Surrender in the American Civil War w/ David Silkenat
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2022
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Robert E. Lee's surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865 marked the end of the American Civil War, but it was just one of many times that officers and soldiers faced the reality of surrender. Throughout the four years of the war, approximately one in four soldiers surrendered to the opposing army. In this episode, David Silkenat explains how looking at surrender as both an experience and a set of codes offers a new and insightful perspective on the Civil War and those who lived through it.
Dr. David Silkenat is Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Edinburgh and author of four books, including Waving the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War (UNC Press, 2019). He is also the cohost of The Whiskey Rebellion podcast alongside Frank Cogliano. You can follow David on twitter at @davidsilkenat.
This episode is a rebroadcast of RTN #135, which originally aired on July 8th 2019.
This episode was originally edited by Gary Fletcher. This rebroadcast was edited by Ben Sawyer.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I enjoy a good round of golf. |
| 0:07.0 | My grandfather was a great golf, but it never caught on with me when I was a child. |
| 0:11.0 | So I picked up the sport a few years ago. |
| 0:13.0 | I threw my clubs in the bus, and I play as often as I can when I'm out on tour. |
| 0:18.0 | One thing I've come to appreciate is a great fitting, great looking polo |
| 0:22.1 | shirt at the right price. After trying a few different brands, I came across cricket that |
| 0:26.7 | spelled C-R-I-Q-U-E-T. I immediately fell in love with their timeless designs. All cricket |
| 0:33.0 | shirts are made from super soft, top-of-the-line fabrics. My personal favorite is the top shelf player shirt. |
| 0:39.9 | It's got a four-buttoned placket hard collar with removable collar stays. It reminds me of the |
| 0:45.0 | shirts my grandfather used to wear. I feel as good wearing a cricket shirt on stage or a night |
| 0:50.4 | out with my family as I do on the golf course. Go to cricket shirts.com. |
| 0:55.5 | That's spelled C-R-I-Q-U-E-T-Sirts.com. |
| 1:00.2 | Put in the discount code Road to Now for 20% off your first order. |
| 1:04.5 | You're going to dig these shirts. |
| 1:08.4 | I'm Ben Sawyer and this is the road to now. |
| 1:12.3 | Today's episode is a conversation about one aspect about the Civil War that a lot of times we don't think about. |
| 1:19.4 | The process of surrender. |
| 1:20.9 | What it means for both sides. |
| 1:23.0 | It's obviously very complicated battle. |
| 1:25.2 | This conversation is fantastic, though. |
| 1:27.0 | It's a conversation with |
| 1:28.6 | Dr. David Silkenat, who is Senior Lecture of American History at the University of Edinburgh. |
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