Rate My Professor Robert Gudmestad

Robert Gudmestad is Professor of History and current Chair of the Department of History in the College of Liberal Arts at Colorado State University. He earned his B.A. from North Dakota State University, M.A. from the University of Richmond, and Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. Gudmestad's research specializations encompass the history of the American South, particularly the Civil War, military history, steamboats, American slavery, and sport history.

Gudmestad has authored three monographs with Louisiana State University Press: A Troublesome Commerce: The Transformation of the Interstate Slave Trade (2003), which details the shift to a more commercial interstate slave trade; Steamboats and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom (2011), analyzing the impact of steamboat technology on the cotton economy and slavery; and The Devil's Own Purgatory: The United States Mississippi River Squadron in the Civil War (2025), the first comprehensive history of the Union navy's Mississippi River operations, which played a crucial role in emancipation and Union victory. This work employed geographic information science for spatial analysis and drew on a database of over 16,000 sailors compiled with student researchers. It was selected as one of seven semi-finalists—and later a finalist—for the 2026 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. His peer-reviewed publications include "Elusive Victory: The Union Navy's War along the Western Waters" (Civil War History, 2021) and "Self-Emancipation along the Lower Mississippi River in 1863" (Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation, co-authored with Evan Cocanower). Gudmestad collaborates extensively with undergraduate and graduate students on scholarly projects, including digital history, and mentors 1-2 Ph.D. students annually in American history. He has served as a historical expert on NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" and contributed expert commentary to The Conversation.