Jerry L. Russell Dies At 70; Was Leader In Battlefield Preservation

Jerry L. Russell Dies At 70; Was Leader In Battlefield Preservation
By Kathryn Jorgensen
January 2004

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Civil War battlefield preservationist Jerry Lewis Russell Jr. died Dec. 5 of complications from lung surgery at age 70.

Russell was a 1958 journalism graduate of the University of Arkansas and was in the communications business ever since. He described his career as "public relations, advertising, association management, newsletter publishing, and political campaign counseling." However, the Civil War community knew him as an advocate for battlefield preservation.

Civil War Preservation Trust President Jim Lighthizer called Russell an outspoken advocate of battlefield preser-vation. "Jerry was one of the founding fathers of the Civil War battlefield preservation movement. He was fighting to protect America's historic sites long before it was popular to do so," said Lighthizer.

People in Arkansas knew Russell better for his political campaign consulting and political jingles. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette he worked for more than 200 political candidates. Eight of 10 candidates that he represented in 2000 won their elections.

"He liked to boast that his candidates, often underdogs, won 70 percent of the races he worked," according to the newspaper. His wife Alice Anne told the paper, "If he could not vote for that person, he would not work for them, which was an anomaly in the profession."

In the program for his Dec. 9 memorial service Russell's family wrote: "Most of you knew him in only one avenue of his life - journalism, Civil War, Indian Wars, or politics. But he was much more than just those things.

"He loved circuses, zoos, westerns, Star Trek, Star Wars, Sherlock Holmes, Wizard of Oz, all things historical, music, the mountains, buffalo, etc., etc. He especially just wanted to learn "to know" about all kinds of things (except math, especially those "if a man" problems!)."

Being the communicator and promoter that he was, Russell provided much of the following biographical information in February 2002 when he answered the question "OK...so who is Jerry Russell?"

Here are highlights of the Civil War part of his life:

He was the charter president of the Civil War Round Table of Arkansas in 1964, and founded Civil War Round Table Associates in 1968. He was national chairman and editor of the monthly CWRT Digest newsletter.He helped establish 10 Arkansas Civil War Round Tables, as well as several dozen in other states. In 1975 he established the annual National Congress of Civil War Round Tables. He founded The Confederate Historical Institute in 1979, and served as national chairman and newsletter editor.He was involved in the formation of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites and was involved in the early planning stages for what became the Civil War Trust, both now merged into the Civil War Preservation Trust. He was the founder, in 1984, and executive director of the Society of Civil War Historians. That year, Civil War Round Table Associates established the West Coast Civil War Conference. In 1986, the Associates hosted a Texas Sesquicentennial Civil War Conference and an Arkansas Sesquicentennial Civil War Conference in Little Rock.

In 1989, Russell founded HERITAGEPAC, which he directed, the only political action committee registered with the Federal Election Commission whose focus is Civil War battlefield preservation. He was also national chairman of the Order of the Indian Wars. Russell was honored by the Council on America's Military Past (CAMP) and numerous Civil War Round Tables (CWRT). The Civil War Round Table of Chicago gave its annual Nevins-Freeman Award to Russell in October in honor of his 40 years of service. He was the only non-historian on the Chicago Round Table's 50th anniversary program celebrating its founding as the first round table. He received a distinguished service award at its 60th anniversary commemoration in 2000.

The Civil War Preservation Trust honored him with the organization's Edwin C. Bearss Lifetime Achievement Award in April 2002. Other awards included the Frank Vandiver Award of Merit from the Houston CWRT, the first Bell I. Wiley Award from the CWRT of New York, the Dr. Alvin Calman Award from the CWRT of Northern New Jersey, the Harry Truman Award from theCWRT of Kansas City, the Charles A. "Pie" Dufour Award from the CWRT of New Orleans, the Pat Cleburne Award from the CWRT of Arkansas, the Robert E. Lee Award from the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association; Also, the Annie Snyder Award from the Civil War Society, the first Oliver Wendell Holmes Award from the CWRT of Greater Boston, and awards from the Brandy Station Foundation and Civil War Round Tables in Roanoke, Va.; North Lake, La.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Portsmouth, Va.; and White County, Ark.; and the Confederate High Command and the Stonewall Jackson Memorial.

Russell received one of the first "Take Pride In America" awards from the National Park Service. He was honored in 1988 by the Confederate Memorial Association, being selected to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery on Confederate Memorial Day. In 1997, he received the first Texas Star Award at the Texas Civil War Battlefield Preservation Conference.

Memorial donations may be sent to the Jerry Russell Fund, Civil War Preservation Trust, 11 Public Square, Suite 200, Hagerstown, MD 21740, or to the Central Arkansas Library System Endowment, Jerry Russell Fund, 100 Rock St., Little Rock, AR 72201.

Lighthizer said, "We are honored that the Civil War Preservation Trust was named as the beneficiary of memorials made in Jerry Russell's name. It is a fitting tribute to a cause that was near and dear to his heart. Contributions to the fund will be used to purchase or otherwise protect battlefield land - none of the money will be used for administrative costs."

Russell is survived by his wife, Alice Anne Cason Russell; four children, Leigh Anne Russell of Little Rock; Jerry L. "Sam" Russell III and wife Stephanie of Olive Branch, Miss.; Susan Frances Russell and husband Jim Hale of Gettysburg, Pa.; and Andrew J. Russell III and wife Melanie of Little Rock; and five grandsons, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter.