Brent Jefferson has always been a history student at heart. Coming to VCU as a physics major, Jefferson quickly found his calling elsewhere – as a history student. 

Working with Brian Daugherity, Ph.D., director of internships in the history department, Jefferson secured an internship at Pamplin Historical Park, which is dedicated to preserving the legacy of Civil War soldiers. “Pamplin is an outdoor museum. They want to focus on the soldier. They don't want to focus on the battle. They don't want to focus on the generals. The soldier is the most important aspect because that's how you win wars. And being there at Pamplin, it opened my eyes,” Jefferson said. 

While at Pamplin, Jefferson has worked on his own project to document individual soldiers that deserve special recognition, specifically during the Richmond-Petersburg campaign. Jefferson spent nearly a month narrowing down a list of over 260 Medal of Honor recipients, until he had only six, and created a brochure highlighting their accomplishments. 

Jefferson hopes that the brochure can be used to educate people about the bravery and courage of individual soldiers. “Focusing on the common soldier gives the truest aspect of history. Our story. Our history. Not their history where they were off winning every war, but the actual people fighting the wars and doing the legislation and doing everything else. They are the important aspect,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson encourages collaboration and nuance within the field of history, stressing the importance of understanding motivations for both sides of a conflict, stating “When I came back to school this semester, I started seeing both sides of the story, both sides of the coin.” Jefferson hopes that understanding the importance of varying historical perspectives can encourage more discussion and debate among history students.

Read more about Brent Jefferson in the Q&A below

Why do you think it's important to educate people about American military history?

I feel like people get the wrong idea when it comes to the history of our military. Mostly because they only see the surface level of it. They only see the battles, they only see the generals. They don't really see anything beyond that. That's why I feel like we should push more for the whole picture.

You've compiled a brochure on six Civil War heroes for Pamplin Historical Park. Why were these six soldiers specifically noteworthy for you? 

It was originally eight soldiers. I chose the eight because their stories were exemplary. They showed immense bravery in their time and what they did. I also tried to get a well-rounded selection; not all from the same company or the same state. So I got some people from Pennsylvania, some from Ohio, some from Virginia. These eight, to me, just showed what it means to be a recipient of honor. 

And how did you narrow it down to six?

I actually have a giant compiled list of every Medal of Honor recipient from this campaign. So, I narrowed it down to the Richmond-Petersburg campaign, which is the second to last campaign during the Civil War, last being Appomattox. I then further narrowed the list by looking at the citations of the Medal of Honor. I looked at what actions they did and tried to pick out some cool stories from there.

How many did you start with on the official Medal of Honor list?

I think I had close to 263. It took me a couple weeks to fully compile it because I went to the official Medal of Honor website where it lists every single mail order. For just the Civil War, 1,500 individuals were honored. For this campaign, it was approximately 263. Some of them got it twice so it kind of skews the numbers.

What lessons has this internship taught you? How did hands-on learning impact that experience?

Pamplin is an outdoor museum. They want to focus on the soldier. They don't want to focus on the battle. They don't want to focus on the generals. The soldier is the most important aspect because that's how you win wars. And being there at Pamplin, it opened my eyes. Before this, I was one of those people that were like, "I'm only interested in the battles. I'm only interested in the big names." But researching this topic, it was definitely eye-opening. It allowed me to see that people can make a difference, individual people, not just those with power, those with influence, just the average Joe's. 

How does the work that you did with Pamplin impact you in your history classes? Have you gotten a well-rounded education with that hands-on experience?

I would say that it definitely has impacted me more in the way that I can't think one certain way. I have to take it all in all in one. I was just focusing on one side over the other but when I came back to school this semester I started seeing both sides of the story, both sides of the coin. 

What was your process for researching and compiling your information on the soldiers? Were there any particular classes that helped you with this project? 

One of the big classes that I took was a Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel class and it basically taught me all I needed to know about how to manipulate Excel. I was originally going to do a brochure that cataloged every battle. Every battle of the Civil War starting from Sumter to Appomattox. But I realized that doesn't really go with the mission of Pamplin. So I pivoted towards Medal of Honor recipients. Throughout the research, I would look at a person, check to make sure that they were in a battle that was in the campaign, write all the information down from the medal on our database, and move on to the next. It was very tedious and it cost me about three weeks. I got a chance to sit down and like get a few hundred people done. 

Why do you think it's important to uphold the legacy of these soldiers?

I see it as a way to fight against the Great Man theory of history, focusing on only those that achieved the greatest of great. Focusing on the common soldier gives the truest aspect of history. Our story. Our history. Not their history where they were off winning every war, but the actual people fighting the wars and doing the legislation and doing everything else. They are the important aspect. 

What is your favorite history class that you've taken and why? 

It is American Civil War and Reconstruction with Dr. K.T. Shively. They've made learning about the different aspects of Civil War entertaining and fun.