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NILES -- The American Civil War was fought about 160 years ago, but a Youngstown State University professor of history speaking Saturday at a McKinley Memorial event said the war can still evoke strong emotions.
Dr. Amy Laurel Fluker, a Missouri native who also taught about the Civil War in a classroom in Mississippi, said her studies focus less on the dates, the battles and the military commanders, but rather on the interpretations of those who built monuments and started Civil War veterans organizations.
"Things get left out in the study of history all the time," Fluker said. "My study tries to seek out why this happens."
Fluker's talk was one of several attractions to the first "Living History of the Civil War" Saturday at the McKinley Memorial in Niles.
Ami LeMaster, director of the McKinley Birthplace Museum and Memorial, said she was pleased with the turnout for the venue's first event as restrictions lessen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It was an exhilarating as well as educational day," said LeMaster, who took over the job in October. "The turnout of visitors was impressive, and there was such great diversity among the presentations and displays. I am excited for our future events."
Among the guests were President Abraham and first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, portrayed by Gerald Payn and his wife Marilyn of Wooster. Payn said the pandemic kept his appearances to three last year, and this Niles trip was their first for 2021.
"We've been doing this since 1999, and we've enjoyed the reception we are receiving here in Niles," Payn said, adding that he often runs into Mike Wilson, who portrays President William McKinley on the "history" circuit. Wilson was in the audience Saturday and shared pleasantries with the Payns.
President Lincoln's "bodyguard" appeared at the museum in full Union blues. Sgt. Smith Shannel of Niles said he participates in two different Civil War re-enactment groups, many whom he invited to Saturday's event at the museum.
"We decided to hold this about a month ago, and we've managed to pull together a good program," Shannel said. "This has been like a reunion. We haven't seen each other in quite a while."
Providing musical entertainment were Steve Ball and his wife Lisa from Columbus. During the 10 to 12 songs of the Civil War era, the Balls provided the history and events that inspired each song, two of which were penned by Ohioans. Ball noted that "Dixie" may evoke strong emotions from southerners, but the song was actually a favorite of President Lincoln and the military personnel at West Point, many of whom later became officers in the Confederate Army. Ball said "Dixie" was penned by Daniel Decatur Emmett, a native of Mount Vernon.
Another song, "Aura Lea," which was published and copyrighted in Cincinnati, was an 1860 favorite at West Point, Ball noted, but almost a century later, a southerner named Elvis Presley sang it as the title song in his first movie, "Love Me Tender."
Among those displaying Civil War-era artifacts were Tristan Liptak of Johnston and his daughter, sixth-grader Ava. Liptak, a native of Niles, said he first got interested in history partly because of his school trips to the McKinley Memorial. Eventually, that interest turned to the Civil War.
"I remember going on trips to Myrtle Beach as a kid, and on the way we would stop at the battlefields," Liptak said.
Liptak said he has gotten his daughter interested in the Civil War, and she has collected a variety of artifacts, including a child's cape made out of a Union Army uniform.
"Back then, the children loved to dress like their fathers, and we found this piece of clothing at a show at the fairgrounds in Mansfield," Liptak said. "These trips have become a good way of bonding with my daughter and also teaching her the importance of history."
Another youngster in attendance was fourth-grader Bryson Seitz-Wilson of McDonald. When asked about the Civil War, the youngster gave this insightful answer, considering the state of today's politics: "I don't want it to begin," he said.
Fluker said in America then and today, there are three interpretations of the Civil War -- the lost cause often held by southerners; the northern response; and "the view held by African Americans that the war was fought for emancipation but not equality."
The lost cause view, that the war was fought over "states' rights" and economic issues, was romanticized by the 1939 classic, "Gone with the Wind."
"It painted a South that was trying to uphold the values that we fought the revolution over," Fluker said.
As for the Northern interpretation, Fluker said many northerners thought the war was fought "to preserve the union and end slavery."
She also stated the controversy over monuments isn't a modern phenomenon. Fluker pointed to a 1905 building of a Confederate War statue that drew the ire of some Union veterans at the time.
"Today, we are still building statues," she said, referring to a statue in Jefferson City, Mo., that depicts an African-American unit helping each other make it to the top of the monument. "It depicts that the struggle is not over."