When do soldiers stop fighting? For soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, Lee’s surrender at Appomattox was just the introduction of a new phase of warfare – a battle for culture, citizenship, and for some, the Lost Cause. Join the Pritzker Military Museum & Library for a discussion with Stephen A. Goldman M.D., author of One More War to Fight: Union Veterans' Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Lost Cause, and Dr. Caroline E. Janney, author of Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee's Army after Appomattox. Moderator Dr. Kate Masur, author and professor at Northwestern University, will guide the conversation of their research and writings about the continued battles of Civil War soldiers long after Appomattox.

Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War, remains a controversial figure due to his pivotal role in the Civil War as a general for the pro-slavery Confederacy.

After the Civil War, Lee opposed revenge and vindictiveness towards the South and advocated reconciliation between North and South. However, Lee also owned slaves and defended the institution of slavery. This has led to a debate over Lee's legacy and the history and purpose of Confederate monuments honoring Lee like the one most recently taken down in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy.

When the Civil War ended, the United States faced a Reconstruction that would test its resolve in dealing with race, equality, and sectionalism. With Abraham Lincoln gone, others would have to provide vital leadership for “the unfinished work” that lay ahead. Coming home irrevocably changed by all they had seen, done, endured and accomplished, a sizable proportion of Union servicemen had been politically radicalized. More than the average civilian, they realized that what remained to be done promised to be as bitter, divisive, and perilous as the war itself, if not more so. This presentation will show how white and black Northern veterans sustained their dedication to the causes for which they had battled and bled, and continued the struggle for freedom and opportunity for every American in the decades after the Civil War. In the same vein, how they created the model of social activism based on military service that American citizen soldiers, sailors, and marines have emulated in modern times, and the enduring power of veterans’ warrior identity, will also be discussed.

Following the Civil War and Emancipation, Union veterans and African American civilians faced physical and mental challenges that put their resilience to the test in new post-War environments.