Rate My Professor Brian Matthew Jordan

Brian Matthew Jordan is Associate Professor of Civil War History and Chair of the Department of History at Sam Houston State University. He earned his Ph.D. in History from Yale University in 2013, with a dissertation titled “Embattled Memories: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War,” which won the 2014 John Addison Porter Prize and the George W. Egleston Prize. He also holds an M.Phil. and M.A. from Yale (both 2012) and a B.A. in History and Civil War Era Studies from Gettysburg College (2009), where he graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and as class valedictorian. Prior to joining Sam Houston State University in 2015 as Assistant Professor of History, Jordan served as Lecturer and Instructor in Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College (2014–2015 and 2012–2014), Adjunct Professor at Messiah College, and Teaching Fellow at Yale University. At Sam Houston State, he advanced to Director of Graduate Studies (2018–2020), was promoted to Associate Professor, and assumed the role of Department Chair in 2020. He teaches courses such as U.S. History to 1876, Historiography, The American Civil War, The Military and War in America, and graduate seminars on Civil War and Reconstruction.

Jordan's research specializes in the American Civil War, Union veterans, memory, and veteranhood. His acclaimed monograph Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War (Liveright, 2016) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History, received the Governor John Andrew Award, and was named to the list of 200 Best Civil War Books. Other key publications include A Thousand May Fall: Life, Death, and Survival in the Union Army (Liveright, 2021), selected as a top bestselling Civil War title and main selection of the Military Book Club; Final Resting Places: Reflections on the Meaning of Civil War Graves (ed. with Jonathan W. White, University of Georgia Press, 2023); The Great “What Ifs” of the American Civil War (ed. with Chris Mackowski, Savas Beatie, 2022); and The War Went On: Reconsidering the Lives of Civil War Veterans (ed. with Evan C. Rothera, LSU Press, 2020). He has published peer-reviewed articles in The Journal of the Civil War Era and Civil War History, and contributed chapters to volumes like The Blackwell Companion to the American Civil War. Jordan has received numerous honors, including the Civil War Trust Field Trip Fund Grant, Phi Alpha Theta Best Chapter Awards, and nominations for SHSU teaching excellence. As Co-Director of the SHSU Civil War Consortium, he organizes conferences, delivers public lectures such as the Reeder Distinguished Lecture, and engages in public history outreach.