PETERSBURG, Va. -- Chris Calkins remains the definitive source of information on the final days of the Civil War.
"He's known nationally as a historian. His expertise is the Campaign of Petersburg and the Retreat to Appomattox," Jimmy Blankship, a retired historian for Petersburg National Battlefield, said.
"Chris was important not just to young scholars and for old historians like me here in this country but people from all over the U.S. and outside the country," Brig. Gen Jack Mountcastle, a retired member of the U.S. Army, said.
On Thursday, Calkins released a revised edition of a book he wrote decades ago.
"I think it's even more important now than it was before because the story needs to be told. There's two sides to every story and if you just block out one side of the story, you don't get the whole story. And it's very important for this to still be told in today's world," Blankship said.
"I think this book is coming at just the perfect time for new readers who have never really thought too much about what happened in the last few days of the war here in Virginia," Mountcastle said.
Calkins now has more than a dozen books under his name.
"It covers the last couple of days of the American Civil War in Southside Virginia," Calkins said.
The newly revised edition offers a new glimpse of life during those days. Unlike Calkins' previous books and magazine articles over the years, this book comes at a time when he is battling Parkinson's Disease.
While he can no longer walk or write, he hopes his drive to finish the book inspires others.
"I can only hope that I am an example, I tried to push on," Calkins said.
Calkins continues to inspire others.
"Chris Calkins is a man that has inspired so much, very important scholarship about our American Civil Tragedy, the Civil War," Mountcastle.
With more than a dozen books and hundreds of magazine articles written by Calkins through the decades, he may be best known for inspiring young people to learn more about the Civil War and for many, begin a career with both the National and State Park Service.
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