Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.

Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr., was born in Mer Rouge, Louisiana. He attended Northeast Louisiana University, North Carolina State University, and the University of Tennessee, where he received his doctorate. A retired professor, he taught geography and military history at Henderson State University, Georgia Southern University, and the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He is on the faculty of the Stephen Dill Lee Institute and is the author of more than forty books, including Bust Hell Wide Open: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest; Vicksburg; It Wasn't About Slavery: Exposing the Great Lie of the Civil War; and Desert Fox: The Storied Military Career of Erwin Rommel.

Dr. Mitcham is Heritage Operations Historian for the Sons of Confederate Veterans and is the commander of Camp 1714. He is a former army helicopter pilot and company commander, and is a graduate of the US Army's Command and General Staff College. He holds the Jefferson Davis Gold Metal for Excellence in the Research and Writing of Southern History.