Biography:

Historian; university professor. Born– July 15, 1928, Shreveport, La. Parents– Henry Grady and Mayme (Holland) McWhiney. Married– Sue Baca, December, 1947. Education– B.S., Centenary College, 1950; M.A., Louisiana State University, 1951; Ph.D., Columbia, 1960. Served in U.S. Marine Corps, 1946-1947. Taught American history at Troy State University, 1952-1954; Millsaps College, 1956-1959; Northwestern University, 1960-1965; University of British Columbia, 1965-1970; Wayne State University, 1970-1975; University of Alabama, 1975-; professor of history and chairman of the department, 1975-1979; director, Center for the Study of Southern History and Culture, 1976-; visiting professor, University of California, Tulane University, University of Michigan.  Contributed articles to many professional journals and anthologies. Member of Southern Historical Association, American Historical Association, Chicago Civil War Roundtable, Ulysses S. Grant Association and other professional organizations.  Received the Gallant Service Award from the Chicago Civil War Association; honorary member of the American Civil War Roundtable of the United Kingdom; honorary first fellow of the Confederate Historical Institute.  With his colleague Forrest McDonald developed the “Celtic Thesis,” that Celtic ancestry influenced Southern way of life and social and military culture. Founded the McWhiney Foundation (now the McWhiney History Education Group in Abilene, Texas, for the support of research and education in 19th century American history.  Died April 18, 2006.

Source: Contemporary Authors online; Obituary, New York Times, April 23, 2006.

Publication(s):

Battle in the Wilderness:  Grant Meets Lee.  Ryan, 1995.

Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat. New York; Columbia University Press, 1969.

The Civil War:  A Concise Account by a Noted Southern Historian.  Abilene, TX:  McWhiney Foundation Press, 2005.

Confederate Crackers and Cavaliers.  Abilene, TX:  McWhiney Foundation Press, 2001.

Cracker Culture; Celtic Ways in the Old South. Tuscaloosa, Ala.; University of Alabama Press, 1986.

Southerners and Other Americans.  Basic Books, 1973.

Joint_Publication(s):

Attack and Die; Civil War Military and the Southern Heritage. University, Ala.; University of Alabama Press, 1962.

The Southerner as American. Chapel Hill, N.C.; University of North Carolina Press, 1960.

Editor:

Cottonclads!  The Battle of Galveston and the Defense of the Texas Coast.  Ryan Place, 1996.

A Deep Steady Thunder:  The Battle of Chickamauga.  Ryan Place, 1996.

The Emergence of Total War.  Ryan Place, 1996.

Grant, Lee, Lincoln and the Radicals; Essays on Civil War Leadership. Evanston, Ill.; Northwestern University Press, 1964.

Reconstruction and the Freedmen. Chicago; Rand McNally, 1963.

Iron and Heavy Guns:  Duel between the Monitor and the Merrimac. Ryan Place, 1996. Last Stand at Mobile.  Abilene, TX:  McWhiney Foundation Press, 2001.

Raphael Semmes and the Alabama. Ryan Place, 1996.

Sam Bell Maxey and the Confederate Indians.  Ryan Place, 1995. Texas in the Confederate Cavalry.  Ryan Place, 1995.

The Texas Overland Expedition of 1863.  Ryan Place, 1996.

War in the West: Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove.  Ryan Place, 1996.

Joint_Editor:

Fear God and Walk Humbly:  The Agricultural Journal of James Mallory, 1843-1877.  University of Alabama Press, 1997.

Historical Vistas: Readings in United States History.  2 vols.  Allyn and Bacon, 1963-64.

Lee’s Dispatches to Jefferson Davis. New York; Putnam, 1957.

To Mexico With Taylor and Scott, 1845-1847. New York; Blaisdell, 1969.

Papers:

The papers of Grady McWhiney are held by the McWhiney History Education Group (Formerly the McWhiney Foundation) in Abilene, Texas.