Leadership

Executives

President 
Graham L. Osborne 
 
Graham is a lifelong Civil War enthusiast who has successfully collaborated with many people within the “Civil War Community” over the past few years. 
 
He was raised in Pittsburgh, PA and is a proud Marine Corps veteran. After his military service he earned his B.A. in History from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. In the recent past Graham has lived nearly on top of the old Union siege lines less than 5 minutes from the entrance of Vicksburg National Military Park. Also, for two years he made his home right at the center of the historic Brice’s Crossroads Battlefield. 
 
He was a guest lecturer at the Vicksburg National Military Park Winter Lecture Series, has been an invited guest speaker on varying Civil War topics at many different organizations, and serves as a volunteer tour guide of the Brice’s Crossroads Battlefield. He now permanently resides in North Mississippi and enjoys teaching his two young daughters, Hattie and Bonnie, about the exciting Civil War history of this region. 

Treasurer

Jason M. Dempsey

Michael is a passionate Civil War and American history enthusiast. Born and raised in Louisville, Mississippi, as a child he was fascinated by the rich history of the Magnolia State. He is a dedicated Civil War traveler and has attended many reenactments and living history events.  He graduated from the Mississippi University for Women, “The W”, in Columbus with a bachelor’s degree in Nursing Science and today continues his career in the medical field.

He resides in North Mississippi and devotes much of his free time to the study and preservation of Civil War and Mississippi history.

Battlefield Programs Director

Jim Garrett

Colonel (Ret) Jim Garrett served on active duty as a Judge Advocate in the US Army for just over 28 years, with the majority of his service in the operational Army.  He is a graduate of the Army War College and his last assignment was as the Dean of The Judge Advocate General’s School in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jim is from Mississippi and is a graduate from Delta State and the University of Mississippi School of Law, he now permanently resides in North Mississippi. 

Jim has conducted battlefield tours and military staff rides at some of America’s great historic sites like Gettysburg and Antietam. 

Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board

Robert S. Mink, Jr.

Rob Mink was born in Jackson, MS and raised in Oxford, MS. He attended the University of Mississippi where he studied history, politics, and law. He is a practicing attorney and currently lives in Memphis, TN with his wife and two children.

Rob has always had an enthusiastic interest in history, especially the history of his home and family. He remembers being a small child and hearing the stories of his hometown University Grays and their heroic deeds on far flung battlefields. He understands the importance the War had on his home and family, and he recognizes the duty he has to celebrate, protect, and promote this vital history. He made a point to focus his undergraduate studies on Mississippi, the War, and the South in general. In law school he focused on our great Common Law traditions and on the Constitution. Rob joined the Brice’s Crossroads Foundation to ensure that these traditions and histories are properly understood and respected.

Jody A. Bevill

Faulkner said, “For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two o’clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out…” Jody is no exception. Growing up in Lexington, MS, he spent countless weekend mornings imagining himself as part of the rich history of his native soil and is honored to be a part of an effort to preserve some of that history. 

Jody left Lexington to attend the University of Mississippi where he earned Bachelor’s, Master’s and Juris Doctorate degrees. He and his wife Amanda still reside in North Mississippi where they spend most of their time caring for their son Waits and their ever-growing menagerie of cats, dogs, birds, and other hangers-on. 

Stan Buckles

Stan was born in Central Illinois, and has lived there for most of his life. He attended Bradley University and Millikin University where he graduated with a degree in History.

 
  His ancestors lived on the Old Post Road between Springfield and Mt. Pulaski, Illinois, so many of them were acquainted with Abraham Lincoln. Stan is also a relation to Mary Todd Lincoln. 
 
 Like many Civil War enthusiasts, his study of the Civil War originated when his parents took the family to Gettysburg in the late 1960’s. He was “bit by the bug” and never looked back! He joined the reactivated 114th Infantry Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, Springfield, Illinois, in 1979, to get a “hands-on” feel for the life of a Civil War soldier. 
 
For many years he has been a firm supporter of battlefield preservation and Civil War education and he is especially proud to assist in those efforts at Brice’s Crossroads and North Mississippi, through the Foundation.
 
He lives with his wife, Joan, on a farm near Mt. Pulaski, Illinois and is the author of the book “Not Afraid to Go Any Whare, 1862-1865: A history of the 114th Regiment Illinois Infantry”.