GDG- FW: Civil War News Roundup - 10/04/2007

Thu Oct 4 08:48:12 CDT 2007

________________________________

From: Jim Campi [mailto:jcampi at civilwar.org] 
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 7:10 AM
Subject: Civil War News Roundup - 10/04/2007

Civil War News Roundup - 10/04/2007

Courtesy of the Civil War Preservation Trust

-------------------------------------------------------

(1)  County Preparing for Civil War Battle, Again - Clayton News Daily

(2)  General Lee's Letters Sell at Auction - Associated Press

(3)  Brief History of the Civil War in Arizona - Prescott Daily Courier

(4)  Students Get Lesson at Bristoe Station - Manassas Journal Messenger

(5)  Civil War Anniversary Group Meets - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

(6)  Ringgold to Get Historic Statue - Catoosa County News

(7)  Lincoln Penny to Get a Birthday Redesign - Associated Press

(8)  Guides for Hire Customize Civil War Battlefield Visits - USA Today

(9)  Site Preserves Town Built for Ex-Slaves - Kentucky Post

(10) Unknown Soldiers Identified at Oakwood Cemetery - WRAL-TV Raleigh

(11) Confederate Museum Picks Site - Richmond Times-Dispatch

(12) State Wants Ideas for Anniversary - Charleston Post and Courier

(13) Editorial: Prepare Now for Sesquicentennial - Harrisburg
Patriot-News

--(1)-----------------------------------------------------

County Preparing for Civil War Battle, Again

By Daniel Silliman

10/01/2007

Clayton News Daily (GA)

http://www.news-daily.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=&ArticleID=2
2249

Everybody knows how the Battle of Jonesborough will end this year.

It will end the way the battle ended in 1864, and the way it ends in
every reenactment: The canons will fire, the Southern forces will be
split and the supply lines will be cut, again, allowing General William
T. Sherman to march into Atlanta.

Even though everyone knows how it ends, about 5,000 people are expected
to come to Jonesboro to watch the battle and see the Confederate
re-enactors try to take the day.

"They keep trying to win it every year, they keep trying every year,"
said Carol Cook, the event planner for Historical Jonesboro. "You cannot
change history. You cannot change it, but what you can do is learn from
it and move forward."

Education is one of the things that keeps people coming back to the fall
festival, Cook said.

This year, Historical Jonesboro is increasing the education aspect of
the four-day Autumn Oaks Festival and Battle of Jonesborough.

On Thursday, Oct. 11, there will be an education day for elementary and
middle school students. On Friday, there will be a panel of educators
and historians speaking to educators on the Civil War.

"There is going to be so much to learn," Cook said. "We need our kids to
understand our heritage, not just our history, but our heritage. I feel
like, if we can get to our kids and help their teachers teach these kids
about our heritage, they'll have a little more respect."

Pat Duncan, president of the Clayton County Visitors Bureau, said the
annual event is successful, in part, because it brings children in to
see the "living history," and it becomes a family tradition.

"Of course," he said, "it's like an amusement park or a theme park --
you've got to add something new every once in a while to keep new people
coming."

Interest in Civil War battles and re-enactments has been ramping up,
recently, he said.

The Jonesboro event likely will bring in visitors interested in all
things related to the four-year war, and locals who are interested in
learning more about the area's past. It will bring people who are
interested in the Southern side of the war and amateur historians who
want to know why the battle -- which was "little more than a skirmish,"
Duncan said, "when compared to some battles" -- brought about the fall
of Atlanta.

Those 5,000 people will bring in the historical society's major funding
for the year. Cook hopes the 2007 event will raise between $15,000 and
$20,000, which will be used to maintain, preserve and restore the
historical properties owned by the group.

The event also serves as an annual economic boost to modern-day
Jonesboro, Duncan said, with each visitor spending about $173. If half
of the visitors are from out of town, the autumn festival and battle
reenactment might bring $423,500 into the county.

The money is spent mostly on retail products, but also on lodging,
transportation, food and amusement, Duncan said.

"That's really important to the county," he said.

--(2)-----------------------------------------------------

Confederate Gen. Lee's Letters Sell for $61,000 at Auction

By Jim Davenport

09/29/2007

Associated Press

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/575/story/203509.html

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Three letters written by Confederate Gen. Robert E.
Lee during the Civil War sold at auction for $61,000 Saturday.

The sales prices were far off the record $630,000 a Lee item sold for in
2002. But two letters from the general who ended the war with surrender
in 1865 sold last year for $5,000 and $1,900, said Patrick Scott,
director of rare books and special collections at the University of
South Carolina's Thomas Cooper Library.

The letters were among more than 400 documents Thomas Willcox put up for
auction after a protracted fight with the state, which claimed ownership
of the documents that had been in Willcox's family for years. Willcox
had carried them stuffed in 11 manilla folders in the back of his SUV
until one day about six years ago when he got bored, looked through them
and found the three letters signed by Lee.

Neither Willcox nor the auction house had specific figures, but
estimates placed the total sales at less than $400,000.

Willcox said he was disappointed. He said he's sure he at least broke
even after spending money on legal fees and $70,000 for a detailed
appraisal of the documents. "I thought it would have gone better," he
said. "At the end of the day, it's over," he said.

Two of the Lee letters sold to an out-of-state collector bidding by
phone who would not immediately agree to be interviewed. One - selling
for $20,000 - was written to South Carolina Gov. Francis Wilkinson
Pickens talking about troop strength and conditions along the state's
coast.

"The strength of the enemy, as far as I am able to judge, exceeds the
whole force that we have in the state," Lee wrote to Pickens on Dec. 27,
1861. "It can be thrown with great celerity against any point, and far
outnumbers any force we can bring against it in the field."

Another letter about troop strength from Lee to Pickens dated two days
later sold for $14,000.

David Ellison of Columbia spent $27,000 for a Lee letter that talked
about using slave labor to build defenses. Ellison hadn't read the
letter and bought it based on the description in the auction catalog as
a piece of history. "I'm not sure what his letter says. But to put
General Lee and slave labor in the same" letter, he said, "convinced me
that that had to be a document of some historical importance."

But Ellison also was bidding on and winning letters from his
great-great-grandfather, Civil War Gov. Milledge Luke Bonham. Those, he
said would be something important to give to his sons. He said he would
think of making the Lee letter available to a museum or some other
institution.

At least two dozen of the letters mentioned slaves, from their medical
treatment to use as labor.

For instance, a letter from Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard
protested discharging of slaves from their work when "the enemy is
throwing at our works more than 500 projectiles an hour."

Fewer than 50 people gathered to hear auctioneer Bill Mishoe work his
way through notebooks filled with the old correspondence, telegrams,
bills and receipts held up in plastic sleeves for bidders to see.

The issues addressed in the letters ranged from defense to the mundane.

For instance, Pickens wrote to Brig. Gen. Arthur Middleton Manigault on
Oct. 3, 1861, about receiving and disposing of Enfield muskets. The
letter sold for $300. And a $75 bid bought a bill of sale for bags of
flour.

Cal Packard drove down from Mansfield, Ohio, and left after spending
more than $100,000. He said his biggest prize was walking away with
original documents tied to South Carolina's secession convention in
Charleston - including Pickens' copies.

That's "really cool," the former teacher said. "There's just a
tremendous amount of historical significance."

--(3)-----------------------------------------------------

Days Past: A Brief History of the Civil War in Arizona

By Al Bates

09/29/2007

Prescott Daily Courier (AZ)

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=48
179&TM=5331.785

To the true Civil War buff, the small part of that terrible war that was
carried out in the West was just a short-lived sideshow. To the people
who lived in Arizona it was real and often deadly, even though there
were no major battles between North and South in Arizona.

To understand what happened in Arizona during the two key years of 1861
and 1862 we need to go back and review some important events of the
preceding quarter-century.

First, Mexico lost Texas to a group of insurgent Americans in 1836. Nine
years later, the breakaway Republic of Texas joined the United States.
Then, following the Mexican-American War, the United States gained
California, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico, including most of the area that
would become today's Arizona.

By the time New Mexico formally became a United States territory, it
contained all of what would become Arizona, plus part of today's Nevada.
Of particular importance is the Gadsden Purchase that became a part of
the United States in 1854. That area soon was being called "Arizona" by
its residents in reference to a truly fabulous Spanish-era silver
discovery southwest of Nogales.

Americans quickly began coming into this "Arizona," drawn by the lure of
mineral riches and by the farming and ranching potential. Except along
the Colorado River, the lands to the north of the Gila River remained
the exclusive domain of various Indian tribes.

The first "Arizona" is created

The residents of the Gadsden Purchase quickly tired of dealing with the
New Mexico Territorial government at far-distant Santa Fe and began
petitioning Congress for separate territorial status for "Arizona." When
Congress ignored that request, they formed a provisional government for
"Arizona" which Congress also ignored.

By 1861 the Anglo-American influence was well established at Arizona
City (Yuma), Tucson, Tubac, Pinos Altos and Mesilla

- all in "Arizona." The fragile thread that held it all together was the
Butterfield Overland mail and passenger service. Without that service,
there would be little communication with the rest of the United States,
leaving the area in almost complete isolation.

And that's what did happen in the summer of 1861 when the Butterfield
Line ceased service and then the U.S. Army began pulling out. The Apache
Indians took this as a sign of victory over the white invaders and began
increasing their depredations against the settlers. The result was a
mass exodus from the already sparsely populated area.

Some prominent settlers and how they fared

Charles Debrille Poston was running a large mining operation backed by
Eastern money and headquartered at the one-time Spanish presidio of
Tubac when the escalated Apache onslaught began. He withdrew to
Washington, D.C., where he lobbied President Lincoln for the
establishment of a separate Arizona Territory.

William and Missouri Ann Kirkland were forced to abandon their isolated
ranch for the safety of California. By then, nearby Tubac had ceased to
exist and the remaining citizens of Tucson lived under a continuing
threat of Apache attack.

The only non-Indian establishment above the Gila was King S. Woolsey's
Agua Caliente ranch and hot springs just above the river near the
Stanwix Stage Station. With his well-deserved reputation as an effective
Apache fighter, Woolsey chose to arm and to remain.

A prominent but isolated settlement was Ammi White's flourmill and store
at the Pima Villages. Since he had protection from Apache raids provided
by the friendly Pima and Maricopa tribes, White also stayed.

Pinos Altos, near today's Silver City, N.M., but then in "Arizona," was
not only isolated, but was located near the home turf for Mangas
Coloradas known as the deadliest of Apache leaders. The miners decided
to stay and formed a militia they called the "Arizona Guards" to provide
protection.

The South secedes from the Union

The secession of Southern states had started soon after Abraham
Lincoln's election as president. The residents of provisional "Arizona"
quickly changed their allegiance to the Southern cause.

The Civil War arrived in "Arizona" in July 1861 when Confederate Col.
John R. Baylor led a force of mounted Texans to meet and defeat Union
infantry under Major Isaac Lynde at the battle of Mesilla. Major Lynde
had fallen heir to command of the entire Seventh Infantry Regiment,
normally a full colonel's job, only because all his superiors had either
defected to the Rebel cause or had left for Washington looking for more
promising assignments.

Burdened with conflicting orders, Major Lynde had only two alternatives:
Stay and fight, or withdraw and save his men and equipment for a later
day. He chose to withdraw.

Unfortunately, he chose to withdraw his infantry regiment to the east
and north over a steep and waterless mountain pass en route to Fort
Stanton. Caught by the mounted Texans on the hot and dry trail before
they reached water, the entire contingent from Fort Fillmore surrendered
without a fight.

Col. Baylor now took charge of the political side of things. He divided
New Mexico Territory along the 34th parallel and established the
southern portion as the Confederate States Territory of Arizona.

The Arizona Guard militia immediately offered their services to the
Confederate Army. This was over objections of some Union loyalists in
the group who were allowed to resign. The guard then returned to Pinos
Altos to continue their important role protecting the miners and
merchants from Apache incursions.

It is well that they did because Mangas Coloradas joined with his
son-in-law Cochise to lead a force of several hundred Apaches that
attacked Pinos Altos with the intent of wiping it off the map. It was
close, but the defenders prevailed. A turning point came when six plucky
women, aided by one man, muscled a mountain howitzer out from storage,
loaded it, and fired it at the Indians with demoralizing effect.

The Rebels move north Confederate General

H.H. Sibley arrived at Mesilla with a much larger force of Texans and
soon moved his forces up the Rio Grande River to do battle with the
Union army.

Sibley's expedition started well with a victory over Union forces at
Valverde, but things fell apart at the Battle of Glorietta Pass when the
loss of the Confederate supply train forced them to retreat in disorder
back to the Mesilla Valley.

The Union forces, not wanting the responsibility for housing and feeding
hundreds of hungry prisoners, just let them straggle by without
interference.

Meanwhile, in "Arizona"

Before moving north, Gen. Sibley sent Confederate Captain Sherrod Hunter
and his company (plus a detachment from the Arizona Guards) to the west
to take control of "Arizona." Hunter occupied Tucson to the relief of
its residents who were sick of raids by Apaches, Mexican bandits and
other desperados, and he did succeed in destroying several caches of
military stores that had been accumulated for the Union army, but
finally he would be forced to withdraw to Mesilla in the face of the
Union army's advance.

Unfortunately for Captain Hunter's tiny force, Union General James
Carleton and his force of volunteers called the Column from California
already were moving efficiently from the California coast across the
Arizona desert.

There were a couple of minor brushes with the

rebels before Hunter withdrew, the first occurring at Ammi White's
flourmill and store. Captain Hunter captured the mill and its owner just
before Union Captain James McCleave arrived with a small unit in advance
of the main force.

Passing himself off as Mr. White, Hunter got the drop on McCleave, who
was forced to surrender without a shot fired.

Hunter's troops later were involved in skirmishes at Stanwix (the
westernmost incident of the Civil War) and more famously at Picacho
Pass.

Carleton's army was having no trouble with the rebels, but Mangas and
Cochise popped up again with another large force of warriors, this time
at Apache Pass. And once again, mountain howitzers made the difference
in driving the Apache ambushers away.

Meanwhile, the remnants of Gen. Sibley's army, decimated after their
disastrous campaign in northern New Mexico, were preparing to withdraw
to south-central Texas. In order to supply their army for a 700-mile
retreat to San Antonio, they attempted to buy provisions with locally
printed Confederate scrip. The local residents rejected that idea, and
resisted vigorously when the Southerners tried to take livestock by
force.

Most of the Arizonans in the Rebel army either earned medical discharges
at this time or deserted with the intention to return home. For many,
that trip in small groups became fatal when Apaches ambushed them along
the way. Apache Pass was a particularly deadly passageway.

The war in the West ends and recovery begins

With the U.S. Army back, the Kirklands and others who had fled "Arizona"
began to return. Charles Poston returned as Territorial Indian Agent,
and then served as Arizona Territory's first representative to the
United States Congress. Poston's traveling party included Ammi White who
had been in California arranging for new equipment for his establishment
at the Pima Villages. In time, these original settlers were joined by
newcomers, many of whom had first seen Arizona as soldiers with
Carleton's Column from California.

A new Arizona now began to emerge. Six months after the withdrawal of
the Texan troops from Arizona and New Mexico, President Lincoln signed
the act creating Arizona Territory, splitting it from New Mexico
vertically, thus leaving Mesilla and Pinos Altos behind. Surely more
than one Arizonan was wondering

what to do with all that unsettled area north of the Gila comprised of
nothing but rocks and hostiles.

That question was answered quickly when Joseph R. Walker, with Jack
Swilling as guide, led the first group of prospectors to seek gold north
of the Gila River. Their findings on the Hassayampa River in the spring
of 1863 started a gold rush that opened the central Arizona highlands to
civilization and led to the founding of Prescott.

When Governor John N. Goodwin and his party of newly-appointed
territorial officers arrived at Santa Fe, N.M., several months later he
learned of the gold discovery and changed their intended destination
from Tucson to Fort Whipple, then at Chino Valley, and a few months
later to the newly minted town of Prescott.

For Arizonans the negative impacts of the Civil War were behind them.
Unfortunately, some of the most turbulent years of the western Indian
Wars were just beginning.

Al Bates is author of the biography "Jack Swilling, Forgotten Founder of
Phoenix, Arizona," which is scheduled for publication in January 2008.

--(4)-----------------------------------------------------

Students Get Lesson at Bristoe Station

By Amanda Stewart, Staff Writer

09/28/2007

Manassas Journal Messenger (VA)

http://www.manassasjm.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=MJM%2FMGArticle%2FW
PN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173352905261&path=!news

At the Bristoe Station Battlefield Park on Wednesday morning, a group of
volunteers pried rotted boards and rusted sheet metal from a dilapidated
barn standing just off Bristow Road.

For the workers from the Prince William County Historic Preservation
Office, this was a day of work to prepare the battlefield site for the
public in a few weeks.

For the Osbourn Park High School students who made up the group of
volunteers, this was history class.

About 30 students in Osbourn Park's "Prince William County History"
class traveled to the Bristoe Battlefield site to help do restoration
work and to learn about the history of the site in the process.

"I'm very excited about this because it's the first time we've really
been able to do a hands-on project," said Mike Feldman, who teaches the
class.

The class, which focuses on the past and present of Prince William
County, has been offered at Osbourn Park for three years, Feldman said.
According to the 2007-2008 High School Course Catalog, it is also
offered at Woodbridge and Forest Park high schools.

In past years, the class has used guest speakers to bring the history of
the county, and current events, to life for the students.

"We study what happened 200 years ago and we study what happened 20
minutes ago," Feldman said. "We're trying to give the students a
different kind of experience. And a lot of them gain an appreciation for
history and the area around them in the process," Feldman said.

Many of the students have lived in Prince William County, and within
miles of Civil War battlefields and other historical sites for all of
their lives, Feldman and the students said.

"Growing up, I've always seen historical places around here and didn't
know anything about them," said senior Amy Via, 17.

Most of the students said their curiosity about their surroundings
inspired them to take the class.

"We wanted to know about where we live," said senior Matt Pfifer, 17.

At Bristoe Station on Wednesday, students got a chance to learn about
the site's history, and to participate in efforts to restore it.

Wielding hammers, sledgehammers and crowbars -- and wearing hard hats
and protective gloves -- the students pried rotting boards off a barn at
the edge of the battlefield.

Most of the barn's structure will remain, but the boards that are too
rotten will be replaced with newer boards, said site manager David Born.

"As much as we can, we're going to save the integrity of the structure
while replacing the sides," Born said, as he supervised the teenagers'
efforts.

Some of the students worked to pry some the original 19th century nails
from the wood. Those nails, identified by their square shape, will be
saved, Born said.

At the other end of the 133-acre site, other students spread hay and
grass seed along a trail at the park.

Students also learned about the Battle of Bristoe Station, which took
place on Oct. 14, 1863. The county recently acquired the park and it is
scheduled to open to the public on Oct. 12, Born said.

The students said they enjoyed the opportunity to help get the historic
site ready for the public.

"It's kind of cool to be a part of something like this," said Amy.

"It's nice to be out doing something, and not stuck in a classroom,"
said Sydney Lang, 17.

--(5)-----------------------------------------------------

Historians Push for Preservation; Civil War Anniversary Group Visits
Region

By Clint Schemmer, Staff Writer

9/27/2007

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (VA)

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/092007/09272007/320636
<http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/092007/09272007/320636> 

If those planning Virginia's commemoration of the Civil War's 150th
anniversary had any doubt of the importance of their work, their visit
here yesterday should have erased it.

In Falmouth, where the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil
War Commission met, and at every turn in a 2 1/2-hour bus tour its
members took of Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties,
there was a gripping Civil War story to be told.

The 15 commissioners saw battlefield tracts lost to development and
heard National Park Service officials explain how those losses crippled
their ability to foster understanding of America's deadliest conflict.

"This is our last best chance to preserve battlefields and restore their
landscapes," Russ Smith, superintendent of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania
National Military Park, said of the sesquicentennial.

Virginia is already well along in preparing for the four-year
observance, which begins in 2011, having formed the nation's first
commission to mark the big anniversary. That's only fitting, members
said, given that more Civil War battles were fought on Virginia soil
than anywhere else.

The panel, appointed by the General Assembly, is led by House Speaker
Bill Howell, R-Stafford, and Senate president pro tempore John
Chichester, R-Northumberland. It is meeting in communities across the
state to ensure the 150th reflects the breadth of the war's impacts and
benefits local economies by boosting tourism.

Leaders of the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, which has saved 700
acres on the area's four battlefields from development, and the national
Civil War Preservation Trust urged the panel to do everything possible
to preserve the historic sites that are left.

"What is not bought and saved in the next five years, by the time of the
sesquicentennial, will be lost forever," CVBT executive director Linda
Wandres warned.

Preservation Trust President James Lighthizer proposed preservation be
one of the commemoration's primary goals and that state legislators
spend $5 million a year to protect threatened battlefield sites before
the sesquicentennial ends in 2015. The trust would match the
contribution 2-to-1, tripling the investment.

"The war happened everywhere in Virginia, and everywhere in Virginia
would benefit from this initiative," Lighthizer said, noting that
heritage tourism puts money in local pockets.

Robert K. Krick, the national park's former chief historian, led the
commissioners on a whirlwind tour of the Fredericksburg battlefield.

He ended the tour at Slaughter Pen Farm off Tidewater Trail in
Spotsylvania, which he noted was narrowly saved from the development now
occurring all around it.

The 208-acre farm, where the Union army briefly broke through
Confederate defenses, has been called the heart and soul of the 1862
Battle of Fredericksburg.

Krick recalled that in the mid-1970s, the Park Service bought two small
pieces of farmland where the most intense fighting occurred. Those 26
acres cost about $1,000 apiece; now, the Preservation Trust is paying
about 57 times that much for every acre it's preserving at Slaughter
Pen.

"I don't know why we didn't do more," he said with obvious regret. "All
of us need to do whatever we can, while we can, for preservation."

--(6)-----------------------------------------------------

Ringgold Company Will Help Fund Historic Statue; Cleburne Statue Slated
for Ringgold Gap Battlefield

By Randal Franks

09/26/2007

The Catoosa County News (GA)

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=localnews&pnpID=724&NewsI
D=840650&CategoryID=3418&on=1

The proposed statue of Confederate hero Gen. Patrick Cleburne slated to
be placed at Ringgold Gap may finally be getting what it needs to win
the battle for its completion - the funding.

Ringgold Telephone Co. committed $50,000 to the project as a gift to the
community honoring its upcoming 100th Anniversary in 2012.

"It's a bit early," said Phil Erli, Ringgold Telephone Co. executive
vice president. "We didn't think it could wait until 2012 and wanted to
get it here and put it in place."

The Patrick Cleburne Society started the fundraising project in 2001 to
place a life-size statue honoring the hero at the site of his greatest
military victory during the Battle of Ringgold Gap in Nov. 27, 1863.

The society commissioned Ron Tunison, one of America's premier
historical sculptors of military art, to sculpt the Cleburne statue. The
sculpture depicts Cleburne, with field glasses in hand, leaning forward,
gazing in the direction of Col. David Ireland's advancing New York
regiment.

Tunison's work is also on display at Gettysburg National Military Park,
Antietam National Battlefield, and Pamplin Historical Park in Virginia.

According to John Culpepper, Georgia Civil War Commission chairman,
through the years the cost of completing the project has continued to
rise as fundraising efforts continued.

He told Ringgold council members in July that the Cleburne Society had
raised $60,841 and paid to the sculptor thus far. He said approximately
$60,000 was needed to complete the project and moving forward on it is
vital because the materials created by the sculptor for the casting
process will soon begin deteriorating.

The state of Georgia provided Ringgold a grant of $10,000 towards the
project recently, but still approximately $50,000 is required to
complete the project.

Additional funds are needed from the community because the statue does
not yet have a base to stand on.

"The statue should help highlight the complete history of the Battle of
Ringgold," said Mayor Joe Barger. "This will be one more step towards
developing Ringgold Gap into a tourism site that will depict the story
of our community."

Erli said he hopes the community will help bring about an annual
Cleburne Festival, centering the first one on the unveiling.

--(7)-----------------------------------------------------

Lincoln Penny to Get a Birthday Redesign 

By Martin Crutsinger

09/25/2007

Associated Press

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/573494,BC-LincolnPenny.article

Washington - A penny for your thoughts will have extra meaning in 2009 -
the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth and the 100th
anniversary of the introduction of the Lincoln penny.

To commemorate the event, the U.S. Mint, at the direction of Congress,
will introduce four rotating designs on the 1-cent coin for that year
depicting different aspects of Lincoln's life.

Those designs will replace the engraving of the Lincoln Memorial on the
"tails" side of the coin. The famous profile of Lincoln will remain on
the "heads" side of the coin.

The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, which provides recommendations
on such matters, met Tuesday and got into a lively debate over what
those rotating images should be.

They chose a log cabin depicting where Lincoln was born in 1809 for the
first image, although two separate but similar drawings of the cabin
received an equal number of votes.

Lincoln as a young man reading a book and taking notes with a quill pen
was the panel's choice for Lincoln's early years, and Lincoln on the
floor of the Illinois legislature won out for the best design of Lincoln
in early adulthood.

But the panel did not like any of the designs for Lincoln's presidency,
some of which depicted various images of a half-completed Capitol dome,
evoking Lincoln's famous order that construction of the Capitol should
continue during the Civil War as a symbol that the Union would continue.

Instead, the committee voted to request the Mint designers and engravers
come back with depictions of Lincoln as a war president, perhaps
visiting the troops. However, this provoked disagreement because some
panel members believed instead of Lincoln as a military commander, the
final image should depict Lincoln as the "Great Emancipator" who signed
the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves.

"The Emancipation Proclamation is so significant to leave it off ...
would be a terrible mistake," said Rita Laws, a former school teacher
and a member of the advisory panel.

Other members said it was more important to emphasize Lincoln's role as
commander in chief during the Civil War.

"We need to emphasize that his presidency coincided with the Civil War,"
said John Alexander, a history professor at the University of
Cincinnati. That viewpoint prevailed on an 8-2 vote.

The coinage advisory panel is one of three groups making recommendations
to the Mint on what the final designs should look like. Also taking part
are the Commission of Fine Arts and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial
Commission. The Mint will review all the recommendations before sending
advice to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who by law gets to pick the
final designs.

"Some of the concepts may be better suited for a bigger palate ... a
larger-size coin," Kaarina Budow, supervisory program manager for design
at the Mint, told the advisory panel.

--(8)-----------------------------------------------------

Guides For Hire Customize Civil War Battlefield Visits

By David Dishneau, Associated Press Writer

09/25/2007

USA Today (National)

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-09-25-battlefield-guide
s_N.htm

SHARPSBURG, Md. - Would you like your Civil War history seasoned with
baseball trivia? Spritzed up with a winery tour? Do you long to dissect
the Battle of Antietam with a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian?

Hire a guide.

As the 150th anniversary of the war between the states approaches,
starting with John Brown's 1859 prewar raid at Harpers Ferry, W.Va.,
customized tours for people fascinated by the conflict are multiplying.

As little as $50 buys a two-hour, private guided tour of Antietam, site
of the bloodiest day of the war, or Gettysburg National Military Park,
the high-water mark of the Confederacy, in neighboring Pennsylvania.

Those thirsting for more knowledge can join multistate bus tours of up
to six days led by scholars including James McPherson, whose 1988 book
Battle Cry of Freedom won a Pulitzer and helped rekindle interest in the
conflict. The cost of the marathon trek, offered by Civil War Tours of
Winchester, Conn.: $950, excluding hotel lodging.

"We interpret the events of the battle as they unfolded, which the
average guy can't do standing there reading the park brochure by the
wayside," tour operator David A. Ward said.

Between these extremes are an assortment of tours tailored for virtually
every taste. All-In-One Tours and Cruises of Lancaster, Pa., blends
visits to Virginia battlefields with wine tastings, plantation house
tours and Shakespeare plays. Company co-owner Cathy Strite said the
leisurely Civil War packages appeal to history-loving "new seniors" -
baby boomers who wouldn't dream of taking a tour bus to Branson, Mo.

"They say, 'I want education, I want to keep living, I want to keep
learning, I want to keep my mind active,'" Strite said. "All that will
absolutely explode as we approach the 150th."

The Battle of Antietam was fought near the western Maryland hamlet of
Sharpsburg on Sept. 17, 1862, leaving more than 23,000 dead, wounded or
missing on the bloodiest day of the war. Confederate Gen. Robert E.
Lee's retreat from Antietam gave President Abraham Lincoln the political
strength to issue the Emancipation Proclamation five days later.

Those are the basics. But if you hire guide Randy Buchman of the
Antietam Battlefield Guides, you'll likely hear about Gen. Abner
Doubleday, who commanded a Union division at Antietam and is popularly
known as having invented the game of baseball. Buchman, who is writing a
book about Doubleday, said the baseball story is false, since Doubleday
was a West Point cadet when he supposedly invented the game in
Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1839.

But Buchman said Doubleday did throw out the first metaphorical pitch of
the Civil War by firing the first Union shot in defense of Fort Sumter,
in Charleston, S.C., in 1861.

Buchman, an evangelical church pastor, is in his first year of Civil War
guiding. Jeff Driscoll has been doing it since the 1970s. His clients
have ranged from Boy Scout troops and British tourists to individuals
like Wayne Rowe, a Naval War College librarian from Tiverton, R.I.,
whose hobby is studying the Richmond Howitzers, a Confederate artillery
company.

On Rowe's last visit to Antietam in May, he hired Driscoll to retrace
the unit's movements, from their Potomac River crossing near Sharpsburg
to their battle positions throughout the day, documented on
time-sequenced maps that most casual visitors to the battlefield
headquarters never see.

Rowe said he was thrilled to be able to walk where the Richmond
Howitzers marched.

"I didn't have much time, and he kind of did the work for me. It was the
best money and time I could have spent," he said.

Driscoll said boning up on arcane requests is part of the fun of
guiding.

"You just continue to learn more and more and more about not just the
battle, but the whole campaign. It's expected and it's necessary," he
said.

The Antietam guide service is run by the Western Maryland Interpretive
Association, a private, non-profit group that also owns the battlefield
bookstore. But the rigorous training regimen - including a 25-book
reading list and written and oral exams - is based on the requirements
of the Gettysburg-based Association of Battlefield Guides.

The 155 Gettysburg guides are licensed by the National Park Service and
are the only people allowed to give paid tours of the Gettysburg
battlefield.

Park rangers at Gettysburg and Antietam also give programs on the
battles, but their offerings are restricted by their numbers - just 18
year-round rangers at Gettysburg and six at Antietam.

"We're limited by the fact that we have to respond to everybody and kind
of give a general overview of the battle," Antietam Superintendent John
W. Howard said. "Now we have an option; we can say, 'Get hold of the
guide service.'"

Antietam guide Thomas G. Clemens, a history professor at nearby
Hagerstown Community College, said the service follows the National Park
Service mission of public education.

"We're really fulfilling the purpose of what the park is all about," he
said. "It's meant to teach people lessons."

--(9)-----------------------------------------------------

Site Preserves Town Built for Ex-Slaves

Associated Press

09/24/2007

Kentucky Post (KY)

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070924/NEWS02/709
240364/1014/NEWS02

PERRYVILLE - One of 30 communities built for former slaves after the
Civil War is now part of a historic battlefield site.

The state purchased the site of what was Sleettown earlier this year for
$324,000. The money came from a Transportation Enhancement grant. The
Civil War Preservation Trust donated another $107,000 to match the
grant.

The town existed from 1865 until 1931 and was set up by Kentucky natives
Henry, Preston and George Sleet. The property bought by the state ties
two sections of the 570-acre park where the Battle of Perryville was
fought in October 1862.

Lyda Sleet Smalley of Perryville, the great-great-granddaughter of
George Sleet, had heard about the namesake town while growing up in
Perryville, but didn't know of her family's connection or a cemetery
where her ancestors are buried. There are no visible markers on the
gravesites.

Smalley said the descendants of Sleettown residents still populate the
area.

"Most of the descendants still live in the Perryville community where
they moved after all people in the once thriving community left in the
1930s for bigger towns and cities," Smalley said.

Marking the site and making it part of the battlefield park has been in
the works for several years, said Mary Quinn Ramer of Danville.

Ramer began research on Sleettown while she still was in college, and
hoped for years the state would buy the land. Ramer, the former head of
the Danville/Boyle County Convention and Visitors Bureau, helped write
the grant application to buy 97 of the original 150 acres where the town
once was.

"We didn't know a few years ago if this would happen," Ramer said.

Ron Bryant, historian for the state parks system, said Sleettown and
other former freed slave encampments made their mark on Kentucky.

"You have inherited a better world through the work of your grand- and
great-grandparents," he said. "They taught values that went beyond
racial discord."

--(10)-----------------------------------------------------

Three Unknown Soldiers Identified at Oakwood Cemetery

By Beau Minnick

09/23/2007

WRAL-TV Raleigh (NC)

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1852452/
<http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1852452/> 

Raleigh - Hundreds of history buffs came to Oakwood Cemetery on Sunday
for a rare ceremony. Historians have identified three unknown soldiers
buried there from the Civil War.

Private John Dolson of Minnesota, a member of Company A, 2nd U.S.
Sharpshooters, was wounded in the second day of battle and died two
months later. Before he was buried, his unit identification somehow was
changed to 2nd North Carolina Infantry, and for more than 130 years, he
has been the only Union soldier there buried in the Raleigh cemetery,
surrounded by nearly 1,400 Confederates.

The two Confederate soldiers were wounded, captured and later died in
the U.S. Corps hospital at Gettysburg. Private William P. Wallace of
Company C, 23rd North Carolina Infantry, was taken on the first day of
the battle, while Private Drury Scruggs of Company D, 16th North
Carolina Infantry was missing after Pickett's charge on the third and
final day of the battle.

The Confederate Cemetery, located on the original two and a half acres
of Oakwood Cemetery, was established in 1867. The historic cemetery is a
short walking distance from the state capitol. 

Charles Purser has dedicated 19 years of his life to studying the
Confederacy. Never did he think he would get a phone call about a Union
soldier buried with Confederate soldiers.

"He says, I think you have a Yankee down there in your cemetery," said
Charles Purser with the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Purser talked to a Civil War buff from New York state. He found records
of a John Dobson from North Carolina and a John Dolson from Minnesota.
Turned out it was the union Minnesotan soldier that was buried in
Oakwood Cemetery.

"It's a good piece of history," said Travis Gorshe.

Gorshe drove 22 hours to bring Dolson's Confederate grave marker to
Minnesota.

"He gave the ultimate price, the sacrifice of his life for his duty and
his job. They should have the proper recognition," said Gorshe.

That recognition also came Sunday for two Confederate soldiers buried in
Oakwood Cemetery. Hospital records were recently found, identifying
Privates William Wallace and Drury Scruggs. There are still 231 unknown
Confederate graves in the cemetery.

"All of them should get their identities and, hopefully, their
recognition as American soldiers," said Purser.

All three of the soldiers recently identified fought in the battle at
Gettysburg. The two Confederate soldiers were North Carolina natives;
one soldier was from Rutherford County and the other from Montgomery
County.

--(11)-----------------------------------------------------

Confederate Museum Picks Site

Fort Monroe completes system of 3 locations to house Civil War artifacts

By Janet Caggiano, Staff Writer 

09/21/2007

Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-09-21-
0222.html

Fort Monroe is the final piece of the puzzle in the Museum of the
Confederacy's plan for the future.

Waite Rawls, the museum's president and CEO, announced last night that
the historic Army base in Hampton will be renovated by 2012 to become
the third site in a museum system. The system will replace the single
institution that has stood at 12th and East Clay streets in downtown
Richmond since 1976.

"We are psyched," Rawls said. "This rounds the system out. We will cover
most of Virginia."

The other sites, announced this month, are the Appomattox Court House
National Park and the Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center near
Fredericksburg.

The museum headquarters, including the library and research center,
collections storage, administration and a small exhibit space, will
remain in Richmond at a yet undetermined site.

The White House of the Confederacy, the home of Confederate President
Jefferson Davis during the Civil War, also will stay put.

Fort Monroe, at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula, was built between
1819 and 1834. The six-sided stone fort, named in honor of President
James Monroe, is the last of its kind in the United States.

It has been home to the Training and Doctrine Command since 1973. But in
2011, the command, which recruits, trains and educates the Army's
soldiers, will move to Fort Eustis. After it departs, Army officials
will continue to work with museum staff on the project.

"The history of this site is incredible," Rawls said. "People know what
you are talking about as soon as you say Fort Monroe because of the
history."

During the Civil War, Fort Monroe served as the home of the Union Army
of the James. Several land operations against Confederate forces were
mounted from the site.

It is there that Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler decided that escaping slaves
reaching Union lines would not be returned to bondage. After the war,
Davis was a prisoner at Fort Monroe for two years.

The Army already runs a museum there, the Casemate Museum, which focuses
on the history of Fort Monroe. It attracts about 50,000 people a year.

That's not an impressive number, Rawls said. But access can be difficult
because the fort is an active military site. Once the command moves,
there won't be such high security.

"There is tremendous raw potential here," Rawls said. "It can become a
major attraction because of the history and the way it lays out."

The campus includes other buildings, including offices that once served
as barracks. Robert E. Lee stayed in one of them in 1831. "Not only was
Fort Monroe important during the Civil War, but before as well," Rawls
said. "We are pretty excited about all the sites."

The museum system plan calls for an 8,000-square-foot museum at each
site, Rawls said, with about 5,000 square feet of exhibit space. The
project will cost about $17 million. Rawls is hoping that a capital
campaign, as well as local, state and federal funding, will cover the
costs.

Fort Monroe will be the last structure completed, Rawls said.
Chancellorsville and Appomattox are expected to open in 2011, the
beginning of the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War.

Each site will exhibit artifacts relevant to that area. For example,
Fort Monroe will showcase the museum's Confederate Naval exhibit.

The museum is relocating the world's largest collection of Civil War
artifacts to escape the growing medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth
University. Visitation continues to fall, from about 92,000 in the early
1990s to 44,000 in the last budget year.

Contact Janet Caggiano at (804) 649-6157 or jcaggiano at timesdispatch.com.

--(12)-----------------------------------------------------

State Wants Ideas for Anniversary

By Robert Behre 

09/21/2007

Charleston Post and Courier (SC)

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/sep/21/state_wants_ideas_anniversary
16702

Observances of start of Civil War coming in 2010, 2011

South Carolina's plans for observing the 150th anniversary of the
signing of the Ordinance of Secession and the start of the Civil War -
which began in Charleston Harbor - are very much up in the air, and
those in charge want to hear from you.

The S.C. Civil War Advisory Board is holding hearings around the state
to give people an opportunity to voice their ideas about marking this
historical milestone in 2010 and 2011.

South Carolina lags behind Virginia, where most Civil War battles were
fought, in making plans for the Civil War sesquicentennial, said Ben
Hornsby of the S.C. Department of Archives and History.

"We've got a few years, but if we don't get started, it won't work," he
said.

The Charleston hearing will be Oct. 3 in the Charleston Museum. Later
hearings are set for Columbia, Beaufort, York, Florence and Greenville.

Hornsby said about 30 people, including those from historical societies
and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, attended the first hearing this
week, in Aiken.

One idea that emerged was creating a Web site that would teach people
about the state's role in the conflict. "That can reach a lot more
people than a parade or historical marker," he said.

The General Assembly has pending legislation to create a state
commission to coordinate the Sesquicentennial observance, and it could
pass next year. Likewise, Congress is considering taking a similar step
on the federal level.

December 2010 will mark the 150th anniversary of the convention in
Charleston that ultimately led to South Carolina becoming the first
state to secede from the nation; April 12, 2011, will mark the 150th
anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter and the start of the war.

--(13)-----------------------------------------------------

EDITORIAL

Civil War at 150: Prepare now for teaching opportunity in 2011 

09/13/2007

Harrisburg Patriot-News (PA)

http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1
18963420638940.xml&coll=1

The Civil War was one of this country's saddest periods, but it is a
significant piece of U.S. history that still manifests itself today. 

As the 150th anniversary approaches of the Confederate bombardment of
Fort Sumter, Congress should set up a commission that will use 2011 as a
teaching opportunity about the issues that led to the war, its gruesome
fighting and, more important, the lessons and principles this country
took from it. 

As Rick Beard, director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and
Museum, told Cox News Service, "There are still some folks who are still
fighting the war." 

That's evidenced by observances with varying historical interpretations
that are springing up among individual groups and states. 

It's all the more reason Congress shouldn't shy away from a national
observance that puts the war into its proper perspective. But that's
what appears to be happening. Only 10 representatives in the 435-member
House have expressed support for a bill introduced seven months ago to
set up a Civil War 150th anniversary commission. 

By comparison, a commission to observe last May's 400th anniversary of
the settlement at Jamestown was up and running almost five years ahead
of time. 

The cruel and barbaric enslavement of blacks was a bleak part of
American history, and is at the heart of some of the uneasiness about an
official national observance of the Civil War. 

But slavery can't and shouldn't be swept under the rug. The good thing
is the war ended it and preserved the union. The Underground Railroad,
the Emancipation Proclamation and Reconstruction were all aspects of the
war that started a movement toward equality and civil rights for all
citizens of this country that is still a work in progress today. 

This is an opportunity, through a national observance, to advance those
causes. Congress shouldn't squander it.

---------------------------------------------------------

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Jim Campi, Policy and Communications Director
Civil War Preservation Trust
1331 H Street NW
Suite 1001
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 367-1861
http://www.civilwar.org <http://www.civilwar.org/> 