In Memoriam: Chris Calkins
Christopher M. Calkins
Civil War historian Christopher M. “Chris” Calkins, a battlefield preservation leader in Virginia stretching back to the earliest days of the movement, died on April 1, following a years-long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
His passing comes on the eve of the release of his latest book, Final Bloodshed: Hospitals and Caring for the Wounded in the Appomattox Campaign, co-authored with Patrick A. Schroeder and published by the Appomattox-Petersburg Preservation Society.
Calkins had a 34-year career with the National Park Service, working at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park and Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, before concluding his NPS career as historian and Chief of Interpretation at Petersburg National Battlefield. In 2008 he accepted the position of first full-time Park Manager at the newly established Sailor’s Creek Battlefield Historical State Park – a park he “developed from scratch,” as he liked to put it.
But some of his greatest contributions came from his behind-the-scenes work on behalf of Civil War battlefield preservation and interpretation. The Trust recognized Calkins’s extraordinary contributions in 2021 by awarding him the Edwin C. Bearss Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Whenever we needed confirmation of the historical integrity of any tract of battlefield land associated with either the Petersburg or Appomattox campaigns, Chris was always the first person we would call,” said Trust President David Duncan. “I’ll never forget touring battlefields such as Reams Station, White Oak Road, Saylor’s Creek or Hatcher’s Run with Chris. He made those places come alive as few people ever could, and he was always extraordinarily dedicated to seeing that these places he loved were preserved. He was personally generous with his time, his deep knowledge, and his treasure, donating significant amounts to our mission over the years. We will miss him desperately.”
For eight years, Calkins served on the board of directors of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, Inc., which was founded in 1987 and has since evolved into the modern the American Battlefield Trust. In 1989, Calkins engineered the purchase of three small parcels totaling 8.4 acres at the site of a Confederate battery on the White Oak Road battlefield, among the first acquisitions of the fledgling organization.
Calkins helped broker preservation deals at seven battlefield sites around Petersburg and Appomattox, including Five Forks, White Oak Road, Hatcher’s Run and Reams Station. But perhaps his most notable accomplishment was starting the effort that led to the initial preservation in 1991 of the Petersburg Breakthrough battlefield by Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr., and the creation of Pamplin Historical Park. That project came full circle just last month, with the Trust completing its purchase of the 417-acre Pamplin Campus, uniting ownership of the battlefield and establishing the Breakthrough Battlefield Foundation to continue operation of the park and museum.
“The Pamplin property was brought to us through another wonderful, fine, outstanding historian, a great friend, Chris Calkins, who, of course, is Mr. Petersburg, Mr. Appomattox, and everything in between Petersburg and Appomattox,” former APCWS President Dennis Frye recalled in a 2012 oral history interview with the Trust. “Chris identified the Pamplin family, and identified the property there and brought that to the board. And so, it just kind of dropped in our laps. But it didn't, really, because Chris researched it, figured it out and helped make it happen.”
In 1994, Chris was among a small group of historians who created what became Civil War Trails. It started as Lee’s Retreat, a modest history trail that followed the route of Lee’s retreat to Appomattox from Richmond and Petersburg to Appomattox Court House. The original 12 locations grew to 26 sites that included wayside exhibits with maps and solar-powered AM radio transmissions of historical information. Today, Civil War Trails and its distinctive “red bugle” signs are part of more than 1,500 sites across six states.
Calkins authored twelve publications, numerous articles, and spoken nationally to many Civil War and preservation groups. He was interviewed on the History Channel, A & E, Discovery Channel, HGTV and ITV in the UK.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, he became hooked on the Civil War as a boy. “In May of 1963 my parents took us to Washington, D.C., and on our way back we saw a sign for Gettysburg. So, we ended up at Gettysburg. . . I bought my first bullet there and I still have it on my desk,” Calkins said in a 2012 oral history interview with the Trust.
After graduating from high school in 1969, Calkins and some friends went on a “Cannonball Circuit,” visiting East Coast Civil War battlefields. That led to a part-time job as a living history participant at Appomattox Court House and then a full-time job in 1971.
“And the day after Christmas in 1971 I packed up my Beetle – I had a VW Beetle then – and everything I owned, and came down to Virginia and haven’t left since,” he said in 2012. He subsequently earned a degree from Longwood College (now University) in Farmville and published his first book, Thirty Six Hours Before Appomattox, in 1980.
Calkins said in 2012 that many of his preservation accomplishments were due in no small measure to his wife, Sarah, who passed away in 2016, after a 40-year marriage.
In developing personal relationships with landowners – a crucial element in battlefield preservation – “it doesn’t hurt to be married to the local gal from Appomattox that everybody knows,” he said. “We met at the Dairy Queen in Appomattox. I was 20. And she is Miss Personality. But she grew up in a totally different environment – a 200-acre hog and tobacco farm. And, of course, I came out of Detroit and the city. But she’s my secret weapon.”
And Calkins, in turn, was an ace up the sleeve of the preservation movement.
“I can safely say that without Chris’s excellent relationships with local landowners, coupled with his thorough, dedicated research, that many important sites, like Appomattox Station, would not be preserved today,” noted Tom Gilmore, chief land preservation officer at the Trust.
