Jeff Kluever gave a haunting view of the Civil War at Tuesday evening’s spring meeting of the Allen County Historical Society.
The ACHS executive director used video clips and real artifacts from the war to illustrate often personal views of hostilities.
Artifacts included an Atlanta newspaper printed on the back side of wallpaper, produced during Gen. Sherman’s siege in late 1864, along with notes written by slaves and letters penned by soldiers. Some of what he displayed came from Allen Countians, including several pieces from Nimrod Hankins, an Iolan.
The video portion has many actual photographs, some grimly documenting war deaths and destruction, and interludes that recall soldiers’ aspirations and dreams.
The 25 people attending the spring meeting were spellbound by what they saw and gave Kluever and the historical society hearty applause.
THE “GHOSTS” presentation brings to life participants, even those whose names are lost to history, Kluever observed.
Slavery was the cause of the war. Kluever read part of a note written by Hannah, a slave, and noted “it is more than a piece of paper, it tells about her life, how she was bought and sold like an animal.”
He discussed the role of Kansas in the war, and how raids between free-staters and those pro-slavery led to retribution, leaving one community and then another attacked. Humboldt was the target twice and Lawrence, near war’s end, was among the more profound, with 180 — mostly boys and old men — killed.
Bull Run was the first major battle, a Confederate victory that proved there would not be a quick end to the war, Kluever said.
A commonality of Civil War battles was their ferocity and the number of wounded and deaths that each produced.
At Shiloh, Tenn., on April 6, 1862, the two sides had combined casualties of nearly 24,000.
Kluever said a defining point of the war was Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863 that clearly noted the war’s aim was to end slavery. Six months later the war’s turning point came at Gettysburg, where Union and Confederate casualties totaled more than 51,000.
From that point on it was a matter of attrition. Confederate forces had their moments, but the Union’s manpower and resources prescribed eventual victory for the North.
After the war, Confederate soldiers were given opportunities to sign oaths of allegiance, which pardoned them and precluded any being tried for treason from the South’s succession.
