Hey, Civil War buffs in the Murfreesboro area: You can now decorate cars while helping your state preserve its historical sites. That’s a pretty snazzy plate for $35!
The Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association (TCWPA) is sponsoring Tennessee’s official Civil War Sesquicentennial License plate. Proceeds from the license plate will support Civil War Battlefield Preservation in Tennessee.
via Civil War Battle License Plate Available Now in Rutherford County on Murfreesboro News and Radio.
In Book 3 of his Narrative, Shelby Foote mentions that Lee’s lines around Petersburg were stretched so thin, he couldn’t even allow his Jewish soldiers time out of the trenches for Yom Kippur. I was amazed to think of Jewish soldiers, and even more amazed when I read about this website, which is commemorating the contributions of Chinese soldiers to the Civil War.
The silk and porcelain (china) trade brought Westerners in contact with the Chinese. Canton (Kwangchow), of Kwangtung province, became the center of foreign trade, in 1760. England led the western powers in “opening” China to trade. The Treaty of Nanking, after the Opium War (1839-42) opened five ports for commerce. Hong Kong (fragrant harbor) was ceded to the British. Extraterritorial laws were enforced. An indemnity of 21 million silver dollars was imposed. Taxes soared. Local cottage industry could not compete with imported manufactured goods. The result was disastrous to local economy. Furthermore, the Treaty of Tienjin added more indemnity and land Kowloon (nine dragons) to the English. The British and French occupied Canton between 1856 to 1860 and their presence made it easier to recruit peasant boys abroad as cheap labor. Christian missionaries engaged in preaching the gospels enthusiastically. It was under these circumstances that some missionaries and some sea captains “adopted” some small Chinese boys and raised them in North America. This was how the Chinese, boys Joseph Pierce, Antonio Dardelle, Edward Day Cohota and Hong Neok Woo ended up staying in America and served in the Civil War.
Association to commemorate the Chinese serving in the American Civil War.
The current shutdown is affecting more than just access to the nation’s historical parks and sites, it’s putting their security at risk too. Here’s hoping the jerk at Kennesaw is an isolated case, and that others aren’t taking advantage to raid the battlefields.
Although Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield is closed due to the partial government shutdown, it didn’t stop a Cherokee County man from searching for Civil War artifacts, which, according to the chief park ranger, is illegal whether the park is open or closed…
Some 14 employees of the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield have been furloughed due to the government shutdown, however, four individuals remain on staff daily, which includes law enforcement rangers.
via Local man arrested in Kennesaw park – The Cherokee Ledger-News: Weekly News.
Someone posted scans of this pretty antislavery primer from 1846. I hadn’t realized “brother” was in use that long ago.
I wouldn’t normally comment on a story like this, but the accompanying image struck a chord. Kudos to the relic hunter who selflessly turned it over to the family. As his descendant is also a veteran, I bet the gesture was all the more appreciated.
The ring was worn by Levi Schlegel, a Reading-area native who is believed to have lost it nearly 150 years ago at an encampment near Fredericksburg, Va.
Relic hunter John Blue found the ring at a construction site in 2005. Though it was engraved with Schlegel’s name and unit — ‘‘Co. G., 198th P.V.,’’ or Pennsylvania Volunteers — Blue wasn’t sure how to find Schlegel’s descendants, and kept the ring in a box for several years.
A genealogist ultimately helped Blue track down Schlegel’s family. On Tuesday, Blue presented the ring to a distant cousin during a ceremony at Levi Schlegel’s grave in Reading.
via Lost Civil War ring returned to kin of Pa. soldier – News – Boston.com.
Here’s a resource for all the map fanatics out there (and a hint about tomorrow’s planned podcast topic!) The US Coast Survey, created hundreds of maps of the country before, during, and after the war. Now, its successor, the NOAA, has made them all available on the Internet.
My Civil War Round Table counts an expert mapmaker
There’s a ceremony being held at Arlington this week for two of the sailors recovered from the Monitor’s deep sea wreck. Possible descendants of the sailors are being DNA tested against the remains. Forensic reconstruction artists have given us a peek at what these men looked like; bringing the dead back to life just in time to bury them again.
The ceremony Friday at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington will include Monitor kin who believe the two sailors – whose remains were discovered in 2002 – are their ancestors, despite DNA testing that has failed to make a conclusive link. But the families stress that the interment pays homage to all 16 Union sailors who died when the ship went down, and nearly 100 people from Maine to California are expected to attend.
I love the local heroes of Civil War history: The researchers and custodians and docents and volunteers of all stripes who keep history alive or fight hard to preserve it. This newspaper mourns one of those special individuals. It’s a great read.
…My friend Charles Purser, who died in January at age 73. He’s the only reason anyone knows Dolson’s name.
I’ve told you about Purser before, the quiet airman and postal worker who doggedly uncovered names for hundreds of forgotten soldiers, including Dolson.
I’ve described him poring through muster rolls and census reports from the 1860s to identify the men buried in Oakwood Cemetery – a self-appointed Civil War detective…
Now I’ll tell the last piece of Purser’s story.He died of cancer in January and took his place in Oakwood, next to the men he rescued from obscurity. From his grave, you can see the rounded tip of Dolson’s stone – the only Union man in his row.
Neat video purporting to be a science experiment on determining the position of artillery on preserved battlefields, but there’s less science on display than yeehawing reenactors and buffs getting to shoot live ammunition from a Napoleon cannon.
Seeing the grapeshot’s range and scatter disquieting. I am amazed anew at the bravery of the men who marched willingly into the face of that threat. Hearing that peculiar jangling noise as you marched within range must have been terrifying.
A mention of Confederate pensions made me curious as to how these worked; the Southern states were poor after the war, and I doubted the Federal government would provide for soldiers who’d actively fought against it. Interesting to note they didn’t come about until 30 years after the war started – one imagines the pension rolls were pretty thin by that time – but that there was no discrimination as to where troops had served. Given how exclusionary and self-interested the Confederate states were by war’s end, that’s a surprising development.
In 1891 Tennessee established the Board of Pension Examiners to determine if Confederate veterans applying for pensions were eligible. Eligibility requirements included an inability to support oneself, honorable separation from the service, and residence in the state for one year prior to application.
Confederate veterans applied to the pension board of the state in which they resided at the time of application, even if this was not the state from which they served.
via Tennessee Department of State: Tennessee State Library and Archives.