Join speaker Dr. Colin Woodward as he shares the story of “Marching Masters: Slaves, Race, and the Confederate Army.”

In Marching Masters, Colin Woodward explores not only the importance of slavery in the minds of Confederate soldiers but also its effects on military policy and decision making. Beyond showing how essential the defense of slavery was in motivating Confederate troops to fight, Woodward examines the Rebels’ persistent belief in the need to defend slavery and deploy it militarily as the war raged on. Slavery proved essential to the Confederate war machine, and Rebels strove to protect it just as they did Southern cities, towns, and railroads. Slaves served by the tens of thousands in the Southern armies. They served not as soldiers, but as menial laborers who cooked meals, washed horses, and dug ditches. Woodward continues the story into the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras beyond the Confederacy’s surrender.

Drawing upon hundreds of soldiers’ letters, diaries, and memoirs, Marching Masters combines the latest social and military history in its compelling examination of the last bloody years of slavery in the United States.

Colin Edward Woodward was educated at Trinity College in Hartford and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, where he received his Ph.D. in 2005. Dr. Woodward is a historian and writer, with fifteen years of experience working at colleges, universities, and museums. Past jobs have included the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Smith College, the UALR Center for Arkansas History and Culture in Little Rock, Stratford Hall, and Hampden-Sydney College. He is the author of Marching Masters: Slavery, Race, and the Confederate Army during the Civil War, which is available through University of Virginia Press.

The Petersburg Civil War Roundtable (PCWRT) will meet the first Thursday of each month at Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier from 7:00 pm-8:00 pm. Annual membership is $40.00. Individuals who are already members of Pamplin Historical Park can become members of PCWRT for $20.00. Non-members can attend for $5.00 each meeting. Call (804) 861-2408 for more information.

This is an in-person event.