11 Facts About Ed Bearss

Edwin Cole Bearss was a historian of the American Civil War, tour guide, and United States Marine Corps veteran of World War II.

On 26 June 1923, Edwin Cole Ed Bearss was born in Billings, Montana.

Ed Bearss was raised working on his grandfather's ranch near Hardin, Montana, and attended a one-room school in Sarpy, Montana.

Ed Bearss was accepted to St John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin in 1937, and graduated from Hardin High School in 1941.

Ed Bearss earned his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1949, and his Master of Arts in 1955 from Indiana University Bloomington.

In 1943, Ed Bearss caught malaria in the South Pacific, and was sent to New Zealand to recover.

On 2 January 1944 with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines at the Battle of Cape Gloucester, Ed Bearss was hit by Imperial Japanese Army machine-gun fire that broke both of his arms and injured his heel and buttocks; after spending the next 26 months in hospital, he left the Marines in March 1946 with the rank of corporal.

Ed Bearss began his career with the National Park Service at Vicksburg National Military Park in 1955.

Ed Bearss prepared historical studies for the Interior Department agency and founded the Mississippi Civil War Roundtable.

Ed Bearss was a commentator featured in the Ken Burns series, The Civil War.

Ed Bearss retired from the NPS on 30 September 1995, though he continued to lead tours of ACW battlefields for the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Civil War Roundtables.