What in darn-ation??? An Alabama cavalry trooper proudly wore socks depicting the 'Stars and Bars.' You can see them now at a state museum in Montgomery

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.

Hames served in the 8^th Regiment, Alabama Cavalry (Livingston’s) and Moses’ Cavalry, Alabama Cavalry.

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 9^th Mississippi Cavalry but Fold3 and other records do not show him serving in the regiment.

Records indicate Moses’ Squadron was supposed to join the 9^th 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.

The Central of Georgia Railway supported the Confederacy's war effort. Helen Dortch Longstreet defended the Confederacy's chief scapegoat. Now papers by and about them will be more accessible to researchers

Helen Dortch Longstreet, Central of Georgia records (Atlanta History Center) and a Nancy Hanks ad (Wikipedia)

The archives of Georgia’s first chartered railroad -- which during the Civil War moved troops and supplies, lost locomotives, boxcars and miles of track to the enemy, even suffering the indignity of its rails being fashioned into “Sherman’s neckties” – have been moved from Savannah to Atlanta, where they eventually will be made more accessible to researchers.

The Atlanta History Center acquired the equivalent of three football fields of Central of Georgia Railway records from the Savannah-based Georgia Historical Society, which in turn received collections from the AHC. Among the latter are papers relating to Helen Dortch Longstreet, stout defender of her husband, Confederate Gen. James Longstreet.

The swap was made possible through a $500,000 gift from Norfolk Southern. The idea is to allow researchers to pore through consolidated collections in Atlanta or Savannah – and not have to travel to both cities.

The collection includes records of affiliated and acquired rail lines (Atlanta History Center)

In 2021, Norfolk Southern donated the Southern Railway archives, dating to 1828, to the AHC.

“With the addition of the Central of Georgia Railway records, that story is now more complete, offering a deeper look at how rail transformed the Southeast,” Norfolk Southern said. Both railways were predecessors of Norfolk Southern.

While researchers had been able to go through some Central of Georgia records, many documents have never been processed and were kept at a storage site in Savannah, officials said.

Jackson McQuigg, vice president of properties for the AHC, told the Picket “the expectation is that processing and indexing these records will make the materials of interest and available to scholars and others beyond narrow niche groups.” In other words: a broader audience.

A portion of William K. Hubbell's railroad map showing lines in 1861 indicates the Central Rail Road as No. 41. From "The Railroads of the Confederacy" by Robert C. Black III. Copyright © 1952 by the University of North Carolina Press, renewed 1980 by Robert C. Black III. Used by permission of the publisher. www.uncpress.org

Central of Georgia, founded in Savannah in 1833 as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company, was a key transportation concern in the Southeast. It merged with Southern Railway in 1963. Many Georgians remember the Nancy Hanks train that ran from Atlanta to Savannah for decades.

Railroads were crucial to both sides during the Civil War. Several companies operated in Georgia, and the Confederacy fashioned a network through towns and larger cities where the lines connected.

Known as Central Rail Road & Banking Co. of Georgia in the 1860s, the company was profitable for the first few years of the war, according to a 1976 book by Richard E. Prince.

Its main line was from Savannah to Macon, with an extension to Milledgeville – Georgia’s capital at the time – and Eatonton. It had affiliates elsewhere.

It will take months to go through the trove of documents (Atlanta History Center)

The Central of Georgia “ran through an area plentiful with large plantations, and is known … as the ‘bread basket of the South,’ the source of much of the food consumed by the Confederate Army,” Prince wrote in "Central of Georgia Railway and Connecting Lines.”

The Coastal Plain region also produced valuable cotton for the Southern war effort

In September 1863, the Central of Georgia and other companies moved Longstreet’s corps from Orange Courthouse, Va., to North Georgia, where they arrived in time to help deliver a blow against the Union army at Chickamauga.

But the relative good times for the resilient company came to an end in 1864 as Federal troops descended on Atlanta and the heart of Georgia.

Locomotive 349 was built in 1891 and is on display in Chattanooga (Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum)

“Particularly for the first few months of the 1864 campaign, both Sherman and Grant feared that the Confederates would send forces from Virginia and the Atlantic Coast to Atlanta by rail, with the final link being the Georgia Railroad,” said Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association.

“All the rail lines were important to supplying (Atlanta), though most of the foodstuffs and animal feed came from the Macon & Western and the Atlanta & West Point,” said Crawford.

While the railway was still operational, trains were used to disperse the Confederate wounded to hospitals east of Atlanta, including in Madison, Washington and Augusta, he added.

Union Maj. Gen. George Stoneman’s botched cavalry July 1864 foray toward Macon dealt a punch to Central of Georgia, though it was able to rebuild some infrastructure. More than 100 miles of track, along with station houses, depots and other structures, were damaged or destroyed.

Sherman’s March to the Sea (illustration, Library of Congress, above) was even more crippling as the wings of his army advancing on Savannah tore up track and burned locomotives, bridges and boxcars.

Old articles in the Central of Georgia “The Right Way” magazine detail some of the company’s losses. One calculated $1.6 million (in 1860s dollars) for reconstruction and losses, including $220,100 as the value of enslaved people who got their freedom.

“These figures do not include the value of 34 cars burned by Sherman’s troops, nor the value of 95 cars lost on foreign roads, where some were sent to evade capture, and some commandeered by the Confederate Government for its use. Neither do they include the funds advanced to the Confederate Government, the depreciation in Confederate currency held by the Railway, or the deferred repairs made to engines, cars and roadway. In addition, many of the structures erected after this raid and charged to cost of reconstruction of the road, were not as substantial as the original ones, and were replaced by the Railway over a period of many years.”

In 1862, the Central of Georgia had 58 locomotives and 729 cars. It maintained 49 locomotives and 537 cars in 1866, when service was restored from Savannah to Macon. The Central of Georgia rebounded fairly quickly after the war ended, providing passenger and freight service for generations.

The Atlanta History Center said by spring 2026 it will have completed the “discovery phase” of what all is in the Central of Georgia papers, including records from the Civil War era. (Replica of a Sherman Necktie at Fort McAllister, Ga., right)

McQuigg provided some context, starting with the 1833 formation of the Monroe Railroad and Banking Company, known later as the Macon & Western.

“The Macon & Western was, of course, the third railroad to reach Atlanta (after the Western & Atlantic Railroad and the Georgia Railroad), in 1846. Although the Macon & Western was not acquired by the Central of Georgia until after the Civil War, we’ve seen some interesting Macon & Western materials in the collection, including maps showing the railroad’s approach into Atlanta which identify the adjacent property owners,” McQuigg said. “And we know that there are engineering drawings of many of the Central of Georgia and Macon & Western’s pre-Civil War structures, such as bridges. There is bound to be much more.”

Highlights from the collection include extensive photographs of farms and communities along the routes of the Central of Georgia. They were produced in the late 19^th century, the AHC said.

“Some of the railroad’s passenger and freight trains are also depicted in the collection, including the well-known ’pocket streamliners,’ which ran passenger service on the railroad following World War II -- the Atlanta-Columbus Man O’ War and the Atlanta-Savannah Nancy Hanks -- as well as some of the through passenger trains operated by the CofG,” said McQuigg.

In its early days, the Savannah-based railway printed its own currency

Allen Tuten, president of the Central of Georgia Railway Historical Society, said his organization has done substantial research in the files when they were kept at the Georgia Historical Society.

“The society also inventoried/indexed all of the unprocessed files that had been in storage. We will be working with the AHC (as we did with the GHS) to ensure that all of the files, documents and drawings are made available for researchers. The materials now at AHC comprise the largest single collection of CofGa files,” Tuten said.

For its part of the archives swap, the Georgia Historical Society received several major manuscript and photographic collections from the AHC that add to its existing collections.

“Many document pivotal moments in modern Georgia, including portions of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games photo archive and files from the Georgia Film Commission,” an October news release said.

The GHS had two-thirds of the papers relating to Helen Dortch Longstreet. The AHC had one-third, and sent them to Savannah. (At left, James and Helen in 1900, courtesy Dan Paterson)

Keith Strigaro, director of communications for the society, said the Longstreet collection consists primarily of correspondence, with the majority consisting of carbon copies of letters written by Helen Dortch Longstreet.

The society provided this information:

“The correspondence covers her numerous interests, both personal and political. Personal topics include family information, her health, her financial situation and her passion to clear the name of her husband, General James Longstreet. Contained in the political correspondence are letters to many politicians covering topics such as elections, the New Deal, political corruption in the Virgin Islands (also newspapers), and other political issues she viewed as important.”

“A large portion of the collection describes her efforts to clear General Longstreet's name. She attempted this through speeches, publications, the Longstreet Memorial Association, and the Longstreet Memorial Exhibit, both at the New York World's Fair of 1938 and the Golden Gate Exposition of 1940. There are also photographs of the exhibit, the Longstreet Memorial and the 75th Gettysburg Reunion.”

Helen led a fascinating life and is remembered as a progressive reformer, librarian, postmistress and riveter at  a Georgia aircraft manufacturing plant during World War II. Much of her time was advocating for James, who was villainized after the war by those who blamed him for the Confederate loss at Gettysburg and his postwar support of the Republican Party and Reconstruction.

She died in 1962, 58 years after her husband’s passing.

13th Alabama Infantry flag is back at Gettysburg for the first time since Pickett's Charge. Read all about its close call, intrepid color bearer, capture and conservation

13th Alabama flag (Alabama Archives); Pickett receiving orders from Longstreet at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and Confederate veterans at the grand Gettysburg reunion in 1913 (Library of Congress)

A half mile away from where it was captured – but not before its color bearer inflicted an ugly wound on a Yankee – the battle flag of the 13^th Alabama Infantry is on display at Gettysburg for the first time since the July 1863 battle.

The regiment, part of Archer’s Brigade, suffered a staggering 62 percent casualty rate in the three days of fighting; many members were captured during Pickett’s Charge, where the flag was lost to the 1^st Delaware Infantry near the Angle.

Gettysburg National Military Park is showcasing the flag at the visitor center’s main museum gallery until February 2027.

“Cool to see this flag coming for a visit,” Civil War flag expert and researcher Greg Biggs told the Picket in an email.

The park reached out to the Alabama Department of Archives and History for the loan. The effort was assisted by the Gettysburg Foundation.

The flag has been at the Alabama Archives since 1905, when numerous Civil War flags were returned to states by order of President Theodore Roosevelt as a symbol of reconciliation. It was conserved in 1991 and, until this year, has only been on display at the Archives and Confederate Memorial Park, said Ryan M. Blocker, a curator at the archives.

Three veterans at Alabama soldiers' home in 1902 (Confederate Memorial Park)

Confederate Memorial Park in Chilton County, Ala., routinely displays Civil War flags, said site manager Calvin Chappelle. The park is on the site of a soldiers’ home that operated from 1902 to 1939. Several residents were veterans of the 13^th Alabama.

“Each flag has a story to tell. It obviously it was very important to the men who fought underneath them,” Chappelle said of the rotating displays.

A provenance report on the flag provides compelling details on its near capture on the first day at Gettysburg and how it apparently was attached to a lance for the Rebel attack at the Union center on July 3, 1863.

“I think its survival in itself is significant,” said Blocker. “The flag has not been back to Gettysburg since 1863, and we were honored to partner with the curators at Gettysburg to temporarily return the flag to the site where Alabamians carried it through one of the most significant battles of the Civil War.”

This flag was a replacement crafted in Richmond

The 13^th Alabama was formed in Montgomery in July 1861 and it joined the Army of Northern Virginia, where it took part in numerous campaigns in Maryland and Virginia, ending at Appomattox.

Made of wool bunting, this flag was issued to the regiment after it lost its flag at Antietam in September 1862. Biggs noted the flag was made by the Richmond Clothing Bureau, one of 14 Confederate quartermaster clothing bureaus.

The depot also manufactured shell jackets (right, Library of Congress)

The RCB contracted with a local painter, Lewis Montague, to stencil the regimental designations and battle honors onto flags.

Blocker said the 13^th Alabama flag – which was conserved by Textile Preservation Associates -- is in “good, exhibitable” condition. The artifact is mostly intact, with about 5 percent of its fabric missing.

There is some insect damage in the wool and accumulations of soil from exposure to a polluted environment, possibly a coal or oil-heated atmosphere,” she said in an email.

Before conservation, the flag exhibited sharp crease lines from being folded for many years. Crease lines can develop into weak points over time, Blocker said. If left unaddressed, the fibers would have broken, leading to additional damage.

Color bearer took a stab at bluecoat foe

13th Alabama is part of the Fry command at left center; click to enlarge (Hal Jespersen / Wikipedia)

The 13^th Alabama was at Gettysburg from the battle’s beginning. Its brigade tangled with the Federal Iron Brigade at Willoughby Run.

“As the fighting intensified, Federal troops appeared on the regiment’s right flank, resulting in the capture of approximately 100 of its soldiers and forcing the remainder back across the run,” says a National Park Service article about the exhibit at Gettysburg. “Before the withdrawal, however, Private William Castleberry tore the 13^th Alabama Infantry’s battle flag from its staff, saving it from capture.”

On July 3, regimental commander Col. Birkett Davenport Fry (right) noticed the flag bearer had attached a “formidable looking lance head to this staff,” according to the provenance report.

The condition of this flag indicates that at the time Castleberry tore it from the staff on July 1, the leading edge was ripped, tearing away the two top eyelets, leaving only one by which the flag could be attached to a staff. “So, what Colonel Fry apparently saw was the flag of the 13th Alabama Infantry attached to a lance which had been used to replace the missing staff,” the provenance report says.

The 13^th Alabama pushed to the front of the doomed Confederate assault and the flag was carried by multiple bearers. The 1^st Delaware captured it and two other flags. A total of 38 flags from 50 Rebel regiments were seized at Pickett’s Charge.

Pvt. Bernard McCarren of Company C, 1^st Delaware Infantry, was credited with the capture of the flag of the 13^th Alabama Infantry and he received the Medal of Honor the following year.

Fry, who lost a leg in the charge and was taken prisoner, later said he encountered a Federal soldier with a serious shoulder wound from the lance.

The flag was eventually forwarded to the U.S. War Department, where it was assigned Capture Number 60.

Handwritten words across the top of the artifact say, “Confederate Flag of the 13^th Alabama Reg. Captured by Company C. 1^St Del. Vols.” The center star bears the inked inscription: “captured by Co. C., 1^st Delaware Volunteers Regt., Gettysburg Pa., July 3d 1863.”

These graybeard Alabamians attended reunion

The 13^th Alabama flag was on display at the 102-acre Confederate Memorial Park from 2021-2022.

The park, which the state opened during the Civil War centennial in 1964, contains the site of the original veterans home and other historic structures, as well as a museum, research facility and two soldier cemeteries.

13th Alabama flag while on display in Chilton County, Alabama (Confederate Memorial Park)

Chappelle, the site manager, told the Picket the park typically displays a few flags from the Alabama Archives on a rotating basis. Currently on display are ones for the 18^th Alabama, Hilliard’s Legion and the Rifle Scouts.

Five soldiers from the soldiers’ home attended the famous Gettysburg 50^th reunion in 1913. Two served in the 13^th Alabama, notably Capt. James M. Simpson, head of the home. He was wounded during Pickett’s Charge.

Confederate Memorial Park, in a Facebook post last year, quoted a June 25, 1913, article in the Montgomery Advertiser, Simpson was "very much gratified over the prospects of such a happy reunion at Gettysburg. Monday morning before the reunion begins, Captain Simpson has an engagement to meet old comrades at Reynolds’ monument on the battlefield at Gettysburg, the spot where they entered the great fight."

There is no evidence the 13^th Alabama flag was brought to Gettysburg for the reunion, Blocker said.

“There may have been a sense of reunion, but not complete reconciliation or equality. Regardless, it was a start to the long process that we are perhaps still enduring today,” Confederate Memorial Park said on social media.

James M. Simpson was commandant of the home from 1906-1916 (Confederate Memorial Park)

Among the residents at the Alabama home was Pvt. Oscar Williams, who served with the 6^th Alabama, which suffered heavy casualties at Gettysburg.

A database about the soldiers, created by Chappelle and late park director Bill Rambo, says Williams was “the toast of veterans” at a reunion, according to a 1911 Montgomery Advertiser article. That’s because he was shot twice on July 2 at Gettysburg while carrying the colors of the regiment.

It was apparent then, as in any conflict, a unit’s flag elicited much pride and emotion.

Flags need time to rest for a few years

While the 13^th Alabama flag wasn’t back at Gettysburg until earlier this year, the 5^th Alabama’s did pay a visit in 2009 during a meeting of the Artist Preservation Group. The Montgomery, Ala., chapter of the organization helped fund that flag’s conservation.

“Our chief curator at the time drove the flag up to the conservator, passing through Gettysburg. The flag was displayed temporarily at the Gettysburg convention center during the convention,” said Blocker.

Photo of the 13th Alabama flag during conservation (Alabama Dept. of Archives and History)

I asked the curator about how often the 13^th Alabama flag has been displayed. She described how the archives came to protect them from light, heat and humidity.

When the Archives moved to its current location in 1940, these flags were exhibited in cases lining the hallways of the second floor. In the 1980s, the flags were removed from display and placed in storage to assess their condition, Blocker wrote.

A flag conservation program was established in the early 1990s, and the 13th was sent for conservation in 1991. After its conservation, it was featured in the “Tattered Banners” exhibit at the Archives, which was on display until the early 2010s. Flags in this exhibit were rotated in and then out as new flags underwent conservation.

“Our policy on displaying flags has evolved over time as our understanding of best practices for the storage and display of textiles has improved,” Blocker said. ”We aim to limit the duration that a flag is loaned or displayed to a maximum of two years. The conditions for display are very specific; for example, light levels must stay within certain foot-candle measurements, and temperature and humidity must remain within defined parameters.”

Union veterans (background) at Gettysburg face Confederate men in 1913 (Library of Congress)

After a flag is displayed, it rests for several years before being exhibited again.

After its time at Confederate Memorial Park, the 13^th Alabama flag rested until earlier this year, when it was shipped to Gettysburg. “While the timeframe was shorter than our regular practice would allow, we thought it was a good opportunity for the flag to make its return to Gettysburg,” said Blocker.

She and other curators and conservators stress the condition of a flag helps tell its story. So the focus is on conservation and preservation, rather than restoring them to their original state.

“The flags reveal the harsh realities of war; some have holes where shrapnel has torn through, and others have whole sections of the flag missing. These holes and marks are an integral part of the flag's history,” said Blocker.

Revisiting an old shirt and a very young Civil War soldier: Museum's Confederate and civil rights artifacts showcase the breadth of Alabama's history

Over this blog’s 15 years, I’ve written about myriad items belonging to Civil War soldiers and sailors – from swords, hats and frock coats to journals, letters and Bibles.

While each resonated in its own way, one item especially stands out to me. It’s the homespun, brown-and-white checked shirt made for a skinny teen boy from Demopolis, Alabama. 

The time and care that went into making it showed that Henry Winston Reese Jr. was dearly loved by his prosperous family. (Click photo to enlarge)

I researched Reese for a February 2016 post. I learned the University of Alabama student joined the Confederate army without his parents’ permission and died, barely 17, from wounds received two months earlier at the Battle of Champion Hill (Mississippi, May 1863).

Living historian and weaver Terre Hood Biederman and Ryan M. Blocker, a curator in the museum collection of the Alabama Archives, were among those who spoke with me about Reese and the shirt, a homemade product demonstrating Southern resolve.

I’ve since heard from a couple descendants, including one who said her family tries to keep the names Reese and Winston going.

The garment, along with Reese’s boots (below, both photos courtesy Alabama Archives), remain on display at the Alabama Voices gallery at the Museum of Alabama in Montgomery. A pouch, also donated by the family to the Alabama Department of Archives and History in 1978, has been kept in storage.

Alabama Voices cover’s the breadth of the state’s history, including the Civil War, industrialization, the world wars and civil rights (more about that later).

It’s a near certainty that Reese was not wearing the shirt -- which is likely made from cotton, rather than wool -- when he was mortally wounded while fighting with the 31st Alabama Infantry. But it somehow survived. Curators don’t know whether the shirt was made by a family member or an enslaved person.

Reese's father, a physician, had more than 100 slaves, according to the 1850 U.S. Census, and his growing family lived in a Gothic Revival home called Forest Hill on the outskirts of Demopolis.

Winston Reese was the first of a half dozen children born to the doctor and his wife, Julia, who died a year after the Civil War ended.

I recently reached out to Blocker to ask whether she has learned anything more about Reese or his family. She has not. (Incidentally, I have been unable to obtain an image of Reese.)

I asked Blocker about the significance of artifacts like the shirt.

“They help us understand and humanize, if you will, the people who lived long ago. A mother makes a shirt for her oldest child who is attending school away from home,” she replied in a recent email.

“Her son, an impulsive and idealistic teenager … goes against the wishes of his parents and joins the army," said Blocker. "Stories like this are played out time and time again, even in modern times. With this shirt, we get a glimpse of the lives of those who came before. In that glimpse, we realize that we are not that different.”

The shirt was likely made from cotton (Courtesy Terre Hood Biederman)

The shirt features rounded pockets, a French cut and purple and white glass buttons. Untold hours went into picking, washing and carding and spinning the dyed fiber. Then came the arduous tasks of weaving the fabric on a large loom and hand sewing the pieces.

While similar battle shirts worn by soldiers were commonly made of wool, this shirt reflects the concept of homespun as a patriotic statement, asserting that the South could stand alone in producing its needs, Biederman told me this week.

“It is fashionably cut, made for a teen living in the comfort of a college dormitory, not a soldier sleeping rough, and thus is likely made of cotton,” she wrote in an email. “The shirt has been on exhibit since this question was raised, and not available for analysis.”

Artifacts belonged to other Confederate soldiers

The gallery’s Civil War section contains numerous artifacts. Blocker said the story of an Alabama-made sword belonging to 1^st Sgt. Socrates Spigener is among those especially compelling. The soldier was born in 1844 in Coosa County and joined Hilliard’s Legion, which became the 59^th Alabama

Spigener was killed in Virginia days before the end of the Civil War.

“His sword was picked up from the battlefield and sent home to the family,” said Blocker. (Photos: Alabama Archives)

The family wrote a tribute and pasted it to the scabbard (click photo above to read): "This was the sword of Socrates Spigener, the baby child of Joel and Sylvia Spigener. He was Lieut. in the Confederate War of 1862. He fought bravely and was killed in battle near Petersburg, about the 6th of April 1865.”

Blocker said the archives also has a rare red artillery kepi and its original oil cloth cover.

The cap belonged to 1^st Lt. Maynard Hassell, State Artillery Company A, Garrity’s Battery. Hassell was born in 1831 in New York and moved to Lowndes County, Ala., at a young age. He enlisted in 1861.

The officer was killed by a cannonball at Lovejoy Station in Georgia in summer 1864. He was awarded the Confederate Roll of Honor for his “courage and good conduct on the field of battle.” 

Hassell's kepi and oil cloth cover (Alabama Archives)

The lieutenant's personal belongings were sent to the family after Hassell was killed in battle, Blocker said.

“The kepi was sent to us, along with a small journal, in 2013 as we were completing work on the Voices gallery,” said Blocker. “The gentleman that donated the material was a descendant of Hassell and wanted to make sure the material was returned to Alabama.”

The journal is not a daily notation of his personal experiences; rather, it has extensive notes about payments to soldiers, battles fought and munitions used during the battles.

The struggle for civil rights played out in Alabama

While Hassell, Reese and Spigener fought to keep the status quo of antebellum society, the Alabama Voices gallery includes artifacts that tell the story of the long struggle for equal rights among Black citizens.

Blocker said one of her favorite such items is a collection box from Hall Street Baptist Church in Montgomery. Founded in 1903, the church played an integral role in the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott by purchasing a station wagon to transport members to and from work and other appointments.

Another standout is a chair and vanity stool from the Selma home of Jean Jackson and her husband, D. Sullivan Jackson, a dentist. (Collection box, chair and stool left, Alabama Archives)

“Dr. Martin Luther King stayed with the Jacksons and made their home his headquarters during his visits to Selma. Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy, used the chair and vanity to put on their shoes for the march to Montgomery. They were photographed seated in the Jackson’s living room in the Ebony magazine displayed on the stool,” said Blocker.

Other items in the gallery include a Billy club used by a Birmingham police officer, a Ku Klux Klan robe, shoes worn by Gov. George Wallace when he was shot in 1972 during his presidential campaign  and photographs of notable Alabamians, including entertainer Lionel Richie and professional athlete Bo Jackson.

The Alabama Voices Gallery is located on the second floor of the Alabama Department of Archives and History building in downtown Montgomery, 624 Washington Ave. The museum is open open Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. Here is a schedule of gallery closures for renovations.

New US Navy archival complex in DC will ensure artifacts from CSS Alabama, other Civil War ships will survive for a long time

1851 buildings at Washington Navy Yard; items from CSS Alabama (US Navy)

Construction of a modern archival complex at the Washington Navy Yard will enhance protection for conserved artifacts from several Civil War warships -- most notably the raider CSS Alabama.

U.S. Navy officials this week held a formal groundbreaking for the project. Current facilities built in 1851 were not designed to house artifacts and many lack environmental controls.

“For several years, the Library and Archives have fought to protect Navy’s intellectual property and heritage from the ravages of heat, humidity, water leaks, and cold. Records and photographs stored in these areas were subject to mold and damage, requiring Navy to pay for mold remediation for records and photos,” said Dr. Kristina Giannotta, assistant director of the Naval History and Heritage Command’s Histories and Archives Division, in a press release.

The new complex will house the Navy’s Operational Archives, Department of the Navy Library, Rare Book Room, Navy Art Collection, and the Underwater Archaeology Conservation Laboratory. The lab ensures overseas historic preservation of military ship and aircraft wreck sites. 

USS Kearsarge sinks CSS Alabama (Library of Congress)

It’s Civil War holdings include items from the USS Tulip (lost in boiler explosion in Potomac), USS Westfield (scuttled with explosives in Galveston Bay), CSS Alabama (sunk in battle off France), CSS Georgia (scuttled at Savannah, Ga.), USS Housatonic, sunk by the submarine Hunley off Charleston, S.C.; and USS Hatteras, sunk by the Alabama off Galveston.

CSS Alabama artifacts include cannon, a bronze bell, a leather shore, Brazilian coins, glass stemware and, yes, a flushing toilet.

The lab also has conserved Enfield rifle barrels from the USS Tulip. The Tulip artifact collection includes military uniform components, navigation equipment, ceramics, personal items, medical items, ship’s hardware, tools, ordnance and artillery

USS Tulip rifle barrel and ramrod (U.S. Navy)

Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Day, a public affairs officer for NHHC, told the Picket: “With regard to the move, all of the items have been professionally and archival packed, and are being stored in a climate controlled facility until the renovations are complete and can then be placed in the new complex.”

Day said items in the NHHC holdings include the Navy’s first signal book, John Paul Jones’ calling card, unpublished World War II administrative histories, deck logs and photos.

According to reports, the $41 million renovation will be complete by 2022.

The UA lab, of course, has items from other conflicts. Among them is a brass trumpet from the USS Houston, which was lost in the Battle of Sunda Strait during World War II, and artifacts from the USS Salute, a WWII-era minesweeper.

Adm. Mike Gilday (left) at groundbreaking (U.S. Navy(

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony.

“This new project underscores the vital role the Naval History and Heritage Command serves in preserving our Navy’s institutional memory,” Gilday said in a statement. “With this archival complex we will continue to remember and present an accurate history of our Navy and tell the stories of those who have gone before us for generations to come.”