An avid historian, author, preservationist, former National Park Service employee, and a founding member of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites
Don Pfanz is one of the nicest historians you’ll ever meet. He was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to legendary Gettysburg author/historian Harry Pfanz. Don is a graduate of the College of William and Mary.
In his 32-year career with the National Park Service, he worked as a historian at three Civil War parks: Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County National Military Park (1981-1985, 1990-2013), Petersburg National Battlefield (1985-1988), and Fort Sumter National Monument (1988-1990).
Don has been featured numerous times on popular television series on the History Channel, A&E Network, The American Heroes Channel, C-SPAN, and many others. An avid historian and preservationist, Don is a founding member of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (now the American Battlefield Trust).
In 2001, he was inducted into the American Battlefield Trust Hall of Fame and presented with the Trust’s Edwin C. Bearss Lifetime Achievement Award.
Also in the same year, the Central Virginia Battlefield Trust selected Don Pfanz as the recipient of its Ralph Happel Lifetime Achievement Award in Civil War preservation.
Don has written eight books and a dozen articles on Civil War topics. In 2014, he co-authored the book No Turning Back: A Guide to the 1864 Overland Campaign, as part of the Emerging Civil War series published by Savas Beatie.
A ninth book, Fredericksburg: A Comprehensive Civil War Guide, is scheduled for publication in 2023 fall. Don lives with his wife, Zandra, in Spotsylvania County, not far from the Wilderness Battlefield.
Blue & Clara Barton’s Civil War
Between Bullet & Hospital
December 2018
Historic Furnishings Report
Grant’s Cabin, City Point Unit, Petersburg National Battlefield, Virginia
August 2018
Where Valor Proudly Sleeps
A History of Fredericksburg National Cemetery, 1866–1933
March 2018
The Letters of General Richard S. Ewell: Stonewall’s Successor
Voices of the Civil War
November 2012
War So Terrible
A Popular History of the Battle of Fredericksburg
June 2003
Richard S. Ewell: A Soldier’s Life
Civil War America
January 1998
