Bobby Horton, a Civil War historian and musician, said a fellow historian once said, “History is nothing but bad news.”
“But I added to it. ‘It’s the story of how good people handle it,'” Horton said.
On Monday, Horton, who has worked on 13 Ken Burns productions for the Public Broadcasting Service, will team up with the Chattanooga Boys Choir to present the second talk in the 2011 Moccasin Bend Lecture Series.
His specialty is showing how the soldiers of the Civil War handled their heart-rending duty with song. And as he performs, he’ll also tell the stories behind the songs.
If music is an important pastime and comfort in 2011 when there is television and Internet and shopping malls, consider its influence during the Civil War, Horton said.