IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THOSE WHO REGISTERED FOR THE CONFERENCE
While MCWI’s director emailed all those registered on Tuesday, March 28, with details about check-in, directions, etc. it has come to our attention that this email, at least for some, might have ended up in your spam folder. Here is a direct link to all of the information that was sent on the 28th. Conference Information for those Registered
McCormick Civil War Institute Spring 2023 Conference
“So Tired & Exhausted”: In Battle’s Aftermath
Saturday, April 15, 2023
On the campus of Shenandoah University, Winchester, Virginia

“The War in Virginia–Officers & Men of Meade’s Army Discovering Unburied Union Dead on the Old Battlefield of Bull Run” (Library of Congress)
The McCormick Civil War Institute’s 2023 spring conference will explore the many ways Civil War battles impacted soldiers and civilians both in the immediate aftermath of battle and for decades after the conflict.
Registration fee of $30 covers cost of all presentations and lunch in Allen Dining Hall.
A limited number of scholarships are available for educators and students. For more information on obtaining a scholarship please email jnoyalas01@su.edu
Check out the conference trailer by clicking here.
Schedule
- 8:30-9:30 a.m.: Check-in, Halpin-Harrison Hall, Stimpson Auditorium, Shenandoah University (1460 University Drive, Winchester, Virginia). If you are unfamiliar with the campus please follow this link to the campus map
- 9:30-9:40 a.m.: Welcome
- 9:40-10:40 a.m.: “Crushed Under the Weight of this Staggering Blow”: Exploring Battle’s Impact on Families (Jonathan A. Noyalas, Shenandoah University)
- 10:40-10:55 a.m.: Break
- 10:55-11:55 a.m.: “When this You See Remember Me”: Portrait Photography and a New Experience of War (Melissa A. Winn, American Battlefield Trust)
- 11:55 a.m.-1:15 p.m.: Lunch in Allen Dining Hall
- 1:15-2:15 p.m.: “A Macabre Toil”: Union Soldiers Confront the Dead at Antietam (Brian Matthew Jordan, Sam Houston State University)
- 2:15-2:30 p.m.: Break
- 2:30-3:30 p.m.: “Opium Slavery” in the Civil War Era Shenandoah Valley (Jonathan S. Jones, Virginia Military Institute)
- 3:30-4 p.m.: Book Signing
REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Please download the Registration Form and return to the address listed at the bottom of the sheet. Due to a transition in Shenandoah University’s online registration system an online registration option is not available at this time. Email confirmations will be sent to all registrants.
For questions about the conference, contact Jonathan Noyalas at jnoyalas01@su.edu or 540-665-4501.
About the Speakers
Jonathan S. Jones is an assistant professor in the department of history at Virginia Military Institute, where he teaches courses on the Civil War era and American medical history. His first book manuscript, “Opium Slavery: The Civil War, Veterans, and America’s First Opioid Crisis” is forthcoming with University of North Carolina Press. The book is based on Jones’s dissertation, which received the SCWH’s 2021 Anne J. Bailey Dissertation Prize as well as SUNY’s system-wide Inaugural Chancellor Distinguished PhD Graduate Dissertation Award in 2021. Jones’s research has appeared in The Journal of the Civil War Era, Washington Post, Vice, C-SPAN, NPR, and other outlets. Jones received his PhD from Binghamton University in 2020. In 2020-21, he was the inaugural Civil War Era Postdoctoral Scholar at Penn State’s George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center.
Brian Matthew Jordan is associate professor of Civil War History and chair of the department of history at Sam Houston State University. He is the author or editor of six books on the Civil War era, including Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War, which was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in History. His more than one-hundred reviews, articles, and essays have appeared in scholarly journals, edited volumes, and popular magazines.
Jonathan A. Noyalas is director of Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute, the founding editor of Journal of the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era, and a professor in the history department at Shenandoah University. He is the author or editor of fifteen books including most recently Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era published by University Press of Florida in the spring of 2021. Noyalas has authored more than 100 articles, essays, book chapters, and reviews for a variety of scholarly and popular publications. In addition to teaching and writing Noyalas has consulted on various public history projects with organizations such as the National Park Service, American Battlefield Trust, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District, and National Geographic. Noyalas has appeared on NPR’s “With Good Reason,” C-SPAN’s American History TV, and PCN. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his teaching and scholarship including the highest honor that can ever be bestowed upon anyone teaching at a college/university in Virginia–the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award.
Melissa A. Winn is the Marketing Manager at the American Battlefield Trust, the nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Civil War. Previously, she was director of photography for HistoryNet, publisher of nine history-related magazines, including America’s Civil War, American History, and Civil War Times, for which she served as the primary photo researcher, photographer, and a regular writer. Winn received a BA in English from the University of Wisconsin and has written for and published articles in multiple trade and commercial publications for more than 20 years. She was a 2015 finalist for the Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Portfolio. She’s a member of the Professional Photographers Association, Authors Guild, and the Center for Civil War Photography. Winn collects Civil War photographs and ephemera, with an emphasis on Dead Letter Office images and Union General John A. Rawlins, chief of staff to General Ulysses S. Grant. Originally from Milwaukee, Wis., Winn moved to Virginia in 2000 with her husband. She is an avid runner and triathlete, and the mother of three remarkably interesting and curious human beings.