Original documents describe a drunken confrontation between Union soldiers and civilians.
While perusing the Internet, Shoaf happened upon a listing for original testimonials given by people who had witnessed their friend shot dead by a New Hampshire soldier. Through research in other sources, Shoaf was able to reconstruct the incident and also embarked on a quest to find the victim’s forgotten grave.
This event will also be live streamed on our Facebook page.
Dana Shoaf is the Director of Interpretation at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Prior to joining the museum in November 2023, he served for 15 years as the editor of Civil War Times magazine. He has spent his life pursuing his historical passions. After graduate school, he began his career working for Time-Life, Inc., as a writer and researcher on the Voices of the Civil War Series and has published articles and essays on Civil War topics. His most recent essay, “Let the Son of a Bitch Die”: An Abandoned Graveyard Reveals a Sad Story of Murder, was published in Final Resting Places: Reflections on the Meaning of Civil War Graves by the University of Georgia Press. A frequent speaker at conferences and seminars, Shoaf has been interviewed on National Public Radio and appeared on C-Span. He also gives battlefield tours and has led tours for Gettysburg College’s Civil War Institute. He and his wife are currently restoring a stone house built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, where they reside with three indulged cats and a doted-upon dog. Dana received his B.A and M.A. in history from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and undertook Ph.D. work at Kent State University.