Civil War Museums

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Fort Wayne Lincoln Museum to close: Key artifacts to other museums
"We will not be in the business of managing a museum," said Priscilla Brown, vice president of Lincoln Financial Group, which owns and runs the private Lincoln museum in Fort Wayne. The museum has the world's largest private collection of Lincoln memorabilia. The board voted to close the museum, referring too few visitors and lagging interest in history museums. 79 key artifacts, such as Lincoln's cane and a rocking chair he sat in, a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln, as well as one of 13 original copies of the 13th Amendment signed by Lincoln, will be relocated.
by news-sentinel :: 2008-03-07 :: Civil War Museums

Fiber-optic map details 1863 Vicksburg siege
Now visitors to the Vicksburg National Military Park will have a more complete view of how the campaign of Vicksburg unfolded, thanks to a new fiber-optic map. "The only audio/visual presentation we've had up until this point has been the 18m video, and there are no maps included in it whatsoever. That's the biggest complaint we've received... People want to see a map of the entire campaign to better understand the events leading up to the siege of Vicksburg," said park historian Terry Winschel. With an audio narrative the map showcases the movements and battles of Union and Confederate Armies.
by vicksburgpost :: 2008-03-04 :: Civil War Museums

President Lincoln's Cottage to reopen - Wartime summer White House
The house where Abraham Lincoln wrote a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation and retreated from the bustle of White House will open in Feb 2008 after an 8-year renovation. The house, a 34-room Gothic revival mansion, is also known as the Soldiers' Home but will be called President Lincoln's Cottage. It was here that Lincoln spent nearly a quarter of his presidency. "This will not be a traditional house museum, but rather it will tell the story of Lincoln," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Matthew Pinsker, who has written a book on Lincoln's time at the cottage, said that the house was a "personal sanctuary."
by nytimes :: 2007-10-17 :: Abraham Lincoln

Confederate Park opens new museum filled with historial information
The new Confederate Park Museum enjoyed their opening with a large crowed. Many people came out to see their heritage and the Museum that was built to show it. The day started off with a ribbon cutting ceremony and the introduction of living family members of the ones that had lived and died on the land that the Museum was built on. With fair weather the crowd was able to enjoy the opening of the Confederate Park Museum by touring the museum and visiting with the people in uniforms. There was entertainment including reenactments of real war strategies and combat positions.
by clantonadvertiser :: 2007-05-01 :: Civil War Museums

Museum of the Confederacy Becoming a Relic of the Past?
This is what the Museum of the Confederacy, the onetime "Shrine of the South," has come down to: Attendance has dropped by nearly half over the past decade. It has been losing $400,000 each year for a decade. A report by a panel concluded that the 117-year-old institution was at a "tipping point" that was going to affect "its very existence." The museum will likely have to sell its $7 million site to raise cash. "Most museums don't make but record history, but the museum was where Confederate veterans came to give their items to make a statement. Richmond was the epicenter of the Civil War... So yes, there's a symbolic message to our moving."
by washingtonpost :: 2007-04-05 :: Civil War Museums

America's premier Civil War attraction - the USS Monitor Center
March 8, 1862, a strange looking craft crept into Hampton Roads, Va., after a trip down the coast from NY. The Confederate ironclad Virginia had made its first sortie, destroying 2 U.S. Navy warships and damaging a third. It was the worst defeat in U.S. Navy history until Pearl Harbor. Now the USS Monitor had arrived, and everyone was aware that the next day they would have to try to stop the rampage of the rebels' ironclad. What ensued established the Monitor as a naval icon. On March 9, 2007 The Mariners' Museum will open the doors to America's premier Civil War attraction: the USS Monitor Center. Home to artifacts such as the turret, cannon, and replica of the Monitor.
by huliq :: 2007-02-21 :: Civil War Museums

The Civil War: America Divided
There are significant remnants of US History in Central Florida. The Civil War: America Divided, on loan from the Cincinnati Museum Center, examines the Civil War in a new way. Artifacts include a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, the inkwell Ulysses S. Grant used to sign the surrender at Appomattox, an eyewitness account of the Lincoln assassination, "Stonewall" Jackson's field glasses and pocket watch, broadsides, lithographs, and photographs. Reproductions of artifacts provide visitors with a multi-sensory exhibit experience as they try on a soldier's jacket and feel the weight of his pack.
by cfnews13 :: 2007-01-21 :: Civil War Museums

New Civil War museum in Richmond evokes old divisions
In some parts of U.S., the Civil War is still being fought. And perhaps nowhere are the aftershocks as evident as in Richmond, where a new museum is telling the history of the civil war from 3 angles: the Union, the African-American and the Confederate. The Civil War Center argues in its 10,000-square-foot exhibition, "In the Cause of Liberty," that each of the three had distinct ideas about freedom. Each found justification for its goals in the Declaration of Independence. "There are three big ideas - the War for Home, the War for Union and the War for Freedom. Some of these concepts bumped into one another, creating more tensions."
by dailytidings :: 2006-10-15 :: Civil War Museums

Civil War Museum has its own magazine
Article no longer available from the original source.
The National Civil War Museum launched its own official magazine. The magazine - called Anthem - seeks to represent the American Civil War without bias towards either the Union or Confederate side, said Thomas Bell. "Like an anthem, the museum seeks to inspire its visitors with the story of a people at war, and of the united country that emerged." The magazine has several different feature stories, including discussion of the museum's artifacts, how to fire a Civil War cannon with a living history group and a special look at the museum and its mission.
by eveningsun :: 2006-09-14 :: Civil War Museums

Rebel navy exhibit at the Museum of the Confederacy
Where was the last shot of the Civil War fired? Off the coast of Alaska. Where did the last Confederate armed force surrender? The last Confederate flag was lowered in Liverpool, England. And the same Confederate unit, the CSS Shenandoah, was involved in both. On June 28, 1865, the Shenandoah unknowingly fired the last shot of the war at a Yankee whaler in Alaskan waters. Learning from a British vessel on Aug. 2 that the Confederacy had lost, the captain canceled the raid. Fearing unjust handling if he took his ship to a U.S. port, Lt. James Waddell sailed 17,000 miles to Liverpool, where he hauled down the last Confederate flag.
by fredericksburg :: 2006-08-07 :: Naval war and blockade - American Civil War

Museum of the Confederacy forced to sell part of the collection?
After receiving only $50,000 of the $700,000 it requested, the financially struggling Museum of the Confederacy is going to have to do something to stay afloat. The question is what? "In the absence of state support, our alternatives could be extremely painful, including the sale of part of the collection or the curtailment of critical programs and shortened hours of visitation." The museum is known for its "irreplaceable collections." Unlike other Civil War museums, the Museum of the Confederacy received many of its artifacts directly from veterans and their families.
by styleweekly :: 2006-07-13 :: Civil War Museums

Plans for a permanent exhibit of rare Civil War battle flags
Article no longer available from the original source.
Country music star Brad Paisley will help raise money for a permanent exhibit of rare Civil War battle flags at the West Virginia Independence Hall Museum. The Independence Hall Foundation and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History are trying to raise 500-thousand dollars to build two display rooms for 13 flags. The flags are part of a collection of 50. One is a Confederate banner captured in battle.
by wreg :: 2006-04-25 :: Civil War Flags: Confederate, Rebel & Battle

Fredericksburg Park gets working cannon
The sound and smell of the brutal cannon barrages at the Battle of Fredericksburg must have been overwhelming. Soon, visitors to the Fredericksburg will get a taste of what it must have been like to have been positioned with Washington's Artillery of New Orleans on that commanding spot above Fredericksburg or with the 4th U.S. Artillery across the Rappahannock River on Stafford Heights. The military park, which is run by the National Park Service, has just received a finely detailed replica of a Napoleon, known as the "workhorse" of Civil War artillery.
by fredericksburg.com :: 2006-04-11 :: Artillery - American Civil War

American Civil War in the News is a edited review of American Civil War related news and articles, providing collection of hand-picked 1861-1865 era history.