Keynote Speaker Switch
Well, we have some bad news about the Symposium, but we have some good news and some other good news and some other good news, so hopefully it all balances out.
First, the bad news: unfortunately, keynote speaker Dr. Harold Holzer is unable to make it to the Symposium this summer.
But the first batch of good news is that he didn’t cancel out on us outright; rather, he asked if he could postpone until next year. So expect to see Dr. Holzer keynoting our 2026 Symposium August 7–8, 2026. AND, he’ll be bringing his good friend Dr. Craig L. Symonds with him. So that’ll give us TWO keynote speakers for our Twelfth Annual Emerging Civil War Symposium at Stevenson Ridge.
However, if you purchased a ticket for this year’s Symposium based on Dr. Holzer’s keynote, and you’d like to get your money back, we are willing to refund people’s money. Please email us at emergingcivilwar@gmail.com to request your refund. We do apologize for any inconvenience.
That said, in yet another piece of good news, ECW’s good friend, Theodore P. Savas has agreed to serve as our keynote speaker this year. Ted will talk about his longtime passion project, the August Powder Works. The title of his talk will be “Handshakes, Gambling, Gunpowder, and Augusta: How George W. Rains and Jefferson Davis Changed the Course of the American Civil War.”
We’ll have more details about Ted’s talk in next week’s Symposium Spotlight!
Thanks Chris. I am sorry Harold had to bow out this year. I look forward to seeing everyone at the symposium. I promise the talk will be much more scintillating and, frankly, mind-blowing for longtime students of the war than the title might otherwise indicate. Strap in.