The CWRTDC
Announces Its 2023 Awards
To Honor the Life and Legacy of
EDWIN C. BEARSS
Background on the Awards
It was very sad to hear in 2020 that Ed Bearss -- legendary Civil War historian and lifetime member of our Round Table -- had passed away. We have missed him dearly. Ed showed many of us literally what it meant to have our "boots on the ground" at a battlefield, and many of us will remember him and that phrase every time we take a battlefield tour from here on out.
And it is fitting that we celebrate his legacy and his contributions to the study of Civil War history, hopefully on a continuing basis for many years and many generations to come. Aside from being an honorary lifetime member of our Round Table, Ed spoke regularly at our meetings and guided many of our tours.
In appreciation of Ed’s dedication to battlefield preservation, the CWRTDC had for years made an annual donation to a historic site selected by Ed (See a complete history below). In 2021, the Board of Directors unanimously decided to continue donating annually to a Civil War site or Civil War history-related activity selected by the Board and to increase the amount of the donation by establishing a separate fund supported by individual contributions from members and other admirers of Ed. Monetary gifts to support future CWRTDC awards in honor of Ed’s life and legacy would truly be appreciated and can be submitted using the PayPal module below.
Last year, the CWRTDC awarded the Preservation Award to the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association, and the recipient of the Legacy Award was Mr. Burrus Carnahan. A post about those awards is available at https://cwrtdc-calendar.blogspot.com/2023/01/awards-to-honor-life-and-legacy-of.html. In 2022, the Board awarded the Preservation Award to the African American Civil War Museum and the Legacy Award to Ms. Wendy Swanson. A post about those awards is available at https://cwrtdc-calendar.blogspot.com/2022/06/bearss-awards.html
On February 21, 2024, the Round Table will present the 2023 awards to honor the extraordinary life and legacy of Civil War historian Edwin Cole Bearss. The recipient of the “2023 CWRTDC Edwin C. Bearss Preservation Award” is the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, and the recipient of the “2023 CWRTDC Edwin C. Bears Legacy Award” is Ms. Susan K. Claffey. If you would like an opportunity to share your favorite stories about Ed durring the meeting, please contact admin@cwrtdc.org.
The ceremony will be followed by a presentation from Harold Holzer entitled “Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration." Mr. Holzer will chart Lincoln’s political career through the lens of immigration, from his role as a member of an increasingly nativist political party to his evolution into an immigration champion, a progression that would come at the same time as Lincoln refined his views on abolition and Black citizenship. As Mr. Holzer writes,
The Civil War could not have been won without Lincoln’s leadership; but it could not have been fought without the immigrant soldiers who served and, by the tens of thousands, died that the ‘nation might live.’
Information about the dinner and Mr. Holzer's presentation is available at https://cwrtdc-meetings.blogspot.com/
The CWRTDC would like to take this opportunity to thank the Chair and members of the Ad Hoc Committee that coordinated the Awards effort and made recommendations to the Board about these Awards; Bill Dickinson (Chair), Gordon Berg, Tom Macia, Karl Garman, Paula Whitacre, and Mick Bedard. Thank you all!
The recipient of the 2023 Preservation Award is the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (https://www.cvbt.org/) The CVBT is a non-profit 501(c)(3) entity whose mission is to "preserve land associated with the four major campaigns: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Mine Run, and the Overland Campaign including the Wilderness and Spotsylvania.” These battles resulted in over 100,000 casualties and represent some of the most significant events of the Civil War. The CVBT has been saving battlefields since 1996 and to date has helped preserve over 1,700 acres in a rapidly developing and highly competitive real estate market.
The nomination was submitted by Terry Rensel, the Executive Director of the CVBT, and was endorsed by the Rappahannock Valley Civil War Round Table, in a supporting letter by its President, Col. (USAF Ret) Charles W. Seifert. A $2,500 grant accompanies this award.
Copied here are some edited excerpts from the nomination application for the award:
The CVBT plans to create a self-guided driving tour featuring historic interpretive signage at multiple CVBT-owned properties across the four Fredericksburg area battlefields. This interpretation initiative is particularly important, as it will help tell site-specific stories and create greater awareness of the history that happened at these locations.
With the National Park Service (NPS) limited by its authorized boundaries and, thus, not able to offer off-site interpretation, such an endeavor both creates a challenge and provides an opportunity for organizations like the CVBT. Through its preservation work, the CVBT has helped fill in the gaps, buying important Spotsylvania County Civil War battlefield lands that are either outside the authorized NPS boundary or acreage that NPS would be too slow in purchasing due to the necessary bureaucratic steps it must take.
While some of the the CVBT's property purchases have since been conveyed to the NPS, others never will. And although some of CVBT's properties presently offer interpretation, it desires to get more acreage opened and interpreted for the public's benefit.
Through this effort, the CVBT will also provide tangible examples as to why historic land preservation is important and necessary. By preserving the land, telling its story, and creating public access to it, it is able to provide the local community and visiting history enthusiasts with protected landscapes and the opportunity to learn and reflect upon our shared history.
Several CVBT properties are ripe for interpretation including, land along the Po River that saw fighting by the Army of the Potomac's II Corps at Spotsylvania; multiple properties at Chancellorsville along the route of Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's May 2, 1863, flank attack where XI Corps troops attempted to make stands; acreage at Chancellorsville's Nine Mile Run that saw brutal combat on May 3, 1863; and property along Brock Road that served as artillery positions and as a staging area for V Corps troops as they battled at Spotsylvania from May 8-10, 1864; as well as others.
The CVBT sought the Edwin C. Bearss Preservation Award to help with the costs of the design, development, and installation of interpretive signage, as well as creating safe access to the locations as necessary. The grant's funds will add to those already obtained through member donations and other grants to help us reach the estimated cost of $26,000.
One can certainly learn important lessons about our nation's history by reading books, but by providing on-site interpretation at the lands that CVBT preserves, we can tell a fuller story of the history that occurred and why it mattered, all while standing in the place where it happened. Battlefield preservation is CVBT's mission, but by adding the interpretation component to the land, future generations can fully understand what transpired there and learn from it.
Given these statements, grant of the Preservation Award to the CVBT is consistent with Ed Bearss's emphasis on public education, as the the CVBT plans to use the funds to help create a self-guided driving tour of areas outside the purview of the National Park Service. In Virginia, many battlefield lands are privately owned yet protected from development by State historic easements purchased by a land trust supported by State and U.S. tax credits.
Specifically, the CVBT will use the award to help create a self-guided driving tour featuring historic interpretive signage at multiple CVBT-owned properties and conserved private properties across the battlefields, including (1) land along the Po River that saw fighting by the Army of the Potomac's II Corps at Spotsylvania; (2) Chancellorsville along the route of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's May 2, 1863, flank attack where XI Corps troops attempted to make stands; (3) acreage at Chancellorsville's Nine Mile Run that saw brutal combat on May 3, 1863; and (4) property along Brock Road that served as artillery positions and as a staging area for V Corps troops as they battled at Spotsylvania from May 8-10, 1864.
This interpretation initiative will help the CVBT tell site-specific stories and create greater awareness of the history that happened at these locations, which are outside authorized boundaries of the National Park Service (NPS) and not interpreted by the NPS.
The CWRTDC Board also established an annual Legacy Award, which is non-monetary, to be given to a person or persons who exemplify and emulate Ed’s mission through their own efforts to preserve U.S. Civil War historic sites, landmarks, and education.
The CWRTDC is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2023 Legacy Award is Ms. Susan K. Claffey. Her nomination was submitted by Gail Stephens and supported by Wendy Swanson, both longtime members of the CWRTDC.
Ms. Claffey has made an immense contribution to the CWRTDC and, through our organization, to the preservation of Civil War knowledge and sites. She has been an enthusiastic member of the CWRTDC since 2001, serving as its President for three terms (2005-6, 2009-10, and 2011-12) and as Acting President in 2014-5, when the elected President Kent Schweikert was deployed to Afghanistan for most of his term.
During her terms as President, she made it a point to reach out to other DC-area Round Tables, and she attended many of their meetings. She served in all officer positions, including as acting treasurer one year, and on the Board of Directors in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. She brought several memorable speakers to our Round Table, including Ed Bearss, Craig Symonds, Frank O’Reilly, Richard Hatcher and Chris Kolakowski.
Susan also organized over 15 tours, many led by Ed Bearss. Few know the amount of time and effort it took her to pull these trips together and then oversee the mechanics of each. On these trips, she often demonstrated her ability to handle difficult issues quickly and quietly.
As an officer and member of the CWRTDC, Susan recommended and promoted the establishment of the Ed Bearss award, which was presented and approved by the Board in 2003. Between 2005 and 2020, these awards resulted in an aggregate of $17,000 in donations by the CWRTDC to support the preservation of Civil War sites. (See a complete history below).
In addition, Susan is the current editor of The Courier, a members-only newsletter of the CWRTDC. It is a deeply researched and rich publication, providing, among other things: (1) new information on DC area Civil War sites and events, (2) references to recordings of talks by Civil War scholars (e.g., Gary Gallagher and David Blight), (3) professional reviews of new Civil War publications, and (4) detailed information about the activities of the CWRTDC and other Civil War history-related groups.
Susan has also been a leader in other Civil War history-related organizations, including the Monocacy Battlefield Foundation (https://monocacynbfoundation.org/), which among other things seeks to preserve the historic, cultural, natural, and environmental resources of the park, and the Alliance to Preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington (https://www.apcwdw.com), which works with the National Park Service to preserve, protect, and promote the line of defensive forts built early in the Civil War to protect Washington, DC.
The current president of the Alliance, Gary Thompson, provided these comments about Susan's nomination for this award:
Susan has served the organization in several capacities since its founding in 2008, as a past president, past vice president, and member of the Board of Advisors. Most recently, Susan returned to the Board as its Treasurer. Every year she has helped build the Alliance’s signal event -- the annual celebration of the battle of Ft. Stevens -- into a larger and more important event. The Alliance’s Board, which includes current President Gary Thompson and immediate past President Loretta Neumann, wholeheartedly endorses Susan for the Ed Bearss Award.
Susan more than deserves the Edwin C. Bearss Legacy Award. All of us, officers, board, and members, know the work Susan has done for the CWRTDC and through it, to increase the preservation and protection of Civil War knowledge and sites. Ed Bearss himself would be the first to endorse her.
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The CWRTDC will present the 2023 Edwin C. Bearss Awards during an in-person/hybrid meeting to be held on February 21, 2024. Information about the ceremony, which will be followed by a presentation from Mr. Holzer, is available at https://cwrtdc-meetings.blogspot.com/
The event is free to attend and all are welcome! Additional details about the CWRTDC are posted on its website at www.cwrtdc.org.
A copy of the News Release for the 2023 awards ceremony is available HERE (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bv6NaF4h9ksmDQC1PdOcLtMV6b9KQjRa/view)
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Copied below is a post about Ed written by our former President and Director Susan K. Claffey (and coincidentally, the selectee of the 2023 Edwin C. Bearss Legacy Award).
(1923-2020)
We've received the sad news that legendary Civil War Historian and Lifetime member of our Round Table Ed Bearss has passed away. Ed was 97 years old.
Edwin Cole Bearss was born in Billings, Montana, on June 26, 1923. He grew up on his grandfather's ranch near Hardin, Montana, in the shadow of the Rosebud Mountains and within a bike ride of the Little Bighorn Battlefield. In Ed's own words,
I was interested in history from the time I was in the second grade. At that time, I was interested in Lewis and Clark and the Nez Perce, because I grew up in Montana. I became interested in the Civil War in the seventh grade. My father liked to read to my brother and me books that he was interested in. He did not read children’s books. Someone had given him a book by John Thomason on Jeb Stuart. My father read this book to me, and that captured me—I’ve been interested in the Civil War since then.
That interest was reflected by the fact that on the ranch, the E Bar S, he started naming the cattle for Civil War generals and battles. He often said his favorite milk cow was Antietam.
He attended a one-room school in Sarpy, Montana and in 1937 was sent to St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin. He graduated from Hardin High School and, with World War II underway, he immediately joined the Marine Corps (Ed's family has a long history with the Marines, his father, Omar, served in World War I. His father’s cousin Hiram I. Bearss, a famous Marine colonel nicknamed “Hiking Hiram,” fought in France during World War I and received the Medal of Honor for service in the Philippines in 1901. Ed’s daughter and grandson also served in the Corps).
He served with the 3rd Marine Raider Battalion and 1st Marine Division. In the invasion of Guadalcanal and New Britain, Ed was seriously wounded by machine gun fire. He spent 26 months in various hospitals for multiple surgeries, bone grafts, and rehabilitation. In fact, it was only a couple of years ago that Ed was treated at a VA hospital during a trip to Johnstown, PA for a piece of bone fragment that worked its way to the surface after 75 years. He got quite a kick out of telling that story.
After the war, he took advantage of the GI bill to study at Georgetown University, receiving a bachelor's degree in Foreign Service in 1949. He took a job with the Navy Hydrographic Office in Suitland, MD, where he stayed for 3 years. He then attended Indiana University and graduated with his M.A. in history, writing his thesis on Patrick Cleburne.
Ed’s career with the National Park Service got its start in 1955, when he was stationed at Vicksburg, Mississippi as a Park Historian. While there, he did the research leading him and two friends to the long lost resting place of the Union gunboat Cairo and he was instrumental in its rise from the bottom of the Yazoo River. He also located two forgotten forts at Grand Gulf, Mississippi and helped get Grand Gulf named a Mississippi State Military Monument. He was the founder of the Mississippi Civil War Round Table in 1956, which later consolidated with the Jackson Civil War Round Table.
In 1966, Ed was transferred to Washington, DC. He rose to prominence and became the Chief Historian in November 1981, a position he held until July 1994. Then he served as the Director's Special Assistant for Military Sites until his retirement on October 1, 1995. But Ed never really retired; through lectures, television, writing, and as a renowned battlefield guide, he continued his association with our nation's military history. He spoke to our Round Table and many other round tables many, many times. He also served as our guide for more field trips and day tours than can be counted. His final field trip for us was the 2013 trip to Vicksburg. He last spoke to us in September 2019 on the discovery and raising of the Cairo.
Ed received numerous awards in the field of history and preservation: the T. Harry Williams Award; the Bruce Catton Award; the Alvin Calman Award; the Bell I. Wiley Award and others. He was chosen Man of the Year at Vicksburg in 1963. He received the Harry S. Truman Award for Meritorious Service in the field of Civil War History. In 1964 he was chosen to become a member of the Company of Military Historians and was voted a Fellow in that organization. In 1983 he won the Department of the Interior's Distinguished Service Award, the highest award given by the department. He received a commendation from the Secretary of the Army in 1985. He is a veteran of 50 years of Government Service.
He has done detailed studies for the National Park Service for many areas: Vicksburg; Pea Ridge; Wilson's Creek; the Ray House; Fort Smith; Stones River; Fort Donelson; Battles around Richmond; Bighorn Canyon; Eisenhower Farm; the gold miners' route over Chilkoot Pass; LBJ Ranch; Fort Moultrie; Fort Point; William Howard Taft House; Fort Hancock; Boston Navy Yard; Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and others. He was instrumental in the establishment of Monocacy National Battlefield. In 1990, he was featured as a commentator on the PBS program The Civil War, which as of this writing is the most popular program ever to be broadcast by that network. More recently, he has appeared on the Arts & Entertainment Channel's Civil War Journal.
Ed was a force of nature and always at his best “on the ground” of a battlefield. Those of us who were privileged enough to see him in “full sway,” with eyes closed and voice booming, will never forget. He made history come alive and truly was its “Pied Piper.” We won’t see the likes of his amazing charismatic personality again.
Thank you, Ed. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your knowledge. And thank you for sharing it so willingly. May you rest in peace.
Author: Susan K Claffey
Photo: https://kcwrtorg.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/ed-bearss-returns-to-knoxville-nov-14/
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History of the CWRTDC’s Edwin C. Bearss Award
The December 2003 Newsletter of the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia announced that the Board had established a $1,000 donation to a Civil War preservation cause to honor Edwin C. Bearss' extensive contributions to Civil War historical research, preservation, and interest. The recipient of the donation would be chosen by the Board and would be based on recommendations from Ed Bearss. See https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a1yp4t4j6uP43T_BYulnEk--1dSUqb87/view
Also added to the dinner reservation form used at the time was a line that read “Contribution to Edwin C. Bearss Award.” In addition, members attending the dinners could contribute spare change and bills to a collection jar shaped like a bear: a big plastic Bear(ss) jar.
This effort was promoted and coordinated principally by Susan Claffey, former President and current Director of the CWRTDC. Thank you, Susan!
The donation was often awarded in conjunction with an annual party that Wendy Swanson (also a former President and Director of CWRTDC) and the “Bearss Brigade” organized and sponsored not only to celebrate Ed’s birthday, but also -- per Ed’s wishes – to collect donations from many other organizations and friends to support a recipient of Ed’s choosing. Wendy and the Bearss Brigade often collected over $10,000 each year in donations at those parties! Thank you, Wendy!
Now that Ed is no longer with us, the Board decided to enhance the Ed Bearss Award so as to continue to honor Ed and his legacy, as described above. Ed’s friends miss him dearly, and it is fitting to see what the CWRTDC can do to expand the award that celebrates his legacy and his contributions to CW history on a continuing basis for many years to come.
The recipients to date of the CWRTDC’s Edwin C. Bearss Awards are listed below:
Year Amount Recipient
2004 1,000.00 Civil War Preservation Trust – for Fort Donelson
2005 1,000.00 Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association – Daniel Lady Farm
2006 1,000.00 Friends of Chickamauga & Chattanooga
2007 1,000.00 Civil War Trust - for White Oak Road, Bentonville, and Shiloh
2008 1,000.00 Monocacy National Battlefield
2009 1,000.00 Civil War Preservation Trust - for Port Republic
2010 1,000.00 Richmond Battlefield Association
2011 1,000.00 Civil War Trust - for Shiloh National Military Park
2012 1,000.00 Civil War Trust - for Franklin
2013 1,000.00 Friends of Raymond Battlefield
2014 1,000.00 Franklin's Charge
2015 1,000.00 Friends of Raymond Battlefield
2016 1,000.00 Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation
2017 1,000.00 Gettysburg Foundation
2018 1,000.00 Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
2019 1,000.00 Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park
2020 1,000.00 Grand Gulf Military Park
2021 2,500.00 African American Civil War Museum (Preservation Award)
2021 N/A Ms. Wendy Swanson (Legacy Award)
2022 2,500.00 Battle of New Market Heights Mem. & Edu. Assoc. (Preservation Award)
2022 N/A Mr. Burrus Carnahan (Legacy Award)
2023 2,500.00 Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (Preservation Award)
2023 N/A Ms. Susan K. Claffey (Legacy Award)
TOTAL $24,500
For information about the the history of other awards given by the CWRTDC, click HERE or visit https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KDif1-SImVUQotFjYJHCnM-SYYKrDVzq/view
