"No One Wants to be the Last to Die"

This groundbreaking study chronicles the final battles in Virginia including Appomattox Station and Appomattox Court House in April 1865. Author Chris Calkins, who recently retired as Chief of Interpretation at Petersburg National Battlefield, is widely recognized as the war’s foremost authority on Appomattox.No One Wants to be the Last to Die: The Battles of Appomattox, April 8-9, 1865 leads readers westward from the fall of Petersburg and Richmond through the final battles at Dinwiddie Court House, Five Forks, Sutherland Station, Namozine Church, Amelia Springs, High Bridge, Sailor’s Creek, Cumberland Church, and finally, Appomattox Station and Appomattox Court House. Calkins, whose knowledge of the sources and the countryside through which this drama unfolds, is unsurpassed, has completely revised and updated this edition of his earlier work published decades ago as part of the H. E. Howard Virginia Battles and Leaders Series. Readers will welcome its return to print.

"Chris Calkins's groundbreaking research on the battles of Appomattox in 'No One Wants to Be the Last to Die' has stood the test of time and is the only full-length book to cover in detail those forgotten, but decisively important engagements."--G. Howard Gregory, past president Lynchburg Civil War Roundtable

Chris Calkins worked at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, ending his career as Chief of Interpretation at Petersburg National Battlefield. He also was the first full-time Park Manager of Sailor’s Creek Battlefield Historical State Park. His is the author of a dozen publications and many articles, and was popular on the speaking circuit. Chris received the 2014 Award of Merit “for his dedication to preserving the Civil War battlefield landscape of Virginia” from the American Association for State and Local History, one of only three Virginians to receive this award. In 2020, he was bestowed with the Edwin C. Bearss Lifetime Achievement Award for extraordinary work in historic preservation. The Detroit native graduated from Longwood College (now University) in Farmville, Virginia, and lives in a restored 18th-century Georgian home in Petersburg’s Old Town Historic District. Robert M. (Bert) Dunkerly studied history at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, and historic preservation at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN, where he first began studying the battle. He has given tours of the battlefield and researched its history, preservation, and National Cemetery. He has authored three other books in the Emerging Civil War Series and is active in historic preservation and research.