The Society for Military History First-Manuscript Prize

This prize is named in honor of Edward M. Coffman.

The Society for Military History First-Manuscript Prize is awarded annually to an author who has not previously published a scholarly book-length manuscript. The competition is open to scholars whose work blends military history with social, political, economic, and diplomatic history and to authors of studies centering on campaigns, leaders, technology, and doctrine. The winning author receives a cash award, a plaque, and, after successful editorial review, a publication contract with the University of North Carolina Press. The winner also will be recognized at the Awards Luncheon at the Society for Military History annual meeting.

The submission guidelines for the 2012 Coffman Prize have just been posted and the competition is now open.

2011 Coffman Prize

Winner: Kathryn S. Meier, University of Scranton
“The Seasoned Soldier: Coping with the Environment in Civil War Virginia”

Drawing on a wide array of official and personal accounts, “A Seasoned Soldier” examines the ways in which Union and Confederate soldiers understood and practiced self-care during the Peninsular and Shenandoah campaigns of 1862. Notwithstanding seminal efforts by the U.S. Sanitary Commission to improve soldiers’ living conditions, military medicine on both sides remained rudimentary and principally concerned with rooting out malingerers. Consequently, principal responsibility for maintaining physical and mental health—as well as combat effectiveness—devolved to the soldiers themselves. Over time, they acquired the skills required to look after their bodies and stave off melancholy, rendering themselves “seasoned soldiers.” Their respective armies depended on such men, even if they did not always understand or approve of their methods. What officers interpreted as desertion or straggling, the men often considered essential sojourns—necessary to mend bodies, augment diets, or restore nerves. Innovatively combining military, medical, and environmental history, “A Seasoned Soldier” sheds new light on two of the most storied campaigns of the Civil War and points the way for future scholarship in the field.

Finalists:
Waitman Beorn, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
“Descent into Darkness: Local Participation of the Wehrmacht in the Holocaust in Belarus, 1941-2”

Katherine Epstein, The Ohio State University
“Inventing the Military-Industrial Complex: Torpedo Development, Property Rights, and Naval Warfare in the United States and Great Britain before World War I”