J. Douglas Ashton

Doug Ashton is a Canadian retired steel and materials testing executive and a lifelong student of the American Civil War dating to the Centennial in 1961 when he was a young boy. He first became interested in William Barksdale and his Mississippi Brigade upon joining a joint American-Canadian reenactment group in 1983 ─ Company B, Benton Rifles, 18^th Mississippi Infantry. Following approximately thirty years of dedicated research encompassing numerous archives, museums, and battlefields Doug authored the first definitive biography of this controversial politician and fearless Mississippian warrior ─ WILLIAM BARKSDALE, CSA: A Biography of the United States Congressman & Confederate Brigadier General published in 2021. Doug has also authored several articles for North & South Magazine and a feature article for Gettysburg Magazine. He resides with his wife, Susie, in the quiet hamlet of Port Rowan, Ontario nestled along the north shore of Lake Erie.