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The Robert Fortenbaugh Memorial Lecture is presented annually on November 29, the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. In 2023, for the first time, the Fortenbaugh did not feature an individual scholar. Instead, a roundtable format was introduced, and a lively conversation ensued at the Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, among Lorien Foote, Jennifer Murray, and Craig Symonds, moderated by Peter Carmichael. They broadly discussed the state of Civil War military history, reflecting on the field's evolution from a focus on generals and battles to a more holistic war-and-society approach that integrates social, cultural, political, and military history. Although Civil War military history has changed with the times and undeniably broadened its scope, the field remains on the margins of the academy, an issue that the panelists explored at length. They concluded their conversation before an audience of some three hundred people by reflecting on the ways that the study of Civil War military history has the potential to inform inquiries about a world engulfed in conflict today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The colleges of Virginia became seats of disunion and secession as students debated the necessity and opportunity of a new Southern nation. Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address was seen as an open declaration of war against the South and Virginian students conducted many raisings of the flag of the Southern Confederacy, since they believed that they were linked to the revolutionary generation.

Execution was the only punishment that Major General Thomas Jackson of the Confederate army used, in 1862 for desertion in his division. Jackson decided to take this step so that the other soldiers would learn a lesson from this harsh punishment and finally stop desertion.