Stuart W. Sanders will be speaking about his book Anatomy of a Duel: Secession, Civil War, and the Evolution of Kentucky Violence, which examines a duel fought with Colt Revolving Rifles near Maysville, Kentucky, in 1862 between a Union colonel and a pro-Confederate civilian. Sanders’ book examines the secession crisis and how violence changed in Kentucky after the Civil War through the lens of this bloody affair of honor.

Stuart W. Sanders is the author of five books, including Perryville Under Fire: The Aftermath of Kentucky’s Largest Civil War Battle; The Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky; Maney’s Confederate Brigade at the Battle of Perryville; Murder on the Ohio Belle; and Anatomy of a Duel: Secession, Civil War, and the Evolution of Kentucky Violence. Sanders has also contributed multiple chapters to Civil War anthologies and has written dozens of articles and op-eds about Civil War and Kentucky history.

He is the former executive director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association and has worked in the public history field in Kentucky for three decades. His great-grandfather, the Rev. Robert Stuart Sanders, was one of the first members of the Kentucky Civil War Round Table.