I served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II and know how a battlefield feels, sounds, and smells. Frankly there is nothing like it. Anyone who has ever been there will never forget it.
I have been leading battlefield tours since the 1950s, and in each instance I find that the sites continue to teach me. In that time I’ve met hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life—two Presidents of the United States, foreign leaders, executives of international corporations, senior officers of the United States and foreign militaries as well and the “rank and file soldiers,” jurists, members of Congress, and countless “history buffs”—each coming for reasons that are as unique as they are. Most of the people I have the opportunity to lead and teach are serious about trying to learn what these battlefields mean. I have taken people to sites from the French and Indian Wars, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the various Indian and Plains wars, the Civil War, and World War II. While each has its students, the American Civil War stands out above all of them.
I believe the enduring interest in America’s Civil War comes from the direct connection many people feel with the people who fought in it. It is a conflict that attracts both professional and amateur historians in large numbers. By walking the fields they extract nuggets that might otherwise be overlooked. I am frequently asked to read manuscripts for books on various aspects of the Civil War. No other conflict even comes close in terms of interest and active scholarship.
I try to accommodate as many programs as I can. My schedule regularly exceeds 250 days per year on the road giving lectures or leading tours. Some are regular programs that I reserve each year: The Civil War Round Table of Chicago was the first such group in the United States, and only one man has been on more of their annual tours than I have. Charlie Falkenberg still accompanies me on many fields. For years I did two programs a year in support of Jerry Russell’s Civil War Roundtable Associates and the Confederate Historical Institute. Ted Alexander does an annual program for the Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce, and of the many Civil War Round Tables, the relatively new Low Country Civil War Round Table represents the continuing interest in the war—friends Jack and Joyce Keller are gracious hosts for my annual March lecture—when over 400 people attend. There are other groups too numerous to mention but all are wonderful hosts.
This book is the story of the Civil War as I have presented it on the battlefield tours I give. It is a special piece of work and to accomplish it I turned to my friend Len Riedel, Executive Director of the Blue and Gray Education Society (BGES). Since 1994 Len’s father Bill, aka “Dad,” and Steve Halcomb have been recording my tours and lectures. They have built an archive that is approaching 400 taped hours. In cooperation with my friends Rob Zaworski and Sam Craghead, who have been assembling tapes and my publications from various tours and archive sources, the Blue and Gray Education Society helped me place and establish my personal archives at Marine Corps Base Quantico in the Marine Corps University Library Archives.
Len worked closely with the National Geographic Society and members of his nonprofit educational organization to produce more than 2,500 pages of transcripts from my special series for the BGES entitled Ed Bearss’s Essential Civil War. They were turned over to historian Brooks Simpson and editor Harris Andrews, who drafted a concise narrative that relies on my actual presentations on the field.
I am a man of the battlefields. The narrative you are about to read is the story of these fields as I have learned it. I am as enthusiastic today about the various programs that I lead as I was when I first took a group out. All in all—it is a good life and I am thankful to all for helping to keep me young.