Civil War

The Battle of Memphis

Steve Pike — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 22:50:00 +0000

When the Civil War broke out, Memphis declared its allegiance to the Southern cause.

Allen James Walker

Steve Pike — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:53:21 +0000

Allen James Walker was born a slave near Germantown in 1845. During the Civil War, Walker was one of the thousands of local slaves who escaped from their bondage. Walker joined the Union Army, which raised 51 black companies from Shelby and Fayette County alone.

As a soldier in the 7th US Colored Heavy Artillery, Walker was stationed at Corinth, Mississippi and Ft. Pickering, here in Memphis, but was ultimately sent to Ft. Pillow, overlooking the Mississippi and Hatchie Rivers.

Interview with Randall Fuller

Jonathan Judaken — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:04:37 +0000

Host Jonathan Judaken talks with with author Professor Randall Fuller about what symbolic role the Civil War ought to play in our imaginations or in our cultural landscape.

The Civil War: America's epic battle with itself, transformed every aspect of American culture, including its great writers like Whitman, Emerson, Hawthorne, Dickinson, and Frederick Douglass.

Captain Kit Dalton And The James Gang

Steve Pike — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:50:00 +0000

Frank and Jesse James hold a prominent place in the history of outlaws. One member of the James gang has a Memphis connection. Captain Kit Dalton, born in Logan County, Kentucky in 1848, ran away from home during the Civil War and joined Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry.

Interview with Eric Foner

Jonathan Judaken and Justin Willingham — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 00:31:16 +0000

Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University is one of this country's most prominent historians.