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Antietam Unknowns Honored in New York and Tennessee

Two recently located unidentified soldiers were buried with full honors this past fall. Re – mains of a New York man—identified by his buttons—discovered at Antietam were interred at Saratoga National Cemetery, as three honor guards stood by. Since the affiliation of a man found on the Franklin, Tenn., battlefield was unknown, a procession and ceremonies at Franklin’s Rest Haven Cemetery embraced both sides. His casket was draped with Confederate and U.S. flags.

—Linda Wheeler

Gettysburg Super Is Out

A week after he was honored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation for his work as superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park, John Latschar was reassigned to unspecified duties elsewhere. The move came after The Washington Post reported on sexually explicit photos found on Latschar’s computer. Brion Fitzgerald, a 31-year Park Service veteran, is now acting superintendent.

200 Raiders Revisit Harpers Ferry

On the wet, gloomy evening of October 16, 2009—apparently quite similar to the night when abolitionist John Brown set out with 21 followers to rob the federal arsenal in October 1859—200 hardy reenactors embarked on a five-mile hike into Harpers Ferry. In the lead on that lantern-lit trek was Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Chief Historian Dennis Frye, who was not the least bit daunted by the unpleasant weather. ”We were able to match the time, temperature and words,” he pointed out.

Sunday brought a more intimate gathering for about 40 descendants of raiders, townspeople, Marines and militia. They participated in a commemorative walk through the little town, joined by John Brown’s great-great-great-granddaughter, Alice Mecoy.

Park visitors were also treated to performances by the U.S. Marine Band during the anniversary weekend. And kids got the chance to learn what life was like for youngsters in the 1850s, including milking a cow and making butter.

—Linda Wheeler

Development Threatens Williamsburg Battle Site

Fought just outside Virginia’s Colonial capital, the Battle of Williamsburg resulted in heavy casualties. Now 337 acres previously designated as core battlefield property is likely to be developed into a shopping center, hospital and housing. Williamsburg’s City Council was scheduled to vote on the new development in mid-November 2009.

Ill Wind Threatens Camp Allegheny

Camp Allegheny was still part of Virginia when the war began, though these days it’s just across the West Virginia border. Situated on U.S. Forest Service land and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the battlefield features an enclosed pit and parapet fortification, earthworks, remnants of log cabins and a cemetery. Now this remote site—seemingly insulated from the pressures of modern development—is threatened by a project in the adjacent state. A row of 400-foot-tall wind turbines is going up on the ridgeline overlooking the camp.

Highland New Wind Development has already broken ground on its wind farm, but now Virginia officials are arguing that the firm should have taken the battlefield into account. Preservationists managed to temporarily slow the project this past October. As of this writing, a hearing on the matter was scheduled for November.

—Linda Wheeler

Tennessee Museum Searches for Lost Battle Flags

Despite orders that all captured Confederate flags should be shipped to the War Department in Washington, D.C., hundreds disappeared—sent to soldiers’ homes or dispatched to the North. Some flags were repatriated to the states where they originated, but hundreds more are still missing today.

The Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, which has a book in the works about Civil War flags, is especially eager to document two lost unit banners, both of which were reportedly displayed in Cincinnati after the war: the 19th Tennessee Infantry, Co. D, Gilles pie Guards; and the Crews’ Tennessee Battalion. Flag historian Greg Biggs said the Gilles – pie Guards flag was captured by the 9th Ohio Infantry at the Battle of Mill Springs on January 19, 1862. He noted that most members of the 9th belonged to the Turner Society, headquartered in Cincinnati. The Crews’ banner was also captured in 1862, by Union sailors on the Tennessee River, after which a steam boat captain vowed to donate it to a Cincinnati newspaper.

Acknowledging it’s a long shot, Biggs still hopes that someone will volunteer info on the flags. If you can help, e-mail the museum’s senior textile curator, Candace Adelson, at Candace.Adelson@tn.gov.

Third Winchester Expands to 506 Acres

Thanks to cooperation between private and public entities, the Huntsberry Farm is now part of the Third Winchester Battlefield, located east of the Shenandoah cross roads town. In September 2009, representatives from the Civil War Preservation Trust, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation and Frederick County gathered to celebrate their successful efforts to purchase and protect the site. Preservationists considered Hunts – berry Farm’s 209 acres especially important because it links two other parcels, creating a 506-acre park.

Also on hand for the celebration was Virginia Senator Jim Webb, who had supported legislation to make $1.23 million available for the purchase in matching grant money. Webb said, “As someone with ancestors who fought on both sides of the American Civil War, the preservation of these battlefields has personal significance.” He also quoted an inscription found on the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery: “These men suffered all, sacrificed all, dared all and died.”

—Linda Wheeler

Crossing Boteler’s Ford

A group of about 50 adventurous souls followed in the soggy footsteps of the Army of the Potomac’s V Corps on September 19, 2009—147 years to the day after Federal troops crossed at Boteler’s Ford while pursuing the Army of Northern Virginia. The original pursuit across the Potomac River came just after the Battle of Antietam, but this past fall participants came out to support a good cause: the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association, which sponsored a tour of the battlefield and a reception. If you missed it, not to worry: Patch your waders and stand by until next fall, when another crossing is planned.

Southern Civilians and the Business of War

The United States War Department brought together a vast collection of documents on Southern civilians in 1891-92, designated as “Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms.” Now digitized, they are readily available online at footnote.com. For most researchers, that means for the first time this alphabetically arranged file of original source material—specifying financial transactions between private citizens and businesses and the Southern government in Montgomery, Ala., and later Richmond—is as close as the nearest Internet connection.

The backbone of the collection is some 600,000 vouchers for goods or services rendered, usually submitted on printed forms, but often including correspondence, contracts, payrolls, bills of lading, telegrams, passes, employee lists and more. There are many large consolidations dealing with suppliers, from Adams & Dun – can of Charleston, S.C. (which furnished hardware, including pumps, stoves, grates, lamps and mess gear, 1861-64), through Spiller & Burr of Atlanta (which made pistols), to J.H. Zeilin & Co. of Ma con, Ga. (wholesale and retail druggists, 1862-65). Elaborate letterheads, sometimes featuring engravings of the company’s headquarters, enliven some entries. One producer of woolen goods for uniforms even included cloth samples with his paperwork.

These records, boldly stamped “Record Division, Rebel Archives,” or “Adjutant General’s Office, Confederate Archives Division,” proved to be of great monetary value to the postwar federal government. They often documented aid given to the Confederacy, and were therefore evidence of disloyalty to the Union that led to the rejection of claims seeking compensation for property damages caused by Federal troops. Today the collection reminds us that, in a sense, they also serve who only buy, sell and manufacture.

—Mike Musick

Mike Musick is the former subject area expert for the Civil War at the National Archives.

 

Originally published in the February 2010 issue of Civil War Times. To subscribe, click here