Walking the Ground

About this book

"Edwin Cole Bearss, born in 1923, is an American World War II wounded warrior of the Greatest Generation. As a U.S. Marine, he was shot four times by the Japanese in the South Pacific, but despite his wounds rose to become a giant among American historians as Chief Historian of the National Park Service and the leading published Civil War Historian as shown in the Ken Burns Civil War series. Today, at 96, he is an eminent history tour guide. In this first book of his memoir, he traces his ancestors, including a relative who was involved in the underground railroad to save Americans from slavery. We see him grow up on a Montana ranch, survive with his family through the Great Depression, and ride a horse to a one-room schoolhouse in below-zero temperatures. When he was ten years old, he would go to Chicago to see Babe Ruth hit a home run in the first All Star Game in 1933. Early in life, his beloved maternal grandmother Sara played Sacajawea with her two Bearss grandchildren as Lewis and Clark. His father, a Montana rancher and U.S. Marine, read Civil War history to him and his brother. These experiences at an early age seeded Ed's love of history, particularly military history, an…