James Hill Welborn III to Deliver Lecture on the Codes of Honor During the Civil War Welborn will discuss his recent book on April 9 in the Harte Center.

Institutional History Museum and Galleries
April 7, 2026

James Hill Welborn III, associate professor of history at Georgia College & State University, will deliver a lecture at 5 p.m. on April 9 in the Houston H. Harte Center located in Leyburn Library. The event, hosted by Washington and Lee University’s Institutional History Museum and Galleries, is free and open to the public.

In his lecture, Welborn will discuss his recent book, “Dueling Cultures, Damnable Legacies: Southern Violence and White Supremacy in the Civil War Era,” which explores Southern codes of honor and faith in the face of sectional upheaval. At the center of the story is the dramatic altercation between Preston Brooks, a U.S. representative from South Carolina, and Charles Sumner, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, on the Senate floor in 1856.

Welborn, who received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree (both in history) from Clemson University and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Georgia, specializes in American cultural history, focusing on evolving conceptions of virtue and vice and the role of violence in shaping these cultural values during the American Civil War era. Exploration of the historical role that alcohol has played within the region’s cultural values and social conventions led him to an interest in the history of Southern foodways and a digital project on the diverse and dynamic history of barbecue in the South. He has published articles in the Southern Cultures journal and The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs: An Interdisciplinary Journal.

W&L’s Institutional History Museum and Galleries include the University Chapel and Galleries, the Washington Hall Galleries and the forthcoming Institutional History Museum. The IHMG stewards a growing collection reflective of the full and rich history of the university, its people, traditions and impact throughout the nation’s history.