Delaware history: Du Pont family, company crucial to Civil War story

DelawareOnline: Delaware history: Du Pont family, company crucial to Civil War story

It's the snazzy braided uniform coat for Hagley Museum archivist and exhibit curator Lucas Clawson.

The glittering gold ceremonial sword for a visitor.

The American flag, housed in a shrouded case just like the flag that inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., for a group of women gathered around it.

There's no telling which piece of memorabilia will capture a visitor's imagination in Hagley Museum and Library's new exhibit, "An Oath of Allegiance to the Republic: the du Ponts and the Civil War."

A jewelbox of a show, and an exquisite example of the kind of local exhibit that can be done by a small regional museum, the installation looks at Delaware and the Civil War through the role of the du Pont family and its powderworks. The result is a compact, yet comprehensive, look at political, business, community, military and family roles and activities.

The show is only one of the many ways Delaware is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, and it highlights the many ways the state participated.

"Often, Delaware is overlooked because there weren't any battles here, and it's assumed we went easily into the Union," says Joan Reynolds Hoge-North, deputy director for Museum Administration.

Not so, according to the exhibit, which starts with the story of DuPont President Henry du Pont, appointed by Gov. William Burton in his first executive order as commander of the state militia, as part of Democrat Burton's efforts to placate Republicans.

Du Pont immediately issued an order demanding that all members of the military had to take an oath to the Union, which du Pont considered the only true Constitutional move.

Burton's second order was to take away du Pont's power to make such sweeping decisions, especially in the heated, uncertain days leading up to the war.

The Hagley show will stay on view through July 2012, with special lectures and other events spread throughout the year. It's part of a five-year effort called "A Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the Great State of Delaware in the American Civil War."