Ed Bearss-- Part 3: "You Can't Describe A Battlefield Unless You Walk It"

Ed Bearss then worked for three years with the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office in Maryland where he used his spare times to tour Civil War battlefields in the East.  (Careful, Mr. Bearss, that's a good way to get hooked.)

In 1955, he received his MA in History from Indiana University.  He wrote his these on Confederate General Patrick Cleburne and visited the battlefields Cleburne fought on, telling friends, "You can't describe a battlefield unless you walk it."  He lives still by these words, even at age 95

Afterwards, he became the historian at the Vicksburg National Military Park.  The hook was set.  While there, he and two friends did research that led to their finding the long-lost Union gunboat USS Cairo.  He also discovered the location of two "lost" forts at Grand Gulf, Mississippi.

In 1958, he was promoted to Southeast regional historian and spent most of his time visiting battlefields around the country.  In 1981, he was promoted to Chief Historian of the National Park service.

--Old Secesh