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Massachusetts Is Steeped In Civil War History

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"Massachusetts Militia Passing Through Baltimore (Baltimore Riot of 1861)," engraving of F.F. Walker, 1861. (Commons)
"Massachusetts Militia Passing Through Baltimore (Baltimore Riot of 1861)," engraving of F.F. Walker, 1861. (Commons)

150 years after the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter, the Civil War still impacts the United States in profound ways.

Posters exhorted men of the Commonwealth to join Union forces. Click to enlarge.
Posters exhorted men of the Commonwealth to join Union forces. Click to enlarge.

While the Bay State sees itself as the cradle of the Revolutionary War, its role in the fight for 19th century American unity is as compelling and possibly more relevant in our lives today than even those 18th-century founding fathers.

Massachusetts was home to abolitionists, free blacks, industrialists and politicians — some of whom hated Lincoln.

Massachusetts supplied soldiers for the Union and money for the war effort. And racial tensions in the state were, at times, boiling as hot as they did anywhere else in the nation.

We dive into the state's Civil War-era history.

Guests:

  • Lou Masur, chair of the American Studies Program at Trinity College; author of the "The Civil War, a Concise History."


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This segment aired on April 13, 2011.

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