Dr. Chris Mackowski, professor of journalism and mass communication, has been hitting the speaking circuit lately. On Oct. 24, he did a Zoom program for the Chambersburg Civil War Seminar about a May 10, 1864, attack at the battle of Spotsylvania.

He also presented a Zoom program about the battle of North Anna for a donor event held by the American Battlefield Trust and co-hosted a virtual video tour of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania battlefields. 

In November, via Zoom, he joined the Brunswick (N.C.) Civil War Roundtable discussion about Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell on the first day at Gettysburg; talked with St. Bonaventure University’s Jandoli Institute about Civil War songs, statues, and memory; and joined historians Kris White, Carol Reardon, Bryan Cheesboro, and Garry Adelman as part of a panel for the American Battlefield Trust, which looked at the many ways the Civil War returned to communities and battlefields over multiple times.

In-person engagements included a Nov. 5 presentation at Pamplin Historical Park in Petersburg, Virginia, about the battle of North Anna River, and a Nov. 14 Facebook Live virtual tour of Jericho Mills, a portion of the North Anna battlefield not open to the public. For the latter, sponsored by Richmond National Battlefield, Mackowski was joined by National Park Service historian Bert Dunkerly.

Mackowski's North Anna talks were based on an essay he wrote for a book to be published by Southern Illinois University Press next year.