Paige Gibbons Backus
Social Media Manager
A native of Wisconsin, Paige graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a bachelor’s degree in Historic Preservation and George Mason University with a master’s degree in Applied History. She has been in the public history field for close to ten years focusing on educational programming and operations working at several historic sites throughout Northern Virginia including Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, Sully Historic Site, and Ben Lomond Historic Site. She currently serves Prince William County as the Historic Site Manager at Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre (a 19th century courthouse and jail complex with a lot of Civil War history) and Lucasville School (a one-room African American schoolhouse).
When out of the office, Paige spends her time serving on the board of the Virginia Association of Museums, exploring, being outdoors, or researching her interests which include women’s history, as well as the more morbid side of history such as death, disease, medicine, murder, or scandal. Her published works include Witness to Peace and Strife: The History of Ben Lomond in Manassas, Virginia, as well as well as numerous articles published for a variety of publications such as Emerging Civil War, Virginia Association of Museum’s Voice Magazine, Civil War Traveler, and Prince William Living. She currently lives in Manassas, Virginia, with her husband, Bill, and dog, Bernard.
* * *
Paige is also a member of the Emerging Civil War Speakers Bureau. Her available presentations are listed below:
Revealing the Chaos and Carnage of the Hospitals of First Manassas
The Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861, resulted in about 3,500 casualties in the span of less than twenty-four hours. The first major battle of the Civil War revealed how unprepared the armies were to handle the wounded. After the battle, the horror continued in numerous hospitals throughout the area. Explore the various hospitals established after the battle and how historians are able to use the limited primary resources available to learn about this facet of the Civil War.
The Deadliest Enemy: Disease during the Civil War
since the beginning of the Civil War, disease was a critical problem among the armies of both North and South. By the war’s end, 2/3 of the soldiers who died during the fighting, died of disease instead of battle wounds. Learn about why disease was such a big issue, what diseases swept through the regiments, their causes, and the treatments used to try and cure the soldiers.
Unheralded Heroines: Women during the Civil War
With war erupting in 1861, women were faced with unimaginable challenges and opportunities that had a lasting effect on history. For many left behind at home, their roles began to change for the first time in generations. Many others decided to leave their homes as refugees or to become organizers and members in relief societies, nurses, and many more. The roles women were thrown into during war made them unlikely pioneers for women’s rights. Explore women’s roles and reactions to the Civil War and how they impacted modern women’s rights.
Dr. Jonathan Letterman’s Plan that Changed Military Medicine
After becoming the Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac in July 1862, Dr. Jonathan Letterman immediately set to work improving the medical system for the Union Army. Serving as Director during a crucial year which included the single bloodiest day of the war at Antietam, as well as the Battles of Second Manassas and Fredericksburg. By the end of 1862, Letterman had enacted a series of policies from triage, ambulances, staffing, and more that eventually became known as the Letterman Plan which forever changed military medicine as we know it today. Learn about the man and the events that helped shape the Letterman Plan that is still in use 160 years after the war.
