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Virginia Center for Civil War Studies

Virginia Center for Civil War Studies

The Home of Civil War History at Virginia Tech

Spring Campaign 2025.
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Mark your calendars for our fall lecture series!

"The Surgeon’s Battle: How Medicine Won the Vicksburg Campaign and Changed the Civil War"

Book cover for The Surgeon's Battle book
The Surgeon's Battle

Join author Lindsay Rae Smith Privette for an online discussion October 2 at 7 p.m. of the recently published "The Surgeon’s Battle: How Medicine Won the Vicksburg Campaign and Changed the Civil War."

The talk is free and open to the public. Click HERE to register. 

"From Resistance to Reconstruction: Jermain Wesley Loguen and the Politics of Racial Uplift"

Book cover for Jermain Wesley Loguen: Defiant Fugitive
Jermain Wesley Loguen: Defiant Fugitive

Join author Angela F. Murphy for an online talk Nov. 17 at 7 pm., based on her recent book, a gripping biography of a man who escaped slavery to become an influential abolitionist, famously known as the “King of the Underground Railroad.”

The talk is free and open to the public. Click HERE to register. 

Save the date. 

Our annual Civil War Weekend takes place March 27-29, 2026 at the Inn at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. This year’s theme is “Civil War Innovations.” Our expert speakers will explore how the crisis of war transformed so many aspects of life, from the way Americans fought to the way they ate, giving rise to new technologies in medicine, photography, naval warfare, and more.

Registration will be available soon. 

William C. “Jack” Davis and Sue Heth Bell speaking at Civil War Weekend 2025
William C. “Jack” Davis and Sue Heth Bell speaking at Civil War Weekend 2025. Photo by Chase Parker for Virginia Tech.

2024-25 Year in Review 

Thank you to all of our supporters for making the 2024-25 academic year a huge success!

This year, we sponsored several free guest lectures from professors and authors, including an in-person talk by Dr. Hilary Green of Davidson College and several online lectures recorded and posted on our YouTube channel. 

In addition, we printed an updated Civil War Driving Tour brochure; presented an educational program to more than 600 elementary students; led a guided trip to Gettysburg; provided grants to five Virginia Tech students to fund summer internships; awarded research grants to visiting Civil War scholars, and so much more! 

Highlights of the 2025 Civil War Weekend, attended by more than 120 guests, included a lecture by Pulitzer-prize winning author Ilyon Woo and the announcement of a major donation to Virginia Tech from speaker Sue Heth Bell - read the details here: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/04/univlib-Wharton-Collection.html

Click the links below to learn more about the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies programs, and stay tuned for details for our 2025-26 programming, coming soon!