Presenters, Guides & Historians Biographies

Rick Atkinson (Event Keynote Speaker)

Rick Atkinson is the author of eight narrative histories about five American wars. His most recent book is The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777, which spent nearly three months on the New York Times bestseller list in 2019 and is the first volume in a planned trilogy on the American Revolution. Reviewer Joseph J. Ellis wrote in the New York Times Book Review, “To say that Atkinson can tell a story is like saying Sinatra can sing.” George F. Will, writing in the Washington Post, called Atkinson “the nation’s finest military historian, living or dead,” adding that “[Atkinson has a] felicity for turning history into literature.” The Times [of London] declared, “Atkinson is a superb researcher, but more importantly a sublime writer. On occasion, I reread sentences simply to feast on their elegance.” The Wall Street Journal noted, “Mr. Atkinson commands great powers of description…[He] weaves it all together seamlessly, bringing us with him. Pithy character sketches—reminiscent of 18th century historians David Hume and Edward Gibbon, both of whom Mr. Atkinson cites—bring the dead to life.” 

The second volume of the Revolution Trilogy, The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, will be published in April 2025. Atkinson previously wrote the Liberation Trilogy, a narrative history of the liberation of Europe in World War II. The first volume, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, received the Pulitzer Prize and was acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal as “the best World War II battle narrative since Cornelius Ryan’s classics, The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far.” The second volume, The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944, drew praise from the New York Times as “a triumph of narrative history, elegantly written…and rooted in the sight and sounds of battle.” The final volume of the Liberation Trilogy, The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945, published in May 2013, ranked #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The Wall Street Journal called it “a magnificent book,” and the New York Times Book Review described it as “a tapestry of fabulous richness and complexity…The Liberation Trilogy is a monumental achievement.”

Garry Adelman

A graduate of Michigan State University and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Garry Adelman is the award-winning author, co-author or editor of 20 books and 50 Civil War articles. He is the vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography and has been a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg for 25 years. He has conceived and drafted the text for wayside exhibits at ten battlefields, has given thousands of battlefield tours at more than 60 sites and has lectured at hundreds of locations across the country including the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. He has appeared as a speaker on the BBC, C-Span, Pennsylvania Cable Network, American Heroes Channel, and on HISTORY where he was a chief consultant and talking head on the Emmy Award-winning show Gettysburg (2011) and Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color (2015). He works full-time as Chief Historian at the American Battlefield Trust.

American Battlefield Trust Youth Leadership Team 

The American Battlefield Trust Youth Leadership Team (YLT) is a rotating group of 10 young people, aged 15-18, who will serve as the youth face and voice of the American Battlefield Trust. YLT members are selected every year to participate in Lobby Day; create preservation, education, or visitation projects in their local communities; and attend our annual conference.

By supporting this group of motivated young leaders, we hope to create a ripple effect for battlefield preservation, visitation, history education in our nation. Our goal is for young people to connect and empower each other to create change within their own schools and communities.

The American Battlefield Trust Youth Leadership Team is supported by the generous contributions of the Pipkin Charitable Foundation. 

Sarah Kay Bierle

Sarah Kay Bierle graduated from Thomas Edison State University with a BA in History, works in the Education Department at American Battlefield Trust, and occasionally writes for Emerging Civil War. She has spent years exploring ways to share quality historical research in ways that will inform and inspire modern audiences, including school presentations, writing, and speaking engagements. Sarah has published three historical fiction books and her first nonfiction book, Call Out The Cadets: The Battle of New Market, is part of the Emerging Civil War Series.

Alex Cain 

Biography coming soon. 

Daniel Davis

Dan Davis, Senior Education Manager at the American Battlefield Trust. He is a native of Fredericksburg, VA where his love for the Civil War began on childhood trips to local battlefields. Dan is a graduate of Longwood University with a bachelor’s degree in Public History. Dan has worked as a Ranger/Historian at Appomattox Court House National Historical Site and the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He is the author or co-author of numerous books and articles on the Civil War.

David Duncan

David Duncan is the President of the American Battlefield Trust. David joined the American Battlefield Trust in March 2000 after 14 years in the direct marketing political and charitable fundraising industry. His work was nationally recognized for effectiveness three times by the American Association of Political Consultants. A native Virginian, he graduated from James Madison University with a BS in Telecommunications and a Music Composition minor. He is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals as well as the Direct Marketing Association of Washington, which has awarded the Trust fifteen awards for marketing excellence. David spent more than 20 years as the organization’s primary fundraiser and Chief Development Officer before being named in October 2020 to take over the top spot with the retirement of longtime president O. James Lighthizer. David can identify three Civil War ancestors; two from the 54th VA Infantry with the Army of Tennessee, while the third was a lieutenant in the 57th VA Infantry (Armistead’s Brigade, Pickett’s Division, July 3, ’63). 

Ben Edwards

Ben Edwards has been a private tour guide in Boston since 2004. Over the past two decades, a multitude of groups from across the United States and visitors from around the globe have taken Ben’s Walking Boston private tour. There is simply no other tour in Boston like it! Ben is the author of the children’s book One April in Boston. He has taught the American Revolution to thousands of students through school author visits and private guided walking tours of the Freedom Trail. His fourth-great-grandfather, Benjamin Edwards, was a 10-year-old orphan living just down the street from Christ Church (Old North Church) when two signal lanterns were shown from its steeple and Paul Revere made his midnight ride; he honors the memory of his ancestors by serving on the Board of Directors of the Paul Revere Memorial Association—a position he has held since 1999. He has been a resident of Boston’s Back Bay for over 20 years and knows the city inside out.

Phillip S. Greenwalt 

Phill Greenwalt, full-time contributor to Emerging Civil War and co-founder of the Emerging Revolutionary War blog. Currently, he is a Supervisory National Park Ranger of the Catoctin Mountain Park. Prior to his current position, Phill spent seven years a historian with the National Park Service at George Washington Birthplace National Monument and Thomas Stone National Historic Site. Phill also served as a Supervisory National Park Ranger of the Shark Valley District of Interpretation and Visitor Services of Everglades National Park. He started with the National Park Service as a historical interpreter intern at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He has also had the honor to be on official details for the Sesquicentennial of the surrender at Appomattox Court House and the Bicentennial of the Battle of Fort McHenry and the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner. 

He is also the co-author of Bloody Autumn: The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, Hurricane from the Heavens: The Battle of Cold Harbor, and Calamity in Carolina: The Battles of Averasboro and Bentonville (all three with Daniel Davis). He is the co-author of A Single Blow: The Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Beginning of the American Revolution April 19, 1775, and author of The Winter that Won the War: The Winter Encampment at Valley Forge, 1777–1778. 

Phill graduated from George Mason University with an M.A. in American History and also has a B.A. in history from Wheeling Jesuit University. He is a native of Baltimore, Maryland.

William Griffith 

William Griffith is a native of Branchburg, New Jersey and currently resides in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He received his BA in History from Shepherd University in 2014, and MA in Military History from Norwich University in 2018. His passion for history can be traced back to his first trip with his father to Fort William Henry along the southern shore of Lake George when he was five-years-old. William has been published in Garden State Legacy magazine and has written for the U.S. Navy Cruiser Sailors Association periodical, Emerging Civil War, The Journal of Civil War Medicine, and the American Battlefield Trust. While completing his undergraduate studies at Shepherd, he spent his time as a volunteer with the Gettysburg Foundation and the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War, and also worked as an intern and substitute librarian at the David Library of the American Revolution. He has previously worked as a historical interpreter with both Fort Frederick State Park in Big Pool, Maryland, and with the Prince William County (Virginia) Office of Historic Preservation. He currently serves as Leadership Program Coordinator for the Gettysburg Foundation, as a Revolution Fellow for the American Battlefield Trust, and leads tours as a Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide. When not indulging himself in military history, he can be found closely following his second passion: the New York Yankees. William’s first book, The Battle of Lake George: England’s First Triumph in the French and Indian War, was released by The History Press on September 5, 2016. He is also the author of A Handsome Flogging: The Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, which was released in 2020 as part of Savas Beatie’s Emerging Revolutionary War Series.

Lexington (MA) Town Guides

Lexington, Massachusetts, was made famous on April 19, 1775. On the town's green, Patriot militia faced off with British Regulars, igniting the spark of revolution. Lexington's town guides tell the story of the now-world-famous town and the events of April 1775.

Dr. Chris Mackowski 

Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War. He is the series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series, published by Savas Beatie, and the “Engaging the Civil War” Series, published in partnership with Southern Illinois University Press. Chris is a professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY, and historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has also worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania), as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died. Chris has authored or co-authored a dozen books on the Civil War, and his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines. Chris serves on the national advisory board for the Civil War Chaplains Museum in Lynchburg, Virginia. Chris owes all of his success in the Civil War field to his best friend, mentor, boss, and co-author, Kristopher White.

Mark Maloy

Mark Maloy has been working in the history field for more than 15 years. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in History at the College of William & Mary and received his Master’s Degree in Public History from George Mason University. He has authored two books on the Revolutionary War: Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton and To the Last Extremity: The Battles for Charleston.

Rob Orrison

Rob Orrison, co-founder of Emerging Revolutionary War, has been working in the history field for more than 25 years. Rob received his Bachelor’s Degree in Historic Preservation at Longwood College (now University) and received his Master’s Degree in Public History from George Mason University. Currently, Rob serves as the Division Manager for the Prince William County Office of Historic Preservation, which operates 12 historic sites, museums, and parks in Prince William County (VA).

Outside of work, Rob serves as the Past President of the Virginia Association of Museums and the Board of the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia. His published works include books about the Battle of Bristoe Station, Guide to the Gettysburg Campaign, Guide to the Antietam Campaign and “A Single Blow: The Battles of Lexington and Concord” with Phillip Greenwalt. He is currently working on a book with Mark Wilcox on the Battle of Camden, due out fall 2023. He lives in Dumfries with his wife Jamie and sons Carter and Grayson.

The Staff of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum 

At the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, you can be a part of the famous event that forever changed the course of American history through a multi-sensory experience that includes live actors, interactive exhibits, and full-scale replica 18th-century sailing vessels!

Kristopher D. White 

Kris is the director of education & events at the American Battlefield Trust. White is a graduate of Norwich University with an M.A. in Military History and California University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History. He served as a ranger-historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He has also served the Penn-Trafford Recreation Board as a historian, and as a continuing education instructor for the Community College of Allegheny County. White is the co-founder and chief historian emeritus of Emerging Civil War and co-creator of the Emerging Civil War Series. An award-winning speaker and editor, White has authored, co-authored, or edited some two dozen books, including four covering the Battle of Gettysburg. Kris frequently leads tours and staff rides in the United States and Europe.