Tag Archives: news

Preserving Sherman’s March

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A USC archaeologist is setting out to find and preserve camps, battlefields, and other areas of interest along the path of Sherman’s March.

For this particular project, Smith will be identifying and providing status reports of the battle sites and camps associated with Sherman’s march through South Carolina. The general, Smith said, captured Atlanta in 1865 and marched across Georgia and South Carolina before reaching Gen. Robert E. Lee in North Carolina.

Smith expects to document about 60 sites throughout the project but said that no excavation work will be done. Rather, the goal is to compile information to help identify and preserve the historic sites.

I can’t help but worry for Smith, thinking about how many creepy-crawlies await in the South Carolina woods and swamps, and him without the benefit of tens of thousands of other men alongside him to scare them off, but the Civil War nerd in me hopes that his efforts lead to a new hiking trail.  Wouldn’t it be neat to say you’d hiked the trail of Sherman’s March?

http://www.dailygamecock.com/news/usc-archaeologist-to-research-sherman-s-march-across-sc-1.1555309

Ironclad Reenactment

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There’s a very cool reenactment taking place in Swedesboro, NJ on the 25th of September:

The re-enactors will present what life was like for sailors serving onboard an ironclad warship during the Civil War. “Eyewitness” participants will describe daily shipboard routine during the blockade and stirring naval battles in great detail.  Uniforms, weapons, accoutrements and models of the “new” ironclads, including a few vessels from the Rebel navy, will be displayed.

Between the Booth play in Williamsburg and this unusual reenactment in Swedesboro, Civil War buffs in the NY/NJ area are having a great month!

http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/towns/index.ssf/2010/09/ship_mates_due_to_visit_swedes.html

Letters Discovered

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A lucky Tampa man has been bequeathed a collection of Civil War letters, written by several Union soldiers to a female relative in Pennsylvania.  The excerpts published in this article give a good taste of the soldier’s mindset, and appear to cover many of the biggest events of the war.  The owner indicates that his first step will be reading them all.  I hope his second involves preparing them for publication!

Well Mary, we got good news this morning that the rebel General Johnston has surrendered to Sherman. If this story is true, we will soon get home. I think the last battle has been fought. I don’t want to hear another cannon fired.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/aug/27/tampa-man-inherits-civil-war-letters-telling-battl/news-breaking/

Cashier House Renovations

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The house of the Civil War veteran (and curiosity) Albert Cashier is being renovated.  Cashier was the Union veteran who served throughout the war and received a pension, and was revealed only in old age to be a woman.

I find this story interesting, not only because of the Cashier history, but because the renovations are being done in a small town with some very open-minded residents.  Gender confusion is a topic that makes a lot of people uncomfortable (to say nothing of how the gender-confused must feel) and it’s nice to see volunteers preserving a local history that might be considered contentious with such dedication and devotion.

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/article_96032f08-b183-11df-96d7-001cc4c03286.html

More Movie News

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As I mentioned before, the Spielberg Lincoln project is on hold. Rising from the (un)dead, however, is a very different Lincoln film.  Seth Grahame-Smith – he of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies “fame” – followed up his Austen meal by sharpening his teeth with Lincoln.  Sadly, my library’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has too many holds for me to have yet indulged, but I’m sure it’s a hoot. (To begin with, Nancy Hanks Lincoln’s death is attributed to vampirism, with “milk-sickness” as a cover.)  The best part of this film rendition is that I won’t spend too much time wringing my hands at the historical inaccuracies.

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/08/11/timur-bekmambetov-to-direct-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-probably-next/

Lincoln Films

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Civil War buffs have a film to look forward to, and one to hope for!  Premiering at next month’s Toronto International Film Fest is The Conspirator, dramatising Mary Surratt’s story.  Directed by Robert Redford, it stars Robin Wright Penn as Mrs. Surratt and James “Hot Scot” McAvoy as her attorney, Frederick Aiken.  (Unfortunately, that “directed by Redford” usually indicates a dull movie.)

Another film – one to which I had been casting a nervous eye – appears to be on hold again: Steven Spielberg has been adapting Doris Kearns Goodwin’s fabulous Team of Rivals, and had cast Liam Neeson as Old Abe.  Neeson has pulled out, though, apparently citing his old-erness, at 58, feeling unable to portray a man who died at 56.  I’m torn on this, as I’m anxious to see what Spielberg makes of the source material, but somewhat glad Neeson won’t be starring.  He’s a decent actor, but apart from his height has few commonalities in appearance with Lincoln.  The question now is, who will play him?

The best Lincoln I’ve ever seen was Gregory Peck’s portrayal in The Blue and the Gray.  It’s a shame Peck has gone to that great casting call in the sky – I’d have loved to watch him Linc it up again.

Camp Lawton Uncovered

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The archaelogical remains of Camp Lawton have been uncovered, by a student who should have no problems defending his thesis.

Georgia officials say the discoveries, announced Wednesday, were made by a 36-year-old graduate student at Georgia Southern University who set out to find Camp Lawton for his thesis project in archaeology…

The Georgia Southern student, Kevin Chapman, stunned experienced pros by not only pinpointing the site, but also unearthing rare Civil War artifacts from a prison camp known as little more than a historical footnote on the path of Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s devastating 1864 march in the South from Atlanta to Savannah.

(Aside: I’m listening to my audiobook of Shelby Foote’s Narrative as I read this story, and am exactly the point where Sherman is rampaging through Georgia. How’s that for timing?)

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100818/world/us_civil_war_pow_camp