Gettysburg Foundation increases its goal of flags to be placed on the battlefield in Nov. to 17,760. For $18.63, you can help remember a soldier who was a casualty

Eternal Light Peace Memorial on the battlefield (Gettysburg Foundation)

Strong public interest has prompted the Gettysburg Foundation to increase its goal of 7,000 sponsored American flags to be placed on the battlefield next month to 17,760.

The foundation is asking the public to sponsor a U.S. flag for $18.63 through “A Field of Remembrance,” a campaign initially aimed at memorializing the 7,000 men killed at the battle.

The foundation, which supports the National Park Service at Gettysburg National Military Park, launched the effort in June.

“The new goal of 17,760 flags connects the sacrifice remembered at Gettysburg with the nation’s founding in 1776 and the ideals Abraham Lincoln invoked in the Gettysburg Address,” the group said in a news release Thursday. “In his opening words at Gettysburg, Lincoln looked back to the Declaration of Independence and a nation ‘conceived in liberty’ and dedicated to the proposition of equality.”

Proceeds will support the Gettysburg Foundation's preservation and education work.

The flag installation and the David Wills House’s reopening in November are part of Gettysburg’s PA250 Adams County commemoration. President Abraham Lincoln finalized his Gettysburg Address at the Wills residence.

Flags will be placed on Nov. 12, and the display continues through Nov. 23.

“One makes the human cost of the battle visible; the other returns visitors to the room where Lincoln shaped the words that have carried that cost forward ever since,” said the foundation.

About 51,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured in the battle.

Campaign participants may sponsor one or more flags, with tribute-naming available at all levels. Sponsorships are now open here.

After the remembrance, the flags will be kept for flag-placing ceremonies, such as Memorial Day, at Gettysburg National Cemetery.

Woman came across this Bormann shell while cleaning a house in NE Pennsylvania. Turns out she and property owner found it while scuba diving years before

A woman who came across a Civil War artillery shell while cleaning a residence in northeastern Pennsylvania told police she and the owner of the property found it decades ago on the East Coast.

Conyngham police Chief Thomas Eibach told the Picket in an email Tuesday he was notified of the discovery on Main Street on Sept. 24. The department photographed the item (left) for identification.

The bomb squad for Scranton police subsequently determined it was a Civil War shell that potentially still contained case shot and explosive material. Artillery expert Jack W. Melton Jr. said it appears to be a Bormann shell made for Union forces.

“The person cleaning out the property was not the property owner; however, (she was) a family friend who is an executor of the property, being its original owner has passed away,” said Eibach.

“In that same respect of being a family friend, she and the original owner of the property were avid scuba divers, diving all over the world. From her recollection, this item was discovered while diving on the East Coast approximately 20-30 years ago and brought home as a souvenir, not knowing what the item was.”

Someone who saw the artifact in a garage told the woman it was possibly military ordnance, officials said.

An Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)  team, believed to be the 55^th Ordnance Company based in Fort Belvoir, Va., was called in. (The closest military installation is Fort Indiantown Gap, a National Guard facility.)

Courtesy Jack W. Melton Jr. / CivilWarArtillery.com

Eibach said the team had forwarded him a Melton diagram (above) of a cross section of an artillery round of that type. The diagram indicates a Bormann fuse and deadly case shot inside.

The Army team took the artifact away. A public affairs spokesperson at Fort Belvoir said the round was likely destroyed. He did not know what type of shell it was. (Photograph, below, Conyngham Police)

Even 165 years later, Civil War ordnance is found, whether in homes, the ground or on coast lines. Several years ago, a huge cache was found at the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh, Pa. The facility made a wide variety of cannon shot for Federal forces.

Eibach said this type of incident was a first for him.

“However, several years prior an inert hand grenade was discovered in an attic during a home clean-out. From time-to-time, Revolutionary War Items are discovered in our area, some of which are on display at the Conyngham Valley Historical Society-Museum on Main Street. These items I believe are from the time surrounding the battle known as the Sugarloaf Massacre.”

The massacre occurred in September 1780. Native American warriors and British loyalists surprised militia, killing up to 15 soldiers. 

Personal artifacts recovered from submarine H.L. Hunley will remind The Charleston Museum visitors that crew members were regular people with 'hopes and fears'

Crew member's shoe before and after conservation (Friends of the Hunley)

Clothing and items belonging to the doomed crew of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley will go on display for the first time in an exhibit at The Charleston Museum that will feature mannequins and items related to each man.

“This exhibit, ‘Textiles from the Deep: Findings from the H.L. Hunley Submarine,’ offers fresh perspectives because it is the first time these newly conserved textile fragments will be on view for the public,” Virginia Theerman, curator of historic textiles at the museum, told the Picket in an email.

“Each crew member will have a slant board display with their archeological materials from inside the Hunley. There will also be a mannequin representing one interpretation of how that man might have been dressed, using garments primarily pulled from The Charleston Museum's collection," said Theerman. (Below, conservation of clothing, Friends of the Hunley)

The exhibit, which opens Oct. 3 and runs through April 4, features a silk bandana, shoe, buttons, brass oil can (still holding oil) and a thimble, among other artifacts. It is being sponsored by Friends of the Hunley and the South Carolina Hunley Commission.

On Feb. 17, 1864, Hunley made history by becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy warship. The 40-foot iron vessel -- bullets pinging off its iron exterior -- planted a torpedo in the hull of the Union ship USS Housatonic, setting off a charge that sent the Federal vessel and five crew members to the sandy bottom within minutes.

The Hunley and its eight-man crew disappeared beneath the waves and entered the realm of legend. To this day, historians, scientists and others debate what caused it to end up on the ocean floor. 

Since recovery from the Charleston Harbor in 2000, the submarine and the crew’s belongings have been undergoing extensive conservation at Clemson University's Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston. Some of the textile items were freeze-dried during conservation.

Kellen Butler, executive director of the friends group, told the South Carolina Daily Gazette the Lasch Center has been unable to display the textiles because of the lack of humidity controls.

The Picket has written previous posts on the conservation of clothing, which were made of cotton, wool or cashmere.

The knotted bandana (above, Friends of the Hunley) was worn around the neck of crew member James A. Wicks.

Wicks -- a Southerner by birth -- was in the U.S. Navy at the outbreak of the Civil War. When the USS Congress was crippled by the Confederate warship CSS Virginia at the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862, he switched sides, according to the Friends of the Hunley. 

He was about 45 years old when he joined the Hunley mission.

“Given his personal history, it is not surprising Wicks is the only crew member known to be wearing a bandana around his neck, a common practice for enlisted Union sailors during that time,” surmised a 2007 article in the Friends' newsletter, "The Blue Light."

Wicks served on the CSS Indian Chief before Hunley skipper Lt. George Dixon chose him to be part of the eight-member crew.

The Friends says the father of four girls (left) stood nearly 5 feet 10 inches tall and was a heavy tobacco user. He had blue eyes and brown hair, according to records. His family was living in Florida when war broke out.

Wicks had the Hunley’s sixth crank position and in an emergency, his job was to release the aft keel block, should weight needed to be jettisoned so that the submarine could rise from the ocean floor.

His remains were found associated with seven US Navy buttons, which is consistent with his military service, according to the Friends of the Hunley. 

Theerman said The Charleston Museum has had two prior exhibitions on the Hunley, both more than 25 years ago.

“I hope visitors will take away a human feeling of recognition from long ago history -- the idea that each one of the crew was an everyday person with their own hopes and fears,” she said. “I also hope they will learn more about textile conservation, and the science of preserving such delicate materials.”

Refurbished oil can, naval buttons and thimble; click to enlarge (Friends of the Hunley)

Bird's-eye view of the Battle of Pickett's Mill: It's happy trails to old use of terrain map as park volunteer revamps it to add troop locations and names

Revamped map in Pickett's Mill museum (Michael Hitt and Civil War Picket photos)

A large terrain map showing the trail system at Pickett’s Mill battlefield in Georgia has been saved from the dustbin of history and is being modified to add troop and artillery locations and the names of blue and gray regiments that clashed there on May 27, 1864.

“People like details,” said Michael Hitt, a volunteer at Pickett’s Mill Battlefield State Historic Site. “It causes you to start learning.”

The old map, which had been propped in the corner of an adjoining room, was to be thrown away. It had no information about the battle but was rather a basic visual guide to the trails.

Hitt, a Civil War researcher, envisioned another purpose.

He has been working on its new use for about three weeks, putting in about 50 hours as of Friday, when I paid a visit.

Whereas the map formerly was presented at an angle, the interpretive version rests flat on a platform, enabling visitors at the site in Paulding County to peer down from four angles, imagining the Confederate and Union perspectives. (See Picket video above for more detail)

Hitt has painstakingly put in small labels made of board. They denote military units, earthworks, mills and buildings present during the battle, which ended in a Confederate victory during “The Hell Hole” series of clashes there and at nearby Dallas and New Hope.

The Federal army suffered 1,600 casualties at Pickett’s Mill, compared to 500 for the South. The advance on Atlanta was delayed about a week. 

The board member with the Friends of Pickett’s Mill Battlefield painted the current trail system on the glass so people will be able to superimpose those and the map labels.

“The Pickett's Mill story will now be so much easier to understand,” the friends group said in a Facebook post.

“The idea is after people view it, from all angles, then go outside onto the battlefield, you should feel like you're in the model and you will know what took place and where. Just trying it makes history more enjoyable, as the park has only three historical markers.”

For a sense of scale, a house fits within a thumb nail, and a four-gun battery takes up the same amount of space. (Picket photos, above and left)

Unlike an electric map used in the old days at battlefields, this one is static, so it needs to capture a moment in time. Hitt chose 4 p.m., just before the futile Federal assaults began.

Hitt says the location of the map is a bonus. People will be able to look up at a series of maps on a nearby wall and see the progression of the fighting.

The volunteer would like to see more track lighting in the room to improve illumination above the map, but that likely will have to come later.

Work on the labels has been completed. Hitt on Friday showed me blue and gray construction paper and lists of regiments (Picket photos, below) he will use on the edges of the table to show who fought in the ravine and elsewhere on the well-preserved site. Asked how long it will take to finish the project, Hitt said it will be as long as it takes. (See Picket video above for more detail)

A reproduction 12-pounder howitzer that rests in the same room is positioned before a painting of a wooded area.

Hitt said that scene does not show trees and fauna that were at the battlefield, so he would like to have it redone.

Hitt is hopeful the changes will make for a better visitor experience.

“How can you make history more interesting to the average person?”

The visitor center and museum at Pickett’s Mill are open Friday-Sunday. The park is located at 4432 Mt. Tabor Church Road, Dallas, GA 30157

Under construction: The map and battlefield maps behind it (Picket photo)

The Dawkins House, seat of South Carolina's government in the chaotic end of the Civil War, gets $1.1 million for next phase of preservation work. Students at Union campus are learning about those who lived there

Rear of house includes 1760s section at right; beautiful saw cuts on wood, reworked windows (Courtesy Robert Schmitt)

About $1.1 million has been procured to fund the next phase of restoration for a home in Union, S.C., that briefly served as the office for the state’s governor after he fled Columbia during the Civil War. Construction is expected to begin next spring.

The nonprofit Preservation South Carolina made the announcement on social media this week, saying Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill last month allocating $800,000 for the ambitious project. Another $300,000 was garnered from corporate and private donors in Union County.

“Together, we are one step closer to preserving the Dawkins House for generations to come,” PSC said of the project milestone.

Stabilization of the once-dilapidated structure largely concluded in March 2025 and officials set about raising and seeking funds to perform the second phase. (January 2026 Picket photo, below)

But that doesn’t mean efforts related to the house are largely at a standstill.

Craftsman Robert Schmitt has continued to repair windows and sashes dating to the 1840s and a class at the University of South Carolina Union is digging up little-known facts about the Dawkins House and the people – free and enslaved – who lived there before, during and after the Civil War.

The house, a terminus residence situated on the USC Union campus at the end of Church Street, was nicknamed “The Shrubs” and was occupied by Judge Dawkins and his English-born wife Mary Poulton Dawkins. The 1850 Federal slave schedule indicates they owned about 20 enslaved persons before the war, but there may have been more on other properties the couple owned. 

Union, which is south of Spartanburg, briefly served as the Civil War capital of the state after Columbia fell to Union forces in 1865 and Gov. Andrew Magrath (right) fled to the town. From about Feb. 15, 1865, until early April, Magrath ran the state from the Dawkins House. He apparently worked in an informal library near the drawing room, which survives today.

According to histories and local legend, Magrath and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the home’s fireplaces. (The building served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly is capital.)

Magrath and his staff raced away from Union as Federal troops moved in. He was eventually captured on May 25, 1865, and imprisoned at Fort Pulaski near Savannah, Ga., until release that December.

Breaking down the project expense, timeline

The $300,000 state-funded Phase 1 of the work shored up the building. Phase 2 will be much more extensive and expensive. Objectives include:

-- Installation of new piers on concrete footings in the crawlspace;

-- Strengthening of porch, first and second floor framings, the roof system and all walls;

-- Installation of the required framing for a new interior staircase where the original historic, spiral staircase was located in the central hall. This will entail strengthening the floors and walls in this area, including any necessary new footings in the crawlspace.

Extensive repairs, upgrades are needed in structure (Preservation South Carolina)

Bill Comer, a Union native who is heading up the Dawkins House rehab project for PSC, told the Picket in an email Charleston-based Bennett Preservation Engineering will begin engineering design work in a couple weeks. Design, procurement and construction contracting are expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2027, with Phase 2 construction beginning no later than April, he added

PSC said the final phase will cost about $500,000.

The group has been working with the USC Union campus and local leaders to rehabilitate the house into an alumni and corporate center for the college.

Robert Schmitt keeps at it, one pane at a time

One of nearly three dozen windows at the property (Robert Schmitt photo)

Robert Schmitt, 76, has thus far repaired 15 windows at the Dawkins House. The restoration expert has taken out old window glass, removed rot and replaced weathered glazing.

He has identified nails that were used in the original section of the house built in the 1760s, and some that were used to build the 1845 addition. Some of the glass panes are original to the 1845 house, but Schmitt has taken about a dozen from his stock for replacements.

Schmitt first completed the 10 windows and 20 sashes at the front of the dwelling. He is keeping them at his home until the house is farther along. 

“The front wall is very, very wavy,” he told the Picket.

He said the old windows are wonderful because of their craftsmanship. “These parts were probably not made on site. Most of the mill work was from Charleston.” He doesn’t believe any of the windows date to the 1760s.

About 70 percent of the glass in those windows is original.

The attractive transom at the front entrance likewise should be temporarily removed when work resumes, Schmitt added. “It is probably a step up from what you usually see.” 

Unfortunately, he said, the top of the feature is obscured by the low roof above the porch. (At left, Picket photo of Comer (left) and Schmitt in front of the transom.)

Schmitt recently completed work on five attic windows, but says about 19 windows on the house are still to be repaired. “I am ready to crank back up.”

College class spotlights the enslaved

Andrew Kettler, assistant professor of history at the two-year USC campus at Union, has been teaching a new course related to the Dawkins House for about a month.

“HIST 480-701 -- Internship in Public History” is heavy on research, with a focus on library, courthouse and genealogical records. (Excerpt from a Kettler PowerPoint, below)

The two students, working like detectives, are digging up records from myriad sources, such as death schedules and wills. If they can find a Dawkins will, it may list enslaved persons and what they may have received upon Thomas’s death. That could help the effort to find out more about those individuals.

There’s a lot at stake. Supporters say it’s important the full history of the home and its occupants be told, warts and all. Union County has a long segregation history and the area was known for Ku Klux Klan activity and postwar lynchings. There have been recent efforts, however, to acknowledge that history. Kettler said there is much more to learn.

Officials say they want the building also to be aimed at the future and bring new attention to USC Union, which has a growing enrollment. Currently, it has about 1,400 students; many are affiliated with the athletics programs.

“This is the first time for PSC to have a class that is going on at the same time as one of its preservation projects,” said the professor.

Kettler said students will begin a formal Dawkins family tree next week. They are currently writing short essays based on letters (one at right) written in the early 19th century.

The USC Union Reasearch Club will be assisting the endeavor. "We aim to cultivate an atmosphere of intellectual curiosity on the USC Union campus among students, faculty, and staff, which will nurture a more general love of learning," the group says of its mission.

READ MORE ABOUT THE HOUSE

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2026/08/history-investigators-ambitious-college.html

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2026/04/as-fundraising-intensifies-to-fix-up.html

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2026/01/scs-civil-war-governor-slept-and-likely.html

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2025/09/craftsman-has-window-to-history-of-home.html