ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT:
Texas Woman’s University:
Assistant Professor of History, 2023 – Present
Southern Methodist University:
Senior Fellow, Center for Presidential History, 2023 - Present
Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Presidential History, 2021 - 2023
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EDUCATION:
PhD, Pennsylvania State University, 2021
M.A., History, Pennsylvania State University, 2018
B.A. (With Highest Distinction), History, University of Virginia, 2015
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PUBLICATIONS:
Book:
The Army Under Fire: Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2024).
Peer-Reviewed Articles and Chapters:
“Sour Grapes: Braxton Bragg and the Lessons of the War with Mexico,” in Tim Johnson, ed., The Mexican American War: A Civil War Training Ground (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, forthcoming 2024).
“Whither The Radicals?,” Reviews in American History 51, No. 1 (March 2023): 91-102.
“One Widow’s Wars: The Civil War, Reconstruction, and the West in Elizabeth Bacon Custer’s Memoirs,” in Gary W. Gallagher and Stephen Cushman, eds., Civil War Witnesses and Their Books: New Perspectives on Iconic Works (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2021).
“‘Victory’s Long Review:’ The Grand Review of Union Armies and the Meaning of the Civil War,” Civil War History 66, No. 1 (March 2020): 45-77.
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Short Form Essays + Op-eds:
“The Cabinet Diarists,” Civil War Monitor (Spring 2024): 59-61.
“Gettysburg, Readdressed,” Civil War Monitor (Winter 2022): 44-53, 66.
Recollections and Reminiscences of the Stonewall Brigade,” On the Frontline: The Central Virginia Battlefield Trust Preservation Magazine (Winter 2022): 7-11.
“Gettysburg in Texas: The Challenges and Rewards of Teaching Military History Beyond the Battlefield,” Teaching Military History (August 18, 2022).
“Trump’s threat to veto a key defense bill isn’t likely to work. Here’s why,” The Washington Post (December 8, 2020).
“More Than a Widow: Libbie Custer Steps Out of George’s Shadow,” Civil War Times (April 2020): 28-35.
“Men Go to Battle and the Dark Humor of the Civil War,” Muster (a blog from the Journal of the Civil War Era) (March 14, 2017)
“Reflecting on the Civil War and Colorado’s Purple Mountain Majesties,” The Denver Post (June 30, 2016)
For Emerging Civil War (60,000 monthly readers)
“The Lions of Antietam and Verdun” (September 17, 2023)
“1863: Wash Roebling’s Gettysburg Letter” (August 2, 2023)
“Civil War Surprises: Dropping in On General Grant” (April 27, 2023)
“Civil War Weather: The Regular Army and the Weather” (February 28, 2023)
“ECW Weekender: Andrew Johnson National Historic Site,” (January 13, 2023)
“John Wesley Powell and the Wounds of War” (October 3, 2022)
“What If…John Pope Had Invaded Canada?” (August 2, 2022)
“Civil War Summer Reading — A Texas Tall Tale” (July 19, 2022)
“The Confederate Reunion Grounds in Mexia, Texas” (May 19, 2022)
“On The March: Respectfully, Jubal A. Early” (April 13, 2022)
“Fort Abraham Lincoln – Symbol of Civil War Memory on the North Dakota Prairie” (February 22, 2022)
“Men to Match My Mountains?” (November 12, 2021)
“Civilians Under Siege: A Confederate Woman’s Diary of the War in the Trans-Mississippi” (September 16, 2021)
“Braxton Bragg’s Beach Vacation – Pensacola in the Early Months of the Civil War” (June 29, 2021)
“Civil War Savannah: The View from Two Parapets” (June 11, 2021)
“Learning Civil War History: The Pandemic Perspective” (February 19, 2021)
“The William Belknap Impeachment – Some Historical Background” (February 10, 2021)
“Emily Dickinson’s Poetry and the Pop Culture Delights of Dickinson” (January 14, 2021)
“My Civil War Bookshelf – The Macmillan Wars of the United States” (September 21, 2020)
“Assessing the Enemy: James Longstreet and John Pope at Second Bull Run” (August 29, 2020)
“Vanishing Monuments – The Case of Custer City, Colorado” (July 23, 2020)
“Unintentional Reconciliation – Memorializing the Cavalry Fight at Gettysburg” (July 3, 2020)
“Picturing Union Victory – Early Images of the Surrender at Appomattox” (June 18, 2020)
“The Second Seminole War as a Civil War Training Ground” (June 4, 2020)
Book Reviews:
Review of Timothy J. Orr, The Battle of Gettysburg1863: The Second Day, The Civil War Monitor (August 30, 2023).
Review of John Cimprich, Navigating Liberty: Black Refugees and Antislavery Reformers in the Civil War South, The Civil War Monitor (May 9, 2023).
Review of Bradley R. Clampitt, Lost Causes: Confederate Demobilization and the Making of Veteran Identity, H-Nationalism, March 2023.
Review of John David Smith and Raymond Arsenault, ed., The Long Civil War: New Explorations of America's Enduring Conflict, Journal of the Civil War Era 13(1): 129-131.
Review of Caroline E. Janney, Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee’s Army after Appomattox, Southwestern Historical Quarterly 126(1): 125-126.
Review of Laura F. Edwards, Only the Clothes on Her Back: Clothing and the Hidden History of Power in the Nineteenth-Century United States, The Civil War Monitor (August 24, 2022).
Review of Jonathan W. White, A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House, The Civil War Monitor (April 6, 2022).
Review of Laurie A. Wilkie, Unburied Lives: The Historical Archeology of Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Davis, Texas, 1869-1875, Western Historical Quarterly 53(2): 218-219.
Review of James. E. Mueller, Ambitious Honor: George Armstrong Custer’s Life of Service and Lust for Fame, Western Historical Quarterly 53(1): 110-111.
Review of Kevin Waite, West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire, The Civil War Monitor (July 21, 2021).
Review of Deborah Willis, The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship, The Civil War Monitor (March 17, 2021).
Review of Megan Kate Nelson, Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West, H-Nationalism, September 2020.
Review of Paul Taylor, The Most Complete Political Machine Ever Known: The North's Union Leagues in the American Civil War, H-Nationalism, February 2020.
Review of Andrew F. Lang, In the Wake of War: Military Occupation, Emancipation, and Civil War America, North Carolina Historical Review 96(4): 440-441.
Review of S. C. Gwynne, Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War, The Civil War Monitor (November 11, 2019).
Review of James J. Broomall, Private Confederacies: The Emotional Worlds of Southern Men as Citizens and Soldiers, The Civil War Monitor (July 3, 2019).
Review of Andrew E. Masich, Civil War in the Southwest Borderlands, 1861-1867, H-CivWar, February 2019.
Review of John R. Van Atta, Charging Up San Juan Hill: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of Imperial America, Western Historical Quarterly 50(2): 193-194.
Review of Jeffry D. Wert, Civil War Barons: The Tycoons, Entrepreneurs, Inventors and Visionaries Who Forged Victory and Shaped a Nation, The Civil War Monitor (November 14, 2018).
Review of David J. Powell, The Chickamauga Campaign: Barren Victory: The Retreat into Chattanooga, the Confederate Pursuit, and the Aftermath of the Battle, September 21 to October 20, 1863, The Civil War Monitor (January 1, 2018).
Review of Matthew E. Stanley, The Loyal West: Civil War and Reunion in Middle America, The Civil War Monitor (May 10, 2017).
Review of Justin S. Solonick, Engineering Victory: The Union Siege of Vicksburg, American Nineteenth Century History 19(2): 209-210.
Review of Eric J. Wittenberg and Scott L. Mingus, Sr., The Second Battle of Winchester: The Confederate Victory that Opened the Door to Gettysburg, The Civil War Monitor (November 2, 2016).
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GRANTS AND AWARDS:
External Fellowships:
Dissertation Fellowship, U.S. Army Center of Military History, 2019-2020
Wilbur R. Jacobs Fellow, Henry E. Huntington Library, 2019
Masterson Fellowship, Western Historical Collection, University of Oklahoma, 2019
The Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin, 2019
Research Fellowship, Filson Historical Society, 2018
Research Travel Grant, Clements Center-DeGolyer Library Southern Methodist University, 2018
Internal Grants and Awards (selected):
Raymond E. Lombra and Roberta Lombra Outstanding Graduate Research Award, Penn State College of the Liberal Arts, 2018
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INVITED TALKS:
“Custer in Kentucky: Reconstructing the Bluegrass State,” Louisville Civil War Round Table, Louisville, Kentucky (March 15, 2025)
“Refining War: William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864,” Emerging Civil War Tenth Annual Symposium (August 5-7, 2024)
“Lincoln’s Radical Foes: How Rivalries in the Republican Party Changed the Course of the Civil War,” The American Battlefield Trust National Teacher Institute, New Orleans, LA (July 11, 2024)
“John Pope and the Massacre of the Sioux,” The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College (June 7-12, 2024)
“John Pope and Slavery in 1862,” Phil Kearny Civil War Roundtable, Hasbrouck Height, New Jersey (May 15, 2024)
“Keynote: Antimilitarism in the Civil War Era,” Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference, Angelo State University (March 24, 2024)
“The Army under Fire,” The Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist University (March 20, 2024)
“From Stones River to Chattanooga: Braxton Bragg in 1863,” Emerging Civil War Ninth Annual Symposium (August 4-6, 2023)
“Visualizing Emancipation: Digital Resources for Teachers,” The American Battlefield Trust Virtual Teacher’s Institute (July 25, 2023)
Panelist, “The Generalship of Joseph Johnston” and “The Civil War in Appalachia,” The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College (June 9-14, 2023)
“Teaching the Civil War on Film,” The American Battlefield Trust Virtual Teacher’s Institute (July 20, 2022)
“The Grand Review and the Upper Midwest,” Hardtack and Coffee - A Digital Speaker Series at The Civil War Museum, Kenosha, Wisconsin (September 28, 2020)
“An Eagle on their Button: The USCT Experience in the Civil War and Reconstruction,” The Pennsylvania Military Museum, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania (May 3, 2020) [Cancelled Due to Covid-19]
“Slave Empire in the Southwest,” The Huntington Library (September 16, 2019)
“The United States Army in Reconstruction,” Foundry Series at The American Civil War Museum, Richmond, Virginia (July 18, 2019)
“Frontier Soldiers,” The Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College (June 15, 2019)
“Two Invasions of the North: Gettysburg and the Canadian Frontier in 1863,” The Gettysburg Foundation, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (June 30, 2018)
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS:
To Keep Good Faith with New-Made Citizens”: The Republican Party and the Soldiers of the Freedmen’s Bureau,” Society of Civil War Historians Bi-annual Conference, Raleigh, NC (June 20-22, 2024)
“Roundtable: A Force to Be Reckoned With: The Intertwined Histories of the American Military and the American West,” The Western History Association, Los Angeles, CA (October 25-28, 2023)
“Fighting Memory: Contested Remembrances of Race, War, and Freedom in the Post-Civil War U.S. West,” The Western History Association, San Antonio, TX(October 12-15, 2022)
“Roundtable: Indian Policy as Civil War and Reconstruction Policy,” Society of Civil War Historians Bi-annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA (June 2-4, 2022)
“Never Invited to Join in the Parade: Indian Wars Veterans and Civil War Veterans,” The Western History Association, Albuquerque, NM [Virtual] (October 14-17, 2020)
“The Great Task Remaining: The Reconstruction Era Army in Texas,” The Southern Historical Association, Louisville, KY (November 9, 2019)
“Agents of Empire: The Army and American Expansion in the Era of the Civil War and Reconstruction,” Organization of American Historians, Philadelphia, PA (April 4-6, 2019)
“Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie: Contemplating Reconstruction West of the Mississippi River,” Society of Civil War Historians Bi-annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA (May 31-June 2, 2018)
“Improvised Warfare: The United States, Canada, and the Sioux in a Civil War Borderland,” Western History Association Annual Conference, San Diego, CA (November 1-4, 2017)
“The United States and the Sioux During the Civil War,” Society for Military History Annual Conference, Jacksonville, FL (March 30-April 2, 2017)
═════════════════════════════════════ COURSES TAUGHT:
Texas Woman’s University
Graduate Level Courses
Texas History (Borderlands), Fall 2023
Historical Methods, Spring 2024
Undergraduate Level Courses
U.S. History To 1877, Sumer 2024, Fall 2024
U.S. History Since 1877, Fall 2023, Summer 2024
The American Frontier, Spring 2024
Texas History, Fall 2024
The Civil War Era, Fall 2024
Southern Methodist University
Undergraduate Level Courses
Senior Seminar: Civil War Leadership, May Term 2022
Junior Writing Seminar: American Military History in Popular Culture, Spring 2022
Freshman Seminar: George Washington’s World, Fall 2021
Pennsylvania State University
Undergraduate Level Courses:
The Civil War and Reconstruction, Summer 2019, Spring 2021
U.S. History to 1877, Fall 2021
Courses Prepared to Teach:
The Civil War Era
The Coming of the Civil War
The US West
The Gilded Age and Progress Era
Slavery in the United States
US Military History to 1900
US History Survey (both halves)
Comparative Military History
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PROFESSIONAL SERVICE:
Panelist for the Civil War Monitor Best New Books feature, 2022, 2023.
Chair, Graduate Student Connections Committee, Society of Civil War Historians,
2018 – 2020.Member, Outreach Committee, Society of Civil War Historians, 2018- 2020.
UNIVERSITY SERVICE:
Scholarship Committee, Department of Social Sciences and Historical Studies, 2023.
Faculty Search Committee, Assistant Professor in European History Post-1500, Texas Woman’s University, 2023.
Committee to Revise Student Learning Objectives, Texas Woman’s University, 2023.