Symposium 2026 Spotlight: Pat Kelly Fischer, Duel in the Desert

Welcome to our spotlight series, highlighting speakers and topics for our upcoming symposium. Over the coming weeks, we will continue previewing of our speaker’s for the 2026 Emerging Civil War Symposium. This week we feature Pat Kelly Fischer:

Patrick Kelly-Fischer is a lifelong student of the Civil War. He graduated from Bard College in 2009 with a B.A. in Political Studies, and began writing for Emerging Civil War in 2021.

Living in Colorado, he has a particular interest in the role the Southwest played during the war, especially the 1862 New Mexico campaign. Along with Phill Greenwalt, he wrote Desert Empire: The 1862 New Mexico Campaign for the Emerging Civil War Series.

Originally from upstate NY, Pat now lives in Denver with his wife Emily, their dog Cincy, and their cat Journey, where he works for a network of nonprofits. When he isn’t working, reading or writing, you can probably find him hiking or rooting for the Steelers.

A full listing of Patrick’s Emerging Civil War articles can be found here.

Check out this post to learn more about Pat’s topic for this year’s Symposium!

For more information on the 2026 Emerging Civil War Symposium and to purchase tickets, click here.