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Vets: Civil War Memorial Day 2015 - VT Newspapers
- 1700 reads
“Vermont Newspapers and the St. Albans Raid”
Professor C. Wyatt Evans
Introduction by Attorney James Valente
The Confederate raid on St. Albans in October 1864, was the northern- most attack on Union territory during the Civil War. The attack incon- sequential from a military standpoint, led to prolonged and occasionally fierce controversy in the year that followed. The controversy stemmed from the raiders’ flight to Canada, and the issues of neutrality and belligerents’ rights this flight raised. Canada-U.S. relations were strained for some time with a few ardent Unionists calling for invasion of our northern neighbor. While coverage of the major northern newspapers addressed the main political issues, it was the Vermont newspapers that provided the most detailed picture of the cross border goings-on. Their coverage of the raid petered out in the months following Lincoln’s assassination.
Professor C. Wyatt Evans teaches history and directs the History & Culture graduate program at Drew University in Madison, NJ. His courses include the Civil War, Conspiracy Theory in U.S. History, American Legal History, and Intellectual History. His first book, The Legend of John Wilkes Booth, won the Organization of American Historian’s 2005 Avery O. Craven Award. He has also published and spoken on the use of historical memory in presidential campaigns. His current book project is titled American Misadventures. It explores the history of U.S. citizens held captive abroad from the Revolutionary Era to the present, including the Vermont patriotes of 1838. Prior to returning to the academy in the late 1990s, Evans worked as a construction project manager and served as an Army officer with the 96thCivil Affairs Battalion (Airborne).
