Matthew Hulbert Visits Department

Photo of Hulbert and Lesley Gordon
Drs. Matthew Hulbert and Lesley J. Gordon

Dr. Matthew Hulbert, assistant professor of history at Hampden-Sydney College, visited the department on Friday, February 7, to discuss his book, The Ghosts of Guerrilla Memory: How Civil War Bushwhackers Became Gunslingers in the American West (UGA 2016).

Hulbert’s wide-ranging talk covered noted American characters of the period, from Billy the Kid to Jesse James, but his focus was on the irregular wartime experiences of the common person. For those on the Missouri-Kansas border guerrilla violence became normalized, while front-line fighting remained foreign. One of the interesting stories Dr. Hulbert shared was of William Quantrill’s sacking of Lawrence, KA, a.k.a. the “Lawrence Massacre,” on August 21, 1863, causing the death of nearly 200 men and boys and creating approximately 250 orphans.