Civil War photos

Went to see an exhibit down at the Library of Congress last week. It is named "The Last Full Measure - Civil War Photographs from the Liljenquist Family Collection. " It is on the second floor of the Thomas Jefferson building through August 13th. It is free, and definitely worth an hour or so if you find yourself in that part of town.

The collection encompasses both ambrotypes and tintypes of both Union and Confederate soldiers. Many of them are very young, and you really get a sense of who was in the armies. There are 360 Union images, one for every thousand who died, and 52 photos of Confederate soldiers representing one for every five thousand casualties. Even if you can't make it down there, many of the photos are available online. Go through the Library of Congress website, and they have a link. They are not all soldiers either. One portrait was of a young girl in a mourning dress, holding a picture of her father in his uniform. Another one that I found interesting was an entire African American family - the soldier, his wife and two kids. Don't know that I had ever seen a comparable image before. This family had amassed a collection of 700 or so photos through shows, shops, online and other sources over years of collecting. A pretty amazing collection.

The photos themselves were interesting enough, but the cases they came in were also part of the display. Very intricate artwork on some of these cases. The way they have them displayed makes it look like a quilt and adds something to the presentation. They did not have cameras like we do today, so for many of these families this may have been one of the only, if not the only, pictures they had of a loved one who may not have returned. Pretty moving stuff. We really weren't supposed to take pictures, but there is one here with no flash that kind of gives you a sense of what the display looked like. This is one of 6 cases. I have seen these types of photos before, but never in this quantity. You can also look up exactly how ambrotypes and tintypes were made if you're not sure what they are on the Library of Congress website in the Prints and Photographs Division.

Memorial Day

Hopefully most of you did think about the true meaning of today, and remember those lost in our country's history. I have to admit, when I was younger, Memorial Day weekend was basically the start of the summer season, but now I try and reflect on what it really means. We went out to a cemetery here in Frederick County this morning to help out by adding a few flags that seemed to be missing. Have a list of vets for the cemetery, so that certainly helps. Found a couple of Confederate graves that weren't marked, but they are hard to identify unless you know because there are no military markings. I guess it had something to do with being from Maryland, and being a state that was divided, it was better just to work on reconciliation. It is not a military cemetery, and I know it had nothing to do with North or South because one of the Union soldiers was missing a flag and he had the military headstone. Just didn't feel right unless they were all marked.

Also saw an interesting display at the Monocacy Battlefield Visitor's center today. A student at one of the local schools had done a project on cemetery burials of Union and Confederate soldiers after battles in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Remember, there were no dog tags in those days. If you were not identified by someone in your unit, or left behind with no identifying letters or other paperwork, then you ended up as an unknown. There were a lot of these in this war. She had a picture of a monument down in Silver Spring to unknown Confederate dead after the battle at Ft. Stevens. I believe there are 17 or so in the grave. I used to be interested in this marker as a kid as it resides in a cemetery where our family used to attend church for many years. There was also a very interesting summary of the discussions in both Maryland and Pennsylvania about burying Confederate dead after the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg. When the remains were reinterred after the battles and these cemeteries were established, the people of Pennsylvania were adamant no Rebel soldier would lie there. Their remains were sent to Richmond, many of which probably ended up in Hollywood Cemetery, where thousands of Confederate soldiers were laid to rest.

Maryland on the other hand apparently debated the subject, and only allowed Union burials in the National Cemetery, but did make allowances for Confederate burials outside of it. I'm going to have to look into that a little more next year when I head up there for the anniversary of the battle. Monocacy did have a field of flags flying to commemorate both sides that died there, and it was interesting that they used the Second National flag for the Southern soldiers, not the battle flag we normally associate. According to the talk we got down at Ft. Sumter, this flag was eventually replaced because in battle it could be mistaken for a surrender flag. They later added a red stripe on the far right edge.

Last thing to mention is a book I bought today at the visitors center called " Civil War Maryland - Stories from the Old Line State" by Richard P Cox. Read it in one afternoon. It had some stuff I had heard before, but a number of things I wasn't that familiar with. Some good info about how Maryland supplied many of the leading figures in the Confederate navy, the abolition of slavery in the state, the parole system and the camp near Annapolis, and a number of others. Anyone interested in local history, I would recommend it.

Remember Ellsworth

Well, apparently not in Alexandria, VA. For those of you who don't know who Col. Elmer Ellsworth is, I'll give you some background. The incident that made his name famous is a result of the Federal occupation of Alexandria after Virginia voted to succeed on May 23rd. The rebel troops marched south out of town, as the northern troops marched in to occupy. According to the commemoration I went to yesterday, Alexandria has the distinction of being the Southern city that had the longest occupation during the war. The Union troops came by steamboat and marched across the bridges the morning of the 24th, and would not leave the city again until the end of the war.

Now, back to Ellsworth. Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth (now that's a name) was born in 1837 in New York. He moved to Chicago and studied law. In 1860, he went to Springfield, Illinois and worked in the law office of Abraham Lincoln. Ellsworth ended up helping Lincoln in his campaign for the presidency that year. They became close friends, and Ellsworth accompanied Lincoln to Washington when he took over as President in 1861. After Lincoln called for volunteers following Ft. Sumter, Ellsworth went back to his native New York and raised the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment ( known as the Fire Zouaves) comprised from the volunteer firefighters. If you've ever seen pictures of the Zouaves, they in many cases have very colorful uniforms. They were apparently modeled after French colonial troops from Algeria.

Anyway, as the story goes, there was a sizable Confederate flag that flew from the Marshall House in Alexandria, and could reportedly be seen from the White House. Apparently Ellsworth offered to retrieve the flag for Lincoln, and as the troops occupied the city on the 24th of May, he took a group of men and entered the Marshall House Inn and went upstairs to remove the flag. The owner of the property, James W. Jackson, had been heard to say previously that the flag would be removed over his dead body. Well, Ellsworth took it down and was coming down the steps when he was met by Jackson and was shot in the chest with a shotgun and killed instantly. One of Ellsworth's men, Corporal Francis Brownell, immediately shot and killed Jackson.

Lincoln was very upset by the death of his friend, and had him lay in state in the White House for a period of time before he was taken back to New York. "Remember Ellsworth" became a huge rallying cry across the North. Northern papers had illustrations and stories about the "murder" of Ellsworth. On our way to Charleston last week, we had spent some time in Fredericksburg, VA. I went in to an antique shop and was digging around the Civil War collectibles, when I came across a 2" by 2" piece of paper with an illustration of the man and the saying "Remember Ellsworth" written underneath. This was cut from the corner of a piece of stationery from the time. If it had been a little less expensive, I would have grabbed it.

Contrast this with the picture below. This is a plaque from the building where the Marshall house once stood. It is now the Monaco Hotel. There is no mention of Ellsworth, just the story about how Jackson was "killed by Federal troops defending his property and personal rights." He was noted as a martyr in the South, in the same way Ellsworth was in the North. Propaganda was as big a part of this conflict as any since. The newspapers really had an influence on swaying public opinion.

The event in Alexandria itself was kind of interesting. I couldn't stay around all afternoon, so I didn't get to see Robert E Lee who was to make an appearance at 3:45. It was held at the Market Square, and there were 50 or so groups at various tables around the square. Some were re-enactor groups ( or living history interpreters as I have been corrected), the National Park Service as well as some of the local parks that have remnants of forts, and historic places like churches hospitals. There was also a good representation of the African American experience, with representatives from the Civil War African American Memorial and Museum in DC ( been there, worth a visit), Alexandria Black History Museum and Freedmen's Cemetery, and the US Colored Troops.

There were also heritage groups there for those whose ancestors fought in the war. The Sons of Union Veterans and Daughters of Union Veterans were there, just a few tables down from the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Didn't notice the United Daughters of the Confederacy however. I did spend a few minutes talking to the guys at the SCV table. Have a 3rd great grandfather that was in the Mississippi Infantry - we'll see. The following pictures are some from just walking around the event.

Magnolia Cemetery

On the way out of Charleston today, we stopped at two places - Magnolia Cemetery and the H.L. Hunley exhibit. Both were worth the side trip in their own ways. First we hit Magnolia. This place is your vision of the deep South, with old trees draped with Spanish moss along winding drives around the many stones. I wish I had a few hours to wander around, but no such luck. There was a sign at the entrance that you don't see everyday telling you not to feed the gators - it is against South Carolina state law. Too bad I didn't get any glimpses while we there. There are about 35,000 buried there, of which 2,200 are Confederate graves. Don't believe there are any Yankees in there, but not sure about that. The cemetery is 128 acres that opened in 1849 on the grounds of a former rice plantation right on the Cooper river. Really a beautiful setting.

If we had more time we would have stuck around for the service that was getting ready to start. Not some pour soul getting buried, but the actual service for the Confederate Memorial Day that I mentioned earlier in the week. There were re-enactors along with mourners ( including one woman all dressed in mourning ), as well as a collection of dignitaries and onlookers. I do have to give them credit for the passion they display in remembering their history, no matter which side you were on. So many people today have no idea about what happened 150 years ago.

The Hunley exhibit was very interesting. I was at a presentation this morning where Sen. Glenn McConnell spoke about the history of the Hunley, and more importantly the efforts to raise it and preserve it after it's discovery on the ocean floor. If you saw the movie or read about it at the time, you may remember some of this. The sub sank twice before it was ultimately successful in it's mission. In one instance all the crew drowned, and in the other case most of them. Hunley himself was lost in this second mishap. Still, George Dixon was able to persuade Beauregard to let him raise a crew and try again. On February 17, 1864 they took three hours to go four miles out and attack the Housatonic. The attack was successful, sinking the ship in four minutes as the powder magazine blew up. This was the first successful attack by a submarine in history. Pretty remarkable that the South were the ones to pull it off, especially late in the war.

One of the more exciting things they found in going through the recovered ship was a gold coin. There had been a story about George Dixon and the coin, but no one really knew if it was just a myth over the years. The story goes like this: when Dixon went to war his girlfriend Queenie ( who was 13 by the way) gave him a $20 gold coin for good luck. He was shot at the battle of Shiloh in 1862, and the gold piece took the direct hit from the bullet. Fast forward to the present day. The gold coin they found was twisted from a bullet (confirmed by analysis) and it was inscribed on the back about Dixon having been at Shiloh. It wasn't a myth after all. They also found a diamond ring and broach as well, presumably gifts for Queenie that she never saw.

The Hunley signaled shore that the mission was successful, but never returned. To this day, the mystery has yet to be solved about what happened.

Confederate Museum

Well, made it to the Confederate museum today on my lunch break. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside, but I took one of the building. I must say, one of the more unique collections I have seen. The museum was established in 1899, and has been in continuous operation by the United Daughters of the Confederacy since then with the exception of a decade or so after Hurricane Hugo while the building was repaired. The collection is made up of items that were donated by veterans, and includes many one of a kind or very unique items. According to the ladies that volunteer there, the one item that people asked most about after the hurricane was a letter that included a lock of Robert E Lee's hair from after his death. His barber trimmed it while preparing him for the funeral.

There were various small items, as well as things like the first rifled cannon made in the Confederacy, and huge paintings of Beauregard and Lee. Lots of items from the surrender at Ft. Sumter. Uniforms and personal items from soldiers that belonged to many of Charleston's prominent families. All in all, more than worth the price of admission. And they do take their history of the War Between the States very seriously. Bring up the name Sherman at your own risk.

Charleston continued

I just realized that I suggested a book the other day, but didn't mention the name. The book about the Ball family in South Carolina was called "Slaves in the Family," came out in 1998 or so and has plenty of copies available on Amazon. To wrap up the history on slavery down here in Charleston, we went to The Old Slave Mart Museum. It is run by the Park Service, and you can check it out at www.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/ohm.htm. It is located on the actual site of the slave auctions in the early 19th century up through the war. One of the unique things we found were slave tags. I had seen them at the Charleston Museum the day before, but didn't really know what they were all about. They were copper tags that listed the occupation and was worn by the slave, and the purpose was to keep track of the slave when they were rented out to others. It is something they only did in the Charleston area, and the city charged a tax of $2 per year per license.

Earlier in the week, we went down and walked around the Battery neighborhood. The whole thing is historic, and it was from the rooftops that much of the city watched the bombardment of Sumter. The picture below is the house where General Beauregard watched the events. There is another house that opens up once a year to let people see the cannon ball that is still lodged in the attic.

Ft Sumter

Just a few thoughts about Ft Sumter. First of all, it was a lot smaller than I expected. I had seen pictures of the original fort, and was thinking that it would certainly be damaged, but that at least a fair amount of the original three level fort would be there. Instead of 30-40 feet, it was little more than 10 feet tall in many places. The subsequent bombardment during the last two years of the war by Union forces effectively turned much of it to rubble. For those of you movie buffs, if you remember the movie "Glory" and the scene where they stormed the fort and Matthew Broderick was killed, that was on Morris Island. Just a short distance across the water from where we stood today. They couldn't dislodge the Confederate forces by frontal assault, so they laid siege to the battery and it fell a couple of months later. This was the beginning of the end for Sumter. It held out for over 500 days, but eventually fell and opened up Charleston to Union forces late in the war. It was said on our tour today that General Sherman presented Charleston to President Lincoln as a Christmas present that December of 1864.

More on Sumter tomorrow. Had something interesting happen today. I tried to visit the Confederate Museum in downtown Charleston. It is closed on Mondays, so couldn't go yesterday. Tried to swing by after the Sumter visit, but they were closed today for Confederate Memorial Day. I must admit, I was not prepared for this turn of events. Hailing from Maryland, this is not a holiday I am familiar with. ( although apparently in MD it is celebrated in June). Yes, in much of the South it is a state holiday, although the dates differ. North and South Carolina apparently uses May 10th as the commemoration as it coincides with death of Stonewall Jackson in 1863, and the capture of Jefferson Davis in 1865. At least, that is what I read. It is to honor the war dead from the conflict. In a future blog, I will talk about the various names for the war. Down here, it is not called the Civil War.

Charleston is a beautiful city, and is loaded with both Revolutionary and " Civil War" history, but it is interesting hearing more about living with the war as a civilian. Another major difference from back home is the extent to which slavery weaves through the story of South Carolina. We went to a museum on slavery today, and it was pretty powerful. More on that later, but I was always taught about the cotton plantations, and never really heard about rice plantations. In Carolina, rice was what made the money. I first got an understanding of this culture by reading a book a couple of years ago by Edward Ball. The Ball family goes back to the origins of South Carolina, and he explores his families' relationship with the slave trade, as well as how the Ball's and their slaves had children together that he traced descendants of. Not a story everyone was willing to speak openly about. I found it fascinating, and to now be here on the Ashley and Cooper rivers where these plantations existed is quite interesting.

Approaching Ft. Sumter by boat.

Ruins of the powder magazine and officer's quarters.

Slavery and Lincoln

As I mentioned when I started working on this blog, one of the things that motivated me was a book that I had to read for work - Team of Rivals. It is a book about Abraham Lincoln and his three main rivals in their quest for the Republican presidential nomination of 1860. One of the best books I have ever read. ( an opinion not held by many of my fellow bankers that had to read it also - you have to like this stuff). At 750 pages, not a weekend read.

I was very fortunate to have just attended a business conference where the author, Doris Kearns Goodwin, was the featured speaker. She did a fantastic job of summarizing and discussing the themes of the book. The topic at the conference was leadership lessons that we could take away from the book about Lincoln, but it also went into the background of the lives of these three men and their beliefs on, among other things, slavery. This is the topic of today's article, and one which I have thought a lot about. Through the research I have done the last few years, I have come to contemplate my own family's past as slaveowners. Just about every branch of the family in the mid-19th century owned slaves, in part because many of them were landowners (no plantations - Maryland and Virginia ), but it does get you thinking about how our country got to where it is now. You can't change the past, but you can try to better understand it and take lessons away. It was particularly interesting for me to understand how Lincoln's views on the issue of slavery evolved over time. I must admit, there were more than a few things I did not know, or hadn't taken the time to study.

The book dealt with how the four men - Lincoln, Seward, Chase and Bates, developed their views on slavery and how that translated into actions. Seward and Chase were very vocal abolitionists, where Lincoln was more measured in his response. He did support the Wilmot Proviso, and positioned himself against the expansion of slavery. In contrast to Seward, Lincoln's opposition to slavery rested in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. He did not feel that you could go after the institution where it already existed, but instead should prevent it from expanding. He felt that it would ultimately die out in the South. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise made Lincoln realize that slavery was no longer on this course, and that the South was ultimately not going to relinquish in their quest to expand it into the territories.

Another illustration of Lincoln's Constitution approach to slavery is in how he supported the existing fugitive slave laws. The original Fugitive Slave Law in 1793 required the return of runaway slaves to their masters. The 1850 law made it illegal not to apprehend a slave, and one could face fines. Although Lincoln understood that the Fugitive Slave Law " offended the moral sense of many people in the North, he felt compelled, under the Constitution, to enforce it. " Lincoln's approach to the South was to remind them of the contradictions surrounding the legal status of blacks, i.e.. the declaration of the African slave trade as piracy in 1820. A stance both the North and the South had taken.

Lincoln's views on race were not the same as others. Salmon Chase felt that blacks and whites were equal. Lincoln did not. He favored compensated emancipation (pay the owners to free the slaves) and then colonization. Lincoln worried what the hint of direct emancipation would do to the border states. Remember that Maryland had a significant number of slave holders. Keeping Maryland and the other border states from going south was a balancing act that Lincoln struggled with in the early years of the war. Maryland did not outlaw slavery until 1864.

Timing was one of Lincoln's strengths. He had been considering the Emancipation Proclamation for a while, but waited the right time to introduce it. " Lincoln understood one of the principal stumbling blocks in the way of emancipation was the pervasive fear shared by whites in both the North and the South that the two races could never coexist peacefully in a free society." We tend to believe that the North was completely abolitionist and unified in their beliefs, but that was not so. As Lincoln got to know Frederick Douglass, he was persuaded that colonization was not an option freed slaves would welcome, and he also came to see that there was a future for blacks to participate in society.

If you like politics and how Lincoln handled the war, this is a very good book. Goodwin used diaries, letters and other correspondence to dig up the story. Coming soon, another book review. That one is called Confederates in the Attic. Another great book. Since the war hasn't really ramped up yet, I'm knocking out some of these now. Gives you some good background.

Maryland - To Secede or Not

The question for Maryland was whether to secede. Virginia had already seceded on April 17, and Pennsylvania was obviously pro-Union, so Maryland was stuck in the middle. Ideally, they would liked to have remained neutral, but that was not to be. The federal government saw the prospect of the capital of Washington being surrounded if Maryland went south, and took action to occupy Annapolis and secure Baltimore. Lincoln declared martial law, and on the 27th of April suspends habeus corpus. This allows his army to detain Marylanders loyal to the South without indictment or arraignment.

Today we attended a debate in Frederick that discussed the question of whether to secede or not. Governor Hicks, a slaveowner himself, argues the point that the Union must be preserved. Mr. Wallace, who is later detained that fall and held for over a year without charges, argues that the state must break away, in this our new revolution. The legislature actually met here that spring of 1861 in the attempt to remove themselves from the heated emotions of the day in other parts of the state.

Maryland had many slaveowners, even in Frederick County, and was the home of Justice Taney who had ruled on the infamous Dred Scott decision in the Supreme Court. Attached are some pictures and short videos from today's events.

Point Lookout

Went to a lecture last night sponsored by the Frederick County Civil War Roundtable. It was held at the Civil War Medicine Museum in downtown Frederick, and the topic was the prison camp at Point Lookout, MD. If you've never been to the museum, it's pretty cool. Check it out at www.civilwarmed.org/. Anyway, the talk was about the camp, which included not only a POW camp for Confederates, but also a hospital for Union soldiers. I never knew this, but it was the biggest Northern POW camp of the war. At it's peak, over 19,000 prisoners were there. Over 4,000 men died in a little over two years.

The speaker was a member of a Sons of Confederate Veterans group that has established a memorial to the dead with flags from states of those who served. There was discussion about how this camp compared to others, including Andersonville, the infamous Union POW camp in Georgia. In his opinion, Andersonville was as bad as it was because of the circumstances in the South at that time. The blockade prevented medicine from getting through, food riots were breaking out among the civilian population, and there were no supplies. Contrast this with the much better supplied North, and the prisoners were treated in a similar fashion. One does have to wonder if there was not some measure of retribution on Secretary of War Stanton's part. I'll have to do some more reading on the subject before I render my opinion.

Another camp talked about was the one at Elmira New York. The death rate there was the highest anywhere - 25 percent. Disease was rampant in these camps. Anyway, I'll be going down to Point Lookout over the summer. They have apparently reconstructed one of the original forts, and I'll checkmout the memorial. Due to erosion, a huge chunk of what was there 150 years ago is gone now. Pictures to follow later.

Baltimore continued

I neglected to mention yesterday that the Massachusetts troops lost four of their own, in addition to the civilian deaths. Most of us remember the prominent role that Ft McHenry played in the War of 1812 ( I hope no one needed the Star Spangled Banner hint). What you might not know is that the fort served as a prison during the war, and the mayor and police commissioner were two of it's guests. Apparently they also turned some of the guns on the city just to remind them. There is a museum there that covers not only the War of 1812, but also Civil War topics. That will be a future visit when tornadoes are not approaching as they were the other day I was there. To see what the fort has to offer, check out the website at http:// www.nps.gov/fomc/index.htm.

Not to give the impression that the entire population of Baltimore were secessionists. There were quite a few Union supporters as well, leading to tension that was unique not just to Baltimore, but also many parts of Maryland. Those who have followed the controversy regarding the state song know what I mean about different perspectives. I did read a couple of interesting things in a Baltimore publication about the war - that Maryland refused to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment until a century after it's passage in 1870. (right to vote regardless of race) And how about this one. "At the Maryland Historical Society, Union and Confederate veterans donated memorabilia that was kept in two separate "rooms" until 1994, showing just how long the state remained a house divided." (Visit Baltimore - The Official Guide Winter-Spring 2010-11).

top picture is in front of the Baltimore Civil War Museum. Former President Street station.
bottom picture is on the Civil War trails network.

Baltimore

Well, as some of you know, no one was killed in the bombardment of Ft. Sumter on the 12th. The events in Baltimore then became the catalyst for the first casualties of the war. Lincoln had called for volunteers, and Northern troops had started pouring into Maryland from the north. Baltimore was the sight of a major rail hub, and therefore a destination for many of these troops. The city had many residents that were fervently Southern leaning. Remember, at this time the legislature was still debating whether to secede or not. Maryland's place as a border state between North and South led to many divided loyalties within the state. This is illustrated in my own family's story, but more on that later in the war.

On April 19th, (tomorrow), a mob attacked one of the train cars carrying soldiers through the city. In those days, they had to move the trains through part of the city hooked to horses. In the ensuing melee, a dozen civilians were killed. The southern papers played up the massacre angle, while the northern papers used this as further proof of Southern radicalism in the state.

I visited the President Street station, where it all started. This is now the Baltimore Civil War museum. (Didn't know there was one until now. ) Lot of info about prominent citizens of Baltimore who were detained as disloyal, and the story about how the Union Army basically occupied the city for the balance of the war. Just next to the Inner Harbor, a few blocks from the corner of Pratt and President streets.

Oh yeah, Virginia seceded yesterday. No chance now to hang on to Robert E Lee for the Union Army. He was offered command of it, but resigned to follow his state in case you didn't know.

(Hoped to have some pics, maybe on next one)

My journey begins

This idea came to me a couple of weeks ago after finishing a book on Lincoln and thinking about the anniversary of the start of the war fast approaching. The "Journey" will be my attempt to visit as many of the battlefields, prisons and events as I can over the next fours years, as close to the actual anniversary as I can. This will take me back to areas familiar to me as a child thanks to my late father - Gettysburg, Antietam, Harper's Ferry, Manassas. It will also take me to parts of the country I have never visited - Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and others. I have always had a deep interest in this conflict that happened to a great extent in my backyard, but spent many years away from it due to life. Those of you who know me are aware that I am rarely without a camera, so there will be pictures to go with my thoughts.

My first stop was yesterday in Baltimore, MD on the anniversary of the Pratt St riots. I'll write more about in the next couple of days with a couple of pics. Ft Sumter will be coming up - couldn't get that one in order.

So, my journey has begun. Feel free to follow along and hopefully learn a few things with me.