NEWS---Lutheran Seminary At Gettysburg Creates Museum of Civilian Life, Battlefield Medicine; Price Tag-$15 Million

Lutheran Theological Seminary Outlines Civil War Museum Plans, Amy Stansbury, Evening Sun, August 29, 2012. 

In a town with plenty of history already on display, the Lutheran Theological Seminary plans a museum with more stories to tell, organizers said Wednesday evening at a public information session. The Seminary Ridge Museum, to be located in Schmucker Hall in Gettysburg, will focus on stories of the seminary and religious leaders, as well as those of doctors, nurses and soldiers, with an emphasis on interactive exhibits.

“Just about every inch of this museum will be public access,” said Barbara Franco, founding executive director of the Seminary Ridge Museum. “Even the offices will be offsite. We really want this to be a public place now.” The desire to make the entire building accessible to the public stems from the historical relevance of the place itself. During the battle it was used as a hospital and its cupola served as a lookout for General John Buford. After the museum opens that cupola will be available to the public, a long awaited moment for many Civil War buffs.

Of course the privilege will not come without a price. Cupola tickets will cost $20 each to compensate for the high cost of maintaining the structure. Regular adult admission to the museum will cost $9, senior citizen and student tickets will cost $7. Discount rates will also be available for large groups. “We are really looking to market this to families with children and school groups,” Franco said. “There will be lots of interactive exhibits for children to connect with the history. In an effort to make it more appealing toward children, the stories of the Zeigler family will be woven throughout Schmucker Hall. The Zeiglers lived in the building during the battle and two of the children left behind memoirs detailing what life was like during that time.

Two pathways will also be built throughout the seminary to deepen those historical connections. Both have been funded by federal grants and will be finished in time for the museums grand opening July 1, 2013.  On July 1, 1863 at 10 oclock the first artillery fire was heard on the ridge, Franco said. What better time to cut the ribbon and open the museum. So far, the museum is on track to be finished in time for the 150th celebration. It is on time and on budget and construction is expected to be completed by October. 

One hundred eighty seven years ago the seminary came to Gettysburg because the town offered it the most support, Michael Cooper-White, president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary said. We have always tried to be a part of the community and what we are doing today is part of that vision. Once complete, Schmucker Hall will utilize a geothermal heating system as part of that certification. The staff will work toward receiving a silver LEED certification for the building, identifying it as an environmentally friendly and sustainable piece of architecture. 

For a historic building to receive a silver LEED certification is pretty incredible, Franco said. But that is just another part of the seminarys long term plans. The museum will then prepare for a soft opening in April, allowing a limited number of preview tours to pass through Schmucker Hall before the grand opening in July.  In the end, the project will cost $15 million, financed by the seminarys fundraising efforts.  So far, $10 million have been raised. 

That money will go toward more than just the preservation of Schmucker Hall. 
Parking is in short supply at the seminary, and museum plans include the addition of 100 new parking spaces to be installed throughout the campus.  In order to fix the parking problem without destroying too much green space, the seminary will spread out parking across a larger area and disperse vegetated islands throughout the lots. 

This will create a tree canopy across the area, adding more green space and hiding the cars, John Spangler, president of the Seminary Ridge Historic Preservation Foundation said. Amidst concerns that the additional parking spaces would disturb sacred ground where the Confederate last stand was fought, Spangler reminded the public that the probable location of the barricades used in battle was already paved over by tennis courts many years ago.  But as part of this construction, we will be removing those tennis courts and recreating a portion of those barricades, Spangler said. 

For Cooper-White, sharing this history with the public is the main goal and he is excited to see it finally come to fruition.  We always say that we are at the crossroads of history and hope, Cooper-White said. And I think with this we are helping to play out that vision. 

Text and Image Source:  Evening Sun

News---First Large-Scale Artifact Rotation Taken By Gettysburg Visitors' Museum Since Opening

New Artifacts On Display At The Gettysburg Museum, Amy Stansburg, The Evening Sun, August 31, 2012.

Mounted behind a thick piece of glass at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center is a new addition to the display case. Deep blue with a faded number one in the center, it is the swallow tail banner representing the 1st Corps of the Army of the Potomac.  Used on the first day of battle to mark the position of Gen. John F. Reynolds, the flag now represents one of the many new additions to the museum. Over the next two weeks, 150 new artifacts will be brought into the museum as others are rotated out for conservation. This marks the first large-scale artifact rotation undertaken by the museum since its opening in 2008.

"We are very excited that we have the opportunity to do this," said Greg Goodell, museum services supervisor. "Now with our partnership we have more of an opportunity to do bigger and better things."

This partnership is between the National Park Service and the Gettysburg Foundation, an organization that seeks to preserve the history of Gettysburg. The two groups run the musuem together. "This is really part of an ongoing project of partnership and support," Gettysburg Foundation communications coordinator Brooke Diaz said.

The foundation donated $300,000 to update the exhibits. Due to a lack of funding, the Park Service's former museum was not able to undergo such large-scale rotations, a costly and time-consuming process.

"Our old museum was very static," Goodell said. "This one is much more dynamic. Over a long period of time we will be able to show a lot more." And the Park Service has a lot to show. Today only 10 percent of its collection is on display at the museum, so rotations are an excellent opportunity to showcase more of what the Park Service has to offer. This rotation also includes several items on loan from the Civil War Museum of Philadelphia. "We are getting a really nice collection with a lot of well-documented materials," Goodell said. "We will keep them here for five years while they raise funds for their new museum."

The new exhibits also will include an artifact from the Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation in Virginia. A flag representing the 6th North Carolina that was carried during the Battle of Gettysburg is on loan from its former home in Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. The flag replaces one flown used by the 2nd North Carolina that will be placed into the museum's climate-controlled storage facility. "Although we keep these artifacts in good conditions at the museum, they always need a rest," Diaz said. "As part of a regular maintenance routine we take them down for conservation."

This allows the Park Service to expose visitors to a larger collection while better maintaining the quality of the artifacts, an often difficult process. "What you see here is the result of a year of work," Goodell said. "The actual installation process is short compared to the preparation, from the selection of the artifacts, to preservation efforts, to even making new label copy."

Text and Image Source:  Evening Sun

News--- 43 Lost Graves Found At Fort Ward: Native Americans, Civil War Soldiers And Post-War African-American Community

Lost Graves Located In Alexandria Park, T. Holland, Washington Examiner, August 29. 2012.

A two-year archeological investigation of Fort Ward Park in Alexandria yielded a total of 43 previously lost graves, only three of which were marked. The dig, which began after descendants of those believed to be buried in the park asked city officials to locate the graves of their relatives, revealed artifacts and gravesites of Native Americans, Civil War soldiers and a post-war African-American community.  And although city archeologist Pam Cressey said there are no plans to excavate or immediately identify the newly-discovered graves, she said she's grateful that the families of those who used to live in the area now have some closure.

"This full-scale study now allows the story of so many to be told," Cressey said. "The findings further enrich our appreciation for the area and give credit to the many groups that once lived there." Alexandria acquired Fort Ward Park just prior to the 100th anniversary of the Civil War.  But in the years to follow, many of the park's cemeteries fell into disrepair until officials sought to celebrate as another major anniversary of the Civil War -- this time the 150th -- approached.

Those who came to the park for its commemoration told city officials they wanted to "bring to light, preserve and tell the stories" of those who had lived on the grounds of Fort Ward Park, but felt they were unable to because the grave sites of many former inhabitants were lost and even buried, Cressey said.  Plans were put in place, and beginning in 2010, a team of archeologists descended upon the park with ground penetrating radars and other tools to find gravesites and artifacts spread across the more than 30 acres that make up the park.

Cressey said the City of Alexandria financed much of the dig and the trails and markers set to be installed to recognize the archeologists' latest findings, but did not have immediate access to the exact total of the project.  Fencing will be installed to protect the newly-discovered burial areas, and each grave will be marked with a blank signpost. Over time, city archeologists do expect to identify many of the unmarked graves based on their location and those buried around them. Now that the archaeological surveys are complete, Cressey said the teams are analyzing artifacts and making a Fort Ward Management Plan.

Text Source:  Washington Examiner

Image Source: WAMU

New and Noteworthy: The Chattanooga Campaign---Well Written and Thought Provoking

The Chattanooga Campaign, Steven E. Woodworth and Charles D. Grear, editors, Southern Illinois University Press, 228 pp., 8 maps, 11 b/w illustrations, bibliographic notes, index, $29.95.

The Chattanooga Campaign is a collection of 10 distinctive essays that address key features of the autumn 1863 turning point of the war.  Steven E. Woodworth and Charles D. Grear continue to present new and important perspectives in The Civil War Campaigns in the Heartland Series from Southern Illinois University Press. Strategies and tactics, commanders and soldiers, the public press and post-war preservation are considered by military scholars and historians.

Important questions addressed include: How was Lookout Mountain won and lost? How did Sherman assault and Cleburne defend Tunnel Hill? What happened on Orchard Knob that allowed Thomas to assault Missionary Ridge? Was the Confederate army out-fought at Rossville Gap and Ringgold Gap?  How did the Cincinnati newspaper define the Northern perception of the campaigns of Rosencrans and Grant? How did the Chattanooga preservation plan put in motion the idea of limited preservation of Civil War battlefields?

The Chattanooga Campaign contributors are Justin S. Solonick, Stewart L. Bennett, Sam Davis Elliott, Alex Mendoza, Brooks D. Simpson, Timothy B. Smith Ethan S. Rafuse and John R. Lundberg as well as the editors, Charles D. Grear and Steven E. Woodworth. This essay collection is essential reading for enthusiasts of the Trans-Appalachian Civil War and for those who enjoy well-written and thought provoking American Civil War history.

150 Anniversary: The Battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia

The Battle of Cedar Mountain [Cedar Run], took place on August 9, 1862, in Culpeper County, Virginia. Union forces under Major General Nathaniel P. Banks attacked Rebel forces under Maj. Gen. Thomas J.  Jackson near Cedar Mountain as the Confederates marched northward toward Culpeper Court House.  Jackson's force was to deter the Federal seizure of the junction of railroads at Gordonsville.  Fought late in the day  Banks' troops nearly drove the Confederates from the field. Reinforced, the Confederates counterattacked and broke the Union lines. 

On June 26, Major General John Pope received command of the newly created Army of Virginia which were three corps that had been independent until that point.   On the western flank, under Major General Franz Sigel, was positioned at Sperryville located in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  On the eastern flank, under under Major General Irvin McDowell, was located, across from Fredericksburg,  at Falmouth on the Rappahannock River.  The center, under Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, was situated in the northern part of Culpeper County.  A brigade of Banks's corps, Brigadier General Samuel W. Crawford's brigade and Brigadier General John P. Hatch's cavalry, were stationed about 20 miles beyond the Union line, at Culpeper Court House.

General Robert E. Lee responded to Pope's dispositions by dispatching Major General T. J. Jackson with 14,000 men to Gordonsville on July 13 and  later reinforcing with another division of  10,000 men under Major General Ambrose  P.  Hill.  On the morning of August 9, Jackson's army crossed to the Rapidan River into Culpeper County with Major General Richard S. Ewell's division leading.  Brigadier General Charles S. Winder's division followed by Hill's division acting as a reserve.

At about 5pm, near the end of the initial artillery barrage by both Federals and Confederates, Confederate Brigadier General Charles S. Winder, who had been ill the entire day,  attempted to direct his troops and was struck by a shell. Winder's left arm and side were shredded. He died a few hours later.  The Stonewall Brigade had come up and was then swept aside by Crawford's troops.  As the artillery batteries were on the verge of being captured Jackson ordered them withdrawn.  Taliaferro and Early's troops were devastatingly hit by the Federal volleys and broke.

Jackson rode to that part of the field and came upon the Stonewall Brigade finally being brought up to reinforce the retreating line.  He attempted to brandish his sword but it had rusted in its scabbard. He unbuckled the sword from his belt, waved the scabbard over his head then grabbed a  flag from the retreating color guard. The Stonewall Brigade and portions of other regiments challenged by Jackson launched into the Federal troops.  As other Confederate regiments came forth and as there were no Federal troops in reserve, Jackson prevailed that day. Within three weeks, the battles of Brawner's Farm, Second Manassas and Chantilly would be fought. 

On the 150th anniversary of the battle a seminar was held at Germanna Community College and on the Cedar Mountain battlefield. Topics included the creation of the Federal Army of Virginia and its assigned task, the Stonewall Brigade, the 10th Maine Regiment, and the preservation of the battled.  National Park rangers extensively discussed the battle's action.  Their presentation was in a auditorium during the day and the battled during the evening. 

Text and Images by Civil War Librarian. The top image shows in the foreground the approximate site of the mortal wounding of Winder.  Approximately 100 to 200 yards to the rear of the wayside marker is the location of Jackson's rallying with scabbard and starry banner the troops.

New and Noteworthy Television---Copper, 1864: The Five Points Ghetto, Homicide and Life on The Streets in Old New York

Fighting Crime in an Older, Dirtier Manhattan: ‘Copper,’ a BBC America Series Set in Old New York, Mike Hale, August 16, 2012 

“Copper” is BBC America’s declaration of independence: the first original drama from a channel built on British imports. And unlike the science-fiction and reality fare (“Doctor Who,” “Top Gear”) that BBC America has focused on, “Copper” is a prestige product, a dark and serious show that’s being thrown into the deep end of the cable television pool on Sunday night, where its time-slot competitors include AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” HBO’s “Newsroom” and USA’s “Political Animals.”

As it turns out, American-ness is both the defining trait of “Copper” and, in a way, its biggest problem. The show looks good, offers a painless history lesson and has the potential to put an entertaining period spin on the “Law & Order” police procedural genre. But it’s missing exactly the elements that make you want to watch those British shows on BBC America: energy, irreverence, a sense of humor and, crucially, consistently good performances.

Like a lot of other current high-class cable series, “Copper” achieves a distinctly American mix: a high level of sensationalistic violence, sex and all-around turpitude presented in a package so stuffy and politically correct that it makes your eyes bleed.

The premiere episode on Sunday night drops us into the middle of the licentious 19th-century action. Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones), a Civil War veteran, and two of his fellow policemen ambush a group of bank robbers, gunning them down in the street and pocketing as many bank notes as they can before a sergeant arrives. It’s a brisk, deftly staged scene that gets the show off to a vigorous start.

But nothing else in the two episodes sent to critics has the same kinetic charge. “Copper” settles into a cycle of stilted, stagy exposition — there’s all that history to explain — punctuated by beatings, shootings and knifings that have a protracted, antique brutality. Contributing to the premodern atmosphere are the throwing of slop to pigs, the carting around of a child’s dead body wrapped in a blanket and the prominent presence of two gaslit brothels, which also allows for nudity that goes right to the edge of basic-cable propriety.

There are several shows fighting for time within “Copper,” and the most promising one is the crime drama. Across the first two episodes Corcoran and his mates crack the case of the murder of a young runaway girl, and that’s the most entertaining part of the story (even if some of the forensics they employ seem awfully 21st century). Unfortunately, that seems to be the show that Mr. Fontana, despite the presence of “Homicide: Life on the Street” on his résumé, is the least interested in.

In its place we get a social-problem melodrama, with numerous references to historically important but so far dramatically inert issues like discrimination against Irish immigrants, the migration of freed slaves and the plans of unscrupulous developers to buy up and gentrify Five Points. 

Most of the energy in these opening episodes is spent establishing, amid the general corruption and debauchery, the liberal-humanist bona fides of the central characters. Corcoran may not have a modern appreciation of the trial-by-jury system, but his vigilante tendencies are more than balanced by his close friendship with an African-American doctor (Ato Essandoh) and his enlightened sympathy for prostitutes and runaways. Corcoran’s potential love interest is a wealthy crusader, played by Anastasia Griffith (“Royal Pains”), who tries to prevent the sale of a black church to a rapacious white businessman.

“Copper” certainly isn’t alone among cable period dramas in emphasizing this kind of billboarding over actual character development. HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” to name the most prominent current example, suffers from the same affliction, though it’s more entertaining by virtue of being more forthrightly lurid and s"oap-operatic.

The consequence of the “Copper” approach is that while the show is probably historically “accurate” in many ways, it never for a moment feels authentic. The variability of the acting doesn’t help, though Mr. Weston-Jones, best known for the British series “MI-5,” is fine as Corcoran.

Perhaps Mr. Fontana just had a lot of stage setting to do, and the show will pick up steam. An overarching plot involving Corcoran’s missing wife and dead child has been put in place and could prove interesting. (The runaway-girl case is a reasonably clever metaphor for his situation, and ends by providing him with a surrogate daughter.) Less history, more mystery: there wouldn’t be anything wrong in turning “Copper” into “Homicide: Life on the Streets of Old New York."

Text and Image Source: New York Times, August 16 2012

New and Noteworthy---Yorktown's Civil War Siege: Drums Along the Warwick

Yorktown's Civil War Siege: Drums Along the Warwick, John V. Quarstein and J. Michael Moore, History Press, 192 pp., 77 b/w illustration,8 maps,  2 appendices, bibliographic notes, bibliography, index, $19.99.

From the Publisher:  On 4 April 1862, Major General George McClellan marched his 121,500-strong Army of the Potomac from Fort Monroe toward Richmond. Blocking his path were Major General John B. Magruder's Warwick-Yorktown Line fortifications and the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia. Despite outnumbering Magruder almost four to one, McClellan was tricked by Magruder's bluff of strength and halted his advance. Yorktown, the scene of Washington's 1781 victory over Cornwallis, was once again besieged. It was the Civil War's first siege and lasted for twenty-nine terrible days. Just as McClellan was ready to bombard Yorktown, the Confederates slipped away--because of his delays, McClellan lost the opportunity to quickly capture Richmond and end the war. Historians John V. Quarstein and J. Michael Moore chronicle the Siege of Yorktown and explore its role in the 1862 Peninsula Campaign and the final battles surrounding Richmond.

New and Noteworthy: The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen L. Carter, Knopf Publishing, 528 pp.,  $26.95.

From the Publisher: Stephen L. Carter's thrilling new novel takes as its starting point an alternate history. President Abraham Lincoln survives the assassination attempt at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. Two years later he is charged with overstepping his constitutional authority, both during and after the Civil War and now faces an impeachment trial.  Here is a vividly imagined work of historical fiction that caputres the emotional tenor of post-Civil War America, a brillantly realized courtroom drama that explores the always contention question of the nature of presidential authority, and a galvanizing story of political suspense.

From a Books and Culture Review: Re-reading it, I'm reminded why I read fiction in the first place, and why a new book by Stephen Carter is always to be celebrated.  On top of all its novelistic pleasures, The Impeachment of Abraham Lincolnis perfectly timed for this election year. "Nowadays," Carter writes in an author's note at the end, "the more politically engaged among our citizenry tend to cry 'impeachment' whenever a President they happen to dislike does anything remotely controversial. Our sense of history has grown dangerously thin, and our sense of proportion with it."   Amen.

Books and Culture Link with John Wilson's review. 

Amazon.com Link with publisher's remarks and  video trailer.

On The Battleground: Gettysburg--July 1 Confederate Assault

Walking into This Mighty Scourge of War, by Gerry Boehm, Field correspondent for the Civil War Librarian

This past week a painting that is the cover art for the relatively recent book titled “THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, THIS MIGHTY SCOURGE OF WAR” by Gallagher, Engle, Krick and Glatthaar (Published by Osprey Publishing) did not have context for many of the readers. Like Alice in Wonderland, I finally walked into this James Walker painting for the first time this past week. This cover art depicts the organized Confederate attack west of Willoughby Run and the McPherson Ridge on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Burning in the background in this painting is a house. It is the burning Harman Farm.

Over the last year the Gettysburg National Military Park gained a substantial portion of land formerly known as the Gettysburg Country Club through the heroic efforts of the Civil War Trust and on Tuesday, June 19th, your humble correspondent was able to take part in a walking tour of this hollowed ground organized by Ms. Regina Hollar, Volunteer for Historic Gettysburg Adams County (HGAC) Preservation & Salvage. The walk was led by Joe Mieczkowski, Licensed Battlefield Guide, and included folks from as far away as Ohio and Virginia.

The Harman farm was burnt to the ground by the Army of Northern Virginia, but from this place where the farm stood one could look around and feel in the breezes of the approaching evening the passing columns of boys and men from Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia who fought and died here almost 150 year ago. All along the fields west of Willoughby Run and Herbst Woods, between the Chambersburg Pike and the Harman farm, we had entered the painting of James Walker and re-lived those crucial hours of this first day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

As a bonus, we also toured the remains of the famous post-war resort built around the Katalysine Spring and were regaled in stories of President Eisenhower and Arnie Palmer playing golf together on these very grounds. All in all an awesome ending to an otherwise rather typical Tuesday.

News: Gettysburg's McAllister's Mill Receives Historic Designation Plaque

McAllister's Mill Will Finally Get Overdue Historical Recognition, Amy Stansburg, Evening Sun, August 4, 2012

First Paragraph Text and Image from Evening Sun: The story begins 8,000 years ago. It starts with the land's earliest residents and weaves its way through time, listening to the words of great men, trembling to the sounds of war's cannons and hiding to escape the evils of history. It is the story of McAllister's Mill. Located along Baltimore Pike in Gettysburg, the mill housed the first meeting of the Adams County anti-slavery association, served as a stop along the Underground Railroad, and nursed soldiers back to health as a makeshift hospital during the Civil War. On Saturday, the events that happened there will finally be commemorated with the installation of a Pennsylvania historical marker, dedication ceremony and tour. "McAllister's Mill involves the whole fabric of history," said Historic Adams County Gettysburg preservation committee chairman Curt Musselman. "You can tie the whole story into it."

Full Story at Evening Sun August 4 2012. 

News: Fort Moultrie, Charleston, SC Online Resource Bank Nears Completion

From Dave Marley, historical director of Battlefields in Motion:

Just a quick update, to let you know that our illustrated Fort Moultrie Glossary is almost two-thirds complete, and we have already been quite surprised at the volume of traffic which it is attracting, possibly because it is not wholly confined to the dry subjects of fortification and heavy artillery:

http://moultrie.battlefieldsinmotion.com/glossary.html

A few of its more unusual entries include bug juice, buzz, Five Indians, molasses stucco, Moultrie House Hotel, myrtle grove, piazza, pickle, toothpick, and yellow wash. There are also thumbnail histories and rare photos of such famed antebellum militia units as the Charleston Zouave Cadets, Washington Artillery, and Washington Light Infantry.

Am also attaching a couple more stills, one being a close-up of Fort Moultrie’s medical officer, Dr. Samuel Wylie Crawford — who had a remarkably piercing gaze — in its largest Wallpaper version, although other sizes are also available on our Free Downloads page.

New and Noteworthy---Richmond Virginia Before the War

The Richmond Slave Trade: The Economic Backbone of the Old Dominion, Jack Trammell, History Press, 128 pp., 26 b/w illustration, 4 charts, 2 maps, references, 2012, $19.99. 

 Edgar Allan Poe's Richmond: The Raven In The River City, Christopher P. Semtner, History Press, 127 pp, 51 b/w photographs, bibliography, index, 2012, $19.99.  

From the publisher of The Richmond Slave Trade: The Economic Backbone of the Old Dominion: Richmond's 15th Street was known as Wall Street in antebellum times, and like its New York counterpart, it was a center of commerce. But the business done here was unspeakable and the scene heart wrenching. With over sixty-nine slave dealers and auction houses, the Wall Street area saw tens of millions of dollars and countless human lives change hands, fueling the southern economy. 

Local historian and author Jack Trammell traces the history of the city's slave trade, from the origins of African slavery in Virginia to its destruction at the end of the Civil War. Stories of seedy slave speculators and corrupt traders are placed alongside detailed accounts of the economic, political and cultural impact of a system representing the most immense, concentrated human suffering in our nation s history.


From the publisher of Edgar Allan Poe's Richmond: The Raven In The River City:  Acclaimed as one of America's most innovative authors and the inventor of the detective story, Edgar Allan Poe and his works are celebrated around the world. Yet the true story of Poe's time in Richmond, Virginia, is every bit as strange and exciting as his fiction. Poe spent nearly a third of his life in Richmond. It was here that he matched wits with a chess-playing robot, set the record for swimming against the current in the James River, challenged a rival editor to a duel and first revealed his talent for practical jokes. 


Join Christopher P. Semtner, curator of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum, as he reveals previously unpublished photographs and little-known source material to shed new light on how the mystery, madness and tragedy that Poe encountered during his Richmond years forever shaped his renowned fiction.

New and Noteworthy: 1861---The War in Three Virginia Counties

Civil War: Northern Virginia, 1861, Williams S. Connery, History Press, 160pp, 48 b/w photographs and illustrations, 3 maps, index, bibliography, 2011, $19.99.

William S. Connery's Civil War: Northern Virginia, 1861, offers interesting and enlightening stories in three crucial Confederate counties. Loudoun County with Leesburg, Fairfax County with Arlington and Alexandria and Prince William County with Manassas have a remarkable Civil War history.  Within a horseback ride from Washington, D.C. these three counties contained both Confederate patriots and Union loyalists. Appropriately, Connery begins with an event July 4 1860 in Occoquan, Prince William County. 
A rally of Unionists celebrated the nomination of Lincoln; citizens of Fairfax County muster the militia, asked the governor for permission to suppress the flagpole with its Republican presidential campaign flag. Connery highlights the characters who will be heard from again, such as James Jackson, a proprietor of an Alexandria hotel in which he and Elmer Ellsworth will die within a few months. 
Stories include:  Lee at Arlington, the seizure of Alexandria, and the fate of Washington's Mount Vernon estate.  Civil War firsts are introduced: first Confederate wounded and first killed in combat, the first destruction of a troop train, the first balloon reconnaissance, and the first exclusively military railroad. Battles are not neglected: Manassas, Ball's Bluff and Dranesville. The Potomac River blockade, the first exchange of cannon fire between Union navy gunboats and Confederate shore batteries at Battle of Aquia Creek are well described.  Connery frequently offers the incidents in the participants own words such as Barksdale's [Mississippi] and Deven's [Massachusetts] official reports the fight at Ball's Bluff. 
 Connery has recently received recognition from the United Daughters of the Confederacy for his study, research, writing and public speaking and preservation of Confederate history. Civil War: Northern Virginia, 1861 is accessible to high school  readers and will be enjoyable for all history enthusiasts.

Interactive Map: Where Were Gettysburg's Battlefield Dead Buried?

The Elliott Map is a map of the battlefield of Gettysburg made from an accurate survey of the ground by transit and chain by S. G. Elliott and Company.  Dated June 10, 1864, this map shows the locations of Union and Confederate burials, dead horses, breastworks, lunettes for artillery, and rifle pits, borough and farm buildings,  as well as topographical features.


Although the information appears impressive, a modern day research by historians and battlefield guides argues that the number of burials shown on the map [in particular in the Rose Farm area] are much less in number than what actually exists.   


The Library of Congress has an online and interactive Elliot Map. This link will bring you to the LOC map. Once you have the map on screen you can zoom in and out and scroll around the map by using the computer's  mouse wheel.  The Battle of Gettysburg Resource Center has a online compendium of historic and contemporary maps. Here is the link. 

New Exhibit Online: Civil War Hospital at Smithsonian Focuses on Nurse's Diary

Civil War Nursing, an online exhibition, is jointly produced by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and the National Library of Medicine. So Much Need of Service focuses upon the diary of Amanda Akin, a Civil War nurse and the photographic collection of fellow nurse, Anna Lowell.  Also included are issues of a era newspaper entitled the Armory Square Gazette that was authored, printed and distributed by the hospital's staff.   There is an interactive map with pins on the locations mentioned by Akin; included are 'then and now' picutures.  The photograph above is of the Armory Square Hospital. Here is the link to the exhibit. 

News---Digitally Enhanced Photographs from the National Archives

The Atlantic magazine is offering online 98 Civil War digitally enhanced photographs from the National Archives. The Atlantic reports "Last year marked the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, a milestone commemorated by The Atlantic in a special issue.  Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. As brother fought brother and the nation's future grew uncertain, the public appetite for information was fed by these images. "
"  part 1 of 3, covering the places of the Civil War: the battleships, prisons, hospitals, urban centers, and rural pastures where history was made. . . ."       "  . . . part 2 of 3, covering the people of the Civil War: the generals, slaves, civilians, politicians, and soldiers that lived through those turbulent years.    Keep in mind, as you view these photographs, that they were taken 150 years ago -- providing a glimpse of a United States that was only 85 years old at the time. "

Some viewers note that some of captions may be misleading or incorrect.

The photographs are offered in 1024 or 1280 pixels.     Here are the links: 

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/the-civil-war-part-1-the-places/100241/

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/the-civil-war-part-2-the-people/100242/

Off Topic---Professional Adventurer Finds Hundreds of WW2 USAF Crash Sites In Mountains

Off Topic---Professional Adventurer  Finds Hundreds of WW2 USAF Crash Sites In Mountains: Hunting For Hero Fliers From Lost Era, Fox News, May 30, 2012.

Nothing James Browne learned in flight school prepared him for “The Hump,” a perilous, Himalayan no-man’s land that became a graveyard for hundreds of fearless WWII-era fliers who battled Japanese fighters, impossible weather and a supply route from hell. Just 21 years old on Nov. 17, 1942, when he took the co-pilot’s seat of a C-47 bound for Dinjan, India, from Kunming, China, Browne was one of hundreds of fearless American fliers who took the infamous supply route over the Himalayas, ferrying supplies to China as it battled Imperial Japan. Browne, like many others, had signed on before the U.S. entered the war that was rapidly engulfing the globe.

“He was deeply aware of the threat to this country even though we were yet to declare war,” recalled Browne’s cousin, Bob Willett, now 85 and retired in Florida. “He said to himself, they need fliers and I’m a good one.”

"I find a lot of shoes."

Somewhere high above the Himalayas, the aircraft’s wings iced over. The best guess is that it stalled out and dropped like a rock, landing in the rugged mountain jungle, its location a mystery that would endure for more than 70 years. Browne, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, Capt. John Dean, the pilot and a veteran of the legendary Flying Tigers, and a Chinese crewman were listed as missing in action.  The plane was one of hundreds to go down in the rugged and remote mountain region fliers dubbed “The Hump” by American fliers who dodged Japanese fighter planes, steering their unarmed and rickety aircraft for 20-hour stretches with unreliable instruments in winds that could reach 200 mph. Experts believe more than 700 planes crashed trying to surmount the Hump, making the Himalayan region an inaccessible tomb of legendary fliers and rusted fuselages.

Other names earned by the dangerous route, from northeastern India, over Burma and into western China, included “Skyway to Hell” and “Aluminum Trail,” both testament to the hazardous path and the courage of the men who flew it.

"I'm so impressed by the sheer courage of those Hump airmen, flying their almost suicidal missions over the Himalayas, while knowing all the time that the odds were heavily against their safe return," said Clayton Kuhles, a self-described “professional adventurer” from Arizona who has made it his cause to seek out crash sites and bring closure to the families of the lost fliers. "In fact, many of their buddies never did return, but simply vanished up there in those rugged and remote mountains," he added. "They were good men."

In eight separate trips, Kuhles has located 22 crash sites and helped account for some 193 U.S. airmen once classified as missing in action. Kuhles, 58, an avid mountaineer, was in India in 2002 when he first heard of old crash sites in the treacherous mountains. His guide mentioned in passing that he had heard of a plane wreck buried in the jungle.

“He could’ve been B.S.ing me in hopes of racking up a few extra days of guide fees but, in my gut, I knew he was probably telling the truth,” recalled Kuhles. The tale intrigued Kuhles, and launched him on a crusade he says has already cost him $100,000 of his own money. Sometimes, the only sign of crew left in the tangled metal is a dogtag, a few scattered bones or the garments worn by long-dead pilots and crewmen.

“I find a lot of shoes,” Kuhles said.

Photo album and the article is continued at  Fox News.  Photo source is Mia Recoveries.org

New: Jeff Shaara's Battle of Shiloh Novel

A Blaze of Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Shiloh, Jeff Shaara,Ballantine Books, 464 pages,  $28.00.

From the publisher: In the first novel of a spellbinding new trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Jeff Shaara returns to the Civil War terrain he knows best. A Blaze of Glory takes us to the action-packed Western Theater for a vivid re-creation of one of the war’s bloodiest and most iconic engagements—the Battle of Shiloh.

It’s the spring of 1862. The Confederate Army in the West teeters on the brink of collapse following the catastrophic loss of Fort Donelson. Commanding general Albert Sidney Johnston is forced to pull up stakes, abandon the critical city of Nashville, and rally his troops in defense of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Hot on Johnston’s trail are two of the Union’s best generals: the relentless Ulysses Grant, fresh off his career-making victory at Fort Donelson, and Don Carlos Buell. If their combined forces can crush Johnston’s army and capture the railroad, the war in the West likely will be over. There’s just one problem: Johnston knows of the Union plans, and is poised to launch an audacious surprise attack on Grant’s encampment—a small settlement in southwestern Tennessee anchored by a humble church named Shiloh.

With stunning you-are-there immediacy, Shaara takes us inside the maelstrom of Shiloh as no novelist has before. Drawing on meticulous research, he dramatizes the key actions and decisions of the commanders on both sides: Johnston, Grant, Sherman, Beauregard, and the illustrious Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest. Here too are the thoughts and voices of the junior officers, conscripts, and enlisted men who gave their all for the cause, among them Confederate cavalry lieutenant James Seeley and Private Fritz “Dutchie” Bauer of the 16th Wisconsin Regiment—brave participants in a pitched back-and-forth battle whose casualty count would far surpass anything the American public had yet seen in this war. By the end of the first day of fighting, as Grant’s bedraggled forces regroup for could be their last stand, two major events—both totally unexpected—will turn the tide of the battle and perhaps the war itself.

News: National Archives To Digitize 2,750 Volumes of CSA Record Books

Confederate Records Digitization Project,  DeAnne Blanton, reference archivist, National Archives, June 23, 2012

The Archives I Reference Section is pleased to announce our in-house digitization project in honor of the Civil War sesquicentennial.  During the course of the next five years or so, the 2,750 volumes comprising the Collected Record Books of Various Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Offices of the Confederate States of America, 1860-1865, will be digitized and uploaded in batches to the Archival Research Catalog (ARC).  Each volume will have its own unique ARC Identifier Number.

These record books, part of Record Group [RG] 109, War Department Collection of Confederate Records, are a significant collection of records encompassing nearly all aspects of the Confederate Government and military.  These records, which were created by various elements of the Confederate States during the Civil War, came into the custody of the U.S. War Department during and at the end of the war by capture or surrender.  A significant portion was captured along with Jefferson Davis and his cabinet.  In the post-war years, the U.S. War Department added to their collection of Confederate records through purchase or donation by private individuals throughout the South. 

Between 1874 and 1898, the records were in the physical custody of the Archive Office as well as the Record and Pension Office of the Adjutant General’s Office.  During this period, the Confederate records were cataloged and organized.  They were heavily used as part of the publication of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, and were consulted and transcribed as part of the creation of both the Union and Confederate compiled military service records.

As part of the cataloging and organizing of the Confederate records, all of the bound volumes were classified according to provenance into groups called “chapters.”  Volumes were then numbered serially within these chapters.  The chapters are as follows:

I:  Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office

II:  Military Commands

III:  Engineer Department

IV:  Ordnance Department

V:  Quartermaster Department

VI:  Medical Department

VII:  Legislative Records

VIII:  Miscellaneous Records

IX:  Office of the Secretary of War

X:  Treasury Department

XI:  Post Office Department

XII:  Judiciary

The War Department transferred their Confederate records to the National Archives in 1938. NARA rebound the Collected Record Books, but still maintains the “chapter volume” arrangement.  Within RG 109, the Collected Record Books are the most heavily used series, and are requested by historians, genealogists, and Civil War preservationists on a regular basis.  They are also perhaps the most interesting, not only because of the wide range of information they contain, but in their wide physical variety – an assortment of shapes, weights, paper color and paper type prevail throughout the collection. 

Digitization of the Collected Record Books is a collaborative venture, with multiple offices at both Archives I and Archives II working together to accomplish this ambitious effort.  The “chapter-volume” team consists of staff from the following offices: Archival Operations – Washington, DC (RD-DC); Conservation Branch (RXC); Digitization Services Branch (IDS); and Online Public Access Branch (IOO).  DeAnne Blanton, RD-DC (AI), is Project Lead.

To take a look at the first fourteen volumes uploaded to ARC, click here: 

http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalDOSearch?searchExpression=rg%20109%20chapter%20volume

Text Source: LinkedIn

Image Source: Confederate Hospital Patients Letter to President Davis. 

New and Noteworthy Fiction---Blaze of Glory: Jeff Shaara Returns to the Civil War

Blaze of Glory:  A Novel of the Battle of Shiloh, Jeff Shaara, 464 pages, Ballantine Publishing, $28.00.


Wellington described The Battle of Waterloo as 'a close run thing.' The same can be said of the Battle of Shiloh [April 6-7, 1862]. Jeff Shaara's novel Blaze of Glory provides a memorable vision of that suspense filled campaign and battle.  Within these two days over 13,000 Federals were killed, wounded, captured or missing; Confederate loses were nearly 11,000 were killed, wounded, captured, and missing.  Current estimates are that 15% of those wounded later died of their wounds within 90 days.

Shaara's novel travels several paths to the April 6 and 7 battle, one of which begins in Nashville as the Confederates retreat during the third week of March from Tennessee's capital city. The first four chapters  offers the points of view of the Rebel cavalry covering a retreat and of the mind of military theater Confederate commander Albert Sidney Johnston. Audacious plans are formed during desperate times. Shaara then offers three chapters from the Federal point of view from the rank and file and from William T. Sherman, a division commander. In a similar way to Ralph Peters' recent novel Cain at Gettysburg, Shaara

creates compelling voices of German soldiers in the Federal army. Following the pattern of Shaara's previous  two Civil War novels and his novels of World War One and Two, he utilizes both actual historic characters and invented characters.

Quickly and somewhat too broadly Shaara covers a lot of ground to get both armies to the battlefield; at times the novel approaches a comprehensiveness that may be found in historians' work on the battle.  Yet, Shaara supplies the remarkable details of soldiers' marching during all types of weather and all hours of the day.  The weather is wet, the roads are muddy, and the foliage is thick. At times confusion reigns along the battle's front and rear. His remarkable scenes include of the initial discovery by the Federals of the Confederate surprise-at-dawn assault,  Sherman's wounding, the looting of the Union camps by Rebels, and the muzzle-too-muzzle gunfights at The Sunken Road, The Hornet's Nest, The Peach Orchard.

Historic and compelling Confederate characters include, among several others,  Tennessee governor Isham Harris who became an aide to Johnston and a witness to his battlefield death, and  general and hero of Fort Sumter and the Battle of Bull Run, Pierre Bureaugard who is sick and exhausted even before the battle begins. Federal generals Ulysses Grant, William Sherman, Don Carlos Buell and several others collide in competition for glory during the campaign. Shaara does not neglect the failure of commanders with their battle plans and with their lack of battle experience. He counters them with the heroism and courage of the rank and file soldiers who also lacked of battle experience. Both sides are shocked and disheartened by the carnage of 24,000 killed, wounded and missing within 48 hours.  Among the dead were the Confederate western theater commander Albert Sidney Johnston who is at the battlefront encouraging a brigade when a bullet clipped an artery behind his knee and he bleeds to death.

Shaara offers a retelling of Nathan Bedford Forrest's wounding and his taking of a hostage at the Battle of Fallen Timbers soon after April 7. This story  is a part of the Forrest biography lore but appears to have no actual eyewitnesses. Yet it works well as a finale in the novel. Those readers who enjoy fiction with a Civil War setting are well served by A Blaze of Glory. Shaara provides a sustained glimpse of Johnson's relationship with his headquarters' hostess while the he has Johnson reflecting upon his memories of his wife  Eliza, their children and their large Texas plantation, China Grove. Additionally, Shaara offers descripitons  of the Federal soldiers fond  memories of their ethnic German families and communities. Blaze of Glory is a fine novel of civilians at war, generals in over-their-head, and of southwestern Tennessee terrain that is transformed from a remote frontier to a close and mortal hell.