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Lecture—The Whites of Their Eyes: Bunker Hill, the First American Army, and the Emergence of George Washington
June 17, 2025 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Paul Lockhart, professor of history at Wright State University, highlights the Battle of Bunker Hill on the 250th anniversary of the engagement. Offering a reassessment of the first major battle of the war, Dr. Lockhart illuminates it as a crucial event in the creation of American identity while interweaving it with two other momentous narratives: the creation of America’s first army and the rise of George Washington. This program accompanies our current exhibition, Revolutionary Beginnings: War and Remembrance in the First Year of America’s Fight for Independence, on view through January 4, 2026.
Registration is requested. To attend the lecture in-person at Anderson House, or to watch virtually, please use the appropriate link below.
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About the Speaker
Paul Lockhart, Ph.D., is a professor of history at Wright State University. He received his Ph.D. in military history and early modern European history from Purdue University and is the author of seven books, including Frederik II and the Protestant Cause: Denmark’s Role in the Wars of Religion (Brill, 2004), Denmark, 1513-1660: The Rise and Decline of a Renaissance Monarchy (Oxford University Press, 2007), The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: The Baron de Steuben and the Making of the American Army (HarperCollins, 2008), The Whites of Their Eyes: Bunker Hill, the First American Army, and the Emergence of George Washington (HarperCollins, 2011), and most recently Firepower: How Weapons Shaped Warfare (Basic Books, 2021). Dr. Lockhart has held fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the American-Scandinavian Foundation; has been Visiting Lecturer at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, and was named the National Endowment for the Humanities Visiting Distinguished Professor at SUNY/Potsdam College. In 2014, he was selected as the Brage Golding Distinguished Professor of Research, Wright State University, and was named Ohio Distinguished Historian from 2020-2021 by the Ohio Academy of History. In 2021, he was elected to membership in The Royal Society for Danish History for significant lifelong contributions to the history of Denmark. At Wright State, Lockhart served as Senior Fellow in CELIA (Collaborative Education, Leadership, and Innovation in the Arts), putting together a community-wide commemoration of the centenary of the First World War. Dr. Lockhart also founded the History Department’s undergraduate and graduate programs in the History of War and Society, which he continues to lead and supervise.