Happy Spring and Happy May! On Christmas 2014, I left off with the story of Christmas 1864 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and shortly after became lost in my research into war correspondents during World War II for my senior honors thesis. I deeply enjoyed that research but was hungry to get back to telling the story I love most — complex tales from the American Civil War.

I graduated from Hood College in May 2015 with a degree in history and communications arts and immediately went off to an incredible summer in public history. I left my job as a Guest Services staff member at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and went off to Virginia.

Fredericksburg, VA from the Lacy House

The day after graduation, I began a summer internship with Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. For any prospective public historian, I suggest the experience at “FredSpot” as a great opportunity to test your skills with an amazingly supportive group of historians, rangers, and volunteers.

For five days a week, I led battlefield tours at Fredericksburg’s infamous “Stone Wall,” in Saunders Field at the Wilderness and among the trenches and earthworks at Spotsylvania’s “Bloody Angle” — all while I was surrounded by what I consider the next generation of great Civil War historians.

Despite their young age, the seasonal staff and interns I worked with are already an accomplished group of historians. We challenged each other’s knowledge and interpretive abilities, while immersed in an environment perfectly adapted for learning and camaraderie.

This FredSpot experience will stay with me forever, and it proved to me that public history is where I should focusing my energies.

The Lumineria at Fredericksburg National Cemetery

Since the end of August 2015, my life has been a wonderful blur. At about that time, I returned to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine as the organization’s Program Coordinator. When I am not running educational programs and holding events, you can find me these days darting around Frederick, Maryland leading “pub history” events at local bars.

That finally brings me back to Wynning History. I will be posting about some exciting topics and events that I will be highlighting both with NMCWM and on my own. This will be the spot to catch previews and insider information. Here’s a taste of what’s coming up:

• First Saturday Walking Tour: “The First Year: 1861 in Downtown Frederick” – May 7, 2016
• “Remembering Wiconisco’s Civil War Soldiers – Cemetery Tour” – May 29, 2016 
• First Saturday Walking Tour: “Frederick’s Mercy Street” – June 4, 2016
• Cigar and Whiskey Night(!) – June 24, 2016
• And more to come! 

– Jake Wynn