In their own words: NH’s Civil War soldiers

From Nashua Telegraph: In their own words: NH’s Civil War soldiers 

“New Hampshire and the Civil War: Voices from the Granite State” by Bruce D. Heald, Ph.D.; The History Press; paperback; 128 pages; $19.99.

These days, it seems that interest in the Civil War is at an all-time high, as increasing numbers of people try to reconnect to the roots of their own family histories and to grasp a greater understanding of one of the bloodiest conflicts in our nation’s history.

It was a war that tore the country in half, and one that took many long years after it mercifully ended in 1865 for America’s wounds and deep divisions to finally heal.

The bitter conflict literally pitted brother against brother and nearly destroyed the United States of America during a critical period in its history when it was still a young nation seeking to find its place in the world.

It was also a war that gave rise to one of our greatest political figures; Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16th president.

In his latest book, “New Hampshire and the Civil War: Voices from the Granite State,” Dr. Bruce Heald, a professor of American military history at Plymouth State University, reaches across time, takes readers by the hand and leads them through the murky pages of history. And he does this in a mere 128 pages by capturing the words and photographic images of New Hampshire’s soldiers who wore the blue of the Grand Army of the Republic – The Union.

For a good many of us who look back at the Civil War from this time and this place, it’s often the misty images of the Confederacy that seem to fill our mind’s eye, for there is a timeless and dreamy mystique that still hangs over the old romantic South. The port city of Charleston, S.C., gallant military figures such as Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, are the stuff of distant dreams, the stuff that movies are made of.

It’s fair to say that just as many people today aren’t aware of the fact that New Hampshire, this most Northern and Yankee of states, played its own unique role in the war, supplying 10,657 recruits for the infantry, cavalry and field artillery divisions in 1861. The majority of these first recruits enlisted for three years of service to the Union cause.

In his book, Heald makes it possible for these long-ago soldiers from the Granite State to tell their story to us in their own words by weaving together a collection of their letters to those they left behind – the families in Nashua and Portsmouth and sweethearts in Concord and Manchester.

A wonderful tapestry of artist renderings, photographs and personal letters from the camps and battlefields draws in readers in a way that fosters a wonderful and intimate connection to New Hampshire’s contribution to the War Between the States through the voices of its heroic sons.

Through a series of brief introductions to each volunteer regiment, accounts of scores of personal letters and a fascinating look at camp life, vivid images emerge shedding new light on the wartime experiences of New Hampshire soldiers. 

In these modern times, the Civil War is so remote in our collective conscience that much of it has been hidden and lost behind the gauzy veil of time. Taking this into consideration, one of the interesting aspects found in reading this book is the way in which the author deftly weaves together a blend of traditional military history as well as a social and cultural study of New Hampshire’s warriors.

Reading their letters home to loved ones, one comes away with the strong sense of how the horror of war transcends the bonds of time. The fears, frustrations, loneliness and war-weariness of these young Civil War soldiers comes across every bit as real, and as palpable, as the emails that today’s soldiers send home to their loved ones from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the final analysis, the only thing that seems to separate the New Hampshire soldiers of today from their ancestors who fought in the Civil War 150 years ago is the time itself.

This book has a great deal to offer to anyone who’s interested in the Civil War, and especially to those people from New Hampshire who seek to know more about the contributions their ancestors made in fighting to hold the nation together in its darkest hour.

Many young soldiers from the Granite State served and sacrificed in that war that now lives only in the pages of history books, and this insightful modern-day study from a scholar provides a wonderful opportunity to reach back and get to know them better from across an enormous chasm of time.

Service to honor black Civil War soldiers

From the Durham News: Service to honor black Civil War soldiers

 The Pauli Murray Project will hold its annual Memorial Day ceremony at Maplewood Cemetery from 10 a.m. to noon Monday, May 28.

Free and open to the public, the event will honor two African American Civil War veterans, Robert G. and Richard B. Fitzgerald and the 112 African Americans buried in the Historic Fitzgerald Family Cemetery.
The cemetery is located at the corner of Kent Street and Morehead Avenue. Free parking is available one block south courtesy of First Calvary Baptist Church.

The ceremony will include a presentation of the colors by the Hillside High School Junior ROTC Honor Guard, an offering of libations by Victor Maafo, remarks from members of the Fitzgerald family and a reading of the names of the departed. This event was started by Fitzgerald family members in 1995 as a way of calling attention to their family burial site and to support their efforts to persuade the City of Durham to annex it to the adjacent Maplewood Cemetery. It has grown into a wonderful way for us to honor our local veterans and learn more about Durham’s history, says Barbara Lau, director of the Pauli Murray Project .

Robert Fitzgerald was Pauli Murray’s grandfather and a prominent educator and brick maker who came to Durham after the Civil War to teach newly freed African Americans. His brother Richard followed, and they started their brick making business together.

Robert was not able to continue due to an injury suffered during his service on behalf of the Union Army, but Richard’s business flourished. His bricks were in the construction of Erwin Cotton Mill and many local tobacco warehouses. Richard Fitzgerald was one of the founders and first president of Mechanics and Farmers Bank. Both brothers were Union soldiers in the Civil War.

After the ceremony, guests will tour over to the Robert Fitzgerald/Pauli Murray House, located at 906 Carroll St. There, spoken word artist Kimberly McCrae will perform at the reception.

The event is co-sponsored by the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute, Preservation Durham, the Fitzgerald/Murray family and Habitat for Humanity of Durham. Free parking is available courtesy of First Calvary Baptist Church on Kent Street just south of Morehead Avenue.

Darrell Laurant: Civil War chaplain museum to feature two new exhibits

From NewsAdvance: Darrell Laurant: Civil War chaplain museum to feature two new exhibits

The chaplains, North and South, who worked the front lines of the American Civil War didn’t have to muster up images of fire and brimstone — in many cases, it was all around them. And hell was as close as the next battlefield.

“There was definitely an incentive to listen to the chaplain’s message about eternal things,” said Alan Farley.

Farley still delivers that message, albeit as a Civil War re-enactor in chaplain’s garb. He also provided the collection of artifacts that jump-started the National Civil War Chaplain’s Museum on the Liberty University campus.

“A friend of mine named Scott Hartzell and I had spent 10 years gathering these items,” Farley said. “We went to Civil War shows, antique shops, on eBay, everything we could think of. A couple of times, I bought a book in an antique store and found a Civil War gospel tract tucked away inside it. Scott had the same experience.

“Then, one day, we looked at each other and said, ‘We’ve got to find a place to keep all this stuff rather than in our houses.’ Not long after that, unfortunately, Scott died of an illness.”

By then, however, Liberty University history professor Kenny Rowlette became interested in the project.

“I had known Alan for a long time and was always fascinated by his chaplain’s depiction,” Rowlette said. “We had talked a good bit about the possibility of having a museum dedicated to those who ministered to the troops during the Civil War, and it just seemed like a good time to do it.”

The college administration, including Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr., was supportive, Rowlette said, and the initial chaplain’s museum — which, incidentally, is the first of its kind to focus only on the Civil War — started out in a former classroom in the DeMoss building.

“We were a little hard to find there,” Rowlette said, “and parking wasn’t good.”

So when a small convenience store attached to Doc’s Diner (an on-campus restaurant) closed and Falwell offered the space for the museum, Rowlette, Farley and fellow museum organizer Cline Hall (also a Liberty history professor) were ecstatic.

“We turned a convenience store into a museum in a matter of weeks, “ Rowlette said, “and we’re working on a plan to use every square foot of space.”

In case you’ve ever wondered whose side God was on in the War Between the States, you won’t find the answer here — the Chaplain’s Museum is relentlessly non-partisan.

“We have information on chaplains from both sides,” Rowlette said. “We have Protestant ministers, Catholic priests and even rabbis.”

After all, the job was basically the same — to educate, comfort, evangelize and, Rowlette adds, “get men ready to go out and kill each other. You can’t forget that part of it.”

And when the killing was done, it was the chaplains who walked through the chaotic aftermath, praying for the wounded, administering last rites and performing funerals.

According to Farley, more than 150 chaplains (out of an estimated 30,000) died performing their duties — some were killed by wayward bullets and shells, others worn down by the rigors of the assignment.

“Many of these were older men,” Farley said, “and all the marching, sleeping on the ground and exposure to disease often broke their health.”

The museum contains photographs, letters, Bibles, paintings, religious tracts, a rare lap organ used in Sunday services, ID buttons that were the ancestors of military dog tags and a wealth of information on the United States Christian Commission, directed by Henry Ward Beecher.

“Rusty Hicks, one of our board members, has discovered quite a few key items for us,” said Rowlette. “He just has an eye for this.”

This summer, the museum will offer two new exhibits — a “mourning room” with period furniture and decorations (including a cross formed from the woven hair of dead Confederate soldiers), and an exhibit on Civil War sharpshooters featuring Rev. Lorenzo Barbour, chaplain to the Confederate Berdan’s Sharpshooters.

All of them, no doubt, felt God was with them

I crave your indulgence

My mother's sister is visiting for three days.


My mom's deaf as a post, my dad can't be bothered to get out of his chair, so I will be doing the entertaining - the chauffeuring and the talking and the communicating - for the next three days.


So I'll be posting back here Thursday.


Thanks for your patience.

Where am I RVA? American Civil War Center

From Richmond.com: Where am I RVA? American Civil War Center
ichmond's big chapter in the battlefield history of the Civil War began its 150th anniversary commemoration on May 9 and continues with 60 days of events.

One of the more unique places to learn about the Civil War can be found at the American Civil War Center at historic Tredegar Iron Works.

The Center opened October 7, 2006, and is considered to be place to learn about the Civil War -- its causes, its course, and its legacies, according to its website. "It is a place where the people who decided America’s future tell their stories. Here, all of the main stories -- Union, Confederate, and African American -- get significant space together for the first time."

The Center is located on 8 acres on the historic James River in downtown Richmond. A National Historic Landmark, the Tredegar site contains five surviving buildings illustrating the Iron Works era. The National Park Service operates the Richmond National Battlefield Park Visitor Center located in the restored Pattern Building.

Admission is $8, children are $4 and free to children 5 and under.

Highlighted upcoming events at the Center:

Fire! Rifle Musket Program - May 19 & May 27: Join a costumed historical interpreter for a discussion and demonstration of the primary infantry weapon of the American Civil War. Learn how a Civil War soldier trained and fought with the rifle musket.

Men of Iron - May 20: Before, during and after the Civil War, the Tredegar Iron Works was an important industrial complex. In peacetime, it supplied the vast expansion of the railroad industry; in war it produced the largest number of cannon in the Confederacy. Guests are treated to a tour of the grounds learning about the manufacturing of iron, the people who worked here, the historic buildings on site and Tredegar owner Joseph Reid Anderson.

Meet the Curator, Meet the Artifact! - May 26: Throughout the year, artifacts in our In the Cause of Liberty exhibition change to showcase remarkable pieces that have been shared with us from private collections and renowned museums around the country. Join Randy Klemm, Curator for the American Civil War Center as he shares these remarkable pieces with you.

Henry Robert Burke | 1940-2012: Historian shared knowledge of Civil War era

From the Columbus Dispatch : Henry Robert Burke | 1940-2012: Historian shared knowledge of Civil War era

The glimpses of history that Henry Robert Burke brought to light can be seen around southeastern Ohio.
Thanks to his research, visitors to the Belpre Historical Society’s museum along the Ohio River can view the southeastern Ohio Underground Railroad exhibit.
Because of his volunteer classroom lectures, local students have learned more about Underground Railroad sites in their area.
The area historian and author died of a heart attack Saturday in Marietta Memorial Hospital. Burke was 72 and lived in Marietta.
A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday in the Leavitt funeral home in Belpre.
Born in Columbus, Burke served nine years in the U.S. Army, part of it stationed in West Germany during the Cold War. He also worked for 35 years as a construction foreman.
He researched and wrote about the Underground Railroad, the clandestine route of safe houses and abolitionists that led escaped slaves to freedom.
He also wrote about the approximately 200 African-American men from Washington County and surrounding counties known to have enlisted to fight in the Civil War with the United States Colored Infantry.
He researched other Civil War history, profiled area historical figures, and wrote columns for Marietta newspapers.
Burke was recognized for his scholarship by the Ohio legislature and historical and educational organizations.
He was a humble man who enjoyed sharing his knowledge with others, said Amanda Mayle of Chesterhill in Morgan County, who met Burke through a shared interest in Underground Railroad history.
“The world has just lost a great treasure,” she said yesterday.
Thanks to his knowledge and passion about the Underground Railroad and life in Civil War-era Ohio, Ohioans have a fuller understanding of this time in history, Andy Verhoff, local history coordinator at the Ohio Historical Society, wrote in an email yesterday.
“It’s not just his knowledge, however, that made him stand out — it was his desire to share it, and that he did so generously and good-naturedly,” Verhoff wrote.
Burke’s website includes his work at www.henryrobertburke.com.

African American Heritage Alliance takes root

From Star-Exponent: African American Heritage Alliance takes root
Two historians passionate about the legacy of African Americans have created an organization focused on telling the whole story.
Reva resident Zann Nelson, former director of the Museum of Culpeper History, and Howard Lambert, a Culpeper native who appeared with Denzel Washington in 1989’s “Glory,” are co-founders of the African American Heritage Alliance. The mission of the state-incorporated group, formed in March, is to preserve and promote greater knowledge of African American history through research, education, interpretation and publication.
Its focus the next couple years, aptly so, will be the role of the United States Colored Troops in the American Civil War, now in the midst of its 150th anniversary. The Alliance’s inaugural event will be a daylong symposium July 21 with honored guest Dr. Dan Sutherland, an award-winning author whose latest book, “Seasons of War,” explores Culpeper’s strategic role in the American conflict.
“The word, ‘Alliance,’ was very intentional,” Nelson said of her new organization, “because we will be aligning with other groups whether they be historic groups, education groups or churches.”
Working separately and then together on various African American history projects, Nelson and Lambert realized the need for a formal organization to support, give credence to and help disseminate the vast untapped wealth of information out there on the total African American experience.
“It has been a passion of mine for some time,” said Lambert, a re-enactor for decades with the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first documented African American regiment in the north to serve for the Union in the Civil War, as depicted in “Glory.”
Co-founding the Alliance with Nelson seemed like “a natural collaboration,” he said, especially in light of the ongoing sesquicentennial commemoration.
“It just made sense, we were like minds. I am bubbling up with so many projects and thought if we do it collectively we have a much more unifying force to get things done,” said Lambert, a 1975 graduate of Culpeper County High School and past member of Antioch Baptist Church.
The Alliance is not restricted to geography or a particular time period or just the military in its mission, Nelson said, though the original focus will be on the USCT link to citizens of Culpeper, Orange, Madison and Rappahannock. The USCT did not activate until emancipation of the slaves in 1863, its service continuing through the end of the war.
Right now, Nelson, an investigative journalist and Star-Exponent columnist, is researching colored troops that listed their place of birth as one of the aforementioned four counties. Previous notable African American projects she did include the nationally recognized “Buried Truth” series from 2005 about the last lynching in Culpeper County and the more recent series establishing the birthplace as Culpeper County of Negro Leagues slugger Pete Hill.
“I never had the luxury of just centering on one tiny piece of research,” she said. “You pull on this little thread and you just get this whole ball of yarn.”
In researching local members of the USCT, Nelson is pouring through military records for answers to questions like what battles was he in, was he killed in battle, did he have pension, and further, what did he do after the war, did he come back to the area, and are his descendants still around?
“You begin to draw these connections,” Nelson said. “Connections with the community, maybe descendants of people who owned those slaves. They’re very interested in this as well because it incorporates part of their ancestor’s lives.”
The African American Heritage Alliance is not about pointing fingers or standing in judgment of history, she added.
“It’s a question of looking at life as it was and understanding that,” Nelson said. “There is so much of it out there that is yet to be known.”
Established organizations like the National Trust, National Park Service and African American Historical Societies in Orange and Fauquier counties are all motivated to tell the story of the African American experience, she noted, mentioning groups with which the Alliance could potentially partner.
“We’re a clearing house,” Nelson said. “We are very hopeful that as we get more information out there people will want to add more.”
Her research thus far has led her to at least one black man buried in Culpeper County who fought for the Union Army and another who was a Buffalo Soldier.
The USCT, in addition, made a very important river crossing in Culpeper, and fought in the area.
“They were thrown in to the heat of battle at the Wilderness. (Brig. Gen. Edward) Ferrero’s division was thrown absolutely in the fight and as he points out in his report they performed admirably. This is their first time in the war … the USCT effectively joined the Union war offensive effort in Culpeper in May of 1864 in Culpeper County,” said another noted historian Clark “Bud” Hall in a previous interview. “When they step across the Rappahannock River, they link with the Army of the Potomac which has now left for the Wilderness. They have crossed and are crossing so once they arrive at Peoli’s Mill on Mountain Run they join the Army of the Potomac. The little mill site is still there.”
Lambert’s research establishes the presence of African American soldiers in Culpeper during the Civil War, and that they possibly fought a battle here, he said. He is all about collaboration as part of the new Alliance.
“There were actually USCT members who were born in Culpeper — we want to look into that. There was a guy in the 54th Mass from Culpeper, William Lightfoot, we want to research that. I want to see those local connections,” Lambert said, noting links abound. “It’s a holistic approach so even though it says African American history obviously we are all intertwined.”
The Alliance is not about dredging up painful history, he added.
“This is about heroes. It’s not about victims. It’s about all of us and our contributions to being where we are today.”

Inaugural event
The African American Heritage Alliance co-hosts a symposium July 21 as part of this summer’s commemorative Civil War events. From 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., noted author Daniel Sutherland, Ph.D., historians John Hennessey and James Bryant will discuss Lincoln’s policies, military shifts, General Pope’s arrival in Culpeper, the looming question of emancipation and slave refugees and the impact on Culpeper. Noted Civil War historian Clark “Bud” Hall hosts a bus tour from 1 to 5 p.m. exploring union encampments and slave refugee escape routes and then later on July 21, from 6 to 8 p.m., the Alliance hosts “An Evening with Dan Sutherland.” Contact Zann Nelson at (540) 547-2395 or m16439@aol.com for details and to make reservations.