CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CRM VOLUME 25 NUMBER 4 2002
America's Civil War
Challenges Perspectives Opportunities
National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Cultural Resources PUBLISHED BY THE CRM magazine's 25th anniversary year NATIONAL PARK SERVICE VOLUME 25 NUMBER 4 2002 Information for parks, Federal agencies, Contents ISSN 1068-4999 Indian tribes, States, local governments, and the private sector that promotes and maintains high standards for pre America's Civil War serving and managing cultural resources America's Civil War—Challenges, Perspectives, Opportunities 3 Pamela K. Sanfilippo DIRECTOR Fran R Mainella The American Civil War and the Preservation of Memory 5 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR DwightT. Pitcaithley CULTURAL RESOURCE STEWARDSHIP AND PARTNERSHIPS Interpreting the Civil War—Moving Beyond Battlefields 10 Katherine H. Stevenson John Hennessy MANAGING EDITOR Historians Under Fire—The Public and the Memory of the Civil War 13 John Robbins John M. Coski EDITOR Sue Waldron How Important Is Battlefield Archeology? 16 William B. Lees ASSOCIATE EDITOR Janice C. McCoy Viewing the Civil War Through a Geological Window 21 Bob Higgins GUEST EDITOR Pamela K. Sanfilippo Partners in Researching Fort Donelson's African American Past 25 ADVISORS Susan B. Hawkins David Andrews Editor, NPS "We Have a Claim on This Estate"—Remembering Slavery at Arlington House 27 Joan Bacharach Curator, NPS Karen Byrne Randall J. Biallas Historical Architect, NPS Untold Stories—Women in the Civil War 30 John A. Burns Cornelia Sexauer Architect, NPS Harry A. Butowsky In a Small Northern Town 33 Historian, NPS Pratt Cassity Ella S. Rayburn Executrve Director, National Alliance of Preservation Commissions Gettysburg the Way the Soldiers Saw It in 1863 36 Muriel Crespi Cultural Anthropologist, NPS Katie Lawhon Mary Cullen Director, Historical Services Branch Fort Sumter National Monument's New Facility at Liberty Square 40 Parks Canada Carlin Timmons and Sandy Pusey Roger E. Kelly Archeologist, NPS Antoinette J. Lee Giving Voice to a Little Known Batdefield—South Carolina's Rivers Bridge Historian, NPS State Historic Site 42 Daniel J. Bell and Bryan Scott Enter ASSISTANT Denise M. Mayo The Arkansas Civil War Heritage Trail—A Grassroots Battlefield Preservation Initiative 44 Mark K. Christ This and previous issues of CRM are available online at From Personal Experiences to Public Actions—Using a Historic Home To Interpret
Design and Imaging Cover: clockwise, Battle of the Wilderness, illustration courtesy Don Pierce; 1st Kansas Colored McCoy Publishing Services Volunteers engaging Confederate forces at Island Mound, MO, October 28, 1862, courtesy Fort [email protected] Scott National Historic Site; Ulysses S. and Julia Dent Grant House, see article, page 47; archeolo gist recording location of a battlefield find, see article, page 16. CRM is produced under a cooperative agreement between the National Park Service and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. Views and conclusions in CRM are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Government. Send articles and correspondence to the Editor, CRM, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW-350NC, Washington, DC 20240 (U.S. Postal Service) or 800 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20002 (commer cial delivery); telephone (202) 343-3411, facsimile (202) 343-5260; e-mail
2 CRM No. 4—2002 Pamela K. Sanfilippo America's Civil War Challenges, Perspectives, Opportunities
et me begin by stating that I am Civil War. The articles represent a wide variety of not a military historian, much less disciplines, institutions, and methods for manag a Civil War historian. Thus, I was ing Civil War-related sites and understanding the surprised and honored when the past. The topics presented reflect the challenges, NationaLl Park Service's Chief Historian Dwight perspectives, and opportunities that are being Pitcaithley asked me to be the guest editor for met and addressed. Challenges can be created this thematic issue of CRM on the Civil War. I when there is a lack of knowledge or when do, however, work at a historic site that, had the research expands our knowledge to the point Civil War never occurred, would probably be where we must revise our views. Changing houses or condos in suburban South St. Louis, exhibits, reworking interpretive programs, con MO; knowledge of its 19th-century past all but ducting research, using modern technology, and forgotten. No, it is not a Civil War battlefield, developing networks are just a few ways the chal nor a museum containing military artifacts. It is lenges are being met by various agencies and the home of Ulysses S. Grant; preserved to inter organizations throughout the country. pret the personal life of the Union's commanding Challenges general. The challenge of presenting Civil War his There are many defining moments in our tory at historic sites and battlefields is addressed country's past, but few had such an overwhelm in several articles. In the past, most battlefield ing and direct impact on all citizens as the Civil sites interpreted the specific battle that took place War. Today, descendants of soldiers, historians, at that location, with little connection to where reenactors and others spend time and money the battle fit in the larger story of the war. "Too studying and reliving the Civil War era. The often," according to former National Park Service occasionally vociferous debates, the efforts to pre Deputy Director Denis Galvin, "stories are told serve battlefield sites, the growing number of park-by-park. It is Antietam or Gettysburg, not reenactors, the ever-expanding list of publica the Civil War."* Dwight Pitcaithley found him tions, and the thousands of visitors to Civil War- self and the National Park Service in the midst of related sites attest to the continued impact of the controversy as battlefield parks began expanding Civil War in our lives today. their interpretation beyond the story of the par Given that the Civil War is probably the ticular battle. They recognized the necessity of most researched and written about topic in placing the battle within its larger historical con American history, one might wonder what could text to educate the public; the majority of whom be said that hasn't already been written or said can no longer identify even the half century in before. Yet the interest in, fascination with, and which the war occurred. Pitcaithley's article debate over the Civil War continues. The official addresses the controversy and the National Park beginning of the sesquicentennial of the war is 9 Service response to charges of "politically correct" years away, yet an Internet search for sites on the and "cookie cutter" interpretation. Telling the American Civil War turned up nearly 1 million same story at each battlefield site is not the intent results. Individuals working at Civil War-related or goal. To ensure that each park continues to tell sites and trying to remain current in their knowl the story pertinent to its site, while at the same edge cannot possibly keep up with the constant acknowledging that there is some commonality, flow of information that is being published. The among Civil War sites requires collaboration and articles in this thematic issue of CRM only planning. John Hennessy's article focuses on the scratch the surface of the breadth of the work work already underway among a wide variety of being done at local, state, and national levels to Civil War-related national parks to achieve this commemorate, preserve, interpret, and study the goal and to prepare for the commemoration of
CRM No. 4—2002 3 the sesquicentennial of the war. The challenge of sites have turned them into opportunities. bridging the gap between academic historians and Gettysburg National Military Park is using pri "neo-Confederates" is discussed in the article by mary source documents to restore the battlefield John Coski of the Museum of the Confederacy. to its 1863 appearance. Katie Lawhon, in her arti He encourages us in "Historians Under Fire," to cle, "Gettysburg the Way the Soldiers Saw It in fully participate in a dialogue rather than attacks 1863" explains the long range plan for the over whose heritage should predominate. restoration, including moving the museum to Perspectives allow for rehabilitation of the Union battle line at Several of the articles present new research Cemetery Ridge. Ft. Sumter recently opened a and perspectives on the Civil War. Archeology has new Visitor Education Center that connects to long been a tool for learning about the past at his other cultural activities in Charleston, SC. Carlin toric sites, but not at battlefields. Using the Mine Timmons and Sandy Pusey discuss the careful Creek Battlefield in Kansas as a case study, research and planning that went into the new William Lees argues that battlefield archeology exhibits on the colonial period and the causes of can aid in management decisions, improve inter the war. The only Civil War battle site adminis pretation, and increase visitor understanding. Bob tered by the South Carolina State Park Service is Higgins shares his work on how geology influ located in Rivers Bridge. Dan Bell and Bryan enced not only where battles occurred, but also Enter write about this underinterpreted site and how the knowledge of an area's geology shaped the educational programs being developed. Mark some commanders' decisions. Christ's article on the Arkansas Civil War In recent years, numerous books and articles Heritage Trail discusses the opportunities avail have explored the role of women and African able to sites through the American Battlefield Americans in the Civil War. Similarly, battlefield Protection Program. Finally, an article by Karen and non-battlefield sites began to reexamine their Miller and me discusses the challenges and oppor records and are now including stories of those tunities presented at Ulysses S. Grant National previously excluded from their interpretation. Historic Site as we develop exhibits for recently Based on research conducted under cooperative restored structures. partnerships, Susan Hawkins sheds new light on What ties the articles together, besides the the role of African Americans during the cam Civil War theme, is the importance of partnerships, paign for Fort Donelson. '"We Have a Claim on community support, and public participation in the This Estate' — Remembering Slavery at process of preservation, interpretation, and educa Arlington House," documents visitor responses to tion. While this is true for many aspects of cultural an exhibit on slavery at the antebellum home of resource management, the emotional issues that the Robert E. Lee. Karen Byrne's article discusses the Civil War evoke for people today emphasize the challenges of presenting a more inclusive history need for interaction and inclusiveness. That the at Lee's home, while emphasizing the need to authors and the sites they represent include local, expose visitors to different perspectives. The regional, national, private, government, and educa research by Cornelia Sexauer demonstrates the tional institutions demonstrates the encompassing wide range of materials available on the role of role the Civil War still plays in our history and women during the Civil War. Libraries, museums, memory today. It is a pleasure to bring together historic sites, and battlefields usually find that the these articles representing a wide variety of disci problem is not whether they have any informa plines, institutions, and methods for managing Civil tion on women or minorities, but how to synthe War-related sites. My thanks to each of the contrib size the wealth of information to provide a more utors for sharing their knowledge and expertise. complete story of the past. Ella Rayburn shows how sites that appear to have little connection to Note * Denis P. Galvin, "Connecting the Dots: Parks, the Civil War can inform the public. The impor Preservation, and Heritage in the 21st Century," tance of railroads during the war was presented CRM24:7(200l):5. through an exhibit at Steamtown National Historic Site in Pennsylvania. Pamela K. Sanfdippo is the site historian at Ulysses S. Opportunities Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, MO, and guest editor of this issue ofCRM. Challenges and perspectives abound in Civil War history, and many of the articles reflect how
4 CRM No. 4—2002 Dwight T. Pitcaithley The American Civil War and the Preservation of Memory
he American Civil War, which inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate raged from 1861 until 1865, was with the white race, either in social or political the United States' defining event. relations; and so far inferior that they had no Anticipated for 40 years, from rights which the white man was bound to the timTe the United States Congress first limited respect. "l' the extension of slavery into the western territo Throughout the country and among ries, the war sealed the fate of the institution of Members of Congress, North and South, there slavery and ended forever the question of seces existed no political support for the termination of sion. And while the country was very different in, the institution of slavery. In early 1861, say 1870, than it had been a decade earlier, in Congress, in an effort to forestall the secession some respects it had changed very little. movement, passed the first 13th Amendment The war concluded with the passage of which guaranteed African American slavery three constitutional amendments: the 13th wherever it then existed against Federal interfer (1865), which abolished the institution of slav ence. (It must be noted that while the amend ery; the 14th (1868), which granted citizenship ment was ratified by three States, the ratification to 4 million freed slaves; and the 15th (1870), process was soon overtaken by the war. The which gave them the right to vote. In 10 short amendment was quickly abandoned and replaced years, the war had completely altered the social, 4 years later with the 1865 amendment that abol political, and economic landscape of the country. ished slavery.)2 Moreover, had the war ended The suddenness of emancipation and the within the first 18 months after the firing on Fort apparent reversal of African American fortunes Sumter, prior to the preliminary issuance of the can only be fully understood when one remem Emancipation Proclamation, slavery would have bers that in 1857, a short 8 years before continued throughout the United States. Congressional abolition of slavery, the Supreme When the war began in 1861, the abolition Court determined in the Dred Scott case that of slavery, although the dream of William Lloyd African Americans, slave or free, could not attain Garrison, the country's leading abolitionist, and a full, or even partial, citizenship. "The unhappy small minority of northerners, was not a goal of black race," wrote Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, the United States Government. In 1861, "were separated from the white by indelible President Lincoln raised large numbers of volun marks, and laws long before established, and were teer troops to preserve the Union, not rid the never thought of or spoken of except as prop country of the "peculiar institution." While pos erty.... [blacks were deemed to be] beings of an sessing a moral aversion to slavery, Lincoln never theless feared the racial consequences of whole sale emancipation and was unsure about the con his issue of CRM follows several others that have stitutionality of abolition. One of the wonders Texplored the Civil War era and its echoes to the present and truly noteworthy aspects of the war years was time. "Connections: African American History and CRM" 19:2, how steadily and relatively quickly—by January (1996); "Altogether Fitting and Proper: Saving America's 1863—the abolition of slavery joined preserving Battlefields" 20:5 (1997); "African American History and the Union as a war aim. Culture" 20:2 (1997); and "Slavery and Resistance" 21:4 (1998) As much as the country had changed dur contain articles on slavery, the Underground Railroad, causes of ing the decade of the 1860s, in some very impor the Civil War, African Americans in the Civil War, preserving bat tant respects it remained the same. As noted tlefields, and the modern Civil Rights movement. All past issues above, the war ended forever the question of can be located online at
CRM No. 4—2002 5 the former slaves, as envisioned in the 14th and revising the memory of the war. Stunned by the 15 th Amendments, proved to be more challeng devastating losses incurred during the 4-year ing. struggle, southerners hoped to regain their equi The institution of slavery had been built on librium by rewriting the history of the war. The deep and imbedded racism toward African creation and defense of the Lost Cause philosophy Americans and on the concomitant presumption dominated southern literary and historical pro of white supremacy. Indeed, the Confederacy and duction well into the 20th century. Under this its Constitution were founded on, as Alexander interpretation, the South did not as much lose the Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy war as it was overwhelmed by superior military would put it, these cornerstones, these articles of might. Under this interpretation, slavery was a faith. "Our new government is founded ...," he benign institution wherein slaves were content, lectured in 1861, "upon the great truth that the even happy, and more importantly, faithful and negro is not equal to the white man; that devoted to their masters. Under this interpreta slavery..is his natural and normal condition." And tion, the war had its origins not in disputes over presumptions of white supremacy could not be the institution of slavery, but in the loftier ideals legislated away. of States rights and constitutional authority. Although the Reconstruction Era, 1865 to So successful was this campaign to correct 1877, attempted to institute political equality the memory of the war that Lost Cause ideology upon the former states of the Confederacy, what was endorsed not only in the South, but in many ever successes were attained, were achieved on the regions of the United States. A country eager to strength of the United States military occupation move ahead into the Industrial Age and the of the South. Racism remained following Progressive Era preferred to remember the glory of Reconstruction and successfully undermined the combat and the romance of an idealized war over spirit and intent of the just-ratified 13th, 14th, an institution based on human servitude. Gaines and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. The Foster, Nina Silber, Gary Gallagher, and David failure to enforce these changes to the Blight have all contributed brilliant insights into the Constitution, it must be said, was not solely a development of this post-Civil War phenomenon. southern failure, but a failure of the United States By the centennial of the war in 1961, the Government in all three branches: executive, judi principles of the Lost Cause were so deeply cial, and legislative. It was a failure of the nation. ingrained in the American psyche that the 4-year Over the next several decades, the rights of celebration (emphasis on celebration!) rarely con black Americans slowly eroded throughout the sidered the role of slavery in prompting the war American South with the enactment of Jim Crow and rarely considered the legacy of slavery in con laws which segregated blacks socially and margin temporary society. Two who dared to think alized them politically and economically. Indeed, beyond the conventions of the deeply segregated the white supremacy evident before the war was, country the United States had become by 1960 by 1900, just as evident throughout the South. It were Robert Penn Warren and Oscar Handlin. is not a stretch to observe that black Americans for Warren — son of the South, writer and his 100 years following Appomattox were systemati torian — produced " The Legacy of the Civil cally deprived of those Jeffersonian ideals of "life, War" in 1961 and accurately commented upon liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." the myths, North and South, that had developed Between 1890 and 1920, three black over the 100 years since the war and how those Americans were lynched every week somewhere in myths prevented the country from seeing the war the American South.^ While obligated to pay for what it was and productively addressing the taxes, black Americans were denied even basic legacies of it. The psychological costs of the war, benefits enjoyed by white Americans. Grossly infe argued Warren, were more subtle, pervasive, and rior public schools; segregated and, again, inferior continuing than the economic costs. The South public transportation facilities and restrooms; seg developed the "Great Alibi" wherein defeat was regated seating in theaters; and physical intimida turned into victory and defects became virtues. tion characterized the black southern experience The North, on the other hand, developed the for a century following the war. "Treasury of Virtue" which made it the great As much of the white South was turning redeemer, the savior of the nation, assigning to the back the clock for its former slaves, it was also North a morality and a clarity of purpose it never
6 CRM No. 4—2002 possessed. "When one is happy in forgetfulness," Foner, chose to remember the war as a family Warren wrote, "facts get forgotten."' quarrel among white Americans and to celebrate Oscar Handlin, a professor of history at the road to reunion "without considering the price Harvard University, also commented upon the paid for national reunification — the abandon limitations of the Centennial celebration. ment of the ideal of racial justice." An anniversary is an occasion for retrospective Foner's critique elaborated upon comments reconsideration. It affords an opportunity for made a few years earlier by a prominent southern analysis of what happened and why and for an historian. At the conclusion of his analysis of the estimate of the consequences that extend down Confederacy and the development of the New to the present. But it is precisely in this respect South, Gaines Foster observed that, that both the scholarly and the popular treat ments of the Civil War touched off by the cen The rapid healing of national divisions and tennial fail us most seriously... the men of the damaged southern self-image, however, came North and of the South seized upon the war as at the cost of deriving little insight or wisdom a symbol. But in doing so, they grotesquely from the past. Rather than looking at the war distorted the actuality of the war as it had been. as a tragic failure and trying to understand it, And the continued preservation of that symbol or even condemn it, Americans, North and also obscures the surviving problems left by the South, chose to view it as a glorious time to be war. celebrated. Most ignored the fact that the nation had failed to resolve the debate over the In spite of dozens of recent scholarly works nature of the Union and to eliminate the con on the war, its causes and its consequences, popu tradictions between its equalitarian ideals and the institution of slavery without resort to a lar discussions of the war rarely engage the role bloody civil war. Instead, they celebrated the arguments over the institution of slavery played in war's triumphant nationalism and martial prompting the war, or consider how quickly the glory. constitutional rights of black Americans were ignored in the rush toward sectional reconcilia Much of the public conversation today tion. Indeed, in the opinion of Columbia about the Civil War and its meaning for contem University scholar Eric Foner, the popular 1990 porary society is shaped by structured forgetting television production "The Civil War," produced and wishful thinking. As popular as the war is by Ken Burns, bore "more resemblance to turn-of- today, there is little interest — outside academic century romantic nationalism than to modern circles — in exploring the causes of the war and understandings of the war's complex and ambigu considering its profound legacies. Suggestions that ous consequences."' The miniseries, according to slavery really was at the core of mid-19th-century
Almost a century after the ratification of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, President Lyndon B. Johnson, with Martin Luther King, Jr., look ing on, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This photo is part of an online travel itinerary, "Historic Places of the Civil Rights Movement" created by the National Register of Historic Places at
CRM No. 4—2002 7 disagreements between the Northern and The purpose of the study of history is not Southern States are met with a charge of being to determine the heroes and the villains in the "politically correct," a charge designed to shut past, but to gain an understanding of how a soci down conversation on the subject rather than ety got from then to now, to understand what examine the documented links between the insti decisions and actions of the past affect current tution of slavery, westward expansion, and the conditions, and to provide the basic tools of citi balance of power in Congress. zenship for more informed decision making in Recognizing the truth in Robert Penn our own time. Alexander Stille, author of "The Warren and Oscar Handlin's assessment of the Future of the Past," puts it very simply, "knowing war and realizing that descriptions of battles where you have come from is important in form alone do not lead to an understanding of war, the ing an idea of where you want to go."1' An managers of the National Park Service's Civil War understanding of the American Civil War must battlefields have decided to add to the military involve a broad view. While the shooting began history in their interpretive programs an assess in 1861, the differences between Northern and ment of the war's causes and consequences. Southern States began during Jefferson's time Interpreting historic sites in the context of the with the Declaration of Independence, the times in which they gained national prominence Constitution, and the abolition of slavery in the is fundamental to National Park Service educa North. And while the shooting stopped in 1865, tional programs. Presenting that context occurs at the legacy of the war continues to resound sites as diverse as Women's Rights National throughout our society today. Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY, site of the As this country approaches the sesquicen- 1848 Women's Rights Convention; Marsh- tennial of the Civil War in a few short years, it is Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in the hope of the National Park Service that the Woodstock, VT, which commemorates the con 150th anniversary of that event will spark a servation movement in the United States; and the national discussion about the meaning of the war USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu, HI, which in the 21st century. Such a discussion would logi remembers the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor cally and responsibly explore the war's causes and on December 7, 1941. But interpreting the consequences, look unblinkingly at the issue of causes of the Civil War at battlefield sites turns slavery as the principle dividing issue in 19th- out to be highly controversial. A portion of the century America, and consider the legacy of American public is adamantly opposed to it.^ racism which prevented the country from experi Some believe, and believe strongly, that encing Lincoln's "new birth of freedom" for a only military events should be discussed at battle century following Appomattox. Such a discussion field sites; others believe that a discussion about would, it is hoped, prompt a deeper and more the causes of the Civil War might lead to a dis thoughtful consideration of how the echoes of the cussion about slavery. This group, in spite of war continue to resound throughout our society. scholarly evidence to the contrary, denies that Such a discussion could only benefit the country slavery was a cause of the Civil War. In short, as it makes decisions about the kind of future it they argue, military history is good; any attempt wants to create for its children and grandchildren. to explain why these armies were at each others' throats is bad. The editorials and letters attacking Notes 1 the National Park Service for its expanded inter Roger B. Taney, Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). pretive programs demonstrate how emotionally Reprinted in The Annals of America, vol. 8, 1850- Americans feel about their history, particularly 1857: The House Dividing (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1976), 440-449. the history of the Civil War. For its part, the 2 Alfred H. Kelly and Winfred A. Harbison, The National Park Service is being guided by the phi American Constitution: Its Origins and Development losophy that organized killing requires an expla (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1970), nation; and organized killing on the scale of the 399-400. American Civil War demands it. What the 3 This anguished chapter in American history is Service is confronting are the effects of over 100 graphically and grimly portrayed in a photographic years of many white southerners trying to find exhibit currently on display at Martin Luther King, meaning, vindication, and perhaps redemption in Jr., National Historic Site in Atlanta, GA. The a war that dealt them a crushing defeat, not only exhibit can also be found on the Internet at militarily, but also socially and economically.10
8 CRM No. 4—2002 4 See Gaines M. Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy: Respond, Robert Brent Toplin, editor (New York: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New Oxford University Press, 1996). 8 South, 1865-1913 (New York: Oxford University Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy, 196. Press, 1987); David W. Blight, Race and Reunion: ' Following the announcement that the National The Civil War in American Memory (Cambridge: Park Service was planning to expand its interpretive Harvard University Press, 2001); Nina Silber, The programs to include information on the causes of Romance of Reunion: Northerners and the South, the war, the Secretary of the Interior and the 1865-1900 (Chapel Hill: University of North National Park Service received 2,500 cards and let Carolina Press, 1993); and Gary W. Gallagher and ters from the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Alan T. Nolan, editors, The Myth of the Lost Cause Civil War Round Tables protesting the decision. 10 and Civil War History (Bloomington: Indiana For an assessment of this country's, especially the University Press, 2000). South's, preoccupation with the Civil War, see ' Robert Penn Warren, The Legacy of the Civil War David Goldfield, Still Fighting the Civil War: The (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998), 54, American South and Southern History (Baton Rouge: 59-60. First published in 1961. Louisiana State University Press, 2002); and Tony 6 Oscar Handlin, "The Civil War as Symbol and as Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from Actuality," The Massachusetts Review, Vol. Ill the Unfinished Civil War (New York: Random (Autumn 1961): 133-143. House/Pantheon, 1998). 1 Eric Foner, "Ken Burns and the Romance of ' Alexander Stille, The Future of the Past (New York: Reunion," in Who Owns History?: Rethinking the Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002), 325. Past in a Changing World (New York: Hill and Wang, 2002), 190. This critique was originally pub Dwight T Pitcaithley is chief historian of the National lished in Ken Burns The Civil War: Historians Park Service.
The Civil War in Cyberspace
here are literally thousands of Web
CRM No. 4—2002 9 John Hennessy Interpreting the Civil War Moving Beyond Battlefields
ur Civil War battlefields have to the veterans on both sides. They in turn fostered become battlegrounds again — an astonishingly complete and swift reconciliation this time intellectual battle — one, it turns out, that was based in part on grounds. A series of visits by his selective memory and forged at the expense of lib torianOs from the Organization of American erty for free blacks, newly freed slaves, and women. Historians in the late 1990s led to pointed criti Most of the legislation for America's battle cism of National Park Service sites for being too field parks is a legacy of the reconciliatory efforts of narrowly focused on things purely military. Those veterans. Though the veterans are now gone, their historians suggested that more emphasis be put on descendants — and indeed the National Park causes and consequences, on civilians and slaves, Service — have faithfully carried on the veterans' on meaning and significance. Other historical traditions. We as a nation still use our battlefields groups, led by Civil War Round Tables and other to define the nation's Civil War experience in heritage organizations, have railed at the idea of largely military terms. expanded or altered interpretation at Civil War As a result, huge tracts of intellectual turf battlefields; they assert that battlefields were set remain unplowed for the American public; large aside to tell the military history of the Civil War segments of the population fail to see the war's rel and nothing more. evance (African American visitors are still shock At the landmark "Holding the High ingly uncommon at sites related to the Civil War). Ground" gathering in Nashville in August 1998, The public is far more knowledgeable about the superintendents of Civil War-related parks — in experience of soldiers and the detail of battles than large part the keepers of the national memory of the significance of those battles to the war or the the Civil War — initiated a hard look at the scope development of this nation. The single-minded and nature of National Park Service interpretation focus on military aspects of the Civil War under of the Civil War. That look is finding form in a states the conflict's significance and relevance. The document now under development: "Interpreting wartime struggle over the existence of the Union the Civil War Through the Sites of the National has transformed into an omnipresent search for a Park System: An Initiative for the Sesquicentennial more perfect Union. The profound constitutional of the American Civil War." The plan acknowl changes wrought by war were but the point of edges profound shortcomings in the National Park departure for the on-going quest for legal and Service approach to interpreting the Civil War, but social equality for all Americans, the still-vigorous it also reaffirms the Service's longstanding commit debate over the proper reach of the Federal ment to resource-based interpretation. The plan is Government, and the never-ending effort to recon still a work in progress — and has been approved cile differing cultural values held under a single by absolutely nobody — but what follows is a national flag. The struggle to define America con summary of the key thoughts that the plan will tinues, and all paths to understanding that struggle likely embody. invariably pass through the cauldron of America's Battlefields and Memory Civil War. In the aftermath of national trauma, we as a The challenge faced by the National Park nation have (consciously or unconsciously) Service today is huge: to convey the significance assigned the rights of memory to a certain group or and relevance of the Civil War while at the same groups. In the wake of the September 11 disaster, time sustaining the Service's invaluable tradition of the nation at large has stepped aside in deference resource-based interpretation (a concept that is at to the families of victims, firefighters, and rescue the very foundation of the National Park Service workers. In the aftermath of the Civil War, we mission). Meeting that challenge will involve not accorded the rights to the memory of the conflict just improving interpretation at Civil War battle-
10 CRM No. 4—2002 fields, but also expanding the accepted definition War as forums for engaging visitors in discussions of what constitutes a Civil War site. In fact, the about major events, places, and themes associated sites of the National Park System — from battle with the war — some of which have not tradition fields to antebellum homes to northern factories to ally fallen within the realm of public history. the homes of the renowned — offer an unmatched The superintendents' proposal — which is venue for modern Americans to understand, con still very much in development — will include at template, and debate what Robert Penn Warren least four major elements. called "the great single event of our history." The Redefining a "Civil War Site." Fundamental value of national parks is both individual and to expanding interpretation of the Civil War cumulative — each individually embodying drama, through the sites of the National Park System is pathos, or brilliance while collectively reflecting a identifying those sites that can contribute to telling struggle that permeated every aspect of American a bigger story. While battlefields can certainly do a society. better job than they do of putting battles into a The Push Toward the Sesquicentennial broader context and illustrating how, for example, The approaching 150th anniversary of the the local community responded to secession or American Civil War offers the current generation emancipation, battlefields are not well suited to perhaps its most important opportunity to know, sustain a broad-ranging exploration of cause, con discuss, and commemorate America's greatest sequence, and significance. To engage Americans national crisis while at the same time exploring its in those sorts of conversations, the National Park enduring relevance to America of the 21 st century. Service needs to show the public that Civil War Yet, in 2002, the National Park Service is largely ill- sites include more than just battlefields. Springfield equipped to lead such a national discussion. Armory National Historic Site in Springfield, MA; In preparation for the Sesquicentennial Booker T Washington National Monument in (which, given a broader view of the Civil War that Hardy, VA; Homestead National Monument of includes causation, should already be under way), America in Beatrice, NE; Women's Rights superintendents of Civil War sites are proposing an National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY; ambitious initiative: a multi-faceted, multi-year Hampton National Historic Site in Towson, MD; program that will simultaneously transform and Frederick Law Olmstead National Historic Site in Bloody Angle diorama at the improve interpretation of the Civil War in our Brookline, MA; Boston African American National Chancellorsville national parks while providing a national forum Historic Site in Boston, MA; Lincoln Home Visitor Center for reflection on America's greatest national crisis. National Historic Site in Springfield, IL; and the at Fredericks burg and The project will encourage Americans to use Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Spotsylvania national parks — battlefields and non-battlefield Louis, MO, are just a few of the non-battlefield National sites — as the major vehicle for gaining greater sites that can illuminate important aspects of the Military Park. nation's Civil War experience. The walls of time Photo courtesy understanding of the Civil War and its relevance National Park today. Simultaneously, the National Park Service (1861-1865) and geography (battlefields) that have Service. will use the full range of its sites related to the Civil so limited our interpretation of the Civil War need to be taken down. Establishing a Thematic Context. The National Park Service will, for the first time, articu late a comprehensive thematic context for interpret ing the Civil War through the sites of the National Park System. These themes will be derived from the study and synthesis of more than 150 thematic statements submitted by national parks related to the American Civil War. They are intended to act as a point of departure for developing media and pro grams and engaging visitors in figurative or literal discussions about the nation's most destructive and transforming epoch. Once the national themes are in place, indi vidual parks will "plug in" to those that best reflect that particular park's story or resources. For exam-
CRM No. 4—2002 11 pie, in addition to illustrating themes related to mil Initiative for the Sesquicentennial of the American itary events, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Civil War" will include a Comprehensive Interpre National Military Park in Virginia vividly reflects tive Plan for Civil War sites within the National the evermore difficult experience of civilians from Park System. This plan will do two things. First, it 1862-1864. As the battle that precipitated the pre will link individual parks with the key national liminary Emancipation Proclamation, Antietam themes each park is best suited to help convey. National in Maryland is perfectly suited to illumi Second, it will indicate what improvements in media nate not just emancipation, but the interrelation and personal services each site needs to accomplish ship of politics and war. Wilson's Creek National its mission within that larger context. The result: an Battlefield in Missouri reflects the unique experi interpretive framework within which Congress, indi ence of border States and communities during the vidual parks, or partners can fund the media Civil War. Hampton National Historic Site in improvements needed to bring parks' interpretation Maryland can tell us much about the slave experi in line with 21st-century thought and scholarship. ence. By using resources and stories at the park level Beyond the Parks: Education and to illuminate larger issues, the National Park Service Interpretation Through the National Media and will avoid the much dreaded "cookie cutter" inter Internet. The sesquicentennial initiative will also pretation. A look through the local lens will also reach beyond individual sites. Civil War parks, and demonstrate that major issues connected with the perhaps the National Park Service at large, will seek war (slavery, States rights, emancipation) were not partnerships within the media, on the Internet, and viewed homogeneously — that the human experi with America's schools that will use the national ence related to those issues varied greatly. Each park parks to tell the story of America's Civil War to visi will tell these stories in its own way; collectively the tors and non-visitors. Programs may include a series sites of the National Park System will tell the broad of public conversations about the Civil War along story of the Civil War, with all its impacts and the line of the "American Presidents" series pre implications. sented by C-SPAN a couple years ago—a high-qual Upgrading Media. As proud as the National ity series of programs aimed at the popular mar Park Service is of personal services, the stark fact is ket—and a comprehensive Web site that provides a that at many sites only a fraction of its visitors receive vast array of alternatives for engaging the public in the benefit of a front line interpreter. The majority of the story of the Civil War as it is embodied by the visitors to Civil War sites, and especially battlefield national parks. Finally, the sesquicentennial initia areas, are completely reliant upon media to describe tive may include a large body of curriculum-based and derive the significance of the park. At media (including satellite, Internet, and live pro Gettysburg, only 15 percent of visitors attend ranger- grams) that will be the foundation of public educa guided programs; at Fredericksburg and tion relating to the Civil War throughout the nation. Spotsylvania, the figure is 18 percent. Yet in many This sesquicentennial initiative is intended to parks, investment in media to reach the majority of be a far different animal than the popular celebra visitors has been but a fraction of the funds invested tions that accompanied the centennial and the in personal services. Nation's Bicentennial. Rather than being focused on The media that does exist — museum events and observances, the superintendents hope exhibits, wayside exhibits, furnishings, and audio that the sesquicentennial's legacy will be an array of visual programs — vary widely in quality and con interpretive media systems and educational pro tent. Many parks have media dating to the 1960s. grams at a variety of sites that dramatically expand The best exhibit in the Fredericksburg Battlefield the opportunities for all Americans to gain under Visitor Center is one installed in 1936. Money for, standing and derive relevance from the nation's and interest in, updating that media has been scarce experience during the Civil War. indeed. Some parks have more modern offerings — exhibits done in the last 20 years. But few of these „ Note exhibits go beyond the traditional boundaries of The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Lincoln in October 1862, testing the waters battlefield interpretation done 3 decades ago. and warning that if the Confederacy didn't return to Any attempt to improve interpretation at Civil the Union he would put the Emancipation War sites must recognize the need to improve the Proclamation into effect January 1, 1863. media that are the primary means of communicat John Hennessy is chief historian at Fredericksburg and ing with visitors — an expensive proposition. "An Spotsylvania National Military Park, VA.
12 CRM No. 4—2002 John M. Coski neo-Confederate viewpoint is more evident and oft-expressed in the frequent public disputes over Confederate flags, monuments, and other sym bols and over the names of streets, bridges, or Historians Under Fire public buildings. I confess that my perspective may be The Public and the skewed. I have worked for nearly 14 years in an institution — the Museum of the Confederacy - Memory of the Civil War that has had to find and maintain balance between sensitivity to the views of a core pro- few years ago, I participated in a Confederate constituency and scrupulous atten symposium on "southern sym tion to scholarship and inclusiveness. Also affect bols" at a southern university. ing my viewpoint is the recent collapse of that After my presentation on the balance. The museum is now explicitly courting ConfederatAe battle flag, an undergraduate stu the financial support of those individuals and dent beckoned me out of the room and groups who insist that it must be a museum for explained with startling candor his own feelings (not of) the Confederacy, a result that would about the flag. He explained he was from rural threaten the institution's scholarly integrity and Mississippi, ashamed of the virulent racism of his credibility. father, and now recognized why the flag offended The museum's fate is caught up in a strong African Americans. But, he insisted, he still did backlash among white southerners and white not abide the growing tendency to vilify all Americans in general against a perceived political things Confederate and wanted to know why he correctness running amok in America today. As should be ashamed of his ancestors. We had a we know from many other celebrated incidents, a long chat and returned to the room for the next large segment of the American population presentation — which was about the latent, even believes that politically correct or "revisionist" subconscious, racism of some Civil War reenac- historians have hijacked history and have dis tors. The same student felt emboldened enough torted truth with "context." The contested mem to stand up during the question and answer ory of the Civil War is just one example of the period and essentially repeat the story he had ongoing "history wars." told me. The reaction of the session moderator Resentment over political correctness and was swift and unequivocal. She told him that he the ongoing campaign by the National was out of line and, in so many words, to sit Association for the Advancement of Colored down and shut up. I'm ashamed to say that I did People against the publicly-sponsored or not intervene and insist that he and his question -endorsed display of Confederate symbols be treated with due respect. explains much about the gulf between scholars There is an unfortunate dynamic that exists and the pro-Confederate public, but there are between professional historians and the millions other contributing factors. The most important of Americans who sympathize with the and consistent factor is ancestry. Perhaps more Confederacy in the Civil War. These neo- than any other avocational historians, many pro- Confederates whom Tony Horwitz depicted — Confederate Civil War buffs perceive the subject accurately, I believe — in his book "Confederates as synonymous with the honor and reputation of in the Attic"1 are proud of their Confederate their ancestors. Discussions of slavery as the ancestors, conservative in their politics, and cause and issue of the war are considered an increasingly sensitive to what they believe are implicit condemnation of their ancestors. They unfair attacks upon their ancestors and their val are quick to fire back with arguments that have ues. Confederate sympathizers ascribe, con prima facie validity — but which historians dis sciously or unconsciously, to what many histori miss as simplistic or irrelevant — that the vast ans generally consider an erroneous and distorted interpretation of the Civil War that dates back to 2 Editor's Note. This article is based on Dr. the Lost Cause era. There is a large and easily- Coski's presentation at the Organization of identified body of neo-Confederate literature American Historians annual meeting held in that competes with academic scholarship, but the Washington, DC, April 13, 2002.
CRM No. 4—2002 13 majority of white southerners and Confederate der that there is a gulf between historians and the soldiers in particular did not own slaves and that public? Abraham Lincoln was, by modern definition, a Many elements of neo-Confederate ortho "racist" (as were most people of his generation by doxy are interpretations familiar in academic cir today's standards) for whom the emancipation of cles. For instance, the South was as much the slaves was not a primary objective and who American as the North in the antebellum era; the tried mightily to colonize African Americans out constitutionality of secession was open to debate of the country. in 1861; Abraham Lincoln maneuvered the How should professional historians respond Confederacy into firing the first shot of the war; to such arguments? According to a recent trend Lincoln violated the Constitution in his success within the profession, historians should encour ful effort to preserve the Union; Lincoln was not age people to study their personal pasts and help committed to emancipation at the beginning of create a "participatory historical culture." The the war; and northern victory in the war funda most common personal pasts are built upon a mentally changed the nature of the Union and foundation of family history. ^ When you add to was an important step in the creation of modern this tendency an emphasis on the need for public American capitalism and the "imperial presi historians to consult with and listen to their stake dency." holders, it would seem that historians ought to Why is it that these and other familiar argu respect the arguments of Confederate descendants. ments seem less valid, less acceptable when Furthermore, the history profession has for espoused by neo-Confederates? The answer, it decades encouraged the study and celebration of seems, is the belief that neo-Confederate thought distinct racial, ethnic, and life-style-based subcul is more akin to religious dogma and propaganda tures, in what some within our ranks denounce as than inquiry — received truth rather than the therapeutic, feel-good, or compensatory history.' process of trying to determine truths. And, most Should not the study and celebration of importantly, neo-Confederate thought amasses Confederate American history also receive the and arranges facts and interpretations with the blessing of the profession? express objective of vindicating Confederates and My experience suggests that most profes the Confederacy and of disassociating the sional historians hold Confederate Americans Confederacy and the war from slavery. Believing and their brand of history in great contempt. that the preservation of slavery was the Rarely do historians discuss neo-Confederate Confederacy's cornerstone and that slavery was thought without expressing either incredulity the indispensable cause of the war, professional that anyone ascribes to it or fear of its persistence historians are determined not to let neo- and apparent influence. Where then is the respect Confederates get away with this denial. for the opinions of people who are stakeholders Historians are afraid of giving aid and in their Confederate/Civil War past? Is there a encouragement to the neo-Confederates and double standard at work? I believe there is. seeming soft on people and ideas that in the The lack of respect extends even deeper. modern era we find prudent to condemn. We are Professional historians who share the conservative afraid of being party to an unholy bargain of the faith of neo-Confederates have felt so unwelcome kind that David Blight describes in his book in the profession that they have formed their own "Race and Reunion" and, yes, afraid of offending organizations. At mainstream historical confer African Americans whose beliefs and feelings now ences, I have heard respected Civil War historians figure prominently — as they should — in how criticized because they are too soft on Robert E. we understand and present our history. The Lee and other Confederate leaders. These histori result of these fears is being painted into corners ans frequently address popular audiences and when engaging in debates over Confederate sym emphasize the centrality of slavery in the coming bols. Perhaps it is time to change the terms and of the war. Civil War historians in academia — the nature of these debates. especially those writing military history — face What I have come to believe is the desir an uphill battle to prove the legitimacy of their ability and necessity of giving serious attention to subject, even though — probably because — it is the neo-Confederate presentation of history — a so popular with the wider public. Is it any won policy of "constructive engagement." Won't this
14 CRM No. 4—2002 give credibility to arguments that could be dis both logical and prudent that we seek to under missed as the voice of a "lunatic fringe"? These stand more about the people who are doing the views have credibility with untold numbers of firing. Americans — numbers that swell when Confederate symbols come under attack. We Notes 1 must do a better job of presenting compelling Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches explanations to non-academic audiences of what from the Unfinished Civil War (New York: Random House/Pantheon, 1998). we must admit are complex conundrums — how, Originating with the book, The Lost Cause (1866) for example, slavery could have been the root by Richmond editor and historian Edward A. cause of the Civil War even though 75 percent of Pollard, the Souths Lost Cause ideology stressed white southerners and perhaps 90 percent of that the North's greater numbers had destined the Confederate soldiers didn't own slaves. We must South to lose on the battlefield. Even more so, the be more straightforward in acknowledging funda war was not fought over slavery, an institution mental agreement with some of the neo- deemed beneficial to the happy and devoted slaves, but over States rights. Between the 1880s and the Confederate points about Lincoln's equivocation 1910s, Confederate veterans' and descendants' orga over emancipation and his abuses of power. nizations elaborated upon this ideology and lobbied Failure to acknowledge this lends credibility to heavily and successfully to make it orthodoxy the neo-Confederate's argument that these are among white southerners; see also Gaines M. suppressed truths. The case for the watershed Foster, Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost importance of slavery to the Confederacy and the Cause, and the Emergence of the New South, 1865- Civil War can be made while avoiding the per 1913 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987); Charles Reagan Wilson, Baptized in Blood: The ception that it is a condemnation of Confederate Religion of the Lost Cause (Athens: University of ancestors or the promotion of a neo- Georgia Press, 1980); Rollin G. Osterweis, The Reconstructionist agenda. Myth of the Lost Cause, 1865-1900 (Hamden, CT: Historians should seek opportunities to Anchor Books, 1973). address Civil War Round Tables and Sons of ' Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, The Presence of Confederate Veterans camps and engage mem the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life bers in serious dialogue. Many academic histori (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998). ans are already doing just that and are using the * Edward T. Linenthal and Tom Englehardt, editors, pages of North & South magazine, a publication History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past (New York: Henry Holt & Co., that within a few years has established itself as the 1995); "Museum Exhibit Standards Society for best of the popular Civil War magazines and has History in the Federal Government," OAH tackled sensitive issues and encouraged serious Newsletter, May 2000, 29; Gary B. Nash, Charlotte dialogue between academics and laymen. As oth Crabtree, and Ross E. Dunn, History on Trial: ers would quickly point out, however, North & Culture Wars and the Teaching of the American Past South also offers sobering evidence of the limits (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998). of constructive engagement. The months-long ^ Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., The Disuniting of America: dialogue over James McPherson's article on the Reflections on a Multicultural Society (New York: Norton, 1992). causes of the war reveal that even deliberate and ° David W. Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War reasoned explanation cannot overcome some peo in American Memory (Cambridge: Harvard 7 ples' devotion to dogma. University Press, 2001). Blight argues that postwar I am not proposing some kind of centrally Americans chose "healing" over "justice" and that organized campaign of scholarly propaganda; white northerners and white southerners fashioned Confederate sympathizers can spot truth squads a memory of the war that emphasized soldierly as easily as we can. What I am recommending is a valor over the war's issues and neglected the contri butions of African Americans. genuine effort by academic historians to engage James M. McPherson, "What Caused the Civil with a segment of our stakeholders and the his War?" North & South 4:1 (November 2000): 12-22; torically aware public that have often been "Special Crossfire," North & South 4:3 (March treated as pariahs. They, of course, have come to 2001): 5-7+; 4:4 (April 2001): 5-6+; 4:5 (June regard us as pariahs. We should not only talk; we 2001),: 5-6+; 4:7 (September 2001):5-7+. must also listen. Like it or not, their understand ing of the Civil War is persistent and influential. Dr. John M. Coski is historian for the Museum of the If historians of the Civil War are under fire, it is Confederacy in Richmond, VA.
CRM No. 4—2002 15 William B. Lees How Important Is Battlefield Archeology?
hen a family completes a Because of the success of the Little Bighorn visit to a national Civil War study, archeologists have come to embrace the battlefield, they rarely ques entire battlefield, regardless of size, as an impor tion the accuracy of what tant subject for study.2 Insights important for the they havWe seen. Instead, they happily accept the proper management of battlefields and for their story presented by brochures, tour guides, inter interpretive development or redevelopment are pretive trails, and rangers. Sometimes distinctive generally forthcoming from such studies, regard physical landmarks — such as a house, river, less of whether they focus on National Park road, or earthwork that is clearly a landmark Service properties, state or local historical sites, or from the battle — fortify this confidence. sites held entirely in private hands. Perhaps there are also monuments on the field Seeing the Whole Battlefield that were erected long ago by veterans who Our Civil War battlefields can be said to fought there and that seem to say, "we were consist of three essential components: 1) docu here." Often though, a battlefield park has none ments and oral history accounts, 2) physical of these. Rather, the only physical evidence avail remains of the battle, and 3) the modern land able to the visitor is the information center and scape on which, many years ago, the battle was the waysides along roads and trails created to tell fought (at some locations this includes memorial the story of the battle. elements such as monuments or markers). None As a result of many studies conducted since of these alone is sufficient to provide an under pioneering work at the Little Bighorn Battlefield standing of the battlefield. Archeologists argue, in the 1980s,1 archeologists have come to agree based on a growing body of case study, that all that the visitor's confidence in the accuracy of three must be considered in the management and their Civil War battlefield tour may, in many interpretation of a battlefield of the Civil War. cases, be at least slightly misplaced. Prior to this A few monuments, memories still told or study, archeologists confined their work on bat written down as stories, and first hand reports, tlefields to traditional excavation around build letters, diaries, and memoirs are what planners of ings, earthworks, or graves. At Little Bighorn, site most of our battlefield parks had to work with Detector line. Volunteers of the most famous of all Indian Wars confronta when they transformed land into a battlefield equipped with tions, archeologists worked with volunteers to use park. An arduous process of detailed historical metal detectors metal detectors to find and document artifacts research and analysis was typically coupled with a systematically scan the battle and their placement over large expanses of the careful study of the land on which the battle was field. battlefield. known or thought to have occurred. Modern intrusions were eradicated, park roads con structed, waysides and walking trails built, can nons placed, and visitor centers with interpretive displays erected. This process imposed an inter pretation of the battle on the modern landscape and created a landscape that is itself an interpre tation. It represented the best fit between the available evidence and the modern landscape. At some battlefields this process has been done more than once, resulting in markedly different visitor experiences. Because of the difficulty of accessing the ^ widely dispersed physical remains of the battle until the relatively recent past, the process of
16 CRM No. 4—2002 Enfield pattern managing and developing Civil War battlefields Minie balls. has historically relied very little on the second of Unfired speci men mark the the three battlefield components reviewed above: location of a sol the physical remains. Physical remains focus on dier who the armaments — predominantly bullets and dropped or dis carded them artillery projectiles — hurled back and forth by during the battle, opposing troops. Here a distinction exists whereas the fired between ammunition that was fired in battle and specimen less precisely mark that which may have been dropped, discarded, or the location of lost during the battle. Unfired ammunition is fallen soldiers. important in that it marks the location (if but for a moment in time) of the soldier who dropped or discarded it. Fired ammunition, on the other hand, marks less directly the location of a perhaps fallen soldier at some point in the event. fighting at these locations, and the overall pro In addition to ammunition, there are things gression of the fighting. This information has that occur in lesser quantities: fragments of specific pertinence for the management and equipment, such as trigger guards and canteen interpretive development of our Civil War battle spouts, and personal items, such as harmonicas fields. and coins. Like the unfired ammunition, the Mine Creek as an Example placement of these items on the battlefield marks An example of the successful use of archeol the location of an individual participant in the ogy to develop pertinent management and inter battle. pretive information is Mine Creek Battlefield, In some cases, these artifacts can be attrib operated by the Kansas State Historical Society. uted to U.S. or Confederate usage, although this The Battle of Mine Creek was fought on October is difficult given the realities of supply during the 25, 1864, between Major General Sterling Price's Civil War. In even more unusual circumstances, rear guard of 7,500 cavalry and Major General artifacts can be attributed to specific regiments or Alfred Pleasanton's advance cavalry of 2,500. companies. When this occurs, the ease with The Confederates were posted north of Mine which documents can be correlated with a spe Creek on both sides of an alternate route of the cific place on the modern landscape increases Fort Scott Road. The Confederates were protect substantially. ing the rear of a long wagon train whose head, The archeologist, through careful study, can along with eight pieces of artillery and the bal access information represented by physical ance of the Confederate Army, were already miles remains.^ A systematic survey of the suspected to the south. battlefield will uncover battle-related artifacts Based on research by local historian Lumir that can be properly collected and their locations Buresh, the Kansas State Historical Society pur precisely recorded with modern surveying instru chased 280 acres of land in Linn County, KS, for ments. Information on the artifacts and their creation of a battlefield park. Buresh's interpreta placement can then be used to develop detailed tion of the battle had placed most of the signifi maps of the physical residue of the battle; and cant troop positions and actions within the 280 these can be examined for patterns that address acres. After being delayed for many years, a new questions of the location of the battle and its key initiative to develop the land was begun in the elements, the nature of the fighting, and the pro late 1980s. An archeological reconnaissance of gression of the event. the 280 acres was conducted in 1989 to deter The first pattern of interest is the most gen mine if any artifacts related to the battle eral: where artifacts are, as opposed to where they remained that might assist in the development are not. This most general pattern speaks to the efforts or that might serve as museum exhibits/ limits of the battle (different from park bound This initial study found substantial evi aries). Once the limits are understood, the arche dence of the event within the 280-acre tract. In ologist examines the findings for patterns that addition, however, the study showed ample evi may be used for interpreting the placement of dence that the battlefield extended well beyond battle events on the landscape, the nature of the the limits of the State-owned land particularly
CRM No. 4—2002 I- toward the east and north. While the artifact dis rise of ground that would have hidden the target tribution dropped off to virtually nothing on the from the gunners who fired this canister had they western edge of the property, it did not diminish been posted at the creek. It is more reasonable to on the northern and eastern boundaries. Further, presume that the cannon were some 300 to 600 Buresh showed the Fort Scott Road used during meters from where the canister was found. This the battle (which was the approximate centerline places the Confederate line somewhere near the of the battle) as running through the center of northern boundary of the State-owned property the State-owned property. No archeological evi and over 1,000 meters north of the creek. dence for a road in this location was found, but This conclusion was supported by other clear evidence for a road used during the battle evidence to show that the initial engagement of was found along the eastern edge of the property U.S. troops with the Confederate line was at best south of Mine Creek. This evidence consisted of at the northern boundary of the State-owned swales visible on the modern landscape and an property and on private lands to the east. It is associated alignment of battle-related artifacts. easily conceivable that the line was even further This road crossed on to private property just north of this location. This area north of the north of Mine Creek. State-owned property is in fact where the density Further archeological study of adjacent pri of artifact finds was the greatest, suggesting this is vate land was set into motion by these discover where the most intense fighting occurred.13 ies. Work in 1990 and 1991 covered lands to the The State-owned land, as well as private west, east, and north of the State-owned parcel land directly to the east, presented evidence for and showed conclusively that the battle covered a the fighting after the U.S. attack had pushed much larger area than had previously been under through the initial Confederate line. This stood. The road identified in the 1989 study includes the increasingly disorganized fighting could not be followed very far north of Mine north of Mine Creek that resulted in the capture Creek, but its projected route was indeed close to of some 900 Confederate soldiers, 2 Confederate the centerline of the distributions of artifacts doc generals, all 8 pieces of Confederate artillery, and umented north of the creek. The center of the many wagons of the Confederate train.14 battlefield was in reality in the vicinity of the These examples illustrate some of the major eastern edge of the State-owned property. conclusions reached about the Battle of Mine In addition to being larger than previously Creek from a careful study of physical remains of thought, the archeology also showed that the ini this event. In general, the major lesson from the tial Confederate line and the main engagement archeological study of Mine Creek concerns scale. was much further north of Mine Creek than pre The battle was found to cover a substantially viously thought. Several converging lines of evi larger area than had been indicated by the Buresh dence were important in reaching this conclu A volunteer care fully searches sion, but the evidence for artillery fire was piv the ground at otal. U.S. artillery arrived too late to figure in the Mine Creek for a fighting, but the Confederate artillery was a key battle-related artifact might element in its line of defense. help tell the The Buresh interpretation had the story of the Confederate artillery posted immediately north fighting. of Mine Creek within the main Confederate line. Artillery ammunition was found, however, con centrated well north of the creek — in fact it was well north of the northern boundary of the State- owned property. While artillery projectiles can travel a considerable distance, the evidence included a concentration of canisters10 that have a relatively short effective range of roughly 300 meters, though they would certainly travel fur ther before grounding.'J Nonetheless, the canister was found some 1,600 meters north of Mine Creek and beyond a
is CRM No. 4—2002 An archeologist interpretation. This showed behind a total that this interpretation, and station records the precise loca the interpretation implied by tion of a battle the original State purchase of field find. battlefield lands, was flawed in terms of scale. Without physi cal evidence or non-ambigu ous landscape features to work with, it was possible to place the historically recorded battle events within a much smaller area than was actually the case. The physical evidence has served to anchor or reconnect the historical accounts of the battle to the modern land scape. In a similar fashion, the placement of specific elements of the action within the newly defined battlefield quate, if not flawed. Archeoiogical evidence is boundaries was modified drastically from the ear obviously the best means to determine where lier interpretation that placed the Confederate remains of the battle actually exist and, therefore, line immediately north of Mine Creek. The phys the location of grounds hallowed by intense ical evidence clearly argues that the Confederate fighting. Whether the goal is to protect resources line was substantially north of the creek. Here, on private lands through regulatory actions or to the physical evidence seems to serve to shatter manage construction or interpretive development what may be 20th-century concepts of scale in on long-existing battlefield parks or parks under favor of those that were more familiar to the sol initial development, knowing where physical diers who fought at Mine Creek. Perhaps due to remains are located is of obvious importance in the ease with which we move from place to place avoiding their damage. via automobiles and paved roads, accounts that At Mine Creek, for example, the State describe troops posted at Mine Creek seem to say thought they had purchased management control to us today that they were immediately north of over the entire battlefield. Archeoiogical research the creek. To the Civil War soldier, even those on taught us lessons of scale at this place, but this horseback, being posted at Mine Creek certainly insight is guiding new efforts to acquire the had a much larger geographic meaning than it remainder of the battlefield lands so they can be does to us today. properly managed and interpreted. Among other values, therefore, the archeo The interpretive value of archeology can iogical record serves to reconnect written and obviously be profound. Had the site of Mine other records and our interpretation of these Creek been developed when the State first pur records with a landscape that is much changed chased it, the archeology would have shown that from the moment in time when a Civil War bat this interpretive development was flawed and tle was fought. This value alone makes the arche- needed rethinking to reflect the new understand ologist's work on our Civil War battlefields of ing of the scale of this event. Archeology can also great importance for the management and inter have a profound impact on other areas of inter pretation of these resources. pretation especially regarding the nature of the Importance of Battlefield Archeology fighting. These insights can impact not only loca Mine Creek is but one of numerous case tions, but also the story that is told about what studies that speak to the same conclusion: happened there. approaches to the management and/or interpre There are those that would argue that tive development of Civil War battlefields that knowing precise locations and having new have not taken advantage of archeoiogical studies insights into the conduct of a battle is of little of the battlefield itself may be seriously inade importance. They argue that regardless of where
CRM No. 4—2002 19 Flintlock, can Adams, Diane E. White, and David M. Johnson, teen, and trigger Last Chance Canyon, 1869 Apache/Cavalry Battlesite, guard found Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico (Alamogordo, along an aban NM: Lincoln National Forest Heritage Program, doned road at Mine Creek 2000); J. Brett Cruse, Patricia A. Mercado-Allinger, mark the route Douglas D. Scott, and Pamela Folds, The Red River of the War: Battle Sites Project, Phase 1 (Texas Historical Confederate Commission, 2000); Douglas D. Scott, "Identifying retreat. the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre Site Through Archeological Reconnaissance," in Site Location Study, Sand Creek Massacre Project, Vol. 1 (Denver: National Park Service, Intermountain Region, 2000): 71-136; William B. Lees, Douglas D. Scott, and C. Vance Haynes, "History Underfoot: The you place the trails or markers, the public still Search for Physical Evidence for the 1868 Attack on sees only grass and woods, and regardless of the Black Kettle's Village," Chronicles of Oklahoma 79:2 (Oklahoma Historical Society, 2001): 158-181. nature of the fighting, the outcome was still the same. What is wrong, they would ask, with * Melissa Connor and Douglas D. Scott, "Metal Detector Use in Archaeology: An Introduction," telling the public that the entire battle of Mine Historical Archaeology 32:4 (Society for Historical Creek occurred on 280 acres and letting the lands Archaeology, 1998): 73-82. that we now know were part of the battlefield •* William B. Lees, "When the Shooting Stopped, the remain in productive agricultural use and in pri War Began," in Look to the Earth: Historical vate hands? Archaeology and the Civil War, Clarence R. Geir and The answers to these questions are of course Susan Winter Frye, editors, (University of Tennessee as individual as those who may hear them. The Press, 1995): 31-59. William B. Lees, Archaeology of the Mine Creek Civil War Battlefield, manu importance of battlefield preservation seems, script (Topeka, KS: Kansas State Historical Society, though, to be almost inherent in the movement 1998). to save these places that started as soon as the 5 Lumir F. Buresh, October 25th and the Battle of smoke cleared in the 1860s and that continues Mine Creek (Kansas City, MO: Lowell Press, 1978). unabated to this day. If we are to preserve and 6 Ibid. interpret places from the Civil War, it is impor William B. Lees, Archaeology of the Mine Creek tant that we do so honestly with the benefit of Civil War Battlefield, manuscript (Topeka, KS: the full range of information available: the oral Kansas State Historical Society, 1998). 8 and written documents, the archeological Ibid. 9 Ibid. records, and the landscape itself. 10 Canisters are projectiles filled with metal balls and sawdust that burst open when shot from a Notes cannon. 1 Douglas D. Scott, Richard A. Fox, Jr., Melissa A. '' William B. Lees, Archaeology of the Mine Creek Connor, and Dick Harmon, Archaeological Civil War Battlefield, manuscript (Topeka, KS: Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn Kansas State Historical Society, 1998). (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989). 12 Ibid. 2 Charles M. Haecker and Jeffrey G. Mauck, On the !3 Ibid. Prairie of Palo Alto, Historical Archaeology of the U.S. 14 Ibid. — Mexican War Battlefield (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1997); Douglas D. Scott William B. Lees, Ph.D., RPA, is the director of the his and William J. Hunt, Jr., The Civil War Battle at toric sites division of the Oklahoma Historical Society, Monroe's Crossroads, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a 2100 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK, 73105. He Historical Archeological Perspective (Prepared for the has been involved in battlefield archeology at the Mine U.S. Army, XCIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Creek, KS, and Honey Springs, OK, Civil War battlefields Fort Bragg, NC, by the Department of the Interior, and at the Washita, OK, and Sand Creek, CO, Indian National Park Service, Technical Assistance and Wars sites. Partnership Section, Southeast Archeological Center, Tallahassee, FL, 1998); Christopher D. Photos by the author.
20 CRM No. 4—2002 Bob Higgins Viewing the Civil War Through a Geological Window
ur understanding of history is river's course and carve out the surrounding land enriched by viewing events scape: bluffs, beaches, natural levies, and swamps. from many perspectives. An New channels are constantly cut, and old ones O unlikely window through abandoned by the Mississippi. which to view the American Civil War is geology, During the Civil War, Confederate forces the study of the planet Earth — the materials of closed the river to navigation. Although the which it is made, the processes which act upon Union gained control of the river south at New Map showing these materials, and the changes which it has Orleans and north of Memphis early in the war, the hairpin bend undergone and is undergoing. Geology shapes the Confederates held Vicksburg and controlled in the Mississippi terrain, and terrain is critical to any military ven the Mississippi at that point. This threatened to River at Vicks- burg and the ture. Both Union and Confederate soldiers used strangle northern commercial interests while it proposed canal — or in some cases failed to use — terrain to thwarted military objectives. President Lincoln to divert the river their benefit in choosing defensive positions, believed that the river town of Vicksburg was of away from the city. Map repro maneuvering troops, and selecting supply and great importance for Union control of the lower duced from "The communication routes. In some instances, com Mississippi River and a key to ending the war. By War of the manders had common knowledge of geology and taking control of Vicksburg and the lower Rebellion: A Compilation of employed it to their military advantage. Let us Mississippi, the South would be split in two, sev the Official reach across the boundary of science and history ering a vital Confederate supply line. Records of the and view three examples from the Civil War Nevertheless, Vicksburg and the surrounding Union and Confederate through a geological window. forts — strongholds along the bluffs of the Armies." Battle of Vicksburg Mississippi River — seemed impregnable. Direct (Washington, The Mississippi River divided the country, attack was considered impossible; maneuvering DC: Government and small attacks provided no results. A plan was Printing Office, east from west, and was a major transportation 1880-1902). route. Today, and during Civil War times, geo needed. logic processes continually shape and reshape the In the summer of 1862, a 3,000-man infantry brigade commanded by Union Brigadier General Thomas Williams began construction of a canal at the Tuscumbia Bend of the Mississippi River. The site was the location of an earlier canal south of Vicksburg that bypassed the city. It was hoped that the canal would divert the main river flow away from the large meander-loop channel located on the waterfront of Vicksburg. The Union commanders speculated that if the scouring effects of the Mississippi were strong enough, it would change the river's course, leaving the city high and dry and militarily worthless. Canal construction began on June 27, 1862. Union soldiers felled
CRM No. 4—2002 21 trees and excavated soils. Progress was slow, and paign also came to a standstill in 1862 on a all manner of disease took its toll on the labor peninsula of coastal lowland southeast of force. Eventually fugitive slave labor was added to Richmond. In the summer of 1863, the two the workforce. Nonetheless, work on the canal armies faced each other across the Rappahan- was halted on July 24 so that Williams and his nock-Rapidan Rivers defense line. General soldiers could take part in other military opera Robert E. Lee decided to make a move to shift tions. the war to the North and hopefully end it. In January 1863, work on the canal was The resulting Gettysburg Campaign took resumed by troops under the command of Major place in four geologic provinces running roughly General Ulysses S. Grant. He approved the idea, parallel from northeast to southwest. From believing it would keep his soldiers in good phys southeast to northwest they are the Piedmont, ical condition for the spring campaign and, more the Basins of Triassic age (206 - 248 million important, keep the spirit of the offensive alive. years old), the Blue Ridge, and the Valley and In actuality, however, he placed little confidence Ridge (Great Valley). Each province has advan in the success of this project. On almost a daily tages and disadvantages for a military campaign. basis, President Abraham Lincoln inquired about The rough, rocky terrain of the Piedmont was the progress of the canal. In a previous career, hard for armies to move through and favored the Lincoln had been a land surveyor, so he was defenders. The Triassic basins had better roads, enthralled with the scheme; Grant always pro but rock outcrops restricted maneuverability. The vided him with a somewhat optimistic reply. Blue Ridge was a mountain barrier, impassable to The soldiers and the fugitive slaves that had armies except through the mountain gaps. The been pressed into service continued to excavate. Great Valley, the first in the Valley and Ridge A sudden rise in the river caused a dam at the Province, was the interstate highway of the time. head of the canal to break. The area was flooded, Broad flat valleys made for easy transport and and the canal filled with water and sediment. In a excellent troop movement. desperate attempt to rescue the project, Hercules The Gettysburg Campaign began on June and Sampson, two huge steam-driven dipper 3, 1863, when the Army of Northern Virginia dredges, were put to work clearing the channel. left Fredericksburg, VA, under the direction of Confederate artillery fire from the bluffs at Lee. The campaign started in the Piedmont, and, Vicksburg ended the dredges' progress, and by not surprisingly, the armies left it as soon as pos late March 1863 Grant decided to abandon all sible. The exposed rocks, ridges, and ravines operations on the canal. made roads rough and difficult for troops, ani Ironically, within a few years after the end mals, and equipment to pass. The only practical of the war, the Mississippi River naturally route for Lee's army to move north was by way of diverted to a new channel that was located close the Culpepper basin toward the high and narrow to the Williams-Grant canal location. This event Blue Ridge. The Confederates would cross the isolated Vicksburg from the main river and its rugged steep mountains through a series of gaps traffic. It gave validity to the concept of mimick and into the Great Valley. The gaps were of great ing the natural geologic processes by digging a significance to the Gettysburg Campaign because canal to induce a meander cutoff. Over the years, they were the passages by which armies could most of the canal has been obliterated through cross the Blue Ridge Mountains. These moun agricultural operations; and only one segment tains were equally important because they retains its original width and much of its depth. shielded the Confederates from view by the In recent times, the U.S. Army Corps of Union Army. Engineers dredged a connection to the old chan The hallmark of the Gettysburg Campaign nel of the Mississippi that existed in 1863. Today, was the skillful use of the terrain. Eighty thou the Mississippi River flows past Vicksburg once sand Confederate soldiers, with all of their equip again. ment and supplies, moved into enemy territory Battle of Gettysburg almost unseen and unhampered. The geologic For two bloody years (1861-1863) the processes that faulted, widened, and sculpted the Union and Confederate armies fought to a stand Cashtown Gap in the mountains of Pennsylvania still in the countryside between Washington and made it the only possible route for Lee's army to Richmond, the two capitols. Another entire cam move swiftly through the mountains, all at one
22 CRM No. 4—2002 time, to attack Union targets. The gap destined only a thin layer of dirt covered rock making it Lee's army to pass through Gettysburg. virtually impossible for the Union soldiers to While Lee was moving northeast in the pro "dig-in." The only protection was provided by tected valley, General Meade was setting up a isolated boulders and stone walls, such as the strong defensive position east of Gettysburg on rock outcrop of Devils Den. Parr's Ridge. This position, in the Piedmont Under storm clouds and heavy rain, Lee Province, provided an excellent defensive position. and the Confederate Army retreated back to The battle involved 3 fierce days of fight Virginia, signaling the end of the battle. Within a ing. The first day, July 1, 1863, involved elements matter of weeks, both armies were on the of both armies stumbling onto each other north Rappahannock-Rapidan Rivers defense line of the town of Gettysburg. The Union forces where they had started back in June 1863. were outnumbered and fell back while both com Battle of the Crater manders were desperately trying to reinforce their Petersburg is situated on the south bank of combatants. At the end of that day, the Union the Appomattox River in a geologic area known Army had the best field position, which was as the Prince George Upland. The city of essentially located along the Gettysburg Sill, an Petersburg was important to the Confederate outcrop of diabase (a dark-colored, intrusive Army because of its connection to Richmond's rock). The outcrop is shaped like a fishhook and supply lines. Three rail lines and two roads, extends northward for approximately 3 miles which linked Petersburg with the region to the from Round Top through Little Round Top, south and southwest, converged on the city. The Cemetery Ridge to Cemetery Hill. Then, it turns siege of Petersburg was part of General Grant's east and south and terminates at Culps Hill. strategy to force General Lee to extend and thin General Lee surveyed the strong Union position his lines in an attempt to prevent the Union from and occupied the next best position along cutting off vital communication routes. The siege Seminary Ridge, a broad layer of rock that cut of Petersburg was the longest of the Civil War, across and infilled the country rock. Seminary lasting more than 9 months. Ridge is a diabase dike and an offshoot of the By June 1864, an extensive system of westward-dipping Gettysburg Sill. trenches and forts had been constructed along On the second day, July 2, the Confederates the eastern side of Petersburg at a distance of attacked the flanks of the Union line. The left more than 4 miles. A 500- to 1,000-foot-wide flank did not appear to be anchored to any signif siege line separated the two armies. Just west of icant feature, so Lee surmised that this was a Poor Creek, the lines approached the narrowest weak point in the Union position. He then distance between them. These lines remained launched a series of attacks against the southern fairly stationary for the next 9 months. A profes end of the Union line in the vicinity of the sional mining engineer in Pennsylvania before the Round Tops. The natural defenses provided by war, Colonel Henry Pleasants was in command rock outcrops and boulders at Cemetery Hill, the of a brigade that held the Union position oppo Round Tops, and Devils Den proved to be site the Confederates at this point. Colonel stronger than Lee thought; and the Confederates Pleasants conceived the idea of digging a tunnel were unsuccessful. The final day of battle, July 3, from his regiment's position to the west of Poor would culminate in Lee's attempt to break the Creek under a Confederate fort. Pleasants con Union center by one final assault known as tended that by filling the end of the tunnel with Pickett's Charge. The charge on Cemetery Ridge magazines of black powder, a tremendous hole failed, and the Union Army held its position. could be blown in the rebel line. This would The Union Army suffered 23,000 casualties allow the Union Army to rush through the open while the Confederates lost 28,000. The numbers ing and drive the Confederates out of Petersburg. are disproportionate given that the Union Army With support for his plan from the commander, was the defending force in the battle. In previous he began to dig. battles, the defender would normally be The excavation of the tunnel went well for entrenched and have a 1 to 2 advantage, and in the first 200 feet. At this point, miners encoun some cases, as high as 1 to 4. The Union position tered "marl" — a clay-rich deposit — which was had a weakness that became more apparent as the extremely difficult to tunnel through. Pleasants battle progressed. Owing to the local geology, ordered the tunnel to be ramped slightly upward
CRM No. 4—2002 2} information gained from the rock cores produced a geologic cross section, The drilling confirmed that the tunneling took place in the Yorktown Formation. The Yorktown Formation consists of rock strata that are 3 -5 million years old with the lower forma tion consisting of marine deposits that include quartz pebbles and cobbles, shark teeth, coral, and sand-sized shell debris. Geologists confirmed that the marl encountered by the Union troops was an abandoned channel deposit located in the upper Yorktown Formation. The abandoned channel formed an oxbow lake2 that was filled with extremely fine-grained material and con sisted of dense sticky clay. The abandoned chan An illustration of for approximately 20 feet to avoid the marl and nel deposit found during the drill investigation the tunnel show facilitate digging. The final tunnel excavation was was located precisely at the level where the Union ing the upward soldiers reported having great difficulty excavating. diversion due to brought to within 20 vertical feet of the the strata of Confederate fort. The Eastover Formation was found in the drill "marl." At 4:45 a.m. on July 30, the tunnel was hole at approximately 10 feet below the tunnel. Illustration Since the Battle of the Crater in 1864, geol reproduced exploded. A 200-foot-wide gap was created in the from "Battles Confederate line, and numerous Union soldiers ogists have speculated on why the strata changed and Leaders of were sent into the crater. The tunnel was an engi in the Union miners tunnel thereby causing a the Civil War." neering success, but the poorly led Union soldiers change in military operations. The answer is the headed into the crater and not around it as presence of an ancient oxbow lake, not a fault planned. The Union forces outnumbered the and displaced strata, as originally speculated. Confederates, yet they were unable to advance Conclusion from the crater or easily retreat. At 9:30 a.m., the The Battle of Vicksburg, the Battle of attack was called off and no more support was Gettysburg, and the Battle of the Crater near provided to the Union soldiers in the crater. The Petersburg were events greatly influenced by geol Confederates sealed the gap and slowly advanced ogy. By becoming geologic detectives and histori on the crater. The Union troops, who still out ans, we gain a better understanding of the cir numbered the Confederates, were forced to sur cumstances surrounding the events that enrich render. Although the tunnel and explosion were the telling of the Civil War story. an engineering success, history records it as a fail ure. The best chance for ending the siege has Notes instead become a symbol of a military debacle. ' A fault is a fracture or fractures in rock together After 10 hours of fighting and the combined loss with movement that displaces the sides relative to of nearly 6,000 lives, nothing had tactically one another. 2 An ox-bow lake is a U-shaped lake, so named changed. because of its similarity to the part of a yoke that For over 130 years, geologists have theo goes around an ox's neck. rized that the Union miners encountered a fault1 while digging the tunnel and that the marl was Bibliography displaced strata of the Eastover Formation. In Berquist, C.R. Jr. Oral communication, 2000. August 2000, the Virginia Geological Survey and Brown, Andrew. Geology and the Gettysburg Campaign. the National Park Service's Geologic Resources Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Department of Division decided to test this theory to finally Conservation and Natural Resources, Office of understand what caused the difficulty that Conservation and Engineering Services, Bureau of Pleasants men encountered while excavating the Topographic and Geologic Survey, 1962. Inners, Jon D., Brant E. Inners, and David M. Sayre. tunnel. Using a 4-inch auger drill to penetrate Military Geology of the Richmond and Petersburg the sedimentary layers at the site, two holes were National Battlefield Parks, Virginia. Open File drilled adjacent to the tunnel at the crater. The Report 95-08. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania
24 CRM No. 4—2002 Geological Survey, Department of Conservation No. 9. Washington, DC: U.S. Government and Natural Resources, Office of Conservation and Printing Office, 1954. Engineering Services, Bureau of Topographic and Underwood, James R., Jr., and Peter L. Guth. Geologic Survey, 1995. "Military Geology in War and Peace." Reviews in Hack, John T. and Leslie H. Durloo, Jr. Geology of Engineering Geology, Volume XIII. Boulder, CO: Luray Caverns Virginia. Report of Investigation 3. The Geological Society of America, 1998. Charlottesville, VA: Department of Conservation Zen, E-an, and Alta Walker. Rocks and War: Geology and Economic Development, Division of Mineral and the Civil War Campaign of Second Manassas. Resources, 1977 Revision. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Books, 2000. Morse, William Clifford. The Geologic History of the Vicksburg National Military Park Area. Bulletin 28. Bob Higgins is chief Sciences and Technical Services Mississippi: Mississippi State Geological Survey, Branch, Geologic Resources Division, National Park 1935. Service, Denver, CO. Tilberg, Frederick. Gettysburg National Military Park Pennsylvania. National Park Service Historical Series
Susan B. Hawkins Partners in Researching Fort Donelson's African American Past
istorians often downplay the homes and schools, cared for their families near importance of the campaign the forts, and enlisted as Union soldiers in for Tennessee's Fort Donelson African American units. in February 1862, compared to Research Partnerships the largerH, bloodier battles at Shiloh, Antietam, One of the first project supporters was John and Chickamauga. This first major Union victory Cimprich, professor of history at Thomas More of the Civil War was significant, for the Army College in Crestview Hills, KY. His work, gained control of much of Middle and West "Slavery's End in Tennessee, 1861-1865," docu Tennessee and of major waterways that flowed mented some of the hardships that escaped slaves out of the Confederate heartland. The capital at endured at Fort Donelson. His book was only Nashville eventually became a center of commu one of the many contributions he made. nications for the Union Army — a river and rail Professor Cimprich continues to offer suggestions network that was vital to future wartime suc and sources for research; and he frequently cesses. Similarly, the significance of these battles reviews text for site bulletins, web pages, and for freedom-seeking slaves and their families has future exhibits. He recently lectured to the local been ignored. By their own initiative, thousands community about his research on the African of runaway slaves used the opportunity of Union American experience. victory to escape from their masters. View of Cumber Now, 140 years later, we are learning more. land River over Volunteers from the community, university pro looking the gun batteries at Fort fessors, and local schoolteachers have provided Donelson NB. valuable information and support to help the The river served Fort Donelson National Battlefield staff docu as an escape route for free ment and interpret the African American experi dom-seeking ence at these battles. This volunteer initiative and slaves. Photo by enthusiasm has allowed the park to piece together James P. Bagsby. the overlooked African American legacy. We now know that runaway slaves used Fort Donelson (and other forts) as safe havens, where they built
CRM No. 4—2002 25 Underground Railroad, using stories associated with the battlefield. For the Future What lessons can we learn by forging part nerships outside the National Park Service? What does this mean for other historic sites? First, it is important to build community support. Much of our park's success has come from the expertise, initiative, and guidance of volunteers. We have also learned that although the National Park Service is charged with the mission to educate and research, sometimes we must seek partner ships to help us achieve that mission. As stewards of our national treasures, it is equally important for museum professionals to listen to what visi tors, teachers, and historians have to say. Historic Barbara Tagger, Our park has also benefited from the exper scholarship changes, elementary classroom needs National Park tise and support of Barbara Tagger, National Park vary, and Americans differ in their opinions Service his Service historian and Southeast Regional about the importance of historic sites. For torian, South east Regional Underground Railroad coordinator in Atlanta, schoolteacher Betty Treherne-Harris, the Union Office, Atlanta, GA. With her guidance, Fort Donelson National victory at Fort Donelson meant much more than GA, answers Battlefield was named to the National Under the Union Army's strategic capture of the forts questions after her lecture on ground Railroad Network to Freedom Program.^ and rivers. Her understanding of this battlefields the National Of course, research is never possible with history also involves her ancestor's eventual Underground out financial support. Generous grant monies escape from his slave master as a result of the Railroad Net work to Free obtained from Eastern National Parks and Confederate defeat at Fort Donelson in 1862. dom Program in Monuments funded an important research trip to Sharing Mrs. Treherne-Harris' story is one way Dover, TN. the National Archives and Records that we can make historic sites valuable to all Tagger's lecture is just one way Administration in Washington, DC. This pro Americans. that Fort Donel- vided the park with documentary evidence of the son National existence of freedmen's camps and the recruit Notes Battlefield plans 1 The battle at Fort Donelson was part of a campaign to educate the ment of African American troops at Fort that also involved Forts Heiman and Henry. For an visiting public Donelson. analysis of these battles, see Benjamin F. Cooling, about the story With a Little Help from Volunteers of the Under Forts Henry & Donelson: Key to the Confederate ground Rail Community support from local teachers Heartland (Knoxv'Ale: University of Tennessee Press, road. National and private individuals has perhaps been the 1987) and Thomas Lawrence Connelly, Army of the Park Service most rewarding partnership. Betty Treherne- Heartland: The Army of Tennessee, 1861-1862 photo. Harris, a 20-year Davidson County, TN, middle (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univetsity Ptess, school teacher, spent time with park staff, 1967). For more information about the entire cam paign, visit Fort Donelson's Web site at
26 CRM No. 4—2002 Karen Byrne "We Have a Claim on This Estate" Remembering Slavery at Arlington House
our years after his surrender of the particularly at national parks. U.S. Congressman Army of Northern Virginia at Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) inserted language in the Appomattox Court House, Robert Fiscal Year 2000 National Park Service appropria E. Lee reflected on his beliefs con tions bill that directed the Secretary of the cerninFg the relationship between slavery and the Interior "to encourage the NPS managers of Civil Civil War. "So far from engaging in a war to per War battle sites to recognize and include in all of petuate slavery, I am rejoiced that slavery is abol their public displays and multi-media presenta ished. I would cheerfully have lost all that I have tions, the unique role slavery played in causing lost and have suffered all that I have suffered to the Civil War and its role, if any, at the individual have this object obtained." Contemporary acade battle sites." mic historians may question the sincerity of Lee's Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee statement since most argue that slavery was the Memorial, a part of the George Washington primary cause of the Civil War. For public histo Memorial Parkway in Virginia, as well as many rians, particularly those who work at Civil War other national parks, had already begun the diffi sites, any discussion of the war's causes remains cult task of interpreting the institution of slavery. subject to controversy. As Tony Horwitz demon Although not a battle site, Arlington House was strated in his bestseller "Confederates in the Robert E. Lee's home for over 30 years, and the Attic," many Americans are obsessed with the 1,100-acre estate functioned as a plantation for "unfinished" Civil War. For them, the meaning over half a century. The National Park Service and causes of the war remain contested terrain. assumed stewardship of the home in 1933. Undaunted by sometimes hostile audiences, Slavery has been incorporated into the site's inter some Civil War sites have broadened their inter pretation for some time — in museum exhibits, pretation to include a discussion of slavery and its brochures, interpretive talks, special events, and relationship to the war. Some critics, however, most notably in the site's "Parks As Classrooms" believe that a more concerted effort is necessary, programs for students. Arlington originally belonged to George This wartime Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of photograph Martha Washington. In 1802, Custis left Mount shows a former Vernon to establish a new home on the Arlington Arlington slave sitting in the Estate. Accompanying him were a large number doorway of one of slaves. Over the next 50 years, these and suc of the slave quar ceeding generations of slaves would grow crops ters. and raise livestock on the plantation. They made the bricks to build Arlington House and assisted in its construction. House slaves facilitated the gracious hospitality for which Arlington was famous. In 1857, Custis died without having accomplished his long-term goal of emancipa tion. Following Custis' death, Robert E. Lee, Custis' son-in-law, administered the estate for several years. During the Civil War, Mrs. Lee lost the plantation due to her inability to pay prop erty taxes. Subsequently, the Federal Government purchased the property at a public auction. In
CRM No. 4—2002 27 1864, a portion of the estate was set aside as a mer plantation and the exhibit really brought cemetery for war dead. home the cruel realities of the past." Another In 1925, Arlington was designated a stated that "it was great to see an exhibit on the national memorial in honor of Robert E. Lee. people who really made this place — slaves are Congress called for Arlington House, the surviv usually forgotten." Many echoed the words of a ing slave quarters, and grounds to be restored "to visitor who observed "This is a very important the condition in which it existed immediately piece of history. Please continue and expand this prior to the Civil War." Unfortunately, the fund exhibit!" These and similar comments indicate ing allocated to the National Park Service has that many visitors to plantation sites want a bal never been sufficient to completely restore the anced presentation of history that also addresses site, including the slave quarters. The original the lives of those who lived in bondage "in back restoration of the main house and slave quarters of the big house." was carried out by the War Department in the African Americans have particularly wel 1920s. When Arlington House was acquired in comed the recognition of slavery at Arlington. Of 1933, the National Park Service inherited a those who identified themselves as African flawed restoration that was based more on the American in the comment logs, the vast majority popular preservation philosophy of the times responded favorably to the exhibit. A local resi than detailed, accurate research. Concern over dent believed the exhibit was "a great honor to the questionable restoration of the slave quarters my ancestors who have been in the area since and insufficient funding eventually resulted in 1798." A Pennsylvanian noted, "This is a won the closure of most of the "restored" rooms. derful homage to our African American heritage. Long-term plans call for the quarters to be Thanks for paying a service and sincere recogni restored in keeping with their true historical tion to our ancestors!" Another visitor com appearance. In 2000, Arlington House received a mented that the exhibit "filled her with a sense of Save America's Treasures grant of $ 150,000; this history." She viewed it as "an honorable tribute to amount must be matched with private donations. an unhonorable time in history." She concluded Once the fundraising is complete, an accurate "I have learned and I feel so many things at this restoration of the slave quarters will be possible. moment as an African American." The history of This restoration will take several years. In Arlington's slave community provided a sense of the meantime, a temporary exhibit on slave life at inclusiveness for many visitors, such as one who Arlington was placed in the south slave quarters wrote, "As an African American I greatly hunger in March 2001. "We Have a Claim on This for my people's place in American history. Here I Estate" is divided into three sections — the first felt a sense of belonging and ownership." gives an overview of slavery at Arlington before Another echoed this sense of belonging: "The the Civil War and discusses future research exhibit really touched me, and now I know we as endeavors; another discusses the Civil War's African Americans built this country." impact on the plantation and the creation of a Another distinguishing characteristic of community of former slaves known as Freedman's audience response to "We Have A Claim on This Village; the last section addresses community Estate" is the emotional volatility that frequently partnerships that were fundamental in securing accompanies discussions about slavery at historic the Save America's Treasures grant and describes sites. Some visitors responded angrily to the how the money will be used. exhibit text that described Robert E. Lee as "a Analysis of audience comment logs has more stringent taskmaster than Custis." This revealed several distinct themes. The most recur statement resulted in accusations such as "You ring response has been a genuine hunger for paint Lee, the well-known opponent of slavery, as information on a subject so long ignored at some being something he was not." While some audi historic sites. Many visitors expressed delight in ence members resented what they perceived as seeing a tangible recognition of the existence of negative treatment of Lee, others expressed out slavery at a former plantation. "Most restorations rage at the "second class" status of the slavery completely ignore the role slavery played in the exhibit compared to Arlington House itself. One comfortable lives of the plantation owners," one charged, "This exhibit does not seem to get the visitor noted. A woman from Montreal was respect that others do!" Most critical of all was noticeably moved: "This is my first time on a for the angry accusation, "It is interesting to see how
28 CRM No. 4—2002 'they' still manage to abolition of slavery with the Civil War, or even exclude in a small sec correctly identify the decade in which slavery tion the history of ended. One respondent believed slavery still blacks. It would be existed in the United States in 1876, and other nice if for one second comments indicate many Americans have no idea those who were when the institution was abolished. Author Tony enslaved for hundreds Horwitz noticed a similar pattern among stu of years would receive dents who guessed that slavery ended in 1900 or the credit and honor 1940. Clearly much work remains to be done in they deserve." Many educating audiences about slavery, both in public believed that the lack and academic settings. of air conditioning in Discussing slavery at historic sites, particu the slave quarters, the larly those associated with the Civil War, remains absence of special signs a daunting task, an "unenviable, yet critically directing them to the important job" in the words of James Horton. Yet exhibit, and the "rele in spite of the many obstacles that encumber gation" of the exhibit conversations about the war and slavery, these to the slave quarters dialogues are necessary. The prevailing response was a deliberate to "We Have a Claim on This Estate" indicates attempt to diminish that a majority of the public is truly interested in the history of the learning about slavery. The staff of Arlington enslaved people of House is committed to telling the story of Arlington. For some Arlington's enslaved community. It is our hope Selina Gray, Jr., Americans, slavery remains such a painful issue that more of our visitors will be inspired to par and her family that any treatment of slave life may seem inade ticipate in conversations about the meaning of lived in the slave quarters behind quate. slavery and its relationship to the war. For as Arlington House. Careful analysis of the exhibit comment Edward Linenthal, professor of history at the Her parents, logs also reveals disturbing public perceptions of University of Wisconsin, has reminded us, "We Selina and Thornton Gray, slavery that should be of serious concern to histo honor Civil War ancestors most profoundly when were married in rians. First is the dangerous misconception that we present them not as stick figures in a comfort the parlor of slavery was monolithic in nature. As noted histo ing reality play, but as complex human beings Arlington House. rian James Horton has pointed out, the first task capable of all the violence, heroism, folly, and of the public historian is to address the popular contradictory impulses that continue to define ignorance of slavery's diversity and complexity. the human condition."^ Many visitors voiced concern about the living conditions depicted in Selina Gray's quarters. Notes 1 Gray was the housekeeper at Arlington and a Douglas Southall Freeman, R.E. Lee, A Biography highly favored slave. The period room exhibit Vol. 7K(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935), 401; Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic. contains manufactured furniture, which incensed Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War (New York: some visitors. One declared "Furniture in the Random House/Pantheon, 1998), 6. Gray room does not give a correct picture of slav 2 James Oliver Horton, "Presenting History: The ery at all." Another angrily accused, "This depic Perils of Telling America's Racial Story," The Public tion of slave life is a lie!! Slaves did not live in Historian 21:4 (1999):21; Horwitz, Confederates in quarters as depicted in the furnished room! This the Attic, 372. is revisionist history, not history." These and sim ^ Edward T Linenthal, "Heritage and History: The ilar comments reveal that many people view slav Dilemmas of Interpretation," Rally on the High Ground: The National Park Service Symposium on the ery as a brutally generic condition with no diver Civil War (Fort Washington, PA: Eastern National, sity of experience for those who were enslaved. 2001), 42. Such assumptions are dangerous for they cast all slaves into the role of faceless victims and render Karen Byrne is site historian at Arlington House, The obsolete the personal experiences of individual Robert E. Lee Memorial, VA. enslaved people. Photos courtesy Arlington House Equally disturbing, many comments indi Collection, National Park Service. cated that some Americans can not associate the
CRM No. 4—2002 29 Cornelia Sexauer of women from all classes, races, ethnicities, and ages volunteered in numerous ways. A small number of women became camp followers, while others, like Julia Dent Grant, wife of General Untold Stories Ulysses S. Grant, occasionally visited their hus bands to tend their needs, lift their spirits, and Women in the Civil War give them a glimpse of their children.^ A few women worked as couriers, spies, camp cooks, or prostitutes. Some disguised themselves as men to he American Civil War occupies serve on the battlefields. a paramount place in national The vast majority of women performed memory. The conflict marked a typical domestic tasks associated with benevolent turning point in the history of works such as taking care of the supplies, meals, the UniteTd States, ending slavery as well as inte and hospital quarters of the soldiers. They orga grating and centralizing the Northern States in a nized Soldiers' Aid Societies, Sewing Circles, fight to save the Union. Much attention to the Soldiers' Homes, and Homes for Refugees. They confrontation highlights the military campaigns visited suspected sympathizers with the express and strategies; yet, the war could not have con intent of spying.' They formed thousands of tinued without the efforts of the home front. In societies for relief, where they raised funds, col particular, as Elizabeth Cady Stanton stated in lected clothing and supplies, made uniforms, her autobiography, "The story of the Civil War rolled bandages, prepared meals, ministered to will never be fully written if the achievements of the sick and wounded, wrote letters of informa women are left untold."' Many opportunities tion and comfort, provided reading materials, exist at historic sites, battlefields, and museums offered consolation, supplied encouragement, to tell of those achievements. Some sites have taught basic reading and writing skills, and already started expanding their interpretation in trained other women in benevolent work. many areas, including the role of women in the Northern and southern women assisted in the Civil War, while others are just beginning to inspection of army camps and labored in hospi explore the numerous sources that were previ tals, first aid camps, and floating hospital ships. ously ignored. The following are only a few When the fighting began, the U.S. Army examples of the wealth of materials available to had no general hospital. There were only military researchers, interpreters, and museum profession and post hospitals, with the largest containing als interested in presenting a more inclusive story only 40 beds. There were no female nurses at all, of the Civil War — one that includes the myriad and the male nurses had little or no professional experiences of women. training. In 1861, Miss Dorothea L. Dix, widely Once the war began and thousands of men known for her work with prisoners and the volunteered for military service, equal numbers insane, received the appointment of General of women saw an obligation to bring their Superintendent of the Nurses of Military unique talents, capabilities, and understandings Hospitals. Dix initially recruited women to train to the forefront. Their motives for joining the as nurses from a core of healthy, strong, well-edu activities of the Civil War were as diverse as those cated women between the ages of 25 and 50; but of the men. Some had a pure and simple desire to as the war progressed many other women joined serve their country. Others had sons, brothers, the ranks of nursing in formal and informal posi husbands, fathers, or lovers in the army, and tions. According to one doctor, these women served to be near, either physically or spiritually, "changed the bloody, torn, and muddy garments the object of their love. Others felt a religious of the wounded soldiers; bathed them; [and] per calling. Some threw themselves into charitable formed all kinds of manual work."6 activities to soothe the pain of bitter bereave The nurses took on more responsibilities ment. Many women, having lost their sole bread than ministering to those wounded in battle. As winner, had no choice but to leave the safety of one St. Louis nurse, Emily Parsons, noted, she their home and go to work. For whatever reasons cared for nearly 400 sick men when she arrived in they joined, women's involvement gave them Cairo, IL. Some had diphtheria, others erysipelas, experience in public life. Hundreds of thousands cholera, measles, smallpox, scurvy, consumption,
30 CRM No. 4—2002 malaria, dysentery, and other illnesses. war. In contrast, many northern women used this Additionally, these women were concerned for opportunity to continue in the "public sphere" the diets of the men. The monotonous army diet after the war, expanding their role as nurturers of hard bread, salted meat, and coffee without from the home to the workplace. Faust's work on milk needed to be supplemented with fruits, veg southern women, "Mothers of Invention: etables, and dairy products; and inexperienced Women of the Slaveholding South in the soldiers needed to learn about proper drainage in American Civil War," is an excellent source for the camps and how to set up the tents for maxi exploring the changing roles of women during mum ventilation. Parsons and others took it and after the war.10 upon themselves to give proper attention to the As slaves fled north to freedom, they dietary needs and hygiene of the soldiers.7 increasingly found cities overcrowded and over The various sanitary commissions, as well as whelmed with the needs of the refugees. the United States Christian Commission, the Organizations such as the Freedmen's Relief Ladies Union Aid Society (LUAS), the Colored Society stepped in to supply food, clothing, shel Union Society, and other relief agencies minis ter and further assistance. Among other things tered to the armies and refugees. The principal the freedmen received "clothing...the expenses of auxiliary of the Western Sanitary Commission, their journey...[and] homes, mostly in the Free the LUAS, formed in July 1861. The women States. 1 The assigned hospitals cared for the sick members provided prompt, supportive, and and dying freedmen and offered them spiritual enduring service to the Union. They demon comfort. strated their pro-Union political stand from the Schools for the refugees were established in start, using red, white, and blue stationery the North; and despite acts of violence and preju imprinted with "Union Forever" for all corre dice, children and adults received education in spondence, and each lady flew a silk Union flag elementary studies and civilization as well as at her home. They operated several homes for cooking, housework, and laundry skills. Some refugees and escaped slaves and coordinated vol northern women volunteered to go to the South unteer workers in the camps, hospitals, and to teach the illiterate freedmen. Miss Maria R. orphan asylums. Mann, an educator from Massachusetts, presents While most of the women working for the an example of what the women found in these war effort volunteered their services, there were areas and demonstrates the work they did. Mann others in need of wages to supplement their left for Helena, AR, in January 1863 to help with income. The LUAS helped women in need of the special relief of several hundred black families employment obtain Government contract work. gathered and living in miserable conditions in The first contract for sewing hospital garments "Camp Ethiopia." Mann reported that they and bedding grossed $6,130 for 127,550 items worked under a forced system of labor, "driven by and employed 500 women who worked out of mounted orderlies to work on the fortifications, their homes making the items with material sup and to unload steamboats and coal barges; and plied by the Government through a private con discharged at night without compensation or a tractor. Spurred by the success of this endeavor, comfortable shelter."12 Miss Mann arrived and the LUAS sought additional Government con set up a hospital to supply the "contrabands" ** tracts; and by 1864 the organization had secured with clothing, sanitary goods, and physical aid. all the hospital garment work for the Department With the cooperation of the chaplains and Major of the West. The women completed 3,000 - General Prentiss, she promptly took charge of 4,000 items per week, receiving an average wage staffing, obtained better camping grounds, super of $3 — $4 a week. It is not clear whether these vised the building of shelters, established a school women worked prior to the war, but they for the children, and saw that the women learned undoubtedly contributed to the economic welfare the rudimentary tasks of caring for their families. of their family while at the same time helping the She also taught the women how to cut and make war effort. useful garments. Thanks to the efforts of Mann According to historian Drew Gilpin Faust, and her staff, their plight changed from "utter few southern women were salaried hospital work misery and despair, to one of thrift, improvement ers, and their efforts in the care of the sick and and comparative happiness." wounded continued only through the end of the
CRM No. 4—2002 31 Records of black women in the late 19th Mary C. Vaughn, Woman's Work in the Civil War: A century, especially personal accounts, are more Record of Heroism, Patriotism and Patience (Philadelphia: Zeigler, McCurdy & Co., 1867), 57. difficult to locate; but we do know that women * While it is known that Julia Dent Grant did tend to slaves who fled north often had no possessions, the needs of her husband, General Ulysses S. Grant, no money, and no job, yet they did acquire their and did other things for the Union effort, the freedom. Arriving in large cities, they were usually General forbade her from joining the women bring ing supplies for the sick and wounded to the front, given food, shelter, and education. Some of the for when she "returned [from the hospitals] each women received training in nursing and took care time laden with petitions for discharges," he would of soldiers and refugees at hospitals designated for say, "I hear of these all day long and 1 sent for you African Americans. It is assumed these women con to come that I might have a rest from all this sad part. I do not want you to know about these things. tinued to work when the war ended, but it is I want you to tell me of the children and yourself. I unclear what their specific jobs were. want and need a little rest and sunshine." Julia Dent The story of women during the Civil War is Grant, The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant not only the story of the work that they did to (Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant) (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press), 125. support the war effort through charitable and Twentieth-century USOs are patterned after the hospital work. Much information can also be Soldier's Aid Societies. gleaned from letters, journals, and reminiscences 5 William G. B. Carson, "Secesh," Missouri Historical that explain the effects of the war on those left Society Bulletin 23:2 (January 1967):140-1. 6 behind to manage affairs while the men were at Simon Pollak, The Autobiography and Reminiscences ofS. Pollak, M.D., St. Louis, Mo. (St. Louis: St. the front. Women took on the tasks of running Louis Medical Review, 1904), 269-72. farms and plantations, handling financial mat Emily Elizabeth Parsons, Memoir of Emily Elizabeth ters, working in the factories to keep men in uni Parsons, (Boston: Little Brown, 1880), Letter III forms and weapons, and teaching; all of which dated January 29, 1863, from Emily Parsons to her mother. were previously reserved to males, especially in 8 Mrs. Hannah Stagg, "Local Incidents of the Civil the South. ' Given the numbers of men who left War," Missouri Historical Society Collections 5:67 their homes to serve in the war, the impact on (January 1910). women's day-to-day lives is clear. Whether they * Third Annual Report of the Ladies' Union Aid Society of St. Louis, 1864, LUAS records, 10. desired the power that the absence of the men 10 Drew Gilpin Faust, "The Civil War Homefront" gave them or not, women found themselves Rally on the High Ground. The National Park Service struggling, and succeeding, at managing family Symposium on the Civil War (Fort Washington, PA: and business affairs. Eastern National, 2001), 87; Drew Gilpin Faust, Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding Discussion of how women's lives and roles South in the American Civil War (New York: Vintage were transformed is crucial to understanding the Books, 1996). changes that took place throughout the nation 1' "The Annual Report of the Freedmen's Relief during the war and Reconstruction. Local histori Society, of St. Louis, Mo., for 1863," Missouri Historical Society, p. 3 cal societies and archives, family histories, and 12 Frank Moore, Women of the War: Their Heroism and many other organizations are available to assist Self-Sacrifice (Hartford: S.S. Scranton & Co., those who are seeking primary source materials to 1867), 698. expand their interpretive and educational pro 13 "Contraband" was the term used to describe those grams. Just as sites now talk about the valor and slaves who escaped from their owners and sought refuge behind Union lines. At the start of the war, daily experiences of the individual men on the slaveowners attempted to enter Union camps to battlefield, the women who supported the war in search for and recapture runaway slaves under the the public and private spheres deserve to have Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. They were declared their stories told. A more inclusive study of the contraband by the military, and as such could be confiscated by the army during the war to deprive past has the added benefit of including groups Confederates of the labor of the enslaved. that previously felt little connection to a site 14 Ibid., 700. because their stories appeared to be unimportant, '5 Faust, "The Civil War Homefront," Rally on the if not nonexistent. High Ground. The National Park Service Symposium on the Civil War (Fort Washington, PA: Eastern National, 2001), 84. Notes 1 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, et al., The History of Woman Cornelia Sexauer is completing her Ph.D. in American Suffrage (Rochester: Susan B. Anthony, 1881), 82-83. 2 History at the University of Cincinnati. She will be join Brockett and Vaughn estimate that hundreds of ing the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon thousands of women answered the call to help their County in Wausau as assistant professor this fall. country throughout the war. L. P. Brockett and yi CRM No. 4—2002 Ella S. Rayburn In a Small Northern Town
n examination of Civil War ing to share his painting with a wider audience. period history and events some Kunstler himself then offered a copy of his Iron times takes place in an unex Horses, Men of Steel, Winchester, Virginia, June pected venue, like a railroad 1861, painting to the park. These two paintings museuAm in a small northern city bordering the provided the theme for the exhibit: the use and Pocono Mountains. The museum, Steamtown application of railroads during the Civil War. A National Historic Site, located in Scranton, PA, secondary goal was relating the Civil War and recently hosted "Iron Rails in the Civil War" a railroads back to the local region of northeast temporary exhibit. The exhibit brought together Pennsylvania. four organizations and several individuals — The exhibit occupied an 18-foot by 23-foot loaning objects and materials and contributing room in the park's Visitor Center. The visual information for the text. In addition to the focus upon entering the space was the National Park Service, the groups included the Martinsburg painting. This and the Winchester Hammer Galleries of New York City, the painting relate the event of Confederate Colonel Lackawanna Historical Society, and members of Thomas J. Jackson's raid upon the Baltimore and the local camp of the Sons of Union Veterans. As Ohio (B&O) Railroad round house and shops in the exhibit developed, a surprising amount of Martinsburg. Jackson brought in expert railroad Civil War-related material held in the area was ers and teamsters who moved 14 locomotives, Model of the loaned for public viewing. cars, track, and machine tools with 40 horse Spitfire locomo tive, one of the The impetus for developing the exhibit was teams over 38 miles of wagon road to Strasburg, first locomotives two oil paintings by the artist Mort Kunstler, VA, where the equipment was placed on the purchased by the who is reknowned for his Civil War scenes. Manassas Gap Railroad for use inside Delaware, Lackawanna and Through the Hammer Galleries of New York Confederate territory. Visitors learned that these Western Railroad City, the owner of Kunstler's Jackson events were early in the Civil War. Jackson had Company prior to Commandeers the Railroad, Martinsburg, not yet earned his nom de guerre of "Stonewall," the Civil War. Virginia, June 20, 1861, contacted the park offer but his military brilliance was being established through activities such as the B&O raids. Also, two years later, in 1863, the towns of Martins burg and Harpers Ferry and the western Virginia counties exercised a form of States rights and seceded to form the State of West Virginia. In retrospect, the exhibit demonstrated the ongoing interest in the Civil War as it brought together recent art works, a 50-year-old locomo tive model, a 115-year-old commemorative cane, and remnants of objects from the Civil War period. Kunstler's paintings were completed in 1999 and 2000. Both required detailed research culminating in physically large paintings pre sented in a grand historic documentary style. The Lackawanna Historical Society loaned kepis, minie balls, shell fragments, prisoner of war arti facts, and a 4-foot long model of the Spitfire locomotive. The Spitfire was one of the first loco motives purchased by the local railroad company, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, prior to
CRM No. 4—2002 33 the Civil War. The model was made in 1951 in plored some applications of the rail transportation commemoration of Lackawanna's centennial. In system by combining images, text, and artifacts. the Steamtown exhibit, it served as a representa Both Union and Confederate artillery crews tive of Civil War era engines. experimented with mounting artillery weapons Color photocopying, image scanning, digi on flat cars. The best known gun in this experi tal photography, manipulating text with images, ment was a very large seacoast mortar nicknamed and printing out the final product onto glossy the "Dictator." Mounted on a small, reinforced photographic paper or selected colored paper has flat car, the attacking Union Army hurled 13- made design and installation of temporary inch diameter shells from the mortar into the exhibits easier and less expensive than similar town of Petersburg, VA, in 1864. On exhibit was endeavors 3 or 4 years ago. The image scanning a fragment of one of the 200 pound shells hurled technology was particularly useful for copying from the "Dictator." U-rail, which is rarely seen photographs of the local soldiers and sailors from today, was placed next to period T-rail. Shaped the files of the Sons of Union Veterans. Ripple's like an upside-down "U," this early iron rail was lantern slides were also transferred to a digital superceded by "T" shaped track which remains in media. Digitizing lithographs and maps made for use today. Copies of photographs and drawings easier display in the allotted space. of the "Dictator" and other mounted guns pro However, placing the railroads in political vided the visual explanation. context required a traditional written discussion Artifacts, recruiting posters, and other items of both Governments' understanding of the loaned from local groups and individuals gave the transportation system. In truth, the United States exhibit its regional flavor and interest. The local overwhelmed the Confederate States. There were camp of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the no locomotive manufacturing plants in the Civil War has a collection of several hundred South, therefore the related skills and industries photographs of soldiers and sailors taken during were missing. Each Southern State exerted inde the war and often a companion photograph pendent control over railroads within individual taken later. Visitors were attracted to the 27 cho borders, while in the Federal view the railroad sen faces. Faces, even in the somewhat formal companies worked under contract to the U.S. style of the period, gave life to the exhibit. Each Government. Even though their Government did photograph was accompanied by a synopsis of not grasp the railroads' role, the southern banks the person's regimental history, post-war home knew railroads were important, as illustrated on address, and post-war employment. These men several specie of currency shown in the exhibit. illustrate an aspect of regional history during or The notes had a central vignette depicting a train after the war. In 1856, Scranton had 3,000 resi with smoke billowing from the locomotive's dents; by 1866 the expansion of the coal mines, stack. After the war, railroads emerged as an eco iron smelting, and the railroads attracted veterans nomic force. Railroads became America's first big to the town, thus partially accounting for the leap business. to 20,000 residents. Many of the soldiers arriving The Civil War is well known for its accu in Scranton were born in Europe or moved from mulation of "firsts" — photography, income tax, other U.S. cities. Descendants of some of the and the draft are a few examples. As with any men remain in the area today. One junior high new developments or advancements, at the boy on a class trip saw the photograph of a pater beginning of the war only a few tacticians could nal ancestor and discovered the family had forecast the military importance of railroads. By migrated only two blocks during the intervening 1860, the railroads were well established in the 140 years. American landscape; but they were an untried Additionally, some of the soldiers had bad wartime element. Soon both sides transported luck, were captured, and served out the war in a soldiers and their gear to and from the front lines prison camp. About 1890, a Civil War veteran via railroad, sometimes arriving in the proverbial made two similar lathe-turned, 36-inch maple "nick of time." Boxcars that moved supplies for canes. One cane is in private ownership in ward to battle in turn carried the wounded away. Connecticut, and the other is in Scranton. Into Railroad track and equipment became military these canes, he carved the names of 164 Union objectives to capture or destroy. The exhibit ex soldiers then living in Scranton who were taken
34 CRM No. 4—2002 Pennsylvania ties. So many Lackawanna Railroad employees volunteered for Company K of the 132nd that it was nicknamed "The Railroad Guard." In the Scranton area, which probably reflects most places today, Civil War related resource preservation issues have more to do with education in the museum or the classroom than with physical preservation of objects and battle field sites. Unlike Gettysburg and points south, the Civil War has little presence except for the occasional mention in history class. Through "Iron Rails in the Civil War," visitors to Steamtown were exposed to both railroading and the Civil War as intertwined topics. The Lackawanna Historical Society is open to the public, but the artifacts and archives of the Sons group and the private collectors are not accessi prisoner of war by the Confederate Army. A mag Shackles and ble. Visitors saw objects that are rarely on public cane. Cane was nifying glass is needed to read the name, unit, display. The Historical Society reported several carved with the engagement when captured, date released, and names of sol researchers mentioned the exhibit while request prison. Soldiers captured during the last year of diers who were ing Civil War or genealogical information. prisoners of war the war were sent to prison camps. The camps Preservation of Civil War history has come about and resided in were purposefully built along a railroad for ease Scranton in the by pointing exhibit visitors to the channels of of delivering the prisoners. The Erie Railroad late 1880s. research possibilities and by sharing the informa served a nearby Union prison camp in Elmira, tion and related objects available in a small NY, that held 12,000 Confederate prisoners, northern town. southern railroads carried Union prisoners to Andersonville, GA, and Florence, SC. Bibliography One treasure at the Lackawanna Historical Abdill, George. Civil War Railroads. New York: Society is Ezra Ripple's chronicle of his 9 months Bonanza Books, 1961. spent in the Andersonville and Florence prisons. Black, III, Robert C. Railroads in the Confederacy. Captured July 3, 1864, in Charleston, SC, Ripple Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, and other prisoners were jammed into unventi- 1998. lated 28-foot-long boxcars for a jolting ride over Johnson, George and Thomas J. Duffy. The City of poorly maintained track in the blasting heat of a Scranton, The Metropolis of Northeastern Georgia summer. Ripple wrote, "Full of the mis Pennsylvania, A Sketch of the History, Institutions and Industries of the Cheapest Fuel City in the World. New ery of the present" the prisoners arrived at York: Capitalist Publishing Co., 1904. Andersonville. He remembered that the track was Snell, Mark A., editor. Ezra Ripple. Dancing Along the so rough that the prisoners were "thrown on each Deadline. Presidio Press, 1996. other like ten pins in a bowling alley." Ripple Turner, George E. Victory Rode the Rails, The Strategic prepared the memoirs for his family. He commis Place in the Railroads of the Civil War. Indianapolis: sioned illustrator James E. Taylor of Leslie's Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1953, reprint, University of Illustrated Newspaper to produce a number of Nebraska, 1992. colorized lantern slides to visually emphasize his Weber, Thomas. The Northern Railroads in the Civil experiences during speaking engagements. Copies War, 1861-1865- Bloomington: Indiana University of a couple of the slides were placed in the exhibit Press, 1952. to show the horrors of the boxcar ride and the prison camp. Ripple became a mayor of Scranton Ella S. Rayburn is curator at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA. while Col. Henry M. Hoyt, also captured with the 52nd Pennsylvania Regiment, became a gov Photos courtesy Steamtown National ernor of Pennsylvania. The 132nd Pennsylvania Historic Site. Infantry was another regiment with northeastern
CRM No. 4—2002 35 Katie Lawhon Gettysburg the Way the Soldiers Saw It in 1863
ate in the afternoon on July 2, Battlefield rehabilitation will restore 1863, Union General Winfield Gettysburg's historic integrity. The National Park Scott Hancock ordered the sacrifi Service recognizes that changes to the landscapes cial charge of the 1st Minnesota have occurred over time, including the growth of InfantrLy in an effort to slow the advance of trees, changing field sizes, and missing fences, Confederate Brigadier General Cadmus Wilcox's orchards, and farm lanes. These changes obscure Alabama Brigade at Gettysburg. The result of the key terrain, avenues of approach, and fields of that legendary charge was the death of 215 men, fire that affected the outcome of the battle. As a leaving the 1st Minnesota with 82 percent of the result, some portions of the battlefield have regiment lost — the highest casualty rate of any changed physically. They can no longer convey to unit in a single action in the Civil War. people today what it was like for the men who In the years after the battle, the thicket fought there. where this deadly fighting took place grew into a The park intends to restore as much as pos wall of trees, creating an interpretive no man's sible the historic terrain, fence lines, and view- land that few park rangers or battlefield guides sheds of the battlefield. The project will be could effectively decipher for visitors. The phased over the next 15 years and will include National Park Service wants battlefield visitors to the replacement of historic fence lines, orchards, see this ground the way the soldiers saw it in and farm lanes as well as the return of grasslands, 1863 and has started a project to rehabilitate the farmlands, and woodlands that played important The proposed museum and Codori-Trostle thicket and other major battle roles in the battle. visitor center for action areas at Gettysburg National Military Park. Battlefield rehabilitation will also enhance Gettysburg Battlefield rehabilitation is one of the major visitor opportunities and understanding. National Military initiatives called for in Gettysburg's General Park. Image Restoring the integrity of key battle areas will courtesy The Management Plan. The plan and environmental contribute to improved educational experiences Gettysburg impact statement are the culmination of a multi- and an overall greater understanding of the events National year planning process, during which the park as they unfolded July 1-3, 1863. It will allow vis Battlefield Museum held 50 public meetings and considered 4,375 itors to understand the obstacles faced by those Foundation. written comments. on the field as well as the command decisions made by both armies. In order to do this, the staff at Gettysburg first had to understand the natural and topo graphic features that were crucial to the outcome of the battle. To determine the influence that var ious battlefield features had upon the fighting, we used the time-honored military methods of ter rain analysis. Known today by the acronym, KOCOA, this method analyzes: • Key terrain • Observation and fields of fire • Cover and concealment • Obstacles (both natural and man-made) • Avenues of approach
36 CRM No. 4—2002 The Trostle Lane, In order to understand undergoing how the generals organized the restoration. Photo by the terrain for battle, the park is author. rehabilitating the major features of the battlefield — the pattern of open versus wooded land and the 1863 circulation systems. As a result, the public will be able to understand how these fea tures influenced the tactical decisions made during the bat tle and how the troops moved into their battle positions. For example, the little knoll just off the park's Hancock Avenue, from which General Hancock observed the second day's battle and from which long-term maintenance priorities will provide he desperately marshaled reinforcements to plug effectively increased historic education and a sus holes in the Union line, is difficult to understand tainable environment. today. Hancock had a clear view over the thicket Five actions will improve wetlands, water from the knoll all the way out to Emmitsburg quality, and wildlife habitat over the next 10-15 Road and as far south as the Peach Orchard. years: Today, a wall of trees has replaced the thicket, • Gradually removing field drains in agricultural blocking this important sight line. areas to restore up to 100 acres of wetlands, Smaller features such as fences, orchards, benefiting plants and wildlife that live in these open woodlots, and buildings affected the move areas ments of individual units and in many cases • Fencing cattle from streams and wetlands to made the difference between life and death for reduce soil compaction, erosion, excess nutri individual soldiers. These missing, dilapidated, or ent loading, and ground cover loss, and damaged features will be repaired or replaced so improve water quality in the park and the that the visitor can clearly understand the terrain, Chesapeake Bay watershed obstacles, and avenues of approach that affected • Increasing grassland areas to expand habitat for the soldiers during combat. For example, today's grassland species like the Upland Sandpiper, visitors to Gettysburg see an unbroken field of Loggerhead Shrike, and others, many of which Pickett's Charge, but when fences and other are State-listed species of special concern obstacles that were there in 1863 are replaced, the (Delaying the cutting of hay will allow difficulties and challenges facing those troops can ground-nesting birds such as the Bobolink to be understood. thrive.) Another major goal of the project is that • Removing exotic plant species to provide battlefield restoration will create a sustainable his opportunities for reestablishment of native toric environment by improving wetlands, water plant species quality, and wildlife habitat. A key point of • Partnering with local governments and conser understanding the Gettysburg battlefield, as it vation organizations to plant new trees in areas was almost a century and a half ago is the rehabil outside the park, where needed along stream itation of the environment. Non-native species, banks and in other areas, as part of the hardwood stands, and changing agricultural land Chesapeake Bay Initiative scapes have had a negative effect on the historic terrain. In July 2001, the park initiated battlefield By replacing grassland, restoring wetlands, rehabilitation with a demonstration project at the replanting orchards, and removing non-historic Codori-Trostle thicket. Non-historic trees have timber stands the National Park Service can reha been removed in two phases, shrubs have been bilitate the historic assets of the battlefield. Use of replanted to reestablish the thicket. A third phase phased rehabilitation plans and the enactment of of non-historic tree removal will take place in the thicket once the shrubs have become established.
CRM No. 4—2002 37 Codoh-Trostle Old trees scattered Thicket Rehab— throughout the battlefield that The view from the Sickles were here in 1863, known as Monument look witness trees, will be protected ing northwest and preserved by the park. before the sec ond phase of Rehabilitation of the project in Cemetery Ridge November 2001. Gettysburg's General Photo by the author. Management Plan also calls for a major partnership with the non-profit Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation for the fundraising, design, con struction, and operation of a new museum and visitor center for the park. This will include removal of current visitor facili The same view ties and parking lots from the after non-his Union battle line at Cemetery toric trees were removed to Ridge where 34 Union regi bring the thicket ments fought and over 900 sol back to its his diers were killed, wounded, or toric footprint. The Codori farm captured during the Battle of is visible in the Gettysburg. distance. Photo Additional goals of the by the author. museum are: Protection of the park's col lection of artifacts and archives. New facilities are needed to provide appropriate storage conditions, proper care, and display of the park's collections including 38,000 artifacts and 350,000 printed building, design and installation of the museum texts, historic photographs, and other archival exhibits, purchase of the 47-acre site for the new documents. museum and visitor center (privately owned land, Preservation of the Cyclorama painting. An within the boundary of the park, that is close to, appropriate gallery space will be provided to but not on the major battle action areas and is stop the continued deterioration of the largest two-thirds of a mile from the current visitor cen and one of the most significant objects in the ter site), restoration of the historic Cyclorama collection, a colossal painting measuring 26 painting, restoration of the area occupied by the feet by 370 feet, illustrating Pickett's Charge. current facilities to its historic appearance, neces The painting is designated a National Historic sary off site improvements, and a $10 million Object. endowment to help cover the maintenance costs Provision of high-quality interpretation and of the new facility. The Foundation's fundraising educational opportunities for park visitors. campaign is now underway. New exhibits and broader interpretation will The facility would include museum provide visitors with an understanding of the exhibits, a Cyclorama gallery, the electric map, Gettysburg Campaign in the broad context of theater/classrooms, a public research center, a the Civil War and American history. book and museum store, limited food service, a How The Partnership Works tour center for Licensed Battlefield Guide tours The entire project carries a $95 million and other educational tours, and park and price tag, which includes construction of the Foundation administrative offices.
38 CRM No. 4—2002 The park would probably have had to wait Gabor S. Boritt, Dr. Dwight Pitcaithley, Ms. a lifetime to receive the Federal funding required Olivia Mahoney, Dr. Nina Silber, Dr. Eric Foner, to properly preserve our historic resources and Mr. Robin Reed, Dr. Gary W Gallagher, and Dr. provide the level of visitor services today's James M. McPherson. The Advisory Committee museum-goers expect. By joining with the helped develop a storyline for the new museum. Foundation in our first public-private partnership The Foundation expects to break ground of this scope, we hope to set a new standard for for the facility in early 2004, and to complete the park facilities. The Foundation will raise the project in early 2006. The current facilities will funds to construct and build the new facility, be demolished at that time and the historic land and, after it opens, will run the visitor center in scape restoration will begin that same year. cooperation with the park. After 20 years, the More information on battlefield rehabilita Foundation will donate the land and the facilities tion and the Gettysburg museum and visitor cen to the National Park Service, debt-free. ter project is available on the following Web sites: The new museum will tell a coherent story • Gettysburg National Military Park - of the Gettysburg campaign within the full con
n July 3, 2000, the 137th anniversary of Pickett's Charge which concluded the Battle of OGettysburg, smoke and clamor of a different sort began to fade from the battlefield as a crowd of 10,000 watched the National Park Service demolish the National Tower at Gettysburg. The privately owned and operated National Tower was built as a tourist attraction in the early 1970s. Preservationists made it the poster child of unwanted development near historic sites. USA Today called it "the ugliest commercial structure ever to intrude on the sanctity of a national park." The demolition followed the Government's condemnation of the property through a Department of Justice declaration of taking. The National Park Service had authority to acquire the property beginning in 1990 when it was added to the boundary of the park. Discus sions with the property owners had been unsuccessful for years. In Fiscal Year 1999, Congress funded the acquisi tion, and the Justice Depart ment filed for condemnation soon after. The demolition of the tower marked the first dra matic step in the park's major effort to restore Gettysburg's battlefield landscapes. Photo by Harry Waters, volunteer, Gettysburg National Military Park.
CRM No. 4—2002 39 Carlin Timmons and Sandy Pusey Fort Sumter National Monument's New Facility at Liberty Square
he August 2001 opening of the Exhibits on Causes of the Civil War long-awaited Fort Sumter Visitor Not only does the park's facility bring a Education Center marked the National Park Service presence into the city, the completion of plans 40 years in building offers a great opportunity for expanding the makingT. For the first time, visitors traveling Civil War interpretation. The park had already by concessionaire ferry to Fort Sumter meet park begun a more holistic approach in the early 1990s personnel at the point of embarkation. A first- when staff renovated the 1960s era museum at class facility, the building incorporates architec Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Completed in tural elements that echo the design of Fort 1995, that museum retains many of the treasured Sumter. Located on a reclaimed "superfund" site artifacts that were a part of the old museum, but on the Cooper River waterfront in Charleston, exhibited in fresh surroundings and with a more SC, Liberty Square represents a multi-agency sweeping and inclusive story line. Blocking out effort to convert a contaminated "brown" coal damaging sunlight and providing handicap acces gasification industrial space into public "green" sibility were important priorities designed to safe space. The once abandoned area is now a destina guard artifacts and improve the visitor experience. tion for Charlestonians and tourists alike. The Another high priority was bringing the exhibit in National Park Service building joins the South line with current scholarship. New exhibit text Carolina Aquarium, an IMAX theater, shopping, and graphics include an introductory section on restaurants, and various harbor activities that pro the growth of sectionalism, antebellum politics, vide educational and recreational opportunities at and the expansion of slavery as the underlying the water's edge. cause of secession and war. But most of the A Home for the Garrison Flag exhibit remains site specific, dealing with topics The focal point of the interior exhibits is such as the fort's construction, people and events Major Robert Anderson's U.S. garrison flag. This leading to the firing of the first shot, and what is the flag that flew over Fort Sumter from happened to the fort during the Civil War. December 27, 1860, until the opening bombard An even more ambitious exhibit project ment of the Civil War. It was torn in two by high began in the fall of 1999 with exhibit planning winds on April 11, 1861, just as the country was for the new tour boat facility. In February 2000, tearing apart. Saved by Anderson's family, the flag park staff met with exhibit designer Krister was given to the War Department and eventually Olmon from California and National Park Service turned over to the National Park Service. It has colleagues Anita T. Smith, the exhibit planner not been on public display in 22 years. After from Harpers Ferry Design Center, staff from the extensive conservation treatment by the National Denver Service Center, and historian Marie Tyler- Park Service's Conservation Center at Harpers McGraw of the Washington history office to out Ferry, WV, the 33-star flag rests in a specially con line major themes. Tyler-McGraw completed the structed case, and a 36- by 20-foot full-scale initial research and writing for content develop replica hangs above. The original flag is much too ment. Park staff submitted research materials and fragile to hang. Issues of artifact conservation graphics to designer Olmon which were incorpo such as lighting, humidity, and temperature con rated in his concept package. Two years later, in trols had to be resolved before the flag was moved February 2002, the exhibits were finally installed. into the new building. The logistics of moving the The interim period was filled with five major text flag 10 miles from curatorial storage to the exhibit revisions and numerous editorial changes, graphic hall were challenging, requiring creative solutions selection and acquisition, and peer review as park by Fort Sumter's Resource Management staff. staff grappled with sensitive topics in a politically charged atmosphere.
40 CRM No. 4—2002 Assigning both a military historian and a has passed muster by these politicians. But there social historian to edit and write the text meant are rumblings. There are people who believe that that while it would be a cumbersome and at times Fort Sumter should be preserved as a shrine to the contentious process, the end product would sat Confederacy and that the Yankee park presence isfy diverse interests. The use of language and has desecrated sacred ground. Any talk of slavery graphics has been painstakingly examined. Idyllic as opposed to States rights is perceived as anti- images of golden rice fields are balanced with southern. Would our new exhibits skew history to those of scarred backs. The haunting photograph a Yankee perspective? Does a full-size replica of of an enslaved body servant armed to fight for the Major Anderson's 33-star garrison flag send that Confederacy, women's voices, and first person message? A week after the opening in mid- quotes help flesh out a multi-layered story. August, a young woman darted into the exhibit The final product closely resembles the orig hall and took a photograph of the flag. The inal outline. Entitled "The First Shot: What woman told the ranger on duty: "We will be back Brought the Nation to Civil War at Fort to protest the size of that flag." Since September Sumter?," the exhibit contains six sections moving 11 th no one has complained about the size of that from a broad description of colonial times to the U.S. flag. But memories are short, and some visi specific site of Fort Sumter in 1861. The panels tors bring deep-seated belief systems with them. include "Colonial Roots of the Conflict," The protesters will be back. "Ambiguities of the Constitution," "Antebellum During the months between the time the United States," "Charleston in 1860," "South facility opened and the permanent exhibits were Carolina Declares its Independence," and "Fort installed, full-scale color prints of each exhibit Sumter: Countdown to Conflict." were hung on temporary plywood frames. This The introductory text reads, gave visitors a chance to see and comment on the When the Civil War finally exploded in text and graphics prior to its final review. Many Charleston Harbor, it was the result of a half- comments were received ranging from glowing to century of growing sectionalism. Escalating condemning. Most were positive, appreciative, crises over property rights, human rights, and constructive. But there was a blistering letter states rights and constitutional rights divided to the editor of the local newspaper that blasted the country as it expanded westward. the "biased political agenda" of the exhibits. The Underlying all the economic, social and polit lack of Confederate flags on exhibit caused the ical rhetoric was the volatile question of slav writer to urge readers to send letters of protest to ery. Because its economic life had long depended on enslaved labor, South Carolina Interior Secretary Gale Norton. On the other was the first state to secede when this way of hand, an elderly black gentleman asked for a copy life was threatened. Confederate forces fired of the text dealing with the Constitution's treat the first shot in South Carolina. The federal ment of slavery as well as a Library of Congress government responded with force. Decades of photograph of an enslaved family. He wanted to compromise were over. The very nature of the take the documents home and show his grand Union was at stake. children. The input of Dr. Walter Edgar of the The challenges of presenting public history, University of South Carolina and Dr. Bernard including multiple and conflicting viewpoints, Powers of the College of Charleston was invalu and of fleshing out military history within a social able. They both reviewed the text and offered and political context made the 2 years of exhibit insightful suggestions to improve the content. planning an exciting time for park staff. Given the Marie Tyler-McGraw and National Park Service volatile nature of the subject, the exhibits have Chief Historian Dr. Dwight Pitcaithley were also already engaged the public and promoted lively instrumental in refining the text. Everyone on the and healthy discussions. park staff had an opportunity to critique the drafts. As the draft progressed, the project Carlin Timmons is a park ranger at Fort Sumter National attracted the interest of local politicians who Monument. She worked on editing and writing the exhibit text from the perspective of a social historian. wanted to review the park's Federal viewpoint of the "recent unpleasantness." So far the perception Sandy Pusey is a cultural resource manager at Fort Sumter National Monument.
CRM No. 4—2002 41 Daniel J. Bell and Bryan Scott Enter Giving Voice to a Little Known Battlefield South Carolina's Rivers Bridge State Historic Site
ocated in rural Bamberg County, ration of the Confederate dead that began in SC, about 80 miles west of 1876, Rivers Bridge also allows for explorations Charleston and 75 miles south of of the memory of the war and the changing Columbia, Rivers Bridge is the site nature of the Lost Cause2 and its symbols. of a CiviLl War battle fought February 2-3, 1865. A full-time on-site interpreter was hired in It is the only Civil War battle site managed by the 1998, but even this most basic improvement to South Carolina State Park Service and the only the site's management was not enough to prop public battlefield in the State from the Carolinas erly present the story of the battle. The inter Campaign. Despite its many advantages and the preter is one of only three full-time employees fact that it has been a property of the South who manage the site's 390 acres; he cannot be Carolina State Park Service since 1945, Rivers available at all times to give guided tours to every Bridge has been underinterpreted. It is relatively casual visitor. To tell the story of the battle to all unknown outside of the small part of rural South visitors, the State Park Service is creating a self- Carolina where it is located. The State Park Ser guided battlefield trail. A series of waysides will vice has taken action in recent years to rectify that. lead visitors across the battlefield and describe the Changes began in earnest in 1997 with the 2-day fight from start to finish. Secondary stories adoption and implementation of an agency-wide in each wayside will provide context on how vet plan that redefined the mission of the South eran soldiers marched, fought, and tried to sur Carolina State Park Service. Rivers Bridge was vive on the battlefield in 1865. The trail will fol officially classified as a historic site that would be low existing roadbeds and paths to route visitors managed according to the needs of its unique around the earthworks while the waysides edu resources. An indication of the agency's commit cate visitors of the need to help preserve these ment to the change occurred recently when a irreplaceable features of our common past. swimming pool, a prominent feature at the site The site interpreter has played a major role since the 1950s, was finally removed as an incon in the development and implementation of pro sistent use at a historic battle site and a drain on grams for the State Park Service's "Discover the site's financial resources. Improved interpreta Carolina" education initiative. This initiative was tion of the site's primary resource, the battlefield, created to provide school children with hands-on has long been recognized as a pressing need at discovery of South Carolina's natural and cultural Rivers Bridge. resources at State parks. All "Discover Carolina" Besides telling the story of the battle of programs are curriculum-based, contain pre- and Rivers Bridge, the most determined Confederate post-visit materials, and are reviewed by educa resistance to Sherman's march through the State, tors for their ability to communicate subject mat the site can tell many other stories as well: what ter and meet learning objectives. At Rivers Bridge motivated the troops of both sides to continue and other State historic sites, children encounter fighting at this late stage of the war, how soldiers history at places where history was made. responded to the technological changes that had "A Day in the Life of a Soldier," recently made the battlefield so much deadlier, how developed by the site staff, is a curriculum-based Sherman's veteran troops maneuvered "Discover Carolina" program that introduces Confederate forces out of strong positions by fourth grade students to the experience of average flanking and corduroying roads. The battlefields Civil War soldiers of both North and South. well-preserved breastworks offer graphic lessons Using reproduction uniforms, weapons, and gear, on the construction and use of field fortifications the site interpreter leads students through hands- during the war. And because the preservation of on activities that reveal how soldiers of the time the battlefield stems from an annual commemo met their basic needs for food, clothing, shelter,
42 CRM No. 4—2002 and battlefield survival, and how these soldiers employed by Union and Confederate forces became veterans in the process. during Sherman's march through South Other "Discover Carolina" programs will be Carolina, and the small scale of the combat developed to address other grade levels in which shows the war and its human costs on an indi the curriculum involves the subject matter of the vidual level. site. In "The Words of War" students will explore • Interpretation of the battle of Rivers Bridge the motivations and emotions of people of the permits explorations into wider contexts such era as they prepared for, fought, and dealt with as the causes of the war, Civil War military the aftermath of the Civil War. This program will technology and tactics, Civil War medical utilize period poems, speeches, treatment, the lives of average soldiers, and the songs, letters, and other spo effects of war on civilians. ken and musical sources to • The commemoration of the battle of Rivers gain a better understanding of Bridge reveals how the Civil War and the Lost the people involved in this, Cause have held different meanings for differ our nation's bloodiest conflict. ent generations. To build a greater aware The themes, which are explicitly recognized ness of Rivers Bridge and its as being of equal value, institutionalize the broad interpretive potential, the topics and ideas that may be presented at Rivers State Park Service created a Bridge. Besides providing a framework for telling lesson plan for the National the story of the battle and for telling the other Park Service's "Teaching with stories that are essential to an understanding of Historic Places" program. The the fight: how and why the men fought, how the plan gives teachers an addi campaign affected black and white civilians in the tional resource for teaching paths of the armies, and how changing and some about the Civil War in the times conflicting memories of the battle and the classroom. "These Honored war shape and color our understanding of the Dead: The Battle of Rivers past. Bridge and Civil War Combat Efforts to convey interpretive themes and Casualties" takes advantage of the battle's small The Confed resource management messages at Rivers Bridge erate monument scale to make the war more understandable on a State Historic Site are not innovative. Similar at Rivers Bridge. personal level. Both sides lost approximately 100 Photo courtesy work has already been done at other Civil War men in the fighting at Rivers Bridge, far fewer South Carolina sites. They are the application of interpretive fun State Park than the terrible casualties incurred in the war's damentals at an underinterpreted site and, per Service. major battles. Nearly all of the casualties from haps most importantly, they are a reflection of Rivers Bridge have been identified, however, and how the South Carolina State Park Service is the stories of these men bring home the effects of attacking on several fronts to improve interpreta the war with an immediacy and emotional tion at its only Civil War battlefield. impact that cannot be conveyed by a dry recita tion of numbers of dead and wounded. "These Notes Honored Dead" uses the words and images of 1 "Corduroying" was the term used to describe the men who were shot in the battle to present a pow placing of logs over muddy or swampy roads to erful message on the human toll of the war and the allow for troop and supply movement. 2 need to preserve battle sites as memorials to the The Souths Lost Cause ideology stressed that the North's greater numbers had destined the South to soldiers. The lesson plan went online in August lose on the battlefield. Even more so, the war was 2002 and can be found at
CRM No. 4—2002 43 Mark K. Christ The Arkansas Civil War Heritage Trail A Grassroots Battlefield Preservation Initiative
hen then-Secretary of the regions, setting admittedly arbitrary boundaries Interior Manuel Lujan that have been altered somewhat over the years as announced the formation the ACWHT groups developed their own pro of the American Battlefield jects and priorities. Then, after identifying orga ProtectioWn Program (ABPP) in 1990, the nizations and individuals who would likely be Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (AHPP) interested in participating in the program, orga was an enthusiastic partner, seeing the initiative nizational meetings were held over a 3-year as a great vehicle for researching some of the period. more than 770 Civil War actions that took place In these meetings, the AHPP explained the in the State. formation of the ABPP, the concept of the The AHPP joined in the initial ABPP sur ACWHT, and the need to identify Civil War vey, mapping and evaluating Civil War battle sites that were forgotten or lost for good to devel sites included on a National Park Service list of opment. Volunteers were then asked to serve as Arkansas battles. Ultimately, only one site, Prairie officers in the groups, a request that usually led Grove in Washington County, site of a bloody to a long, uncomfortable silence in the meeting December 7, 1862, battle, was deemed a priority room, but always resulted in someone agreeing to site for preservation. The other mapped battle take the leadership role for their region. fields were relegated to lower positions on the pri In 1994, the first ACWHT group was ority list, and no allowance was made for the hun formed in northwest Arkansas. Over the course dreds of other skirmishes, actions, and engage of the next 3 years, four other ACWHT groups ments that took place throughout the State. were formed in northeast, southeast, southwest, Then-Director Cathy Slater and staff mem and central Arkansas. The northwest group later bers wanted to use the momentum of the ABPP split in two to better focus on different sites activities to continue efforts to identify, protect, within the region. interpret, and promote the Efforts are being State's Civil War-related historic made to pur resources. Aware of the success chase the core area of the of the Main Street Arkansas pro Reed's Bridge gram, the AHPP sought to Battlefield in develop a network of partner Jacksonville, AR. The wayside ships that would take the initia exhibit in the tive on local efforts for local foreground was sites. To that end (and jump- created by the started by an ABPP planning Central Arkansas Civil War grant), the AHPP established the Heritage Trail Arkansas Civil War Heritage using partnership Trail (ACWHT), a statewide funds from the ABPP. Photo series of regional volunteer orga courtesy AHPP nizations that would focus on Civil War sites in their areas. AHPP staff members first divided the State into five
44 CRM No. 4—2002 AHPP oversight of the Trail groups is mini ways to create inexpensive wayside exhibits at mal, with the State agency producing a quarterly Civil War sites in the region, paving the way newsletter (available online at
CRM No. 4—2002 45 Karen Miller and Pamela K. Sanfilippo From Personal Experiences to Public Actions Using a Historic Home To Interpret Ulysses S. Grant During the Civil War
lysses S. Grant National changed the focus of the farm from agriculture to Historic Site, located near St. thoroughbred horse breeding. Although that Louis, MO, consists of approxi dream of retirement never materialized, Grant mately 10 acres of what was an continued to own the property until shortly 850-acrUe estate known as White Haven in the before his death in 1885. 19th century. Five historic structures remain on The site was authorized in 1989 to "pre the property: the main house, which is a National serve and interpret for the benefit and inspiration Historic Landmark; a stone building, housing a of all Americans a key property associated with summer kitchen; a chicken house; an ice house; the life of General and later President Ulysses S. and a 4,000 square-foot barn, built to Grant's Grant and the life of First Lady Julia Dent Grant, specifications in the early 1870s. The main house knowledge of which is essential to understanding, and three outbuildings have undergone extensive in the context of mid-nineteenth-century Ameri restoration, for which the site received the 2002 can history, his rise to greatness, his heroic deeds John Wesley Powell Prize for Historic and public service, and her partnership in them."1 The St. Louis Preservation. As historian Drew Gilpin Faust has noted, home of Ulysses and Julia Grant, Grant was associated with the White Haven "the growing importance of social history in the historically farm for over 40 years, first as a guest of the Dent 1970s and 1980s affected almost every area of the known as White family where he met Julia Dent in 1844. Her study of the past," expanding our knowledge of Haven. The those previously excluded from traditional histo home and out childhood home served as the setting for their buildings have courtship, and later as a home for their own fam ries — women, minorities, and those of lower been restored to ily in the late 1850s. During the Civil War, Grant socioeconomic classes. With this in mind, the their 1875 began purchasing property from his in-laws. park's enabling legislation was intentionally writ appearance when President Throughout his careers as General of the Army ten to include those themes. The inclusion of Grant owned the and President of the United States, Grant developed "Julia Grant" and the "context of mid-nineteenth property. his estate with an eye toward retirement. He century American history" requires us to address themes of agriculture, women's roles, and slavery as well as local, regional, and national cultural and political events as they relate to Ulysses and Julia and their St. Louis home. The Challenge The challenge of fulfilling our interpretive mission is daunting since the knowledge neces sary to address each of these themes appropriately involves extensive research. The site currently has only a few exhibit panels and a short introduc tory video available to the visitor and relies heav ily on personal interpretation through ranger-led tours of the main house. We are further chal lenged in our interpretation by the fact that the house is unfurnished. Since most visitors to his-
46 CRM No. 4—2002 The antebellum toric homes anticipate learning winter kitchen about a material culture associ connects the visitor to the ated with the owner of the experiences of home, they expect to see the the enslaved White Haven home furnished as who worked in the room and it was during the Grants' owner visually reflects ship. However, the Grants' fur the moral niture was destroyed in a fire in dilemma Grant faced while liv 1873, and no description of it ing and working exists. The National Park on his father-in- Service has chosen not to put law's slavehold- ing farm. reproduction period pieces in Proposed the house, challenging visitors exhibits in this to use their imagination to see space will inter pret the lives of the house as it was. the enslaved at Exhibit design has proven White Haven. to be no less of a challenge than the interpretive goals. The this way and to focus on the personal experiences design challenges are threefold. First, staff mem of the Grants as a basis for understanding their bers are working with limited space for the new public actions. exhibits since most of them will be placed in the The Plan historic structures. Second, placing the exhibits in The exhibits planned for the site will the structures requires special attention to the demonstrate the interconnectedness of the design in order to maintain the historical Grants' private lives at White Haven with signifi integrity of the buildings. Finally, the main house cant events of the 19th century. Developing adds another layer to the challenge since our goal exhibits that reflect the private basis for Grant's there is to retain the atmosphere of the home. public actions demonstrates that a single cultural Exhibits are being carefully designed not to insti resource (a historic home) carries with it a wider tutionalize the space with traditional exhibit pan body of knowledge. The resource gains further els or display cases. importance as a link to understand the historical Determining how to provide a complete events that have shaped our nation's history. One experience that encompasses all interpretive and way to accomplish this at the Grant site is by exhibit challenges without confusing the visitor linking the historic home to national events such entails constant reassessment. Park staff members as the Civil War. Specifically, Grant's experiences at all levels are working closely with the exhibit at White Haven had a direct influence on his design firm and with academic historians to actions as a general during the Civil War. ensure the accuracy and integrity of the finished Helping visitors make that connection is product. Public participation in the process has accomplished through interpretive programs and been encouraged through meetings and interviews tours, but exhibits will also address this issue. For and will continue as the plans become reality. example, as visitors tour the house, one of the The Opportunity stories they will learn about the Grants addresses The challenges faced at the site are also the issue of slavery. In the dining room, visitors opportunities to develop interpretation and will come to understand that debates about slav exhibits along a different line in order to fulfill ery created political and cultural tensions that our mission. Interpreting unfurnished structures affected family life and the relationship between became an opportunity to avoid talking about Grant and Colonel Dent, Julia's father. In the the "stuff" and focus on the people and events. new museum, an exhibit will take that experience Similarly, the challenge of developing exhibits at White Haven and directly tie it to Grant's was also an opportunity to seek new ways to actions as a general during the Civil War. One achieve our goals. Traditionally, historic homes panel will present Grant's view, stated privately at become a venue for a chronological biography of the beginning of the war and publicly in his "The the primary resident. We have consciously chosen Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant"^ written near not to approach the interpretation and exhibits in the end of his life, that the cause of the Civil War
CRM No. 4—2002 47 was slavery. His marriage into a slaveholding fam ties of the 19th century, connects the visitors to ily and his involvement with slavery at White their personal lives as well. Just as experiences and Haven provides context for understanding events shaped Grant's actions, we, too, are shaped Grant's opinion. Another section of the same by the day-to-day happenings in the world panel will present Grant's military policy of around us. Making that connection helps us recruiting and utilizing African American combat bridge the gap between the past and the present, soldiers. By examining his relationship with the enriching our understanding of the nation, the enslaved at White Haven, we are able to extrapo individuals who have shaped our history, and late that he was influenced in his attitude toward ourselves. The result is a complete visitor experi blacks and the institution of slavery, and that, in ence that will be "for the benefit and inspiration" turn, influenced Grant's actions as military com of all visitors, as addressed in the site's legislation. mander in regard to African Americans. The Result Notes 1 In the area of Civil War history, social histo Public Law 101-106. 2 rians began exploring the lives of the common Drew Gilpin Faust, "The Civil War Homefront," Rally on the High Ground: The National Park Service soldier, the meaning of their experiences, and Symposium on the Civil War (Fort Washington, PA: according to Faust, "to look beyond the battle at Eastern National, 2001), 81. the world behind the lines, at the experiences of 3 John Y. Simon, editor, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant civilians white and black, male and female, as (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, they found themselves caught up in the mael 1967), v. II, 3-4; letter from U.S. Grant to his strom of war."4 Battlefield sites are responding to father-in-law, Frederick Dent, April 19, 1861; this scholarship through interpretation and Ulysses S. Grant, The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant (New York: Charles A. Webster, 1885), exhibits that are more inclusive. Similarly, the reprint New York: Literary Classics of the United Grant site places the residents of White Haven States, 1990, 773. within the larger context of 19th-century history Faust, op cit. to understand Ulysses and Julia Grant as individ uals, their relationship with one another and Karen Miller is the museum technician at Ulysses S. their families, and their role in our nation's his Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, MO. tory. Individuals such as Grant, like battle sites, cannot be placed in a vacuum as if the events and Pamela K. Sanfilippo is the site historian at Ulysses S. people around them had no influence or bearing Grant National Historic Site and guest editor of this issue ofCRM. on their individual actions. Connecting Grant's personal life to his pub Photos courtesy Ulysses S. Grant National lic service, with all the challenges and complexi Historic Site.
U.S. Department of the Interior FIRST CLASS MAIL National Park Service Postage and Fees Paid 1849 C Street NW-350NC U. S. Department of the Intetior Washington, DC 20240 G-83 OFFICIAL BUSINESS PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE $300
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