A panel of military historians from the United States Army’s Command and General Staff College discusses Lincoln’s leadership traits as commander in chief on Thursday, February 5, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Ethan S. Rafuse, who has been a member of the Department of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College since 2004. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from George Mason University and holds a Ph.D. in history and political science from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He has published over 200 essays, articles, and reviews and is a contributor to the award-winning Civil Warriors blog. He is also the author, editor, or co-editor of seven books.

Panelists include:

Terry Beckenbaugh, a historian and student of civil-military relations and the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi. Beckenbaugh received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Arkansas. He is the author of a number of essays and reviews and is currently working on a study of the White River Campaign of 1862 and the impact of the Federal Army of the Southwest on the policy of emancipation and the “hard war.”

Kelvin D. Crow, the assistant command historian for the Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth. Crow received his bachelor’s degree in infantry commission at the University of Missouri. He earned master’s degrees from Oregon State University and the Command and General Staff College. He has served as a researcher for the Military History Institute and instructor in the Command and General Staff Officer’s Course History Department. Crow is the author of Fort Leavenworth: Three Centuries of Service and a contributor to three other books.

Deborah Kidwell, an associate professor of military history at the Command and General Staff College. Kidwell is a graduate of the University of Kansas and has served as the secretary of the Fort Leavenworth Historical Society for the past two years. Kidwell has published a number of articles and reviews in professional journals, including a recent essay in Kansas History: A Journal of the Plains. Her research interests include United States history after 1945, the Vietnam War, and women’s history.