[VAcourier] PRESS KIT FOR THE STEPHEN DILL LEE INSTITUTE

[Virginia Division SCV Communication List]

PRESS KIT FOR THE STEPHEN DILL LEE INSTITUTE

FEBRUARY 6-7, 2009

FRANCIS MARION HOTEL

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

 

DAVIS v. LINCOLN

 

 

     

    The International Sons of Confederate Veterans headquartered in
Columbia, Tennessee, is pleased to bring to historic Charleston, South
Carolina, the Winter Meeting of the Stephen Dill Lee Institute. The program
represents the principal educational outreach program of the SCV and at this
meeting is hosted by the local Ft. Sumter Camp Number 1269, SCV.  The
Institute is named after famed Confederate General and Charleston native
Stephen Dill Lee who spent much of his life promoting the honoring of
Confederate soldiers and educating the public as to the true history of the
South. The SCV recognizes the need today to defend the good name and
motivations of the Confederate soldier and the Confederate role in the war
in the face of never ending revisionist historical attacks and modern day
political correctness. 

     The goal of the Institute is to organize and present to the public
accomplished and professional scholars at events such as the Charleston
meeting. To that end, it was felt that in the bicentennial anniversaries of
Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln and with the upcoming Sesquicentennial
rapidly approaching, a theme such as Davis v. Lincoln would be both
educational and highly entertaining. 

 

     The Institute will have its initial lecture on Friday February 6 at 8pm
at the Francis Marion Hotel. We are pleased to present a giant in the person
of Edwin Cole Bearss, the former Chief Historian of the National Park
Service and today Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service. Ed Bearss
is recognized as a legend in interpreting the War Between the States and as
a national leader in battlefield preservation. He has received nearly every
national honor imaginable for his incredible talents and contributions.
Perhaps the most famous battlefield tour guide of all time, he is in great
demand, working over 300 days a year. He has written numerous books and
articles and was prominently featured in THE CIVIL WAR PBS series on
television. He is also featured on CIVIL WAR JOURNAL, a popular television
series. He has a devoted following which will grow after this event. 

The topic for Ed Bearss is "The Assassination of Jefferson Davis - The
Dahlgren Raid. Ed Bearss is also a member of the Sons of Confederate
Veterans. His lecture is the only lecture Friday night.

 

     The Institute resumes Saturday morning at 8:30am with Host and
Moderator Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo delivering initial introductory remarks. Dr.
Dilorenzo has gained a huge niche in the history community with the popular
and widely printed volume titled The Real Lincoln. This book has ignited a
national debate on Lincoln and his legacy. It has gone through many
printings and continues to counter mainstream Lincoln ideas. Dr. Dilorenzo
is an economics professor at Loyola College of Maryland and is the author of
numerous articles both on Lincoln and on economics. His role as host and
moderator will be to summarize and analyze the individual lectures during
the day.

 

     Leading off the Institute program on Saturday morning will be Dr.
Donald W. Livingston. A longtime faculty member of the Institute, Dr.
Livingston is a Professor of American Philosophy at Emory University and a
former National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow. Professor Livingston is
a renowned constitutional scholar on issues such as the compact nature of
the Union, federalism, states' rights, Nullification and secession. He
helped found the Abbeville Institute and is now President of that
institution. The title of his lecture is Davis, Lincoln and Liberty.

 

     Following Dr. Livingston will be South Carolina native and well known
War Between the States author and lecturer, Walter Brian Cisco. His
intensive research has led to numerous articles and books on such South
Carolina Confederate luminaries as Wade Hampton, Henry Timrod and States
Rights Gist. His latest book is titled War Crimes against Southern Civilians
and vividly documents the numerous atrocities committed by Union troops
throughout the South including rapes, beatings, lootings, and the wholesale
burning of homes, businesses and towns. He also includes a detailed account
of the inhumane treatment of blacks by Union troops. His topic for the
Institute will be Davis, Lincoln and the Rules of War. 

 

     The Institute will break for lunch after Mr. Cisco's lecture and will
reconvene with a presentation by Dr. Marshall DeRosa. Dr DeRosa is a Fellow
with the Heritage Foundation and a political science professor at Florida
Atlantic University.  A longtime Institute scholar, he is the author of
numerous articles and books including Redeeming American Democracy - Lessons
from the Confederate Constitution. As a constitutional expert, Dr. DeRosa is
well known for his analysis of the age old American dilemma, centralization
versus de-centralization. His Stephen Dill Lee lecture topic is aptly titled
The Confederate Experiment in Constitutional Government.

 

     Next on the speakers list is Dr. Samuel Smith, Associate Professor of
Education at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. His expertise
centers on education and religion and is a well know history of religion
scholar, authoring numerous articles on the two topics. His lecture on
Saturday afternoon is titled Davis, Lincoln and the Christian Faith.

 

     Following Dr. Smith is the well known Distinguished Professor of
History at the University of South Carolina and Editor of the Papers of John
C. Calhoun, Dr. Clyde N. Wilson. Dr. Wilson also serves as the Dean of the
Stephen Dill Lee Institute. He is active in the Abbeville Institute, League
of the South and the Ludwig Von Mises Institute. He has often been
identified as the intellectual heir of Richard Weaver and the Southern
Agrarians. He is an important figure in modern day Southern and American
history and is the author of numerous books and articles including Carolina
Cavalier, Defending Dixie and From Union to Empire. His Stephen Dill Lee
topic is A Sacrifice for his People: Jefferson Davis' Persecution and
Imprisonment.

 

     A two hour question and answer session is then planned which will
include all of our scholars and will give the audience a chance to pick the
brains of the finest collection of Southern academics in America. 

 

     The Institute concludes its program with a banquet featuring nationally
recognized historian and legal scholar, Kent Masterson Brown. Mr. Brown has
for over 30 years practiced law in Lexington, Kentucky, and Washington D.C,
specializing in health care and constitutional issues. A graduate of
Washington-Lee University, he has received numerous awards for his
historical scholarship. Many of his books and articles concern his native
Kentucky during the War Between the States. He is active in preservation
causes and his latest book, Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics and the
Pennsylvania Campaign has been a best seller and received rave reviews.
Active in battle field preservation, he is the founder of the Perryville
Battlefield Preservation Association and has served on numerous civil war
related boards and institutions. His topic which concludes the Institute
seminar is titled Jefferson Davis Constitutionalist. 

 

     The Stephen Dill Lee Institute welcomes the public. Information about
the Institute can be obtained by visiting the Institute
website-www.StephenDLeeInstitute.com or by calling Event Coordinator Brag
Bowling at 804-389-3620. 

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