Exhibition brings to life the grim impact of the American Civil War

An historian who, as a schoolboy, was inspired to study slavery after watching a television drama, has succeeded in bringing an exhibition about the American Civil War to Britain.

The exhibition, Life and Limb: the toll of the American Civil War, opened Thursday in Liverpool, the only venue in the world outside the United States to host the event.

Quite fittingly, it is being staged at a home that once belonged to a prominent Liverpool businessman who was a leading financier of the Confederate States of America during their four-year war with the Union side from the northern states.

The war resulted in the death of around 600,000 soldiers, and left many injured, and led to the abolition of slavery in the United States after the Confederates were defeated.

The Georgian house at 19 Abercromby Square, Liverpool, now owned by the University of Liverpool, still contains emblems and motifs of the southern Confederate states in its decor, such as the Lone Star badge.

The exhibition, created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, has been on a coast-to-coast tour in the United States. Its arrival in Liverpool is a result of the work of lecturer and historian Dr. Stephen Kenny from the university's department of history.

Kenny devoted his academic career to the study of slavery after watching the 1970s award-winning television drama Roots as a child. He told Xinhua: "I saw this fascinating exhibition in the U.S. and asked if it could be brought to Liverpool, and they agreed. It is great to think Liverpool is the only host of this event outside the U.S., more so because it is being held in the home of a prominent financier of the Confederates during the war."

The exhibition combines often grim and graphic displays with original art, a collection of rare books, and records dating back to the 1860s when the war took place. The medical lessons learned during the civil war were integral to the emergence of field hospitals during future conflicts and wars.

"While the traditional historical view saw medical practice in the war as being near medieval, new research finds abundant evidence of progress and modernization in medical and public health responses to the conflict; including the establishment of the vast U.S. Army Medical Museum using human specimens harvested from battlefields and field hospitals. Under slavery, black people were exploited for anatomical dissection, experimental research, and the development of medical museum collections." Kenny said.

The exhibition continues in Liverpool until June 20. Enditem