Steve Engle studies and teaches the political and economic evolution of the American Democratic Republic in the 19th Century.  His research in this period has generally focused on the study of  the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era, and his books include studies of the ethnic dimensions of the conflict, civil-military relations, and the politics of power.  His research over the years has been supported by several funding agencies which have contributed to his publications.  His books include:  Yankee Dutchman:  The LIfe of Franz Sigel, Don Carlos Buell:  Most Promising of All, Struggle of the Heartland, The American Civil War in the West, 1861-1863, and This Mighty Scourge of War (co-authored with Gary Gallagher, Robert Krick and Joseph Glatthaar) which is a general history of the war.  His most recent work entitled, A Yankee Horseman in the Shenandoah Valley (co-edited with David Coles) is the history of Pennsylvanian John H. Black in the war.  His articles and essays have appeared in Civil War History, Journal of Negro History, Yearbook of German-American Studies, Journal of Urban History, and the AHA Perspectives.  His current work, War Governors and Lincoln:  Preserving the Union and Building Federalism, focuses on the role of northern governors in shaping political and military policy during the war.

He has been the recipient of several research and teaching honors including being named the Giles W.and Elise G. Mead Fellow at the Huntington Library, a Gilder Lehrman Fellow at the New York Historical Society, the Scholar-in-Residence at Shepherd College's Civil War Center, and the Frank Klement Lecturer at Marquette University.  He spent the year (1995-1996) as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany teaching at Martin Luther University as well as at the American History Institute in Wittenberg, Germany. He has presented papers and lectured widely in the United States and in Germany, and is a member of the Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturers' Program, and the Smithsonian Associates Program at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.  He is active in the Society of Civil War Historians, having served as the Executive Treasurer since 1992, and also currently serves as the Book Review Editor for the SCWH Newsletter.  Additionally, he serves on the Advisory Board for the Abraham Lincoln Prize and the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War, as well as several academic press boards.

A native of the Lower Shenandoah Valley, Steve grew up near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  He received his Ph.D. in American History from Florida State University in 1989 and joined the faculty at Florida Atlantic University in 1990.  In his time at FAU he has served as the director of graduate programs (1997-2002), and as chair of the department (2002-2007).  His current projects include a history of northern federalism during the Civil War, as well as a project that focuses on the role of northern governors in shaping political and military policy during the war.

Undergraduate Courses

• U.S. History to 1877
• U.S. History since 1877
• Introduction to Historical Study
• The American South
• Civil War and Reconstruction
• 19th Century America

Graduate Courses

• The Historical Experience
• The  American South
• Civil War and Reconstruction
• Other reading and research seminars