Kevin Pawlak
Kevin Pawlak is a Historic Site Manager for the Prince William County Historic Preservation Division and works as a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Antietam National Battlefield. Kevin also sits on the Board of Directors of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association and the Save Historic Antietam Foundation.
Previously, Kevin has worked or completed internships at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, The Papers of Abraham Lincoln at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, and the Mosby Heritage Area Association.
Kevin is the author of Shepherdstown in the Civil War: One Vast Confederate Hospital, published by The History Press in 2015 and the co-author of To Hazard All: A Guide to the Maryland Campaign.
He has also authored “‘The Heaviest Blow Yet Given the Confederacy’: The Emancipation Proclamation Changes the Civil War” in Turning Points of the Civil War, part of Emerging Civil War’s Engaging the Civil War Series with Southern Illinois University Press.
A full listing of Kevin’s Emerging Civil War articles can be found here.
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Kevin is also a member of the Emerging Civil War Speakers Bureau. His available presentations are listed below:
Antietam Endgame
Examines the last three days of the Maryland Campaign, September 18-20, 1862, and its repercussions for the campaign.
“We labor under many disadvantages”: The Confederate Medical Corps in the Maryland Campaign of September 1862
Discusses the actions of the Army of Northern Virginia’s medical corps from late August to Early October 1862 and its successes and failures during the battle of Antietam.
“The General Result Was In Our Favor”: George b. McClellan in the Maryland Campaign
Challenges common notions about George McClellan’s performance in the Maryland Campaign and the outcome of that campaign.
Federal High Command at Antietam: Their biographies, Backgrounds, and Relationships
Examines the Union corps commanders at the Battle of Antietam – where they came from, where they fought, and how they interacted with one another.
“Raised from Obscurity”: The Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville on the Road to Gettysburg
Discusses the often-overlooked series of cavalry battles fought in the Loudoun Valley from June 17-21, 1863.
Water to his Front, Water to his Rear: Robert E. Lee Defends the Confederate High Water Mark at Sharpsburg
Evaluates Robert E. Lee’s decision-making related to the Battle of Antietam: why did he fight there, when did he decide, and what did he hope to do at Antietam?
John Brown’s Raid
What did John Brown hope to accomplish by raiding the Harpers Ferry arsenal, and why did he fail? This talk will explore in detail the raid and its aftermath.
A Seared Soul: The Fall of Fitz John Porter
Fitz John Porter was a rising star in the United States Army at the beginning of the Civil War. By the end of the war, he was no longer a general in that army. This talk will examine Porter’s role in the Civil War and the court martial that expelled him from it.
