The Company of Military Historians made Bearss a fellow of that group in 1964, and he received the Nevins-Freeman Award in 1980 for his work on American Civil War (ACW) history. Three years later, the Department of the Interior awarded him the Distinguished Service Award, and it was followed by a commendation from the United States Secretary of the Army in 1985. On 23 April 2015, US Representative Gerry Connolly (VA) introduced bill H.R.2059 to award Bearss the Congressional Gold Medal "in recognition of his contributions to preservation of American Civil War history and continued efforts to bring our nation's history alive for new generations through his interpretive storytelling." In June 2018, the American Battlefield Trust awarded Bearss its first Lifetime Achievement Award "for his many decades dedicated to researching and relating the nation’s past to millions of people, as well as his advocacy for battlefield preservation."