Ph.D., American History, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1999. (Dissertation: "Unchronicled Heroes: A Study of Union Cavalry Horses in the Eastern Theater; Care, Treatment & Use, 1861-1865").
M.A. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1994.
B.A., Political Science,
Wartburg College, 1991.
Assistant Editor, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 2008-present
Research Associate, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 2007-2008
Lecturer, Department of History, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 2002-Present
Lecturer, Department of History, Marymount University, Arlington, VA, 2001-Present
Lecturer, Department of History, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL,1998-2000
Graduate Assistant, Southern Illinois University, 1993-1998
Research Assistant, Papers of Ulysses S. Grant,
Southern Illinois University, 1994
Research Contractor, National Archives & Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 2001-07
Intern, Congressional Research Service: Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 2001
Special Collections and Administrative Intern, Society of the Cincinnati, Anderson House Museum, Washington, DC, 2001
Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents, sponsored by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 2008.
Review of Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power, by Richard Carwardine. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Civil War Book Review (Fall 2006).
Guide Pamphlet, French Regimental Flags of the American Revolution, 1777-1783. Washington, DC: The Society of the Cincinnati Anderson House Museum. (2001; Revised 2006).
Review of Vicksburg Is the Key: The Struggle for the Mississippi River, by William L. Shea & Terrence J. Winschel. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. Military History of the West (Summer 2006).
Review of Commander of All Lincoln’s Armies: A Life of General Henry W. Halleck, by John F. Marszalek. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004. Civil War Book Review (Summer 2005).
Review of In the First Line of Battle: The 12th Illinois Cavalry in the Civil War, by Samuel M. Blackwell, Jr. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2002. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (Summer 2002).
Review of Lincoln’s Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac, 1861-1865, by Edward G. Longacre. Stackpole Books: Mechanicsburg, PA, 2000. North and South Magazine (2001).
Review of Under Custer’s Command: The Civil War Journal of James Henry Avery, compiled by Karla Jean Husby, edited by Eric J. Wittenberg. Brassey’s: Washington, DC, 2000. North and South Magazine (2001).
Review of Banners to the Breeze: The Kentucky Campaign, Corinth and Stones River, by Earl J. Hess. (The University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 2000). Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (Fall 2000).
Review of Abraham Lincoln: Twenty Years on the Eastern Prairie, by Donald G. Richter. (Vermilion County Museum Society, 1999). Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (Spring 2000).
“War Horse: Union Cavalry Mounts.” North and South Magazine (January 1999).
“‘My Companion in All Places,’ A Massachusetts Cavalryman’s Appeal to President Lincoln.” North and South Magazine (January 1999).
Encyclopedia of the Early Republic and Antebellum America. Christopher Bates, ed. M.E. Sharpe, Inc.: Armonk, NY (Forthcoming 2008), S.vv. "Martin Van Buren," "John Deere," "Robert Fulton," "Panic of 1857"
Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History. David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, CA, 2000, S. vv. "Union Cavalry," "The Stoneman Raid," "General George H. Stoneman"
“Operation Enduring Freedom: Foreign Pledges of Military and Intelligence Support.” Report for Congress. (Congressional Research Service: Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade, 2001).
“CONTOMS (Counter Narcotics and Terrorism Operational Medical Support Program).” Report for Congress. (Congressional Research Service: Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade, 2001).
Awards & Fellowships
David Warren Bowen Award (co-winner), Best Paper Presented at the 2011 Meeting of the Alabama Association of Historians, 2011.
The Filson Historical Society, Research Fellowship, 2009.
Virginia Polytechnic and Civil War Preservation Trust, Teacher’s Certificate, 2006.
Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, 2005. (Research Funding at the New York Historical Society).
U. S. Military Historical Institute General and Mrs. Matthew B. Ridgeway Post-Doctoral Research Grant, 2005.
George Mason Adjunct Faculty Research Travel Award, 2005.
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Certificate of Merit, 2001.
SIUC Graduate Research Travel Award, 1997; 1998.
“‘These Loyal Alabamians’: A Portrait of the First Alabama Union Cavalry Drawn from the Records of the National Archives and Pension Files,” paper presented at Alabama Association of Historians annual meeting, Gulf Shores, Alabama, February 2011.
“A Loyal and Worthy Man: William Houston, Abraham Lincoln, and Loyalist Patronage” presented at Sam Houston Symposium, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, February 2009.
“Archival Collections and Local Research,” Panelist, Sam Houston Symposium, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, February 2009.
“Men on Horseback: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and the Equestrian Image of the Commander in Chief,” paper presented at “Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis: Two Visions of America,” Louisville, Kentucky, October 2008.
“Civil War Cavalry Horses,” The Civil War Institute, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, June 2005.
“The King’s Banners: History and Symbolism of French Regimental Flags in the American Revolutionary War.” Society of the Cincinnati, Anderson House Museum, Washington, DC, October 2001.
“The Greatness of Abraham Lincoln,” Southern Illinois University International Student’s Club, Carbondale, IL, February 2000.