Binding up the nation’s wounds 150 years later

Good morning. I am honored to be here with you today, joined by two congressional colleagues – Congressman Hurt and Congressman Goodlatte. As governor and senator, I have worked with these colleagues and others to preserve our nation’s Civil War battlefields so that future generations can learn the great lessons of the War and how it shaped our nation. And there is no more sacred Civil War battlefield than the spot where we now meet. Other places were the sites of more momentous battles. But it is here, at Appomattox Court House, where the battles ended and a divided nation chose a path of unity, a choice that would profoundly change not only our own history, but the history of the world. We come to honor that choice and to acknowledge that the same choice lies before us now.

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• April 16, 2015