Sarah Kay Bierle

159 Gettysburg

This year I had the opportunity to work during the 159th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. It was meaningful to be on the “film crew” with American Battlefield Trust and walking the fields, sharing history along the way.

Unpublished – A Blog Series

This month I had the pleasure of coordinating a blog post series for Emerging Civil War. We featured a variety of primary sources that – to the best of our knowledge – had not been published before. It was a wonderful way to highlight lesser-known stories and writings from the 1860s. Check out the fullContinue reading “Unpublished – A Blog Series”

Battlefields & Effects

Central Virginia has been getting snow this month. Between 7 or 8 inches at the beginning of January, and this Sunday (January 16), it’s snowing again. Personally, I don’t mind the snow, but I’m not a fan of power outages. The recent snows have caused damages to the trees across the area, particularly around theContinue reading “Battlefields & Effects”

Recent Readings – January 2021

Over the Christmas and New Years holidays, I had some extra time and dived into a selection of books. Here are a few of the history volumes!

Snow Fall & Candlelight

Happy New Year. 2022 has arrived, and there are stacks of research for writing projects on my desk. One of those new year resolutions (posting here once a week) took a quick turn for the worse when I decided to skip Sunday and post on Monday…and on Monday about 8 inches of snow fell whereContinue reading “Snow Fall & Candlelight”

New Market Battle Anniversary Events, 2021

Saturday, May 15, 2021 will be the 157th anniversary of the Battle of New Market. There are some in-person events happening around the battlefield and community of New Market, and I’m looking forward to leading some tours and doing a book signing for Call Out The Cadets. Details below… (If you’re looking for more resourcesContinue reading “New Market Battle Anniversary Events, 2021”

Battle Anniversary: The Wilderness, 2021

For some reason I always feel like I’m being watched in The Wilderness. I visit a lot of battlefields for work and research, and almost always have a good and safe trip without feeling uncomfortable. But for some reason, The Wilderness battlefield bothers me. I don’t worry about ghosts or stuff like that. I thinkContinue reading “Battle Anniversary: The Wilderness, 2021”

Battle Anniversary: Chancellorsville 2021

For years, battle anniversaries were something I remembered and spent my days in Southern California calculating the time difference in Virginia so I could pace through the day in my mind or keep up with the rare livestreams in the “years before Covid” world. Living in Virginia has inspired me to take the opportunities ofContinue reading “Battle Anniversary: Chancellorsville 2021”

“Rode The Six Hundred”

The Charge of the Light Brigade, written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in 1854 was based on the real-life events during the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. The poem memorialized a brigade of cavalry sent on a disastrous and useless charge. This piece of writing has fascinated me since the first time I heardContinue reading ““Rode The Six Hundred””

CW160 Diary: April 19 Musings

April 19. In the history known, remembered, and studied by people during the Civil War, the significance of this date traced back to the midnight riders and assembled militia at Lexington and Concord (Massachusetts) who opposed the British troops. “The shot heard ’round the world” still reverberated deeply in American memory in the mid-19th Century.Continue reading “CW160 Diary: April 19 Musings”