Hello, I am Daniel Sauerwein and I am the creator and head contributor for this blog. I am a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of North Dakota and my fields are in North American History (with emphasis on new military history), Rural History, Public History and Geography. My areas of interest are in early American history, specifically military, which includes the Civil War and other early American wars.
I currently hold a Master of Arts degree from the University of North Dakota in History, with a major concentration in American history and a minor in Geography. My thesis explored camps of instruction in Illinois and focused on the transition from civilian to soldier as soldiers took their basic training in the camps. I also hold a Bachelor of Arts degree (magna cum laude) from Illinois College, with a major in History and double minors in Economics and Geography.
I currently work as a Reference Specialist with the North Dakota State Archives, where I assist patrons in accessing our materials for various types of research. My specialties will be on military history related collections and records.
I recently served as a History and Political Science Instructor at Northland Community and Technical College during the 2016-17 academic year. Previously, I taught both History and Geography courses for the University of North Dakota and Lake Region State College.
Over the course of my time teaching college, I have taught the following courses:
United States to 1877 (both in class and online)
United States since 1877
United States History pre-1865
United States History since 1865
Western Civilization I (online)
Western Civilization II (online)
Western Civilization Pre-1500
American Minorities (both in class and online)
American Politics and Government
State and Local Government (both in class and online)
North Dakota History
The United States: The Roaring Twenties
Civil War and Reconstruction
World War II (online)
Historical Geography
Special Topics in Geography: Heritage Tourism
I originally hail from Jerseyville, IL, but have lived in Missouri, Germany, Kansas, and Texas while my dad was in the Army. I have also visited 20 other states, Washington, DC, and five other countries in my life. Outside of my academic pursuits, I am involved with the Civil Air Patrol, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and Sons of the American Legion. I also enjoy reading, writing, playing guitar, and firearms. I am an avid Civil War reenactor, currently serving as President/Lieutenant of Fifth Minnesota Infantry Regiment, Company D, where we do educational programming in the region, especially at Fort Abercrombie State Historical Site.
My areas of interest in the Civil War are camps of instruction, which are where soldiers took basic training, the Western theater of the war, and U. S. Grant. I like to focus on the soldiers from the “Old Northwest” (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, etc.) as they are quite interesting and in many ways were better than their eastern counterparts.
Civil War History 