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...

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

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...

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...

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...

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!

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...

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...

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-...

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...

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...

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...

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/...

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...

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

In today's Muster, JCWE Book Review Editor Megan Bever is joined by Jill L. Newmark, for a conversation about her recent book Without Concealment, Without Compromise: Black Civil War Surgeons www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/05/conv...

In today's Muster, we celebrate JCWE contributors Bianca Dang and Christina Davidson for receiving the Latin American Studies Association's 2025 Best Article Prize. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/04/cong...

In today's Muster, Lindsey Peterson discusses her March 2025 JCWE article "Home-Builders": Free Labor Households and Settler Colonialism in Western Union Civil War Commemorations. This article received the 2023 Anthony Kaye Memorial Essay Award. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/04/lind...

TOMORROW! Join us on Zoom, Friday, April 11 at 1pm ET FOR SHA's Classic Texts in Southern History, featuring W.E.B. Du Bois's Black Reconstruction in America! Featuring Hilary Green, Michael Fitzgerald, Alaina Roberts, and Robert Greene II. Email Whitney Nell Stewart for zoom link.

In today's Muster, @martenj.bsky.social examines the lives of draftees from the Sixth Wisconsin and what their stories tell us about the broader military experience www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/.../alternat...

In today's Muster, @melissadevelvis.org discusses her new book, Gendering Secession: White Women and Politics in South Carolina, 1859–1861 www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/03/inte...

The JCWE is seeking submissions for the Anthony E. Kaye Memorial Essay Prize. The submission deadline is June 1, 2025. For more information, see the link below. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/03/call...

Are you a scholar who is working on issues related to politics, the state, or capitalism during the Civil War era? If so, please consider submitting a proposal for this JCWE special issue. The deadline for submission is April 25, 2025. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/03/call...

⬇️ Deadline for this workshop is April 1 ⬇️. Please apply if you've got a relevant article in the works and want a structure for getting feedback and moving toward submitting to a peer reviewed journal! @jcwe.bsky.social @richardscenter.bsky.social

If you work on political economy in the Civil War era check out this CFP! It will be a wonderful issue of the @jcwe.bsky.social plus you’ll get to participate in a manuscript workshop with the other contributors at @richardscenter.bsky.social at Penn State as part of the process. 🗃️

The Journal of the Civil War Era will have a special issue on political economy edited by me, @maggor.bsky.social, Sofia Valeonti & Nicolas Barreyre. I'll post again when the link is up on the Muster, but wanted to get the word out now. See CFP. Submission deadline is April 25. 🗃️

In today's Muster, our Teaching the Civil War series continues. Mark Johnson and Michael Thompson discuss a team-teaching experience at a local Confederate cemetery. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/03/teac...

The March 2025 issue of the JCWE is now available! Today's Muster offers a preview of the journal's most recent volume. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/03/edit...

Happy book publication day! Writing and researching Unforgettable Sacrifice was a journey. I am forever grateful to my family and community kinskeepers who inspired the book and ensured that I narrated their past with accuracy, dignity, and respect. 1/3

In today's Muster, JCWE Book Review editor Megan Bever talks with Dr. Guiliana Perrone about her book Nothing More than Freedom (Cambridge University Press, 2023) www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/02/conv...

In today's Muster, Bennett Parten discusses his new book Somewhere toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/02/book...

Please consider applying for this awesome opportunity!

We love place-based education too! In case you missed Ian Delahanty's post on teaching the Civil War, check it out as you head into the weekend.

In today's Muster, Hilary Green examines the role of photography in Black Civil War memory www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/02/phot...

In today's Muster, Ian Delahanty describes how a place-based learning approach worked in his Civil War history course www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/01/teac...

In today's Muster, Brook Thomas explores the legacy of Ulysses S. Grant's Ku Klux Klan pardons www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2025/01/the-...

Happy New Year from the editorial team at the Journal of the Civil War Era! We want to thank you all for engaging with us over the course of 2024. Here are a couple of highlights that we want to spotlight in case you missed them.

In today's Muster, JCWE Book Review Editor Megan Bever joins Brian Matthew Jordan and Jonathan W. White to talk about their edited collection, Final Resting Places: Reflections on the Meaning of Civil War Graves (University of Georgia Press, 2023) www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2024/12/inte...

🗃️ And the @richardscenter.bsky.social also posted our CFA for the Mark & Ann Persun Visiting Scholars Program (this year in CWE political history). This fellowship *does not require relocation* & is for associate profs. Apps due Feb 15, 2025. Details here: richardscenter.la.psu.edu/fellowships/...