The site 10
miles northeast of Americus is having its annual Civil War weekend on Saturday
and Sunday. Activities include cannon and musket demonstrations and activities geared toward young visitors.
Andersonville is the emblem of POW suffering at Union and Confederate camps during the Civil War. Of 45,000 men held there, 13,000 Union service members succumbed to horrible conditions.
Ryan McNutt (right), assistant professor of anthropology at Georgia
Southern University, will be lecturing on resistance, masculinity and mental
health in POW populations at both Andersonville (Camp Sumter) and Camp Lawton, another Confederate site in Georgia. McNutt directs the GSU archaeological project at the latter site.
For more than a decade, GSU students have conducted excavations and conducted research at a state park and former federal hatchery
near Millen, Ga. About 10,000 Union prisoners were held at Lawton for about six
weeks in 1864. They had been moved there from Camp Sumter.
Disease, hunger and unusually cold and moist conditions that
year exacted a toll at Camp Lawton, with 700 or more prisoners dying before
they were shipped off in the middle of the night to other Confederate prisons.
Susie
Sernaker of Andersonville NHS told the Picket that McNutt’s lectures, at 1 p.m.
both days in the park theater, will help spread public knowledge about the
travails of those held at Lawton.
McNutt and his students have focused on the location of
Confederate and Union structures at and the difficulties prisoners
and guards faced -- and their interactions.
The professor’s research interests include utilizing
technology such as LIDAR and GIS to answer questions about battlefield and
conflict sites, power and dominance in the landscape and the impact of violence on non-combatants.
A study conducted a few years ago found that postwar-born sons of many Union POWS had shorter lives than sons of soldiers who weren’t held captive. Basically, the study found that fathers’ prison hardships, including food shortages, altered the function of his genes in ways that could be passed on to sons.
Excavation at Camp Lawton site in March 2023 (Picket photo)
The free programming
this weekend at Andersonville lasts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
“Kids can drill like Civil War soldiers, build miniature shelters, and discover more about the Civil War period at Andersonville by participating in our Junior Ranger program,” the park said in a news release. “Living historians will be portraying Father Whelan, the women of Andersonville, Confederate guards, and Union prisoners, all to help the history of Camp Sumter, better known as Andersonville Prison, come to life.”
Cannon firing demonstrations will take place at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Musket firing demonstrations will be at noon and 3 p.m. on
Saturday and 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
For more
information on the event or to find out how you can become a living history
volunteer at the park, call 229-924-0343.
The largest
surrender during the Civil War occurred at what is now a North Carolina
state park. But a granite monument next to reconstructed farm buildings doesn't focus solely on a stinging Southern defeat. Rather, the message is of national unity.
The site
manager of Bennett Place State Historic Site near Durham emphasized that point
Saturday at a 100th birthday party for the park and the Unity
Monument, which was decorated in festive ribbons for the occasion. (Photo: BPSHS)
“The monument
… is a unique in the Civil War world,” Ryan Reed told the crowd minutes before birthday
cake was served on a warm and sunny afternoon. “It is unique because it is a
monument to peace and not war. It is a monument to both sides.”
The monument
has two Corinthian columns, one representing the Confederacy and the
other the Union. The lintel across the top of both has the word “UNITY.”
The Rebel
surrender in April 1865 occurred after three days of talks between Union Maj. Gen. William
Tecumseh Sherman and Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at the James Bennett farm.Days before,
Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in
Virginia and President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
The lintel includes two American shields (Photo: BPSHS)
Negotiations
were not without controversy. Initially, Sherman and Johnston’s agreement
included political terms that were generous to the South. Officials in
Washington, angered over the recent assassination of Lincoln, turned them down
in favor of purely military terms.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis had ordered Johnston to dissolve his army
into guerrilla bands to continue the fight, but the general, who knew
continuing the fight was useless without Lee’s forces, disobeyed the order and
signed the revised agreement. His surrender ended the war for nearly 90,000
Confederates in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Johnston and Sherman at the James Bennett farm (Harper's Weekly)
Reed said
unlike the carnage at Gettysburg, Antietam and elsewhere, no blood was shed at
Bennett Place. “There is big history in a small house.”
The
dedication of the Unity Monument in autumn 1923 followed years of neglect of
the property by the state and the donation of a few acres by the Samuel Morgan
family. The Bennett house where Sherman and Johnston met burned in 1921 –
leaving only a stone chimney.
North
Carolinians weren’t keen on remembering the war’s end result. But legislators
and others thought a sign of unity would make the project possible. Still, the
United Daughters of the Confederacy boycotted the dedication because of the
defeat. (Interestingly, a UDC chapter helped with Saturday’s event, which drew
about 250 people).
According to a state history, the 1923 dedication did indeed focus on national unity and
some more contemporary issues.
A
reconstructed farm house was erected at the site in the 1960s. Bennett Place
became a state historic site a few years later.
Those who
drive by or visit the site are drawn to the Unity Monument. The base and
monoliths are from Mount Airy, N.C., while the lintel is from Vermont and the
copper used for a marker was mined in Montana.
“Done
intentionally, 100 years ago, to incorporate materials from all over our
nation,” Reed said.
West Confederate Avenue tower (NPS) and Culp's Hill tower (Craig Swain, HMdb.org)
Two observation
towers at Gettysburg National Military Park will be closed for nearly three
days so that crew can remove flagpoles at the top because of safety concerns.
The Longstreet
(West Confederate) and Culp’s Hill towers, their parking areas and road access
will be off limits from sunset Sunday until Wednesday morning (Nov. 1), park officials said this week.
"The flagpoles
are original to the towers. The flagpoles were removed due to safety concerns
(corrosion, deterioration, and rust) until a more comprehensive project can be
undertaken to rehabilitate the towers in their entirety," park spokesman Jason Martz told the Picket in an email.
The flagpoles will not be reinstalled until that project occurs and no placeholders will go up, Martz said.
All three towers, including the Oak Ridge observation tower,
were built between 1895 and 1896 when Gettysburg National Military Park was
administered by the United States War Department between 1895 and 1933.
The three towers at Gettysburg National Military Parkhave beckoned visitors for 125 years, offering views of the Pennsylvania hills, pastures and valleys where two armies
clashed in July 1863. The Oak Ridge tower was truncated years ago and has no flagpole.
A
report during their construction said: “These are all solid and well-built
structures, and, located as they are, they afford the observer a complete and
satisfactory view of the entire scene of the great battle and enable him to get
a consistent and accurate idea of it as a whole.”
A 1998 NPS drawing of three of the Gettysburg towers (Library of Congress)
Engineering assessments in April 2022 showed the three are structurally sound. The inspections took place via
vertical access (rappelling) and by hypsometric laser scanning, officials said
in a news release ahead of the work.
Here’s a look at the two towers at which flagpoles will be removed:
West
Confederate Avenue (75 feet)
Also
called the Longstreet Tower,
the structure provides views of many features, including Pitzer Woods, the Rose
Farm, Wheatfield, Peach Orchard and Big Round Top and Little Round Top. Behind
is Eisenhower National Historic Site.
Culp’s
Hill (60 feet)
The hill was the extreme right flank
of the Union army, and the object of Confederate assaults that failed to
dislodge them. “Culp's Hill became a prime tourist attraction
after the battle. It was close to the town and, unlike most battles in open
fields, it was heavily wooded and the extreme firepower took a very visible
toll on the trees, some of which were completely sheared off,” a Waymarking.com article about the tower says.
Three other towers on the battlefield were removed years ago,
for differing reasons.
The next book
by Erik Larson, widely known for the best-selling “The Devil in the White
City,” is a work of Civil War history inspired in part by current events.
Crown
announced Wednesday that Larson’s “The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris,
Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War” will come out April 30.
Larson sets his narrative over a short but momentous time span, from Abraham
Lincoln’s election in 1860 to the firing on Fort Sumter five months later. – Associated Press article
Officer candidates in 2016 reenact Federal charge at Kennesaw Mountain (GMI photo)
Georgia Military Institute, which provided cadets for
Confederate service and was burned by Sherman’s troops in 1864, lives on today
as the Georgia National Guard’s officer candidate school – located about two
miles from the original campus.
The Clay National Guard Center near Dobbins Air Reserve Base in
Marietta recently acquired on loan the GMI coat of Pierce M.B. Young, who went
on to attend West Point in 1857 (where he was a roommate of George Armstrong
Custer) and join the Confederate army before graduation in 1861.
Josh Headlee, curator/preservation
specialist with Georgia State Parks, said Young’s cadet coat is the
earliest one known to still exist. Young, a native of South Carolina who moved to
Cartersville, Ga, at a young age, was a major general for the South, serving
under Wade Hampton and J.E.B. Stuart. He later served in Congress and as a
diplomat. Young died in 1896.
Young’s coat is on a three-year loan. Maj. William Carraway, historian
with the Georgia Army National Guard, told the Picket that items such as Young’s
and staff rides (which combine study and tours of battlefields) provide
valuable insight and training for OCS students.
Pierce Young's GMI coat and as he appeared during, after Civil War
Carraway responded to the Picket’s questions about the
training and museum exhibits:
Q. What do staff rides to Atlanta area Civil
War sites accomplish? What can the war teach today's soldiers?
A. A key component of the staff ride is participant
research. This element of research is what differentiates a staff ride from a
battlefield tour. The best staff rides therefore are tailor-made to the unit in
question and its mission; therefore, the staff ride begins months in advance by
identifying the training objectives of the unit and assigning research
questions for individuals to study and brief on site. The staff ride is less of
a lecture by a historian and more of a discussion facilitated by the historian
based on the input provided by participating soldiers, their research and the
insight they bring from their backgrounds and careers.
The officer candidates of our
current GMI consider Kennesaw Mountain in particular and the Atlanta
Campaign in general as a leadership laboratory to examine the decisions made by
commanders and how those decisions were influenced by terrain, weather and larger
strategic considerations. The officer candidates examine the battle of Kennesaw
Mountain from the perspective of staff functions – personnel, logistics,
signal, medical, command, etc. and consider how they would make decisions based
on the information gathered.
Maj. Carraway describes artillery action at Kennesaw Mountain (GARNG)
What options are available for the Federal and
Confederate commanders? How are those options influenced by logistics? What is
the enemy trying to do and how can a commander discern the enemy commander’s
intent? What reconnaissance objectives should be designated to determine the
enemy’s intent? How does the commander prevent the enemy commander from
discerning his intent, composition and strength? All of these questions and
others can be explored on ground on which past engagements were fought to
inform the decision making process of current and future leaders.
Q. When it comes to staff rides and other
activities, what specifically does the Atlanta Campaign teach guard
members?
A. The U.S. Army and National Guard conduct staff rides
to convey lessons of the past that apply to modern-day military problems and
challenge Army leadership. The Atlanta Campaign specifically is replete with
lessons for modern day logisticians, maneuver leaders, military intelligence
and reconnaissance. Staff rides may be conducted for entry-level soldiers all
the way to senior leaders. Many of the problems faced by commanders and staff
officers of the American Civil War resonate today. Sherman’s logistical planning
for the Atlanta Campaign has direct implications for modern commanders planning
sustainment of short and long-term operations in the field. Commander’s
selection of terrain similarly resonates to the modern soldier.
A view of the GMI campus during the Civil War, as drawn by a Union officer
Q. How do you plan to interpret the Young
coat? Is it specifically there because he attended GMI?
A. The uniform provides an unparalleled opportunity to
acquaint officer candidates of the current Georgia Military Institute with the
full extent of the institute’s heritage and history. In addition to the
American Civil War, graduates of GMI have served overseas during the
Spanish American War, World War I, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Georgia
Military Institute graduates have served at the highest levels of the Georgia
National Guard to include commanders of the Georgia Army National Guard and the
adjutant general.
Uniforms on exhibit at Clay Center (Georgia Army National Guard)
Q. I understand the coat is on exhibit at the
headquarters building. With what other items?
A. The exhibit displays uniforms, artifacts and imagery
reflective of the history of the Georgia National Guard. This presently
includes uniforms from the Spanish-American War era, WWI, WWII and modern
uniform articles. The GMI uniform of Cadet Young anchors a portion of
the exhibit dedicated to the history of the Georgia Military Institute and its
more than 2,500 graduates who have gone on to serve in the Georgia National
Guard and U.S. Army.
Q. How did the loan come about?
A. Michael Hitt, historian at GMI, discovered
that the uniform was in the holdings of the state. We began an inquiry and confirmed
that our display location could meet the security and environmental control
requirements for the proper display of the uniform. The loan allows the
Georgia National Guard to display the uniform as part of its historic uniform
exhibit at the Clay National Guard Center in Marietta.
Gordon Jones of Atlanta History Center displays Civil War coats (GARNG)
Q. Is the exhibit available to the
public?
A. The uniform is on display at the Clay National Guard
Center in Marietta, which is co-located with Dobbins Air Reserve Base. While
the military bases have restricted access, members of the public may contact
the Georgia National Guard history office to inquire about viewing the uniform
and other holdings of the Georgia National Guard archives.
Q. I know the officer school is named
for GMI. How does the guard interpret the grounds' history?
A. The first iteration of the Georgia Military
Institute was located approximately 2.5 miles northwest of the Clay National
Guard Center. The historian of GMI is very active in researching and
interpreting the history of the original GMI as well as the second
iteration of the institute which operated from 1891-1898 in Atlanta. Research
is ongoing to identify graduates that served in our nation’s wars such as Maj.
William Kendrick, a GMI instructor who served during the Spanish
American War, and 1st Lt. Homer Ashford of GMI, who mobilized to the
Mexican Border in 1916 and subsequently deployed to France with the 31st
Division in 1918. Graduates of the current iteration of the Georgia Military
Institute were among the first mobilized for the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and
served during the Vietnam War.
Officer candidates do survey of the 1864 fighting at Kennesaw (GARNG)
Q. What is the mission of the 161st Military
History Detachment? Is it based at the Clay Center? Is there a Civil
War-related aspect?
The 161st MHD is based at the Clay National Guard
Center. Military History Detachments are staffed and equipped to deploy
overseas and stateside to collect vital documents and interviews for major
operations. The MHD is vital to how we will tell the history of current
operations in the future. While there is no direct Civil War link to the MHD
mission, it is valuable for an MHD commander to consider how future historians
will regard current operations, and examining how past campaigns were
documented and remembered provides insight into how the MHD conducts its
mission. The MHD must anticipate the questions future historians will have
about current operations and strive to collect the materials, artifacts and
interviews to answer those future inquiries.
Matt Holleman serves as an activator at Chickamauga (Picket photos)
The voices of
Jody Carter’s students travel hundreds of thousands
of miles each year from their amateur radio club in northwest Georgia.
Those in the
Rambler Radio Club (W4LMS) at at
LaFayette Middle School learn about other parts of
the world – by communicating with one person at a time.
“We
discuss weather, geography and significant sites around them,” according to the
computer science teacher.
They spoke
with members of Parks on the Air (POTA), a network of ham radio enthusiasts who
travel to federal and state parks and talk away. The international hobby group
was formed in early 2017.
I met a few
of the POTA people in late September during the federal park’s walks and tours
related to the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga, a
significant Confederate victory.
The licensed
radio operators were at a picnic and gathering area, away from monuments that
dot the battlefield.
“This is
hallowed ground,” said Allen Padgett, 73, of LaFayette. “We try to maintain the
decorum there, and respect the special nature of the place.”
For Padgett
and millions of others, ham radio offers a chance to chat with people in far
corners of the world.
“We like to
talk and have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It is practice for us when
everything else goes down the toilet,” he said, referring to the ability of ham
radio folks to keep up with emergencies and stay connected during disasters.
While any
topic may come up, being at a park provides the opportunity to talk about
nature or the historic importance of the site. “We have talked to people who
had folks who fought or died in the battle,” said Padgett. “Those will almost
make you tear up.”
On the day I was at Chickamauga, Padgett and his comrades were dealing with the sun, which
was disturbing their radio signals. But they had a few dozen conversations,
including with four of Carter’s students.
They wanted
to know what was special about that day, Padgett recalled. “Cannons roared,
rifles fired and people died,” he recalled relating to the dozens of students
listening in.Padgett (at right with antenna at Chickamauga) and
Carter are members of the Tri-States Amateur Radio Club.
Carter,
who sponsors the school radio club, has made several contacts with POTA,
including at Chickamauga.
“The group that I chose for this contact were all 8th-grade students studying Georgia history this year, and the fact that the
activation was taking place in one of the Civil War's most significant battle
sites and that the site was less than 15 miles away from our school, I
knew we didn't want to miss out on this opportunity,” Carter told the Picket in
an email.
The
educator said another group of students attended a reenactment near the
battlefield the following weekend.
“I hope that
they see a glimpse into our nation's past and realize the importance of
remembering what those before us hoped to preserve," said Carter.
How to speak ham radio
I confess to knowing little about ham radio, its history and
those who do it. Padgett gave me a bit of a primer on how it works with the nonprofit POTA.
I also listened to a couple YouTube videos which said the hobby
is a fun way for participants to get “out
of the shack” and into the field to communicate. All it takes is a radio,
antenna, battery and a laptop – for as little as $600 and a license with the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), if you are a U.S. citizen. POTA also has a code of conduct.
So-called “activators” set up and go the group’s website to
indicate they are on the air. “Hunters” around the world will then lock into
the frequency from their homes or vehicles. Messages between the parties bounce
off the ionosphere. (Click here to see current POTA active spots). Most participants are hunters.
The hobby awards points, gold stars and online certificates.
While they have no financial value, the recognitions are a reward of sorts for
taking part in activities.
“You
are never in too much a hurry to not talk,” said Padgett, who was among the
activators that afternoon at Chickamauga.
(Click photo at left to see typical radio bands.)
Ham
radio operators have their own language, and I asked Padgett to provide a
hypothetical conversation he might have had that day.
Here’s what he provided:
I would
pick a frequency and say:
KN4FKS CQ Parks On The Air, CQ Parks On The Air,
Kilo November Four Foxtrot Kilo Sierra, listening.
If no answer after listening for 15-20 seconds,
repeat.
Say W5ABC calls simply by saying his call sign. I
respond:
He responds: I have you 5-9 in Kansas, thanks for
the activation. (At this point, he might ask about my equipment, ask about the
park or ask about the weather here. He usually judges this by how busy I am as
HAMS usually listen a bit before they call)
I reply: 73 (which means best regards), KN4FKS QRZ
(which means who's next?) if no one answers, then I repeat first sentence CQ.
(CQ means is if you hear me give me a call)
When we activate from that picnic area we will
often tell our callers from Ohio the artillery that was at our exact location
on the first day of the battle was from Ohio. If from Indiana, we explain the
infantry was from Indiana.
Teacher says ham radio is what the world needs now
Ham radio enthusiasts tend to be male and most are middle-aged
or older.
Padgett says for an older hobbyist, sometimes “his contact with the outside world is
his home health nurse and his radio.”
Carter,
the school radio club sponsor, says getting students interested early pays
dividends. Students have traveled beyond our world – through a 2012 conversation
with the crew of the International Space Station – during the club’s 17 years.
Pupils
discuss the basics of radio theory, antennas,
signal propagation, the relationship between frequency and wavelength and other
technical topics related to the hobby.
“More than anything else, our students appreciate that with
amateur radio, they are treated like people, not like a little kid -- they are
respected for their pursuits,” Carter wrote.
“Considering the breakdown in communication that we are seeing
between large groups of us nationally and globally, it is my hope that we teach
the next generation the importance of making connections with people who we
think are not like us, one person at a time. Really, we are much more
alike than we are different.
“I want my students to learn how to think for themselves and to
articulate those ideas effectively. And I believe that for my students, amateur
radio can play a key role in teaching that life skill.
“We desperately need it.”
Activators keep logs (left) of calls and upload the data (Picket photo)
New eyewitness accounts are raising questions about the FBI’s
secretive 2018 dig for a legendary cache of Civil War-era gold. Two men who
were near the excavation site in rural Pennsylvania have told The Associated
Press they heard loud noises. Later, they say they saw a
convoy with an armored truck that appeared heavily weighed down. A treasure
hunter who led FBI agents to the site accuses the agency of conducting a
secretive overnight dig and spiriting away hundreds of millions of dollars in
gold. The FBI denies it worked overnight and says its excavation didn’t produce gold. The treasure hunter is suing the FBI over access to records
about the dig. -- Article
Andersonville POW drinking from gourd, survivors group pennant (Sultana Disaster Museum)
The Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Ark., continues to add Civil War prisoner artifacts
to its collection while preparing to mail out bid packets to build a larger and
more dynamic permanent venue.
“What started as a dream among a small collection of
people dedicated to bringing the Sultana story to life is finally becoming a
reality,” the museum said in a recent social media post.
The museum design has been finalized and a parcel for extra parking and
a memorial was purchased, the museum said.
“We may not make it, but our goal is to open by April 27,
2025,” the 160th anniversary of the maritime disaster, said John
Fogleman, president of the Sultana Historical Preservation Society.
Marion's old high school is being reused for venue (Sultana Disaster Museum)
Fogleman said the initial bidding –
with a Nov. 13 deadline to submit -- will be for:
-- Renovation of an old high school gymnasium
that will hold exhibits (removal of existing bleachers and stage, salvaging
wood for reuse, etc.)
-- Building an addition to the south side of building, featuring a main entry, museum
store, gathering area and a multiuse auditorium.
Haizlip Studio of Memphis, Tenn., has served as the architect
and design agency for the project and will have a hand in designing the
exhibits. “This work will be bid separately. Until bids
for construction are in, we will not know how much we can budget for exhibits,”
Fogleman said.
The city,
close to where the vessel Sultana exploded and caught fire at the Civil War’s
end, broke ground last November for a
museum that will honor soldiers who died in the disaster and residents who
helped save others who were plunged into the Mississippi River in late April
1865.
About 1,200 passengers and crew
perished. Hundreds of Federal soldiers, many recently freed from
Confederate prisons, including Andersonville and Cahaba, were on their way
home.
The
disaster is currently remembered at a small museum a few blocks from where
working is going on now in the gymnasium-auditorium at Marion’s old high school. Dreams for a larger facility germinated many years ago.
Museum officials say the exhibits (see site plan at left, click to enlarge) will build off the full story of the
Sultana with information about the importance of the river, the Confederate
prisoner of war camps at Cahaba and Andersonville, the bribery and corruption
that led to the overcrowding of the side-wheel steamboat, the explosion and
fire, and the creation of the Sultana Survivors Association.
A compelling angle, Fogleman says, will be the debate over what caused
the explosion: Was it sabotage, the leaky boiler, a poor boiler design, a
secondary source or a combination of all factors?
Gene Salecker, a Sultana author and collector who serves as historical
consultant, continues to purchase numerous items for the museum. Not all
pertain to the Sultana, but they help further the story of Civil War prisons
and the vessels that plied the Mississippi before and during the war.
“It's always fun to find new Sultana, steamboat, or POW items,” Salecker said.
He recently brought to Marion a large U.S. flag banner. It has a blue upper portion with 40 stars
(authorized on July 4, 1890) and two red and one white stripe. The banner is
marked "Sultana Survivors
Reunion," with one word on each stripe.
New construction will house entrance, store and auditorium (Sultana Disaster Museum)
In late
August, the museum acquired an oil painting (top of blog post) showing an emaciated Union
prisoner, drinking from a gourd. The work, entitled “Andersonville 1864,” shows
him drinking water from Providence Spring, which emerged
after a storm during August 1864, the worst month of suffering at Camp Sumter.
Salecker says a tag on the back of the painting indicates it
was painted by Charles Moore of Toledo, Ohio, perhaps in the mid-1880s.
The painting came from the collection of commissary
Sgt. Daniel Harmon, Co. K, 18th Michigan Infantry. Harmon was captured at Athens,
Ala., on September 24, 1864, with the rest of his regiment, and spent time in Cahaba.
He was released in December 1864, months before the Sultana sinking. He
became connected to the steamboat by participation in a prisoner survivors
group and friendship with members of the 18th Michigan who did
travel on the Sultana.
Haizlip Studio possible exhibit depicting explosion (Sultana Disaster Museum)
The Harmon collection includes boxes with documents from a
Grand Army of the Republic post, one adorned with a drawing of the burning
Sultana; and a GAR kepi that belonged to Harmon.
Fogleman says
the Sultana society has about $10.4 million in cash, outstanding pledges and
grant commitments.
“Of this amount, money has already been spent
to pay for a professional fundraiser, postage, stationery, purchase of
additional property and demolition. We are seeking to raise an additional $3
million to go toward an operating reserve or endowment, orientation film and
improved exhibits.”
