Hal Jespersen’s Civil War Page

News

I attended a Civil War conference in Monterey, California. Read my report.
I attended the SVBF National Meeting in Winchester, Virginia, featuring the Second Battle of Winchester. Read my report.
I attended the BGES tour of Shiloh with Greg Mertz. Read my report.
I attended the BGES symposium in Amelia Island, Florida. Read my report.
I traveled to Sicily and southern Italy for a tour of the WWII Italian Campaign. Read my report. (Yes, I know this is not Civil War, but I figure the interested audience will be similar.)
I attended the BGES program on the Battle of Antietam. Read my report.

Travelogues

2024 Touring — BGES tour of Nimitz's Central Pacific Campaign, conference in Monterey.
2023 Touring — SVBF National Meeting in Winchester, Virginia.
2022 Touring — Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I did no CW traveling, but I was able to fit a couple of World War II trips into my schedule. Check out my regular Travel page.
2021 Touring — Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I limited severely my 2021 touring. I did visit Shiloh with BGES.
2020 Touring — BGES symposium in Amelia Island, Florida, but nothing further, with the year disrupted by COVID-19.
2019 Touring — BGES Sherman's March and Confederate Georgia; SVBF annual conference on Sheridan's 1864 Valley campaign; D-Day 75th Anniversary & Patton's Third Army; BGES Antietam
2018 Touring — BGES Eastern North Carolina; Glorieta Pass; BGES 25th Anniversary weekend in Petersburg, Bermuda Hundred, North Anna, and Fredericksburg; SVBF Avenue of Invasion conference; BGES "On to Peterburg"; CWI at Gettysburg; BGES "Longstreet's Command Audition in Tennessee, 1863"; and the West Coast Civil War Roundtable Symposium.
2017 Touring — Sarasota Civil War Conference, brief visit to Nashville and Franklin, Chambersburg tour of Shiloh/Corinth/et al, Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, Emerging Civil War Symposium, Mosby conference on Harpers Ferry and South Mountain, Gettysburg Battlefield Half Marathon, West Coast Civil War Roundtable Conference.
2016 Touring — Some Civil War forts in South Florida, a 10-day trip to Atlanta, Jackson in the Valley, West Coast Civil War Roundtable Conference in Costa Mesa, CA.
2015 Touring — Various sites in Kentucky, Chambersburg end of the war seminar, Mosby conference on Gettysburg second day, BGES Battles for Mobile (and personal visit to Beauvoir).
2014 Touring — Arkansas and Missouri (Prairie Grove, Pea Ridge, Wilson's Creek), Overland Campaign, Gettysburg College Civil War Institute.
2013 Touring — A lecture in Walnut Creek, a visit to Charleston and Savannah, a tour of the Vicksburg Campaign, my fifth Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, my third Chambersburg seminar, the Savas-Beatie Author Conclave, Lincoln Exhibition at the Reagan Presidential Library.
2012 Touring — Shiloh with CWEA, CWI at Gettysburg.
2011 Touring — Charleston for the Sesquicentennial, a BGES walking tour of Chancellorsville, Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, Baltimore, Mosby conference on cavalry and Brandy Station, Richmond, CWEA tour of 1864 Valley Campaign, Huntington Library seminar, the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon, and a BGES tour of Grant's Chattanooga Campaign.
2010 Touring — Atlanta, Gettysburg NPS Seminar, CWPT in Kentucky, ALBG seminar in Gettysburg, Mosby seminar about Fredericksburg, CWEA in North Carolina, various sites in DC and Virginia, CWPT Advanced Guard meeting in Richmond, West Coast CW Round Table Conference in San Francisco, and a staff ride with the U.S. Army to Charleston.
2009 Touring — CWEA Sarasota CW Symposium, some CW stops in Washington, DC, University of Virginia seminar on Petersburg and Appomattox, Chambersburg Civil War Seminar on Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibit in Sacramento, West Coast Civil War Round Table Conference, Blue and Gray Education Society Staff Ride of the Battle of Franklin.
2008 Touring — Vicksburg with Parker Hills, Chickamauga/Chattanooga, West Coast CWRT Conference, and Hood's Tennessee Campaign at Spring Hill, TN.
2007 Touring — Civil War Preservation Trust meeting in Portsmouth, Virginia, Chambersburg Seminar on Antietam, Mosby Heritage Area Association seminar on Second Manassas, Blue & Gray Education Society Walking Tour of Perryville.
2006 Touring — Blue & Gray Education Society December staff ride of Forts Henry and Donelson; NPS seminar at Gettysburg, CWPT Memphis meeting, UVa seminar in Richmond, Civil War Institute, West Coast Civil War Conference.
2005 Touring — UVa seminar in Charleston, Gettysburg, Civil War Institute, the Harrisburg CW museum, another Gettysburg, Assoc. of Licensed Battlefield Guides, CW Preservation Trust, and Blue & Gray Education Society December staff ride of Stones River.
2004 Touring — GDG Muster, Virginia touring, Gettysburg on Columbus Day, and The Killer Angels as a stage play.

Wikipedia

Over a decade I wrote about 275 Civil War articles in this free, open-source Internet encyclopedia (and edited/improved many more). Eventually I got too busy to spend enough time monitoring and editing Wikipedia, so I am now "retired" and I'm not keeping track of changes others make, so now your mileage may vary, as they say. Some of my favorites were:

Gettysburg topics: Gettysburg, First Day, Second Day, Third Day cavalry battles, Gettysburg Campaign, Cemetery Hill, Culp's Hill, Little Round Top, Pickett's Charge, Retreat
Battles (120+): Antietam, Cedar Creek, Chancellorsville, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Cold Harbor, Corinth, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Fort Sumter, Franklin, Fredericksburg, Harpers Ferry, Kennesaw Mountain, First Manassas, Second Manassas, Shiloh, Perryville, Stones River, Trevilian Station, Vicksburg, Wilderness
Bios (130+): E.P. Alexander, P.G.T. Beauregard, Ed Bearss, Braxton Bragg, Ambrose Burnside, Bruce Catton, George S. Greene, Henry W. Halleck, Winfield S. Hancock, Herman Haupt, Jedediah Hotchkiss, John Bell Hood, Henry J. Hunt, Joseph E. Johnston, James Longstreet, George B. McClellan, George G. Meade, Albert J. Myer, George Pickett, Leonidas Polk, John Pope, William S. Rosecrans, John F. Reynolds, Phil Sheridan, Daniel Sickles, Jeb Stuart, Traveller, Emory Upton, Gouverneur K. Warren
Other Campaigns: Eastern Theater overview article, Western Theater, Appomattox Campaign, Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaign, Maryland Campaign, Knoxville Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, Jackson's Valley Campaign, Overland Campaign, Peninsula Campaign, Seven Days Battles, Siege of Petersburg, Tullahoma, Vicksburg
Signal Corps, Field Artillery, and Cavalry

Maps and Stuff

Maps — I have created more than 190 battlefield and campaign maps for my Wikipedia work; the Adobe Illustrator source files and PNG graphic files are here.
CWRT — Here are my PowerPoint slides and other materials for presentations to Civil War Round Tables. (I currently belong to three roundtables: San Francisco, Peninsula, and South Bay.)
Zazzle — I have designed a series of T-shirts and coffee mugs with battle maps that you can buy from Zazzle.com. I sometimes wear the T-shirts on my CW trips.