York Civil War Roundtable

May 20, 2026 – Codie Eash – “The Nation Shall Live and Slavery Shall Die”: The Presidential Election of 1864

This program will be in person and available on Zoom.

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As Americans struggled through the Civil War’s fourth autumn, voters cast their ballots in the presidential election of 1864. The campaign pitted incumbent Abraham Lincoln against his former general-in-chief, George McClellan, and its results framed the ultimate effects of the conflict itself. Soldiers and citizens determined whether the nation would quell a rebellion, or open peace negotiations; expand the rights of freed people, or de-emphasize personal liberties; and end slavery, or keep the institution intact. More than any wartime event not decided on a battlefield, the course and consequences of this election are among the most significant in U.S. history.

Codie Eash serves as Director of Education and Interpretation at Seminary Ridge Museum and Education Center on the historic campus of the Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he has served several roles as a member of the staff since 2012. He earned his undergraduate degree in Communication/Journalism at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania in 2014, and began working on his Master’s in American History at Gettysburg College in 2024. In addition to museum tours and interpretation, Codie lectures for American Battlefield Trust conferences, National Park Service sites, Civil War roundtables, libraries, and other community organizations. He is a founding contributor to Pennsylvania in the Civil War, reviews books for Civil War Monitor and Emerging Civil War, writes articles for W. Britain’s The Standard, and serves as a member on the Gettysburg Magazine editorial board.