Dr. B. Franklin Cooling is a well-known national security historian and author of 22 books and studies, including: Symbol, Sword and Shield; Defending Washington During the Civil War; Mr. Lincoln’s Forts (co-author); Jubal Early’s Raid on Washington, 1864; Monocacy; The Battle that Saved Washington; and Counter Thrust; From the Peninsula to the Antietam; The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot; The Fort Stevens Story; and Jubal Early; Robert E. Lee’s Bad Old Man. He holds an undergraduate degree from Rutgers and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He has worked as Chief Historian at the Dept of Energy, and as a professor and associate Dean at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (National Defense University) and retired professor of National Security Studies at The Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy (National Defense University). Dr. Cooling sees Fort Stevens, Lincoln, and the Election of 1864 as ‘…mileposts on the road to Appomattox, martyred President and America’s Vast Future.’
Gail Stephens is a retired U.S. Department of Defense employee who serves as a volunteer at the Monocacy National Battlefield. She lectures on the Civil War, teaches courses at area colleges, and gives battlefield tours. She has a keen interest in Early’s 1864 campaign and its effect on the political and military situation that summer. She wrote a book about the military career of Major General Lew Wallace, the Union commander at the battle of Monocacy, and I has a close relationship with the Lew Wallace Museum and Study in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Jonathan Noyalas is author or editor of eleven books including Civil War Legacy in the Shenandoah: Remembrance, Reunion, and Reconciliation, and has authored more than 100 articles, chapters, essays, and reviews for a variety of publications including Civil War History, Civil War Times, America’s Civil War, Hallowed Ground, Civil War Monitor, Blue & Gray, and Civil War News. He has appeared on C-SPAN’s American History TV, NPR’s “With Good Reason,” and served as a consultant for National Geographic’s three-part documentary series “Civil Warriors.” He has served as a consultant for a variety of public history projects with organizations including National Park Service, Civil War Trust, and Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.
Anne Sarah Rubin is a professor of History at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Professor Rubin joined the UMBC History Department in Fall 2000. Her teaching and research focus on the American Civil War, the U.S. South, nineteenth-century America, and digital history. Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and America, which explores the way Americans have remembered Sherman’s March, was published in 2014. Her first book, A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861-1868, won the 2006 Avery O. Craven book prize for the best book in Civil War history.The book focuses on Confederate nationalism and identity. She has also worked extensively with electronic media and is co-author of a CD-ROM, The Valley of the Shadow: The Eve of War.
Jennifer Weber is an experienced history professor with a strong interest in public outreach. Superb analytical and writing skills. Expert in Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, military, and political history. Working up expertise in the history of air power and technology. Background as a journalist and political aide bring additional breadth, expertise and storytelling ability. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) focused in American History (United States) from Princeton University.
Bryan Cheesboro, is historian and ranger at the National Park Service’s Civil War Defenses of Washington unit, and his interests include African American Soldiers from the Civil War (USCT) to Reconstruction (the “Buffalo Soldiers”), and Fort Stevens in 1864. He was formerly a researcher at the National Archives.
Gary Thompson is the current President of the Alliance to Preserve the Civil War Defences of Washington. He is an avid explorer of historical sites, and portrays Major General Lew Wallace. Gary also practices law, serves as the Chair of the DC Board of Elections, has served on many non-profit Boards,and volunteers in many endeavors. He lives in a home adjacent to Fort De Russy.
Laurel McFarland has graduate degrees in economic history from Oxford University, specializing in global finance of the 1860s, and has been the CEO of a global higher education nonprofit for more than twenty years. A long-time Girl Scout leader, she has researched, planned and conducted children’s programs at Fort Stevens for the last ten years. She is also active in the preservation of local Civil War-era sites in the DMV, including Jesup-Blair House in Silver Spring. She lives in the Woodside neighborhood of Silver Spring, shelled by the Union during the Fort Stevens battle.
Susan Claffey is a long-time Civil War buff and past president of and current volunteer with both the Alliance to Preserve the Civil War Defences of Washington and the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia. Susan is the 2023 recipient of the CWRT-DC’s Edwin Cole Bearss Legacy Award. She also served a term as a board member of the Monocacy National Battlefield Foundation. Susan is a healthcare non-profit executive.
Loretta Neumann lives near Fort Stevens, and was the co-founder in 2008 of The Alliance to Preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington with Tersh Boasberg. For ten years she volunteered to help the National Park Service plan and implement the annual Fot Stevens Day observance. She worked as a writer/editor and Branch Chief for the National Park Service from 1969 until 1973, when she took a job serving on the staff of United States Representative John Seiberling (D-Ohio) and the House Interior Committee, handling national parks, public lands, and legislation, where she would serve until 1987.
Blake Lindsey has spent 9 years as a scholar of Washington, D.C.’s Civil War forts. He has spoken on the subject at FSD, history conferences, Civil War Roundtables, more. His research interests are what the Defenses of Washington can teach us about civil affairs, the ongoing legacies of military occupation, and civil-military relations. For this work, he won a research grant with Virginia Tech’s Center for Civil War Studies and has been featured in scholarly journals from Washington, D.C. to Kansas. He is currently an Interpretive Resources Specialist with Ford’s Theatre, where he has led teacher professional development programs at Fort Stevens and other sites of Civil War memory in the nation’s capital.
Marvin Tupper Jones, self-employed as a communications photographer for 45 years, employer for 25 years, paying salaries, taxes and benefits. Won awards. FSD organizer and presenter for 8 years. Founder and Executive Director of the Chowan DiscoveryGroup; and board member of the Alliance to Preserve the Defenses of Washington DC (Treasurer for six years) and the Washington, DC chapter of the African American Historical and Genealogical Association (currently Vice-President). Jones lives near Fort Stevens.
Peter Vaselopulos retired from the federal government as Deputy Chief Information Officer at the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM). While serving 35 years at USAGM he worked as a broadcast journalist, television producer, and new media and information technology specialist. Peter is currently a board member of the Alliance to Preserve the Civil War Defenses of Washington and the Arlington Historical Society. He has a master’s in Digital Humanities from George Mason University and is working on a digital history project for Arlington County called “Arlington Historical” (arlingtonhistorical.com). The project’s goal is to generate a greater awareness of Arlington’s diverse history.
