Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac Trilogy

Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac trilogy, published in 1951-53, remains a landmark in the literature on the American Civil War. The volumes provided a showcase for Catton's formidable literary skills and marked the starting point in a career that soon placed him first among authors writing about the conflict. This lecture examines Catton's life, the origins of the series, and the qualities that render it well worth reading after three-quarters of a century

About the Speaker

Gary W. Gallagher received his B.A. from Adams State College of Colorado (1972) and his M.A. (1977) and Ph.D. (1982) from the University of Texas at Austin.  After twelve years teaching at Penn State University, in 1998, he joined the faculty of the University of Virginia and held the John L. Nau III Professorship in the History of the American Civil War and served as the founding Director of the John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History. He is the author or editor of more than fifty books, including The Confederate War (1997), Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know About the Civil War (2008), The Union War (2011), The American War: A History of the Civil War Era (co-authored with Joan Waugh, 3rd edn. 2023), and The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the Great American Crisis (2020). He has served as editor of three book series at the University of North Carolina Press, which together comprise over 140 titles. He has  appeared regularly on the Arts and Entertainment Network's series "Civil War Journal" as well as participating over sixty other television projects in the field. He held the Cavaliers’ Distinguished Teaching Professorship in 2010-2012 (the highest teaching award conveyed by the University of Virginia) and won the Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in 2013. Active in the field of historic preservation, he was president from 1987 to mid-1994 of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites and also served as a member of the Board of the Civil War Trust (now the American Battlefield Trust)