BLACKSBURG, Nov. 1, 2001--As part of its chief goal to educate the nation's young about the Civil War, Virginia Tech's Virginia Center for Civil War Studies has distributed a two-volume video set, West Virginia as a Child of the Civil War, to every elementary and middle school and to every library in West Virginia.
On Nov. 8, James I. Robertson Jr., executive director of the Civil War center and
Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at Virginia Tech, will also present copies of the tapes to members of the State Board of Education in Charleston.
The videos were produced by Greystone Communications, an award-winning filmmaker based in North Hollywood, Calif. They were underwritten by a grant from the Hugh I. Shott Jr. Foundation, an independent foundation that supports secondary and higher education, historic preservation, the arts, community development, and health in West Virginia and Virginia.
Written by and narrated in part by Robertson and William C. Davis, director of programs for the center and professor of history at the university, the two videos look at the effect of Virginia's secession on its western counties; examine Virginia's efforts to hold onto those western counties, which resulted in a number of military actions; and chronicle West Virginia's development into a separate state.
"The Civil War is often referred to as a war of brother against brother and father against son." No other state serves as a better example of this than West Virginia, where there was relatively equal support for Northern and Southern causes," said Robertson, who has written and narrated numerous videos about the Civil War in Virginia for public television and currently serves as historical consultant to the major motion picture Gods & Generals now being shot in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
"As the Civil War spread across the country, Virginia seceded from the Union, and western Virginians began to think seriously of seceding from Virginia," Robertson said. "The evolution of West Virginia statehood began in 1861 and 1862 when, at the Wheeling Convention, the idea of a state called Kanawha was proposed." This sentiment resulted in the formation of the West Virginia regiments, mainly Union but some Confederate, and led to additional military engagements, such as Rich Creek, Sewell Mountain, and Cloyds Mountain.
West Virginia, which seceded from Virginia and joined the Union as the country's 35th state, provided the Union Army with 31,872 regular army troops, 133 sailors and marines, and 196 soldiers in the United Colored Troops. An estimated 16,000-20,000 West Virginians served in the Confederate Army.
Although the video set was distributed without charge to the West Virginia schools and libraries, the center will sell boxed sets to the public for $36 per set, which includes postage. Persons interested in obtaining the set should write the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, Department of History (0117), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. Proceeds will be used by the center to fund additional projects.
The two-part documentary is part of the Virginia Tech center's ongoing efforts to initiate, organize, and conduct a rich diversity of public and scholarly programs revolving around the Civil War.
