Mike Kennedy 
When it comes to dynamic duos, BGES has one that ranks with the all-time greats: Bert Dunkerly and Wade Sokolosky. On March 25–28, 2020, the pair will team up to host “To the Bitter End: North Carolina in 1865,” a four-day tour detailing the fierce fighting from Averasboro to Bentonville that took place as the … Read more
When Len Riedel asked Richard (“Rick”) Britton three years ago to conduct a BGES tour of the original grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, it was hardly unexpected that he said yes. A native of Richmond, Rick has an abiding love of the Old Dominion and is an acknowledged expert on its history. … Read more
When you’re the proud owner of a basset hound named Monty—after the “Spartan General” Bernard Montgomery—it’s easier to establish your bona fides as a war historian. But longtime BGES member Vinney DiMattina doesn’t need man’s best friend to prove his chops. As a kid growing up in Flushing, New York, he dreamed of a career … Read more
As an award-winning author and the collateral descendant of a much-maligned Civil War figure, Sam Hood knows that retelling our nation’s history accurately often requires digging a little deeper. In fact, part of his impetus for writing John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General was to set the record straight … Read more
What do you do when you hear an inner voice telling you to live out your destiny? You listen. At least that’s what S. Waite Rawls III did. Descended from Virginia ancestors who fought for the Confederacy, Rawls felt a deep connection to the Civil War as a child. But it wasn’t until a business … Read more
American originals come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and textures. Some are flesh and blood, and walk among us. Others are the product of a vivid and boundless imagination. Bestselling author and BGES member Winston Groom is undoubtedly one of the former. His most famous character, Forrest Gump, is one of the latter. Fortunately for … Read more
Perhaps no one has done more to interpret and preserve Mississippi’s complicated Civil War past than Magnolia State native Parker Hills. A military veteran, Hills served for more than three decades in active and reserve roles, retiring as a brigadier general, Mississippi Army National Guard. Fittingly, it was during a military staff ride more than thirty … Read more
In September 2019, the Blue & Gray Education Society will host an intriguing new tour focused on the Petersburg Campaign, A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg.The host is none other than Wilson Greene, a world traveler and well-known Civil War historian. Greene has written some two-dozen articles on the topic, plus six books, … Read more
It’s not exactly breaking news to say Richmond is a Civil War lover’s dream. Obviously, as the capital of the Confederacy, the city’s place in American history is unquestioned. And the amount of Civil War history that has been preserved is impressive, to say the least. Much of that can be found at Richmond National Battlefield Park, which … Read more
Missouri’s role in the Civil War is well documented. Given its central location and geographic features, notably the Mississippi River, the state was crucial to the fortunes of both sides of the conflict. More than 100,000 Missourians fought in the war, the large majority for the Union, despite the fact that Missouri was a slave … Read more
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