Latest hand-picked Civil War news and articles.
Museum of Southern History: Historical accuracy and making the past to come life
One woman came searching for her ancestors who fought in the Civil War, only to learn that 3 out of 4 were deserters. "It's all about historical accuracy. Political correctness has destroyed history," said Ben Willingham, incoming board president of the Museum of Southern History. "Don't force-feed dates and times. History needs to be brought alive with people and stories, ancestors," says curator Van Seagraves, who wears Confederate uniform for school tour groups and lets kids taste tack - hard bread that soldiers ate. He also lets them shoot blanks from antique weapons. The collection includes one of Lincoln's burial flags, a copy of Nathan B. Forrest's Memphis speech.
(jacksonville.com)
The Civil War Medicine Museum in Frederick
The National Museum of Civil War Medicine - in Frederick, Maryland - is located in a building used by an embalmer who treated the bodies of Civil War soldiers. Shattered bones and stories of injured soldiers are exhibited in a respectful, professional manner. The tour in the museum is set up thematically and flows easily from one section to another: from medical education to recruitment to camp life, evacuation of the wounded, to field dressing, hospitals, embalming, and modern military medicine.
(examiner.com)
Texas Civil War museum acquires General Grant`s presentation sword
The Texas Civil War Museum is the largest Civil War museum west of the Mississippi River. Its latest acquisition should put it in the top class of all Civil War museums. On June 24, 2007, the museum bought the Ulysses S. Grant presentation sword at auction. This is the sword the people of Kentucky made to be presented to Grant upon his promotion to General-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States' in 1864. The Kentucky patriots raised the money to buy this unique sword crafted by St. Louis silversmith and jeweler Henry Folsom. The St. Louis Dispatch depicted the sword as "the most beautiful and costly sword yet manufactured in this country."
(cleburnetimesreview.com)
The Museum of the Confederacy and the American Civil War Center
For Northerners, the history of the Civil War looks settled. We know that from the nation's founding, economic and cultural differences created tensions between the North and the South. And the elimination of slavery only slowly became a Union goal during the war; and that it took a century for black Americans to experience the equality guaranteed by the nation's ideals. History is more ambiguous in the capital of the Confederate States of America. 43 battles took place within 30 miles of the White House of the Confederacy: the pillared mansion where this self-declared nation housed its only president Jefferson Davis 1861-1865.
(nytimes.com)
Confederate Museum to send a part of the collection on the road (Article no longer available from the original source)
At any given moment, only 10-15% of the Confederate museum's memorabilia is on show. The rest remains tucked away in cabinets. In 2011, a part of the collection is scheduled to go on the road, touring to three historic Virginia sites. The satellite exhibits will draw upon a vast number of artifacts. The 15,000 items include: 3,000 military accouterments - spurs, saddles, tack, belts, medals and buttons totaling 1,000. 510 of the 13,000 known civil war flags in existence, including one stitched by Robert E. Lee's wife and 4 daughters. 250 uniform pieces, including the one Lee wore when he surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox in 1865.
(macon.com)
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.
(news-sentinel)
Fiber-optic map details 1863 Vicksburg siege (Article no longer available from the original source)
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.
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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."
(nytimes)
Confederate Park opens new museum filled with historical information (Article no longer available from the original source)
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.
(clantonadvertiser)
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."
(washingtonpost)
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.
(huliq)
The Civil War: America Divided (Article no longer available from the original source)
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.
(cfnews13)
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."
(dailytidings)
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.
(eveningsun)
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.
(fredericksburg.com)