended with roughly 120 dead and 2,000 wounded in the nation’s biggest metropolis. In addition, we hear how the Bush Administration used Abraham Lincoln as a justification for Guantanamo Bay, Mark tells the story of the first African American scientist who now has a coffee shop named after him in Glasgow, and Malcolm lets us know from which historical event the San Francisco 49ers took their name.  All this and much more this week on American History Too! Thanks again for listening and as always any feedback is always welcome.  Find us at @ahtoopodcast, @contestedground and @markmclay1985 Also, please check out David’s podcast at @AHuntucked Cheers, Mark & Malcolm   Reading List: -          Jennifer Weber, Copperheads: the rise and fall of Lincoln’s opponents in the North (New York:  Oxford University Press, 2006) -          Joan E. Cashin (ed), The war was you and me : civilians in the American Civil War (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c2002) -          Kenneth D. Ackerman, Boss Tweed: The rise and fall of the corrupt pol who conceived the soul of Modern New York (2005) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices