10,000 Posts: Neil Chatelain Dips into the ECW Archives

Here are a few of my favorite articles that have been on the ECW website over the years:

Modern Photography: No Monuments on the Ocean by Dwight Hughes, posted on March 3, 2017. It was one of the first ECW articles I remember reading. Its message remains poignant and its prose showcases how every word matters in short form articles.

Order of Battle – Why Those Lists Matter by Sarah Kay Bierle, posted on September 27, 2018. I love this one not so much for its content, but because it helped inspire my own work. This article made me think, and it implanted ideas that resulted in my own ECW articles, as well as changes to my own research process. I love the article because of that symbolism about how ECW’s writers can influence and help one another to create a better overall interpretation of the conflict.

The Battle of Mount Desert Island: Fear, Rumor, and Reality on the Maine Coast by guest author Peter Vermilya, posted on November 3, 2025. I have been the ECW editorial board chair for the last couple of years, meaning I oversee all the guest writing on the website. It also means I end up reading everything written by those guest authors, often multiple times. To date, my favorite guest article from my time as editorial board chair is Peter Vermilyea’s article from 2025. It has a naval theme, which I love. But more than that, it highlights the ‘cool story’ side of the ECW writing system. Out articles are relatively short, meaning it can be difficult to look at bigger themes and ideas. Instead, that length provides chances to dive deeper into something obscure. This is a great example of that obscure cool story getting its moment in the sun.

My favorite articles that I’ve written:

Beyond the 13th Amendment: Ending Slavery in the Indian Territory, posted on July 10, 2018. This article was one of the first I ever wrote for Emerging Civil War as a guest author, back in 2018. To date it is the most popular article among those I have written. I love it because it forces readers to look outside the box of the traditional story about how the system of enslavement ended in the United States.

Some New Thoughts on the First U.S. Service Member to Die During the Civil War, posted on October 2, 2024. This one is one of my favorites because it demonstrates that in depth original research can be made and showcased in short form online articles. I also love this one because it reminds readers about the cost of war and the sacrifices servicemembers make when donning the uniform, even if that sacrifice has nothing to do with combat operations.

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