Veterans of the 7th Georgia Infantry wanted people to know the specific positions they held at Bull Run. They traveled north to place seven markers and remember fallen comrades. You can learn about their effort at a park exhibit closing soon

7th Georgia veterans at an 1897 reunion in Marietta (Georgia Archives), fragment of second position marker, pins showing locations of Manassas markers, and a surviving marker at Ricketts' battery (Picket photos)

The graying veterans of the 7^th Georgia Infantry Regiment – whether convening at a restaurant, saloon or the battlefield – savored snatches of humor amid the serious business of remembering the dead and shared experiences that bonded them for life.

Newspaper articles in Atlanta and Marietta from the early 1870s into the first decade of the 20^th century contained long, florid prose about reunions. Many anecdotes referred to what was on the dinner table.

“Boys, you eat like you did in the army!” former Col. Lucius Gartrell said of a meal featuring fried salmon, trout, deviled crabs, spring chicken, sirloin and cakes.

These lines about a dinner -- as recorded in minutes of the regiment’s 1905 meeting in Groveton, Va. -- likely brought a chuckle:

“There is a charge to be made but not on a battery. There are tables heavily laden with all manner of good things and true to our record we charged, captured and held the fort.”

So it is no surprise the veterans' 1905 visit to the First Manassas (Bull Run) battle in Virginia, where the regiment first spilled and drew blood, promised “a grand and pleasant time and a series of interesting festivities,” according to the Marietta Journal.

Their trip by train was noteworthy for what the warriors planned to do: place six markers indicating where they were positioned during the July 1861 battle and another stone for a position at Second Manassas in August 1862. Other stops during the summer trip included Alexandria, Va., Washington, D.C., Fredericksburg, Richmond and Petersburg.

“We promise a grand and pleasant time and a series of interesting festivities,” the veterans association said, according to the article.

Since that visit, the marble markers fell victim to time, vandals and – possibly – a highway widening, with only two still on the field today, one of them rarely seen by visitors.

An exhibit at Manassas National Battlefield Park, installed in late 2022, contains pieces of two markers and describes the fate of all seven. But you better hurry if you want to see them. The exhibit is expected to be rotated out this month and placed in storage and available for research by appointment.

Fragment came 'home' years after it vanished

I learned about the 7^th Georgia markers when I read a park Facebook post in March 2022 describing the return of a chunk from the “second position” marker to the Manassas battlefield.

How the top portion landed at the Country Day School in the upscale Langley neighborhood of McLean – about 45 miles away near the CIA headquarters – remains a mystery.

The son of the school’s director in the 1970s found it while doing construction work on an old barn on the school property. A 1990s Washington Post article about Langley includes a photograph of director Dorothy McCormick holding the stone, described as a tombstone. 

McCormick believed it to be a tombstone for a Georgia boy and it was an indication of the area's historical significance, she told the Post. She kept it on a hearth.

It wasn’t a grave marker, says Manassas National Battlefield Park museum specialist Jim Burgess, who documented the 7^th Georgia position markers and tried to get this one donated to the park 30 years ago after he learned of its discovery. He had no success at the time, given the park had no legal claim because the stone disappeared before the park was established in 1940. 

McCormick kept the stone, apparently for sentimental reasons.

When the director died in 2018, her children sold her home to the school and left the artifact behind. In February 2022, the federal park got a phone call indicating the school’s desire to see the stone back at Manassas.

Burgess believes the lower half of the marker may be the gray stone in the middle of a fireplace, which was built by a farmer on what is now park property.

Jim Burgess points out the grayer stone in a park fireplace (Picket photo)

I stopped by the park last summer to meet with Burgess about the exhibit. He kindly showed me one of the surviving markers and drove me to the fireplace/grill to see the item for myself. It stands out a bit from the other stones and you can readily see how it might match up with the returned piece.

Burgess’ passion about the 7^th Georgia markers is likely matched only by a retired Army lieutenant colonel who served in Vietnam and the 173^rd Airborne Brigade.

He first saw these markers while a young man

To say Henry W. Persons Jr. of Severn, Md., is serious about chronicling the service of the 7^th Georgia Infantry and its brigade wouldn’t quite capture the scope of his passion.

Henry W. Persons Jr. provided this photo of he and his impressive documents 

“I finished my chapter on the battle of Manassas several years ago. It is 214 pages double-spaced with 1,427 footnotes,” he told the Picket.

Persons, 80, has known Burgess for more than 20 years, and they have exchanged notes about the regiment and position markers. The ranger read Persons’ chapter and made some suggestions.

Persons first encountered the 7^th Georgia position markers while walking to Henry Hill in the early 1960s with his father. He later came across what is called the “hidden” marker, which is deep in the woods and rarely seen by park visitors.

The researcher’s passion – perhaps obsession – was a big help to me as I researched this piece. He provided by email numerous newspaper articles, a roster and minutes of meetings held by the regiment’s veterans.

“I have 80 boxes filled with catalog material on Anderson’s brigade,” Persons said.

Brig. Gen. George Thomas “Tige” Anderson (left) was not in command of the brigade at First Manassas but he led it from early 1862 until war’s end.

Regiment suffered big casualties on a big day

The 7^th was mustered into Confederate service in late May 1861. Most of the regiment’s soldiers were from Coweta, Paulding, DeKalb, Franklin, Fulton, Heard and Cobb counties in northern Georgia.

The unit was rushed to Virginia and saw heavy combat at Manassas on July 21, 1861, the first major battle in the Eastern Theater. (Sign at park, Picket photo)

Brigade commander Col. Francis S. Bartow was killed while leading his men against Federal Capt. James B. Ricketts’ battery on Henry Hill during a pivotal moment in the fighting. “One of their men is the first to jump up on the cannon,” said Persons.

The battle swung to the Confederates’ favor late in the day for a victory that left Union forces fleeing to Washington and dashing any hopes on either side for a quick war.

The 7th Georgia suffered a staggering 153 casualties out of 580 men present, according to American Battlefield Trust.

Persons had an ancestor, Aaron Wellborn (Welborn) Mashburn (right), who served with Company E, 7^th Georgia, as a teamster and cook.

“I believe he did participate in First Manassas but that is supposition. My dad didn’t know.”

Persons, who was born in Atlanta, said learning about Mashburn led him to delve deeper into the regiment and brigade, which saw action in numerous, battles including Antietam and Gettysburg. His great-great-grandfather apparently was taken prisoner for a time, but was released and served until the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. He died in 1924 at age 81.

“I was curious what he experienced, having been in war myself.”

Researcher has left no stone unturned

After his 25 years of active duty, the officer retired in Maryland and worked as a civilian for the Army. Research was not new to him, having studied underground operations for Special Forces. He lives south of Baltimore and near Fort Meade.

Persons’ research over the years took him to Emory University on Atlanta, the University of Georgia in Athens and the Georgia Archives, among other institutions. (7th Georgia meeting minutes left, click to enlarge) 

Much of what he found at libraries was on microfilm (He has not conducted research in recent years).

He keeps reams of research and writing about Anderson’s brigade in Hollinger boxes.

“My annotated bibliographies for the brigade and each regiment, battalion and artillery company that was assigned to the brigade numbers some 1,200 single-spaced pages.  It is a wealth of information pertaining to the brigade, its actions and men,” said Persons, who has given several hundreds of pages to the Manassas park archives.

He’d like to see all of this published someday.

'Watching the clouds of dust rising'

I turned to the newspaper articles Persons sent me to gain some insight to the 7^th Georgia veterans and why they got together.

An 1871 reunion included toasts to fallen and current members. “Several hours were passed in recalling the incidents of the war in which they each had taken a part, many of them amusing, many sad, and all of them interesting.”

The men paid tribute to Col. William T. Wilson, who fell at Second Manassas. ”He was the favorite of the regiment, and never will they forget his cheery shouts and words of encouragement to ‘my boys’ as they and he were seeking the thickest of the fights,” recorded the Atlanta Daily Sun.(At right, Burgess in front of exhibit, Picket photo)

An 1885 article recounted details from an evening at an Atlanta saloon.

“Most of them were men considerably past the meridian of life, but a franker, merrier set of men could not be found. There was something of the ring of the camp in their tones and the affectionate pride with which they alluded to their old regiment was as fresh as if they had just been through a campaign.”

The regiment’s flag flew over the dinner. Its words: “Repel the Invader.” The 7^th Georgia veterans, wives and families made at least two trips to Manassas, in 1902 and 1905. (Below, what's left of the "Third Position" marker, Picket photo)

I will leave you with these passages from two unattributed and undated articles about their 1902 journey.

“The Seventh Georgia veterans are here, the guests of Lee camp until tomorrow night, when they board their special for Fredericksburg. The grim old fellows spent the day tramping over battle fields of Manassas and along Bull Run, and a more tired or hungry party of southerners have not stopped off here in many a day. Lee camp and the ladies' auxiliary fixed them up a substantial and dainty repast at their hall, and will provide them with accommodation and interest them in a way that they will remember old Alexandria and her hospitality the balance of their days.”

And this one:

“Just forty one years ago to-day, many of you were standing with me near this spot listening to the rumbling of cannon and caisson on the Centreville pike and watching the clouds of dust rising from the confident tread of advancing thousands, followed by vehicles of different kinds, filled with spectators of both sexes, who had driven from Washington to enjoy the fun of seeing the Rebels run. A few hours later far greater clouds of dust could be seen caused by the furious retreat of these same parties to Washington.”

(Below, a map shows the location of all seven markers)

Two hanged Andrews Raiders are among 19 inducted into Ohio Military Hall of Fame. 'I wish more people knew about the history,' a descendant says

Recipients and relatives or descendants of honorees, the Military Hall of Fame medal and the reverse for Pvt. George D. Wilson (All photos Ryan Griffin, Ohio Department of Veterans Services)

Theresa Chandler believes it is appropriate her ancestor, Pvt. George D. Wilson, was honored Friday in the Ohio Statehouse, where tens of thousands filed past the coffin of President Abraham Lincoln 160 years before.

After all, Lincoln’s administration was the first to bestow the Medal of Honor, and that was to participants of the Andrews Raid. Wilson was one of eight men executed as spies following a dramatic locomotive chase in North Georgia.

Theresa Chandler talks with Brig. Gen. Matthew Woodruff of the Ohio National Guard 

For descendants of the families of Wilson and Pvt. Perry (Philip) Shadrach, who also was hanged, the ceremony in Columbus was a full circle moment – the men belatedly received the Medal of Honor last summer and were now being recognized for valor and induction into the Ohio Military Hall of Fame.

“I think it was important being honored in Ohio as part of the Civil War and I wish people knew more about the history of how we got to where we are today,” Chandler, 86, told the Picket on Tuesday.

Chandler, great-great granddaughter of Wilson, has said she got chills when she learned the soldier called for the return of one flag over the country before his execution. “We were not aware of any of the background when we were growing up.”

The sabotage mission along the Western & Atlantic Railroad from Atlanta to Chattanooga in 1862 was a tactical failure, but was a boost to the war-weary North. .

James Andrews and his band of Union raiders, dressed in civilian clothes, tried to destroy much of the railroad and communications as they rushed northward on April 12, 1862. But little damage was done and the group was forced to flee when the commandeered locomotive General ran out of fuel.

They were captured and most later escaped or were exchanged. Andrews and seven others -- including Shadrach and Wilson -- were treated as spies and executed. The episode became known as the "Great Locomotive Chase" because Southerners in the locomotive Texas pursued the General.

Shadrach and Wilson, members of the 2^nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, are buried at the national cemetery in Chattanooga, Tenn., where new Medal of Honor headstones were unveiled in October following events for descendants.

While other members of the raid received the Medal of Honor, paperwork did not go through for the pair, supporters of the recognition claimed.

The Ohio Department of Veterans Services said 19 Ohioans were inducted in the statehouse atrium. “Of the 19 honorees, 12 are posthumous awards. Six were killed in combat. For their actions, members of this class have received multiple awards for valor including three the Medal of Honor recipients.” Most of the honorees saw combat during and since World War II.

Accepting the Shadrach medal was Ron Shadrach (below with Maj. Gen. John C. Harris Jr.), a great cousin

He nominated his ancestor and Wilson for the state honor and was a leader in the long campaign for them to receive the Medal of Honor, which was bestowed last summer by then-President Joe Biden.

Chandler’s sisters Charlene Murphy and Joyce Dersom and other family members were on hand Friday.

Chandler said Friday was the first time she saw a ground-floor plaque honoring the Andrews Raiders.

A 2012 ceremony marking the 150th anniversary of the raid was held in the Statehouse.

“There are a lot of people who have heard about the Andrews Raiders but don’t know about the history of it," Chandler said.

Ron Shadrach (left) and others look at the Andrews Raid plaque on Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

Entrepreneurs Lee and Brittani Lusk love fixing up old properties. They're about to move a house that was in the middle of Civil War cavalry clashes to Ball Ground, Ga.

Lee Lusk (top left), steel supports underneath, interior (Courtesy the Lusks) and Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard

One property at a time, go-getters Lee and Brittani Lusk are championing historic preservation and entrepreneurship in Ball Ground, a growing city of about 2,400 perched in the foothills of North Georgia.

Among other properties, the couple own the 1906 Wheeler House, a popular wedding venue; The Elm, business suites situated in an old elementary school (great pun); and an historic home they lease out for Lora Mae’s restaurant.

Now they are working on a project ambitious by even their standards: the move of a house that was caught in the middle of Civil War cavalry clashes and briefly served as headquarters for a Union general during the Atlanta Campaign.

The Lusks, who have performed dozens of restorations in the region, bought the Robert and Eliza McAfee house for $1 from the nonprofit Cobb Landmarks. The 1840s dwelling must be moved by mid-May to make way for commercial development.

The house -- built as solid as a rock-- will have to be broken into six or eight pieces for the move from Cobb County to Ball Ground, a Cherokee County town about 25 miles to the north.

“I think, in the beginning, they thought it could be done in two to four” pieces, Brittani Lusk recently told the Picket.

The Lusks (left) are not deterred by the considerable expense and effort, though Brittani joked she and Lee have had a couple “What were we thinking?” moments.

The couple tends to think big in ideas and implementation.

They dismantled a chapel where Lee was “saved and baptized” and plan to rebuild it as a wedding venue at the Wheeler House. In 2023, they purchased a railroad depot in Old Fort, Tenn. They hope to reassemble it as a restaurant in downtown Ball Ground, which used to be known as a railroad town. (Ball Ground, incidentally, was named for stick ball games Cherokee tribes used to play in the area. It also got some headlines in 2015 when Tom Cruise came to shoot a movie.)

The Lusks are moving the McAfee House to a corner lot near their 1895 residence. It will take up to a year to renovate the house, which has modern features added over the years. They are not sure how it will be used – a rental residence, museum or something else. The sumptuous Ball Ground Botanical Garden across the street from the Lusks could tie into the house. The parcel the McAfee House will sit on is at Old Canton and Byrd Hill roads.

“(We want it to be) the most original it can be. I would love to leave the wood walls and the original siding, to make it appear to be a Civil War Home,” said Brittani, who manages the staff of the Wheeler House.

Cobb Landmarks maintains the farm was reportedly used as a field hospital following a skirmish near McAfee’s Crossroads on June 11, 1864. Bloodstains are said to be visible on the floorboards in an upstairs bedroom, although carpet conceals the spot today. 

That’s according to legend.

“We are going to know in three to five months,” Lee Lusk said in March.

Cavalry skirmishes, bloodletting in Cobb County

While Cobb Landmarks had hoped the McAfee House would stay in Cobb County, the proposal put forward by the Lusks was a clear choice for a committee looking at nearly 40 proposals to relocate the empty dwelling.

“There were a couple (proposals) from Cobb (but) they were not fleshed-out applications,” Cobb Landmarks executive director Trevor Beemon told the Picket in February. “We needed to get to someone who already knows what they are doing.” 

The McAfee House served a few weeks in June and early July 1864 as the headquarters for Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard and his three brigades during the Atlanta Campaign

The Federal troopers clashed almost daily near Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. .

Cobb County was the scene of significant combat action and troop movement as Confederates tried to stall Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s relentless campaign on Atlanta, which began in May 1864 in North Georgia.

After the seizure of Big Shanty (Kennesaw) by Federal forces on June 9, Garrard’s cavalry division was posted on the left flank during operations on the Kennesaw Mountain front. While there were some small towns, including Marietta and Big Shanty, most citizens lived on farms.

Click to enlarge map showing several Civil War clashes in Cobb County (ABPP)

The McAfee farm was believed to have been occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around Kennesaw Mountain.

The house has been empty for several years, and preservationists worried it would fall to the wrecking ball. Eventually, the owner donated the house to Cobb Landmarks so it could find someone to move it before a new development is built.

Beemon predicted it could cost up to $150,000 to prep and move the dwelling up Highway 5 and another $200,000-$250,000 for renovations.

The benefits, risks of being your own boss

Wheeler House wedding venue (Picket photo) and The Elm (Courtesy the Lusks

Lee Lusk, 40, a native of Canton in Cherokee County, purchased and renovated his first home at age 18. He was asked in a 2018 interview how he came to be an entrepreneur.

“I can’t take direction. I have to do things myself. I have several family members who own their own business and I always knew that I would rather lose trying to make it on my own rather than win working under someone else,” he said.

“I’m also more of an idea guy, I can start projects but lose focus when it gets closer to the end, but because I am my own boss and working on my own projects I am able to do something new every day.”

Small depot in Old Fort, Tenn., before it was moved to Georgia (Courtesy the Lusks)

Lee and Brittani, 33 -- who have three small children – call themselves business people with a specialty.

“Not many people know how to do it," Lee told the Picket of restoration work. “Not many are very good at it.”

The McAfee House attracted them with its heart pine, flooring, wood beams and timbers. A plus was no obvious apparent water or termite damage. Lee likes to keep original materials whenever feasible.

The developer has a discerning eye for properties. “The setting attracts me the most. The house second,” said Lee, who has an affinity for standout trees.

The church chapel story is particularly close to his heart.

A crew dismantles the old Macedonia Baptist chapel near Canton (Courtesy the Lusks)

About five years ago, the Georgia Department of Transportation widened Georgia 20, east of Canton. Macedonia Baptist Church’s chapel needed to be moved and the Lusks performed the work. (They want to rebuild it for their Ball Ground wedding venue).

Lee’s late father Joel helped build the new sanctuary for Macedonia, which sits off East Cherokee Drive a few miles south of Ball Ground.

“He loved the people of Macedonia Church and devoted much of his life to selflessly serving others,” his 2021 obituary reads. “His work there has left a beautiful and lasting legacy.”

Brittani Lusk grew up in Cobb County and her mother attended an elementary school across from the McAfee House.

'They are not afraid to tackle large projects'

A 2023 comprehensive plan for Ball Ground says the community is seeing continuous growth and change.

“Today, the City is becoming a destination in its own right, and not simply a bedroom community between Canton and Jasper.” (Left, the botanical garden, Picket photo)

While promoting sustainable growth, the city says it is important to preserve and enhance a sense of place and historic character. The Picket reached out to city officials for comment on the Lusks’ contributions but has not yet heard back.

Stefanie Joyner, executive director of History Cherokee and the Cherokee County Historical Society, said of the couple:

“They have saved numerous historic buildings and helped preserve the historic character of Cherokee County. They are not afraid to tackle large projects and by utilizing the historic preservation tax credits, the Lusks have been able to leverage their passion into successful businesses. "We look forward to working with them in the future and are excited to add the McAfee House to Ball Ground.”

Shooting for an 1840s feel in 21st century

The Lusks were still prepping the McAfee House for the move and their crews have been on site. They are hiring a company that specializes in such ambitious moves.

The house is on large iron beams and three trailers are in place to carry the pieces along the route, which had not been finalized when I last was in touch.

Some really old walls at the McAfee House and something a bit more contemporary (Courtesy the Lusks)

The two-story home is much bigger than it appears from the front on Bells Ferry Road at Ernest Barrett Parkway. (The residence had no designated historic protection because the owner did not seek it, according to Cobb officials, and is not on the National Register of Historic Places.)

The move will be right down to the mid-May deadline. And the logistics for that will be significant. Cobb County law enforcement will escort the entourage to Cherokee County, where deputies will finalize the drive to Ball Ground.

Lee Lusk said asbestos testing is necessary. Fireplace bricks (right, photo courtesy the Lusks) have been removed and will be used again. The couple has taken care of permitting for the Ball Ground property, which is near a stream.

There’s a state marker outside the McAfee House -- which is northwest of Atlanta -- but it will remain after the house moves. The Lusks would like to make a duplicate of some kind for Ball Ground.

Brittani says they have encountered some writing on the walls of the house, perhaps written by an Emma Good or Hood. They have a box of artifacts -- including medicine bottles and plans for the land surrounding the residence -- they found while on site in Cobb County.

The house is built of pine timbers joined with wooden pegs. It has original heart pine floors (currently under carpet) and plank walls and ceilings beneath modern additions. The residence features a central hallway.

“When you walk through it, the floorboards don’t creak,” Beemon, with Cobb Landmarks, told me earlier this year. “The timbers are two feet thick under this thing. It is sitting on stone piers. It is really a solid structure.”

Brittani said she plans to get rid of the “ugly” exterior awning and metal siding. The dwelling will likely need a new front door.

The idea is for a visitor to feel like they are in the 1840s when they step inside.

“We want it be in the most original state with historical integrity,” said Brittani.

The McAfee House will be placed in the lot to the right of a stream barrier (Picket photo)

First on the Picket: Compelling artifacts and technology acquired in recent years will tell a bigger story in an Atlanta History Center exhibition opening next year. The aim is to get you to think about what the Civil War meant then -- and its impact today

The Atlanta History Center is closing a longtime Civil War exhibit to make way for two new galleries that will feature breathtaking artifacts and a broader discussion of issues that engage the republic to this day: our belief systems, victory, defeat, reconciliation and the evolving meaning of freedom.

Atlanta, museum officials say, is ideal to tell a bigger national story about the Civil War in a striking way. Beyond being the capital of the South and a melting pot, it’s recognized by historians as a crucial battleground for saving the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and the United States itself.

For 30 years, relics collected by an Atlanta father and son formed the core of “Turning Point: The American Civil War.” The exhibit focused on the soldiers in blue and gray and how they did their deadly work, and visitors were awed by the incredible collection of uniforms, weapons, personal items -- and just about every conceivable type of artillery shell.

While “Turning Point” did address some big questions about the Civil War, there was limited discussion on technology, slavery and the home front. New, more diverse generations – distanced even more from the Civil War era – are asking deeper questions, the museum says, about why the war happened, how 4 million enslaved Americans gained their freedom, Reconstruction and what the conflict, which took at least 720,000 lives, means today.

Sheffield Hale with Union 20th Corps wagon that traveled near what is now the AHC (Picket photo)

“Thirty years ago, we (had) white, middle-class older folks,” Gordon Jones, the AHC’s senior military historian and curator, told the Picket about the exhibit’s key audience at the time. “We are a changed city. Demographics have changed. Our audience asks different questions.”

The history center is investing $15 million and more than 15,000 square feet for the new exhibition, which has not been formally named. It is expected to open in summer 2026, when the AHC marks its centennial.

“Turning Point” will close on May 25, but Civil War aficionados can still get their fix during construction with the giant Cyclorama painting of the Battle of Atlanta, related exhibits and the locomotive Texas, one half of the famous “Great Locomotive Chase” in 1862.

Jones came to the history center in early 1991 and cataloged the vast artifacts collection of Beverly M. DuBose Jr., whose name is on the current gallery. The collection became the basis for much of “Turning Point," which now has an outdated feel.

Flags and other items in the current "Turning Point" exhibit (Picket photo)

The curator could not conceive in the early 1990s what the internet and online auctions would mean for the history center, which has since purchased scores of artifacts, many of which will be displayed for the first time in the exhibition.

“More is better. It’s what gets people excited,” said Jones. “Artifacts are what speak to you emotionally, through your heart.”

Two flags and messages they sent to formerly enslaved

Make no mistake, Confederate and Union bayonets, swords, flags, rifles and revolvers will still be a big part of the presentation. To that end, Jones and AHC CEO and president Sheffield Hale are excited about plans to include two large collection of dug relics.

But they are particularly excited about the artifacts related to U.S. Colored Troops. The impetus for that came about in 2019, when the history center bought a hand-painted flag made for the 127^th USCT infantry. It depicts a soldier waving farewell to Columbia, a symbol of the United States, with the words “We Will Prove Ourselves Men.”

“It’s an iconic knock-your-socks-off artifact,” Jones (At left in Picket photo) said at the time. Even an enlisted man’s USCT uniform wouldn’t be as historically significant as this flag.”

There’s another flag (top photo of this post) the curator said will be his favorite item in the new exhibit.

Most of the American flag is long gone, save for the 34 stars and upper-left canton. It flew over a camp on Craney Island near Hampton Roads, Va., that protected escaped slaves, whom Jones said were active in their liberation. The camp operated for just over a year before closing in September 1863; it was one of dozens of such camps in southeast Virginia housing an estimated 70,000 formerly enslaved people, according to the AHC. The tattered flag, which originally was 10 feet tall by 20 feet long, is undergoing conservation for display.

While the flag for the 127^th USCT largely symbolized pride and duty, this one was a symbol of freedom, welcoming those who arrived safely after a dangerous journey.

 “If I get to that flag, I get my freedom, Jones said a refugee might think. “The choice to whom I can marry, to find my family.”

A closer look at the fascinating 'new' artifacts

I met Monday with Hale and Jones to talk about the new exhibition, which officials say will be heavy on “cutting-edge technology and immersive storytelling” and the benefits of newer scholarship. (Afterward, Jones showed me several artifacts in a storage area in the building’s basement)

They outlined some of what visitors will see in the galleries and other items in the center's vast collection. Below is just a smattering of what we discussed:

Patent for Morse breech-loading firearm (Atlanta History Center)

-- The downstairs Goldstein gallery, which is empty, will focus on technology and the Civil War. In part, it will feature the singular collection of the late George W. Wray Jr., showcasing some of the rarest Confederate firearms, swords, uniforms, flags and other items. Some were one of a kind. When it went on temporary display in 2015, the theme was the weapons were an attempt by a slave-based society to fight an industrial war. The South was hampered by limited manufacturing and the Union blockade of foreign goods.

-- A projection on one wall will feature a timeline of the war, key moments and maps, Hale said. The AHC will display elements of its interactive “War in Our Backyards” collaboration with The Atlanta Journal Constitution about 10 years ago.

-- Utilizing an online database about the Atlantic slave trade, the former DuBose space will feature an animated screen showing their routes, destinations and other details.

Gordon Jones with 18th century British blunderbuss (Picket photo)

Two items will show the connection of the U.S. slave trade and the practice elsewhere:

-- One is a circa 1750s short-barreled firearm, or blunderbuss, made by the John Whately family in England. The European slave cartel traded guns for enslaved persons along the West African coast. It was typical for the buyers to supply weapons, iron bars, printed cloth and other metals as part of the barter. "This one is extremely lightweight, cheaply made, and incredibly rare to find in this condition," said Jones, who believes this one may have been a sample weapon. 

“It was just rotten and evil from the start to finish,” the historian said of the slave trade.

-- Documents written on parchment in 1868 detailing enslaved persons brought to Cuba five years before. The ledger includes Christian names, their age, condition and, most chillingly, the branding mark burned in their bodies. Visitors will learn the international slave trade continued until the late 1880s. (Picket photo, right)

-- A presentation on Confederate and Union monuments, including their locations.

-- Documents from the Maj. Henry Thomas Massengale collection. The Confederate States Quartermaster Bureau in Atlanta was responsible for manufacturing, procuring and transporting military supplies such as clothing, camp equipment, forage, and draft animals, to the Army of Tennessee before, during, and after the Atlanta campaign. Some of the notations are about enslaved persons, including one about a requisition for pants, drawers, shirts and hats for three. “The clothing is required for Negroes employed on the Fortifications that were confined in the Smallpox Hospital and their clothing had to be burned to prevent contagion.” The papers are available at the AHC's Kenan Research Center.

-- Personal items belonging to Capt. James Lile Lemon of the 18^th Georgia. “He literally saved everything,” said Jones. Among the artifacts is a drum (photo at top of post) captured from two young Pennsylvania drummer boys on Sept. 16, 1862, the day before the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam). Lile later wrote about the capture of the boys by Pvt. Frank A. Boring:

"As he was driving them to the rear at point of bayonet they heaped so much abuse upon him - out of their fear or nervousness - that he had to be restrained from striking them with the clubbed musket. Of course, instantly the target of many wags among our company who joked with him about "scaring little boys" & etc. He replied that he would be d---d if he'd take such abuse from "d---d Yankee whelps." The boys were release & "beat a hasty retreat" back to their lines, with Boring giving them a rite hard look as they went."

-- A portion of the DuBose family Civil War dug relic collection is one of two never-before-exhibited relic collections to be included in the new exhibits. “These collections are comprised of approximately 50,000 artifacts recovered from the 1930s through the 1990s from Tennessee to Virginia, with special emphasis on the Atlanta area,” said the AHC. “They include Minie balls, shell fragments, bayonets, belt plates, gun parts and personal items of every description: the detritus of war left in and on the ground, often in our own backyards.” (Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

-- A fascinating lithograph copy of South Carolina’s ordinance of secession. Black troops with the 102nd USCT, mainly comprised of Michigan and Canadian men, seized it in March 1865 at a Charleston home. The Union troops listed four companies within the regiment.

They called the signed sheet a “scroll of treason.” (the original document is in the South Carolina archives). The AHC has a pistol that belonged to one of the White officers listed at the bottom.

Crucial to all this, Hale and Jones said, is being authentic and honest about artifacts and context. At a time of growing use of artificial intelligence and a distrust among many of museums, it’s important visitors know where items came from, said Hale.

Notation on copy of South Carolina secession document calls it a "scroll of treason" (Picket photo)

The aim is to be thought-provoking

Part of the exhibit will look at how the United States went from the Revolutionary War and subsequent conflicts to the Civil War, and what was resolved and what was not during those 80 years.

Some of the fractures continue today, said Jones, adding it is important to raise questions but let visitors make their own conclusions. “We want to change … the traditional ways we examined the Civil War.”

The AHC has utilized focus groups and feedback as it plotted the direction of the exhibit. Jones considers history professor Carolina Janney of the University of Virginia, historian and former president of the University of Richmond Ed Ayers and Cynthia Neal Spence, associate professor of sociology at Spelman College, among his mentors. Spence was featured in an AHC documentary about the legacy of Stone Mountain.

At the end of the day, compelling artifacts, context and interactive features will combine to entertain and educate, the AHC believes.

“We want them to say, ‘Dang, I never realized that,’” Jones said.