Atlanta Civil War Round Table 2019
Richard Barksdale Harwell Book Award

The Atlanta Civil War Round Table has awarded its 31st annual Richard Barksdale Harwell Award to A. Wilson Greene for his book A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg, Volume One - From the Crossing of the James to the Crater, published by the University of North Carolina Press. The Atlanta Round Table has presented the Harwell Award annually since 1989. The 2019 Harwell Award honors the best book on a civil war topic for books published in 2018.

Will Greene is one of the nation's foremost authorities on the Petersburg campaign.  He served for 16 years as historian and park manager at Petersburg National Battlefield and at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.  He was the first executive director of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (now the American Battlefield Trust) and was the founding director of Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier.  Greene has authored six books and more than 25 articles on the Civil War and Southern history.

Greene served as a member of the National Board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services from 2002 to 2010 and from 1987 to the present has been a study leader for the Smithsonian Institution.  He earned a B.A. in history from Florida State University and an M.A. from Louisiana State University.

A Campaign of Giants is the first of a three-volume history of the nine-month Petersburg Campaign, one of the longest and most complex campaigns of the war.  According to historian Gordon Rhea, this volume is the most significant Civil War book of the year.  Another eminent historian and author, Richard Sommers, has said that this volume and the two which will follow are the most significant study ever written on the campaign.

The Harwell Award honors the late Richard Barksdale Harwell, a nationally recognized historian, librarian, bibliographer and first president of the Atlanta Round Table.  The award consists of a monetary prize plus an engraved plaque recognizing the event.  Recent winners include, Earl Hess, David Powell, Timothy Smith, Allen Guelzo, Jeffry Wert and Brian Wills. 

Greene will speak at the December 2019 meeting of the Atlanta Round Table, at which time, he will be presented with the award.

Joanne Freeman was a finalist for the award for her book The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War.  

Point of Contact for additional information on the Richard Barksdale Harwell Book Award is Gary Barnes, tapdance3@aol.com