A Union officer lost family photos to Rebels near Manassas. A relic hunter found one in the 1970s. No one knew who she was until a man stopped by a Gettysburg shop. He remembered seeing a different image of the girl with the same broach

Image of Sarah McAllister (L) was found by relic hunter; 2 others of her at right (Manassas NBP/Rutgers University Libraries)

Years ago, Civil War memorabilia collector Ken Johns stopped by a shop in Gettysburg, Pa., that was an unlikely combination of Christian bookstore and provider of metal detectors.

Among the items on display was an aged photograph known as an ambrotype. It depicted a young woman staring blankly at the photographer, a round broach or pendant affixed to her collar.

Store owner Donald Hinks – having bought the image around 1975 from a relic collector -- had no idea who she was. But Johns, of East Stroudsburg, Pa., did. He was familiar with a book of letters by Robert McAllister, who served in the 1^st and 11^th New Jersey Infantry.

The girl, he told Hinks, was Robert’s daughter Sarah, who was 18 years old when her father lost some of his baggage – and photographs of his wife, Ellen, and two daughters -- to Confederate troops in Centreville, Va., during the Battle of First Manassas in late July 1861. McAllister wrote home, lamenting the incident.

“It was instant,” Johns, now 85, told the Picket about recognizing the teen. “I remember it in total detail.”

That’s because East Stroudsburg (located in the Pocono Mountains) is near New Jersey and Johns had read “The Civil War Letters of General Robert McAllister,” edited by noted historian James I. Robertson and published in 1965 by Rutgers University Press.

The book includes photos of Robert, Ellen, daughter Henrietta and a different one of Sarah, taken a year or two after Manassas. She is wearing what appears to be the same broach. Johns recalled that item when we stopped by Gettysburg that day.

Hinks, now 94, kept the ambrotype for years at the business for years. “Of all the things I have had in the store, it certainly was the most unique,” he told the Picket.

Hinks decided after he and his late wife retired in 2017 to donate Sarah’s photograph to Manassas National Battlefield Park and he reached out to officials there. The handover occurred about a year ago.

“Instead of selling, I thought it best it end up in the museum,” said Hinks.  

Burgess said, but for Johns’ visit to Hinks’ shop, the image believed to show a young Sarah McAllister would likely have stayed in a private collection.

“The chance of ever identifying the ambrotype was probably less than 1,000.”

Donald and Joan Hinks at their electronics and book stores (Courtesy the Gettysburg Times)

Some called him 'Mother' McAllister, with affection

Sarah was born in Juniata County, Pa., in January 1843. (Her father also was from that area.)

The dust jacket for his book of letters home describes Robert McAllister as former railroad construction engineer who became a successful Union officer.

“Soft of voice, calm of temperament, religious and averse to the use of liquor, he became the epitome of the Scotch Presbyterian warrior -- an officer so concerned for the welfare of his men that he came to be known as 'Mother' McAllister, yet so dedicated to the winning of the war that he was fearless in leading his men.”

McAllister was a lieutenant colonel with the 1^st New Jersey at the time of Manassas. His troops were part of Brig. Gen. Theodore Runyon's reserve division at the time and only got as far as Centreville when retreating Union troops from the battlefield overtook them, said Burgess.

In a letter to Ellen on July 26, 1861, McAllister (photo below, Rutgers University Libraries) wrote:

“I have lost some of my baggage, which is now in the hands of the enemy. The articles are about as follows: my fine large shawl, India rubber blanket, woolen blanket, a new pair of gauntlets never worn, two pair of gloves, several shirts, Henrietta’s portfolio with letters and papers, military books, army regulations, Hardee’s ‘Tactics,’ my large printed Bible with a whole lot of countersigns – and what is more than all, your ambrotype and Henny and Sarah’s dagguerrotypes.

“The reason I took them along was because as I was leaving Vienna, I thought I would get wounded or sick. I would then long to see you, and it would be a comfort to see all your likenesses if I could not see you in person. So now, dear, you will be gazed upon by those notorious Rebels. I want you all to get them taken over again and send them to see as soon as you conveniently can.”

“It is better to lose my bagged than to lose my head. My first campaign has been of use to me.”

Officer fought with valor in several campaigns

McAllister transferred to the 11^th New Jersey in August 1862, and fought at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He was severely wounded at Gettysburg. The regiment brought 275 men into that battle. Over half that number were killed or wounded.

After months of convalescing, McAllister took command of a brigade. Subsequent combat included the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Petersburg.

“His regiment distinguished itself at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg; his brigade was the first to pierce the Confederate line as Spotsylvania's 'Bloody Angle' and saved an entire wing of the army at the Boydton Plank Road and again at Hatcher's Run,” according to the book summary.

McAllister ended the war as a brevet major general and he returned to the business world. He died in 1891 at age 77, and is buried in Belvidere, N.J.

Interestingly, his brother, Thompson, served as a Confederate officer in Virginia during much of the Civil War.

Robert McAllister rides Charley in January 1862 (Rutgers University Libraries)

Relic hunter made quite the find in the mid-'70s

In 1975, a Gettysburg self-employed truck driver who enjoyed metal detecting for Civil War relics made a stop in Centreville, about four miles east of the Manassas battlefield. He often made the trek to Florida to pick up citrus and watermelons, according to Burgess.

Burgess said he was told the relic hunter combed an area in Centreville not far off Route 29 (the old Warrenton Turnpike) with a metal detector and came upon McAllister's lost photograph of daughter Sarah.

“Its case had crumbled over time but the glass, brass frame and image were remarkably well preserved,” said the National Park Service employee.

The enthusiast had no idea who she was. (The man died in 2019.) Hinks, Johns and Burgess do not know exactly where he found the item, how deep it was or other details.

The relic hunter sold the artifact to Hinks (right), who put it on display.

Neither Hinks nor Johns can recall when the latter stopped by and noticed the photo. It could have been in the 1970s to 1990s.

Hinks said until Johns stopped by all he remembered was the image had been found in Centreville.

He kept it in storage much of the time before deciding to donate it to Manassas.

Sisters attended female seminary, later had families

Johns (photo, below) is familiar with where the McAllisters lived and has studied another famous soldier in the 11^th New Jersey, John Schoonover.

Sarah and Henrietta attended Moravian Female Seminary in Bethlehem, Pa., from 1854-57. According to a register, they were ages 9 and 11 when they entered.

"Back then, the seminary offered K-12 education and in 1863, it began offering college level courses for older girls," said Cory Dieterly of Moravian University's Reeves Library. About 260 students attended the seminary while they were students.

One sibling later lived in Pittsburgh while the other had a family in Philadelphia.

 “He always loved his grandchildren,” Johns said of their father, the general.

He says Sarah and Henrietta (photo right, Rutgers University Libraries) sat for a portrait after First Manassas so there father would have them close by.

Sarah Elizabeth McAllister married Wilson Lloyd in August 1863 in Warren, N.J. They had five children, including one named for her father. Robert McAllister Lloyd was born in 1864.

Sarah lived a long life, dying in Mifflintown (Juniata County), Pa., at age 92 on Oct. 9, 1935. She is buried in a Presbyterian cemetery.

An obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer said her ancestors were among the early Pennsylvania settlers. She was a member of the Colonial Dames of America and left two living children, 10 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Why the image won't be displayed, for now

As I looked closely at the ambrotype donated to the park (full image, left), I discerned what I consider slight disparities between the face of the young lady and the two other images of Sarah. Could it be someone else?

Johns and Burgess believe they are one and the same.

“Our photo is certainly close to the photo in the book (with broach). In football terms, there is not enough evidence to overrule the ruling on the field that our image is Sarah,” said Burgess. “I'm still convinced we have Sarah's image.”

The case had crumbled over time but the glass, brass frame and image were remarkably well-preserved, he added.

Will this photograph ever come back to life, and be seen?

“The photograph is so small, it would need to be displayed where visitors can get up close to it and then only on a temporary basis to mitigate light damage,” said Burgess. “We may also need to get it properly treated and housed by a conservator first. This is all possible, but won't happen any time soon.”

Submarine H.L. Hunley: Mesmerizing, fragile artifacts on display at The Charleston Museum provide insight into crew's appearance and how they worked as a team

Items associated with Hunley skipper George Dixon (all photos courtesy The Charleston Museum; click to enlarge)

Among all the crew clothing, personal items and components of the H.L. Hunley now on display at The Charleston Museum, historic textiles curator Virginia Theerman has a few favorites.

“I find (crew member) Miller's windowpane check vest fragment, (Lt. George) Dixon's shoe with his footprint, and the yellow sling that helped raise the submarine to be some of the most compelling objects in the exhibition,” said Theerman.

“Textiles from the Deep: Findings from the H.L. Hunley Submarine” opened this past weekend in the South Carolina city. It is the first time these newly conserved textile fragments are on view to the public.

Each of the eight crew members have a slant board display with their archeological materials from inside the Hunley. A mannequin represents one interpretation of how that man might have been dressed, using garments primarily pulled from The Charleston Museum's collection. (At left, bandana worn by crew member James A. Wicks.)

The gallery is a U-shape, and the introductory panel leads the visitor right into the space. 

“Everything I want them to take away is in the label texts,” Theerman told the Picket in an email Wednesday. “We're establishing the importance of textile conservation, recreating the possible garments of the individuals, and situating the H.L. Hunley within its moment in naval warfare history.”

The exhibit, which runs through April 4, 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.

Exterior rivets, crew member Miller's vest, ballast blocks from interior floor (The Charleston Museum)

The exhibit at The Charleston Museum is sure to get a patron's attention.

On the left is a replica of the hand crank used to power the vessel. Behind that is a profile of the sub’s exterior. Numerous artifacts are in the foreground, including tools.

The next section explores the recovery of the Hunley.(below).

Past that is an area that focuses on the painstaking conservation of the submarine itself and all the items found inside with the crew (below, click to enlarge).

The rest of the display are the eight mannequins and items found with or near each individual. That includes clothing fragments, a bandana, buttons and shoes.

Given it having been open only a few days, Theerman said she doesn’t have yet a sense of the public’s reception of the exhibit

“However, the gallery was definitely occupied the couple of times I was upstairs today, which is always lovely to see.”

MORE ON THE HUNLEY:

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2025/02/these-tools-helped-keep-submarine.html

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2020/05/hl-hunley-fascination-social-media-post.html

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2019/11/new-clue-hunley-crew-wasnt-using-air.html

https://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2015/01/hl-hunley-scientists-peeling-away-crust.html

Ballast water pipe from the submarine H.L. Hunley (Photos courtesy The Charleston Museum)

Descendants of Sultana disaster victims and survivors were early champions of a large museum. They will be in Arkansas next month to celebrate a day long coming

Descendant Robert Burke of Marion, Ind., places wreath remembering ancestor in Mississippi River in 2015; Doug Schneider of the association has created a medallion for this year's reunion in Marion.

With the grand opening of the reimagined Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Ark., just a few weeks away, organizers credit a meeting nearly 40 years ago for getting the ball rolling for an enduring tribute to victims and survivors of the maritime disaster.

The first gathering of the Sultana Association of Descendants and Friends occurred in Knoxville, Tenn., bringing together researchers Jerry Potter and Gene Salecker.

“Gene and Jerry had been researching the Sultana story for several years separately when they met for the first time at our first formal Sultana reunion in Knoxville in 1988,” said association founder Norman Shaw. “They became friends and started sharing research, resulting in Jerry's book coming out in 1992 followed by Gene's in 1996.”

The little-known story of the steamboat Sultana was finally being told.

Potter, Salecker and retired banker Louis Intres eventually championed a combination of artifacts, memorabilia and stories of those involved in the Sultana to build a first iteration of the museum in 2015, the same year the descendants group last met in Marion. (Interestingly, none neither they nor Shaw are descendants.)

Marion – across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tenn., is near where the Sultana caught fire and exploded in late April 1865, killing about 1,200 people, including hundreds of Union soldier who had just been released from Confederate prisons and were heading home.

This year's meeting of the descendants group Nov. 12-14 will be a prominent part of the celebration in Marion, which worked for years to raise the millions needed for a larger location a few blocks from the first venue.

Salecker told the Picket no one envisioned a museum during that first meeting of descendants.

A few years later, Intres learned Salecker had been collecting artifacts and memorabilia and had put them on display a few times at the Ohio Civil War Show in Mansfield and at Sultana Association of Descendants and Friends reunions.

“I think after seeing what I was bringing to our reunions for display, and after seeing some of the photos from the Kenosha (Wis.) display, Louis asked me if I would loan him all of my artifacts for a display that he wanted to put up at Arkansas State University, where he was working as an adjunct professor. The display was put up in February 2012,” said Salecker, who lives in the Chicago area.

“In June 2013, Louis, working with the Marion Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Frank Fogleman, arranged for a display of my artifacts and some items from Jerry Potter and a few descendants … in a shopping complex. After that, in consultation with Frank and others in Marion, it was decided to look for an interim museum site, while we all looked for a permanent site for a museum,” Salecker added. (Louis Intres, photo below)

Officials say it’s important that the little-known story of greed, fraud, valor and sacrifice be told in a bigger way than what’s covered in a tiny museum that opened in 2015 and closed this past May.

The Sultana disaster was little known at the time, not helped by the fact that it got lost in headlines about the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the end of the Civil War.

John Fogleman, president of the Sultana Historical Preservation Society, which is leading the museum effort, told the Picket the authors and descendants were responsible for conceiving the idea of the museum. Fogleman's ancestors helped rescue those thrown into the river by the catastrophe, and that aspect of the story will be featured in the exhibits.

Officials hope the larger venue – in the town’s old high school gymnasium -- will boost learning and tourism in the area.

Descendants attending this 38^th annual reunion will wear a yellow ribbon similar to those worn by survivors of the disaster. Member Doug Schneider is producing a medallion showing an historic photograph of the Sultana and the exterior of the new site. 

Schneider's great-great grandfather, Peter Rosselot, Company E, 50th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, survived the tragedy. He had been captured at Franklin and imprisoned at Cahaba in Alabama.

Rosselot (left, with wife Louise) wrote about the calamity in a chapter of Chester Berry's famous book about the Sultana. 

"There were seven of our company on the boat, and five of them perished. If it has not been for the grace of God we too would have perished. After I had got down on the lower deck I waited for a favorable opportunity to save myself. After a large number of the men had made their escape or were drowned I watched for a clear space in the river, for I was afraid some one would catch hold of me and I would share the fate of the others. I jumped off into the river, and swam away as fast as I could ..."

Schneider, who lives in Massachusetts, has been on four trips with the association. "Norm has done an amazing job of finding various places to visit that are related to the men who were on the Sultana."

Other meeting locations have included Knoxville, Cincinnati, Vicksburg, Ms., Memphis, Americus, Ga., and Athens, Ala. -- all have ties to POW camps, the boat itself or the disaster.

Shaw said he is hopeful 200 members of the group will come to Marion. He has booked rooms in four hotels. About 115 people had signed up by Oct. 9.

Descendants at their 2015 reunion in Marion and Memphis (Norman Shaw)

Here is the schedule for the descendants association gathering:

Wednesday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day: The city will have a 1 p.m. public ceremony at the museum’s flag plaza (114 Military Road). Sixth-grade students will sing and there will be a few remarks.

Thursday, Nov. 12: An afternoon meet-and-greet of descendants at the Best Western motel in Marion.

Friday, Nov. 13: A 10 a.m. tour of the new museum. John Fogleman and museum executive director Jeff Kollath will provide an introductory presentation.

The association will have a banquet from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. at The Crossings Church gym across from the museum. Tacker’s Shake Shack will provide the meal. The program includes recognitions, singing, book giveaways and a candlelight ceremony. Cost is $37.

Speakers include Potter, Salecker (at right, with model of Sultana) and Shaw.

“I expect that I will share how I first came to learn about the Sultana and became captivated by her remarkable story,” Potter said. “On a hot day in July 1978, I took a shortcut through the lobby of the National Bank of Commerce in Memphis and noticed a painting depicting the burning of the Sultana on April 27, 1865. The painting was displayed among several others in an alcove of the bank. That brief encounter sparked what has become nearly five decades of research, preservation and storytelling. My talk will focus on that journey and on the enduring mission of ensuring that the stories of the men aboard the Sultana, so often overlooked by history, are remembered and shared with future generations.”

Salecker will talk about early efforts of displaying the memorabilia and artifacts around the Midwest and finally in Marion. The author and collector said the effort moved from "Are there any interested descendants out there?" to "Look what we have accomplished."

Saturday, Nov. 14: 10 a.m. grand opening of the museum to the public.

In 2015, Norman Shaw (right) and reenactor prepare to place flag in Mississippi River in memory of soldiers

Robert Burke, 82, of Marion, Ind., is among the descendants traveling to Marion next month.

In 2015, Burke dropped a custom wreath and white rose into the Mississippi River in honor of his ancestor, Enoch Nation, 9^th Indiana Cavalry, who was a Cahaba prisoner near Selma, Ala. Many other released prisoners had been at Andersonville (Camp Sumter) in Georgia

“They never found his body,” Burke told the Picket then. “My only hope is he’s in an unknown soldier’s marked grave.”

Shaw recalls stumbling across the Sultana story as founder and later president of the Knoxville Civil War Roundtable in 1987. He learned about three local children of Sultana survivors and then about six more over the next few years. “All are gone now, of course.”

He recently sent an email to members of the descendants association, updating them on logistics for the gathering.

“In just 1.5 months, our long, sought-after dream of a new Sultana museum will become a reality,” Shaw wrote. “I'm sure your Sultana ancestors would be proud.”

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.