The fourth presentation for this academic year, Dr. James Broomall, director, George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War, Department of History, who will present research entitled “By Whose Hand?: The Curious Letters of a Civil War Soldier.” The abstract is below.

This talk will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 12 p.m. in the Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education Auditorium.

Abstract: By the fall of 1863, John and Charles Futch were dead. The brothers served together as soldiers in the 3rd North Carolina Infantry.

Charles fell with his face to the foe at the battle of Gettysburg, having died the “good death” according to Victorian culture.

As an illiterate yeoman farmer, John had to rely upon others to help him compose his letters home about his brother’s death. Their voice became his voice.

What emerges from a careful reading of the letters, though, is that John saw the event as anything but a good death and returned from the fight a changed man.

This talk will focus on a series of letters written after Charles’ death and explore how different authors portrayed his death in different ways.

By so doing, we will consider the authenticity and credibility of nineteenth-century sources, place these materials within a boarder historical context, and ultimately learn of John’s fate-for remember, both men were dead by the fall of 1863.

Light refreshment will be served.