Lincoln Group Lunch with Author Richard Carwardine at Gettysburg

By John A. O'Brien

Denver, Colorado

Monday, December 8, 2025

The Lincoln Forum at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in November was a glorious experience for any Lincoln buff. There was a superb lineup of Lincoln scholars introducing their latest books and papers. The annual conference occurs about the time of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and includes appropriate commemoration ceremonies. This year the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia was particularly well represented. Thirty members of our society answered the call for the group picture. We had the pleasure of sharing special moments with Richard Carwardine, author of Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Union.  

Lincoln Group at lunch with Richard Carwardine in Gettysburg. Richard is in the red sweater, standing in the center. (Photo courtesy of John O'Brien)

Carwardine is an emeritus professor and former president of Corpus Christi College at Oxford University in England. He was the principal speaker at the Forum awards dinner and picked up the annual book award there for Righteous Strife. The following day, the Lincoln Group met to have lunch with him and to help celebrate his award. Several members were able to chat with him before we sat. At the conclusion, I presented him with a Gettysburg Address souvenir coin as a remembrance of our Gettysburg visit and as a token of appreciation for the times he has spent with his Lincoln Group American friends.

Carwardine appears delighted with the Lincoln Group gift presented by John O'Brien. Photo by Debbie Jackson.

With a long list of academic and literary credentials, Carwardine is everything one would expect from a well-educated Brit. He is witty, scholarly, and charming in sharing his vast knowledge of Lincoln and American cultural history. Richard has been particularly gracious with the Lincoln Group ever since he published his award-winning biography Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power in 2006. Our Study Forum is currently discussing Righteous Strife, and Richard has spent time with us via Zoom answering our questions about his findings and assertions. We will enjoy another opportunity to be with him at the Abraham Lincoln Institute at Ford’s Theatre in March.

Group Photo courtesy of John O'Brien