I am a graduate of Wheeling Park High School, West Virginia University, and Ohio University. Now retired after a thirty-five-year teaching career, I was a National Board-Certified Teacher, educator of the year for the 2018-2019 school year, and Wheeling Chamber of Commerce teacher of the year. I have always had a great interest in history, especially that of the Civil War. That interest intensified exponentially upon visiting Gettysburg for the first time. I have published 2 books on the Civil War: Born of Rebellion: West Virginia and the Civil War, and They All Became Heroes, which examines the formation and service of the colored regiments raised in Massachusetts after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. I am the vice president of the Ohio Valley Civil War Roundtable, serve on the Board of the West Virginia Independence, and was recognized as a West Virginia History Hero in 2022.