Susan Gilbreath Lane & Frederick J. Chiaventone: Dignity of Duty: The Journals of Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath, 1861-1898

The Museum & Library's newest orginal work—a personal odyssey of service from the Civil War to the Spanish-American War, offering a firsthand glimpse into the life of a 19th Century American citizen soldier—is explored in detail by Editor Susan Gilbreath Lane, Executive Editor Kenneth Clarke, and Civil War historian Frederick J. Chiaventone. 

From the blood-stained battlefields of Bull Run, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg to the Reconstruction-era South and the vast wilderness of the western United States, Dignity of Duty: The Journals of Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath, 1861-1898 paints an illuminating picture of a nation seeking its identity in the wake of the most devastating event in its history.

From June, 1861—when he was instrumental in the raising and organization of the 20th Indiana Volunteer Regiment out of his hometown of Valparaiso—until August, 1898—when he died of an apparent stroke while serving in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War—Major Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath kept detailed journals of his life and service in the United States Army. A self-taught student of history who once aspired to a career in law, Gilbreath's intelligence and natural curiosity are on full display in his writings, resulting in a collection that is as fascinating as it is enlightening to read.

Featuring an introduction by renowned historian and biographer Carlo D'Este, Dignity of Duty comprises three original documents assembled and edited by Gilbreath's great-granddaughter, Susan Gilbreath Lane, who discovered the papers by chance at the Detroit Public Library in the late 1970s.

SUSAN GILBREATH LANE is the great-granddaughter of Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath and editor of Dignity of Duty: The Journals of Erasmus Corwin Gilbreath, 1861-1898. A graduate of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, she continued post-graduate work at Northeastern Illinois University and The Institute for Psychoanalaysis, and worked for the Chicago Public School System as a special education teacher and counselor until her retirement in 2000. Gilbreath Lane is now researching and writing about her grandfather, son of Erasmus, who helped to pioneer the Dixie Highway in the early 1900s.

LT. COL. FREDERICK J. CHIAVENTONE, Armored Cavalry, U.S. Army (Ret.), is a novelist, screenwriter, military historian, consultant, former Chief of Special Operations for 6th U.S. Army Headquarters, and Professor Emeritus for International Security Affairs at the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College. Chiaventone holds a Masters Degree in Film and Television Production from San Francisco State University and has written, produced, and directed documentaries and news programming for the Department of Defense. His debut novel, A Road We Do Not Know: A Novel of Custer at the Little Bighorn was published to rave critical reviews, won the 1999 Ambassador William E. Colby Literary Award and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in literature. His next novel in the Lakota Trilogy, Moon of Bitter Cold was awarded the Western Heritage Award for Literature and also the William Rockhill Nelson Award for Literature. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Armed Forces Journal, The New York Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Times, and many other professional publications.

KENNETH CLARKE, moderator of this discussion, is president & CEO of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library and executive editor of Dignity of Duty. Clarke holds an M.A. in English from Miami University in Oxford, OH and a B.A. in English and Political Science from Taylor University in Upland, IN. He has nearly two decades of service to Chicago and the Midwest through executive leadership at some of the city’s and region’s leading nonprofit, educational, and cultural organizations.