CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Stonewall Jackson's flank attack against Union troops at Chancellorsville, Va., in the spring of 1863 may have been his last great victory.

But historical accounts that attribute the Confederate win to German immigrant troops in the Union Army's XI Corps breaking ranks and retreating at the appearance of Jackson's troops are incorrect, according to Christian Keller, a professor of military history at the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Keller has researched many previously unused source documents, most of them written in German, that paint a different picture of what took place with the German-American regiments during the battle. He will speak on his findings, contained in his book "Chancellorsville and the Germans: Nativism, Ethnicity and Civil War Memory," during the Kanawha Valley Civil War Roundtable's 2009 Civil War Scholars Lecture Series program at 7 p.m. Monday in the state Culture Center.

"For more than a century, we have been told that the German soldiers broke and ran in the face of Jackson's troops," said Beth A. White, president of the Roundtable and director of its lecture series. "Dr. Keller's research has led to a very different story about the German soldiers and the battle they had at Chancellorsville. I believe this lecture will change nearly everything you believe you know about this battle."

Keller, who received a bachelor's degree in history and German from Washington and Lee University and a doctorate in history from Penn State, was a Fulbright visiting professor in Germany in 2001-02. After his lecture on Monday, he will take part in a reception and book signing.

Keller's talk is free and open to the public. His appearance, and the Civil War Roundtable's lecture series, is supported by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the West Virginia Humanities Council.

For more information call 304-389-8587 or e-mail bethwhitetref...@gmail.com.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Stonewall Jackson's flank attack against Union troops at Chancellorsville, Va., in the spring of 1863 may have been his last great victory.

But historical accounts that attribute the Confederate win to German immigrant troops in the Union Army's XI Corps breaking ranks and retreating at the appearance of Jackson's troops are incorrect, according to Christian Keller, a professor of military history at the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Keller has researched many previously unused source documents, most of them written in German, that paint a different picture of what took place with the German-American regiments during the battle. He will speak on his findings, contained in his book "Chancellorsville and the Germans: Nativism, Ethnicity and Civil War Memory," during the Kanawha Valley Civil War Roundtable's 2009 Civil War Scholars Lecture Series program at 7 p.m. Monday in the state Culture Center.

"For more than a century, we have been told that the German soldiers broke and ran in the face of Jackson's troops," said Beth A. White, president of the Roundtable and director of its lecture series. "Dr. Keller's research has led to a very different story about the German soldiers and the battle they had at Chancellorsville. I believe this lecture will change nearly everything you believe you know about this battle."

Keller, who received a bachelor's degree in history and German from Washington and Lee University and a doctorate in history from Penn State, was a Fulbright visiting professor in Germany in 2001-02. After his lecture on Monday, he will take part in a reception and book signing.

Keller's talk is free and open to the public. His appearance, and the Civil War Roundtable's lecture series, is supported by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the West Virginia Humanities Council.

For more information call 304-389-8587 or e-mail bethwhitetref...@gmail.com.