Dr. Eric Lager
Adjunct Professor
Eric A. Lager specializes in Antebellum America, South Carolina, and the Civil War. A native of Chicago, he earned his B.A. in History at the University of Florida in 2003. There, he was awarded “Outstanding History Major” and also completed a minor concentration in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. Eric worked for several years in the public history sector as an interpreter at Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota and then as a Park Ranger for the National Park Service at Fort Pulaski National Monument in Savannah Georgia.
In 2008, Eric earned his M.A. in History at Clemson University. His thesis, “Radical Politics in Revolutionary Times: The South Carolina Secession Convention and Executive Council of 1862” examined the relationship between power and executive authority in South Carolina during the height of the Civil War.
After working as an historical interpreter for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia, Eric earned his Ph.D in History at the University of Tennessee in 2019 under the direction of Stephen V. Ash, a leading scholar of the American Civil War. His dissertation titled, The Transformation of a Confederate State: War and Politics on the South Carolina Home Front, 1861-1862, examines the state legislature’s prosecution of the war effort and addresses issues relating to civilian life on the South Carolina home front.
Eric has served on panels at Clemson University, presented a paper at the American Culture Association in Boston, and was awarded the prestigious Milton Klein Fellowship at the University of Tennessee. He teaches US Military History and American History at The Citadel. When not teaching and researching, Eric enjoys hiking and snowboarding in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Degrees
Ph.D. Nineteenth Century American History (University of Tennessee)
M.A. History – The American South (Clemson University)
B.A. History (University of Florida)
Research Interests: Antebellum America