Edwin Cole Bearss (26 June 192315 September 2020) was a historian of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, tour guide, and

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through c ...

veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Personal life

On 26 June 1923, Edwin Cole Bearss was born in

Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...

. He was raised working on his grandfather's ranch near

Hardin, Montana Hardin is a city in and the county seat of Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,818 at the 2020 census. It is located just north of the Crow Indian Reservation. History The city was named for Samuel Hardin, a friend ...

, and attended a

one-room school One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

in Sarpy, Montana. On 30 July 1958, Bearss married author and teacher Margie Riddle of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

(born ), and the two had three children: Sara in 1960, Edwin Jr. in 1962, and Mary in 1965. In 2002, the couple lived in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

; Margie died and Bearss died on 15 September 2020.

Education

Bearss was accepted to St. John's Military Academy in

Delafield, Wisconsin Delafield is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, along the Bark River. The population was 7,085 at the 2010 census. The city of Delafield is a separate municipality from the Town of Delafield, both of which are situated in township 7 Nort ...

in 1937, and graduated from

Hardin High School Hardin is a city in and the county seat of Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,818 at the 2020 census. It is located just north of the Crow Indian Reservation. History The city was named for Samuel Hardin, a friend ...

in 1941. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

in 1949, and his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

in 1955 (with a thesis on

Patrick Cleburne Major-General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne ( ; March 16, 1828November 30, 1864) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded infantry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Born in Ireland, Cleburne served in ...

). Bearss earned his degrees courtesy of the G.I. Bill. In February 2005, Bearss was awarded an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad h ...

from Lincoln College in

Lincoln, Illinois Lincoln is a city in Logan County, Illinois, United States. First settled in the 1830s, it is the only town in the United States that was named for Abraham Lincoln before he became president; he practiced law there from 1847 to 1859. Lincoln is h ...

;

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College is a private liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about 2,600 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. ...

did the same in 2010.

Military service

Bearss enlisted in the

in 1941. During

, he served in the

3rd Marine Raider Battalion The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare. " Edson's" Raiders of 1st Marine Raider Battalion and " Carlson's" ...

; he fought in the

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the se ...

and New Britain campaigns with the

1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). It is th ...

. In 1943, Bearss caught

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...

in the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and was sent to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

to recover. On 2 January 1944 with the

3rd Battalion, 7th Marines The 3rd Battalion 7th Marine Regiment (3/7) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. They are based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms and consist of approximately 800 Marines. The battalion falls ...

at the Battle of Cape Gloucester, Bearss was hit by

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

machine-gun fire that broke both of his arms and injured his heel and buttocks; after spending the next 26 months in hospital, he left the Marines in March 1946 with the rank of

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

History career

In 1955, Bearss began working for the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

(NPS) in

Vicksburg, Mississippi Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat, and the population at the 2010 census was 23,856. Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana, Vi ...

. He prepared historical studies for the Interior Department agency and founded the Mississippi Civil War Roundtable. For the NPS, he found the Civil War-era cannon ''Widow Blakely'' (also ''Whistling Dick'') which had been used in the

Vicksburg campaign The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate States of America, Confederate-controlled ...

, as well as the wreck of . He also found two lost

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

s in

Grand Gulf, Mississippi Grand Gulf is a ghost town in Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States. History Grand Gulf was named for the large whirlpool, (or gulf), formed by the Mississippi River flowing against a large rocky bluff. La Salle and Zadok Cramer commented ...

, and was party to "the establishment of Grand Gulf as a state military monument." Bearss was the NPS' chief historian from 1981–1994, and "special assistant to the director for military sites" until 1995; in 1991, he was made the NPS' chief historian of military sites. Bearss retired from the NPS on 30 September 1995, though he continued to lead tours of ACW battlefields for the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

, the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, ...

, the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

, and

Civil War Roundtable Civil War Roundtables (also referred to as Round Tables or CWRTs) are independent organizations that share a common objective in promoting and expanding interest in the study of the military, political and sociological history of the American Civi ...

s. The NPS awarded him the unique title of National Park Service Historian Emeritus. Frances and

Roger G. Kennedy Roger George Kennedy (August 3, 1926 – September 30, 2011) was an American polymath whose career included banking, television production, historical writing, and museum administration, the last as director of the Smithsonian Institution's Nati ...

endowed the Bearss Fellowship Award in honor of the former chief-historian; it "supports NPS employees' graduate-level studies in American History or American Studies and is administered in partnership with the

National Park Foundation The National Park Foundation (NPF) is the official charity of the National Park Service (NPS) and its national park sites. The NPF was chartered by Congress in 1967 with a charge to "further the conservation of natural, scenic, historic, scienti ...

Recognition

The

Company of Military Historians The Company of Military Historians is a non-profit organization in the United States whose mission is to disseminate "information on the uniforms, equipment, history, and traditions of members of the Armed Forces of the United States worldwide and o ...

made Bearss a fellow of that group in 1964, and he received the Nevins-Freeman Award in 1980 for his work on

(ACW) history. Three years later, the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

awarded him the Distinguished Service Award, and it was followed by a commendation from the

United States Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...

in 1985. In 2011, Bearss received The Lincoln Forum's Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement acknowledging his "contributions to the spirit of brahamLincoln in both word and deed." On 23 April 2015,

US Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Gerry Connolly Gerald Edward Connolly (born March 30, 1950) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district, first elected in 2008. The district is anchored in Fairfax County, an affluent suburban cou ...

( VA) introduced

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

H.R.2059 to award Bearss the

Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...

"in recognition of his contributions to preservation of American Civil War history and continued efforts to bring our nation's history alive for new generations through his interpretive storytelling." In June 2018, the

American Battlefield Trust The American Battlefield Trust is a charitable organization (501(c)(3)) whose primary focus is in the preservation of battlefields of the American Civil War, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 through acquisition of battlefield land. T ...

awarded Bearss its first Lifetime Achievement Award "for his many decades dedicated to researching and relating the nation’s past to millions of people, as well as his advocacy for battlefield preservation."

Publications

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bearss, Edwin Cole 1923 births 2020 deaths American male non-fiction writers American military historians historians of the American Civil War Indiana University alumni military personnel from Montana National Park Service personnel United States Marine Corps non-commissioned officers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni writers from Billings, Montana