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Presentation to the
Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia
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Presentation to the
at the Fort Myer Officers' Club in Arlington, VA
on September 10, 2019
The images used during his presentation are available by clicking HERE or at https://drive.google.com/open?id=187usmmwYFa1vX281QGtu9Vgqnk8kki7h
The images used during his presentation are available by clicking HERE or at https://drive.google.com/open?id=187usmmwYFa1vX281QGtu9Vgqnk8kki7h
About the Topic:
All are invited all to join us on Tuesday, September 10 to hear Ed Bearss speak about how NOT to raise an ironclad like the U.S.S. Cairo. Believe it or not, even at 96 years of age, Ed has learned a thing or two that he did not already know, and he has agreed to give us a confession. Plan to hear anew facts . . . and stories . . . that do not appear in his book on the subject, Hardluck Ironclad: The Sinking and Salvage of the Cairo (see also http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59574). Ed will detail the challenges his team faced in removing the ship from the Yazoo River in Mississippi which also resulted in recovering numerous artifacts from the vessel.
Although, as they say, Ed Bearss is a man who needs no introduction, we are gratified to have Ed, our Round Table's lifetime honorary member, kick-off our new operational year next month. Since 2005, the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia has recognized Ed’s contributions by making an annual “Ed Bearss Award” to a preservation cause of his choosing. To date, the Ed Bearss Award has provided more than $13,000 to worthy--many times little known--Civil War preservation efforts.
And in case you had not heard, the American Battlefield Trust recently dedicated a monument to Ed on the Champion Hill Battlefield, as shown in the picture below. The monument is in recognition of Ed’s teaching of American battlefield history and his work to preserve such sites.
More About the Speaker:
Edwin Cole Bearss is a world-renowned military historian, author, and tour guide recognized for his work on the history of the Civil War and World War II. To list just a few specific details, Ed is:- A native of Montana who grew up on his family's cattle ranch (near Little Big Horn).
- A Marine Corps veteran serving with the 3rd Marine Raider Battalion on Guadalcanal. (In January 1944 he was severely wounded at “Suicide Creek” Cape Gloucester New Britain by Japanese machine gun fire. Evacuated to California he spent 26 months recovering in various hospitals).
- A 40-year veteran of the National Park Service ( Ed was named Chief Historian of the NPS 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, Ed received the title "Chief Historian Emeritus," which he holds to this day).
- A key principle involved in researching and finding (while serving as Historian of the Vicksburg Military Park in 1964), the long lost Union ironclad gunboat U.S.S. Cairo, which had been to torpedoed and sunk on December 12, 1862. (Ed also located two forgotten forts at Grand Gulf, Mississippi. In addition, during his time with the NPS, Ed led efforts for researching, preserving, and interpreting among others sites at Pea Ridge; Wilson’s Creek; Fort Smith; Stones River, Fort Donelson; and the battlefields around Richmond, Fort Moultrie, and Fort Point).
- A respected PBS commentator (Ed was one of the stars of Ken Burns award winning PBS TV series the “The Civil War”).
- A legendary battlefield guide, acclaimed as more knowledgeable about the Civil War battlefields than anyone else.
- A tireless advocate of Civil War preservation, donating his time to many organizations and activities involved with that mission, including serving on the board of the American Battlefield Trust.
- A designee by Smithsonian Magazine as one of the “35 Who Made A Difference,” along with the likes of Maya Angelo, Steven Spielberg, and Sally Ride.
- An author or co-author of 20 books, including the definitive three volume series, The Vicksburg Campaign, and the Hardluck Ironclad: The Sinking and Salvage of the Cairo.
- An author or co-author of countless articles on the Civil War, and a been the coeditor of Gettysburg Magazine.
- A nominee for the U.S. Congressional Gold medal “in recognition of his contribution to preservation of American Civil War history and his continued efforts to bring our nation’s history alive for new generations through his interpretive storytelling.”
- A winner of numerous history and preservation awards including:
- the 2014 DAR Medal of Honor;
- the Douglas Southall Freeman Award for 2014 in honor of his book entitled The Petersburg Campaign, recognized as the best published book of high merit in the field of Southern history;
- the Lincoln Forum’s Richard Nelson Current Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011; and
- an award that bearss his name, "The American Battlefield Trust Edwin C. Bearss Lifetime Achievement Award
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