Top Civil War Historian

to lead seminar/tours

     Ed Bearss, chief historian emeritus of the National Park Service, has been a presenter at the Chambersburg Civil War Seminars and Tours since they were started by the Greater Chambersburg Chamber of Commerce in 1989. The Chamber and seminar co-founder Ted Alexander are saluting Bearss by devoting its first seminar of 2014 to the man considered to be the nation’s foremost battlefield tour guide.
          The seminar,“A Weekend with Ed Bearss,” will be presented April 4-6, with the opening day devoted to Bearss’ career highlights and life experiences. According to historian and author James McPherson, “Many have heard it said that you can take Ed Bearss, plop him blindfolded on a battlefield (Civil War, Revolutionary War, Indian Wars, World War II, it doesn’t really matter), spin him around three times, take off the blindfold, and he will not only tell you where he is, but what happened on the spot he is standing.”
     During the weekend, Bearss will discuss his experiences in World War II, including his wounding in 1944, his work on salvaging and restoring the sunken gunboat U.S.S. Cairo; his work on the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads and more, including tributes to him for his more than 60 years of work promoting history. On the second day, April 5, Bearss will lead tours of the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields. Both are short distances from Chambersburg, where the seminar will be based at Hampton Inn. Sessions on April 6 will include Bearss’ recollections of his interviews with President Lyndon Johnson in the planning and acquisition of the LBJ Ranch for the National Park Service.
     A portion of the proceeds of this event will go to a battlefield preservation project of Bearss’ choosing.
     Forty-five people from more than a dozen states – as far away as California -- have registered for the seminar already, according to the Chamber of Commerce. In addition to Pennsylvania, they’re also coming from Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Tennessee.
     Cost varies depending on the number of sessions attended. For more information, call Lark Plessinger at 264-7101, Ext. 206, or visit www.civilwarseminars.org.
     The Chamber will follow up its seminar with Bearss with a May 16-18 seminar with historian Robert K. Krick, “Wilderness and Spotsylvania” based in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Additional tours celebrating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War are scheduled for July and September 2014.