SENATE RESOLUTION 63

(By Senators Unger, Plymale, and Stollings)

[Introduced March 6, 2018]

Honoring Dennis Frye for his dedicated public service.

Whereas, Dennis Frye has 32 years as a permanent full-time U. S. government employee, whose work and service in the Harpers Ferry National Historic Park date back to his days as a volunteer in 1973; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye has served as the chief historian at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park from 1989 -1994 and again from 2004 -2018; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye is a prominent writer, lecturer, guide, and Civil War historian; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye has appeared as a guest historian on PBS, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, C-SPAN, Fox News, A&E, and Voice of America; and

 Whereas, Dennis Frye has helped produce Emmy award-winning television features on the Battle of Antietam, abolitionist John Brown, and Maryland during the Civil War; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye led the effort to film the major motion picture, Gods and Generals, at Harpers Ferry, Charles Town, and Martinsburg; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye has been a featured on-screen guest historian in West Virginia: A Film History; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye is one of the nation’s leading Civil War battlefield preservationists; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye co-founded and was the first president of the Save Historic Antietam Foundation; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye co-founded and is a former president of today’s Civil War Trust, from which he received the trust’s highest honor - the Shelby Foote award; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye earned the prestigious Nevins-Freeman award for his lifetime achievements in the Civil War community; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye is a tour guide in demand, leading tours for organizations such as the Smithsonian, National Geographic, numerous colleges, and universities, and Civil War Round Tables; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye has lectured on Capitol Hill, and to 147 Civil War Round Table organizations in all parts of the country; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye is a well-known writer, having authored 99 articles and 10 books; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye’s most recent book is Antietam Shadows: Mystery, Myth and Machination; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye’s book, Harpers Ferry Under Fire, received the National Book of the Year award from the Association of Partners for Public Lands; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye’s book, September Suspense: Lincoln’s Union in Peril, was awarded the 2012 Laney Book Prize for distinguished scholarship and writing on the military and political history of the war; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye has written for prestigious Civil War magazines such as Civil War Times Illustrated, America’s Civil War, Blue and Gray Magazine, North and South Magazine, and Hallowed Ground; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye has served as a guest contributor to the Washington Post; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye has been instrumental in the discovery and development of numerous exhibits relating to John Brown and the historic venues of the Civil War era; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye has been instrumental in developing the ideology and obtaining grant funding for many student applications, mini-films, and exhibitions relating to the historic eastern panhandle in West Virginia, including PARTNERS (Potomac Area Rural Teachers using National Education Resources for Students), Time Trek, Shackles to Scholars, and School House Ridge; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye conceived, developed, and sustained an annual internship program for graduate and undergraduate university students. The program averages 20 interns per year, with nearly 260 university students having been served; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye conceived, developed, and sustained an annual student education program that attracts an average of 50,000 students to Harpers Ferry National Historic Park each year; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye resides near the Antietam Battlefield in Maryland, and he and his wife Sylvia have restored the home that was used by General Burnside as his post-Antietam headquarters; and

Whereas, Dennis Frye is retiring on May 31, 2018; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate:

That the Senate hereby honors Dennis Frye for his dedicated public service; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Senate extends its most sincere appreciation and gratitude to Dennis Frye for his many years of dedicated public service; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to Dennis Frye.