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Peter Cozzens

Peter Cozzens is the author of sixteen critically acclaimed books on the American Civil War and the American West. Cozzens also is a recently retired Foreign Service Officer, U. S. Department of State.

His newest book is The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West, published by Alfred A. Knopf in October 2016.

All of Cozzens' books have been selections of the Book of the Month Club, History Book Club, and/​or the Military Book Club. Cozzens’ This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga and The Shipwreck of Their Hopes: The Battles for Chattanooga were both Main Selections of the History Book Club and were chosen by Civil War Magazine as two of the 100 greatest works ever written on the conflict. 

The History Book Club called his five-volume Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars "the definitive resource on the military struggle for the American West." 

Cozzens's Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign was a Choice "Outstanding Academic Title" for 2009.

He was a frequent contributor to the New York Times "Disunion" series, and he writes for America's Civil WarCivil War Times IllustratedMHQ, and Smithsonian, among other publications. 

In 2002 Cozzens received the American Foreign Service Association’s highest award, given annually to one Foreign Service Officer for exemplary moral courage, integrity, and creative dissent. 

Cozzens is a member of the Advisory Council of the Lincoln Prize and of the Literary Society of Washington DC. 

Cozzens and his wife Antonia Feldman reside in Kensington, Maryland.

Articles by

Peter

Cozzens

Articles by this Author

While his brother Tecumseh was assembling the greatest Indian confederation the U.S. would ever confront, the “Prophet” launched a fateful preemptive attack in Indiana Territory.