Civil War Weekend 2026

Images from Civil War Weekend 2025. Left to right: Ilyon Woo speaking, Saturday's book signing and attendees chatting between lectures. Photos by Rachel Stanley for Virginia Tech.

Register soon for Civil War Weekend 2026!

We look forward to welcoming you to Blacksburg from March 27-29, 2026 for Virginia Tech’s annual Civil War Weekend. You’ll hear from a stellar group of speakers and enjoy fellowship with other history enthusiasts — all in the comfortable surroundings of the Inn at Virginia Tech. Click HERE to book your room now!

Schedule

Speakers

Spring Campaign

This year’s theme is “Civil War Innovations.” Paradoxically, the destructive crisis of war brought forth incredible creativity, leading to new instruments of warfare, social transformations, and expanded uses of new technologies ranging from the telegraph and the railroad to photography. After the war, American life would never be the same again.

Black-and-white photo of a telegraph battery-wagon in 1864. — A telegraph battery-wagon near Petersburg, June 1864. Photo courtesy of https://commons.wikimedia.org/.

A company of USCT troops during the Civil War. Photo courtesy of https://commons.wikimedia.org/.

Our distinguished speakers will explore a wide range of wartime advances, from the photography studio to the battlefield. We’ll learn how the awful physical injuries inflicted by war generated new developments in medical knowledge and practice. The Civil War also sparked countless other innovations, from Black men in Union uniforms, to changes in food production and consumption, to a rethinking of higher education.

Saturday evening will feature a special guest: General Ulysses Grant, portrayed by Dr. Curt Fields, who will provide a first-person perspective on Grant’s creativity as military commander.

Curt Fields in costume as General and President Ulysses S. Grant. — Curt Fields as General and President Ulysses S. Grant.

Following the weekend, join us for an optional three-night field trip. We’ll take custom tours highlighting the natural beauty, the historical significance, and the culinary delights of Charleston, Beaufort, and the rest of the South Carolina Lowcountry. We’ll visit the places where history happened: the beginnings of the Civil War in Charleston Harbor; the demise of slavery and experiments with Black freedom in the Sea Islands; and the lab where the Confederacy’s pioneering submarine is now being preserved.

Whether this is your first Virginia Tech Civil War Weekend, or you’ve been attending ever since our first meeting in 1991, we look forward to welcoming you to the group and sharing new perspectives on this endlessly fascinating period of American history. See you in March!

Paul Quigley

James I. Robertson, Jr. Associate Professor of Civil War Studies

Director, Virginia Center for Civil War Studies