Lee-Jackson Day Speakers list

 Dennis E. Frye recently retired after 20 years as the Chief Historian at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. For his more than 3 decades of service with the National Park Service, Dennis earned the “Distinguished Service Award” - the highest honor of the Department of Interior. Dennis also received the American Battlefield Trust’s highest honor, the “Shelby Foote Award,” and was recognized with the “Nevins-Freeman Award” for his years of scholarship and his national leadership role in battlefield preservation. Dennis is a prominent Civil War historian as a writer, lecturer, preservationist and battlefield guide. Dennis has numerous appearances on PBS, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, C-SPAN, A&E, and Voice of America as a guest historian. He helped produce Emmy award-winning television features on the Battle of Antietam, abolitionist John Brown, and Maryland during the Civil War. Dennis is respected as a national Civil War battlefield preservationist. He is co-founder and first president of the Save Historic Antietam Foundation, and he is co-founder and a former president of today’s American Battlefield Trust. Dennis is a tour guide in demand, leading tours for the Smithsonian, National Geographic, The New York Times, and Civil War Round Tables and staff rides for US Army and Marine Corps leadership. Dennis also is a well-known author, with 139 articles and 11 books. His latest is Confluence: Harpers Ferry as Destiny. Most recently, Antietam Shadows: Mystery, Myth & Machination has received national acclaim. His book Harpers Ferry Under Fire received the national book of the year award from the Association of Partners for Public Lands; and September Suspense:  Lincoln’s Union in Peril, was awarded the 2012 Laney Book Prize for distinguished scholarship and writing on the military and political history of the war.  Dennis has written for every major Civil War magazine and periodical.   (Our special thanks to Frank 'Skip' Shaffer for sponsoring this speaker)

Amanda Low Warren is  the daughter of an army officer who so admired Robert E. Lee that he had  his name engraved upon all four volumes of Freeman’s biography.  She  grew up on army posts including Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she rode  horses stabled at the same site as the mounts of J.E.B. Stuart and other dragoons of the antebellum U.S. Army.  After college and  post-graduate paralegal training she was employed as a legal assistant  and researcher, and most recently worked as a piano teacher and Director of Music for an Anglican church in Georgia.  Amanda and her daughter  have performed Civil War music at historical sites and events, most notably at the home of their ancestor who hosted General Sherman during  his 1864 “visit” to Savannah, Georgia.  She wrote Southern Cross:  "A New View of Leonidas Polk and His Clashes With Braxton Bragg"  to challenge historians’ inaccurate and unfair portrayal of General Polk.

Bill Potter is a reoccurring favorite speaker for Lee-Jackson Day.   An experienced historian and avid bibliophile, Bill Potter combines a  lifelong study of American history with an uncommon ability to captivate  audiences of all ages as he traces the providential acts of God  throughout the ages. Mr. Potter has taught history in high schools and  colleges, has led many tours of American and European historical sites  and brings to each event a wealth of experience and knowledge. An  experienced researcher and writer, Mr. Potter possesses a practical  knowledge of antiquarian books, documents, and artifacts and has published several short books and has penned many articles and book  reviews for publication. Bill has earned a well-deserved reputation as a  man gifted in communicating the story of God’s providential hand in  American history.