Christopher H. Hamner

Christopher H. Hamner

Christopher H. Hamner

Associate Professor

U.S. History: War and American society, the individual experience of combat, technological change and warfare

Christopher Hamner’s first book, Enduring Battle: American Soldiers in Three Wars, 1776-1945, was published by the University Press of Kansas in spring 2011 as part of its Modern War series. The book examines the changing experience of ground combat from the War for Independence to the Civil War to the Second World War, focusing on ways that individual soldiers’ motivations to withstand the trauma of combat evolved as technological advances recast the battlefield. He is currently at work on two projects. The first, tentatively titled The Weight of War: American Soldiers in Post-Industrial Combat from Vietnam to Iraq, picks up some of the themes of soldiers’ experiences on the ground, examining the changing nature of battle from the Vietnam War and the 1991 Gulf War to the twenty-first century wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, focusing on the ways that the experience of combat changed on the increasingly asymmetrical, irregular battlefield. A second project, The Shoals of Defeat: Abraham Lincoln, Union Strategy, and the 1864 Overland Campaign, explores the connections between politics, popular will, and strategy during the two brutal months of fighting that characterized the Union's Virginia campaign in May and June of 1864.

His teaching interests include war and American society, the individual experience of combat, and the effects of technological change on the experience of warfare. He has served as Lead Historian for two Teaching American History programs in Virginia and Maryland, working with public school teachers to develop more effective ways to incorporate primary sources into the history classroom. From 2014 to 2019, he served as lead historian for the American Battle Monuments Commission's Understanding Sacrifice program, which helped teachers create a unique set of resources to enrich their students' appreciation of the ways the Second World War affected individuals and families.

In addition, Hamner serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Papers of the War Department 1784-1800, an innovative online archive that recreates the files of the original War Office, destroyed by fire in autumn 1800. Mason’s Center for History and New Media has hosted the site, which features a growing index and high-resolution images of more than 45,000 documents from early American history, since 2006.

Hamner is concentration head for the interdisciplinary MA program War and the Military in Society, a graduate program that approaches questions related to peace, war, and security from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. From 2014 to 2016 he served as a Visiting Professor at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Hamner received George Mason's Teaching Excellence Award in 2013.

Courses Taught

HIST 370: War and American Society

HIST 373: The Civil War Era

HIST 610: The Study and Writing of History

HIST 615: Readings in the Civil War Era

HIST 615: Readings in Military History

 

Recent Presentations

“Brothers in Arms? Combat, Masculinity, and Change in the 21st-Century American Military,” Organization of American Historians annual meeting, spring 2022

“‘An Act of Charity’: Teaching about Military Pensions in the Early Republic Using Online Primary Documents,” National Council of History Education annual conference, Spring 2019.

“Carved in Stone: Teaching World War II through Monuments and Memorials,” American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Winter 2018.

“‘Treason, Stupidity, or Cowardice’: The Union Defeat at Ball’s Bluff and the Formation of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War.” Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Conference, Spring 2014.

“‘Of Course You’ll Be Scared’: Changing Attitudes toward Combat Fear in the U.S. Army from the Civil War to World War II.” Society for Military History Annual Meeting, Spring 2012.

“‘An Act of Charity’: Benefits for Widows and Orphans in the Files of the Early War Department, 1784-1800.” Society for Military History Annual Meeting, Spring 2010.

“Teaching the ‘New’ Military History: New Subjects, New Techniques.” National History Education Clearinghouse, American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Winter 2010.

“Taking Documentary Editing Online: Launching the Papers of the War Department Website,” Association for Documentary Editing Annual Meeting, Fall 2009.

Dissertations Supervised

Christopher A. Warren, Honoring Treason: Commemoration, Reconciliation, and Confederate Burials at Arlington National Cemetery, 1864-1914 (2022)

Spencer Roberts, "Fortitude and Resolution": Women of Niagara and the War of 1812 (2021)

Stephen M. Rusiecki, The Greatest Crusade: D-Day, the Press, and the Making of an American Narrative (2020)

Benjamin M. Schneider, No Law Except the Sword: American War Criminals and the Failure of Military Justice in Europe, 1942-1945 (2019)

Zayna N. Bizri, Recruiting Women into the World War II Military: The Office of War Information and Gender (2017)

John Lillard, Playing War: Wargaming and US Navy Preparations for World War II (2013)