Awards To Honor the Life and Legacy of
EDWIN C. BEARSS
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 miss him dearly. Ed showed many of us literally what it meant to have our "boots on the ground" at a battlefield, and we will remember him and that phrase every time we take a battlefield tour from here on out.
And it is fitting that we seek to celebrate his legacy and his contributions to the study of Civil War history on a continuing basis for many years and many generations to come. Ed was an honorary lifetime member of the CWRTDC, 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 complete history below. In 2021, the Board of Directors unanimously decided to broaden the Preservation Award to a Civil War-related site selected by the Board and to increase the amount of donation using a newly created fund supported by individual contributions by members and other admirers of Ed. Monetary gifts to support future CWRTDC awards in honor of Ed’s life and legacy can be submitted using the PayPal module below.
Last year, the CWRTDC awarded the Preservation Award to the African American Civil War Museum, and the recipient of 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 8, 2023, via Zoom, the Round Table presented the year's awards to honor the extraordinary life and legacy of Civil War historian Edwin Cole Bearss. The recipient of the “CWRTDC Edwin C. Bearss Preservation Award” is the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association (BNMHMEA), and the recipient of the “CWRTDC Edwin C. Bears Legacy Award” is Mr. Burrus "Buzz" Carnahan.
The ceremony was followed by a presentation from Jon Meacham entitled “A Sacred Effort: Lincoln's American Theology." Mr. Meacham notes that Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents—a remote icon—or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. He will paint a portrait of a very human Lincoln—an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment, essential to the story of justice in America, began as he grew up in an antislavery Baptist community; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him to see the right.
The recipient of the Preservation Award is the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association (https://battleofnewmarketheights.org/). The BNMHMEA is a non-profit 501(c)(3) entity, whose mission is to commemorate and educate. It seeks to erect a historical monument at the site of the Battle of New Market Heights honoring the United States Colored Troops who served in the Third Division of the XVIII Corps (Army of the James). Among these men were fourteen African American soldiers and two white officers who received the Medal of Honor for acts of heroism on September 29, 1864. The BNMHMEA also seeks to educate the public about this significant military victory by the United States Colored Troops.
Edwin C. Bearss Legacy Award
The Board also approved the creation of an annual Legacy Award, which is non-monetary, to be given to 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 Legacy Award is Mr. Burrus “Buzz” Carnahan, a resident of Vienna, VA, until his passing last September. See https://cwrtdc-newsletters.blogspot.com/p/in-memoriam.html
Mr. Carnahan served our Nation, for 20 years as an Air Force Judge Advocate, specializing in international law, and for 17 years as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the State Department in the Office of Nuclear Energy, specializing in nuclear energy, safety and security. As a Senior Analyst at SAIC for 11 years, Mr Carnahan focused on arms control and nonproliferation. He also taught a course entitled "Law of War" for 25 years as a Professorial Lecturer at the George Washington School of Law.
On the Civil War, he wrote two books: Act of Justice: Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War (2007) and Lincoln on Trial: Southern Civilians and the Law of War (2010).
Over the years, several organizations invited Mr. Carnahan to talk to them about Lincoln and his era. At a National Archives symposium in 2010 (“The Civil War: Fresh Perspectives”) and at one in 2011 (“The Latest in Lincoln Scholarship”), Mr. Carnahan discussed Lincoln and his era. And, for the Lincoln Cottage, at the Soldier’s Home in DC, he talked about the Emancipation Proclamation at one of its first “Cottage Conversations.”
Mr. Carnahan was a past president of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia (www.lincolnian.org), spoke to the Group, and regularly participated in its book study forum. He was also a member of the CWRTDC and made presentations on Lincoln at its meetings. Recordings of Mr. Carnahan's presentations to the CWRTDC are available at https://cwrtdc-audio.blogspot.com/p/carnahan-zoom.html and https://cwrtdc-audio.blogspot.com/p/carnahan-audio.html
In Gettysburg, Mr. Carnahan joined the Lincoln Forum and served on its Advisory Board. In Fairfax, VA, he was a speaker and a docent at the “Historic Blenheim and the Civil War Interpretative Center” (https://www.fairfaxva.gov/government/historic-resources/historic-blenheim). This site is on the Northern Virginia Graffiti Trail and consists of a c.1859 brick farm house and grounds where Union soldiers were encamped during part of the Civil War. Mr. Carnahan greatly enjoyed talking to visitors about the background of the soldiers who stayed on the property. He was a valued docent because of his extensive knowledge that provided context for the individual stories of each soldier that wrote or drew on the walls of the farmhouse.
In addition, for Cultural Tourism DC, Mr. Carnahan developed a walking tour, “Lincoln and the Civil War in Foggy Bottom.” He was also the author of A Guide to Lincoln Sites In and Around Washington, DC, a pamphlet he published in 2009 for the Lincoln Group of DC. These two projects underscore his love of teaching and educating.
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The CWRTDC presented the awards during an in-person/hybrid meeting. Information about the dinner and Mr. Meacham's presentation is available at https://cwrtdc-meetings.blogspot.com/p/jmeacham.html
Additional details about the ceremony are posted on the CWRTDC’s website at www.cwrtdc.org. More information about Ed Bearss and the awards is posted at https://cwrtdc-calendar.blogspot.com.
A copy of the News Release for the awards ceremony is available HERE (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ypqMpmEKwu0Ff-UuK_2rCRV7xIXYsAMb/view)
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