2018's top 10 Picket posts: Cyclorama, Pea Ridge artifacts, unearthed bullet and Custer

I’m grateful for readers’ continued interest in the Civil War Picket. Other responsibilities don’t allow for me to write as much as I’d like, but this year’s 10 most popular posts, per Google analytics, demonstrate the variety of topics you appear to like. We’re excited about 2019 and wish you and yours the very best!

(Atlanta History Center)

10. MAKING THE ATLANTA CYCLORAMA WHOLE: When this treasured piece of city history goes back on public display in February after an extensive restoration, viewers will see the painting as its creators intended. That’s because artists restored two sections of the circular mural that were removed over the years, for different reasons. • Read more

9. BEHIND EVERY CIVIL WAR PHOTO THERE IS A STORY: Ronald S. Coddington, an author, magazine publisher and historian, doggedly pursues the back story of thousands of cartes de visite, or small portrait cards, he owns or people bring to his attention. At a show in Dalton, Ga., Coddington interacted with patrons on a number of levels, scanning tintypes, ambrotype images and cartes de visite, networking and weighing in on a card’s value. • Read more

(Library of Congress)

8. SMOLDERING RESENTMENT: Walking tours held a couple times a year examine how volunteer firefighters in Alexandria, Va., dealt with the sweeping Federal military occupation during the Civil War. While the occupation did modernize firefighting – the Yankees brought in the first two steam pumpers – it put locals on the defensive, requiring them to take an oath of allegiance to the United States or use a password to assist in putting out a blaze. • Read more 

(Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation)

7. GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE: A northwest Georgia city hopes a reinvigorated downtown, economic incentives and potential tax breaks will bring new life to a railroad depot that played a small part in the Civil War’s “Great Locomotive Chase.” After this Picket post was written, Dalton officials sold the building to the lone bidder. • Read more

(Civil War Picket photo)

6. THESE 2 SAILORS WENT DOWN WITH THE USS MONITOR. HERE’S WHAT WAS FOUND WITH THEM: They are the kinds of things one might carry in a pants pocket: A rubber comb, a small pocketknife, a wisp of string and a stray button that needs reattaching. While seeming so ordinary, two dozen artifacts under glass at The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Va., tell an incredible story filled with mystery, hope and terror -- a very human story. • Read more

Documentary maker Michael Jordan films diver 

5. CSS GEORGIA DOCUMENTARY GOES DEEP: “Red diver, into the water when ready,” are the first words uttered in a documentary about the recovery and history of the CSS Georgia, which earned the derisive nickname “Mud Tub” when its supporters learned it was too underpowered to attack Federal ships that had bottled up Savannah’s river entrance. • Read more

4. PORTION OF REBEL TRENCH TO BE PRESERVED: A new park northwest of Atlanta will feature the remnants of a trench briefly occupied by Confederates during the Federal army’s push on Atlanta in summer 1864. Experts believe the defensive trench was occupied for a few days by Mercer’s Georgia brigade after Confederates withdrew from the New Hope Church line on June 4, 1864. • Read more

Courtesy of Arkansas Archeological Survey

3. PEA RIDGE EXCAVATION YIELDS TROVE OF ARTIFACTS: Students, volunteers, park staffers and archaeology hobbyists earlier this year recorded and recovered about 1,000 artifacts – most of them related to a ferocious artillery fire exchange – at Pea Ridge National Military Park in northwest Arkansas. • Read more

2. THE BULLET, BALL FIELD AND BATON ROUGE:  Perhaps it was dropped by a young Confederate soldier working furiously to reload his rifle as his regiment advanced in summer 1862. Or maybe a shot fired by the opposing 14^th Maine or 21st Indiana regiments missed its mark and drilled harmlessly into the soil. The bullet was undiscovered -- until February. Crews renovating a Louisiana church parcel spotted the artifact in soil excavated for a new light pole at its ball field. • Read more

(Courtesy of Cisco's Gallery)

1. ALL THINGS CUSTER:  A lock of the dashing Union cavalryman’s hair sold for $12,500 at an auction. Whomever wants his Civil War uniform, Tiffany sword and other items captured at the June 1864 Battle of Trevilian Station in Virginia will need to pony up a ton more. (The items are still for sale.)  • Read more