Rafuse, Ethan S. 1968–

(Ethan Sepp Rafuse)

PERSONAL:

Born 1968. Education: George Mason University, B.A., 1991, M.A., 1993; University of Missouri—Kansas City, Ph.D., 1999.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Platte City, MO. Office—Department of Military History, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS, lecturer, 1996-2001; University of Missouri-Kansas City, lecturer, 1997-2001; United States Military Academy at West Point, West Point, NY, assistant professor of history, 2001-03; Maple Woods Community College, Kansas City, MO, lecturer, 2004—; U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, associate professor, 2004—. Research historian, Conservation, Environment, and Historic Preservation, Inc., 1993-94; museum aide, Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site, 1993-94; park ranger, Manassas National Battlefield Park, 1998, Harry S Truman National Historic Site, 1999-2001.

MEMBER:

Society for Military History, Society of Civil War Historians, Phi Alpha Theta.

WRITINGS:

A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and Battle of Manassas, SR Books (Wilmington, DE), 2002.

George Gordon Meade and the War in the East, McWhiney Foundation Press (Abilene, TX), 2003.

(Editor, with Herman Hattaway) The Ongoing Civil War: New Versions of Old Stories, University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO), 2004.

(Editor) The American Civil War, Ashgate (Burlington, VT), 2005.

McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 2005.

Robert E. Lee and the Fall of the Confederacy, 1863-1865, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2008.

Contributor to Civil War Generals in Defeat, edited by Steven E. Woodworth, University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, KS), 1999; The Human Tradition in America from the Colonial Era through Reconstruction, edited by Charles W. Calhoun, Scholarly Resources (Wilmington, DE), 2002; and Warfare in the U.S.A., 1784-1861, edited by Samuel J. Watson, Ashgate (Burlington, VT), 2006. Contributor to academic journals, including the Journal of Military History, Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Ohio History, and Civil War History.

SIDELIGHTS:

Ethan S. Rafuse is a Civil War historian who has written and edited several books on the topic. His first publication, A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and Battle of Manassas, recounts the events that led up to the titular incident. Known more commonly in the North as the First Battle of Bull Run, it occurred at a sleepy Virginia railroad junction in July of 1861. Initially, leaders on both sides were confident the battle would provide a clear and decisive winner and head off a lengthy, costly, and deadly war. Rafuse explores how the inexperienced troops were commanded, how the Confederates claimed victory, and how wrong both sides were about quick prospects for peace. His research was augmented by his firsthand experience as a ranger at the Manassas National Battlefield Park. David S. Heidler, reviewing the book in the online journal H-CivWar, praised Rafuse's writing. "He accomplishes lyricism with his prose, but he always manages clarity with a brisk, muscular style that is a delight to read," Heidler wrote.

In McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union, Rafuse explores the decisions of Union General George B. McClellan, whose military blunders during his command in 1861 and 1862 have long maligned his reputation. Rafuse counters historical charges of cowardice and treason against McClellan, stating that his military policy was rooted in Whig and Enlightenment theory, instilled by his father and reinforced during his education at West Point. McClellan put his ideas into action during the Mexican War, eventually changed political parties—becoming a Democrat and campaigning for Stephen Douglas—before launching his own presidential campaign in 1864. Later in life he became the governor of New Jersey. Rafuse's attempt to rehabilitate the general's reputation is "brave," wrote Michael Thomas Smith in a review for H-CivWar. "Rafuse provides a clearly written, exhaustively researched, and massively detailed analysis of the general's career through his removal from command in late 1862," Smith concluded. Though Smith questioned the lack of analysis of McClellan's post-Whig political views, he praised the "interesting and useful" book for its "clever approach."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Civil War History, December, 2003, William M. Bergen, review of A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and Battle of Manassas, p. 408.

Civil War Times, June, 2002, Eric Ethier, review of A Single Grand Victory, p. 13.

Journal of American History, September, 2003, Earl J. Hess, review of A Single Grand Victory, pp. 651-652.

Journal of Military History, July, 2004, Joseph Pierro, review of A Single Grand Victory, pp. 962-963; October, 2004, David Fitzpatrick, review of George Gordon Meade and the War in the East, pp. 1264-1266.

Journal of Southern History, August, 2005, Richard M. Gamble, review of The Ongoing Civil War: New Versions of Old Stories, p. 707; November, 2006, Mark E. Neely, Jr., review of McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union, p. 959.

Research & Reference Book News, February, 2006, review of The American Civil War.

Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, winter, 2003, Michael E. Long, review of A Single Grand Victory, pp. 84-85; spring, 2006, William Marvel, review of McClellan's War, p. 304.

ONLINE

H-CivWar,http://www.h-net.org/ (November, 2004), David S. Heidler, review of A Single Grand Victory; (March, 2006), Michael Thomas Smith, review of McClellan's War.