ECW Honors Dan Welch with Upton Award

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Emerging Civil War

Dan Welch (left) accepts ECW’s Brig. Gen. Emory Upton Award from Editor-in-Chief Chris Mackowski.

Emerging Civil War has selected Dan Welch as the recipient of this year’s Emory Upton Award. The Upton Award is presented to a member of the Emerging Civil War (ECW) community in recognition of outstanding service to ECW.

“Dan has been a pinch hitter for ECW in so many ways it’s almost impossible to track them all,” said ECW Editor-in-Chief Chris Mackowski. “His portfolio of service has deeply entwined Dan into the very fabric of ECW itself. His energy and enthusiasm have done a lot to propel us forward as an organization at some really key moments.”

Most recently, Welch assumed the mantle of managing editor of the Emerging Revolutionary War book series, published by Savas Beatie in collaboration with ECW and ECW’s sister site, Emerging Revolutionary War. Continue reading →

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The New ECW Speakers Bureau is Now Available!

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Emerging Civil War

If you’re looking for top-notch speakers for your roundtable, historical society, or conference, Emerging Civil War has the perfect resource for you: The 2022-23 ECW Speakers Bureau!

This year’s brochure features twenty-four speakers and more than 150 different talks.

Don’t see the topic you’re looking for? Reach out to us anyway: many of our speakers are willing to customize talks.

The brochure also contains instructions on how to schedule our speakers, including the information for you to include in your inquiry regarding dates, travel arrangements, honoraria, etc.

You can view our brochure online or download it as a full-color PDF.

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“If I Did Not Laugh I Should Die:” The First in a Series of Looks at Civil War Humor

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Meg Groeling

Sometimes the world is not very funny, but the anecdote concerning Abraham Lincoln’s reading of a piece by political humorist Artemus Ward immediately before presenting the Emancipation Proclamation deserves a nod. Apparently, on September 22, 1862, Lincoln was waiting in his office for a cabinet meeting to begin. He was reading a small book and chuckling as all the men assembled. Finally, he looked up and asked, “Gentlemen, have you ever read anything by Artemus Ward?” The answer would have been “yes” from them all, as newspaperman Charles Farrar Browne’s alter ego, Artemus Ward, was familiar to nearly everyone in the country. The president read his cabinet a short passage from Artemus Ward: His Book called “High Handed Outrage in Utica”: Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Lion of Round Top: The Life and Military Service of Brigadier General Strong Vincent in the American Civil War by H.G. Myers

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Jon-Erik Gilot

Reviewed by Jon-Erik Gilot

While there were many personalities on or about Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg, none loom larger than the man whose majestic mustache is outdone only by his impressive ego. See…I didn’t even have to say his name and you know who I’m talking about. And yet there are others who sacrificed on Little Round Top who lacked the pen and the years utilized by that certain Mainer to cement his legacy. And while Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s popularity has reached meteoric levels in more recent decades, Stephen H. Weed, Charles E. Hazlett, and Patrick O’Rourke have been reduced to relative obscurity.

Were it not for the 1974 novel The Killer Angels and a handful of lines in the 1993 movie adaptation, such might have been the case for Union Colonel Strong Vincent. Though his name may be recognizable, many visitors may not realize the significance of Vincent’s contribution to the outcome at Little Round Top on July 2, 1863. After all, Vincent had received only one modern (albeit brief) biographical treatment (What Death More Glorious, Nevins & Styple, Belle Grove Publishing, 1997) that has subsequently been out of print for a number of years.

Enter Hans G. Myers, a young historian from Vincent’s hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania. In this latest treatment, Myers aims to correct what he deems “the vanishing” of Strong Vincent at the hands of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Indeed, Frank Varney’s foreword promises The Lion of Round Top will be a controversial read. Continue reading →

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What If…The Conclusion

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Emerging Civil War

It’s been a couple of weeks, and we’re wrapping up the “What If” Blog Series. Thanks for playing along (or tolerating) our explorations! If you loved the “what ifs,” rest assured this is not the last time ECW authors will ask these types of questions.

If you’d like to view the entire series, here’s the collection: Continue reading →

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Symposium Spotlight: 2023’s Theme Will Be…

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Emerging Civil War

1863: The Great Task Before Us

The Ninth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium will be hosted at Stevenson Ridge (Spotsylvania, Virginia) on August 4-6, 2023. We’ll be focusing on 1863 and some of the most pivotal events of that year of the American Civil War.

Stay tuned this autumn for more details about our speaker line-up and other event announcements.

Early Bird Registration is open through December 31, 2022. (Save $25)

Check out the 2023 Symposium Page for more details!

Early Bird Tickets – $200.00



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What If on Video

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Emerging Civil War

As we get ready to wrap up our “What If” festivities, here’s a reminder to check out the great content we posted on the ECW YouTube page. We tapped some fantastic guest stars for this video series, including Curt Fields and Thomas Jessee, Eric Jacobson, Tim Smith, Greg Biggs, Brian Matthew Jordan, Will Greene, and Ted Savas. We heard from “emerging voice” Joe Ricci and some ECW stalwarts like Dave Powell, Kris White, and Chris Mackowski.

For the full run-down: Continue reading →

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Reflections from the Mule Shoe

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Neil P. Chatelain

I had the privilege of speaking at the 2022 Emerging Civil War Symposium. It was a great experience to share my research with the larger community of both historians and the group’s supporters and fans. I made the trek from Texas to Virginia on Thursday, reaching the Fredericksburg area the afternoon before the symposium began. I suddenly had time for some sightseeing and wanted to make the most of the few hours of daylight I had to spare.

In my few hours to spare I trekked the Mule Shoe. This image was taken from the U.S. starting lines for May 12, 1864 showing their approach to Confederate entrenchments. Off in the distance are the 15th New Jersey and 49th New York monuments.

Where to go amongst all of the historic sites and battlefields surrounding Fredericksburg? After all, the Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania National Military Park alone covers four battlefields from 1862, 1863, and 1864. And that does not count the many smaller sites, state parks, and other national parks within a short drive. I quickly made the subconscious decision that I would head to Spotsylvania. Continue reading →

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Yellowhammers and Environmentalism: Following Law’s Alabama Brigade to Gettysburg (part five)

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Robert Lee Hodge

This is the latest installment in an occasional series about a journey I took in the summer of 2003 with my friend Joe Loehle. We followed the route of Law’s Alabama Brigade from Raccoon Ford, Virginia, to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. You can read the first four installments here.

According to authors Penny and Laine of Struggle at the Round Tops, on the morning of Tuesday, June 16, from Little Washington, Virginia the Alabamians moved north. Joe Loehle and I thought the Rebels possibly took Fodderstack Road to out of Little Washington towards Flint Hill, but that was unclear.

On the road out of Little Washington. Photo by RLH

Continue reading →

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What If. . .Vicksburg Had Fallen in July ’62?

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Dwight Hughes

David G. Farragut on the deck of USS Hartford

In his memoirs, Admiral David D. Porter recollected a November 1861 meeting with President Lincoln and navy secretary Gideon Welles in which—he says—he suggested the plan to seize New Orleans from the sea.

Lincoln liked the idea and added: “while we are about it, we can push on to Vicksburg and open the river all the way along.” Porter’s foster brother, Captain David G. Farragut, would command the expedition while then-Commander Porter led the assisting mortar-boat squadron.[1]

January 20, 1862: Secretary Welles promoted Farragut to flag officer and command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. His first order was to “take possession of [New Orleans] under the guns of your squadron, and hoist the American flag thereon.” But that was not the only objective: “If the Mississippi expedition from Cairo shall not have descended the river, you will take advantage of the panic to push a strong force up the river to take all their defenses in the rear.”[2]

Continue reading →

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