Dr. John R. Legg currently teaches the American Civil War at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Trained in ethnohistory and digital public history, John specializes in the Civil War era and nineteenth century Native American history, with particular interest in Indigenous mobility, diplomacy, and cultural practice throughout the U.S.-Canadian borderlands. In terms of public history, John's invested in studying how people engage with contentious historical problems through public memory, social movements, or other forms of community debates.

His current book project explores the aftermath of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, focusing on the migration of Dakota people from Minnesota into Dakota Territory and British Canada. In addition to the book, John's at work on a journal article on Little Six and Medicine Bottle's 1864 kidnapping and a book chapter on the Portage la Prairie Indian Residential School in Manitoba that housed Dakota children.

John is also interested in contentious public memory and how communities/people grapple with difficult topics or engage with history in new ways. In 2024, LSU Press will publish his book chapter on The Oregon Trail and settler colonialism and he has a forthcoming chapter on the Chief Tamanend monument at Gettysburg National Military Park. John recently submitted a co-authored article with Niels Eichhorn on Civil War monuments in the American West, and how these monuments highlight both Indigenous violence and dispossession and the celebration of emancipation and Union victory. 

John has worked for a variety of academic publications in various capacities. At the National Council on Public History's History@Work, he served as affiliate editor for the special project, Our Climate Emergency, as well as other posts. At H-CivWar, John's served as Book Review Editor and instituted a Graduate Student/Post-Doc Interview Series. At the Journal of Social History, John served as editorial assistant where he copyedited and proofed various academic articles, including the entire "On Agency" series that celebrated the 20th Anniversary of Walter Johnson's "On Agency."

John also bridges his love for photography with history. Recently, he had a photograph published on the cover of Niels Eichhorn and Duncan Campbell's The Civil War in the Age of Nationalism (LSU Press, 2024). He also takes academic headshots and has provided event coverage photography for Ethnohistory and other conferences. Photography portfolio here.

John completed his PhD at George Mason University, his MA and Graduate Certificate in Public History at Virginia Tech, and his BA in History at Middle Georgia State University.