Born on June 26, 1923, Edwin Cole Bearss is a native of Billings, Montana. Bearss attributes his early interest in history to his father and to the cattle ranch where he grew up, just twenty-five miles from the George Armstrong Custer battlefield. During World War II, he served as a Marine at the battles of Guadalcanal and New Britain in the South Pacific, sustaining severe wounds which kept him in several hospitals for twenty-six months. After his discharge, Bearss attended Georgetown University, earning a B.S. degree in foreign service in 1949. He earned an M.A. degree in history from Indiana University in 1955.

That same year, he began working as a historian with the National Park Service at the Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi. It was there that he and two friends researched and discovered the wreck of the Union gunboat, Cairo. Bearss also found the two lost forts at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, and he was then instrumental in the efforts to make Grand Gulf into a state military park. He founded the Mississippi Civil War Round Table in 1956, which later merged with the Jackson Civil War Round Table. Bearss continued to work as a historian in several other offices of the National Park Service, becoming chief historian in 1981. He retired on September 30, 1995.

Bearss has published more than 100 articles for scholarly journals. His major interest is the Civil War, having written, edited, or contributed to about twenty books in that area. While at the National Park Service, he conducted studies on historic sites besides the major Civil War battlefields, including the gold miners' route over Chilkoot Pass, Alaska, the LBJ Ranch, and the Boston Navy Yard. He was a featured commentator on the Public Broadcasting Service series, The Civil War. Bearss continues to conduct battlefield tours and lecture at historical conferences.

Among his awards are the Harry S. Truman Award for meritorious service in the field of Civil War history in 1961, a fellow of the Company of Military Historians in 1964, several awards from Civil War Round Tables around the country, the Department of the Interior Distinguished Service Award in 1983, and a commendation from the Secretary of the Army in 1985.

Bearss is married to historian Margie Riddle of Brandon, Mississippi. The Bearsses have three children, and they live in Arlington, Virginia.

The manuscript is composed of Edwin C. Bearss' typewritten and pasted-up pages, galley proofs, and handwritten notes for the book entitled Forrest at Brice's Cross Roads. It was published by the Press of Morningside Bookshop, Dayton, Ohio, in 1979. This draft of the manuscript is incomplete.

1. Manuscript. ca. 1970s. 0.50 cubic ft.