SOUTH HOLLAND, IL – For South Suburban College Professor Bruce Allardice, the study of the history of the Civil War is a passion as well as a profession. “Author David McCullough stated that history is an infinite resource for the study of the present. In my view, you can’t understand what’s happening in our country today without understanding our country’s Civil War,” stated Allardice.

His latest article “46 Days to Save an Army: Gen. John Corson Smith and the Chattanooga Campaign” (Civil War News, November 2016, co-authored with former SSC Professor Wayne Wolf) edits the late 1863 diary of Brigadier General John C. Smith of Illinois. The article focuses on the vital 1863 Chattanooga Campaign, with the Union defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga redeemed two months later by a brilliant victory at Chattanooga. Smith’s diary records a mid-level officer’s impressions of the Union defeat and recovery.

The Chicago Public Library purchased the Smith diary a few years ago when its owner put it up for sale. The diary now resides in the CPL’s Special Collections. “What is amazing is that 150 years after the end of the war, we are still discovering letters and diaries of the participants,” says Allardice.

Bruce S. Allardice is a professor at South Suburban College. For the last decade he’s taught European and American History, as well as Political Science, in SSC’s Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Professor Allardice has authored or co-authored six books on the history of the Civil War, as well as numerous articles. His book, “More Generals in Gray” (LSU Press, 1995),  was a selection of the History Book-of-the-Month Club.

For more information, Bruce Allardice can be reached at (708) 596-2000, ext. 2277 or email BAllardice@ssc.edu.