When the Civil War broke out, thousands of Kentuckians struggled to maintain the state's neutrality in deciding which side to support. Although Kentucky was a slaveholding state, most of the population did not wish to secede from the Union. More than 140,000 Kentucky solders fought on both sides, in the Eastern and Western Theaters. Some of those who emerged from these battlegrounds are among the state's favorite local heroes. Join historian and author Bryan S. Bush as he recounts the journeys of these brave men who fought to build and maintain the legacy of the Bluegrass State.

Bryan Bush was born in 1966 in Louisville, Kentucky, and has been a native of that city ever since. He graduated with honors from Murray State University with a degree in history and psychology and received his master's degree from the University of Louisville in 2005. Bryan has always had a passion for history, especially the Civil War. He has been a member of many different Civil War historical preservation societies and roundtables. He has consulted for movie companies and other authors; coordinated with other museums on displays of various museum articles and artifacts; has written for magazines such as Kentucky Civil War Magazine, North/South Trader, the Kentucky Civil War Bugle, the Kentucky Explorer and Back Home in Kentucky; and worked for many different historical sites. He has always fought hard to maintain and preserve Civil War history in the Western Theater. In 1999, Bryan published his first work: The Civil War Battles of the Western Theater. Since then, Mr. Bush has had published more than thirteen books on the Civil War, including several titles for The History Press, including Louisville during the Civil War: A History and Guide and Louisville's Southern Exposition. Bryan Bush has been a Civil War reenactor for fifteen years, portraying an artillerist. For five years, Bryan was on the board of directors and curator for the Old Bardstown Civil War Museum and Village: The Battles of the Western Theater Museum in Bardstown, Kentucky, and is currently a board member for the Louisville Historical League and the official Civil War tour guide for Cave Hill Cemetery.