F26-1001A, The American Civil War: A War of “Firsts”

The American Civil War is generally accepted as heralding a new dawn of warfare and is frequently referred to as the first “modern war.” To this end, if one takes the time to diligently examine the totality of the conflict, it quickly becomes apparent that the American Civil War indeed spawned an incredible array of innovations, changes in warfare, and advancements in a number of military-related domains. This presentation will focus on a number of unique “Firsts” that the American Civil War introduced to the American military landscape.

Presenter: Paul Severance
Dr. Paul Severance is a distinguished historian and educator with a career spanning more than three decades. Dr. Severance served as Professor of Strategy and Professor of Military Science at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at Fort Lesley J. McNair from 1993 until his retirement in 2018.

Since 2013, Dr. Severance has devoted his expertise to public history, serving as a volunteer historian at Gettysburg and at Fort McNair, where he has guided more than five hundred tours, seminars, and lectures in the historic courtroom of the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators Trial. His work has focused on Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, the pursuit and capture of the conspirators, their trial and verdicts, and the evolution of conspiracy theories that followed.

Dr. Severance is also a faculty member of the Blue-Gray Education Society and is widely recognized as an authority on the American Civil War, with particular expertise in the campaigns of Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, the Peninsula, and the Seven Days. He holds degrees from Northeastern University, the Florida Institute of Technology, and Virginia Tech, where he earned his doctorate.

Currently, Dr. Severance continues to share his scholarship as an instructor with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the College of William & Mary and the Lifelong Learning Society at Christopher Newport University, lecturing on the nature of war, forms of warfare, military history, and military geography.

LLI Coordinator: David Pace