The Olustee Battle Festival

Title Sponsor of 2009 Event is FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK OF FLORIDA in association with Suwannee Valley Community Foundation.
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2009 Olustee Battle Festival Guest Authors

BOB O'CONNOR

It has been my long time dream to write a book. Now I have finished three and am in the process of writing three more! At age 63, I guess I just blossomed late.
Here is a little background on me.
I live in Charles Town, West Virginia, close to most of the sites of these books. I write about the Civil War, so my area of influence is probably somewhere between Gettysburg, PA and Lexington, VA.
I have been involved in public speaking for years and years. Since 2006, my speaking engagements have spanned 11 states and the District of Columbia. I speak at libraries, schools, civic organizations, Civil War Round Tables, book clubs, and to most anyone who will listen. I speak for free but do require expenses when I have to travel far or stay overnight.
My interest in history goes back to a trip in 1958 to Galesburg, IL where I attended the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Carl Sandburg was the featured speaker.
I have worked full time and part time as a newspaper reporter, and at various jobs -- many that required writing press releases, news articles, or reports.
While director of Tourism in Washington County, Maryland, I became involved in touring local places like Antietam Battlefield and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. I was hooked. My staff thought I was an expert, but really I knew just enough to get by. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn.
Along the way I was privileged to work with Superintendent Rich Rambur, and he allowed me to start two marvelous events at the Antietam Battlefield that are still going strong. They are the Independence Concert at Antietam Battlefield in July and the Memorial Illumination at Antietam Battlefield in December. Fortunately for me and the community, Rich was an "out of the box thinker" and didn't get the government manual out and just say "those things aren't allowed in National Parks".
I have always collected books on three historical characters - Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth and John Brown. Imagine my surprise when I ended up living in Charles Town, West Virginia - a place John Brown and John Wilkes Booth had both visited in late 1859. Thus, the inspiration for the first novel "The Perfect Steel Trap Harpers Ferry 1859". The book has been named a Finalist in the 2006 Best Book Awards by USA Book News.
The inspiration for my second novel "The Virginian Who Might Have Saved Lincoln" was the intrigue of finding a local man, Ward Hill Lamon, who was a close friend of Abraham Lincoln. Most people I talked to had never heard about him. Even though he is mentioned in most non-fiction books about Lincoln (there are 44,781 listed on Amazon.com), no book has ever been written about him. I think it is my charge to bring his name to light. That book is also available as an unabridged audio book - with 5 CDs and a running time of 6:01. The audio book has been given two national awards - it was named runner-up in the National Indie Excellence Awards and was named a finalist in the 2008 Best Book Awards by USA Book News.
My third book, "Catesby: Eyewitness to the Civil War" is my best book. (I should be getting better, shouldn't I?) Catesby has been called "the Forest Gump of the Civil War". Catesby, a real blacksmith and slave to Lewis Washington, great grand nephew of George Washington, is a real man who I put in real situations so he can tell you what happened there. One of those places is on the wagons driving Alexander Gardner, photographer at Antietam battlefield. Another of those real places is Andersonville Prison.
I graduated from Dixon High School in Dixon, Illinois and have a Biology degree (go figure) from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.
I live close to my son, Craig, and my daughter, Kelli, and my six grand children.
Besides writing, I work part time for both the Jefferson County CVB and for the City of Charles Town. I also do volunteer work for Harper's Ferry National Historical Park and write for several local and regional publications.
My next book is called "A House Divided Against Itself" and is about William and Wesley Culp. Both were from Gettysburg, PA. William joined the Union army, while his brother Wesley joined the Confederate Army. They encountered each other on the battlefield at Second Winchester. Look for the book to be published in Spring of 2009. I am also writing the Centennial History of the Town of Ranson WV for their 2010 celebration.

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                                                     PROFESSOR TRACY REVELS

Tracy J. Revels received her PHD from Florida State University in 1990 and has been teaching at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC since 1991.  She is currently an associate professor and the Chair of the History Department.  Her books include WATERY EDEN: A HISTORY OF WAKULLA SPRINGS and GRANDER IN HER DAUGHTERS: FLORIDA'S WOMEN DURING THE CIVIL WAR, which received the 2005 Rembert Patrick prize for the best academic book in Florida history.  A native of Madison, Florida, Dr. Revels' teaching and research interests include 19th century Southern and Women's history, Florida history, and Victorian social history.  She also teaches a college course on Sherlock Holmes and has recently published a collection of humorous stories called SHERLOCK HOLMES: MOSTLY PARODIES.

Dr. Revels will give a lecture entitled "Grander in Her Daughters: Florida Women During the Civil War" at Lake City Community College - Lake City Medical Center Auditorium.  Lecture will be Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 11:30 AM.  Lecture is free and open to the public.  Dr. Revels will also be speaking at the Lake City Kiwanis Club luncheon at noon on February 10th and to the Downtown Rotary Club breakfast on Feb 11th.

                                   ANNUAL OLUSTEE GUEST AND PERFORMER

Mary Fears, a retired Volusia County school media specialist, graduated from Bethune-Cookman College and Florida State University. After having earned a B.S Degree and Masters in Library and Information Science, she has become a professional storyteller, genealogist, and author of four books: The Jackson-Moore Family History and Genealogy. Slave Ancestral Research, It's Something Else.* Julie's Journey*. (an inspirational memoir about her daughter, Julie Anderson) and Civil War and Living History Reenacting About "People of Color" How to Begin - What to Wear - Why Reenact.* The author's fourth writing project involved research into the services rendered by "people of color" in the Civil War. As for all the educational storytelling programs she presents, knowledge gained from the research for the Reenactment book has become a part of her storytelling programs. Mrs. Fears specializes in telling stories based upon historic documents rather than fictionalized versions of African-American history. Mrs. Fears has presented genealogy lectures at local, state and national genealogy conferences. For over 30 years. she has presented storytelling performances in numerous colleges, universities, schools, museums, and historic sites supported by civic, social and religious organizations. She is committed to telling African-American history stories for the education of all listeners, adults and students.