From the Editor
The telegram that began the Civil War: that’s a mighty big claim. But that’s what the Alabama state historical marker at the foot of Dexter Street says, or close enough. The sign calls it the “War Between the States,” a name I see on a majority of the state’s old markers.
The rest of the marker’s text reproduces the telegram sent on April 11, 1861, from the nascent Confederacy’s provisional Secretary of War, L. P. Walker, to “General Beauregard, Charleston.” The telegram authorized Beauregard to “reduce the fort as your judgement decides to be most practicable.”
The signs stands atop a metal post, paint chipped, outside the Winter Building in downtown Montgomery. This was the telegraph office in 1861. The authorization conveyed in the telegram originated from the Alabama Capitol, standing lofty atop the city’s own “capitol hill” at the opposite end of Dexter Street.
If we’re to believe the sign, the rebellion began here.
And so how amazing is it, if we were to walk across this very same intersection to the opposite side of the street, that’d we’d be standing in the spot where another rebellion began. One might even call it a revolution.
Right here, at this same intersection, stands a statue of Rosa Parks. It was here where Parks climbed onto a city bus after a long day at work, and when told to give up her seat for a white passenger, she refused. The driver stopped the bus and called the police. They had only traveled two blocks.
At the Dexter Street Baptist Church—just a few hundred feet in front of the Capitol, on the same side of the street as the Winter Building—a young preacher, Martin Luther King, Jr., then unknown, would help draw attention to Parks’s case. The resulting Montgomery bus boycott would spark the Civil Rights Movement.
During the Civil War Sesquicentennial, the National Park Service invited people to consider the theme “From Civil War to Civil Rights.” It was a terrible theme for a series of site-specific commemorations on battlefields that essentially had little to nothing to do with the Civil Rights Movement. That said, it’s a brilliant way of looking at the arc of American history.
The telegram from the Winter Building didn’t just start the Civil War—it led to the conditions that put Parks on a segregated bus. As King later said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Standing at the lower end of Dexter Street in downtown Montgomery, we can see that arc bend, like a telegraph wire stretched from street corner to street corner.
— Chris Mackowski, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief, Emerging Civil War
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Eleventh Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge
Have you reserved your spot yet? Tickets are on sale for our 11th Annual Symposium, which will take place August 1–3, 2025, at Stevenson Ridge in Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. The theme will be “The Cities of War,” with keynote speaker Ted Savas and a Sunday tour by John Hennessy. It is for sure going to be a great time. Pack up the family and come enjoy a great event!
For tickets visit our Symposium page.
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Bert Dunkerly and Doug Crenshaw made a quick trip to Antietam to check out the new exhibits and film at the visitor center (they're great!) and do some hiking. It was cold and snowy but perfect for seeing the landscape and understanding historic views with the foliage gone. | |
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Joshua Frye spent some of February exploring Civil Rights sites in Montgomery and Selma, Alabama (with some Civil War sites too, of course) with ECW's Chris Mackowski. They even had a near miss with the governor!
| Dwight Hughes did a Zoom presentation to the Hershey Civil War Roundtable in Pennsylvania on "General Burnside’s Sand March: The Forgotten North Carolina Expedition." Other than that, he is just staying warm, pounding keys, and looking forward to spring. | |
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Neil P. Chatelain just had an article published in the Winter 2025 issue of Civil War Navy - The Magazine titled "The 1861 Totten Report." In addition, he also just won the Lone Star College Faculty Writing Award for his book Treasure and Empire in the Civil War.
Click here to get your copy of Treasure and Empire in the Civil War!
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Brian D. Kowell recently gave a talk to the Fort Myers Civil War Roundtable about “Horses in the Civil War.”
Click here to see where you can catch all of your favorite Emerging Civil War authors next
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April has felt a little like a firehose for Chris Mackowski. He spoke in Mobile, Alabama, for the American Battlefield Trust, where he discussed the surrenders of the Confederacy, “From Appomattox to Citronelle and Beyond.” Richard Taylor surrendered to Edward Canby just north of Mobile in a small town called Citronelle. Chris then had the chance to celebrate the 600th meeting of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable, where he gave a talk “Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg.”
He's also made the social media rounds lately. He joined The Tattooed Historian, John Heckman, to discuss their “Top 3 Underrated Moments of the Civil War.” Kevin Levin hosted him for a live chat on Civil War Memory to talk about his book A Tempest of Iron and Lead: Spotsylvania Court House, May 8–21, 1864. Chris also joined Charlie Watts’ History with Waffles YouTube page to talk about Tempest, as well.
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Since February 1st was the one-year anniversary of Tonya McQuade's book launch of A State Divided: The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree of Andrew County, Missouri, She decided that was the perfect day to launch the newsletter she had been planning for a while. It provides updates on her book talks this past year, a link to the KQ2 TV news story about her October book tour in Missouri, and updates on her current projects Here is the newsletter link for those interested, and if you want to subscribe to future editions (She plans to have them come out four times a year), you can email her at tonyagrahammcquade@gmail.com.
Jill Newmark's Without Concealment, Without Compromise: The Courageous Lives of Black Civil War Surgeons, part of the Engaging the Civil War Series, recently gained exposure through a CBC Canada News article that highlighted the story of Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott, the first black Canadian licensed as a physician and a veteran surgeon of the U.S. Army during the American Civil War. You can find the featured article from CBC here. In addition, Newmark spoke about her book at Duke University on February 13 at an event that highlighted the remarkable stories of American black surgeons in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Kevin Pawlak spent last week going to NC to speak to the Brunswick CWRT. While in the Wilmington area, he visited the new visitor center at Fort Fisher State Historic Site and Oaklawn Cemetery in Wilmington, the final resting place of William Whiting, William MacRae, and Rose O'Neal Greenhow, among others.
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At the end of January, Terry Rensel made his first-ever trip to Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. While there he met ECW author Lee White while visiting Lookout Mountain and ran into Dave Powell (with his friend Patrick McCormick) at the Dalton Relic Show.
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This month, Evan Portman spoke to the Phil Kearny Civil War Roundtable on the Eleventh Corps at Gettysburg.
Tim Talbott represented the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association at the Hear2Hear Black History Month event at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond, Virginia, on February 15 by staffing an information table and educating the attendees about the battle and the organization's mission. Tim also attended the American Civil War Museum's Symposium, "On the Battlefield" on February 22, as a learning opportunity and to network with other attendees. Lastly, Tim will present "Making a More Perfect Union: Life Stories of USCT Soldiers Who Fought at New Market Heights," on February 28, to the Lake of the Woods Civil War Study Group at Locust Grove, Virginia.
Cecily Zander authored an awesome column in Civil War Monitor Magazine titled, "Veterans Visit an Idealized West." Click here to read the article.
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The new Emerging Civil War webstore has officially launched on the website!
You can now start ordering for the Civil War enthusiasts in your family: t-shirts, polos, cups, hats, books, and much more!
Visit the website store to order today!
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A Civil War Journey at Cool Spring by Brandy Noyalas and Jonathan Noyalas is aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning in History and provides an interactive approach to studying the Civil War era based on best educational and literacy practices. A Civil War Journey at Cool Spring: A History for Young Learners uses stories from the Battle of Cool Spring to help children ages 8 to 12 explore our nation’s defining moment. After reading this book, young learners will gain a deeper understanding of the Civil War and how events on the battlefield impacted soldiers and their families.
You can purchase your copy here!
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There’s still time to purchase Chris Heisey’s incredible 2025 Civil War Calendar. It’s a work of art and a labor of love by ECW’s own all-star photographer. “A spirit in my feet said ‘go,’ and so I went!” Chris says. The calendar features lush, full-color images from battlefields and is chock full of Civil War day-by-day facts. The cost of the calendar is $17.95 and all proceeds made from the purchase are donated to the American Battlefield Trust and Emerging Civil War.
Available here from Tidemark Press
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Shrouded Veterans
by Frank Jasztrembski
On November 20, 1864, Washington, D.C., lawyer Simon Wolf penned a passionate letter to the editors of the Evening Post in response to the prejudice and bigotry faced by his Jewish brethren. “My heart is sick, my brain weary, and my hopes dampened by these manifestations, not alone in the social, but radiating from the highest official circles,” he declared. Rebuking local politicians and even some metropolitan journals for labeling Jews as cowards, Wolf provided evidence that “some of the grandest acts of heroism performed during this war were done by Jews.”
Wolf specifically named his cousin, Marcus M. Spiegel, colonel of the 120th Ohio Infantry: “[He] was severely wounded, serving under Grant in the famous and immortal Vicksburg campaign, who was advised and entreated to resign, but who gave a decisive no, saying that he embarked in this contest to see his country free and united or his life ended, and who at last fell by a rebel bullet in that fatal Red River expedition, May 4, 1864.”
Read more about Spiegel, the highest-ranking Jewish officer killed in action during the Civil War, in the latest Shrouded Veterans column.
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Emerging Revolutionary War News
By Phill Greenwalt
February is a momentous month in the American Revolutionary War era. If one is partial to alliteration, then the letter "F" is your friend. February saw the French and Indian War end with the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and also the alliance between the French and Americans during the American Revolution. For those not fond of alliteration, the pivotal engagement at Moores Creek, now a site in the National Park Service, was fought this month in 1776.
On February 22, Emerging Revolutionary War historian Mark Maloy spoke to the Sons of the American Revolution in Leesburg, Virginia. If you missed that, he will also be at Historic Christ Church on April 10.
In addition, Bert Dunkerly will be presenting "The Other Tea Parties" at the University of Mary Washington Elderstudy in Fredericksburg, Virginia on March 4 at 10 a.m.
We also invite you to click over to our YouTube page, give it a follow, and catch all of the popular "Rev War Reverly" videos. We have experienced some technical problems on Facebook--what you get when you mix historians with technology--so if you have trouble viewing there, all videos get posted to YouTube shortly after the Sunday they are aired. If podcasts are your thing, search "Emerging Revolutionary War" to listen to them on the podcast app of your choice.
As always, check out the blog at www.emergingrevolutionarywar.org as we gear up for America's 250th."
P.S. The picture is of Moores Creek National Battlefield, which I took. :)
Remember to follow us on YouTube, Facebook, and the blog to keep current on the history of the Revolutionary War era!
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You Can Help Support Emerging Civil War
Emerging Civil War is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. If you’re interested in supporting “emerging voices” by making a tax-deductible donation, you can do so by visiting our website: www.emergingcivilwar.com; you can mail us a check at the address below (make checks payable to "Emerging Civil War"); or you can make a gift through PayPal.
Thank you!
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March
4: Bert Dunkerly, “The Other Tea Parties,” Mary Washington Elderstudy, Fredericksburg, VA (10 a.m.)
8: Derek Maxfield, NYS Military Museum, Saratoga Springs, NY, 1:00 PM
11: Dwight Hughes, “”Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The USS Monitor and the Battle of Hampton Roads,” Loudoun County Civil War Roundtable, Leesburg, VA
12: Kevin Pawlak, “John Brown’s Raid,” Hamilton County CWRT, Hamilton County, IN
13: Derek Maxfield, Chickamauga/Chattanooga CWRT, 7:00 PM (Virtual)
12: Bert Dunkerly, “The 250th is Coming!” Van Horne House, Somerville, NJ
13: Bert Dunkerly, “Unhappy Catastrophes: The Revolution in Central New Jersey,” Sayreville Historical Society
13: Jon-Erik Gilot, “The Battle of Philippi,” Tuscarawas Valley CWRT, Dover, OH
19: Jon-Erik Gilot, “John Brown’s Raid,” Western Pennsylvania CWRT, Sewickley, PA
19: Chris Mackowski, Civil War monuments, Scottsdale (AZ) Civil War Roundtable
20: Bert Dunkerly, “Brown’s Island Explosion,” Hampton Roads CWRT (VA)
26: Chris Mackowski, “The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson,” Holland Land Office Museum, Batavia, NY
April
4: Chris Mackowski, “Grant’s Last Battle,” Harrisburg (PA) Civil War Roundtable
4: Jon-Erik Gilot, “Hunter’s Retreat from Lynchburg,” Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation Conference, Winchester (VA)
4: Neil P. Chatelain, “The People’s Civil War: Five Individuals in the Conflict,” Lone Star College North Harris Civil War History Conference, Houston, TX
7: Dave Powell, “The Atlanta Campaign,” Atlanta (GA) Civil War Round Table
9: Kevin Pawlak, “Mosby’s Rangers at the End of the Civil War,” Harpers Ferry CWRT
10: Chris Mackowski, “The Surrenders of the Confederacy,” American Civil War Museum at Appomattox (VA)
12: Daniel Welch, “Never Such A Campaign: The Effects of the Second Manassas Campaign on the Battle of Antietam,” Antietam Institute
12: Kevin Pawlak: “In the Wake of Antietam: The 1862 Loudoun Valley Campaign,” Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Museum Civil War Symposium, Carnegie, PA
12: Chris Mackowski, “Stonewall Jackson and the Surrender of Harpers Ferry,” Antietam Institute Spring Symposium
23: Kevin Pawlak, “Battle of Bristoe Station,” Fredericksburg CWRT
24: Jon-Erik Gilot, “John Brown’s Raid,” Whitehall Historical Society, Pittsburgh, PA
26: Chris Mackowski, “Grant’s Last Battle,” McCormick Civil War Institute Symposium, Shenandoah University
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