James I. Robertson Jr. Papers

James I. "Bud" Robertson Jr., Civil War historian, author and Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at Virginia Tech, was born in Danville, Virginia, in 1930. After graduating from Randolph-Macon College (B.A., 1955), Robertson obtained his M.A. (1956) and Ph.D. (1959) at Emory University and served as a teaching fellow (instructor in history) at Emory from 1958 to 1959. From 1959 to 1961, Robertson served as editor of Civil War History, a quarterly journal published by the University of Iowa. In 1961, he was appointed executive director of the National Civil War Centennial Commission by President John F. Kennedy and served until 1965, supervising the national observance of the Civil War centenary. Robertson served as professor of history at the University of Montana from 1965 until 1967, when he joined the faculty of Virginia Tech. He served as History Department head from 1969 to 1977, and was C. P. Miles Professor of History from 1977 to 1992. He became Alumni Distinguished Professor of History in 1992.

Robertson has authored many award-winning scholarly books on Civil War-related topics, including Soldiers Blue and Gray (1988) (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in History), Civil War Virginia: Battleground for a Nation (1991), General A. P. Hill: The Story of a Confederate Warrior; and Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend (1997). He has also written two books for younger readers: Civil War! America Becomes One Nation (1992) and Standing Like a Stone Wall: the Life of General Thomas J. Jackson (2001). Robertson has been a contributing author and editor for several other works; his articles, too numerous to list here, have appeared in many encyclopedias, Civil War magazines and historical society journals.