Ed Bearss’ All Time Favorite Civil War Books
By Dorothy Partridge · Originally published November 2020 · pp. 1–5
Special Correspondent to (Originally published in the November 2018 issue of Civil War News.) Edwin Cole Bearss was the Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service. He remarked on his favorite Civil War books. First, he listed those written on the Southern side of the war, and then those on the Northern side. He ended with his choice for best autobiography. Douglas Southall Freeman (1886–1953), whose father served four years in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, wrote a 4-volume series in 1934–1935. It was titled Robert E. Lee: A Biography. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1935. Freeman walked down Monument Avenue in
Richmond, Va., on his way to work as the editor of the newspaper, the Richmond News Leader. When he arrived at the statue of Robert E. Lee, he would stop and salute General Lee. He did this daily. There was some criticism of this Freeman series. Bearss recalled the comments were about the supposed feud between Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet, and other things. As a result, he said Freeman wrote three volumes called Lee’s Lieutenants. The three volumes are:
Edwin Cole Bearss
Manassas to Malvern Hill (1942) Cedar Mountain to Chancellorsville (1943) Gettysburg to Appomattox (1944)
Bearss remembered reading these in San Diego Naval Hospital, Calif., where he spent time during his twenty-six months of hospitalization that followed his wounding at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, January 2, 1944. The Battle of Cape Gloucester was fought in World War II’s Pacific Theater. He added that he learned something interesting from Burke Davis (1913–2006) in his biography of Colonel Chester Puller. “Chesty” Puller, whom Bearss described as a “Marine’s Marine,” was reading Lee’s Lieutenants during the same time period. Bruce Catton (1899–1978) wrote the three-volume series, The Army of the Potomac, in the early 1950’s. The trilogy contains these titles: Mr. Lincoln’s Army (1951) Glory Road (1952) Stillness at Appomattox (1953)
He remembered reading this • series when he was doing graduate work at Indiana University. The last volume, Stillness at Appomattox, won the Pulitzer Prize for History. It also won the National Book Award for non-fic- • tion. Ed laughed and said someDorothy Partidge is a native of one asked, “Who won the Civil Atlanta, Ga. She is a retired history War Centennial, (1961–1965)?” • teacher and librarian as well as a He answered “Bruce Catton.” member of Agnes Lee Chapter of He noted that his favorite autoUDC, the Civil War Round Table biography was Personal Memoirs • of Atlanta, Cobb County Civil War of Ulysses S. Grant, by Ulysses Round Table, Georgia Battlefield S. Grant, New York: Charles L. Assn., and the American Battlefield Webster & Company, 1885–86. Trust. The famous author Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) paid for its publication. Grant struggled for a year with throat cancer as he wrote his memoirs.
field of Civil War History Fellow of the Company of Military Historians Nevins–Freeman Award from the Civil War Round Table of Chicago in 1980 Distinguished Service Award from the Department of the Interior in 1983 Commendation from the Secretary of the Army in 1985 The Civil War Trust (now American Battlefield Trust) created the Ed Bearss Award for achievements in historic preservation and made him the first recipient in 2001 Texas Star Award from the Texas Civil War Preservation Seminar in 2002 T. Harry Gatton Award, Raleigh Civil War Round Table in 2008 A portrait bust of Bearss by Arthur Downey, a Washington, D.C., artist, was unveiled near the USS Cairo
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in the Vicksburg National Military Park on October 3, 2009. Chambersburg Civil War Seminars and Tours annually gives the Ed Bearss Award in his honor The American Battlefield Trust (formerly the Civil War Trust) presented its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 to Ed Bearss for his “many decades dedicated to researching and relating the nation’s past to millions of people, as well as his advocacy for battlefield preservation.”