William Garrett Piston is a native of Johnson City, Tennessee. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Vanderbilt University and his
Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. After chairing the social studies department in a private girls' school in New Orleans, he
joined the Department of History at Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, in 1988. He specializes in American military history
and the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Piston's scholarship has won awards from the Center for Studies in Military History, the State Historical Society of Missouri, and Missouri
State University. The author or co-author of three books, two booklets, and more than a dozen articles, he is best known for his 1987 work
Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant: James Longstreet and His Place in Southern History, a revisionist history of a controversial Confederate general.
He was a member of the honorary board of directors for the Longstreet Memorial Fund, which in 1998 placed an equestrian statue of Longstreet
at the Gettysburg National Battlefield.
Piston is a life member of The Longstreet Society and currently serves on the board of directors. He received the Helen Dortch Longstreet
award in 2002.
| Home Page | The General's Life | About the Society | Historic Piedmont Hotel | Featured Articles | Society Store | Links | Send Us Email| Bookmark This Site |
|---|