The American Civil War left an enduring legacy in Alabama where ideologies ranged from fiery secessionism to ardent Unionism. The first capital of the Confederacy was located in Montgomery. Union supporters in Winston County threatened to secede from the state. Selma saw the late-war Battle of Ebenezer Church, and the Selma Arsenal manufactured most of the Confederacy’s ammunition. The Reconstruction that followed the Civil War set the state on a course that would culminate in significant events in the U.S. civil rights movement.

Famous names abound in any recounting of the history of Alabama in the Civil War: Jefferson Davis; William Lowndes Yancey - “the Orator of Secession;” Nathan Bedford Forrest; James H. Wilson; Unionist Williamson R. W. Cobb; Confederate general William J. Hardee and even Abraham Lincoln - his in-laws are buried in Selma.

In late October, we will set forth on a unique tour that will visit sites in and around Montgomery and Selma. Most of these are rarely visited by history enthusiasts.

On Friday, we will focus on Montgomery. First, we’ll visit the building which served as the Capitol of the Confederacy in 1861, and we’ll see the commemorative brass marker in the shape of a six-pointed star, set at the precise location where Jefferson Davis stood on February 18, 1861, to take his oath of office as first (and only) President of the Confederate States of America. Then, we’ll visit the first White House of the Confederacy, the 1835 Italianate-style house which served as the executive residence of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and family while the Capitol of the Confederacy was in Montgomery.

After lunch we will walk to the foot of Dexter Ave (wartime Market Street) and discuss the Exchange Hotel where the convention and subsequent government activities were based, the CSA government complex, the wartime docks, and the Winter Building from which, on April 11, 1861, Confederate Secretary of War Leroy Pope Walker sent the telegram to Charleston authorizing General P. G. T. Beauregard to fire on Fort Sumter.

Then we’ll visit Oakwood Cemetery where William Lowndes Yancey and Varina Davis' father are buried as is country music icon Hank Williams, Sr.  And we’ll stop at St James Church where there is still a marked pew for Jefferson Davis. On Saturday, we will drive to the Selma area and follow Forrest's and Wilson's routes into Selma, stopping at Plantersville for a discussion of the Battle of Ebenezer Church, also known as the Battle of Selma, in which Wilson and three divisions of Union cavalry defeated the Confederates led by Forrest on April 1& 2, 1865. We’ll view some remnants of the battlefield. 

Then we’ll stop by the Alabama River at the antebellum St. James Hotel which served as a headquarters for Union troops during their occupation of Selma. We will see the Pettus Bridge, named for Confederate brigadier general Edmund Winston Pettus, infamous as the site of the Bloody Sunday conflict of March 7, 1965 in which police attacked civil rights demonstrators. Next, we’ll visit the Selma Arsenal and Gun Works which was a leading manufacturing center for the South in 1863-64. This arsenal employed as many as 10,000 workers in approximately 100 buildings and was second only to the Tredegar Ironworks in Richmond, Virginia, in the production of war materiAfter lunch, we’ll pass by the Brown Chapel AME Church which played a pivotal role in the Selma marches that helped lead to passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. We’ll also pass by magnificent Sturdivant Hall en route to Old Live Oak Cemetery. There we will visit graves of some of the prominent people interred, including Elodie B. Todd, half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln, and William Rufus King, the 13th Vice-President of the United States who died of tuberculosis after only 45 days in office. Finally on Saturday, we will visit Cahaba, the first permanent state capital of Alabama and now a ghost town and state historic site. Here a large cotton warehouse was made into a prison known as Castle Morgan. Here, too, Forrest and Wilson discussed a prisoner exchange after the Battle of Ebenezer Church.

We hope you’ll join is for this intriguing study and tour of Alabama during the War Between the States! About Our Tour Leader Norman Dasinger, Jr, a resident of Rainbow City , Alabama, is a veteran tour leader of Atlanta Campaign sites and the Civil War in Alabama 

Program Schedule

 

Friday, October 30

8:00 AM                        Depart from Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown, Montgomery, AL

                                      - tour Montgomery area sites

5:00 PM                         Arrive back at Hampton Inn & Suites

Saturday, October 31

8:00 AM                        Depart from Hampton Inn & Suites – tour Selma area sites  

5:00 PM                         Arrive back at from Hampton Inn & Suites  

 

Registration Fees (Lodging not Included):

Before August 29: $292              Before September 29: $308             After September 29: $325

 

If You Must Cancel we will refund 100% of your fees paid. However, to receive a 100% refund, you must allow 30 days from the date of our receipt of your notice of cancellation

What is Included in your Registration Fee:

·        the services of an expert historian chosen for his knowledge and experience

·        transportation to sites as indicated

·        Friday & Saturday lunches

·        refreshments and snacks during the tour

·        information package

 

Base Location & Lodging: We will be based at the Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown, 100 Commerce Street, Montgomery, AL 36104 (at the corner of Bibb & Commerce Street) where we have reserved a block of rooms at the special nightly rate of $89.00 + tax – Single or Double. To reserve a room under our block, call 334-265-1010 and identify yourself as a registrant for the CWEA tour and give a confirmation number of 8455-0154. The hotel provides free parking and a continental breakfast for all hotel guests.

 

From Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM): a one-way taxi fare will run about $10.

 

Directions: From Interstate 85 South - Travel on Interstate until the I-65 Junction. Merge onto I-65N ramp heading to Montgomery/Birmingham and travel 4.8 miles to Exit 172 (Herron Street). Continue on Herron Street for three blocks and then it will turn slightly left and become Bibb Street. Travel approximately four blocks on Bibb Street and the hotel will be on the corner of Bibb Street and Commerce Street on your left.

From Hwy 231 - Travel on highway until you reach Eastern Blvd/Hwy 80. Turn left and travel approximately 5 miles. Turn right onto Norman Bridge Rd and travel approximately 4 miles. Norman Bridge will turn into Decatur and Decatur will turn into Union St. Turn left on Madison Avenue which will turn into Bibb Street shortly after. Follow Bibb until you arrive at hotel on your right at the corner of Bibb and Commerce