This article featured on Emerging Civil War in January 2026 explores how the tragic story of the Oates brothers at Gettysburg inspired my poem "My Brother Jacob." The poem My Brother Jacob describes two brothers who joined the Confederacy at the onset of the Civil War and fought at the battle of Gettysburg. The poem follows the journey of Caleb and his younger brother, Jacob. They fought battle after battle together and somehow survived until their shared journey ended for on

Ryan Mascilak’s musical interpretation of “Under the Dogwood Tree” brings an emotional depth to my words I never imagined possible If you haven’t experienced how music can transform historical poetry, listen to this piece and prepare to be moved. Hearing my poem come alive through his talented ensemble reminds me why artistic collaborations across time are so powerful.

The inspiration for my poem "A Casualty of War" comes from an excerpt of a Civil War memoir by Myrta Lockett Avery, published in 1903. The memoir documents the experiences of a young southern woman from the Civil War, 1861-1865. Myrta Lockett Avary - Image courtesy of the Atlanta History Center The experiences were not Ms. Avery’s, however, but rather those of a neighbor whose identity Ms. Avery does not reveal. The neighbor, the wife of a Confederate officer, describes her

Check out the original article also on Emerging Civil War https://emergingcivilwar.com/2025/06/19/the-nameless-and-the-faceless-of-the-civil-war/ The premise of my Civil War poetry is that not everyone who experienced the Civil War made it into the history books. What of all those unknowns? Who were they? What happened to them? Of course, I could not give them a name or a face; however, I could provide them with a voice, a voice to tell their story through the rhyme and narra