Civil War News Roundup - 8/11/2009
Courtesy of the Civil War Preservation Trust
-------------------------------------------------------
(1) Workers Unearth Bones During Repair at USC - McClatchy Newspapers
(2) Grave of Confederate Bankroller Found in London - The Guardian
(3) Battle of Wilson's Creek Affected More than Soldiers - Christian County Headliner
(4) Scout Documents 268 Confederate Graves - Newnan Times-Herald
(5) Editorial: Clock Ticking on Civil War Sesquicentennial - Petersburg Progress-Index(6) Oberlin Anti-Slave Rebellion Preceded Raid at Harpers Ferry - Cleveland Plain-Dealer
(7) Liverpool Could Play Role in American Civil War Anniversary - Liverpool Echo
(8) Depot Opens Battlefield Site to Public - Richmond Register
(9) Editorial: Thanks, Andersonville - Americus Times-Recorder
(10) Opinion: Myth vs. Fact in Wilderness Wal-Mart Debate - Culpeper Star-Exponent
(11) Editorial: Wilderness Wal-Mart Study Is Worth Pursuing - Washington Post
(12) Historic Milestones to Get Scant Funding - Toledo Blade
(13) New Park Eyed Along Potomac River in Jefferson County - Martinsburg Journal
(14) Tallahassee Plays Important Role in African-American History - Tallahassee Democrat
--(1) Workers Unearth Bones During Repair at USC -----------------------------------------------------
Workers Unearth Bones During Repair at USC
By Clif LeBlanc
8/11/2009
McClatchy Newspapers (NAT)
http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/1017128.html
The University of South Carolina's historic Horseshoe might hold
a new and macabre piece of South Carolina's past.
Workers repairing an underground steam pipe on Monday noticed
human bone fragments behind the second-oldest building on campus,
where a Civil War hospital once treated injured Confederate and
Union soldiers.
"We don't know what it is," Richland County Coroner
Gary Watts said of fragments that ranged from a skull cap to half-inch
pieces. "It probably is Civil War remains, but we're still
going to do this as if it were a crime scene."
The coroner's office and the State Law Enforcement Division are
excavating the steam-pipe trench and examining mounds of soil
dug from it.
Watts said he expects to know by midday today whether the remains
are nearly 150 years old. The coroner's office has an on-staff
anthropologist who is completing his doctoral work at USC.
University archivist Elizabeth West said she was taken aback by
the find.
"Until today, President [James Rion] McKissick's grave was
the only known grave on campus," West said. McKissick died
in 1944 while serving as school president and is interred on the
grounds of South Carolinian Library on the Horseshoe.
The bone fragments were discovered behind DeSaussure College,
completed in 1809, West said.
The building now houses the offices of the college of social work
in the serene environs of the Horseshoe. It is named for the attorney
from Sumter County who fought in the Revolutionary War.
During the Civil War, the college closed as students left to fight
the Union army, said West, the archivist.
The school rented many buildings to the Confederacy as a hospital
to treat the wounded from both sides of the battle.
Because of the proximity of the hospital, the remains could be
amputated body parts, West and Watts said.
"That was a very common practice," the archivist said.
"During that time, they could not save damaged limbs. It
certainly would not surprise me if they buried them out back."
The repair crew reported finding the bones about 11:30 a.m. in
a parking lot behind DeSaussure, which is on the north side of
the Horseshoe near McKissick Museum.
The coroner said the fragments were in mounds of dirt taken from
a trench, which had been dug more than a week ago.
--(2) Grave of Confederate Bankroller Found in London
-----------------------------------------------------
Grave Found of Man Who Bankrolled Confederates in American Civil
War
By Maev Kennedy
8/10/2009
The Guardian (UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/aug/10/grave-of-confederate-backer-found
The grave of a man who bankrolled the Confederate side in the
American civil war, and ended up costing the British government
£3.3m in compensation to the victorious north, has been
tracked down in a patch of brambles in a London cemetery.
Charles Kuhn Prioleau, a cotton merchant born in Charleston, South
Carolina, was based in Liverpool during the war, from 1861 to
1865. He disappeared from history in a bonfire of company records
and correspondence after his firm went bankrupt, having sent supplies,
funds, and blockade-busting ships to the Confederates.
But his mortal remains have now been traced to Kensal Green cemetery
by a US academic who is gradually unearthing the almost forgotten
story of Confederate support in England, which takes in the highest
ranks of British politics and society.
Tom Sebrell, a history lecturer at University College London,
led a small gang of students into the undergrowth armed with secateurs
and cemetery burial records supplied by the Friends of Kensal
Green. They literally fell over Prioleau's broken headstone.
His war efforts began as an attempt to save his business when
the cotton trade crucial to the economy both of the southern states
of America and the Lancashire mill owners collapsed. Prioleau's
contribution to the Confederate cause grew to sending supplies,
weapons, and ammunition to those states, and finally to buying,
equipping and crewing warships.
Through agents, he acquired three of the most notorious privateers
of the civil war: the CSS Alabama and the CSS Florida, built on
Merseyside, and the CSS Shenandoah, built on Tyneside.
The first ship in particular, with a mainly English crew, caused
such havoc that the £3.3m the British eventually paid the
US government was known as "the Alabama claim".
After the war, Sebrell says Prioleau simply vanished. His company,
Fraser, Trenholm and Co, went bankrupt, almost certainly to pre-empt
compensation claims. He has descendants in England, Africa and
the US, but none knew where he was buried. One branch thought
Belgium, another somewhere called Kelsall, a name that led Sebrell
and his team to Kensal Green.
Prioleau was buried there in 1887 among grand neighbours, including:
the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel; Lady Byron, the poet's wife;
the novelist Anthony Trollope; and WH Smith of newsagents fame.
But while some of their monuments are mini-cathedrals in grandeur,
Prioleau's, beside the Liverpool in-laws who moved to London with
him, is comparatively modest. It certainly fails to match the
millionaire style of his surviving home in Liverpool, now owned
by the university. Also traced by Sebrell, the house features
portraits of Prioleau and his wife, Mary, as well as elaborate
Confederate decoration in all the main rooms.
"This is a part of the cemetery's history that even we didn't
know," Barry Smith, a trustee of the Friends, said. "It's
fascinating to have another name to add to the already multi-layered
history of this place."
Sebrell believes there is a rich tourism dividend in uncovering
this lost history: already, he has invitations to lead guided
tours of groups from Virginia and Carolina, and Liverpool is planning
a Confederate history trail in 2011 to mark the 150th anniversary
of the outbreak of the war.
--(3) Battle of Wilson's Creek Affected More than
Soldiers -----------------------------------------------------
Battle of Wilson's Creek Affected More than Soldiers
By Kaitlyn McConnell
8/10/2009
Christian County Headliner (MO)
http://ccheadliner.com/articles/2009/08/10/news/doc4a78721c27bdf526111090.txt
Despite the prominence of the battle at Wilson's Creek, soldiers
were not the only people on the battlefield that fateful day 148
years ago Aug. 10.
The families of Wilson's Creek also played various roles in shaping
the area's history, each one with a unique story to tell.
"Every one of those soldiers' lives were affected, but so
were the families," said Wilson's Creek Superintendent Ted
Hillmer, who has worked at the park for six years. "To me,
that's a neat story."
European-Americans living in the Wilson's Creek area dates back
to about 1840. Many of the first settlers were "squatters,"
or people who simply staked their claim and did not legally obtain
it from the government. The first "legal" individual
on record was John Dixon, who was deeded 40 acres in 1839. He
was followed by others including Joseph Sharp in 1843, William
Kerr in 1846, William Steele in 1847 and John Ray in 1851.
Historical accounts of the land surrounding Wilson's Creek describe
it as desirable for a number of reasons. The bottomlands were
extremely fertile; the presence of Wilson's Creek was valuable
because of its role as a major water source. The area was also
connected to Springfield by the Fayetteville Road, a major plus
in days when reliable roads were rare.
While farming was the most prominent occupation at Wilson's Creek,
there were also merchants, boatmen, stock dealers, school teachers,
shoemakers, stonemasons and carpenters.
Many farmers also represented a variety of crops including wheat,
oats and hay.
One of the most prominent residents of Wilson's Creek was John
Ray. Ray, an immigrant from Tennessee, came to southwest Missouri
in the late 1840s with his daughter Elizabeth. He soon met Roxanna
Gizzard, the widowed daughter of William Steele, another of Wilson's
Creek's earliest settlers.
After their marriage in 1849, they occupied the Steele homestead
with their large family. Their home was utilized as a flag stop
for the Butterfield-Overland Stage, and Ray served as the area's
postmaster for a number of years.
During the period prior to the Civil War, many families throughout
southwest Missouri owned slaves, and those living at Wilson's
Creek was no exception. According to information from the Cultural
Landscape Report, of the 11 households living on Wilson's Creek
in 1850, three owned slaves. While no data from slave census
in Christian County exists for 1860, personal property tax records
show that such numbers only slightly vary throughout the 1850s
with the majority of slaveholders having only three to four slaves
each.
The summer of 1861 brought many changes for the families living
near Wilson's Creek. In August 1861, thousands of Confederate
soldiers began camping on the doorsteps of many of the area's
residents. Despite the army's presence, many of the residents
did not think that fighting would actually occur at Wilson's Creek
and had little notice prior to the battle.
"We know from one of the (Ray) daughter's accounts that a
soldier rides up to them early that morning and says 'there will
be fighting here,'" said Jeff Patrick, librarian at Wilson's
Creek. "They (then) go and tell their parents."
Patrick said that while none of the families got caught up in
the fighting, they were involved in various other ways. Some were
forced to cook meals for soldiers; others sold food to the troops.
The Rays' home was used as a hospital; it was where Union Gen.
Nathaniel Lyon's body rested after he was killed in battle.
"They're just in the wrong place at the wrong time,"
said Patrick. "Some civilians in the area leave before the
battle ever begins. Some wait until the first shots are fired
and then they leave, and others stay for the whole time."
After the battle, the families at Wilson's Creek were faced with
rebuilding the lives that had been so quickly destroyed.
The beginning of the 20th century, however, brought new things
for Wilson's Creek.
"In the early 1900s, they actually do have a town of Wilson's
Creek here," said Patrick. "They have several streets,
a tomato factory and a limestone quarry...it actually was a fairly
good-sized town."
The growth of Springfield, Republic and Battlefield ultimately
contributed to the community's demise.
"If you drive around the tour road today, you probably couldn't
tell that anything was ever there," said Patrick. "It's
all gone."
Today, the town of Wilson's Creek is simply a memory. The next
time that the battlefield commanded attention would not be until
the mid 1900s, when a group of people, now known as the Wilson's
Creek Battlefield Foundation, decided that the site couldn't be
forgotten any longer.
--(4) Scout Documents 268 Confederate Graves -----------------------------------------------------
Scout Documents 268 Confederate Graves
By Jeff Bishop
8/9/2009
Newnan Times-Herald (GA)
http://www.times-herald.com/Local/Scout-documents-268-Confederate-graves-826128
Thomas Sumner has grown up in a house with links to the Battle
of Brown's Mill, so when it came time to earn his Eagle Scout
badge, he immediately knew what he wanted his community service
project to be.
"My family lives in one of the oldest homes in Newnan,"
said Sumner, the third son -- and third Eagle Scout -- born to
Michael and Leah Sumner. The LaGrange Street home, Buena Vista,
is one of the popular stops on tours of Newnan.
"The owner of the house in the 1860s was a captain in the
Coweta Rangers and served in the Confederate army during the Civil
War," said Sumner, a Life Scout in Troop 47. "Our house
was used by General Joe Wheeler as his headquarters during the
Battle of Brown's Mill. So I have always had an interest in local
history."
Sumner decided to document each of the 268 Confederate graves
at Oak Hill Cemetery -- from W.S. Alexander of the 63rd Tennessee
Regiment to Joel Young of Co. E, 17th Alabama Infantry.
"A few years ago my grandmother helped create a history guide
for her local cemetery," said Sumner. "When my family
visited her in Moultrie, she took us on a tour and I realized
that there was a lot of history and information in a cemetery.
"So when the time came to choose a project, I thought this
would be a very interesting one," he said.
"It was also one I could share with other people and hopefully
provide some interesting information," said Sumner.
In 1868, the Ladies Memorial Association of Newnan began marking
the Confederate graves at Oak Hill. In 1950 new markers were made
for the graves.
Most of the soldiers died in Newnan war hospitals, although some
were killed in the Battle of Brown's Mill.
Newnan was described as a "hospital town" during the
war, and wounded soldiers were shipped in on the Atlanta and West
Point Railroad, said Sumner.
Only two graves are labeled "unknown." Every state of
the Confederacy is represented in the cemetery.
"There are also two Revolutionary War soldiers buried there,
and one from the first World War," said Sumner.
The new guide is organized by last name of the soldier and also
by state, and is available on CD. The city's Main Street program
hopes to soon have the file available on its Web site -- http://www.mainstreetnewnan.com/
-- as a PDF download.
"It's wonderful, and a great complement to the brochure we
just did for Oak Hill," said Linda Bridges-Kee, city Business
Development and Main Street director.
"I've seen a lot of people walking around the cemetery since
we developed the tour. I think it helps that it hasn't been so
miserably hot this summer," she said.
"I think it's great that we have some young folks who are
showing some interest in local history, because it's not taught
in schools," said Elizabeth Beers, who helped develop the
tour and brochure.
Tom Redwine, Lt. Commander with the William Thomas Overby chapter
of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said he was happy to see
Sumner and his fellow scouts working at the cemetery on Confederate
Memorial Day.
"I didn't know he was going to show up that particular day,
but we looked at his project and it's just outstanding,"
he said.
Some interesting facts emerged during the research, Sumner said.
One soldier buried at the cemetery didn't actually die during
the war at all.
"But they buried him there, after living a full life, because
he was a Confederate veteran," said Sumner.
--(5) Editorial: Clock Ticking on Civil War Sesquicentennial
-----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Clock Ticking on Civil War Sesquicentennial
8/9/2009
Petersburg Progress-Index (VA)
http://www.progress-index.com/articles/2009/08/09/editorial/pi_progindex.20090809.a.pg4.pi0809bcedit_s1.2711596_edi.txt
July 30 was the 145th anniversary of the Battle of the Crater,
the major battle during the siege of Petersburg. Last weekend,
a series of events - including ranger talks, living history demonstrations,
games, contests and crafts - were held at Petersburg National
Battlefield to commemorate the famous battle.
But the weekend commemoration was also a reminder. The clock is
ticking toward the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.
Already, the work has already began planning for the sesquicentennial.
Virginia, which is home to many of the key battles fought in the
war, has been at the forefront of planning for the sesquicentennial.
It was the first state to establish a committee to plan for the
anniversary and has set aside $4 million for it.
The General Assembly created the Virginia Sesquicentennial of
the American Civil War Commission in 2006 to prepare for and commemorate
the sesquicentennial. The commission is also reaching out to local
communities to be involved in the planning and commemoration that
will occur from 2011 to 2015.
Petersburg and the Tri-City region, which played a key role at
the end of the war, is expected to have a large, active role in
the 150th anniversary. "Localities are encouraged to plan
special events and exhibitions that highlight the Civil War-related
history of the community, being sure to include all perspectives
of the Civil War era and highlight lesser-known stories, particularly
those that relate to the African-American experience during the
Civil War," according to the Virginia Sesquicentennial Commission
annual report.
Initial work has begun on Petersburg's role in the Virginia Civil
War Sesquicentennial. A formal committee has not been adopted,
but the foundation has been laid by a group that is doing work
on a Lincoln Tour, highlighting the three spots that Lincoln visited
- Fort Mahone, Centre Hill Mansion and of course the Wallace House.
But there is much work to be done. First, there is a need to retell
the Civil War that doesn't just focus on military aspects of the
conflict. For example, the role of civilians and African-Americans
are now considered important aspects of telling the complete story
of the Civil War. Petersburg, which suffered a 10-month Union
Army siege, has a vast history about civilian life during the
war, including being caught in the struggle between Union and
Confederate armies. Petersburg also has a rich African-American
history, both before and during the war.
"We're looking to adding more facets to the multi-faced story
of the war from 1861 to 1865," said Kevin Kirby, Petersburg's
director of tourism.
Also, there will need to be regional cooperation and the Petersburg
Area Regional Tourism organization seems to be the natural group
to help in that regard. Also, Petersburg specifically will need
to develop programs for the anniversary and upgrade museums, exhibits
and other historic sites.
That will require a commitment from private and public sources.
A Petersburg Museum Foundation has been formed and is now seeking
nonprofit status so it can seek grants and donations. That will
help with the museums.
But Petersburg city government will need to start making a financial
commitment to its historic treasures in the coming years.
"We're working diligently to develop programs that fully
take advantage of the opportunity when the eyes of world are upon
us during the Virginia sesquicentennial," Kirby said.
The payoff for the region could be great. "The 150th anniversary
of the Civil War holds tremendous educational, economic, and tourism
opportunities throughout the Commonwealth," the commission
report said.
But it's time to get to work now.
--(6) Oberlin Anti-Slave Rebellion Preceded Raid at Harpers Ferry -----------------------------------------------------
Oberlin Anti-Slave Rebellion Preceded Raid at Hrpers Ferry
By Susan Glaser
8/8/2009
Cleveland Plain-Dealer (OH)
http://www.cleveland.com/living/index.ssf/2009/08/post_7.html
Before Harpers Ferry, there was Oberlin.
The Lorain County town, 35 miles southwest of Cleveland, captivated
the nation with its own anti-slavery rebellion a full year before
John Brown and his raiders descended on Harpers Ferry, Va.
Oberlin's response to the capture of an escaped slave -- dozens
of students and residents rallied to John Price's aid and prevented
his return to Kentucky -- earned the city the nickname "The
Town That Started the Civil War" by author and historian
Nat Brandt, who wrote a 1991 book about the incident.
Oberlin, a busy stop on the Underground Railroad, was strongly
egalitarian from the first. The college, founded with the town
in 1833, enrolled women from the start. Two years later, it became
the first college in the nation to officially admit blacks.
Little surprise, then, that radical abolitionist John Brown, whose
father was one of the members of the college's board of trustees,
found strong support among the residents and students here.
Brown's ties to Northeast Ohio run deep -- he lived in Hudson,
Akron, Kent and Richfield -- but nowhere deeper than in Oberlin,
where his sons recruited men to join the family's violent anti-slavery
campaigns in Kansas and Harpers Ferry, then in Virginia.
A new guided tour offered by the Oberlin Heritage Society explores
the town's strong abolitionist ties, from the founding of the
college to John Brown and beyond.
Scott Shaw, The Plain DealerThe photos of two Oberlin men who
died during John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry hang on the wall
at the Oberlin Heritage Center. They are John Copeland, top, and
Lewis Leary.
The tour starts several blocks southeast of downtown in Martin
Luther King Jr. Park, where a fading 144-year-old stone monument
pays tribute to three Oberlin men, all black, who died fighting
with John Brown in Harpers Ferry:
John Copeland, a carpenter and an Oberlin College student, was
active in Oberlin's Anti-Slavery Society. He, like Brown, was
hanged in December 1859 after being convicted of treason.
Lewis Leary, Copeland's uncle, was a 24-year-old harness maker
who was shot in the Shenandoah River as he tried to flee capture.
Shields Green, a former slave and friend of Frederick Douglass,
also was hanged for treason.
At the request of Copeland's family, Oberlin College professor
James Monroe, later a congressman, traveled to Virginia in December
1859 in an attempt to retrieve Copeland's body. He identified
himself as being from Russia -- Oberlin is in New Russia Township
-- in an effort to protect his identity.
"For a Northern abolitionist to be traveling in the South
was really a dangerous thing," said Pat Murphy, executive
director of the heritage center. "Revealing that he was from
Oberlin would have put him in significant danger."
Monroe was unsuccessful -- Copeland's body, along with those of
several other raiders, had been appropriated by Virginia medical
students in need of cadavers (an offense for which their school
was reportedly burned down by Union soldiers during the Civil
War).
Monroe's failed mission notwithstanding, the community held a
large memorial service for the three men at the First Church in
Oberlin, founded in 1834 and still standing as a house of worship
on North Main Street.
It was in this church, too, that the community came together earlier
in the year to celebrate the release of those arrested for assisting
with the Oberlin-Wellington slave rescue, a daring effort to retrieve
runaway slave John Price from bounty hunters.
Price, holed up in a Wellington hotel awaiting his return to Kentucky,
was sprung by dozens of angry Oberlin students and residents,
many of whom were subsequently arrested and jailed in Cuyahoga
County for violating the Fugitive Slave Act.
Among those who participated in the rescue were Leary and Copeland.
Black-and-white portraits of the two men hang on the wall in the
sitting room of James Monroe's former house, built in 1866 and
now the headquarters of the Oberlin Heritage Center.
Liz Schultz, museum education and tour coordinator for the heritage
center, said the national furor over the Harpers Ferry raid took
the spotlight off Oberlin and the controversial slave rescue.
"The John Brown raid overshadowed what was happening here,"
she acknowledged. "This story has been lost to history a
little bit."
It doesn't take much, however, to rediscover the tale. Spend an
afternoon strolling the streets of Oberlin and you'll find it
everywhere.
--(7) Liverpool Could Play Role in American Civil War Anniversary -----------------------------------------------------
Liverpool Could Play Central Role in America's Marking of
Civil War
By Catherine Jones
8/7/2009
Liverpool Echo (UK)
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2009/08/07/liverpool-could-play-a-central-role-in-america-s-marking-of-civil-war-100252-24337380/?goback=.hom.nvr_1570057_1
Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Fredericksburg, Fort Sumter, Atlanta...
Liverpool. In the great roll call of American Civil War sites,
the Mersey may seem like a bit of an odd man out.
But Liverpool, and the shipbuilders across the water in Wirral,
played an integral role in the bloody conflict which has its 150th
anniversary in 2011.
Now city chiefs are looking at ideas for a new American Civil
War tour and trail which they believe could act as a magnet to
thousands of visitors from across the Atlantic.
"It would attract a lot of American tourists which would
be really good for Liverpool economically," says Virginian
Tom Sebrell, who lectures in American history at London University.
"They'd be coming over for the whole four years from 2011-15
which mark the 150th anniversary.
"And a lot of people in the north of the United States are
interested in the naval part of the war.
"I think it would also attract a lot of school groups from
the north of England."
Liverpool's American Civil War credentials are already documented
on the web, and Tom has also been researching the subject for
some time.
Many people will know about the building in Rumford Place, just
around the corner from the former cotton exchange in Old Hall
Street, where cotton traders Fraser, Trenholm & Co plotted
support for the southern Confederate cause.
Not surprising when you consider that in April 1861 around 60%
of the southern states' cotton was shipped in to Britain via Liverpool.
But, says Tom, the city was also teeming with Unionist spies.
"There's a building around the corner from Rumford Place,
at 22 Water Street, that was the old US consulate office,"
he explains.
"Thomas Dudley worked from there and he was in charge of
the Unionist spy network in Liverpool. He was there to monitor
ship-building activity."
Under the law of the time, it was illegal for British firms to
supply armed vessels to either side, but that didn't stop Liverpool
shipyards turning out some of the war's most famous Confederate
ships and Liverpool sailors crewing them.
They got round the rules by changing ships' names and arming them
after they left the Mersey.
The CSS Alabama, build at Lairds in Birkenhead and with 30 Liverpudlians
on board, wreaked havoc up and down America's eastern seaboard
burning or seizing more than 60 Union ships until it was sunk
in 1864.
The Alabama and its fellow raiders were commissioned by Confederate
naval officer James Dunwoody Bulloch who is buried in Toxteth
Cemetery in Smithdown Road.
And Wirral waterfront is only the second place outside the US
to achieve a designation of American Civil War Heritage Site Status,
awarded by the US Civil War Preservation Trust.
Sites with American Civil War links abound around Liverpool too.
"You've got a building in Abercromby Square that needs to
be Grade I listed," says Tom. "It's owned by the University
of Liverpool and it's preserved almost exactly as it was in the
1860s when it was built by Charles Kuhn Prioleau.
"He was senior partner at Fraser, Trenholm & Co and the
chief funder of the Confederate Navy.
"The house has South Carolina and Confederate symbols in
the ceiling mouldings and paintings including the yellow jasmine,
the state flower of South Carolina, and the star from the Confederate
Bonnie Blue flag.
"Prioleau came from Charleston to Liverpool before the war
and was involved in the cotton trade. But when the blockade of
the southern states' coast took hold, he went into the shipbuilding
business and paid for ships like the Alabama and the Shenandoah
pretty much out of his own pocket."
The CSS Shenandoah was the last Confederate ship to surrender,
giving herself up in, you've guessed it Liverpool in December
1865.
Then there was the famous bazaar held at St George's Hall in October
1864 in aid of the Southern Prisoners' Relief Fund.
"It raised £22,000 and lasted five days," explains
Tom. "It was only supposed to run for two days but it was
so popular it was extended. There were 12 tables, one each for
a Confederate state.
"It was run mainly by the wives of the Southern Independence
Association."
While Bulloch and Prioleau are recognised for their role in the
southern states' cause, there are others who, Tom says, "were
important but have been ignored like James Stente who was the
chief Confederate propagandist".
"He wrote a book which was about how the US needed to be
split in two and it was very popular. Gladstone was said to like
it.
"The mayor of Liverpool at that time also had a role in Confederate
propaganda.
"The two Liverpool MPs were William Ewart, who was neutral
but opposed the emancipation proclamation because he wanted gradual
emancipation rather than immediate, and Thomas Horsfall who was
pro-Confederate."
But it's not all about King Cotton and the southern states.
"There were the ships Abraham Lincoln sent over to bring
supplies for the suffering Lancashire mill workers (the blockade
of southern cotton crippled northern England's mills) and the
docks where they arrived are also still there," says Tom.
"What's important is that we do this in a commemorative way
and we should definitely do that without turning Liverpool into
a shrine for the Confederate cause we're going to present both
sides of the war professionally and impartially."
Berni Turner, the city council's executive member for environment,
and Gary Millar, executive member for tourism, are enthusiastic.
"It would be great to get it off the ground by 2011, the
150th anniversary of the start of the war, even if it was just
on a small scale," says Cllr Turner.
"When you start delving into it, it's absolutely fascinating.
There's clearly a lot of passion from people and I think this
is a real opportunity."
--(8) Depot Opens Battlefield Site to Public -----------------------------------------------------
Depot Opens Battlefield Site to Public
By Bill Robinson
8/7/2009
Richmond Register (KY)
http://www.richmondregister.com/localnews/local_story_219235013.html
Flags of 10 states fluttered in a cool breeze under a cloudless
sky Friday morning as the Blue Grass Army Depot dedicated a portion
of the Richmond Battlefield that lies on its grounds.
The steeply rolling landscape, near the depot's southwest corner,
was the scene of the first large-scale infantry clashes in the
Aug. 29-30 Civil War battle.
Two Civil War re-enactors - one uniformed as a Confederate and
the other as a Union soldier - unveiled an interpretive marker
at the edge of a parking lot overlooking the battlefield.
Elizabeth Miller of Prestonsburg, representing the United Daughters
of the Confederacy, placed a wreath honoring the Confederate dead.
Then three children dressed in period costume - Anna, Sarah and
Eric Burns - placed a wreath in memory of the Union dead.
"In the field before you, two armies met," said Linda
Ashley, president of the Battle of Richmond Association.
Union and Confederate flags were placed where opposing army units
stood when the battle began.
According to one Union soldier's written recollection, which Ashley
read, the Confederates emerged from a ravine to the federal forces'
left, "howling like the wind."
The Union men - some of whom had joined the army no more that
three weeks earlier - stood their ground for two hours before
another, even larger Confederate column rose out of a ravine to
their right.
Attacked from three sides, the Union soldiers fled in panic, Ashley
said.
They made two more stands before the day concluded with "the
most complete Confederate victory of the war."
The area will be open to the public, said Kevin Bennett, the depot's
attorney who presided at the ceremony.
"All you will need to do is show your identification at the
depot entrance," said Bennett, a Civil War scholar who has
written about the battle for the nationally distributed "Blue
and Gray" magazine.
Eventually, walking trails will be installed in the area, said
Col. Joseph Tirone, the depot commander.
Some partial restoration of the area, which has buffered the depot's
operations from US 421, already has taken place, and more will
be done in the future, he said. The preservation work, including
funds for the interpretive markers, has been financed with proceeds
from the depot's recycling efforts.
The depot is only one of two United States military installations
on which a battle took place, Tirone said. The Army was happy
to make the area available to the public, he said, because such
historic sites tell the Army's story as well as the nation's.
In 2005, the Army transferred former commander's residence at
the depot to the county, and the home, which was standing when
the battle took place, is now a museum and visitors center.
"The county has had a long economic partnership with the
depot," said Madison Judge/Executive Kent Clark, "and
we are so pleased that the Army has us in a partnership to preserve
our history."
In addition to residing on a Civil War battlefield, the depot
also is home to a pre-historic American Indian site, Tirone said.
The depot, which is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, keeps a full-time archeologist on staff to recover artifacts
and document the area's ancient history.
Depot archeologist Nathan White works with Eastern Kentucky University
students to fulfill the facility's legal obligation to preserve
its history, Tirone said.
Some artifacts from the Civil War battle recovered on depot property
are displayed at the visitors center.
--(9) Editorial: Thanks, Andersonville -----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Thanks, Andersonville
8/6/2009
Americus Times-Recorder (GA)
http://www.americustimesrecorder.com/opinion/local_story_218213859.html
Andersonville is known far and wide as a place where one can
receive insight on the social history of the region, and history
of the military, in particular the Civil War.
Over 80,000 tourists visit the Civil War Village of Andersonville
annually. The National Park Service, the prison/cemetery and the
National Prisoner of War Museum provide educational opportunities
for all who visit.
Exhibits at the POW museum give those who fought in wars and even
those who didn't the chance to experience or remember times of
war. Astounding facts and figures are available regarding how
many Americans have been held as POWs in various conflicts since
1776. Of the 45,000 Union soldiers imprisoned at Camp Sumter,
almost 13,00 died there.
The Andersonville Guild, established in 1973, is working diligently
toward keeping true to the historic preservation of the community,
while hoping to attract more tourists to the community. In addition
to hosting a number of fairs and festivals, the Guild has been
raising funds, planning and supervising projects which preserve,
restore and remodel important sites in the community. These sites
will be ones to attract tourists.
And as tourists come, there is that promise that the community
- and surrounding communities like Americus, Ellaville, Plains,
Ellaville, etc. - will benefit economically.
Thank you to the town of Andersonville for standing up and making
others take note of the community and your county. You are doing
your part in bringing economic growth to Sumter County.
--(10) Opinion: Myth vs. Fact in Wilderness Wal-Mart Debate -----------------------------------------------------
Opinion: Myth vs. Fact in Wilderness Wal-Mart Debate
By Rob Nieweg
8/3/2009
Culpeper Star-Exponent (VA)
http://www.starexponent.com/cse/news/opinion/article/how_i_see_it_myth_vs._fact_in_wilderness_wal-mart_debate/40625/
CLAIM: Wal-Mart plans to build on a highly significant Civil
War battlefield.
MYTH: "We recognize the significance of the Wilderness Battlefield,
but we are not building on the battlefield," said Keith Morris,
a spokesman for the world's largest retailer. - The Associated
Press, Jan. 2, 2009.
FACT: "The proposed Wal-Mart development site is located
entirely within the boundaries of the Chancellorsville and Wilderness
Battlefields." - Kathleen Kilpatrick, Virginia State
Historic Preservation Officer, June 8, 2009.
***
CLAIM: Wal-Mart's development would be plainly visible from the
National Park.
MYTH: "We've gone to great lengths to try to work with residents,
county planners, state officials to come up with a very unique
design that fits within the unique character of Orange County
Wilderness. And we've built the store to be furthest back from
the site as possible. You won't be able to see it from any of
the battlefield park," said Keith Morris, Wal-Mart's public
affairs director. - abcnews.com, May 24, 2009.
FACT: "It has been claimed that the proposed development
will not be visible from within the boundaries of the Park, particularly
from Ellwood Manor. This is untrue. The Park extends all the way
to the Route 3 and 20 intersection. The development will be obviously
visible from there." - Russ Smith, Superintendent of
Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, May
20, 2009.
***
CLAIM: Wal-Mart has been offered alternative sites for its big-box
development in Orange County but away from the battlefield and
National Park.
FACT: "Orange County builder John Marcantoni has put an offer
on the table that he wants the county and Wal-Mart to consider.
He recently contacted both parties to invite Wal-Mart to locate
on 75 acres along State Route 3 west of Lake of the Woods. Marcantoni
said yesterday that he had not received a reply from Orange County
or Wal-Mart." - Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, June 26,
2009.
UGLY TRUTH: On July 3, 2009, the Board of Supervisors abruptly
fired Bill Rolfe, Orange County Administrator, "after the
supervisors expressed their displeasure at an e-mail he had sent
them on June 15, suggesting there was a better location for the
proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter than on land near the Wilderness
Battlefield. In his e-mail, Rolfe told supervisors that it would
be in the best interests of the county for them to 'broker a deal
that keeps Wal-Mart in the County and moves it away from the congressionally-approved
boundary line of the Wilderness Battlefield." - Fredericksburg
Free Lance-Star, July 4, 2009.
--(11) Editorial: Wilderness Wal-Mart Study Is Worth Pursuing -----------------------------------------------------
Editorial: Wilderness Wal-Mart Study Is Worth Pursuing
8/3/2009
Washington Post (DC)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/02/AR2009080201666.html
Soon residents of Virginia's Orange County may be able to "Save
money, live better" -- but at the cost of controversy.
Wal-Mart plans to become the first large retailer in the predominantly
rural county. With the state unemployment rate at 7.3 percent,
the jobs and tax revenue promised by the coming of a major retailer
are more than welcome to Orange County residents. But the location
of the proposed store has sent Civil War buffs and elected officials
into a tizzy. That's because Wal-Mart is preparing to break ground
across Route 3 from the National Park Service portion of the Wilderness
Battlefield -- a historic site where Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee first clashed, in an 1864 battle.
Historians and preservationists, as well as Gov. Timothy M. Kaine
(D) and House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), have rallied
against the construction of the store in its proposed location.
So far, Wal-Mart and the Orange County Board of Supervisors haven't
budged -- and they may have good reason not to. In a largely undeveloped
county, one plot of grass and woodland may seem identical to the
next, but the piece of land in dispute is unique for more than
its historical significance. Few properties in the area are zoned
for commercial use and, of those that are, Wal-Mart claims that
this is the only one that fits its minimum standards, which take
into account size and configuration of a property, transportation
access, and access to utilities.
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Preservationists are right to want to protect some of the battlefield.
However, if we decided to preserve every piece of land on which
American blood was shed in the Civil War, a huge portion of Virginia
would be untouchable. Critics also argue that building a Wal-Mart
so near the park would ruin the historic ambiance of the place,
because the store would be visible from the field. But the proposed
store would be on a hill behind a buffer of trees, and the building
would be colored in subtle earth tones so that the portion of
the building that rises above the tree line would not clash with
the landscape that surrounds it.
One appeal by the preservationists has merit. They have offered
to fund a six-month land-planning study to search for a suitable
alternative site for Wal-Mart. The county has repeatedly rejected
the idea. But because the proposed study would not be funded by
tax dollars, and because six months is not an enormous amount
of time, it doesn't make sense for the county not to allow it
-- regardless of how likely it is to produce a better plan than
Wal-Mart's.
--(12) Historic Milestones to Get Scant Funding -----------------------------------------------------
Historic Milestones to Get Scant Funding
By Jim Provance
8/3/2009
Toledo Blade (OH)
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090803/NEWS16/908030321/0/COLUMNIST08
Ohio is gearing up to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil
War and then the bicentennial of the War of 1812, even as it dramatically
slashes support for the agency it usually counts on for such efforts.
That's in direct contrast to a few years ago, when Ohio pumped
nearly $16 million of taxpayer funds into a yearlong celebration
of Ohio's 200th birthday in 2003 that helped to finance such things
as the painting of barns with bicentennial logos, a Tall Ships
extravaganza on Lake Erie, and a Tall Stacks riverboat celebration
on the Ohio River.
The Ohio Senate has unanimously approved a bill to establish a
commission to coordinate events with other states and Canadian
provinces to mark the 200th anniversary of a young United States
of America's second war with Britain, from 1812 to 1815.
But the bill provides no money, leaving it to Northwest State
Community College to oversee its operation. The role of the struggling
Ohio Historical Society would be relegated to two seats at the
table.
"The situation with [Ohio's state] bicentennial was different,"
the bill's sponsor, Sen. Stephen Buehrer (R., Delta), said. "As
I recall, they had even more grandiose plans that had to be scaled
back. It was a much more elaborate celebration. You're often the
victim or beneficiary of the times you're in."
Mr. Buehrer's bill, or a similar measure sponsored by Rep. Dennis
Murray (D., Sandusky) in the House, is expected to reach Gov.
Ted Strickland's desk this fall.
Mr. Strickland, meanwhile, issued a directive in April putting
the task of planning for Ohio's role in marking the sesquicentennial
of the Civil War in the hands of a commission to be overseen entirely
by the historical society.
That was about two months before he signed a two-year state budget
that cut the agency's operating budget to $7.9 million for each
of the next two years, 34 percent less than it received last year
and 42.5 percent less than what it had just two years ago.
The governor's directive told the society to establish an 18-member
panel to help prepare and coordinate events marking the bloody
war from 1861 to 1865 that preserved a then-fragile nation and
ended slavery.
Ohio saw one major Civil War battle on its soil as Union troops
chased Confederate troops across the Ohio River to Buffington
Island in 1863. But the state contributed generals such as Ulysses
S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Phillip Sheridan; numerous
troops, and weaponry.
Despite its budget cut, the historical society set aside $100,000
for the effort, half from its state funds and half from federal
and private sources. It also reassigned a staff member to focus
on it.
Jim Strider, the society's director of outreach and historic preservation
services, said the agency will fulfill its role as it pertains
to both anniversaries. He noted that the state's bicentennial
bash in 2003 began years before the actual events, making comparisons
difficult.
"When [preparation funding] started in the mid-1990s, it
was a time period when the economy of the state and the nation
was significantly better than now," he said. "The state
committed to really significant activities from 1996 until 2004
with millions of appropriations. It was done in a significantly
different period."
But even in the 1960s, when Ohio marked the centennial of the
Civil War and the sesquicentennial of the War of 1812, the state
provided some funds.
"It was nowhere near what was appropriated for [Ohio's] bicentennial,"
Mr. Strider said. "We are hopeful that as the state's economy
improves, we may be able to receive some state funding, but we
are certainly aware that there is likely to be ongoing pressure
on the state's budget."
Rick Finch, site manager at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, where the
British were twice repelled, said the historical society felt
it couldn't take on planning for both war commemorations. It played
into his concerns that the War of 1812 will be overshadowed by
the war between the North and South.
"The Civil War is so much more prominent in people's minds
and memories that the War of 1812 has become the forgotten war,"
he said. "The War of 1812 was our first major war as a new
nation. It is an important milestone, so that's why we're trying
to push the bicentennial commission through the legislature."
He said Ohio will work with a similarly unfunded commission in
Michigan as well as better-funded efforts in Canada.
"The province of Ontario and the government of Canada are
much more involved in the War of 1812," Mr. Finch said. "When
you talk to Canadians, they claim it as their war. They're investing
in this bicentennial, getting new buildings and monuments erected
to help commemorate the occasion."
The historical society's Fort Meigs tentatively plans to re-enact
the bloodiest day of fighting at the fort that took place on May
5, 1813.
The National Park Service, meanwhile, is looking at holding a
peace summit in 2015 at Perry's Victory and International Peace
Memorial at Put-in-Bay to mark 200 years of peace between the
United States and Canada.
"Remember, if it weren't for the War of 1812, you and I would
probably be Canadians," said Dr. Richard D. Ruppert of Toledo,
immediate past president of the historical society's board of
trustees.
--(13) New Park Eyed Along Potomac River in Jefferson County -----------------------------------------------------
New Park Eyed Along Potomac River in Jefferson County
By Naomi Smoot
8/1/2009
Martinsburg Journal (WV)
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/523132.html?nav=5006
Another new park could soon be added in Jefferson County, this
one with ties to America's history and access to the Potomac River.
Ed Dunleavy of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association
came before members of the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday
to request support in acquiring a parcel of land near River Road.
If purchased, the 13-acre property could be transformed into a
park that would have several unique features, he said.
"Currently there is no public access to the Potomac River,"
Dunleavy said.
That could change if the park moves forward. He said the property
features nearly 150 yards of rocky beach where residents could
swim, and nearly 2,200 feet of river frontage.
The site has other unique features as well, he noted. The land
is home to a cement plant and kilns that were used from 1829 to
1904. Materials made at the mill were used to construct the C&O
Canal, as well as numerous buildings, Dunleavy said.
Several of the kilns still remain on the property, with some carrying
the scars of damage they incurred in the Civil War.
Dunleavy said the site was part of the Battle of Shepherdstown.
He noted that grant money that has been obtained in the county
to purchase battlefield lands could be used to acquire the park,
as could nearly $100,000 that was set aside earlier by members
of the county commission for such acquisitions.
Dunleavy said the property's current owner, Harry Blunt, has expressed
a willingness to sell the land to the county, so long as it is
used for either historical or recreational purposes. Thursday,
he shared a letter Blunt had sent him, in which the current owner
reiterated this stance.
Dunleavy also presented commissioners with letters from the Jefferson
County Historic Landmarks Commission and the Jefferson County
Parks and Recreation Commission. Members of both agencies noted
that they would like to see the property transformed into a site
that could be enjoyed by the community.
The property contains an array of possibilities, agreed County
Commission President Dale Manuel.
"There is potential for all kinds of recreation: fishing,
boating, swimming, wading," he said, adding that he would
encourage a possible partnership for the project with the West
Virginia Division of Natural Resources.
A portion of the property easily could be converted into a parking
area, and with minimal work, a trail could be installed that leads
from one side of the parcel to the other, Dunleavy added.
Commissioners were supportive the proposal, and requested a recommendation
on the issue from the county's Parks and Recreation Commission.
"We should look at our rivers as a green necklace, and we're
going to have to acquire the beads on the necklace one at a time,"
Commissioner Lyn Widmyer said of the property's potential. "I
think this is a great bead."
--(14) Tallahassee Plays Important Role in African-American History -----------------------------------------------------
Tallahassee Plays Important Role in African-American History
By Gerald Ensley
7/31/2009
Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090731/NEWS01/907310330/1010/NEWS01
If you're going to build a national museum about African-American
history, you better not forget Florida. That's the message state
and local officials sent this week to officials of the planned
National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington,
D.C.
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Consider the message received. The officials spent three days
visiting Florida's black history museums, Civil War battlefields,
state parks and sites of civil rights demonstrations.
"What's really clear after this visit is that Florida history
has been left out of the national narrative (about African American
history)," said Lonnie Bunch, director of the national museum.
"The last several days have been more than eye-opening; they
have been instructive."
Bunch and his deputy director, John Franklin (son of the late
historian John Hope Franklin), visited Tallahassee on Thursday.
They spent two hours in a roundtable discussion with state and
local officials organized by Althemese Barnes, director of Tallahassee's
Riley House museum of black history and founder of the Florida
African-American Historic Preservation Network. The ground-breaking
network, founded in 2001, consists of 19 museums around the state.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture was
approved by Congress in 2003. An arm of the Smithsonian Institution,
it will be built adjacent to the Washington Monument on the Mall
in Washington, D.C. The modernistic-looking, three-story, 350,000-square
foot museum is slated to open in 2015. It will cost $500 million,
with half the total paid by private donations.
Bunch, a longtime museum administrator with the Smithsonian plus
museums in Los Angeles and Chicago, has visited 40 states as he
promotes the vision of the museum. The museum's chief themes will
be contemporary black history, cultural/spiritual black history
and how America has changed.
"(African American history) is a quintessential American
story," Bunch said. "It's the story for all of us when
you talk about the core American values of resiliency, optimism
and spirituality. It is the story that helps us all understand
ourselves."
He said the museum also wants to encourage local African-American
historic preservation efforts. Since 2005, the museum has been
assembling collections, hosting displays and reaching out to local
communities for stories, materials and advice.
"Local communities have been carrying the flag for generations,"
said Bunch, 56. "(The national museum) needs to be a beacon
(but also) push people back to their local stories."
That's why local officials embraced the tour.
"This has been a very good collaboration," Barnes said.
"If we work together, we can let Florida continue to be a
leader in this (African American) historic preservation."