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• A retired CIA code breaker deciphered a 147-year-old message
  between Confederate officers. The dispatch indicates Maj. Gen. John G. Walker
  would not be sending additional troops to reinforce the Confederate hold on the Mississippi
  River. The same day, the Mississippi River fell to the Union.

• Historians found a myriad of errors
  in Virginia history textbooks, and many of the errors relate to the history of
  the Civil War. The books include incorrect dates for the Battle of Bull Run and the
  end of slavery, as well as erroneous figures for the amount of men who led Pickett’s
  Charge.

• The United States Postal Service is celebrating the sesquicentennial of the Civil
  War by releasing commemorative
  forever stamps depicting the major battles in the war. Souvenir sheets of two
  stamps will be issued annually, and the first set will be available April 12.

• Members of the Cincinnati Sons of Union Veterans are working with a civil war preservation
  group in Georgia to restore
  a monument in Chickamauga National Battlefield Park. The monument marks where
  Gen. William Haines Lytle, a member of one of Cincinnati’s founding families, was
  killed while leading union forces in a counterattack.

• Many states are facing cutbacks and budget turmoil, leaving little
  funding for Civil War sesquicentennial celebrations. New York, North Carolina
  and other states have yet to allocate any money for the festivities, but Virginia
  and Pennsylvania are leading the charge with budgets of $2 million and $5 million.

• Family Tree is celebrating the Civil War sesquicentennial with our latest book Life
  in Civil War America and with a special issue of Family Tree Magazine.
  Look for it on newsstands March 8.