Lakeville, MA: Five sessions remain in Civil War series

From Southcoast Today: MA: Five sessions remain in Civil War series LAKEVILLE — In recognition of the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War, history buff Mark Mello has been discussing the many battles, casualties, and political climate of our country during this infamous time period for three sessions in March. The balance of the sessions will be held for two hours between 6 and 8 p.m. on the following Mondays; April 2, 9, 23, 30, and May 7 in the Meeting Room of the Lakeville Public Library at 4 Precinct Street. Using a Power Point presentation and figurines, Mr. Mello, an honor student at Apponequet High School, will continue to present to the audience a "live action" scenario of the battles fought during the Civil War. Those interested in knowing what the topic is by week may contact the Lakeville Arts Council at Lakeville.Arts.Council@hotmail.com for an outline by week.

Louisiana: MSU hosting series on American Civil War

From Sulphur Daily News.com: MSU hosting series on American Civil War
Lake Charles, La. — McNeese State University’s Frazar Memorial Library is hosting a free five-part reading and discussion series in March titled “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War.”

Frazar Memorial Library is one of 65 libraries nationwide to receive a grant for the series developed by the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities, according to Debbie Johnson-Houston, library director. Local support for the series is provided by McNeese’s Banners Cultural Series, the history department, leisure learning office and the Calcasieu Parish Public Library.

All presentations will be held at 7 p.m. in the La Jeunesse Room in the Holbrook Student Union every other Wednesday from March 28 until May 9. The topics, date and book for each program are:

• “Choosing Sides,” March 28, “America’s War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on Their 150th Anniversaries,” edited by Edward L. Ayers

• “Making Sense of Shiloh,” April 11, “America’s War”

• “The Shape of War,” April 25, “Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam” by James McPherson

• “War and Freedom,” May 9, “America’s War”

Free copies of all three books are available for those who register for the series while supplies last.

Dr. Michael Smith, assistant professor of history at McNeese, will lead a discussion of the books at each session. He has written five books, seven articles and numerous other publications on politics, military tactics and society during the Civil War era.

“We are delighted to have been chosen to host this unique series that will allow patrons a chance to discuss the legacy of the Civil War with fellow community members and with the help of a well-qualified scholar,” said Johnson-Houston.

For more information or to register, contact Walt Fontane, McNeese reference librarian, at 337-475-5729 or by email at wfontane@mcneese.edu or go online at libguides.mcneese.edu/content.php?pid=123731&sid=2354583.

Persons needing accommodations as provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact the ADA Coordinator at 337-475-5428, voice; 337-475-5960, fax; 337-562-4227, TDD/TTY, hearing impaired; or by email at cdo@mcneese.edu

NJ: Civil War re-enactors at Macculloch Hall in Morristown April 1

From Morris NewsBee: Civil War re-enactors at Macculloch Hall in Morristown April 1
MORRISTOWN ‑ Visitors are invited to a living history program in the garden of Macculloch Hall Historical Museum from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 1.

Re-enactors with the New Jersey Civil War History Association portraying the 14th New Jersey will be available to meet visitors, answer questions and share camp life information with visitors to the Museum garden. This demonstration is presented to complement the current “Gone for a Soldier: Jerseymen in the Civil War” exhibit.

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in collaboration with the New Jersey Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee (NJCW150) presents this major exhibit which commemorates the participation and heroism of Jerseymen in a major turning point in U.S. history. The exhibit brings together for the first time nearly 200 objects from the Civil War from more than 30 museums, historical societies, and private collections.

Visitors will be able to interact with the 14th New Jersey reenactors at this living history encampment and see period uniforms, equipment and accoutrements. Visitors will be able to speak directly with the reenactors who will be portraying both military personnel and civilians from the time period.

Demonstrations of weaponry handling, including discussions of the “Manual of Arms” as well as the “School of the soldier” where marching and maneuvering on the field as soldiers would have learned these techniques will also be shared.

A Civil War Lecture Series in conjunction with the “Gone for a Soldier” exhibit is being held monthly. John Zinn will present “New Jersey Base ball during the Civil War Era, 1865- 1870” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 25 at the Cincinnati Masonic Lodge No. 3, 39 Maple Ave. one block from the museum.

From 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday April 29, the museum will hold a book signing with author Bob Sheridan for his book “Iron From The Deep: The Discovery and Recovery of the USS Monitor.” Full details about the lectures, book signings, and family-friendly events can be viewed on the museum’s Facebook events page, which can be accessed through the museum website.

The New Jersey Sesquicentennial Committee, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, a volunteer organization working for increased awareness and recognition of New Jersey’s important role in the Civil war, has been recognized by the New Jersey Governor and both houses of the New Jersey legislature.

For information, call the Museum weekdays at (973) 538-2404 ext. 10, visit the website www.maccullochhall.org or find them on Facebook. Macculloch Hall Historical Museum is located at 45 Macculloch Ave.

Civil War icon renowned for breaking down racial barriers

From Sun Journal: Civil War icon renowned for breaking down racial barriers Perhaps the most influential African-American man during the Civil War had definite ties to New Bern.

Abraham Galloway is the subject of a forthcoming book this fall by renowned historian David Cecelski of Durham.

Galloway, from Wilmington, was a fugitive slave, an abolitionist, a Union spy and an early civil rights leader, meeting with President Abraham Lincoln. After the war, he was a prominent black leader and a state senator.

The book launching is scheduled for September at the old state capital building.

“He lived to be 33 years old. He never learned to read or write,” Cecelski said. “Most of his life, he was trying not to leave a record.”

Galloway’s exploits including being what Cecelski called “a master spy” for the Union Army.

Galloway’s travels took him from Maryland “deep into the Confederacy” as far south as Louisiana and Mississippi.

Researching for the book, Cecelski had doubts that there would be ample documentation about Galloway’s life. He was pleasantly surprised.

There is a section on Galloway’s life in Cecelski’s 2001 book, “The Waterman’s Song – Slavery and Freedom in Maritime North Carolina.”

“Once people started reading about him in ‘The Waterman’s Song,’ people started sending me things,” he said. “There was a woman at the National Archives that discovered that he had been in Mississippi. She sent me a copy of the document. There were people from his church in Wilmington.”

Among Cecelski’s discoveries was what he termed “a treasure trove of letters from an African-American woman in New Bern, who had been a slave until the Union captured the city. She discusses Galloway’s activities in many of them.

Cecelski’s story in “The Waterman’s Song” tells of the 26-year-old Galloway helping Union recruiting agent Edward Kinsley, who was seeking black soldiers. But Galloway did it on his terms, having the agent meet him at a New Bern home at midnight, where the recruiter was blindfolded and led to an attic room.

In the book, Cecelski writes, “If the Union intended to make this war a crusade for black liberation, then Kinsley would find no shortage of recruits in New Bern. But if the Federal army planned to use black men like chattel and wage a war merely for the preservation of the Union, that was another story.”

Galloway had demands as well — equal pay, provisions for black soldiers’ families and schooling for their children. Another provision was that the Union force the Confederacy to treat captured blacks as prisoners of war, equal to whites.

After the war, Galloway was a leader of Reconstruction politics in Eastern North Carolina. He championed for fundamental rights of freedmen and women.

Galloway’s life ended suddenly in 1870, from fever and jaundice. About 6,000 people attended his funeral, with a procession that stretched a half-mile through downtown Wilmington with flags at half staff.

Historian says chasm over Civil War persists

From Fredericksburg.com: Historian says chasm over Civil War persists America has a bad case of blurred vision when it comes to the Civil War, one local historian says. That myopia seriously affects how people get along with one another, and what they think the conflict was about, John Hennessy said Sunday during a forum at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg. Hennessy, chief historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, challenged his 100-plus listeners to re-examine traditional ideas of the war’s cause and consequences—for the sake of history, truth and their community. He suggested that many people talk past one other when questions about the war arise, as evidenced daily in National Park Service historians’ interactions with visitors and in letters to the editor published in The Free Lance–Star. “If you say the war was about slavery, then my ancestor was fighting to abolish it. And your ancestor was fighting to preserve it,” he said. “And how does that make you feel?” People dislike such conversations because “those aren’t the noble sentiments that we associate with [Civil War soldiers],” he said. “It’s a very uncomfortable place to be there.” But, Hennessy urged, residents of the Fredericksburg area—and Americans as a whole—must bridge that gulf between them. Believing that the Civil War was waged over the issue of slavery doesn’t mean dishonoring ancestors who fought for the Confederacy, he said. People need to distinguish between soldiers’ personal motivations and the national purposes for which their governments worked, Hennessy said. “There is much that’s American and much that’s virtuous and compelling and inspiring about the Confederacy, but we will always be on opposite sides of the gulf unless we recognize and grapple with this large problem of national purpose.” It’s not a North–South issue, but one of misconceptions about what really happened, he said. The difficulty stems from the late 19th century when, to reconcile the two sections of the country, people “set aside the things that the war was about,” Hennessy said. People chose to focus on the things that united them, not on what still divided them—including issues of race, rights and political power. Such “unseemly things,” in the words of Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon, were shelved, left untouched for generations. Which is why, Hennessy said, Saturday’s local Civil War sesquicentennial program—“Churches Remember”—was “profoundly important.” Honoring facts as well as everyone’s heritage—black and white, Union and Confederate—could help bridge divisions that still separate Americans 150 years after their costliest conflict, he suggested. One lingering price of the nation’s thirst for postwar reconciliation, Hennessy said, that is that many African–Americans are disinterested in—even turned off by—the Civil War. “It is absolutely unjust to take our values and overlay them upon their time,” he said. But it is important to recognize that one legacy of reunion is today’s “disconnect” between the region’s African–American community and stories of the war, emancipation and freedom, Hennessy said. He offered an example. Starting in 1876 or 1878, Memorial Day services at Fredericksburg National Cemetery—repository of Northern dead from six of the area’s Civil War campaigns—were faithfully held by Fredericksburg’s African–Americans, Hennessy noted. They gathered at Shiloh Baptist Church and proceeded up Hanover Street and along Sunken Road to the cemetery. For years, they led the ceremonies and decorated the graves of the men who lay on Willis Hill, Hennessy said. They honored the men “they knew, somehow, had something to do with their freedom.” In 1884, a group of Union veterans decided to join the ceremony. As a gesture of reconciliation, they invited their Confederate counterparts to join them in a shared commemoration honoring the Union dead—“a pretty astonishing step forward,” Hennessy said. But it carried a cost. “The Confederate veterans said yes, but—not surprisingly, given the time—they had a caveat,” he said. “And that was, ‘We will join the ceremony so long as the colored people are not included.’” The North-and-South rite took place, but over the next few years, African–American involvement in the cemetery’s Decoration Day tradition faded away. One modern-day consequence: “In 2010, 2011, 2012, the number of African–American visitors who come to the National Cemetery each year, you can probably count on less than 10 hands,” Hennessy said. That illustrates why, in the remaining years of the Civil War’s sesquicentennial, he said he and others hope the Fredericksburg area will have a robust dialogue about race, slavery and the war. “The chasm is rooted in the different ways that people see the war. The chasm is rooted in the stormy problem that, as a matter of policy, one side committed to sustain slavery and the other side—ultimately, reluctantly—adopted a policy to abolish it,” Hennessy said. “That’s the problem. And it is a great challenge for our nation, and our community, to understand that, to work through that issue.”

Relic hunter Ric Savage finds his Navy Pier souvenir

From Chicago Sun-Time: Relic hunter Ric Savage finds his Navy Pier souvenir
Ric Savage is strolling by the Navy Pier Ferris wheel on a historically warm spring day.

The modern-day relic hunter is dressed in black with beige alligator-skin boots. He does not look like a Ferris wheel type. Savage is 6-foot-5 and 410 pounds.

He carries the sophisticated White’s MXT Pro Metal Detector, a four-foot device that looks as if it came off an airport walk-through.

Savage stops at a patch of brown grass not far from the 150-feet tall Ferris wheel. He puts on a pair of headphones. Savage begins moving around the detector. He hears a sound that resembles a dentist’s drill.

“I’ve got a hit right here!” he shouts. Passersby stare at him. Savage swings the detector in a circular motion over a clump of dirt. Tucked inside the dirt is a penny.

In a perfect world it would be a 1916 penny, from the year Navy Pier was built.

Savage holds the dusty penny up against a clear blue sky and says, “It’s from 2010.”

No matter.

It is the thrill of the chase for the host of Spike TV’s “American Digger,” which premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday. The 13-episode series travels to a different city each week searching for high-value relics in Detroit, Brooklyn and Chicago (where a gangster-era segment will be aired later in the season).

“The ground never stops collecting,” Savage says. “I might find something from 1820, 1920 and 2012 all in the same spot.”

The 42-year-old Savage has redefined the art of American digging. It is no longer just some old dude in black socks and sandals wandering Miami Beach with a metal detector.

Savage brings mettle into this field.

He is best known as pro wrestler “Heavy Metal” Ric Savage, who worked the World Championship Wrestling circuit, among others. After retiring in 1997, Savage began his career as a relic hunter.

He zeroed in on the Civil War, a passion he had since the age of 9 when he read The Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee. He discovered he had six ancestors who fought in the Civil War. His great-great-great grandfather John Parker fought in the North Carolina unit for the Confederacy and was captured. He is buried at Camp Douglas in Chicago.

Savage’s first major find was a hunk of shrapnel he unearthed at the site of the Battle of Cold Harbor, Va. He later established American Savage, now the top artifact recovery company in the country. It digs as much as a half a million dollars’ worth of historical artifacts out of American soil yearly. The company is based in Mechanicsville, Va., where Savage lives.

“I started this as a hobby, as a way I could get onto properties I wouldn’t get on being your normal guy with a metal detector,” Savage says. “It morphed into this. With the TV show, I’m getting to dig in places I never would have dreamed of before. Like Tombstone, Ariz. I love Wyatt Earp. We found pistols, rifles, handcuffs from the 1880s.”

Relic hunter sounds like a noble way of saying beach scavenger.

“Anywhere anything ever happened, there is going to be something in the ground,” Savage explains. “Relic hunting depends on the hunter and what they are interested in and looking for. I look for historical artifacts. Modern coins, jewelry — that’s more scavenging. I like touching history.”

But critics don’t like Savage touching history. The Society of American Archaeology has criticized relic hunters for promoting illegal looting.

“The archeologists don’t like us because they don’t like anybody else digging,” he admits. “They feel like we loot history. The metal detectorists hate us because we put a spotlight on the hobby, and they’re afraid if they go to a property, [the owner] will want to get paid before they go digging. We’re the stepchild all the way around. But I’m not trying to please archeologists or other metal detectorists, I’m trying to take somebody who may not have any interest in history whatsover and make them find a way to get into it.”

During his wrestling career, Savage did promotional spots with Blackfoot guitarist Rickey Medlocke, now with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Does he know any musical relic hunters?

“Hank Williams Jr.,” he answers. “He is a huge metal detectorist. A friend of mine took Hank out to dig on Faith Hill and Tim McGraw’s property in Tennesse.”

There’s a country song underneath all that.

Around his neck, Savage wears a copper medallion that denotes a week’s pay for an employee of an East India company ship that sank in 1809.

He is excited to be carting his metal detector around Navy Pier. “I bet there was old stuff around here,” Savage says. “I was told there were World War I and World War II training camps here. There were a lot of artifacts, but they’ve all been covered over or moved out. If you could lift up the stones, you could probably find personal items from soldiers; buttons, buckles, pocket knives, coins.

Wrestling requires an eye for nuance. Does that come into play in Savage’s new magnetic field? “When I’m digging a battlefield I look at the layout of the land from the way the soldier would have looked at it,” he answers. “The Civil War soldiers looked for higher ground. When you’re detecting and see hills, that’s a good spot to go because you know they would have camped there. During a battle the hills got a lot of artillery shots, so you can find cannonballs that were dodged and shot in the ground. The last thing I like to do is swing a metal detector in a briar patch or brush.” Of course.

No mountain is high enough on the landscape of American digging.

Mobile Public Library offers series on the Civil War

From AI.com: Mobile Public Library offers series on the Civil War
MoBILE, Alabama — In commemoration of the Civil War sesquicentennial, the Mobile Public Library is hosting a free, five-part reading and discussion series called "Let's Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War" at the West Regional Branch, 5555 Grelot Road.

The series encourages participants to consider the legacy of the Civil War and emancipation and will take place on five consecutive Wednesday evenings, beginning this week. The sessions are from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on the following dates:

* "Imagining War," Wednesday, March 21
* "Choosing Sides," March 28
* "Making Sense of Shiloh," April 4
* "The Shape of War," April 11
* "War of Freedom," April 18

"Let's Talk About It" consists of group discussion events on the following works: "March" by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, 2006); "Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam" by James McPherson (Oxford University Press, 2002); "America's War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on Their 150th Anniversaries," edited by Edward L. Ayers (American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities, 2012).

The series is open to all adults in the community and is led by Lonnie Burnett, professor of history at the University of Mobile. Reading materials will be made available to the first 20 people who register for the program. Registrants agree to read the provided texts and attend all five sessions. Registration and distribution of the books will be at the West Regional circulation desk.

The registration deadline for the reading materials is March 20. For details, call 251-208-7097.

Folk musicians trace roots of Civil War to civil rights

From the Canton Daily Ledger: Folk musicians trace roots of Civil War to civil rights
LEWISTOWN — Historical folk musicians Sparky and Rhonda Rucker bring the songs of the American struggle for democracy to the Hickory Ridge Concert Series at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March the 17 at Dickson Mounds Museum. Sparky and Rhonda Rucker weave their music into captivating stories that span over three centuries of African-American history, including slavery, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, the westward migration, the birth of blues music, and the civil rights Movement.

Sparky Rucker has been singing songs and telling stories from the American tradition for over forty years. He grew up in Knoxville, Tenn. and began playing guitar at age 11. He accompanies himself on guitar, banjo, and spoons, and has released 12 recordings. He was active in the Civil Rights Movement, playing freedom songs at rallies, marches, and sit-ins, alongside other folksingers such as Guy Carawan and Pete Seeger.

Rhonda Rucker is also a versatile performer, playing blues harmonica, piano, banjo, and adding vocal harmonies. Their 1991 release, Treasures and Tears, was nominated for the W.C. Handy Award for Best Traditional Recording. Over 40 years of performing, Sparky and Rhonda have performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival as well as NPR's On Point, Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, and Morning Edition.

The Hickory Ridge Concert Series is hosted by singer-songwriter Chris Vallillo. Concerts are held the third Saturday of every month at Dickson Mounds Museum and begin at 7:30 p.m. with the museum lobby opening at 6:30 p.m. Coffee, drinks, and a variety of desserts are available during intermission. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children under the age of 12. Seating is limited to the first 150 people.

The Dickson Mounds Branch of the Illinois State Museum is located between Lewistown and Havana off routes 78 and 97. The museum is open free to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Tours and special programs are available for groups with reservations. For more information call 309-547-3721 or TDD 217-782-9175 or visit the museum’s website at:

http://www.ExperienceDicksonMounds.com

Paula Vogel's A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS Available Now in Paperback

From TalkBooksWorld: Paula Vogel's A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS Available Now in Paperback
Theatre Communications Group (TCG) today announced the publication of Paula Vogel’s pageant play for all seasons, A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration. This volume features a conversation between the author and noted historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, commentary on the music of the Civil War and its singing soldiers and excerpts from historical journals such as that of Walt Whitman. A Civil War Christmas, declared “The Best Play of the Year” by the Hartford Courant, premiered in 2008 at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, CT under the direction of Tina Landau.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of How I Learned to Drive, Paula Vogel, has crafted what The New York Times has declared “an ambitious, richly detailed and beautiful new seasonal offering.” Set on a chilly Christmas Eve during the latter days of the Civil War, A Civil War Christmas weaves a tapestry of fictional and historical characters, such as President and Mrs. Lincoln — together with holiday music, marches, hymns and spirituals of the period—to tell a story of companionship and communal hope arising from one of our nation’s darkest hours.

Paula Vogel’s plays include How I Learned to Drive (winner of the Pultizer Prize, OBIE, Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics Circle awards), The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Mineola Twins, The Baltimore Waltz, Hot ‘N’ Throbbing and Desdemona. She has also had a distinguished career as a teacher and mentor to younger playwrights, first at Brown University and most recently at the Yale School of Drama.

For 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America’s largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 11 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. www.tcg.org.

A Civil War Christmas
By Paula Vogel
Paperback 192 pages
$15.95 978-1-55936-378-5
March 2012

Also by Paula Vogel, available from TCG Books:

The Baltimore Waltz and Other Plays
$18.95 978-1-55936-109-5

The Long Christmas Ride Home
$12.95 978-1-55936-249-8

The Mammary Plays
$16.95 978-1-55936-144-6

TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution. Orders: 800-283-3572. SAN number: 63170X. Individuals may call 212-609-5900 or visit our online bookstore at www.tcg.org. For postage and handling, please add $5.00 for the first book and $.50 for each additional copy.

Motts passionate about history, Civil War Museum leadership

From CBPJ.com: Motts passionate about history, Civil War Museum leadership
Wayne Motts answers the door of the Adams County Historical Society with a cannon of a voice. Given the right conditions, he might be heard from across the legendary Civil War battlefields in Gettysburg.

The board of directors at the National Civil War Museum on March 5 selected Motts, the historical society's executive director of eight years, to be the Harrisburg museum's next CEO. Motts, 45, replaces David Patterson, who retired in November.

Talking with Motts, one sees why the board made the choice: He honed his big voice as a battlefield guide for more than 20 years, and he's passionate about all history, a trait bred by parents who operated Motts Military Museum in Groveport, Ohio.

"I tell everybody: I took things to show-and-tell that you'd go to jail for today," Motts said, laughing at his historical childhood memories.

Motts holds a bachelor's degree in military history from Ohio State University and a master's degree in American history from Shippensburg University. He also trained as an archivist at what today is the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center near Carlisle, and is a board member for the National Civil War Museum.

Motts lives in Littlestown, Adams County, with his wife, Tina, and spends his spare time researching ancient history and areas of study outside his concentrations at work.

Q: What started your interest in history and the Civil War?
A: My father was a huge Civil War buff. He was a professional photographer by training and loved history. When he was 14 years old … an older friend gave him two diaries from a Civil War soldier and said, "These are never to be sold, ever. But I'm going to give you the history of a man who fought in the American Civil War." That soldier was Aaron Thomas McNaughton. McNaughton was killed in July of 1863 storming Fort Wagner, Morris Island, South Carolina, which the movie "Glory" actually depicts. He was in a white regiment that was behind the famous 54th Massachusetts. (McNaughton) was killed in action. His body was never recovered, and these diaries tell of his service in the Civil War. When I was a little boy, my father would pull these out like they were the Holy Grail, and he would open them and he'd say: "Met Lincoln today at Fredericksburg, Virginia." He would read the entries in them … I got interested in the Civil War because of a Civil War artifact.

What projects here at Adams County Historical Society are you proud of?
The proudest thing we've achieved here in my time … is the people who came here and did internships. Many of them came here and didn't know if they wanted to make this a career. And then they left and did. One is a curator at the Staten Island Museum in New York. Another is an archivist at Columbia University. … I'm proud of the volunteer corps and the staff here. I'm proud of the cataloguing and preservation of materials we have here. … Over the past several years we've had teachers through a grant program who are teaching American history to students. … I'm also very proud of our former headquarters, Schmucker Hall that is undergoing a multimillion dollar renovation. It's one of the most significant buildings of the Civil War. All of us here, in conjunction with the Lutheran Theological Seminary, are working to make that an interactive museum, and it's on track to open in April of 2013.

What is the biggest impact of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War?
What I'm most excited about … is the telling of the stories that were not previously told. … African-American participation, whether it be on the battlefield or whether it be on the homefront or whether it be in the South, in the North, or whatever part of the country. That story has never been fully explored during any of these anniversary and commemorative events, and we know why. From Civil War to civil rights — that's one of the themes of this anniversary. The female participation in the Civil War is a story that has not been told — at home or at the front. We know there were 400 women who dressed up as men and fought in the Civil War. We have rough numbers. We don't know all of that. It's a story that's never been fully told … For me the greatest impact is to tell different stories, stories that have not been told but which are still very important.

What are you most looking forward to when you join the National Civil War Museum?
I'm most looking forward to meeting and working with all the staff, these people who've been dedicated long before I got there to make sure the National Civil War Museum is a success. … I'm most looking forward to meeting the people because I'm a people person. Without that infrastructure, you don't have a great facility. You don't have a great museum. That's what I'm most looking forward to. Will I wander around behind the scenes and look at all the artifacts? Of course I will, because that's my interests. Will I look at the ways we can make connections there? Of course I'll do that. But I'm most looking forward to my involvement with the people.

Are there economic lessons from the Civil War that are relevant today for our changing world?
There would be many. Economically, the whole system — here wasn't an income tax until there was a Civil War. The relationship between the federal government and the state governments today really is an outcome and a plot of the Civil War. And in some ways a lot of that wasn't settled. The Civil War settled that there would be no slavery in this country and it settled that the federal government would be more powerful than the state government. Up to the time of the Civil War that wasn't known, that wasn't a foregone conclusion. Today, we look at the different discussions that relate to you or I about roads, infrastructure, health care — all these different things — and it's interesting that there's always this issue between the state and federal government. And that's part of what the Civil War was fought over. And we had it then and we have it now. So the lessons are that history just continues to repeat itself. … I think that's what makes the Civil War so relevant today.

It's been a difficult several years for nonprofits with the recession and less giving. How can nonprofits respond to that?
This economic cycle has been difficult on everyone, most especially on nonprofits. … What we've done (at the historical society), and many nonprofits have done, is to try to diversify where your funding comes from. If 80 percent of your budget is dependent on one place, it's probably not a good idea. It's regular business economics. So we try to plan out where the money comes from. Some money comes from education, some comes from grants, some comes from individual donations, some come from corporate donations. Some come from events or from publications. … All these things make the pie come together. So if one of these things goes away, it hurts but you're not crippled.

Students go to the source in history class

From the Battle Creek Enquirer: Students go to the source in history class Several new studies suggest America is politically polarized in part because fewer people are willing to challenge their own beliefs.

But a number of local social studies teachers are trying to help their students do just that — and maybe become better citizens in the process.

Dozens of social studies teachers across Calhoun County and the region have sidelined textbooks and are using primary sources — that is, words and images direct from historical figures — to teach American history. Rather than simply memorizing the names of historical figures and the dates of important events, students are asked to read the raw materials of our nation’s past and to analyze their meaning and impact on today’s society.

The method was developed as part of the Teaching American History Project, an effort funded by federal grants that ended last year. Bonnie Garbrecht, a now-retired educator who was director of the local project, said about 50 local teachers had gone through the two-year training that started four years ago and others had been trained in earlier efforts.

But several educators continue using the method because they said it helps kids learn to think for themselves and develop fact-based opinions.

“It gives you the chance to say your opinion, what you think about it, and not just think someone else’s opinion is right because it’s the only one you know,” said Julianna Blaskie, a 13-year-old eighth-grader in Sara Seiler’s U.S. History class at Lakeview Middle School.

That’s a skill fewer Americans are exercising, research suggests.

In a digital world where millions of like-minded folks are only a click away, people are increasingly seeking out news and facts from sources with which they already know they agree, several new studies suggest. “Thus,” reads the conclusion of an East Carolina University study, “Americans are getting different versions of the same issues and events, which may hinder the chances of political moderation and compromise among the mass public.”

“But this transfers over into everyday life,” said Seiler, the Lakeview Middle School teacher. “When (students) watch the news, they’re going to question what they’re seeing.”

Exhibit recognizes N.J.'s role in Civil War

From My Central New Jersey: Exhibit recognizes N.J.'s role in Civil War
When it comes to significant conflicts in American history, New Jersey is probably best known as the cockpit of the American Revolution, the site of noteworthy battles and encampments.

In contrast, the Civil War seems to have little connection with the Garden State. After all, the nearest major battles were fought in Pennsylvania and Maryland. What did New Jersey have to do with the Civil War?

Quite a bit, actually. A newly installed exhibit now on display in the Union County Courthouse pays tribute to the fact that New Jersey contributed manpower and materiel to the Northern cause. In addition, the war was faced daily on the home front.

“There wasn’t anyone who wasn’t touched by the war,” said Joanne Rajoppi, chairwoman of the Union County Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee. “Virtually every family had a relative in the military. Women’s aid societies knitted shawls and wrote letters to soldiers. Everyone participated.”

Rajoppi’s point is underscored by “Preserving the Union,” a collection of photographs, weapons and other artifacts in the rotunda of the Union County Courthouse in Elizabeth. The exhibit will run now through 2015, to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Exhibit organization

The exhibit is centered on four different aspects of the Civil War’s impact on the county: the economy, politics, the military and the home front.

For example, Rajoppi points out that Rahway was known as “the carriage capital of the world” by the 1850s.

But most of those carriages actually were sold in the South, so that market dried up in the 1860s.

“As a result, the businesses retooled their industry for the war effort,” Rajoppi said. Those same carriage manufacturers began making wagons that would be used by soldiers.

Other pieces in the exhibit include articles of clothing, both uniforms and civilian outfits.

One gown, on loan from the Morris Museum, was worn to the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

The display of weaponry includes small Derringer pistols that would have been carried by women.

Boston, MA: Olde Colony Civil War Round Table Meeting on March 15

From Dedham Daily News Transcript: Olde Colony Civil War Round Table Meeting on March 15

DEDHAM — The Olde Colony Civil War Round Table will be meeting on March 15, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at the Endicott Estate. All those interested in the history of the American Civil War are invited to attend. Our meetings are open to the general public. A guest speaker will address the membership on a Civil War subject. A book sale is held at 7 p.m., and light refreshments are served after the meeting. For more information, contact Rich Campagna, 781.326.2073 or rjcampagna@comcast.net. Please visit our website at www.occwrt.org.

Artifacts recoveries on shipwreck just in time to mark anniversary of sinking

From The Bellingham Herald: Artifacts recoveries on shipwreck just in time to mark anniversary of sinking
KURE BEACH, N.C - KURE BEACH, N.C. - There are hundreds of shipwrecks along North Carolina's treacherous coast, and some, like those of the ironclad USS Monitor or the Blackbeard flagship Queen Anne's Revenge, are nothing short of famous.

But that of the hapless Civil War blockade runner Modern Greece, which sits just beyond the surf near Fort Fisher, is in many ways the most important of all.

The wreck, which was excavated 50 years ago, led to the creation of the state underwater archaeology unit that studies the other wrecks. It led to a state law to protect historic wreck sites from pilfering. It yielded such a large trove of artifacts that many have been used in experiments that advanced the tricky science of how to preserve historical treasures found underwater.

As the first of about 30 blockade runners sunk along the coast near Wilmington while trying to bring arms and vital commodities to the Confederate states, it has an iconic status in North Carolina and maritime history.

And this week - just in time for events marking the 150th anniversary of its sinking - thousands of artifacts from the Modern Greece were recovered from underwater.

For the second time.

A team of East Carolina University graduate students and University of North Carolina, Wilmington interns sponsored by the Friends of Fort Fisher waded into the muck of half-century-old storage tanks at the Department of Cultural Resources' Underwater Archaeology Branch facility on the grounds of the historic fort. Their job: pull out the artifacts, clean and catalog them and put them in indoor tanks where they could finally begin to receive modern preservation treatment.

"It was just the right time to do this," said Mark Wilde-Ramsing, deputy state archaeologist and head of Underwater Archaeology Branch. "There are a lot of reasons, but the bottom line is it would be a bit irresponsible to just leave it there. We don't even know what we have there."

In June, the state plans a seminar on the Modern Greece and blockade runners. It also will throw open the labs at Fort Fisher so the public can see the artifacts and what it takes to preserve them.

New signs on the beach and roadside pointing out the wreck site are planned, and a researcher working with the state is seeking a federal grant to perform a full survey of the 30 blockade-runner wrecks off Wilmington, as well as facilities on land to put it all in proper context.

And the archaeologists are planning a modest spring expedition to use the latest gear to examine the Modern Greece site and create a proper record of it.

Broadly, all the activity is aimed at bringing more attention to the local blockade runners, Wilde-Ramsing said. They represent the largest collection of wrecks in the world dating from an unusually interesting period in naval architecture, and they have a central place in Civil War history.

Many are likely to be deteriorating quickly, but the state doesn't have a full picture of their location and condition.

The creation of the state's underwater archaeology and conservation lab - which state officials think may have been the nation's first - began, in a sense, on June 27, 1862.

The Modern Greece, a 210-foot English ship loaded with hundreds of tons of rifles, gunpowder and other goods, was creeping along the coast, making for the Cape Fear River and Wilmington, when it was spotted in the murky light just before dawn by two Union blockade ships.

They gave chase, and the heavily-loaded ship ran aground, apparently while trying to get close enough to Fort Fisher for protection by the Confederate artillery there.

The passengers and crew escaped by lifeboat as both sides shelled the ship to keep the other from getting the valuable cargo.

According to historical accounts, some of the cargo was salvaged and brought ashore, though apparently part of a liquor shipment got no further than the Confederate soldiers on the beach.

Eventually, the sea claimed the rest.

Then, almost precisely 100 years later, in the spring of 1962, Navy divers stumbled on the wreck just off the beach while visiting the area essentially as tourists.

A violent storm had just cleared the thick bed of sand from the remains of the ship. The divers were startled to find much of the remaining cargo exposed, intact and all but begging to be pulled up.

State officials got wind of the find and asked the Navy to allow the divers to recover the cargo on behalf of the state.

By summer, 11 divers were working off a loaned Coast Guard barge anchored over the site. Eventually the divers retrieved 11,500 pieces of cargo and other artifacts from the ship.

The challenge was what to do with the artifacts after they were brought ashore.

The glitzy part of maritime archaeology is the discovery of wrecks or the lifting of flashy artifacts like cannons from the sea.

But there's seldom enough money to cover the cost of storage tanks and buildings and the years of labor in cleaning away corrosion and accumulation of marine life. The years of care it can take to carefully leach the salt out of a cannon doesn't make for the kind of exciting television coverage the cannon gets when it breaks the surface.

After the Modern Greece's cargo was brought up, some was treated and eventually sent to several museums and other places for display. But much was dumped first into temporary tanks on Navy property, then into tanks at Fort Fisher.

The tanks were initially covered by plywood, as there wasn't money for proper lids, said Leslie Bright, who was hired in 1964 as assistant at the lab and later ran it.

The plywood rotted away, and the water in the tanks filled with leaves from surrounding oaks, turning the water a swampy black.

In retrospect, Bright said, the rotting leaves may have been one of the best things that could have happened to the artifacts, as it leached the oxygen out of the water and slowed the deterioration.

Bright, who retired 13 years ago, dropped by this week to watch the students pull out the artifacts.

As he watched, he reminisced about having to learn how to preserve artifacts essentially from scratch, since there were few established techniques and every material has to be handled differently.

"No one was doing that sort of thing," he said. "We were trying anything our minds could come up with."

Also standing quietly nearby watching the students this week was Stan Register. Fifty years ago, he was 13 and working at a hotdog stand on the beach when the Navy divers showed up.

They were staying at a hotel across from the hotdog stand and one day invited him to come out on the barge and watch what they were doing. Register can remember seeing the outline of the wreck and the men working on it. He remembers the four buckets of bullets they let him take a few from, and the small cannon and the banded cases of rifles.

"I had no idea of the historical significance of what they were doing that day, said Register, who is now the chief of police on the Fort Fisher historic site and essentially guards the stuff he saw brought up that day. "I was just a kid then, so it was just more of an adventure than anything else."

Before the students arrived Monday for three days of work, most of the water was pumped out of the tanks, leaving a three-foot layer of mostly rotted leaves and muck to keep the artifacts wet.

It also kept the students wet.

Dave Buttaro, an ECU graduate student in maritime studies who was up to his knees in muck Tuesday handing artifact out to the other students, looked up at Nathan Henry, the assistant state archaeologist who oversees conservation.

"Man, you guys have left this alone so long that we're now engaged in habitat destruction," joked Buttaro.

The work was a kind of treasure hunt, with the students never quit knowing what they would pull up next.

There were British-made Enfield rifles that were a mainstay of the war on both sides, many of them fused together in bundles the shape of the boxes that had held them.

There was tableware. There were wicked-looking antler- and ebony-handled Bowie knives, some still in the remnants of scabbards. There were bayonets, cinderblock-sized stacks of tin sheets, ax heads and chisels.

The students processed the artifacts assembly-line style, hosing them off at a grilled table setup on sawhorses, then taking them to another table covered in white plastic where they were tagged and photographed and logged in a laptop.

Finally, the items were placed in tanks of clean water in a nearby building.

By Tuesday night, nearly everything was out of the last tank, and Henry, who had been down in the morass, decided it was time to call it a day.

"Well," he told the students, "I think you've got enough to keep you busy for awhile."

Maybe even another 50 years.

FL: Civil War presentation part of literacy event

From the Daytona Beach Journal: Civil War presentation part of literacy event PALM COAST -- Authors, re-enactors, poets and performers will all be part of the 11th annual Flagler Reads Together event.

The month-long celebration of literacy kicked off last week with Daniel Schafer, author of "Thunder on the River," and continued over this past weekend with Joe Vetter, a Stephen Crane re-enactor.

Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage" is the book chosen by the Friends of the Library of Flagler County to celebrate Flagler Reads Together.

Library Director Holly Albanese said the Friends organization deserves credit for all the work they do to pull together the Flagler Reads Together events.

"There's a huge process that goes into considering what book they're going to have the community read," Albanese said.

Crane's novel of the Civil War was chosen to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of that conflict.

While there are many different programs available at the library -- from movies to arts and crafts and entertainment -- an event that focuses squarely on reading is a special one for library staff.

"Literacy is one of the biggest things librarians are concerned with," Albanese said. "People forget we are educators, as well."

Asked what she would say to those who would forgo reading "The Red Badge of Courage" in favor of watching the Hollywood film version, Albanese suggested people take advantage of a different form of technology.

"Instead of watching the movie, why not read the e-book?" she said.

Albanese said there are a variety of places readers can get a free download of the novel, including a link from the library's website at flaglerlibrary.org.

Albanese said this year's Flagler Reads Together is a "very special one for us" because it focuses on such an important topic in American history.

"There is a lot to learn that people aren't aware of" about the Civil War, she said.

As part of the month-long event, the library has a traveling exhibit from the Orange County Regional History Center called "Florida in the Civil War" through April 2. The exhibit includes interactive decision panels, a uniform try-on area and several cases of artifacts and documents related to the Civil War.

"It's a wonderful exhibit and it's great for support for what we're doing," Albanese said.

Albanese said choosing such an important historical topic provides a deeper understanding of the Civil War beyond what many children get in school.

"Science and math are a big push and somehow I think history gets left behind," she said.

Albanese said response for the two programs held so far has been "fantastic" and both events had a full house. In fact, for one of the programs she said people were slightly upset that something else was also scheduled for the same time and they had to choose which event to attend.

"That's a really nice problem to have that you have too much for people to choose," she said.

For more information about Flagler Reads Together, go online to flaglerlibrary.org or email fcfriends 123@yahool.com

NC: McDowell County Public Library hosting Civil War exhibit through March

From The McDowell News: McDowell County Public Library hosting Civil War exhibit through March

Throughout this month, the McDowell County Public Library will host a traveling display of 24 images about the bloodiest war in American history and how it deeply affected North Carolinians.

In observance of the sesquicentennial of the War Between the States, the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources has organized a special exhibit titled “Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory: Civil War Sesquicentennial Photography.” This exhibit of 24 photographs will travel the state from April 1, 2011 through the spring of 2013 as part of the state’s official commemoration of the struggle that lasted from 1861 through 1865.

“It is called a brother’s war and nowhere was that more true than in North Carolina,” reads a news release from the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. “The American Civil War claimed more lives that any military engagement undertaken by this country. North Carolina lost at least 35,000 soldiers, more than any other Southern state, and great hardships were suffered by those both at war and left at home.”

The photo exhibit is now on display in the downstairs meeting room at the McDowell County Public Library in Marion. Patti Holda works as the genealogical assistant in the library’s Abe Simmons Genealogy and N.C. History Room. She helped get it set up in the downstairs meeting room. It was open for the first time on Friday.

As part of the exhibit, period correct music is playing in the room to help set the mood and take visitors back to the time of the War Between the States.

Visitors to the exhibit will see well-known Confederate generals and leaders like Gov. Zebulon B. Vance, women who served as Confederate spies such as Rose O’Neal Greenhow and images of modern-day re-enactors who portray soldiers from that time. The battlefield, the homefront and black North Carolinians are all represented in the exhibit.

“A notebook accompanying the exhibit will offer sketches of the generals, of African Americans fleeing bondage, a woman whose home became a hospital and other glimpses of life from that turbulent time,” reads the news release.

The photos were taken from divisions within the Department of Cultural Resources, including four document images and 10 photos from the State Archives. Five images came from the N.C. Museum of History and five others came from the Civil War-related State Historic Sites.

One of the photos shows the moving blood-stained message left by Confederate Col. Isaac Avery. A native son of Burke County, Avery commanded a brigade during the Battle of Gettysburg. He was mortally wounded during the assault on Cemetery Hill on July 2, 1863. As he lay dying on the field of battle, Avery managed to write a note which he gave to Major Samuel Tate of the 6th N.C. Regiment. It read “Major, tell my father I died with my face to the enemy. I. E. Avery.”

Another photo shows a reunion of Thomas’ Legion. This was a unit of the Confederate Army comprised of Cherokee Indians and white settlers led by William Holland Thomas, the only white man to be chief of the Cherokees.

The tour will visit 49 public libraries and was organized through the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. “Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory” will be on display at the McDowell County Public Library throughout the month of March. The exhibit will be open during the library’s regular hours, which are from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The library is also open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The downstairs room where the exhibit is located may sometimes be booked for other uses.

The last day of the exhibit is Thursday, March 29.

“From here, it will go to Haywood County,” said Holda.

The exhibit will return to McDowell County in May 2013 when it will be on display at the Mountain Gateway Museum in Old Fort.

For more information about the tour, visit www.nccivilwar150.com or call (919) 807-7389. For more information about the local exhibit, call the McDowell County Public Library at 652-3858.

Wednesday!

I know I keep promising that I'm going to get back to a daily schedule of posts, and I know that weeks have gone by and there's been nothing regular about my schedule!

And I apologize! Stuff happens, abetted, I admit, by procrastination. There was a helluva lot of scanning of material I needed to do which I never did, and now I've got to get all that material back where it came from, so I've got 2 days of probably 12 hours a day spending my time scanning, and double checking to make sure I havne't missed any pages, etc.

So I'm going to spend the next 2 days doing that, will be all caught up on Wednesday, and will resume daily posts here.

And will finally have learned my lesson about procrastination - don't do it!

So frustrating: >>>Fundraising has also begun to erect a monument in Arlington to the 16 men on the Monitor, which he called an "iconic warship that changed naval history."

Well...is there a website to which one can contribute? Or where is the money to come from?

From Minnesota NPR: Faces of 2 Civil War era sailors reconstructed
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - When the turret of the USS Monitor was raised from the ocean bottom in 2002, two skeletons and the tattered remnants of their uniforms were discovered in the rusted hulk of the Union Civil War ironclad, mute and nameless witnesses to the cost of war. A rubber comb was found by one of the remains, a ring was on a finger of the other.

Now, thanks to forensic reconstruction, the two have faces.

In a longshot bid that combines science and educated guesswork, researchers hope those reconstructed faces will help someone identify the unknown Union sailors who went down with the Monitor 150 years ago.

The facial reconstructions were done by experts at Louisiana State University, using the skulls of the two full skeletal remains found in the turret, after other scientific detective work failed to identify them. DNA testing, based on samples from their teeth and leg bones, did not find a match with any living descendants of the ship's crew or their families.

"After 10 years, the faces are really the last opportunity we have, unless somebody pops up out of nowhere and says, 'Hey, I am a descendant,'" James Delgado, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Maritime Heritage Program, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The facial reconstructions are to be publicly released on Tuesday in Washington at the United States Navy Memorial where a plaque will be dedicated to the Monitor's crew.

If the faces fail to yield results, Delgado and others want to have the remains buried at Arlington National Cemetery and a monument dedicated in memory of the men who died on the first ironclad warship commissioned by the Navy.

The Brooklyn-made Monitor made nautical history, fighting in the first battle between two ironclads in the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862. The Monitor's confrontation with the CSS Virginia ended in a draw. The Virginia, built on the carcass of the U.S. Navy frigate USS Merrimack, was the Confederate answer to the Union's ironclad ships.

The Monitor sank about nine months later in rough seas southeast of Cape Hatteras while it was under tow by the USS Rhode Island. Sixteen of the Monitor's 62 crew members died. Dubbed a "cheese box on a raft," the Monitor was not designed for sailing on rough water. The crew of the Rhode Island was able to rescue about 50 survivors.

The wreck was discovered in 1973 and designated the first national marine sanctuary in 1975. An expedition about a decade ago retrieved the revolving turret. It is now on display at the USS Monitor Center of the Mariners' Museum in Newport News.

Of the Union sailors aboard the Monitor, some fell into the sea and died and some remain within the crumbling hull still on the ocean floor. The remains found in the turret probably reflect the desperate attempts of two crewmembers to abandon the ship before it sank.

Besides the comb, uniform scraps and ring, archaeologists also found other clues within the turret: a pair of shoes, buttons and a silver spoon.

None, however, conclusively identified the two dead men.

Delgado said this much is known about them. One was between 17 and 24 years old, the other likely in his 30s. They were Caucasian, so neither was among the three African-Americans who served on the Monitor's crew, he said.

An examination of medical and Navy records narrowed possibilities to six people. The older man is one of two possible crew members, while there are as many as four possible matches for the younger one.

"At this stage we don't know who these guys are," Delgado said. "We can tell you a fair amount about them, but that's about as far as forensic science takes us without a DNA match."

Genealogist Lisa Stansbury, who was under contract for a year on the Monitor project, waded through pension records, the National Archives and other documents in hopes of conclusively identifying the two Monitor sailors in the turret. While she couldn't make a positive match, she believes the older sailor to be the ship's fireman who tended the coal-fired steam engine.

"I think there is strong evidence the older man in the turret is Robert Williams," she said.

Stansbury was able to connect many dots in his military service and medical records, and one in particular. Records variously listed Williams' height as 5-foot-8 and one-quarter and 5-foot-8 and one-half.

An examination of the skeleton revealed one leg was shorter than the other, meaning his height would vary depending on which leg he was favoring.

Stansbury said she had not sought out any possible family connection in Williams' native Wales because of his common name.

The detective work was hampered, she said, by the use of aliases during the period -- used to exit military service without a trace if it wasn't to your liking -- and the error-filled records of the day.

"It can be very frustrating when you can't find information," Stansbury said. Still, she said, "It was just an honor to have worked on this project."

The facial reconstruction was done at the Louisiana Repository for Unidentified and Missing Persons Information Database at LSU. Its director, Mary Manhein, declined to discuss the final product until the Tuesday announcement but called the facial renderings "very cool."

David Alberg, superintendent of the Monitor sanctuary, said the reconstructed faces of the two unknown sailors cast the ship's sinking in "very personal terms."

"The notion of putting a face on history suddenly rings true," he said.

If no one steps forward following Tuesday's announcement, Delgado said he hopes the remains can be buried at Arlington.

"After 10 years in the lab, maybe it's time for these guys to get out of archival boxes and into a final resting place," he said. Fundraising has also begun to erect a monument in Arlington to the 16 men on the Monitor, which he called an "iconic warship that changed naval history." "Like all who served and all who do pay the price, that in and by itself makes them important and worthy of remembrance and recognition," Delgado said.