Free Civil War Seminar - Civil War Legacies
Presented by the Liberty University Department of History
Join us in exploring Civil War Legacies with honored guest speakers

Civil War Seminar Schedule

• April 14, 2018
• 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
• Seminar is free
• Located at the Hancock Welcome Center
• Door prizes will be awarded at the end
• Civil War-themed books for sale

Guest Speakers

• R. David Cox, “Robert E. Lee as Peacemaker” 

Cox is a professor of history at Southern Virginia University.
Ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1972 to serve parishes in Connecticut, David Cox returned to Virginia in 1987 to become rector of R. E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church in Lexington. In 2000, he left that position to complete doctoral studies, for which he received fellowships at Harvard Divinity School and Virginia Theological Seminary. He then served congregations in northern Virginia, Richmond, and, from 2006-13, Hot Springs. He ran for Virginia’s House of Delegates in 2005, for the state Senate in 2007 and in 2008 was elected to the Lexington City Council on which he served a four-year term. He graduated from two programs of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia.
At SVU since 2006, he has taught courses in liberal arts and history with a focus on American and religious studies and contemporary issues. His book, A Religious Biography of Robert E. Lee, appeared in March, 2017, part of the “Library of Religious Biography” issued by the Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. He is now working on a history of Lee Chapel in Lexington. Previously he taught ethics at Dabney Lancaster Community College, published books on marriage and on ministry, presented historical papers at the Virginia Forum in 2015 and 2016, and written regularly for newspapers and magazines. He and his wife, Melissa, reside in Lexington, Virginia and have three children, two grandsons, and one dog.

• Paul Dakin, “Hymns of the Civil War”

Paul Dakin became the 33rd pastor of the First Baptist Church in November 2014. He received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Montevallo (1979) and the Master of Divinity in Church Music degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1992).
In addition, he has pursued postgraduate studies at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Sewanee School of Theology, and Emmanuel Christian Seminary. Since 1980, he has served local churches in a variety of capacities in Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and Tokyo, Japan. He is married to the former Miriam Marie Goodwin of Talladega, AL and they have two sons, Will and Raleigh. Among his interests are hymnology, Civil War history, and Cajun/Creole cuisine.
His musical passions include the Renaissance lute music of John Dowland, shape-note singing, Bob Dylan, U2, and The Gaslight Anthem among many others.

• Doug Wicklund, “The Legacy of Firearms Advancements During the Civil War”

Doug Wicklund has been called the "Gun Whisperer" for his insightful examinations of antique arms across the nation and, after more than 24 years in NRA employ, this senior curator for the NRA Museums has watched the galleries grow out of the old NRA Headquarters in Washington, DC to the new facility in Fairfax, Virginia. Receiving graduate and undergraduate degrees in museum studies, archaeology and anthropology from George Washington University, Doug previously worked with the National Park Service and Smithsonian Institution before coming to the National Rifle Association in 1986.
He is an assistant technical editor for American Rifleman Magazine who also serves as editor for the NRA Firearms Fact Book during this tenure. He contributes a monthly feature on the National Firearms Museum collections to America's 1st Freedom magazine.  Additionally, he has also authored dozens of articles appearing in America's Civil War, American Rifleman and other magazines.
Wicklund does occasional work with Internet forums and national forensic agencies, plus periodic travel to gun shows and other collector activities keep Doug well occupied when not coordinating the day-to-day duties of operating the museum galleries and maintaining a collection of more than 5,000 arms of all historical periods. His current favorite piece in the collection may be his great-grandfather's engraved Merwin & Hulbert revolver, a piece Wicklund learned to clean at 7 years of age.
 
 
 

• Alan Farley and Lloyd Sprinkle, “The Legacy of the Printing and Dissemination Advancement of Religious Publications During the Civil War”

Alan Farley is an evangelist and reenactor who started Reenactors Missions for Jesus in 1988 to minister to the thousands of Confederate and Union reenactors who attend numerous battle reenactments and living histories across the eastern United States each year.  In addition to preaching at these events, Farley speaks at churches and other venues throughout the Southeast.  He also reprints hundreds of religious tracts, books, etc.  Finally, he is co-founder of the National Civil War Chaplains Museum which is located on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.
Rev. Lloyd Sprinkle, a Baptist pastor for 53 years, is the retired pastor of Providence Baptist Church of Harrisonburg, VA, a church he founded in 1952.  He retired from this position in 2015 due to heart surgery and a stroke.  He, along with his wife Jackie, is also founder of Sprinkle Publications, which sells Baptist, Puritan, Reformed, and Historical Literature.  They have printed approximately 150 titles, among them over 50,000 copies of The Life and Campaigns of Lt. General “Stonewall” Jackson by R. L. Dabney and thousands of copies of Christ in the Camp by William J. Jones.

• Carey Roberts, “Civil War Monuments and the Legacy of Memory” 

Dr. Carey Roberts is a historian and associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Liberty University.  He is a scholar at the Abbeville Institute, has been a Claude Lambe Fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, an Earhart Fellow, and a Perkins Fellow.  His interests include Thomas Jefferson and the early American history of political economy, particularly with regard to the popular influence of theology in those areas.
Dr. Roberts received his BA from the University of Southern Mississippi (1993), a diploma in international relations from the University of Wales, Swansea (1991), and his MA and PhD from the University of South Carolina (1995, 1999).

• Chris Gagliano, “Fighting the Good Fight:  The Father Peter Whelan Story” Video

Director and Producer Chris Gagliano lives in Florida and is the owner of Deep Water Productions.
Fighting the Good Fight documents the life of Father Peter Whelan, an Irish-born Catholic priest who served in the diocese of Charleston and Savannah from 1837 until 1871. His story is not very well known, and yet, in his lifetime he touched thousands, which is highlighted by the fact that his funeral in 1871 was the largest that the city of Savannah had seen up to that time. His work included missionary duties in North Carolina, the pastorate of Georgia’s first Catholic parish, and on two occasions served as administrator of the diocese of Savannah. Father Whelan’s most noteworthy contributions were the years spent serving as chaplain to Confederate troops at Fort Pulaski near Savannah at the beginning of the Civil War. Present during the bombardment and capture of Fort Pulaski by Federal forces, he volunteered to remain with the troops during their imprisonment in New York. Later he volunteered to minister to the Union prisoners-of-war held at the infamous Andersonville prison camp in West Georgia. Purchase Luncheon Tickets
The seminar is free, and the Department of History will provide an optional luncheon at the cost of $15 per person. Tickets to the luncheon should be obtained in advance:  https://www.ticketreturn.com/prod2/client.asp?ClientID=84#.Wp7oCWfwu5x. Contact
For all other questions pertaining to this seminar, please contact the Department of History at history@liberty.edu or 434-592-4366.