We are a 100% volunteer run and staffed organization and are funded entirely by membership fees and donations. Please join. Please donate.
Welcome to The Longstreet Society
Our Seminar Presenters and Guides
Mike Beck is a lifelong Civil War enthusiast. Beck was a founder of the Lakeway Area Civil War Preservation Association. His most noted accomplishment is writing the check that purchased the Nenney Home, saving it from demolition. Beck has been at the forefront of the development of the General Longstreet Museum serving as chairman for many years. Without Mike Becks dream and vision the General Longstreet Museum would never have happened. He also brought several other historians on board and worked with them to obtain the artifacts in the museum, most from the area around the home and related to Longstreet’s occupation of the area. Beck served for six years as commander of the Tennessee Division Sons of Confederate Veterans. He has been an advocate of General Longstreet for many years.
Ken Coffee is the Official County Historian in Granger County, TN. He taught School at Bean Station for 36 years while coaching football and basketball. He served on the board in naming Veterans overlook atop of Clinch Mountain which the Longstreet Society will visit. He developed the Grainger County Sports Hall-of Fame, Grainger County Education Archives and Grainger County History Museum all in Rutledge. Also with the help of the Bean Station Mayor he helped established a history museum in Bean Station. He serves on the Knox Heritage board, Grainger County Chamber of Commerce, Lakeway Area Civil War Preservation Trust board member. Ken wrote an award-winning newspaper column on the Civil War in East Tennessee, was part of the award-winning DVD "The Valley of Independence ", shown on PBS. He authored "The First Family in Tennessee and Great Wildness Road "and “Knoxville Campaign Leads General Longstreet to Russellville, Tennessee.” Ken is a lifelong student of the Battle of Beans Station and will join us at Beans Station to give his insight on the battle.
Dr. Curt Fields Jr., has been an avid and lifelong student of the American Civil War. His interest in portraying General Ulysses S. Grant was driven by that study and his deep respect and admiration for General Grant. Dr. Fields is the same height and body style as General Grant and, therefore, presents a convincing, true-to-life image of the man as he really looked. He researches and reads extensively about General Grant to deliver an accurate persona of the General. His presentations are in first person, quoting from General Grant’s Memoirs; articles and letters the General wrote, statements he made in interviews or wrote himself, and first-person accounts of people who knew the General or were with him and witnessed him during events.
Burke Greear is a National Park Service Ranger on staff at the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville, TN. He concentrated on Museum Studies at Greeneville’s Tusculum College and Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University and later earned a Masters degree in Resource Interpretation from Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas. He receives frequent praise for his informative tours of the Andrew Johnson house. He is originally from Norton, Virginia.
Michael C. Hardy has a passion for 19th century Southern history. He is the author of more than twenty books, including two upcoming releases: General Lee's Immortals: The Bloody Battles of the Branch-Lane Brigade and the Army of Northern Virginia (Savas Beatie); and Kirk’s Civil War Raids Along the Blue Ridge (The History Press). His articles have appeared in Gettysburg Magazine, Civil War Times, America's Civil War, and Confederate Veteran, and he reviewed books for Blue and Gray for years. Michael was featured in the recent Blood and Fury: America's Civil War on the American Heroes Channel. In 2010, Michael was named the North Carolina Historian of the Year by the North Carolina Society of Historians. Other honors include being named volunteer of the year for the Pisgah District, Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Alice Parker Award for Outstanding Work in Literature and Arts. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama, and since 1995, has called western North Carolina home.
Tim Massey is a respected historian, writer, editor, publisher, photographer, reenactor, and historic traveler. He serves as Greene County Historian and writes regularly for Civil War News, and The Homefront Herald. He has had over 40 photographs featured on magazine covers. He is the recipient of two Carmack awards for Civil War journalism. Massey has served on the boards of 5 museums including the Longstreet Society & Historic Piedmont Hotel. He is the historian of the Morgan’s Men Association, and Tennessee Division SCV Historian. He has served as Commander in Chief of the Society of the Descendants of Washington’s Army at Valley Forge, president of the Tennessee Society Sons of the Revolution, and Descendants of the Battle of Kings Mountain. He holds and has held numerous positions in historical organizations. He has received numerous honors including five service awards from the Heritage Trust. Through the efforts of Massey, the Longstreet Civil War Trails Marker became a reality.
Bill White is an avid Civil War reenactor. He is most recognized for his portrayal of General James Longstreet at the General Longsteet Museum in Russell, TN. He has participated in Revolutionary War events as well as hauling his cannon across the South to engage the enemy. He is a graduate of Carson-Newman College and works for Hamblin County Schools.