Dr. Chris Mackowski, a professor in the Jandoli School of Communication, published a short feature in the fall issue of On the Front Line, a magazine published by the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. The article, “Piney Branch Church,” recounted the history of a small Episcopal-turned-Baptist congregation in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, that suddenly found itself embroiled in the Civil War Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on Sunday, May 8, 1864.

The site of the church became the headquarters for Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Mackowski’s 2023 book “Grant at 200: Reconsidering the Life and Legacy of Ulysses S. Grant,” an essay collection co-edited by Frank Scaturro, was recently issued in a paperback edition by publisher Savas Beatie.