Samuel Flowers

Samuel Flowers is an assistant professor of history at Louisburg College. He was born and raised in Wilmington and now resides in Raleigh. He received his B.A. in history from UNC-Charlotte and graduated with his M.A. from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a concentration on American History. His thesis examined the importance of the Overland Campaign through interpreting tactical shifts, the common soldier’s experience, and how soldiers remembered their time in combat.

Samuel is interested in multiple topics surrounding the Civil War and Reconstruction Era, including the Eastern Theatre, the Overland Campaign, the conflict in North Carolina, Reconstruction and political violence, Civil War memory, and the popular culture adaptations about the era. He is researching the Third North Carolina Infantry as its war service transitioned, perpetuating Lost Cause ideals and political violence in Wilmington. He is also collaborating with Gene Schmiel to create a revised version of his book, The Civil War in Statuary Hall, which will use the chamber for statues residing in the Capitol as a case study for the nation’s changing landscape of memory and memorialization.

Aside from history, Samuel enjoys playing drums in his free time. During the 2019-2020 NFL season, he played snare drum for the Carolina Panthers Drumline, “Purcussion.” He also enjoys teaching high school students during marching band season in the summer/fall.

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

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Sam is also a member of the Emerging Civil War Speakers Bureau. His available presentations are listed below:

Devoid of Grandeur and Glory: The Overland Campaign’s Impact on Tactics, Combat, and Memory
The 1864 Overland Campaign not only shifted tactics from the Age of Napoleon to trench warfare, but the common soldier’s letters and memoirs also indicate that their experience there was more gruesome than Gettysburg or Antietam. This, in turn, offers an explanation as to the memory and delayed memorization of these battlefields.
The Civil War in Statuary Hall
Beginning soon after the Civil War, and continuing today, the meaning and memory of the conflict have been intensely debated in the public arena, including via the public iconography of thousands of memorials in squares, museums, and other venues throughout the nation.  National Statuary Hall is a story of Civil War memory as it contains a history of Confederate and Copperhead statutes that still reside in the chamber to this day.
The Third North Carolina Infantry and the Long Civil War
This particular regiment and the officers in charge of the men have ties to Wilmington, North Carolina, and to each other. In the decades before the war, these men were friends, family, and respected members of the Lower Cape Fear community. Many advocated for secession and volunteered to fight for the Confederacy. These men tell a story not only of heavy combat in the Eastern Theatre, but also the story of POW experience, desertion, and differing motivations for fighting. After the war, those who were left, and their relatives, fought to keep their Confederate identity alive, either through Lost Cause memorization or political violence.

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