American Civil War, Part Two: 1863 to 1877
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

This course begins with a series of important battles in the Western Theater of the Civil War and concludes with the federal government terminating its Congressional Reconstruction program. A major emphasis of the presentation is the prominent Civil War battles from the beginning of 1863 through the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, in April 1865. Included in the lectures are presentations such as Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address, Congress abolishing slavery through the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, the North's initiation of a military draft, the presidential election of 1864, followed by Lincoln's assassination, and the North's use of total warfare against the South. The final presentation will be Congress forcing a radical reform on the South in the form of a set of actions known as Reconstruction.