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Edwin C. Bearss speaks to the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia on October 11, 2016, about Custer at Little Bighorn.
Questions and answers follow the presentation. A copy of the maps used during his presentation are available at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T4qOaC-WPMRAjqopE9hiN5reDpTOXaha
About Our Speaker: Ed Bearss needs no introduction to most Civil War enthusiasts. He is a world-renowned military historian, author, and tour guide known for his work about the Civil War and World War II. CWRTDC is gratified to have him as its lifetime honorary member, yearly speaker, and regular leader for its field trips and tours.
Mr. Bearss is the author of numerous books including the definitive three volume series, “The Vicksburg Campaign.” He is a tireless advocate of Civil War preservation, donating his time to many organizations and activities involved with that mission including his service on the Board of the Civil War Trust. Among his many honors, Mr. Bearss was named by the Smithsonian as one of its “35 Who Made A Difference.” Since 2005, the CWRTDC has recognized Mr. Bearss' contributions to its organization by making an annual “Ed Bearss Award” to a preservation cause of his choosing. To date, the Ed Bearss Award has provided more $10,000 to worthy, many times little known, Civil War preservation efforts.
Mr. Bearss has worked as a historian at Vicksburg National Military Park, where he did the research leading him and two friends to find the long-lost Union gunboat, U.S.S. Cairo. He also located two forgotten forts at Grand Gulf, Mississippi. Mr. Bearss rose in the National Park Service (NPS) to the post of regional historian and was recognized as more knowledgeable on the Civil War battlefields than virtually anyone else.
During his time with the NPS, Mr. Bearss led efforts for researching, preserving, and interpreting: Pea Ridge, Wilson’s Creek, Fort Smith, Stones River, Fort Donelson, the battlefields around Richmond, Fort Moultrie, and Fort Point among many others. Mr. Bearss was named Chief Historian of the National Park Service in 1981, a position he held until 1994. He also served as special assistant to the NPS director from 1994 to 1995. After his retirement in 1995, he received the title Chief Historian Emeritus, which he holds to this day.
Mr. Bearss' many awards and honors are too numerous to mention here, but some of the more recent include: the 2014 DAR Medal of Honor; The Douglas Southall Freeman Award in 2014 for his book entitled "The Petersburg Campaign," the best published book of high merit in the field of Southern history; and the Lincoln Forum’s Richard Nelson Current Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. The Civil War Trust has also established its annual lifetime achievement award in Mr. Bearss' name.
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For information about the Round Table and to apply for membership, visit www.cwrtdc.org/
- Genre
- U.S. Civil War History