Year in Review: ECW News

Little-known fact: once upon a time, ECW Editor-in-Chief used to be an award-winning newscaster. He teaches in a journalism and communication program. For years, he has written a column in Civil War News. It’s little wonder, then, that he has turned his journalism powers toward the Civil War community—an effort that morphed in 2025 into our “ECW News” initiative.

ECW News has covered stories that impact the wider Civil War community: preservation successes, personnel changes, programing initiatives, and more. It’s a way for ECW to help the Civil War community stay plugged in to developments of interest in real time. We’ve even broken a few stories and captured a few scoops.

Darren Rawlings and Tyler McGraw of ECW’s social media have also contributed to our news initiative. That said, it’s still somewhat of an ad-hoc effort since we don’t have an actual newsroom staffed with full-time reporters, so we don’t claim a comprehensive grip on all things newsworthy. We’re glad to do what we can, though, to keep you informed.

You can check out our archive of Emerging Civil War News stories here.