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"Keep Digging": Exploring Civil War Earthworks in Virginia as a Visual and Auditory Experience

Start
Tue, February 03, 2026
End
Tue, March 10, 2026
Schedule
5 sessions
#1.
Tue, February 03, 2026, 1:00 PM 3:00 PM (EST)
#2.
Tue, February 10, 2026, 1:00 PM 3:00 PM (EST)
#3.
Tue, February 17, 2026, 1:00 PM 3:00 PM (EST)
#4.
Tue, March 03, 2026, 1:00 PM 3:00 PM (EST)
#5.
Tue, March 10, 2026, 1:00 PM 3:00 PM (EDT)
Location
Zoom
Spaces left
30

Registration

winter 2026 – $40.00

This course is a cinematic tour of surviving Civil War earthworks in Virginia, including information on the Maine regiments who fought there. The zoom classes will consist of narrated PowerPoint lectures supplemented with 12 movies created by the instructor (8 to 30 minutes in length each) that showcase, with imagery, music, and sound effects, his personal explorations of the earthworks.

If you really want to get the feel for what a common soldier in the Civil War experienced, then you need to climb into his trenches, which is what this course hopes to accomplish. All music in the movies is from the Civil War era, and multiple narrations are embedded within the movies. The course is designed for pure entertainment that will stir your emotions.

Note: This 5-session class skips meeting on February 24.

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Instructor:

David is a recently retired Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University, now pursuing research projects on Civil War history. He is a member of history groups such as Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Lincolnville Historical Society, the Petersburg Battlefield Foundation, and the Civil War Roundtable of Pamplin Historical Park. He has taught several history classes for Belfast Senior College in 2024 and 2025.

Photo credit: American Battlefield Trust, www.battlefields.org.