Relics prompt college evacuation

A college classroom building in suburban Atlanta was evacuated Monday morning because of Civil War relics that authorities feared were dangerous. • Article

S. Carolina scouring for 150th money

The Civil War began in South Carolina nearly 150 years ago and officials are looking for money for severl events. • Article

Did you know Hawaiians fought in Civil War?

A recent ceremony honored Hawaii veterans who fought in the Civil War. Experts say it's tough to figure out how many people were involved because the last names of Native Hawaiians were often written down incorrectly or made up. • Article

Re-enactors keep memory of black troops

The role of black Civil War troops in gaining the freedom of black Americans was pushed to a distant corner of the national memory for decades. But the story is one that scattered groups of black re-enactors are dedicated to retelling as the 150th anniversary of the war approaches. The story of the black troops is "really the only new story of the Civil War. Other stories have been presented but this one has been suppressed for so long," said Hari Jones of the African-American Civil War Memorial and Museum. • Article

Man inherits poignant Civil War letters

A trove of letters written to Mary Shoop from Union soldier relatives between 1861 and 1865 recently was inherited by John Snowden of Tampa. Snowden found them when he was going through his grandmother's papers about a month ago. Most were written by Shoop's brother and cousins. • Article

Atlanta's wartime history, technology meld nicely at interactive exhibit

Museum curators have a phrase to describe visitors and the time they spend in an exhibit.

“Streakers, strollers and scholars.”

The trick is having enough variety to make all three types of patrons happy.

The Atlanta History Center’s “War in Our Backyards: Discovering Atlanta, 1861-1865”, which allows patrons to interact with history and see an Atlanta that is long gone, accomplishes just that, says senior curator Gordon L. Jones.

Jones recalls the opening day of the Civil War exhibit earlier this month.

A boy named Max, perhaps 7 or 8, came in and, using the show’s star attraction -- an interactive, zoomable map -- figured out where his school is in relation to 1864 Atlanta.

He asked about the battles and rifle ammunition. Excited, he came back the next Saturday.

“This is the one we are after,” says Jones.

The AHS drew on its massive collection to create “Backyards,” and it is showcasing some items not displayed before. The exhibit continues through Oct. 1.

Historic maps of the battle -- some drawn by military mapmakers of the time, others by historians Wilbur G. Kurtz and Bill Scaife – fill one room.

Paintings depict downtown Atlanta.

A display features a box of Georgia red clay (left) sent to Hollywood so that crews could get the set colors right when making “Gone With the Wind.”

I was fascinated by a set of Atlanta Cyclorama work sketches used to make the huge painting-in-the-round in the 1880s.

A master sketch of the 1886 Cyclorama was photographed during its production. It was reduced and artists were given 10 sketches that depicted the entire circle. They painted from these.

The AHC saw one of the 10 on eBay in 2005, purchased it and then contacted the owner to buy four others.

“It was an absolutely good investment,” said Jones.

One of the sketches has a detail of Union Maj. Gen. John A. “Black Jack” Logan galloping into battle, with his staff on his heels.

Jones showed an area where Logan’s figure and horse originally were in the drawing, only to be moved up closer to the Battle of Atlanta.

It wasn’t uncommon for painters to “reward” people who helped pay a commission. Logan died the same year the Cyclorama was done, and Jones theorizes his old Army friends paid for a prominent position.

A small 3D theater is particularly compelling, featuring photos of wartime Atlanta, many made by photographer George Barnard.

“Most battlefield documentation of the 1860s was meant to be seen through stereo viewers, which gave the illusion of three-dimensions. In the exhibition’s theater, visitors once again see Civil War Atlanta in 3D,” the AHC says of the theater.

“To seem them [photos] in 3D gives you a whole different perspective,” said Hillary Henderson, vice president of marketing.

The exhibit’s marquee item is a large interactive display, with two companion pieces on the wall, allowing visitors to zoom in on Atlanta’s fortifications and streets during the battle. Terrain, street and satellite views can be had.

A Google map overlay gives you the modern street perspective. Georgia Tech assisted with the map, which eventually will go on the AHC’s website.

“This is the Wright Flyer” version of the map, Jones said. Photos and hot links one day will be added.

Nearby are some of the more well-known Barnard photos of Atlanta, including a curious one taken outside a store (photo below). A sign reads “Auction & Negro Sales,” obvious proof of the city's slave commerce.

A Union soldier reading something outside the door appears to be African-American. Jones is fascinated by this because Union Gen. William T. Sherman had no African-Americans serving at the front.

So the seated gentleman is a mystery man.

“Backyards” also features furniture from Atlanta homes and military sidearms and rifles.

The latter were made throughout Georgia, symbolic of its manufacturing might during the Civil War.

“The one weakness they had was they had to transport them by rail” and that was through Atlanta, said Jones. Much of the production didn’t reach Confederate troops during and after the decisive Atlanta Campaign.

Sherman’s Special Order 67, which provided details for occupation of Atlanta, is among the displays.

Jones says AHC’s artifacts, documents and maps tell the story of the Atlanta Campaign, even if the battlefields are long gone.

“We lost the 1864 city of Atlanta as soon as the battle was over,” Jones said.

Residents moved forward in rebuilding the city, erecting a new state Capitol and other buildings. Homes and businesses from the Civil War were eventually torn down.

Many folks don’t realize that Federal entrenchments built after the city’s fall in September 1864 destroyed more downtown property than during the fighting.

Jones and Hardwick are excited about the "triple crown" for the Atlanta History Center.

The upcoming Lincoln show, “With Malice Toward None,” organized by the Library of Congress, is expected to be a blockbuster. With it, “War in Our Backyards,” and the permanent “Turning Point: The American Civil War,” patrons will get a full taste of the Civil War in the coming weeks.

Jones believes in the past three decades scholars and the public have paid more attention to the importance of the Atlanta Campaign to the war’s outcome and the re-election of Abraham Lincoln.

“Now it’s getting its due,” he said.

• Click here for more information on the "Backyards" exhibit.
• Exhibit's page and details on Facebook.

Re-enactor sleeps in slave quarters

Joseph McGill is a program officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in South Carolina. But that's only his day job. On the side, McGill is a Civil War reenactor who has recently begun sleeping in former slave cabins. • Article

Atlanta History Center has big plans for 150

I caught up this week with Gordon L. Jones, senior military historian and curator at the Atlanta History Center. He gave me a brief overview of what the center has planned to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

A major symposium scheduled for January 2012 will cover the hot-button issue: Causes of the war.

"The point is to have a discussion," said Jones (left), who hopes to have scholars James McPherson and Gary Gallagher, among others, attend.

The AHC is submitting grant requests for the symposium, the only one in the Southeast. Each symposium across the country will focus on a specific topic.

"It will be the most collective brainpower in one room," Jones promises of the Atlanta event.

Speakers will take questions from the audience, said Jones. "There's not as much room for [Civil War] myth as there used to be."

2014, the actual 150th anniversary of the Atlanta Campaign, will see two exhibits at the AHC.

One is a traveling textile exhibition, with a focus on cloth and quilts. The AHC will include items from its collection, Jones said.

A show tentatively entitled "Relics and Remembrance" will draw from the AHC's own collection to look at lessons from the Civil War. The AHC's current "War in our Backyards" (right) show also includes relics, as well as maps, drawings, an interactive display and a 3-D theater.

The AHC is building 150th partnerships with other institutions, including Port Columbus, Emory University, Georgia Tech and the Georgia Historical Society, said Hillary Hardwick, vice president of marketing.

Jones expects the observation of the 150th anniversary to be different from the centennial, which was told from a Lost Cause, white perspective, he said.

The AHC, for example, has an exhibit entitled "From Civil War to Civil Rights."

Visitors these days are much more diverse, Jones said.

"We didn't see these audiences 20 years ago."

Veteran killed by fatal soda mix

C harlie Butts survived four years of Civil War battles, from Missouri to Georgia, only to be done in by a lethal drug-store soda. Read about how night policeman in Longview, Texas, mixed a fatal concoction. • Article

Virginia, its towns have big plans for 150

Virginia's commemoration includes a traveling exhibition of life on the battlefield and on the home front, events at battle sites and a project with the Library of Virginia to digitize diaries, letters and other documents from Virginians' private collections. And that doesn't include what communities are doing. • Article

Learn about role of horses, mules

Horses and mules were "the other soldiers" of the Civil War and tendered invaluable service as cavalry steeds or artillery haulers.

The public has an opportunity Saturday (Aug. 21) to learn more about their service during a two-hour driving tour at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

Park volunteer Richard Manion will lead the free car caravan, which begins at 10 a.m., to various sites and monuments at the 1863 battlefield. It begins at the visitor center. Visitors are encouraged to wear sturdy shoes and bring a bottle of water.

"At the Battle of Chickamauga Van Pelt’s Battery suffered significant animal loss, more than fifty horses, five guns and many soldiers. Only one horse survived from this battery," the NPS says.

For more information, contact the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at (706) 866-9241, the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center at (423) 821-7786 or visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/chch.

Oldest Civil War memorial has new home

What is believed to be the nation’s oldest Civil War memorial will now call the Frazier Museum in Kentucky home for at least 10 years. The limestone Bloedner Monument was unveiled in the lobby of the museum on Wednesday. The monument was created in 1862 to commemorate the 32nd Indiana Infantry after the 1861 Battle of Rowlett’s Station in Munfordville, Ky. • Article

Her ancestor was a prisoner, his was a guard

Nina Raeth and Doug Carter had no idea what they had in common when they met by chance at an archaeological dig this spring at the site of Camp Lawton, a Confederate prison camp near Millen, Ga.

Raeth's great-grandfather, a German immigrant, was a prisoner at Lawton and Andersonville. Carter's great-grandfather was a young Rebel guard at both prisons.

Raeth and Carter now share research. • Article

Preservation group supports casino

A battlefield preservation group announced Monday that it’s throwing support behind a proposed hotel resort and casino half a mile from the hallowed ground of Gettysburg. • Article

Picket poll: Pretty places

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See works of master mapmaker

Civil War and cartography enthusiasts will have an opportunity beginning Saturday to see digital images of the works of Confederate military mapmaker Jedediah Hotchkiss. • Article

This summer in history: Morris Island

Union forces spent the summer of 1863 trying to dislodge Confederates around Charleston, S.C.

Two attacks focused on Fort Wagner. The one made famous by the movie "Glory" took place on July 18, when the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of African-Americans, tried in vain to take the fort.

On Aug. 1, the Union began a prolonged bombardment of entrenchments, according to Georgia's Blue and Gray Trail. Confederates fired back on Morris Island on Aug. 11, starting a barrage between the enemies that lasted four days.

Confederate-held Fort Sumter took fire beginning Aug. 17. The shells caused heavy damage but the Union made no assault. Federal assaults continued off and on until September 1864.

48 hours in historic Richmond

Reuters correspondents help you get the most out of a 48-hour visit to the former Confederate capital that will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in 2011. • Article

Did N.C. overestimate number of dead?

North Carolina's claim that it lost the most men during the Civil War is getting a recount from a state historian who doubts the accuracy of the accepted, 144-year-old estimate. If North Carolina's numbers are wrong, then the numbers for other states are wrong as well because they all come from the same faulty sources, said Josh Howard, a research historian with the Office of Archives and History in Raleigh. • Article

Monteith Swamp: Trying to save what's left of an 1864 battlefield near Savannah

Jerry Dotson remembers the dirt fortifications he crawled on when he was a child.

Those redoubts built 100 years earlier at Monteith Swamp were an unwelcome sight for 12,000 Federal soldiers only days away from securing Savannah.

To win the city, men of the 20th and 14th corps and the rest of Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s 65,ooo-strong blue mass had to bust through a line of craftily-planned defenses erected by Confederate Gen. William “Old Reliable” Hardee (below) and a group of 10,000 defenders.

A contingent of 300 North Carolinians were among the scant 800 Rebel troops deployed along one stretch on the Chatham County and Effingham County line in December 1864. They employed four guns in the redoubts near modern-day Monteith Road.

“It was here that Confederate soldiers, weary and outnumbered, tried unsuccessfully to stave off the inevitable,” writes historian Barry Sheehy, who lives in nearby Rincon.

The title of Sheehy’s 2005 article in the Georgia Historical Quarterly refers to the minor engagements at Monteith Swamp (click photo above to enlarge) and nearby Shaw’s Bridge as “Forgotten.”

The battles slipped into history, a small footnote in the March to the Sea. A Google search on the Battle of Monteith Swamp doesn’t turn up much, either.

Fortunately, the battle is about to bubble back up from the quagmire of oblivion.

The LAMAR Institute, a non-profit archaeological group, recently received a $40,000 grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service to “conduct archeology fieldwork to identify and document the battlefield as well as foster public outreach.”

The ABPP’s mission is to "safeguard and preserve significant American battlefield lands for present and future generations as symbols of individual sacrifice and national heritage."

Sheehy and the LAMAR Institute are concerned about urban sprawl in this semirural area two miles from I-95 and just west of Savannah.

“The ultimate goal is to keep these [lands] preserved in public domain,” says LAMAR director Daniel Elliott (left).

**********

The NPS lists the Battle of Monteith Swamp as a “devastating loss” for the Confederacy.

Sheehy, Elliott and Dotson, who owns 90 acres containing much of the battlefield, including Harrison's Field (photo below) disagree.

They believe it was a successful, if momentary, “holding action.”

“I look at it as a brief victory for the South,” says Dotson, 65, a semiretired corporate pilot who has a home not far from the mostly-gone entrenchments

Elliott is waiting for the weather to get a little cooler and less buggy before he does the bulk of the survey, which he expects to submit to the NPS in late 2011. He will study about 500 acres and learn about the regiments that fought there.

Knee boots are essential wear for a foray into Monteith Swamp. Although alligator sightings are rare, the land is home to all kinds of snakes.

The Union troops that fought in the area recall the inhospitable terrain as a “morass.” Dropping to their bellies in the swamp water, even if to escape enemy fire, wasn’t appealing.

Still, they could taste victory and just needed to push through this line and a few other positions before grabbing the vital railroad linking Savannah and Charleston, S.C.

“The dominoes were falling when they left Atlanta,” says Elliott.

**********

In his 2005 article, Sheehy lays out the circumstances and details of the Battle of Monteith Swamp.

“The advance of enemy soldiers across the state ignited a frenzy of defensive preparations along the coast,” he writes. “The idea that an enemy might approach from the landward side had been considered so outrageous that the Confederate authorities had largely ignored the possibility.”

Gen. Hardee built a strong set of defensive lines west of downtown Savannah. Part of that included flooded land, small lakes and more swamp land.

Sheehy, who is writing a four-volume series on Savannah, slavery and the war, says land behind the modern Savannah Christian Preparatory School several miles away has magnificent surviving earthworks.

Confederate Col. Charles C. Jones dug in to slow Sherman and protect railroad tracks near “Harrison’s Place,” a plantation field at Monteith Swamp that has been cultivated since before the Civil War and is currently leased by Dotson to a hay farmer.

The 14th and 20th corps with about 30,000 men advanced on three roads -- Monteith Road, Middle Ground Road and Old Augusta Road. (Photo above is a view from Meinhard and Monteith roads)

Jones’ detachment of 300 at Monteith Swamp strengthened its defensive works, felled trees and built an abatis and trench lines for its flanks. The Rebels used a long line of swamp to its advantage against an overwhelming force.

On Dec.9, 1864, the entire 20th Corps (12,000 regulars) under Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams (below) advanced down Monteith Road from Zion Church. Around noon they hit Confederate positions.

“They had the Confederates on the redoubts, right in their face,” Dotson tells the Civil War Picket.

“The sounds of fighting could be heard for miles, as units of the Twentieth Corps began to stack up like an accordion along the narrow road,” Sheehy writes.

A flanking movement became bogged down in marsh and reinforcements flooded in to assist the 61st Ohio, the 31st Wisconsin and the 82nd Ohio. The going was slow.

Eventually, a flanking attack on the Rebel right bought some high ground and sent the Confederates out of their entrenchments, across Monteith Road and to Harrison’s Place, where they fought some more.

By late afternoon, the defenders were gone, leaving knapsacks and camp equipment but taking their colors and four guns with them. The Confederates had about 14 killed and four captured in the six-hour battle. Union losses were two dead and six wounded.

Union forces got to the railroad the next day and rolled up the Confederate defenses on the western line. The loss of Fort McAllister soon after spelled the end for Savannah. Sherman had ships to bring in supplies and a “biscuit line” to feed his massive army, Sheehy says.

Hardee skillfully escaped with the remnants of his army into South Carolina.

**********

Subdivisions have been built in recent years near the Monteith battlefield. But the area still maintains a somewhat rural feel, with nearby churches like White Oak Baptist (right).

“It’s all doomed,” Sheehy says of remaining open land. The Georgia Battlefields Association lists Monteith Swamp as an endangered battlefield.

Sheehy believes Chatham County should buy and preserve the site, especially Harrison’s Place.

Dotson takes part in Georgia’s Conservation Use Value Assessment (CUVA) program. Landowners who donate an easement automatically qualify for the lowest property tax assessment.

He has turned down development offers and would like some government or group to buy Harrison’s field. The land currently is worth between $30,000 and $40,000 an acre.

“I would just hate to see any of my children develop that place,” says Dotson, who can trace the land back to his great-grandfather, Zachary. “It’s one of the last battlefields still intact.”

Over the years, Dotson has unearthed some treasures. A metal detector yielded what probably is a soldier’s ring. He has found hundreds of bullets, dozens of buttons, a buckle and a couple of artillery shells, including a Hotchkiss.

His grandfather and father passed down remnants of two swords and two rare rifles.

He doesn’t know how much longer the area will stay as it is.

“You can see the builders are starting back,” Dotson says.

Photos of battlefield and church courtesy of Cindy Wallace.

Interesting yarn on war's last horse

A steed named King Richard carried a Confederate soldier late during the Civil War and lived to a remarkably old age for a horse, dying in the 1890s in Bristol, Va. • Article

Man pleads guilty to relic hunting on U.S. park

A Georgia man has entered a federal plea deal over relic hunting on a national battlefield. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary C. Roemer said a ranger at the Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Battlefield saw Eric Blaasch walking out of a woods, covered in mud. The ranger found Blaasch had three Minie balls - bullets used in muzzleloading rifles during the Civil War. • Article

Dressed in black: Mourning tour explains life and death during Victorian era

Scarlett O’Hara wanted little to do with that mourning business.

Her husband, Charles, had died of pneumonia during the Civil War.

Scarlett, who felt she is too young to be a widow, wore a mourning dress to a charity ball in Atlanta.

In that famous scene from “Gone With the Wind,” the dashing Rhett Butler won the right to dance with her in front a horrified crowd.

You may remember the looks of disgust, particularly among the ladies present, as they dance, Scarlett decked in black.

"For a widow to appear in public at a social gathering - everytime I think of it, I feel faint," bemoaned Aunt Pittypat.

Scarlett had violated the traditions of mourning in the Victorian era. Women of means would mourn for two and a half years and dancing with a bachelor was out of the question.

This story is among many described through the end of August at Stately Oaks Plantation, a Greek Revival home in Jonesboro, Ga., scene of a bloody 1864 battle.

The house, built in 1839, was moved nearly 40 years ago from a field a few miles away where Union soldiers camped prior to the battle.

Clayton County, south of Atlanta, has many ties to Margaret Mitchell, author of “GWTW.” Her great-grandfather, Philip Fitzgerald, had a home nearby. Stately Oaks claims Mitchell may have gotten some of her inspiration for her characters by driving by historic Jonesboro.

I stopped by Stately Oaks this week for the “mourning tour.” I was thoroughly impressed by a collection of artifacts and the wonderful telling of history and traditions by docents Kay Dreyer and Jan Turner.

“You did everything you could to honor the dead,” Dreyer said.

Of course, soldiers killed in battle usually were buried where they fell, but families and friends made every effort to recover their body later.

Mourning displays fill the two-story house, which has an original cookhouse, a tenant cabin and one-room school. The loss of a child is represented in the parlor.

Stately Oaks this year has a display on African-American mourning traditions in the Victorian age.

I was fascinated by the origin of some traditions:

-- A wake was a period in which people would sit next to the coffin and ensure the person wasn’t really “asleep.”
-- Bodies were usually displayed in the parlor or a bedroom. Once “funeral parlors,” or businesses came into being, a home’s parlor became known as a “living room.”
-- Feet of a deceased loved one were pointed to the door so its journey to heaven would not be impeded.
-- Mirrors in the house were covered. “You should not be vain during mourning,” Dreyer said. Spirits also wouldn’t want to see themselves and be denied access to heaven.
-- In the South, slaves would sing a mournful song en route to a grave, while sharing a joyful one coming back to celebrate “Going Home.” Sometimes, a plantation owner wouldn’t allow a funeral until late at night so as to get a full day of work from them.
-- A small bottle (below) would catch tears. They would either be saved or poured over a grave.

The discussion may appear morbid, but I found the docents’ explanation of mourning rituals fascinating.

“These people knew death could happen in a moment,” said Dreyer, who has volunteered at Stately Oaks for three decades and is in her third year of leading the mourning tours.

Families took care of the dead themselves. Grieving lasted three days, and an invitation to a viewing or funeral was hand-delivered. Because this was before the time of widespread embalming, people brought flowers to help mask the smell.

People in Victorian era also were sentimental and superstitious.

One third of children died before they were 5 and a photo of their remains might be the only image a family would possess.

Unscrupulous photographers sometimes took advantage of this. Through “spirit photography” they would obtain an image of the deceased while he or she was alive and then superimpose it over a survivor, as if it was a guardian spirit.

The top killers of married women were childbirth and a house fire.

And mourning for the sexes was unequal. A husband mourned three months and often would wed a sister or cousin of his wife.

A wife, however, had an extended period of mourning, with different stages of colors. During the Civil War, especially, a woman with modest means, might have to dye a dress black.

Stately Oaks has dozens of artifacts showing mourning as a business, with parasols, fans, buttons, portraits and much more. I won’t share all of what they have here. But a visit this month will give you a fuller appreciation of life and death during the era.

The mourning tour takes about two hours to go through the house and the other buildings. Tours are conducted on the hour from 10 am til 4 pm (last tour at 3 pm) Monday - Saturday. Admission: Adults, $12; seniors, $9 (55 yrs); and children, $6. Stately Oaks also offers AAA and military discounts.

• Click here for more information on Stately Oaks.

New conservation efforts for Hunley

Ten years after the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley was raised off the South Carolina coast, just why it sank off Charleston, S.C., in 1864 remains shrouded in mystery. • Article

War in Our Backyards: Exhibit shows what Atlanta looked like during Civil War

The bad news: Visible remains of Civil War Atlanta are long gone.

The good news: An exhibit opening Saturday at the Atlanta History Center brings them back in 3-D.

An interactive computer also will allow visitors to click current maps, overlaying 1864 battle and siege lines and troop movements over them.

“Many area residents have no idea what happened literally right under our feet,” the AHC says about “War in Our Backyards: Discovering Atlanta, 1861-1865.”

I’m looking forward to checking out the exhibition and making a fuller report in The Picket. I plan to speak with curator Gordon Jones, who was busy this week putting the final touches on the show, which will run until October 2011.

(Then-and-now photos above): Near the current Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts on Decatur Street, George N. Barnard documented the ruins of a destroyed Confederate ammunition train and the nearby iron mill. Courtesy Kenan Research Center)

Using the latest research, visitors will see how much of the city was destroyed and by whom. “Most battlefield documentation of the 1860s was meant to be seen through stereo viewers, which gave the illusion of three-dimensions. In the exhibition’s theater, visitors once again see Civil War Atlanta in 3-D,” the AHC says in a recent newsletter.

Photos and objects from the collections of Wilbur G. Kurtz, Beverly DuBose, Thomas S. Dickey and George Wray “tell the personal stories of the men who fought in our backyards.” Also on display are five sketches made in 1886 for the Atlanta Cyclorama.

The AHC says rare drawings and sketches will be exhibited for the first time.

President Abraham Lincoln was sweating his re-election bid in the summer of 1864. Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s victory in the vital city ensured his political success.

(Photos above): George N. Barnard made this photograph of the battlefield of Peachtree Creek near the corner of current Collier Road and Dellwood Drive in Buckhead. The clue for identifying the spot was deciphering a name on one of the grave markers in the foreground. Courtesy Kenan Research Center)

• Click here for more information on the exhibit.
• Exhibit's page and details on Facebook.

Worthy tales from Fort Pulaski

New exhibits in the visitors center led a writer back to Fort Pulaski (Ga.) last week, where she learned a few stories. • Article

Fundraiser for flag restoration

Organizers of the fifth annual Confederate Flag Benefit in Franklin, Tenn., hope this week to raise the remaining $13,000 needed to complete the restoration of an 1861-era Confederate flag. The six-by-nine foot silk flag was flown during the Civil War by the 20th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry in 1861.

Yes, there's an app for the Civil War

Civil War: America's Epic Struggle (US$4.99) from MultiEducator Inc. is a full history course in an iPad and iPhone app. It contains at least as much information as most textbooks on the Civil War at a fraction of the cost, while adding elements that no textbook can, according to a review. There are 24 multimedia presentations, and a selection of music popular during the Civil War • Article