Rate My Professor Robert Gudmestad

Gudmestad has authored three monographs with Louisiana State University Press: A Troublesome Commerce: The Transformation of the Interstate Slave Trade (2003), which details the shift to a more commercial interstate slave trade; Steamboats and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom (2011), analyzing the impact of steamboat technology on the cotton economy and slavery; and The Devil's Own Purgatory: The United States Mississippi River Squadron in the Civil War (2025), the first comprehensive history of the Union navy's Mississippi River operations, which played a crucial role in emancipation and Union victory. This work employed geographic information science for spatial analysis and drew on a database of over 16,000 sailors compiled with student researchers. It was selected as one of seven semi-finalists—and later a finalist—for the 2026 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. His peer-reviewed publications include "Elusive Victory: The Union Navy's War along the Western Waters" (Civil War History, 2021) and "Self-Emancipation along the Lower Mississippi River in 1863" (Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation, co-authored with Evan Cocanower). Gudmestad collaborates extensively with undergraduate and graduate students on scholarly projects, including digital history, and mentors 1-2 Ph.D. students annually in American history. He has served as a historical expert on NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" and contributed expert commentary to The Conversation.