The Battle of Munford: History, Archaeology, and Our Little Blue Home
The Southern Indiana Civil War Roundtable will welcome Bob Stewart for a compelling evening program on Thursday, May 21 at 7:00 p.m. at the Evansville Fraternal Order of Police.
Stewart’s presentation explores the little-known Battle of Munford, fought in Talladega County on April 23, 1865—fully two weeks after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. In this late-war clash, Union cavalry under John T. Croxton engaged a smaller, largely untrained Confederate force led by Benjamin Jefferson Hill.
At the center of the story is Lt. A.J. Buttram, a local soldier shot from his horse during the fighting. He is widely regarded as the last Confederate soldier killed in action east of the Mississippi River. In 2020, archaeologists from the University of Alabama located and exhumed his remains, later returning them to rest in a historically grounded funeral reenactment.
Stewart brings more than scholarship to this subject. His family’s roots in Munford stretch back generations, and his talk weaves together history, archaeology, and personal narrative—including an unexpected connection to the Buttram story itself.
A native of Tuscaloosa, Stewart served as Executive Director of the Alabama Humanities Foundation from 1987 to 2012. During his tenure, he led numerous public humanities initiatives, including collaboration with Auburn University to develop the online Encyclopedia of Alabama. His earlier work includes positions at the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board, and the Huntsville Museum of Art. He holds degrees from Amherst College, Boston University, and Emory University. Since 2016, he and his wife, Lida, have lived in Nashville.
This program offers a vivid look at one of the Civil War’s final engagements—where the war’s end was near, but its cost was still being paid.
All are welcome to attend.