America’s Deadly Legacy

Landmines in the Civil War

April 17, 2025, 7pm

With Ken Rutherford

Landmines in the Civil War.  Despite all that has been published on the American Civil War, one aspect that has never received the in-depth attention it deserves is the widespread use of landmines across the Confederacy. These “infernal devices” dealt death and injury in nearly every Confederate state and influenced the course of the war.

Kenneth R. Rutherford rectifies this oversight with America’s Buried History: Landmines in the Civil War, the first book devoted to a comprehensive analysis and history of the fascinating and important topic.

Join this Third Thursday Talk in-person at Rocktown History or online via YouTube Live.

Link to Rocktown History YouTube Channel

Ken Rutherford is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at James Madison University.

He has served as the Director of the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery at JMU, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania, UNHCR Emergency Refugee Coordinator in Senegal, as a humanitarian emergency relief officer in Kenya and Somalia, and as Fulbright Scholar at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan (2025) and Hue University, Foreign Languages and International Studies (2024) in Hue, Vietnam.

Rutherford is included among the “one hundred most influential people in armed violence reduction” by the London-based organization Action on Armed Violence, and the recipient of several awards, including the: 

  • Leadership in International Rehabilitation Award (Northwestern University)
  • Humanitarian Award presented by Sir Paul McCartney (UNA-USA) 
  • Human Security Person of the Year Award (University of California-Irvine). 

He has published five books, including most recently “America’s Buried History: Landmines in the Civil War.” He has conducted work in more than 40 countries, including Burundi, Iraq, Rwanda, Tajikistan, and Yemen.

He holds a Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University, and B.A. and MBA degrees from the University of Colorado, where he was also lettered in football and was inducted into its Hall for Distinguished Alumni.