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A Tail of Two Mr. Greenes
By Chuck Koutnik
A. Wilson Greene is a distinguished historian. He is the President of Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier. A member of numerous professional associations, including the prestigious Board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, he has written several books rich in detail and can speak authoritatively on any subject involving the Civil War.
 Then there is Will Greene, a local resident, who after a long day at work, moonlights as a minor league hockey official. Will's specialty is managing one of the penalty boxes at Richmond Renegade home games. Into his domain the referee sentences some of the biggest and nastiest brutes of the Southern Professional Hockey League. At any time, a player in Will's "sin bin" as the penalty box is known, may go after an opponent in the penalty box next door. Will is ready and willing to breakup such a fight if it occurs. He does this for little (read zero) pay because he loves the culture of minor league hockey.
Could two people be more different than the scholarly Mr. Greene and Will the penalty cop? The answer, of course, is no, but in truth they are the same person.
I was at a Renegades' game, some time back, when I looked across the ice and swore to myself that I knew the penalty box official from somewhere. "That looks like Will Greene," I exclaimed out loud to my friend. I quickly qualified, ÒThat canÕt be him.Ó My friend bore with me, and after the game accepted the fact that I had to go right down to the penalty box to satisfy my curiosity. I looked directly at him through the thick puck-proof Plexiglas, but still could not convince myself that the distinguished scholar was gazing right back at me. Then his expression opened up with the look of, "What are you, a bookworm and mild mannered librarian, doing in this place?"
 Ever since that night we have bonded. Will, the product of Chicago, Illinois, where his dad introduced him to hockey by taking him to Blackhawks games, sharing with me a boyhood love for the sport, which I developed with my dad at Cleveland Barons games.
I don't know what my excuse is for liking minor league hockey. On reflection, though, Will GreeneÕs interest makes sense. A Civil War historian must understand the mind set of a mid-19th century common man thrown into ruthless battle. Mr. Greene indeed must see a comparison between the ÒcultureÓ of low minor league hockey and that of a typical Civil War volunteer. The average minor league hockey player is very young and likely living away from his small town in Canada for the first time. The Civil War recruit was typically right off the farm, seeing the U.S.A., not in a Chevrolet by any means, for the first time. The pressure to "prove yourself" is a shared experience. Constant practice and drilling led by older veterans occupies the young hockey player as it did the "fresh fish," as Civil War recruits were called. For both, the next contest could be the last. Fail with the Renegades and it could be back to the grain elevators of Manitoba. Fail on the battleground, and for Billy Yank or Johnny Reb it likely meant a trip home in a coffin.
So it was with great disappointment when I sat down with Will and presented my theory, only to learn that it had no basis in fact. He enjoys hockey for the obvious reason: it is a very exciting sport. He likes minor league hockey because he has been turned off by the big-business approach of major league owners and players. The denizens of the Southern Professional Hockey League are down to earth and will easily converse with a fan, or penalty box official. Will loves the whole minor league hockey scene. In some ways it is the "theater of the absurd," he admits. The cheesy promotions, the ribald fans, and even the sometimes-orchestrated fighting is a true slice of Americana. Anything goes including the ice being littered between periods with jeeps, ATVs, lucky fans inside large transparent balls racing for prizes, weak armed Hooter Girls trying to throw free Frisbees into the stands, and eventually the Zamboni machine cleaning the ice (with varying degrees of success) for the next period.
While the hockey-loving Will appreciates the humor found in 21st-century human drama wherever it may be found, do not imagine for one minute that Will Greene is not serious or passionate about his chosen profession as a historian. "History is a practical art, but is not often taught that way," he states with conviction. "It needs to be connected with the present. Why should we not use the experience of the millions of people who came before for us?" he asks.
His love of history and recognition of its importance began in the early 1960s when our country observed the centennial of the Civil War. Like many American families at the time, the Greenes took a trip to Gettysburg. It was impossible for an eleven-year-old not to be in awe of his surroundings while walking the hallowed ground that was a battlefield a mere 100 years earlier. This was a place that directly influenced the future of America; a place where it could be said modern America was born.
Will eventually decided to major in history at Florida State University in preparation for attending law school. His father was a lawyer and the plan was for him to eventually join his dad's firm. Upon graduation, the influence of the turbulent present combined with a fascination for past influenced Will to pursue a Master's in history at Louisiana State University.
Luckily for the Tri-Cities area, Will accepted a part-time position at the Petersburg National Battlefield between semesters in graduate school. Upon graduation the National Park Service offered him a full-time job, and a career in law disappeared forever.
Later, Will accepted a transfer to Fredericksburg National Military Park and then he went back to Louisiana for an opportunity to manage Chalmette National Historical Park, the site just below New Orleans, where Andrew Jackson defeated the British during the War of 1812.
He moved again in 1983, this time to a job at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. There, Will met Maggie, the woman who would become his wife. Maggie was an art curator in Philadelphia, but started a second career in nursing after their marriage. Will, who expresses gratitude for her tolerance of both history and hockey, is proud of his bride who is currently studying at MCV to become a family nurse practitioner.
Shortly after their marriage, Will returned to Fredericksburg to work directly as a historian rather than in the administrative and management positions he had filled in New Orleans and Philadelphia. Although taking a demotion and returning to a former Park did little for his Park Service career, it turned out to be a risk worth taking. Will and a group of friends began a volunteer organization called The Association for Preservation of Civil War Sites (APCWS). He is rightfully proud of this group, which has since become the respected Civil War Preservation Trust.
The APCWS soon outgrew its volunteer model and Will left the Park Service to become the Association's first paid employee. The work proved exciting as the APCWS raised funds for the acquisition of land where Civil War history took place. They successfully saved hundreds of acres on more than a dozen battlefield sites being threatened by development.
In the early 1990s the APCWS became aware of some land on the market in Dinwiddie County. This was the ground upon which a key Union victory took place in 1865 known as the "Breakthrough." Here, Northern troops penetrated the Confederate lines and caused the immediate evacuation of Petersburg. The land was forested, yet had a remarkable line of well-preserved earthworks from the Civil War. The APCWS had to move quickly. The abundance of trees on the property made it likely that a timber interest would buy the land and, in the process of harvesting the wood, ruin the earthworks.
Study of the situation revealed that the ancestors of the Robert Pamplin family had owned the land prior to and during the Civil War. Originally Dinwiddie natives, the Pamplins had relocated to Oregon where they operated the R.B. Pamplin Corporation, the largest private corporation in the Northwest. Will took a chance and wrote the Pamplins a letter suggesting that if they would donate funds to buy the property, APCWS would match the donation.
A couple of weeks elapsed and then the APCWS phone rang. Dr. Robert B. Pamplin was on the line for Will. At first the news sounded disappointing. "Mr. Greene," Dr. Pamplin began, "we [the family] have talked it over and we decided we do not want to donate funds," after a pause he continued, "instead we want to buy the land ourselves and develop a park there." The ecstatic non-profit fund raiser tried to control the excitement in his voice as one of the most significant phone calls in the history of Civil War battlefield preservation and education unfolded.
Will persuaded Dr. Pamplin that the APCWS had the ability to plan, design, and oversee the construction and operation of the Park. Pamplin Park Civil War Site opened in June 1994 with Will serving as the project manager, commuting to Dinwiddie from his office in Fredericksburg several times a month.
Soon, additional land was purchased including Tudor Hall, the ancestral home of the Boisseau family, the maternal branch of the Pamplin Family. Will, who was spending about 10% of his time on the Pamplin project, received another earthshaking phone call. It was Dr. Pamplin again and he told Will, "We want to make the park into the finest Civil War Park in the country and we want you to run it."
Maggie and Will were happy in Fredericksburg, but it was an opportunity they could not pass up. A few months later they were in Dinwiddie County where they live today, right across the street from the Park.
Will loves his job. "There is no such thing as a typical day at Pamplin Park and that is what is fun about it," he says. But, as busy as he his with his duties at the park, Will holds his hobbies dear to his heart. Besides the Renegades, Will's other main hobby is writing. While public historians are usually not required by their positions to publish. Will and fellow public historian authors-especially in the Civil War field-do their work on their own time and write for the kinds of history buffs who flock to battlefields, museums, and historic homes by the millions each year.
He has written six books and is now engaged in his most ambitious project to date. He has a contract with the esteemed University of North Carolina Press to write a multivolume history of the entire 1864-65 Petersburg Campaign. The task is enormous, but a thoroughly enjoyable one for Will. He makes it very clear that this project has nothing to do with his job at Pamplin Park. This is his own project, his own modestly labeled "hobby." He works on it on his own time.
Will is a most approachable fellow, a type of local Renaissance Man for the Tri-Cities area. At home in Pamplin Park, at a lectern in Washington D.C., or talking to a 20- year-old hockey player from Sasketchewan; Will is both an interested and interesting conversation partner. The puzzle is solved. Both A. Wilson Greene and Will Greene are a local treasure, a true asset for our community.
Pamplin Historical Park
Pamplin Historical Park and The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier are located on a 422-acre site in Dinwiddie County. The site features four award-winning museums, three historic homes, costumed living history demonstrations, guided tours, and the Breakthrough Battlefield of April 2, 1865. Conveniently located a short distance south of Petersburg off I-85 Exit 63A, admission information, directions, and hours of operation are available at www.pamplinpark.org or call toll free 1-877-PAMPLIN.
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