As I mentioned in a few recent posts, I attended the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute last weekend. This was my first time attending the CWI, but if at all possible it will not be my last. I was truly impressed by every part of the weekend. The sessions were great, the tour I attended was great, the food was great, and seeing and catching up with old friends and colleagues was great.
One of the top three session in my opinion was that given by Dr. Peter Carmichael on Saturday afternoon. In it he mentioned that he set out to find the average common soldier and was unsuccessful, as so many soldiers had a wide range of experiences, beliefs, emotions, and fates. I am excited that his scholarship on this topic will be published later this year in the form of The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived in Civil War Armies, by the University of North Carolina Press. Until then, you can get a sneak peek into his thought provoking research by watching his CWI talk via CSPAN-3.
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