The old statue was moved into village administration building (LHS and Village of LaGrange)
“Sherman,”
the Ohio Civil War statue that was shattered by a big rig and put back together
again, has come in from the cold.
LaGrange village and township employees – using machine and muscle – late last week moved the
granite man from the unheated old fire station to the village’s administration building.
“They rented
a gun safe dolly. They used a lot of muscle, too,” said Jan King, treasurer of
the LaGrange Historical Society. “He is inside where it is temperature controlled.”
The new home
for the statue brings the story full circle for the Picket, which first
reported on the matter in summer 2022 after a tractor trailer driver apparently
fell asleep at the village’s traffic circle. The rig smashed the 1903 memorial into pieces.
The community was determined to make things whole.
Master stone
carver Nicholas Fairplay glued “Sherman” back together and used him as a model
for a replica. Cleveland Quarries rebuilt the monument base below the soldier.
Both were installed on the
rural village’s circle in May 2025.The old “Sherman” was moved around the same
time to the fire station (photo, left), where he stood for seven months before the recent move.
The statue,
which weighs about 1,500 pounds, is now in a hallway close to the historical
society (he’s too big to fit inside the group’s small museum and learning
center). It is being kept for now in a protective wooden frame.
“We will have
to anchor him down,” said King. “There is a possibility he could be pushed
over.”
That would be
especially tragic for the old fellow, having already suffered the indignity of
losing his head (it broke off) when the truck pulverized the original memorial. (Photos below from LaGrange Township)
Local folks
call the statue “Sherman,” but King was quick to quash that moniker during our
phone call.
The correct
name is “the statue” or “the flag bearer,” she said.
So how did
the stone soldier come to be called “Sherman”?
The monument
base carried the names of LaGrange area residents who served
during the war, the names of a few battles and of Union generals Ulysses S.
Grant, William T. Sherman, Philip Sheridan and George Thomas. Sherman
was an Ohioan.
I asked King, whose family has lived in the community
southwest of Cleveland for generations, to describe the old statue, now that he
is on ground level.
The retired seamstress is impressed by the craftsmanship –
the flag’s carved stars, stitch marks on his lapel and the deep-set eyes. “There
is a lot of detail to it.” (Photos above, LaGrange Historical Society)
The society
and village office are in a former school building on Liberty Street. “Sherman”
is next to a trophy case.
The historical society is open on the third Sunday of each month and on special request. There are old records, photos and a buggy inside, all signaling LaGrange’s rural roots. “It used to be an agricultural city but it is getting more away from that,” said King.
A group of
third-graders once stopped by and King was able to show some of them graduation
photos of their grandparents.
New statue at studio in Vermilion and monument installation in LaGrange (Courtesy Cleveland Quarries)
Safety
measures have helped reduce intrusions into the traffic circle, which is at the intersection of routes 301 and 303 (Main
Street).
Villagers used to blow horns and drive around the circle when
they got married; school buses still take victory laps when athletes return
victorious from competitions elsewhere, King added.
Whatever he is called, the replica Union flag bearer is a
fixture in LaGrange and watches over those passing through.
Archaeology team at work on beach (SCIAA), map of wreck sites (U.S. Coast Survey),.wreck of Celt (Library of Congress)
As the Union’s
nautical noose tightened around Charleston, blockade runners daring to bring
vital goods to the Confederacy typically took the shortest route into the harbor,
sailing close to Fort Moultrie on the southwestern tip of Sullivan’s Island.
But first, enterprising
captains likely weighed the risk/reward ratio of using Maffitt’s (or Beach)
Channel to enter or leave the besieged city.
Pros: Straighter
shot into the harbor and protected by a string of Confederate batteries along
Sullivan's Island to keep Union blockaders at bay;
Cons: Tricky to
make the passage into the harbor due to a jetty off Fort Moultrie that created
unique currents and counter-currents.
And there was
another downside, says South Carolina underwater archaeologist Jim Spirek.
“100-pdr
Parrott and other shells heading your way if spotted by the Union batteries on
Morris Island after the fall of Battery Wagner.”
Click map to see Main Channel, Battery Wagner and Fort Moultrie area (U.S. Coast Survey)
So it’s no
surprise numerous blockade runners ended up littering the shore or shallow waters.
Some were sunk by enemy fire while others intentionally (or not) ran aground.
While the
whereabouts of many are known, the state wanted to know more about four that
are no longer visible, Spirek told the Civil War Picket. His office this week
announced it used drones to conduct a survey of the “forgotten” wreck sites.
“Because
Sullivan’s Island has been marching steadily southward in the area around Ft.
Moultrie since the construction of the Charleston Harbor jetties, what once was
water for ships to wreck in is now dry land,” said a social media post.
“The remains
of these vessels are now buried deep below the beach and adjacent woodlot. Our
drone was able to fly over the rough coastal terrain with its attached
magnetometer, and detected the magnetic anomalies of two (or three) of the four
historically recorded wrecks. Knowing the precise locations will help to
preserve our knowledge of this part of Charleston’s history for future
generations.”
Archaeologists
believe they have located the “magnetic anomalies” of the Celt and the Beatrice
or Flora (or both). The blockade runner Presto did not show, but is believed to
be buried, like the others, below about 5 feet of sand. (At right, a jetty near Fort Moultrie is highlighted)
“The situation of shipwrecks appearing and then disappearing again is
very typical of this type of sandy shoreline,” Civil
War naval expert Andy Hall told the Picket. “Wrecks come and go
(seemingly) as alternate cycles of erosion and accretion expose and rebury
them."
Spirek, other
archaeologists and historians have studied harbors along the Atlantic Coast and
forces that present opportunities and challenges for shipping.
Charleston Harbor is behind Fort Moultrie fortifications in this NPS photo
I came across
a fascinating article by local historian Nic Butler while researching this post.
Entitled “Navigating the Bar of Charleston Harbor: Gateway to the Atlantic,”
the piece describes shifting sandbars, silting and dangerous currents.
Dredging, skilled captains and beacons countered some of the threats.
“Thanks to the construction of an artificial channel through
two massive stone jetties, South Carolina’s principal port continues to
flourish,” Butler writes.
The federal government got involved in safeguarding
navigation in the first half of the 19th century, when Fort Moultrie
was endangered because of severe erosion. Works on the jetties and dredging
began. Capt. Andrew Bowman of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a jetty and
breakwaters off Fort Moultrie to help stave off erosion.
But the Bowman and North Charleston jetties also had a
negative effect, building up sand around them and reducing the depth of water
ships could work with.
During the Union blockade, multiple ships ran aground
off Sullivan’s Island as they traversed Maffitt's Channel (named for Rebel commerce raider John Newland Maffitt, right).
“Based on
geo-referencing an 1865 nautical chart that marked the location of shipwrecks,
obstructions, etc. in and around the harbor onto the modern landscape, (the
evidence) suggested that four blockade runners were now buried
on the beach,” said Spirek.
These four blockade runners met their doom here
The state’s
Maritime Research Division this fall deployed drones over beach areas near Fort
Moultrie. They were equipped with magnetometers.
Survey looked for Celt, Presto, Beatrice and Flora, mislabeled as Flamingo (SCIAA)
“The
magnetometer detects the earth's ambient magnetic field and we use the tool to
detect fluctuations, or anomalies, in the field caused by ferromagnetic metals,
and in this case, three large iron-hulled blockade runners and one
wooden-hulled,” said Spirek, adding no pieces of wreckage were found. “The Celt was reportedly last seen in the early 1980s.”
Below is a
closer look at each of the four blockade runners. It's important to note that Union forces seized Morris Island in September 1863, allowing them to fire long-range artillery at vessels approaching Charleston
Celt: The steamboat was lost Feb. 14,
1865, when it tried to leave Charleston Harbor. Celt had run ashore near the
breakwater at Fort Moultrie several days before the evacuation of the harbor by
Confederate forces. “Inspection by the Union navy after the Confederate
evacuation found a valuable load of cotton aboard, of which 190 bales were
subsequently recovered and sent north, with the remainder to follow,” says a 2012 report
for the American Battlefield Protection Program.
Hall, in his
Dead Confederates blog, wrote this about the Celt after examining a Library of
Congress photo (above) of its wreckage:
“There’s some interesting detail in the photograph that
hint at the vessel’s origins as a local craft built under the exigencies of
wartime. Celt has two engines that, while partially submerged, appear to be
arranged as in a Western Rivers boat, and the valving shown looks to be almost
identical. Such engines were reliable and simple but not overly efficient. They
also operated under very high pressure compared to most seagoing ships, and so
may have required a more robust set of boilers. Similarly, the paddlewheels are
of very simple construction, with wooden arms and fixed floats (paddle blades).
As with the engines, this is a very basic design, easy to build and maintain,
but not efficient and somewhat coarse by shipbuilding standards of the time.”
Interesting, a second shipwreck appears to be in the photo's background.
Beatrice: This iron screw steamer
was lost on Nov. 27-28, 1864, when it came under heavy Federal fire and
grounded on Drunken Dick Shoal while it was approaching the city. A local
newspaper, the Charleston Mercury, summarized what happened: Bound from Nassau, the Beatrice had
grounded on the beach of Sullivan’s Island during a fog earlier that morning.
The steamer on attempting to enter the harbor was surrounded by Union picket
barges which kept up a constant fire of grape and musketry on the vessel. The
captain and eight of the crew to Battery Rutledge just as Union sailors boarded
the vessel. Thirty of the crew were unaccounted for and thought captured.
Flora: The recent survey suggests the remains
of the Beatrice and Flora might be next to each other (image above of magnetic field at that area, Maritime Research Division). Flora, a sidewheel
steamer, grounded on Oct. 22, 1864. The crew was pursued long before reaching South
Carolina and had to dump its cargo to speed away. Things really became hairy as
it approached Charleston. “Passing the inner picket boats the vessel grounded
in shallow water on the south side of Beach Channel. Stuck fast and impossible
to refloat, the steamer was spotted in the daylight and the Union batteries on
Morris Island began shelling the vessel,” according to Spirek. (Flora was mistakenly called Flamingo by the Union
navy.)
Presto: The Scottish-built sidewheeler struck
the wreckage of the Minho off Fort Moultrie on Feb. 2, 1864. It ran ashore
while trying to enter the harbor. Federal monitors fired up the Presto, and
Confederate batteries answered. By 1 p.m., the mainmast was cut away and the vessel was
in flames. Several shells passed through below the waterline and most likely
damaged machinery and cargo. The wreck was bombarded for a couple of more days
causing the vessel to burn to the waterline. Confederate troops later salvaged
sardines, jellies, fruit and liquor.
“I'm not sure
why we didn’t locate Presto, as I know that it isn’t in the water,” said
Spirek.
At high tide,
most of the Celt would be underwater, but the Beatrice/Flora would still be
dry, officials said. Most of the Celt appears to be buried
in the intertidal zone although the forward end of the wreck would still be
under land rather than submerged at high water,” said Spirek.
Safeguarding, but no excavations planned
Summarizing the latest drone surveys, the archaeologist said the aim was
to determine the presence or absence of the blockade runners.
“Back in 2001
and again in 2009, we had undertaken marine remote-sensing operations to locate
these four and other blockade runners in the water. While
detecting several adjacent to Bowman's Jetty, we did not appear to locate the
four, which gave us the idea that they were now buried under the accreted
beach.”
There are no
plans to conduct excavations of the presumed sites.
“Now that we know
the approximate positions of the two or three wrecks, we want to fly over them
in a single flight to get a nice magnetic record of each one. We'll enter the
information into the State Archaeological Site Files for record-keeping
purposes and then just monitor the sites for any changes, such as erosion that
may uncover portions of the wreck.”
Search area and shifting shoreline (SCIAA-Maritime Research Division)
The conserved socks in Montgomery (Alabama Archives) and an example of the First National Flag (Wikipedia)
It wasn’t
enough for Alabama cavalry trooper Henry Clay Hames to have a simple pair of white
socks to keep his feet warm and dry. Loved ones wanted to be sure he delivered
a message, even if it was normally covered by his boots.
High up on
each sock, below the ribbing, were stitched versions of the first national flag
of the Confederacy, commonly known as the “Stars and Bars.”
The Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery has had the distinctive hosiery
for generations. Hames’ daughter, Mary, donated them after his death in 1917. (At right, before conservation)
But it doesn’t
appear they were ever displayed -- until now.
“I
don’t think past curators saw the significance,” said Ryan Blocker, a curator
in the museum collection of the Alabama Archives.
Blocker
recalls when a comrade sent her a photo asking her to identify the small flags.
The two red bars are vibrant, but the blue canton and white stars are largely
indiscernible.
She recalls thinking, “’Oh God, that is a first national flag. These are patriotic socks made by family and sent to him.’”
It’s unclear who darned the socks or when Hames – who may have been a courier --
received the items. (Photo above and at left from Alabama Archives)
While they reflect defiance, the socks don’t hold a candle to
known examples of socks made for Union soldiers that feature the U.S. flag up
high and Confederate flags on the heel. You know, being trampled. You can see
examples here and here.
The socks -- made of either wool or cotton -- went on display
last month after the Museum of Alabama reopened after months of renovation and
upgrades.
The pair is in a home-front exhibit case in the “Alabama Voices”
gallery, which features numerous Civil War artifacts.
(I will write a post soon
about technology upgrades to the gallery. For now, let me just say visitors can touch what is called a digital label to pore over closeup photos and information about artifacts.)
The agency in early November also opened a new gallery entitled “Alabama
Military Stories," which covers multiple wars.
Blocker said Hames’ socks were recently conserved. “They are
such a fascinating piece.”
Although the blue canton has faded, faint traces survive, she
said. “As
for the stars, it looks like they were embroidered onto the canton area. Some
of them only have a little of the thread left.”
The
curator sent me a photo (right) showing where she tried to pinpoint the remaining
stars, which are in a circle. “Could there have been more stars? Possibly. When
these rotate off display, I hope to have (textiles expcert) Terre Hood
Biederman examine them in person and give us a breakdown of the construction.”
Hames grew up in Troup County, Ga., on the Alabama border.
While he is believed to have enlisted as a private in 1863, I have not learned where that
occurred (perhaps Virginia) or why he joined up with Alabama units.
Hames lived in West Point, Ga., before and after the war. His
first wife, Fannie (or Fanny), and his daughter, Mary, died in 1882, He remarried in 1893
to Sarah “Sallie” Samples and they moved to Montgomery.
He died there in 1917,
age 72, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery. (Photo left, courtesy Bham85, Findagrave)
Some records on Hames are puzzling, according to Blocker. His
pension application lists the 9th Mississippi Cavalry but Fold3 and
other records do not show him serving in the regiment.
Records indicate Moses’ Squadron was supposed to join the 9th
Mississippi Cavalry, but the order didn’t come to fruition because of the end
of the Civil War. The soldier was 20 years old.
“It had been carried out
to some extent, I believe, for Hames to have listed the 9th as his company of
service in his pension application,” Blocker said in an email.
Winslow Homer's 1863 painting "The Sutler's Tent" debuts Sunday (Courtesy The Huntington)
A Civil War
camp scene painted by Winslow Homer – who captured war’s fury at the front and
documented soldiers’ lives behind the lines – will debut Sunday as part of the
relaunch of an American art gallery at a Southern California museum.
Homer (below) was in
his mid-20s when he became an artist-reporter for Harper’s Weekly, embedding with
the Union army in Virginia. While most of his work about the conflict was
illustrations, he did produce several paintings, including “The Sutler’s Tent,”
which was acquired by The Huntington.
The San
Marino, Calif., institution recently announced the acquisition of the work,
which was purchased for an undisclosed amount from a New York-based gallery.
The Ahmanson Foundation funded the acquisition in honor of the 250th
anniversary of the founding of the United States, officials said.
The 1863
painting, only 16-1/4 inches by 12 inches,
shows two Yankee cavalry troopers near a tent, one munching on what appears to
be a slice of pie (another theory has it as bread and cheese).
The blog Los Angeles County Museum on Fire points out the celebrated artist first depicted
the subject in an 1862 sketch, which shows more than a half dozen members of
the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry standing near a tent. One of them is
sitting on a rail, enjoying a snack.
“Harper's Weekly reproduced Homer's war art as wood engravings. ‘The Sutler's Tent’ is related to a Thanksgiving-themed
illustration that ran in November 1862,” according to William Poundstone’s
blog. “That means the engraving came before the painting, dated 1863. The
horizontal-format print shows many more figures than the painting and clearly
shows the tent. … Homer evidently felt the tight cropping of the painting made
a stronger composition.”
Homer's 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry (National Gallery of Art) and Harper's Weekly version (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Homer honed his craft during the Civil War. A 2015 article in Yale
News describes how the self-taught artist had to work quickly and be an astute
observer. The young man grew a beard like many soldiers and also wore worn and
dirty clothing.
“Homer, like other war correspondents, considered what he did to be a
public service and felt as though he endured some of the same kind of
experiences as soldiers did,” Keely Orgeman, a curator with the Yale University
Art Gallery, told the publication. “When Homer was stationed in Yorktown on the
front, he was unable to eat for three days, along with all of the soldiers.
According to his mother, he was completely changed by that experience.”
Homer's "Prisoners from the Front" is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and displayed in New York.
The purchase of “The Sutler’s Tent” was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Annabel Adams, vice president of communications and marketing for The Huntington,
told the Picket the reasoning for acquiring the museum’s first Homer painting was “especially
important as we set to launch a reinstallation of American art galleries on
December 7 as part of our ‘This Land Is’ initiative.”
The multiyear
effort includes the reinstallation of seven galleries in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art.” One reopened in September; six will debut Sunday.
As Poundstone reported, “The Sutler’s Tent” will be the centerpiece of
a room about the Civil War and Reconstruction. On display will be a signed copy
of the Emancipation Proclamation from The Huntington’s Library and Jean-Baptiste
Carpeaux’s scultpure "Why Born Enslaved!," The Huntington
said in a news release.
Adams said
the institution’s Civil War holdings are renowned. Among them:
-- Papers
relating to President Abraham Lincoln’s bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon;
-- Ciphered communications between Abraham Lincoln
and army commanders;
-- Lincoln
memorabilia and manuscript collector Judd Stewart;
-- Scrapbooks
made by war correspondent and illustrator James E. Taylor (left, courtesy The Huntington);
-- Alfred R.
Waud’s 1863 drawing of Rebel prisoners at Brandy Station.
Christina
Nielson, the Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Museum at The Huntington, said “Sutler’s
Tent” expands the dialogue between the art and library collections.
“As we look toward the 250th anniversary of the United States, the
painting invites reflection on a pivotal chapter in our nation’s history -- one
that continues to shape the American experience,” she said in the news release.
The Huntington also features botanical gardens and a research center.
While the first Thanksgiving was celebrated by early colonists in the 1600s, it did not become an annual celebration until 1863.
That year, in the middle of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln called on all Americans to give thanks on the last Thursday of November. I'd like to wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Foundation work in Ball Ground, Ga. (Courtesy the Lusks), house before it was moved (Cobb Landmarks)
Putting back together
a Civil War home they sliced into six pieces and transported 25 miles has been
a challenge for an entrepreneurial couple in northwest Georgia, but they’re dedicated
to the project for the long haul.
For the past few
months, crews working for Lee and Brittani Lusk in Ball Ground have been
working to set the Robert and Eliza McAfee House on a firm foundation. They need to
get all the pieces properly aligned and stabilized before they can restore the
interior of the 1840s central
hallway cottage.
“It will all be fine, (it is) just difficult right now until
we get foundation done,” Brittani Lusk wrote in a recent text message. “Most
people don’t do things like this, so we have had to get creative.” The couple first ran into difficulty when they drilled the foundation.
The crew is finishing the piers for the foundation, and the
house will rest above a crawlspace, as it did at its longtime location in
neighboring Cobb County, said Lusk, adding the foundation work is nearing an end.
The main floor of the home will be higher at the new location, given the crawlspace is near ground level compared to it being dug into the earth at the old. (At left, Civil War Picket photo of sliced McAfee House in Cobb County shortly before it was moved.)
The sturdy home was moved to make room for commercial
development -- the Lusks bought the structure for $1 -- but the future use of the Cobb County two acres it sat on is uncertain.
The landowner and
RaceTrac had pursued rezoning that would allow for a 24/7 service station and
convenience store, but the project was withdrawn this month amid opposition
from neighborhoods near Bells Ferry Road and Ernest Barrett Parkway. RaceTrac
can apply again, should it decide to do so.
The McAfee House served a few weeks in June
and early July 1864 as the headquarters for Union Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard and
his three cavalry brigades during the Atlanta Campaign
The support blocks will be eventually bricked up (Courtesy Lee and Brittani Lusk)
The Federal troopers clashed almost daily near
Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler. .
Cobb County, just northwest of Atlanta, was the scene of significant
combat action and troop movement as Confederates tried to stall Maj. Gen.
William T. Sherman’s relentless campaign on Atlanta, which began in May 1864 in
North Georgia.
The large McAfee farm was believed to have been
occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around Kennesaw Mountain.
The house had been empty for several years,
and preservationists worried it would fall to the wrecking ball, given it had
no historic protection. Eventually, the owner donated the house to the
nonprofit Cobb Landmarks so it could find someone to move it before a
development could be built at the busy intersection.
Stairs emerge from the crawlspace in the old location (Civil War Picket photo)
Cobb Landmarks earlier this year sold the
house to the Lusks, who moved the pieces in May to
adjoining Cherokee County. They have not announced the future use of the home,
which is close to their residence.
Cobb Landmarks said it would have liked for the home to stay in Cobb County, but the Lusks made the best proposal and have a history of fixing up old homes.
Many observers expressed their displeasure at it being moved and the property developed, but are happy the home is being saved rather than razed.
Brittani Lusk said the timbers that hold up the home are very solid.
Tony Stanley studies the remarkable timbers used to the build the home (Picket photo)
A fascinating side note is three 48-foot long beams that run the width of the house as floor joists. Tony Stanley, who moved the home, said he has never seen that before, but he marveled at the size of the pine trees that were needed: the wood is about 12 inches by 12 inches.
Among other Ball Ground 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 leased out to a restaurant that
has since closed.
The couple say they have done dozens of restorations
in the region.
The story of Monocacy, the battle and its people, is told in an upstairs museum (NPS photos)
Having
weathered delays, a broken air conditioning system and the government shutdown,
staff at Monocacy National Battlefield near Frederick, Md., are putting the
finishing touches on exhibits in the park’s revamped museum.
“The museum is undergoing a soft opening currently …We
still have a few pieces to put out and some cosmetic elements to finish in-house,”
park ranger Matt Borders said in e-mail to The Civil War Picket on Thursday.
The exhibits are upstairs in the visitor center.
The museum closed late last year for a long-overdue overhaul. Revamped exhibits are
telling a wider story than when the old iteration opened in 2007, officials
said.
"What is currently up are the big exhibits, the
digital program, etc., that were done by the museum exhibit contractors and (look)
really nice," Borders said of the new offerings.
The new museum
themes include, combat, terror and tedium, care
for the wounded and civilian-military interaction.
“Their stories overlap and those relationships are
important to the story of Monocacy, and we want to focus on more personal
stories,” said Tracy Evans, chief or
resource education and visitor services.
Borders said reviews from visitors who have seen the new
exhibits since the shutdown ended have been positive. One big change is a new
map of the battle and troop movements. It will be projected onto a white
surface rather the old physical map that sometimes had broken parts.
At Monocacy on July 9,
1864, outnumbered Federals delayed Confederates bent on taking Washington,
D.C. By the time Rebel troops reached the capital’s outskirts, Union
reinforcements had arrived.
The staff shared three photos showing the phases of the
work and Borders provided details, told in chronological order.
DECONSTRUCTION
Last December, Monocacy National Battlefield
staff, along with staff from the Harpers Ferry Training Center, began the
deconstruction of the visitor center museum. The museum space and exhibits were
nearly 20 years old, so it was time for an upgrade. The removal of the central
island in the museum, which had housed the electronics for the previous museum,
opened up the floor plan and will allow guests to move much more freely around
the space. We have also opened up the overheard, making the museum space
brighter and utilizing the architecture of the building.
TIME FOR DRYWALLING
While the center of the room was opened, we have
also pushed out the walls, particularly on the east side of the building. This
additional space will allow the new museum to focus more on the Monocacy
Campaign than the previous museum had been. To do this. we will have several
themes utilized throughout the museum, looking at not only the soldiers of the
American Civil War, but also the civilian stories of the farms and those of the
enslaved that worked the farms.
PAINTED WALLS, READY FOR CARPET
With new paint and very shortly to have new
carpets, the museum has really been coming together. One of the big questions
we have received throughout this process has been, "Will you still have the
electric map?"
Yes, sort of. The fiberoptic map was at the end
of its life, so the entire map program has been redone and expanded upon. It
will be located in the center of the museum now, to better accommodate guests,
especially in large groups and will be on two large display screens to provide
easy viewing and closed captioning.
The Robert and Eliza McAfee House before its move to Cherokee County (Cobb Landmarks)
RaceTrac on Tuesday
withdrew its controversial bid to build a gas station and convenience store on
a Civil War site near Atlanta, but the move doesn’t mean the company cannot bring the matter
up again.
About 25
opponents of the rezoning in a busy Cobb County neighborhood attended the Board
of Commissioners hearing. Without comment on the merits of the case, the board
approved 5-0 a motion to allow the matter to be withdrawn without prejudice, which
means the company could reapply at a later time.
The move
appears to be another setback for RaceTrac, given the Cobb
County Planning Commission voted last month to recommend rezoning the
former Robert
and Eliza McAfee property but added conditions that would not allow
gasoline sales.
The Cobb
County Board of Commissioners has the final say. Should RaceTrac regroup and
decide to pursue the rezoning, the earliest the board could hear the matter is
February 2026.
Commercial development in area; day care above house site, elementary school to its right
The Civil War
Picket reached out to an attorney for RaceTrac and the property owner for
comment on Tuesday’s action but has not yet heard back.
The home -- which briefly
served as the headquarters for a Union general and was in the middle of cavalry
movements and clashes in summer 1864 – this
spring was moved to adjoining Cherokee County after a long effort
to save it from destruction. It stood at the corner of Bells Ferry Road and
Ernest Barrett Parkway.
The planning commission
vote – following spirited discussion -- backed a change to the requested
Neighborhood Retail Commercial (NRC) zoning. But it would prohibit fuel sales,
drive-throughs and alcohol, tobacco and vape sales at
the site.
The McAfee
House dated to the 1840s, and the sprawling farm was a fixture in the Noonday
Creek area. The property owner wants to sell the remaining two acres to
RaceTrac.
The sturdy home was cut into six pieces before its move this spring (Civil War Picket photo)
RaceTrac argued a 24/7 store at the busy corner was
appropriate and compatible with commercial development nearby. Opponents raised a list of concerns, from
traffic congestion and storm water runoff to the possible impact of alcohol
sales and gas vapors on a nearby elementary school and day care center.
The planning
commission’s stipulations came despite an endorsement of the project by county
planning staff and a traffic study that found the large gas station acceptable
if measures were taken to mitigate congestion.
John Pederson, the county’s zoning division manager, previously said if the county commission followed the planning commission’s lead, small retail, offices or a restaurant would be permitted. He had no new comment Tuesday.
Although
observers were pleased the McAfee House was not destroyed, many decried Cobb
County's loss of history with its move to an adjoining county.
The nonprofit Cobb
Landmarks, the Bells Ferry Civic Association and the county’s historic
preservation staff all recommend an archaeological survey of the site if the
rezoning is ultimately approved.
Cobb Landmarks had worked to find someone to move the home, including when a car wash was proposed. The property owner wants to sell the two acres for commercial development. The house lacked historic protection.
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. (At left, a map showing troop positions in June-July 1864; note McAfee House / Library of Congress)
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.
The Federal troopers
clashed almost daily near Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen.
Joseph Wheeler.
The McAfee farm was
believed to have been occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around
Kennesaw Mountain. The house is said to
have been used as a field hospital.
Cobb
Landmarks earlier this year sold the house
for $1 to entrepreneurs Lee and Brittani
Lusk, with the main requirement it be moved
and restored. The couple moved the sturdy residence to near their home in Ball
Ground and have been working on it. It’s future use has not been confirmed.
