Novelist, scholar, and preeminent Civil War historian Shelby Foote has died.

He was pretty old, so it’s not a tragedy, but commemoration is in order. As anyone who’s seen all 700 hours of Ken Burns’ PBS documentary The Civil War (for which Foote was a key featured commentator) can attest, Shelby Foote was a superstaras adorable as Webster, as smart as shit.

RIP, Sir Foote.

Everyone else: The post of “preeminent Civil War historian” is now vacant.

My pick for replacement: Kelly from Destiny’s Child. (After their farewell tour, what else does she have to do? Plus, she’s cute.)