Boy holding Union and Confederate bullets, Perryville Battlefield

from the Library of Congress

• Title: [Boy holding Union and Confederate bullets, Perryville Battlefield, Perryville, Boyle County, Kentucky]
• Date Created/Published: c1927.

• 
  

Ike, Monty, Sack Gen. Lee

Enhancing Your Family Tree with Civil War Maps

excerpted from Prologue:
Summer 2003, Vol. 35, No. 2

Enhancing Your Family Tree with Civil War Maps
By Trevor K. Plante

In the foreword to Mapping the Civil War: Featuring Rare Maps From the Library of Congress, Richard W. Stephenson aptly notes that "although a great wealth of contemporary manuscript and printed maps is extant in archives and libraries throughout the United States, especially at the National Archives and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., few authors, editors, or publishers of today's books and articles on the war avail themselves of this valuable resource." Stevenson's observation can easily be applied to genealogists as well.

In most cases, genealogists conducting research at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) tend to concentrate on textual records relating to their Civil War ancestors. Typically, their main focus is on compiled military service records, pension files, and unit records. Often overlooked, cartographic records can be a boon to researchers delving into family history. From plans of a Civil War army post or little-known navy gunboat to maps of famous battles, the maps, plans, and charts found in the Cartographic section of the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, can provide a unique, and oftentimes rewarding, perspective for genealogists.

Maps and plans, while not the starting point for your Civil War genealogy, can enhance previous research. For this reason, it is wise to master textual records relating to your Civil War ancestor prior to conducting research in cartographic records.

The Cartographic section contains approximately eight thousand Civil War maps. While this set of records is impressive, it is just a small fraction of the approximately five million maps, plans, and charts and sixteen million aerial and satellite images maintained in the unit. The Civil War maps collection contains both manuscript and printed maps and plans. The manuscript maps include pencil sketches and original pen-and-ink drawings as well as processed maps that contain annotations in ink or pencil. Many of the Civil War manuscript maps and drawings are unique to the National Archives, while a variety of the printed maps are more common and can be found in other large repositories such as the Library of Congress.

The place to begin is with A Guide to Civil War Maps in the National Archives (1986). This book provides a general description of NARA's Civil War maps and is separated into two parts. Part one is a general guide that describes the maps by record group under these headings: Congress, Department of the Treasury, Department of War, Department of the Navy, Department of the Interior, Department of Commerce, and Other. Confederate Records (RG 109, War Department Collection of Confederate Records) are found under "Other." 

Part two of the guide describes select maps and map series and is arranged by state. Entries in this section usually contain information such as title, author, size, and a detailed description of the map or maps. According to the guide, the maps described in part two "were selected for several reasons: they represent the major geographical areas in the Civil War; they possess intrinsic historic value; they contain the highest concentration of information; they are easier to read than other maps covering the same area; and they are of artistic value" (p. 73). The Cartographic Research Room maintains binders that contain color photographic reproductions of each of the select maps and plans described in part two of the guide.

Read the full article here.

While you're at it, check out this Library of Congress site, which "brings together materials from three premier collections: the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, the Virginia Historical Society, and the Library of Virginia. Among the reconnaissance, sketch, and theater-of-war maps are the detailed battle maps made by Major Jedediah Hotchkiss for Generals Lee and Jackson, General Sherman's Southern military campaigns, and maps taken from diaries, scrapbooks, and manuscripts all available for the first time in one place. Most of the items presented here are documented in Civil War Maps: An Annotated List of Maps and Atlases in the Library of Congress, compiled by Richard W. Stephenson in 1989. New selections from 2,240 maps and 76 atlases held by the Library will be added monthly." 

The knoll where Custer fell

• Creator: Gedney, C. D., artist; Date Created/Published: [between 1881 and 1887
• Medium: 1 drawing : pencil, ink wash and opaque white. Library of Congress

Valley of the Little Big Horn; Creator(s): Gedney, C. D., artist; Date Created/Published: [between 1880 and 1887]; Medium: 1 drawing on paper with lithotint : pencil and ink.

• Maj Cutter's ranch at the Custer battlefield; Creator(s): Gedney, C. D., artist; Date Created/Published: [between 1880 and 1887]; Medium: 1 drawing : pencil, charcoal, ink wash and opaque white.

from the Civil War to Silicon Valley -- Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Abraham Lincoln

Red Horse: Drawings of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Stanford's Cantor Arts Center, January 16 to May 9, 2016)

Exhibition Presents Rarely Seen Warrior’s Visual Account of Famous Battle and Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry

Stanford, Calif.—The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University announces a rare exhibition of 12 drawings by acclaimed ledger artist Red Horse, a Minneconjou Lakota Sioux warrior who fought against George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876. Red Horse: Drawings of the Battle of the Little Bighorn brings together key collaborators from Stanford and its communities to explore these indigenous-centered illustrations from diverse perspectives. The Cantor’s exhibition marks the first time that a representative selection of these remarkable works has been displayed together since the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1976. The drawings are on loan from the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

“This exhibition, with singular works from the Smithsonian Institution’s acclaimed archives combined with the expertise of Stanford-affiliated scholars, supports new interdisciplinary approaches to art and culture here at Stanford,” said Connie Wolf, the John and Jill Freidenrich Director of the Cantor Arts Center. “This collaborative project illuminates unique and essential new understandings of this critical moment in history.”

For Visitor Information and full press release, click HERE.

Ken Burns: The Civil War was about 'slavery, slavery, slavery'

General, you go down there. . .

When Douglas Scott, and others, conducted excavations at the Little Bighorn battlefield, strangely, they collected artifacts left behind by Hollywood, including cartridge cases and hairpins dating to scenes from the movie Little Big Man, from 1970. 

    (excerpt from on online version of Uncovering History, by Douglas D. Scott)      

Viewers of Little Big Man will recognize some of the unmistakable geography around Weir Point, and Medicine Tail Coulee.



I wrote about my pilgrimage to the Greasy Grass in this 2013 blog post, when I had the pleasure of following Dr. Scott cross country on the battlefield to talk about his work there. 

CUSTER'S TRIALS, A Life on the Frontier of a New America

Biographer T.J. Stiles Takes on the Mythology of General Custer
Forum, with Michael Krasny (KQED, San Francisco)

Separated at birth?

Publishing titan Ted Savas commented that Captain William Duley, the Mankato executioner, bore a resemblance to Confederate General Nathan "Shanks" Evans. I think he might be on to something.

"Horse thief statue" for sale, best offer

From the Lebanon Enterprise
Lebanon, Kentucky

City puts Morgan statue up for bid
Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan statue has been collecting dust in storage since it was created

By Stevie Lowery
Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at 6:00 am (Updated: November 18, 6:01 am)

A piece of artwork that’s never been displayed and has been the center of controversy since it was created in 1999 is for sale.

The City of Lebanon is accepting sealed bids for the Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan statue. During the Lebanon City Council meeting Monday, Nov. 9, Public Works Director Terry Bland asked the council to consider doing something with the statue, which is being stored and taking up space at the city service center.

The council approved taking sealed bid for the sale of the statue. “The council decided to sell the horse statue since they felt we were not going to put it up because everyone will call it the Morgan statue regardless if we rename it,” Lebanon City Administrator John Thomas wrote in an email to the Enterprise. “It is also in need of some repairs due to its riding around on the small trailer, several cracks have developed. So we’re seeking bids.”

read the full article (and for info on placing your sealed bid) here

Image found of man who hanged 38 Dakota men 153 years ago

A formal glass-plate portrait of William Duley in his military jacket,
probably taken between September 1862 and February 1865.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune
by Curt Brown

Until now, historians had never seen an image of Capt. William J. Duley—the executioner on the day 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato after the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War. New Ulm researcher and author Elroy Ubl tracked down a descendant in Seattle who had inherited a family album of the glass-plate portraits, including her great-great grandfather’s.

Now we know what the hangman looked like at the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Just how history remembers Duley — as traumatized father, notorious executioner or out-for-himself promoter — remains a thornier question.

Three of Duley’s children—Willie (10), Belle (4) and Francis (6 months)—were killed in the conflict. His wife, Laura, was shot in the heel, witnessed at least one child’s slaying and was taken captive along with their son, Jefferson, and daughter. Emma. Some accounts said Laura was pregnant at the time and miscarried during her four months on the Dakota plains. She might have been raped.

Read the full article here.

The Counterfeiter Who Sank the Confederacy

IMAGE: 

WORTHPOINT / CHLOE EFFRON

"Upham had an idea. If it worked, he would not only undermine and upend the Confederate economy but make himself a good bit of money in the process. He offered to buy the plate from the reporter, then used it to run off 3000 copies of the bank note, printed on premium French paper." 
Read the full story here at Mentalfloss.com. 

The Appeasement of 1850 -- rephrasing American history

Food for thought from Smithsonian. . .

Steve Earle -- "Mississippi, It's Time"

[first spotted at Civil War Memory]

Restoring THE CIVIL WAR

An interesting short film on the restoration of the Ken Burns classic. . .

Aired: 09/06/201513:57 Rating: NR

To reach a whole new audience with the story of America's greatest crisis, and to offer those who have already seen the series a far more compelling experience, THE CIVIL WAR series has been completely restored to Ultra High Definition – 4K resolution – to bring it up to the standards current audiences demand.

a shot of Shiloh, to steel the nerves

"The source from the water used in making this batch of Battlefield Bourbon is taken from water sources on privately owned property on the Shiloh battlefield, about 125 miles southwest from Franklin, between Savannah, Tenn., and Corinth, Miss. By using water from the battlefield, Hicks is providing an opportunity to actually taste part of this hallowed ground. Each bottle is signed and numbered by Hicks."

[from Brentwood Home Page, "Hicks' second 'Battlefield Bourbon' made with Shiloh water"]

700 University of California Press eBooks, and a lot more

The University of California Press e-books collection holds books published by UCP (and a select few printed by other academic presses) between 1982-2004. The general public currently has access to 770 books through this initiative. The collection is dynamic, with new titles being added over time.

Readers looking to see what the collection holds can browse by subject. The curators of the site have kindly provided a second browsing page that shows only the publicly accessible books, omitting any frustrating off-limits titles.

The collection’s strengths are in history (particularly American history and the history of California and the West); religion; literary studies; and international studies (with strong selections of Middle Eastern Studies, Asian Studies, andFrench Studies titles).

A quick browse yields a multitude of interesting possibilities for future reading: Shelley Streeby’s 2002 book about sensational literature and dime novels in the nineteenth-century United States; Luise White’s intriguing-looking Speaking with Vampires: Rumor and History in Colonial Africa (2000); and Karen Lystra’s 2004re-examination of Mark Twain’s final years. (The image above comes from another Twain text by Randall Knoper.) Two other noteworthy texts include Roland Barthes’ Incidents and Hugh Kenner’s Chuck Jones: A Flurry of Drawings.

Sadly, you can’t download the books to an e-reader or tablet. Happily, there is a “bookbag” function that you can use to store your titles, if you need to leave the site and come back. [About Open Culture: http://www.openculture.com/faq]

Causes of the Civil War (James Epperson)

An internet classic. For nearly 20 years, Jim Epperson's Causes of the Civil War site has been a go-to resource for interested students, and anyone evaluating the still-pervasive influence of the Lost Cause narrative. For those fighting the good fight against the forces of neo-Confederate nonsense, this assemblage of essential primary source material has been indispensable. I've visited this page hundreds, if not thousands of times, and am glad to see it's still being maintained. Thanks Jim.

James Loewen: "Why do people believe myths about the Confederacy? Because our textbooks and monuments are wrong."

From today's Washington Post.