Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum

Hear the rarely told story of Reconstruction in the American west and learn about its impact on the present day

American Progress, an 1872 painting by John Gast detailing how Americans envisioned westward expansion. The reality was more complex.

On July 18 at 6:00 PM, come to the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office to hear from historian Maureen Lavelle about the process of Reconstruction in the western United States. While it is a story told with less frequency, its impact is still felt in the region today.

Historians and history buffs alike tend to focus on the efforts of Reconstruction in the South, where the Civil War was hardest felt. However, this era of transformative social and political change was not merely wrought in the South, but all over the United States. Though largely untouched by battle, Unionists and Confederates alike vied for resources from the fledgling states and territories in the American West, and continued their struggle for control long after the Civil War ended. Hear the stories of Civil War veterans who joined the crowds of pioneers moving west, and how their ideological clashes and the changes brought by Reconstruction shaped the West.

Maureen Lavelle hails from Boise, Idaho and is a recent graduate of West Virginia University. Her studies focused on Public History and women’s memorialization efforts in the postwar South. She studied U.S. History at Willamette University, and spends her summers working as a seasonal employee with the National Park Service.