On Oct. 21, a Faculty Chair in American Civil War History was installed at Dickinson College in honor of the late Brian Pohanka '77, a renowned Civil War historian, writer, battlefield preservationist and film adviser. Assistant Professor of History Matthew Pinsker will serve as the first incumbent of the chair.
As a history major at Dickinson, Pohanka took courses on the Civil War and often visited the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., to view its photo collection. However, his interest had developed much earlier, "since I was 8 years old," he said in an interview with Dickinson Magazine in 2004.
As an adult, Pohanka even looked the part with a beard--groomed in a style called an Imperial, because it was popularized in the 1860s by the French emperor Napoleon III. He adopted the style to fit his alter ego as captain of Company A of the 5th New York Voluntary Infantry, a leadership post he had held since 1989 with the re-enactment group that wears colorful Zouave-French-style-uniforms.
But his interest was more than a hobby. Pohanka was well known among Civil War historians, enthusiasts and, even, movie directors. When the credits rolled for the Academy Award-nominated Civil War drama Cold Mountain, Pohanka's name was listed along with Academy Award winners Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger and nominee Jude Law. However, Cold Mountain wasn't his first foray into movies -- he also had served as adviser on the films Glory, Gods and Genrals and Gettysburg. He also worked on a number of documentaries, including the 50 episodes of The History Channel's Civil War Journal.
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