War in the Mountains

With a large gift, the Slemp Foundation has ensured that the Civil War's sesquicentennial would be appropriately remembered in the Appalachian region. At the time of the centennial in the early to middle 1960s, attention was largely focused on what modern scholars call the traditional approach to Civil War history. With the passage of time and the development of new directions in the history of the war, areas like the Appalachian Mountains have become excellent laboratories through which to study irregular warfare. Thanks to the generosity of the Slemp Foundation, the University of Virginia's College at Wise, in conjunction with the Virginia Sesquicentennial Committee and the local sesquicentennial committees for Lee, Wise, Scott, Dickenson, Buchanan, Russell, Tazewell, Washington, and Smyth counties, the region's fascinating Civil War experience will not be forgotten.