The Journal of the Civil War Era
@jcwe.bsky.social
The JCWE—published by @uncpress.bsky.social and @richardscenter.bsky.social —is home to the most creative new work on the many issues raised by slavery, the sectional crisis, war, emancipation, and Reconstruction. https://tinyurl.com/4hnmffeu
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Previewing the September 2025 JCWE - The Journal of the Civil War Era
This issue exemplifies the wide sweep of the Civil War Era as scholars understand it, and the success of the journal’s now fifteen-year-long effort to promote broadminded interrogation of the many for...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
In today's Muster, Gregory Downs and Kate Masur preview the September 2025 JCWE www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/09/prev...
In today's Muster, Clark North examines Stephen Douglas' role in shaping debates over citizenship and voting rights in antebellum Illinois www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/11/step...
Stephen Douglas’ Fictitious Case: Immigrant Voting in Antebellum Illinois - The Journal of the Civil War Era
Both sides agreed on the facts. Both sides, the Whigs and the Democrats, agreed that on August 6, 1838, Jeremiah Kyle went to the window of a polling booth in Galena, Illinois. Both sides agreed that...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
November 12, 2025 at 5:24 PM
In today's Muster, Clark North examines Stephen Douglas' role in shaping debates over citizenship and voting rights in antebellum Illinois www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/11/step...
In today's Muster, contributor Kris Plunkett examines the rise of the New Lost Cause in Post-Civil Rights era alternative history stories www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/10/alte...
Alternative Fictions: The New Lost Cause in the Post-Civil Rights Era - The Journal of the Civil War Era
“What if the South Won the Civil War?” Answers to this question reflect shifts in collective memory as authors use artistic license to reframe the real-world past.[1] Mackinlay Kantor’s answer in 1960...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
October 31, 2025 at 12:20 PM
In today's Muster, contributor Kris Plunkett examines the rise of the New Lost Cause in Post-Civil Rights era alternative history stories www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/10/alte...
In today's Muster, we introduce four new contributors to the site. Welcome Cassy Werking, Will Horne, Elliott, and Kris Plunkett to the Muster team! www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/10/intr...
Introducing New Muster Contributors - The Journal of the Civil War Era
In today’s Muster, we are excited to introduce four new contributors to our site. We are excited to welcome Cassy Werking, Will Horne, Elliott Martin, and Kris Plunkett to our team. They will contribu...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
October 23, 2025 at 4:08 PM
In today's Muster, we introduce four new contributors to the site. Welcome Cassy Werking, Will Horne, Elliott, and Kris Plunkett to the Muster team! www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/10/intr...
The history of the Civil War era is inextricably linked to indigenous history and Muster will always strive to be an outlet to highlight the ongoing conversations and important debates that reveal a deeper understanding of this nation's indigenous past
October 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
The history of the Civil War era is inextricably linked to indigenous history and Muster will always strive to be an outlet to highlight the ongoing conversations and important debates that reveal a deeper understanding of this nation's indigenous past
Finally, Lindsey R. Peterson discussed her 2025 JCWE article on settler colonialism, western Unionism, and Indian boarding schools with Muster this past summer. Her groundbreaking article won the 2023 Anthony E. Kaye Memorial Essay award. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/04/lind...
Lindsey Peterson Interview on "'Home Builders': Free Labor Households and Settler Colonialism in Western Union Civil War Commemorations" - The Journal of the Civil War Era
In today’s Muster, associate editor Robert D. Bland speaks with Lindsey R. Peterson about her March 2025 JCWE article “‘Home-Builders’: Free Labor Households and Settler Colonialism in Western Union C...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
October 13, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Finally, Lindsey R. Peterson discussed her 2025 JCWE article on settler colonialism, western Unionism, and Indian boarding schools with Muster this past summer. Her groundbreaking article won the 2023 Anthony E. Kaye Memorial Essay award. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/04/lind...
In 2024, Paul Barba offered an deeply insightful investigation of the Office of Indian Affairs in Kansas during the height of the sectional crisis
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2024/07/acts...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2024/07/acts...
“Acts of Lawless Violence”: The Office of Indian Affairs, and the Coming of the Civil War in Kansas - The Journal of the Civil War Era
On November 26, 1855, Indian Agent John Montgomery hand delivered a notice to the wife of George W. Gray, warning the squatters that they were now “required to abandon your ‘claim’ or ‘location’ on th...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
October 13, 2025 at 4:51 PM
In 2024, Paul Barba offered an deeply insightful investigation of the Office of Indian Affairs in Kansas during the height of the sectional crisis
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2024/07/acts...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2024/07/acts...
Next is Max Flormen's 2021 post on Indigenous Power and Slavery in the American Southwest www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2021/03/insu...
Insurrections, Indigenous Power, & The Empire for Slavery in the Southwest - The Journal of the Civil War Era
The realities of Indigenous power, marronage, and Mexico’s emancipation policies haunted Anglo-American visions of a white supremacist imperial order in the trans-Mississippi West. On May 25, 1836 Con...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
October 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Next is Max Flormen's 2021 post on Indigenous Power and Slavery in the American Southwest www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2021/03/insu...
In honor of Indigenous People's Day, we would like to highlight some Muster posts that have examined Native American history during the Civil War era.
First, Michelle Anderson's 2019 essay on the honoring Indigenous Civil War veterans www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2019/11/hono...
First, Michelle Anderson's 2019 essay on the honoring Indigenous Civil War veterans www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2019/11/hono...
Honoring and Remembering Indigenous Civil War Veterans in Public Spaces - The Journal of the Civil War Era
A groundbreaking ceremony for the National Native American Veterans Memorial was held on September 21, 2019—the fifteen-year anniversary of the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian (N...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
October 13, 2025 at 4:48 PM
In honor of Indigenous People's Day, we would like to highlight some Muster posts that have examined Native American history during the Civil War era.
First, Michelle Anderson's 2019 essay on the honoring Indigenous Civil War veterans www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2019/11/hono...
First, Michelle Anderson's 2019 essay on the honoring Indigenous Civil War veterans www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2019/11/hono...
In today's Muster, we announce that Dr. J. Jacob Calhoun has been selected as the recipient of the Anthony E. Kaye Essay Award for 2025. Congratulations Dr. Calhoun! www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/09/anno...
Announcing the 2025 Anthony E. Kaye Memorial Essay Award - The Journal of the Civil War Era
The Journal of the Civil War Era is pleased to announce that Dr. J. Jacob Calhoun has been selected as the recipient of the Anthony E. Kaye Memorial Essay Award for 2025. His winning essay is titled, ...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
September 24, 2025 at 3:48 PM
In today's Muster, we announce that Dr. J. Jacob Calhoun has been selected as the recipient of the Anthony E. Kaye Essay Award for 2025. Congratulations Dr. Calhoun! www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/09/anno...
In today's Muster, JCWE Associate Editor Robert Bland has a conversation with Caleb Gayle, author of Black Moses: A Sage of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State (Penguin, 2025). www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/09/conv...
Conversation with Caleb Gayle - The Journal of the Civil War Era
In today’s Muster, JCWE Associate Editor Robert Bland has a conversation with Caleb Gayle, Associate Professor of Journalism and Africana Studies at Northeastern University. Gayle is the author of Bla...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
September 19, 2025 at 2:24 PM
In today's Muster, JCWE Associate Editor Robert Bland has a conversation with Caleb Gayle, author of Black Moses: A Sage of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State (Penguin, 2025). www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/09/conv...
A reminder that the JCWE is seeking new contributors to Muster. The deadline for applications is October 1. If you are or anyone you know is interested in contributing to our ongoing online conversation on Civil War history, please apply!
Muster is looking for new contributors! We want to include a wide range of voices from many different of perspectives. Please share the following call widely. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/call...
September 18, 2025 at 1:14 PM
A reminder that the JCWE is seeking new contributors to Muster. The deadline for applications is October 1. If you are or anyone you know is interested in contributing to our ongoing online conversation on Civil War history, please apply!
Congratulations to Dr. Mount!
Congratulations to Guy Emerson Mount, winner of the George and Ann Richards Prize for the best article published in @jcwe.bsky.social in 2024!
Learn more: richardscenter.la.psu.edu/news/announc...
Learn more: richardscenter.la.psu.edu/news/announc...
Announcing the Winner of the 2024 George and Ann Richards Prize - George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center
Guy Emerson Mount has won the $1,000 George and Ann Richards Prize for the best article published in The Journal of the Civil War Era in 2024. The article, “Shall I Go? Black Colonization in the Pacif...
richardscenter.la.psu.edu
September 8, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Congratulations to Dr. Mount!
In today's Muster, Gregory Downs and Kate Masur preview the September 2025 JCWE www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/09/prev...
Previewing the September 2025 JCWE - The Journal of the Civil War Era
This issue exemplifies the wide sweep of the Civil War Era as scholars understand it, and the success of the journal’s now fifteen-year-long effort to promote broadminded interrogation of the many for...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
September 5, 2025 at 1:13 PM
In today's Muster, Gregory Downs and Kate Masur preview the September 2025 JCWE www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/09/prev...
Muster is looking for new contributors! We want to include a wide range of voices from many different of perspectives. Please share the following call widely. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/call...
August 29, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Muster is looking for new contributors! We want to include a wide range of voices from many different of perspectives. Please share the following call widely. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/call...
In today's Muster, JCWE Book Review Editor Megan Bever has a conversation with Shae Smith Cox about her book, The Fabric of the Civil War Society www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/conv...
Conversation Shae Smith Cox - The Journal of the Civil War Era
In today’s Muster, JCWE Book Review Editor Megan Bever has a conversation with Shae Cox Smith, Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University about her book, The Fabric of Civil War Society: Uniforms, Ba...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
August 25, 2025 at 4:34 PM
In today's Muster, JCWE Book Review Editor Megan Bever has a conversation with Shae Smith Cox about her book, The Fabric of the Civil War Society www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/conv...
In this week's Muster, Lindsey Peterson discusses teaching the Clinton Massacre with digital records and authentic tasks
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/teac...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/teac...
Teaching the Civil War: Analyzing the Clinton Massacre Using Authentic Tasks - The Journal of the Civil War Era
Today’s Muster continues our series Teaching the Civil War. Each post in the series has examined a different method that college and K-12 teachers have used to make the Civil War era come alive in the...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
August 15, 2025 at 2:02 PM
In this week's Muster, Lindsey Peterson discusses teaching the Clinton Massacre with digital records and authentic tasks
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/teac...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/08/teac...
In this AHA article, JCWE editors Kate Masur and Greg Downs discuss their ongoing collaborative work with the National Park Service around commemorating the Reconstruction era www.historians.org/perspectives...
Collaborating with the Park Service – AHA
When the National Park Service moved to incorporate Reconstruction into its historical interpretation, it was with the help of academic historians.
www.historians.org
August 8, 2025 at 6:12 PM
In this AHA article, JCWE editors Kate Masur and Greg Downs discuss their ongoing collaborative work with the National Park Service around commemorating the Reconstruction era www.historians.org/perspectives...
In today's Muster, Law Professor Mark Graber discusses the historical context for the Militia Act of 1903 www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/07/the-...
The Militia Act of 1903 in Historical Context - The Journal of the Civil War Era
Recent events have turned public attention to the previously obscure Militia Act of 1903 and the even more obscure historians and political scientists interested in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
July 21, 2025 at 1:44 PM
In today's Muster, Law Professor Mark Graber discusses the historical context for the Militia Act of 1903 www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/07/the-...
In today's Muster, Joan Cashin and Alaina Roberts discuss their special issue of the JCWE on Material Culture during the Civil War era www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/07/conv...
Conversation with June 2025 Special Issue Editors Joan E. Cashin and Alaina E. Roberts - The Journal of the Civil War Era
In today’s Muster, Associate Editor Robert Bland discusses the JCWE’s June special issue on material culture with guest editors Joan E. Cashin and Alaina E. Roberts. Dr. Cashin is a professor of histo...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
July 10, 2025 at 1:06 PM
In today's Muster, Joan Cashin and Alaina Roberts discuss their special issue of the JCWE on Material Culture during the Civil War era www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/07/conv...
In today's Muster, Andrew Donnelly discusses his new book, Confederate Sympathies: Same-Sex Romance, Disunion, and Reunion in the Civil War Era www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/06/andr...
Andrew Donnelly, Confederate Sympathies, and the History of Same-Sex Romance during the Civil War Era - The Journal of the Civil War Era
In today’s Muster, associate editor Robert Bland is joined by Andrew Donnelly to discuss his new book Confederate Sympathies: Same-Sex Romance, Disunion, and Reunion in the Civil War Era. Professor Do...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
June 16, 2025 at 3:21 PM
In today's Muster, Andrew Donnelly discusses his new book, Confederate Sympathies: Same-Sex Romance, Disunion, and Reunion in the Civil War Era www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/06/andr...
You still have until June 15 to submit an essay for the Anthony E. Kaye Memorial Essay Prize! Please consider if you are an early career scholar working on any topic concerning the Civil War era.
Extension: The deadline for the Anthony E. Kaye Memorial Essay Prize has been extended to June 15. The JCWE and the SCWH invite all early career scholars to submit essays on any topic concerning the Civil War era. The winning submission will earn the author a $1,000 award
June 10, 2025 at 3:50 PM
You still have until June 15 to submit an essay for the Anthony E. Kaye Memorial Essay Prize! Please consider if you are an early career scholar working on any topic concerning the Civil War era.
In today's Muster, Michael Allen discipline discusses his nearly 40-year career in public history www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/06/inte...
Interview with Michael Allen on a Career in Public History - The Journal of the Civil War Era
Today’s Muster features an interview with Michael Allen, a retired National Park Service official. Over the course of his nearly four decade career, Allen has played a pivotal role in how several Civi...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
June 9, 2025 at 3:11 PM
In today's Muster, Michael Allen discipline discusses his nearly 40-year career in public history www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/06/inte...
Reposted by The Journal of the Civil War Era
One week remains to submit for the Center for Civil War Research's 2025 conference, "New Directions in the Legal History of the Civil War Era," happening in Oxford, MS Oct. 16-18. Details below; please share! @jcwe.bsky.social @joursouhist.bsky.social @historians.org
olemiss.edu/civil-war-re...
olemiss.edu/civil-war-re...
Conference on the Civil War | Ole Miss
olemiss.edu
May 30, 2025 at 11:36 AM
One week remains to submit for the Center for Civil War Research's 2025 conference, "New Directions in the Legal History of the Civil War Era," happening in Oxford, MS Oct. 16-18. Details below; please share! @jcwe.bsky.social @joursouhist.bsky.social @historians.org
olemiss.edu/civil-war-re...
olemiss.edu/civil-war-re...
Reposted by The Journal of the Civil War Era
In this brief, @marthasjones.bsky.social and I demonstrate that free Black Americans spent decades claiming birthright citizenship against those who denied it, that the Framers of the 14 Amend. listened, and that these facts should matter to today's Courts.
www.brennancenter.org/media/13981/...
www.brennancenter.org/media/13981/...
www.brennancenter.org
May 29, 2025 at 5:59 PM
In this brief, @marthasjones.bsky.social and I demonstrate that free Black Americans spent decades claiming birthright citizenship against those who denied it, that the Framers of the 14 Amend. listened, and that these facts should matter to today's Courts.
www.brennancenter.org/media/13981/...
www.brennancenter.org/media/13981/...
In today’s Muster, we congratulate Dr. Edda Fields-Black on being awarded the 2025 Tom Watson Brown Book Award for Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/05/2025...
2025 Tom Watson Brown Book Award - The Journal of the Civil War Era
The $50,000 Tom Watson Brown Book Award is presented annually by the Watson-Brown Foundation and the Society of Civil War Historians to the author or authors of the best book “on the causes, conduct, ...
www.journalofthecivilwarera.org
May 28, 2025 at 11:55 AM
In today’s Muster, we congratulate Dr. Edda Fields-Black on being awarded the 2025 Tom Watson Brown Book Award for Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/05/2025...