News Release

Meet Author Frank Varney

Date: June 2, 2023
Contact: Marie Marquar, 706-866-9287

Fort Oglethorpe, GA: In partnership with the National Park Service, America’s National Parks would like to invite you to meet author Dr. Frank Varney on Friday, June 9, 2023.  At 10:00 am, Varney will provide a program, hosted by the National Park Service. He will be available inside the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center bookstore to sign his newest release, General Grant and the Verdict of History: Memoir, Memory, and the Civil War, after the program’s conclusion. 

General Ulysses S. Grant is best remembered today as a war-winning general, and he certainly deserves credit for his efforts on behalf of the Union, but has he received too much credit at the expense of other men? Have others who fought the war with him suffered unfairly at his hands? General Grant and the Verdict of History: Memoir, Memory, and the Civil War explores these issues.

Professor Frank P. Varney examines Grant’s relationship with three noted Civil War generals: the brash and uncompromising “Fighting Joe” Hooker, George H. Thomas, the stellar commander who earned the sobriquet “Rock of Chickamauga,” and Gouverneur K. Warren, who served honorably and well in every major action of the Army of the Potomac before being relieved less than two weeks before Appomattox, and only after he had played a prominent part in the major Union victory at Five Forks.

In his earlier book, General Grant and the Rewriting of History, Dr. Varney studied the tempestuous relationship between Grant and Union General William S. Rosecrans. According to Varney, Grant used his official reports, interviews with the press, and his memoirs to influence how future generations would remember the war and his part in it. 

It is beyond time to return to the original sources—the letters, journals, reports, and memoirs of other witnesses and the transcripts of courts-martial— to examine Grant’s story from a fresh perspective. The results are enlightening and more than a little disturbing.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from Savas Beatie Publishing LLC)  
Frank Varney earned his undergraduate degree at William Paterson University and his MA and Ph.D. at Cornell University. He is a recently retired Distinguished Professor of US and Classical History and has been the recipient of multiple teaching awards. He is available to take student groups to historic sites, especially Civil War battlefields, and makes frequent speaking appearances before Civil War roundtables, historical societies, and other interested groups. Dr. Varney has also been the keynote speaker at several veterans’ memorial dedications and has made numerous radio and TV appearances. He resides in upstate New York with his wife, Nancy.

We hope you can Join us on Friday, June 9, 2023, to meet Author Frank Varney and get your signed copy of General Grant and the Verdict of History: Memoir, Memory, and the Civil War.  Your purchase supports the programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.  Thank You for Supporting our National Parks!

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