"Bonds of War: How Civil War Financial Agents Sold the World on the Union"
with Dr. David K. Thomson, Associate Professor of History at Sacred Heart University
Monday, November 11, 2024, from 6-7:30 p.m.
Room 114, Belk Library and Information Commons
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BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University's Department of History—with support from the College of Arts and Sciences—is pleased to welcome Dr. David K. Thomson for the 2024 Civil War Speaker Series. Dr. Thomson will present "Bonds of War: How Civil War Financial Agents Sold the World on the Union" on Monday, November 11, 2024, from 6-7:30 p.m. in Room 114 of the Belk Library and Information Commons located at 218 College Street in Boone.
Thomson is an associate professor of history at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. His book, Bonds of War, received the 2023 Wiley-Silver Prize in Civil War History for the best first book published in Civil War History, as well as an honorable mention for the 2023 Organization of American Historians Civil War and Reconstruction Prize. His writing has also been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, and the Boston Globe Magazine. To learn more about Thomson, visit his website: davidkthomson.com.
In his lecture, Thomson will discuss: How does one package and sell confidence in the stability of a nation riven by civil strife? This was the question that loomed before the Philadelphia financial house of Jay Cooke & Company, entrusted by the U.S. government with an unprecedented sale of bonds to finance the Union war effort in the early days of the American Civil War. How the government and its agents marketed these bonds revealed a version of the war the public was willing to buy and buy into, based not just in the full faith and credit of the United States but also in the success of its armies and its long-term vision for open markets. From Maine to California, and in foreign halls of power and economic influence, thousands of agents were deployed to sell a clear message: Union victory was unleashing the American economy itself.
The lecture is free and open to the public. For a disability accommodation, visit odr.appstate.edu. For more information about the Civil War Speaker Series, visit history.appstate.edu/events/civil-war-speaker-series.
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About the Department of History
The Department of History offers a broad curriculum in local, national, regional and world history at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, which encourages history majors to develop a comprehensive approach to human problems. The study of history is an essential part of a liberal arts education and offers valuable preparation for many careers, such as law, journalism, public history, public service and business, as well as in teaching and the advanced discipline of history. Learn more at history.appstate.edu.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Appalachian State University is home to 17 academic departments, two centers and one residential college. These units span the humanities and the social, mathematical and natural sciences. CAS aims to develop a distinctive identity built upon our university's strengths, traditions and unique location. The college’s values lie not only in service to the university and local community, but through inspiring, training, educating and sustaining the development of its students as global citizens. More than 6,400 student majors are enrolled in the college. As the college is also largely responsible for implementing App State’s general education curriculum, it is heavily involved in the education of all students at the university, including those pursuing majors in other colleges. Learn more at cas.appstate.edu.
Dr. David K. Thomson, associate professor of history at Sacred Heart University. Photo submitted
Dr. David K. Thomson, associate professor of history at Sacred Heart University. Photo submitted