Military historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson has won the third annual American Battlefield Trust Prize for History. Atkinson received the $50,000 award for his book, “The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780.” The book serves as the second volume in his ongoing Revolutionary War trilogy.
The annual prize recognizes outstanding works of military history or biography focused on the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, or the Civil War. The $50,000 award is endowed by a donor, allowing the American Battlefield Trust to protect its primary program funds. The nonprofit organization has preserved more than 63,000 acres of battlefield land across 25 states.
Honorable mention accolades for the 2026 competition were awarded to two other historians. Richard Bell received an honorable mention for “The American Revolution and the Fate of the World,” while A. Wilson Greene was recognized for “A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg Volume 2, From the Crater’s Aftermath to the Battle of Burgess Mill.”
Other finalists for the 2026 award included Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward for “The American Revolution,” and John Ferling for “Shots Heard Round the World.” Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin were also named finalists for “War Without Mercy: Liberty or Death in the American Revolution,” alongside Damian Shiels for “Green and Blue: Irish Americans in the Union Military.”
The American Battlefield Trust will present the awards during a private ceremony in October. All of the named finalists are scheduled to speak at the organization’s Battlefield BookFest in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which takes place from November 13 through November 14.
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