ECW5: Steward Henderson

I cannot believe that it has been five years since Kris White and Chris Mackowski informed me that they were starting a blog, “Emerging Civil War,” and asked me to be an author. I had often thought about writing a Civil War book on African Americans in the Civil War; however, after talking with them, I thought it was a great idea to write blog posts.

I was even more pleased to find out that several of my friends and fellow historians were also writing for ECW: Dan Davis, Ed Alexander, Phil Greenwalt, Caroline Davis, and Ryan Quint. I met the other ECW historians at the past two symposiums and now have new historian friends.

My fondest thoughts were of the past two symposiums and the tours of the battlefields. I love going on the battlefields and listening to Kris, Chris, and Dan, even though I have given tours of Chancellorsville and Second Fredericksburg myself.

Kris White kind of took me under his wing when I came to the Fredericksburg Battlefield in 2005; I was amazed with his knowledge of all of the regiments and actions on the various battlefields. Plus, he told me a lot about Civil War living history and reenacting. I am always grateful to him about all of the Civil War history he has shared with me from 2005 through this present day.

At the second symposium, I missed the opening night because of the History at Sunset program that I participated in at Chatham. However, on the next day, Chris Mackowski informed me that my blog post of African Americans in the Civil War was the most read post on the blog.

This year I was pleased to be on the discussion panel on the first night of the symposium.

So, thanks to all of the readers of ECW! Without you, the website would not be successful. It was great to meet so many of you at the symposiums and on the battlefields.