The 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 its arsenal manufactured most of the Confederacy’s ammunition. After
the Civil War, Reconstruction 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
early November, we will set forth on a unique tour that will visit sites in and
around Montgomery, Selma and Marion, Alabama. 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 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 Walker sent the telegram to Charleston authorizing General P. G. T. Beauregard to fire on Fort Sumter. Then we’ll visit Oakwood Cemetery where 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, in the Selma area, we will follow Forrest's and Wilson's routes, 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 materials.
After 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. On Sunday morning, we’ll travel to nearby Marion and see streets lined with antebellum houses, the pre-war courthouse and businesses dating from the early 20th century. We will visit the site of Sam Houston’s wedding, Forrest’s headquarters following the Battle of Selma, the building in which Nicola Marschall designed the first National Confederate flag and the home in which it was sewn. Marion is also the home of Judson College - the longest running women’s-only college in the U. S., and the Marion Military Institute where the Breckenridge Confederate hospital was located.
We hope you’ll join is for this intriguing autumn 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.
Friday,
November 5
8:30 AM Depart from base hotel in Selma, Alabama soon to be announced
-
tour Montgomery area sites
5:00 PM Arrive
back at hotel in Selma
Saturday,
November 6
8:00 AM Depart
from hotel in Selma – tour Selma area sites
5:00 PM Arrive
back at hotel in Selma
Sunday, November 7
8:00 AM Depart
from hotel in Selma – tour Marion area sites
1:00 PM Arrive
back at hotel in Selma
Registration Fee (Lodging
not Included): $325
If You Must Cancel we will refund 100% of your fees paid.
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 a hotel in Selma, Alabama soon to be announced where we will
reserve a block of sleeping rooms. Hotel information and room rates will soon
be posted on this website.
