GREGORY J. W. URWIN (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame),  Professor of History.  gurwin@temple.edu

Research and Teaching Interests:  U.S. Military History, War of Independence, Civil War, Indian Wars, World War II, U.S. Marine Corps

Office Hours (Fall 2005):  10:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M., Monday; 11:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M., 2:00-3:00 P.M., Wednesday
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Personal Statement:  I am a military historian with an interest in the armed forces of the United States and Great Britain.  My research has emphasized the American Revolution, American Civil War, America's Indian Wars, and World War II in the Pacific.  My earlier work consisted of traditional "drum and bugle" military history -- battles, campaigns, and military biography.  Since the late 1980s, however, I have taken more of an interest in the "New Military History," which focuses on the political, sociological, institutional, and cultural aspects of war.  This has led me to look more closely at the experiences of  ordinary soldiers and the history of African Americans in uniform.  I am currently working on a book about the defenders of Wake Island as prisoners of war during World War II.  The Wake Islanders enjoyed one of the highest survival rates of any group of Caucasian troops taken by the Japanese, and I will try to identify and explain the reasons for their good fortune.  After that, I plan to go back in time and tackle research projects relating to the American Civil War and War of Independence.

(Left) Professor Urwin commanding the 1st Battalion, Frontier Brigade, at the Battle of Shiloh Reenactment, near the original Shiloh battlefield in western Tennessee, April 1997.  (Photo courtesy James Neel)  (Below) Urwin on the set of Glory. (Photo courtesy Civil War News)
 

Editor, Black Flag over Dixie:  Racial Atrocities and Reprisals in the Civil War (2004).

"Cornwallis and the Slaves of Virginia:  A New Look at the Yorktown Campaign," in John A. Lynn, ed., ACTA, International Commission of Military History, XXVIII Congress:  Coming to the Americas (2003).

"Poison Spring and Jenkins' Ferry:  Racial Atrocities during the Camden Expedition," in Mark K. Christ, ed., "All Cut to Pieces and Gone to Hell":  The Civil War, Race Relations, and the Battle of Poison Spring (2003).

"The Army of the Constitution:  The Historical Context," in Max G. Manwaring, ed., ". . . To Insure Domestic Tranquilty, Provide for the Common Defense . . .":  Papers from the Conference on Homeland Protection (2000).

Co-Editor (with Cathy Kunzinger Urwin), History of the 33d Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment, 1863-6, by A. F. Sperry (1999).

Facing Fearful Odds:  The Siege of Wake Island (1997).

"'We Cannot Treat Negroes . . . as Prisoners of War':  Racial Atrocities and Reprisals in Civil War Arkansas," Civil War History (1996).

Wake Island in World War II:  An Annotated Bibliography (1996).

"'The Lord Has Not Forsaken Me and I Won't Forsake Him':  Religion in Frederick Steele's Union Army," Arkansas Historical Quarterly (1993).

"Custer:  The Civil War Years," in  Paul A. Hutton, ed., The Custer Reader (1992).

"The Defenders of Wake Island and Their Two Wars, 1941-1945," Prologue:  Quarterly of the National Archives (1991).

The United States Infantry:  An Illustrated History, 1775-1918 (1988).

Editor, Custer and His Times:  Book Three (1987).

The United States Cavalry:  An Illustrated History (1983).

Custer Victorious:  The Civil War Battles of General George Armstrong Custer (1983).
 

Professor Urwin received the 1998 General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Award from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation for Facing Fearful Odds:  The Siege of Wake Island, as well as the 1997 Harold L. Peterson Award from Eastern National for "'We Cannot Treat Negroes . . . . as Prisoners of War':  Racial Atrocities and Reprisals in Civil War Arkansas."  He is also the recent recipient of a Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Research Grant.  He has been a Fellow of the Company of Military Historians since 1992.  Professor Urwin serves as the general editor of a new book series, "Campaigns and Commanders," published by University of Oklahoma Press.  "Campaigns and Commanders" will blend traditional operational history and military biography with the "New Military History." A long-time devotee of living history, Professor Urwin helped make the Oscar-winning Civil War epic, Glory, and retired in 1999 as a field officer in the Frontier Brigade, the largest Union Civil War reenactment unit west of the Mississippi River.  He returned to living history in 2002 by joining the Colonel's Company, 23rd Regiment of Foot, Royal Welch Fusiliers in America, a unit dedicated to recreating the life of the British soldier in the American Revolution.  Urwin has appeared many times on the History Channel, most recently in the twenty-six-part documentary series, "The Last Days of World War II."  On October 18, 2004, Urwin delivered the Twenty-fifth George Bancroft Memorial Lecture at the U.S. Naval Academy.  He has also lectured at the American Philosophical Society, U.S. Army War College/Army Heritage and Education Center, and David Library of the American Revolution.
 
 


      







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DR. URWIN'S PERSONAL PAGES

Facing Fearful Odds:  The Siege of Wake Island

History of the 33d Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment, 1863-6

Reliving the American Revolution with the Royal Welch Fusiliers in America

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DR. URWIN'S CLASS PAGES (Spring 2007)

Hist. 0182. Civil War and Reconstruction

Course Syllabus

Hist. 0475.  Studies in the Comparative History of Modern Warfare

Course Syllabus
 

DR. URWIN'S CLASS PAGES (Fall 2006)

Course Syllabus
 



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(Right)  Dr. Urwin (at left) with His Royal Highness, Charles, Prince of Wales, when they
were both young and single in 1977.  (Photo courtesy Claudette Tischler)

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DR. URWIN'S CLASS PAGES (Fall 2005)

Hist. 0154. SOLDIERS, WARS, AND SOCIETY:  THE BRITISH ARMY

Course Syllabus

DR. URWIN'S CLASS PAGES (Spring 2005)

HIST. 0181 UNITED STATES AT WAR

Course Syllabus
 

HIST. 0690 SEMINAR IN U.S. MILITARY POLICY

Course Syllabus



Lieutenant General G. R. Christmas, USMC (Ret.), the president of the Marine Corps Heritage
Foundation, presents Dr. Urwin with the General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Award for Facing
Fearful Odds:  The Siege of Wake Island, at an awards ceremony held near Washington,
D.C., in 1998.  (Photo courtesy Marine Corps Heritage Foundation)


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