2015 Press Releases

National Archives Hosts -End of Civil War- Book Fair April 18, 2015
Press Release · Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Washington, DC

Civil War authors to speak and sign books from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On Saturday, April 18, the National Archives hosts a special "End of Civil War Book Fair." The book talks are free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC, and streamed live via YouTube. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance, located on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW. The building is fully accessible. Metro: Yellow or Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial station. Book signings will follow each talk.

  • 11 a.m. A Finger in Lincoln's Brain: What Modern Science Reveals about Lincoln, His Assassination, and Its Aftermath
    E. Lawrence Abel sheds light on the details surrounding the death of Abraham Lincoln, including John Wilkes Booth's illness, the alleged medical treatment the wounded President received, and the significance of his funeral for the American public.
     
  • 12:30 p.m. Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War
    Civil War historian Brian Matthew Jordan describes how veterans—left tending rotting wounds, battling alcoholism, and campaigning for paltry pensions—realized that they stood as unwelcome reminders to a new America eager to heal and forget.
     
  • 2 p.m. Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War
    Historian Joseph Wheelan relates the dramatic events which followed one after another, leading ultimately to Lee's surrender at Appomattox and Lincoln's assassination.

Related Featured Document Display

A Doctor in the House - Dr. Charles Leale's report on the death of President Lincoln
East Rotunda Gallery, through April 29, 2015
There was a doctor in the house the night President Lincoln was assassinated—Dr. Charles A. Leale, a recently employed surgeon at the U.S. Army General Hospital. Six weeks out of medical school, the 23-year-old doctor went to Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865, hoping to catch a glimpse of President Lincoln. In the course of the evening, he found himself attempting to remove a bullet from the President's skull. Leale was the first medical professional to arrive at the wounded President's side. His report of the events of that evening takes us to the scene of a crime that irreversibly altered the future of the United States. Leale's eyewitness report takes us to the scene of a crime that irreversibly altered the future of the United States.

Related Online Exhibition: Discovering the Civil War

On April 30, 2010, the National Archives peeled back 150 years of accumulated analysis, interpretation, and opinion to reveal a Civil War that is little-known and even more rarely displayed. "Discovering the Civil War" opened in the Lawrence F. O'Brien Gallery of the National Archives Museum in 2010. The groundbreaking exhibition presented the most extensive display ever assembled from the incomparable Civil War holdings of the National Archives, and took a fresh look at the Civil War through little-known stories, seldom-seen documents, and unusual perspectives.

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For press information contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.

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