681 A Most Uncivil Civil War
Class | Registration opens 2/9/2026 11:00 AM
Although the numbers vary slightly, the American Civil War cost the nation 624,000 lives, ended one deeply entrenched system of labor while solidifying another, and revolutionized the Constitution to make it an engine of social, political, and economic change.
This course will examine the underlying issues behind the coming of the war. Was the war unavoidable? When did compromise become impossible? How did the two sides match up when it came to leadership at the strategic, operational, and tactical level? What challenges did geography present for the two sides? The Confederacy fought a defensive war, the Union an offensive war.
As for teaching methodology, while there will be some lecture, mostly we will use discussion as the way forward supplemented by map work.
Students are also expected to have access to a computer and email.
Required texts:
Gallagher, Garry W. A Confederate War
Gallagher, Garry W. The Union War
The West Point Atlas of the American Wars
NOTE: Used copies are welcome.
Joseph Fischer
JOSEPH R. FISCHER graduated from Shikellamy Class of 1971. He served 28 years in the U.S. Army, first as an Infantry officer before volunteering and being accepted into Special Forces. He retired in 2005 after completing a tour of duty in Iraq. His academic credentials include a doctorate in history from Pennsylvania State University (1993). His teaching experience includes seven years of teaching in the public schools (Shikellamy and Lewisburg), three years as an assistant professor of history at the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., and eleven years as a teacher of military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He retired at the academic rank of full professor in 2015 and returned home to the Susquehanna Valley.