New park exhibits: Yankee cavalry wasn't much of a factor at First Manassas, but they rode to the rescue, literally, there a year later. It was a wild clash at Portici

Exhibit on fight at Portici, revolver holster for 6th Virginia trooper (NPS), Gens. Buford and Stuart

Ten months before he famously slowed the Confederate advance and secured high ground at Gettysburg, Brig. Gen. John Buford showed similar mettle at Second Manassas.

On Aug. 30, 1862, His outnumbered cavalry brigade protected the Federal retreat by boldly attacking Rebel troopers and slowing their pursuit. Buford’s defense was a bright spot on a day full of disaster for the men in blue.

The clash at Portici, a slaveholding plantation, was the largest cavalry engagement of the Civil War up to that point, to be eclipsed by Brandy Station nine months later.

Manassas National Battlefield Park has two new temporary exhibits marking the service of cavalry at First and Second Manassas. 

Museum specialist Jim Burgess said the case in the visitor center lobby features cavalry arms and equipment (Richmond Sharps rifle, M1860 light cavalry saber, M1860 Colt army revolver, picket pin, spurs, etc.) with brief descriptions of the cavalry action in both battles. (NPS photo below)

An exhibit in the main museum gallery provides more details about the fighting at Portici. The home served as the Confederate headquarters and a hospital at First Manassas in July 1861.

The National Park Service provides these details on the latter:

“Portici’s kitchen and hallways became operating rooms. The wounded, dead, and dying littered the floors throughout the house. Medical supplies and skilled personnel were scarce. Throughout the night of the 21^st, the work of the surgeon’s saw transformed Portici from a stately manor into a charnel house.”

At Second Manassas (Bull Run), action at  Portici came late in the day. A park marker says this of the clash between Southern horsemen trying to cut off the Union escape and Buford’s force deployed at Lewis Ford on Bull Run:

“The opposing lines crashed together head-on in the nearby fields. Buford's troopers initially surprised and routed the leading Confederate regiment, only to fall back when the balance of General Beverly Robertson's brigade appeared. In danger of being cut off, the outnumbered Federals hastened across Bull Run. The Confederates broke off pursuit short of the Warrenton Turnpike.”

The scene must have been amazing and awful, with dying horses rolling in the dirt as wounded men tried to get away on foot. Buford suffered a wound to the knee.

Robertson’s brigade served in Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry division.

I recently asked Burgess (right) to provide details on the two exhibits, Portici and other cavalry action in both battles. His responses have been edited for brevity and context.

Q. Were all these items at either of the battles, or representative?

A. Most of the displayed objects are representative. Only one of the displayed items can be traced back to its original owner. The revolver holster (photo at top) is marked on its flap, "C.H.S./Co. D/6th Va. Cav."  C.H.S. is Pvt. Charles H. Smith.

The 6^th Virginia Cavalry was part of Beverly Robertson's (left) brigade, which saw action at Portici on the evening of Aug. 30, 1862. This item was among a collection of items donated to the park by Robert Lewis, a former owner of Portici, in 1942. How he got it is not known. 

The Confederate Sharps carbine and one of the spurs also came from the Robert Lewis collection as did the M1860 light cavalry saber in the museum exhibit. We have no clue where he found them, but like to think they may have been recovered on the farm after the battle.

The fight at Portici occurred on Day 3 of Second Manassas (Craig Swain, HMdb.org)

Q. From my reading, cavalry saw a big role at Second Manassas. Was there much cavalry action at First Manassas?

A. On the Confederate side, there were independent cavalry companies assigned to support each brigade in Beauregard's army. Evans, for instance, had two companies of Virginia cavalry (Captains Alexander and Terry) covering his flanks at Stone Bridge.

J.E.B. Stuart brought five companies of his 1^st Virginia Cavalry to Manassas, leaving the balance of his regiment in the Shenandoah to watch Patterson. Stuart covered Jackson's flanks and made a notable charge on the Fire Zouaves (11^th New York Infantry) in the Sudley Road around mid-afternoon, which contributed to the loss of infantry support for the Union batteries on Henry Hill. That, in turn, led to the capture of those guns by Jackson's and other infantry troops.

Stuart subsequently shifted farther to the west to cover the left flank of newly arrived troops on the Chinn farm. From there, Stuart pursued the retreating Union forces to Sudley Springs while companies of Radford's 30th Virginia Cavalry pursued in the direction of Centreville, capturing many Union artillery pieces abandoned at the Cub Run Bridge. 

(Federal commander) McDowell had only one battalion (7 companies) of regular cavalry under Maj. Innis Palmer (left) which was assigned to Andrew Porter's brigade. They were not leading the Union advance. They initially covered Porter's right flank on the John Dogan farm. 

Later, after Stuart caused havoc on the Sudley Road, they advanced up the hill and managed to capture one Confederate officer, Lt.  Col. George Steuart of the 1^st Maryland Infantry. They attempted to help cover the retreat and rally the fleeing Union troops but without much success.

All in all, McDowell did not use his cavalry very effectively.

Q. Given so early in the war, I wonder how good the troopers were at First Manassas?

A. Palmer's battalion at least was regular army so they would have had some experience albeit some junior officers like 2^nd Lt. George Armstrong Custer were fresh out of West Point. The Confederate cavalry may have had some experienced officers with former U.S. Army and/or militia service but the rank and file were probably green for the most part with no combat experience and perhaps not as well armed as their Union counterparts. 

Q. Besides Portici, was there significant cavalry action at Second Manassas?

A. The fight at Portici (photo below) was the most significant action in which opposing cavalry confronted each other during Second Manassas.   

Prior to the battle, the 1st Michigan Cavalry, making a reconnaissance south of the Rapidan River, nearly captured J.E.B. Stuart at Verdiersville early on the morning of Aug. 18.  Stuart escaped but Maj. Norman Fitzhugh of Stuart's staff was captured with papers outlining Lee's plans.  

Union cavalry confronted and came close to capturing Gen. (Robert E.) Lee at Salem (today Marshall) on Aug. 27. Lee's staff presented a strong front while Lee was ushered to the rear. The Union cavalry withdrew, not wanting to risk a fight.   

Confederate cavalry confronted Robert Milroy's brigade at Buckland on Aug. 27 and attempted to burn the turnpike bridge over Broad Run but were quickly driven off.   

On Aug. 28, the 1^st New Jersey Cavalry was picketing Thoroughfare Gap and fell back to Haymarket on the approach of Longstreet's forces.   

The following morning, Aug. 29, Union cavalry brigade commander John Buford was in a position to observe several of Longstreet's brigades passing through Gainesville and reported this to McDowell, but it never reached (commander John A.) Pope.

Q. What can people see at Portici? I know of the reconstructed winter hut.

A. Unfortunately, not much. All we have are a couple of wayside markers. All evidence of the house (burned in November 1862) is buried. We have not made any attempt to mark the original house location on the surface, perhaps in the interest of protecting the archeological remains. In the late 1980s, archaeologists exposed the foundation (NPS photo above). Portici was subsequently covered again.   

Q. Regarding the crossed sabers, do you know anything about those particular weapons?

A. The saber with hilt on the left in the photo (at the top of this post) is a contract Model 1860 light cavalry saber imported from Solingen (Germany) during the Civil War. The bow & arrow marking on the blade indicates it was made by J.E. Bleckmann. These foreign-made sabers were close copies of those made by U.S. contractors (Ames, Mansfield & Lamb, Emerson & Silver, etc.) and the high demand for weaponry during the war spurred importation. Since it came (in 1942) from Robert Lewis, who owned Portici in the early 20th century, it is a possible battlefield pick-up that may have been handed down in his family. However, we have no idea where or when he got it so we can't prove anything.

The saber with hilt on the right in the photo is a Model 1840 "Dragoon" saber. These older M1840 sabers were commonly known as "wrist breakers" due to their slightly longer blades and heavier weight. This example exhibits the maker's initials "P.D.L." (P.D. Luneschloss), who was another one of the many swordsmiths in Solingen.

It was imported by Tiffany & Co. in New York who had a U.S. contract for cavalry sabers. The Tiffany imports were unusual in that they had iron guards on the hilt as opposed to brass guards seen on all other M1840 and M1860 cavalry sabers. This saber was transferred to the park from Saratoga Battlefield in 1951.

Both sides had M1840 and M1860 cavalry sabers and they would likely have been used at Portici. Domestically produced prewar M1840 sabers were perhaps more widely available to Southern units but if a lighter U.S. M1860 saber was captured, the Confederates would put it to good use. We have another M1860 saber on exhibit that was carried by Col. William S.H. Baylor who commanded the Stonewall Brigade at Second Manassas.

Q. How long might these two exhibits be up?

A. The two exhibits will be up at least to the end of the year and perhaps longer. The one in the museum may remain in semi-permanent status. It highlights a portion of Second Manassas that deserves more attention.

This Mississippi officer was killed by -- of all things -- a falling tree. Lt. Col. Columbus Sykes left letters and a trove of artifacts. Check out 8 of them at Kennesaw Mountain

Lt. Col. Columbus Sykes and his kepi, glove, duster and sock (Photos: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park)

At Georgia’s Kennesaw Mountain, Lt. Col. Columbus “Lum” Sykes of the 43^rd Mississippi Infantry narrowly escaped death when a Union battery fired upon his position. The officer, dozing under the shade of a tree, scrambled to safety moments before a second shell smashed his blanket.

“Had I been a few moments later in moving, my head would have probably been blown to atoms,” Sykes wrote in a June 29, 1864, letter home. “We have escaped to many imminent dangers during this campaign, that I can but gratefully attribute our escape to a special interposition of Providence.”

Sykes’ correspondence, which I found on Civil War historian Dan Vemilya’s blog, rings particularly ironic when considering what happened to him seven months later in Mississippi when he was resting under a tree.

He wasn’t so lucky that time.

Sykes, 32, was making his way back home to Aberdeen, Ms., in January 1865 when he and two other soldiers bunked down near a decaying white oak in Itawamba County. During the night, the tree fell, crushing the men. Sykes lingered a short time. According to one account, the officer lamented dying in such a way, rather than battle. “Tell my dear wife and children I loved them to the last.”

Visitors to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park northwest of Atlanta are fortunate Sykes left behind more than his letters to his wife and children. A half dozen items belonging to him were donated by a family member in the late 1940s, received by longtime park superintendent B.C. Yates.

The 43rd Mississippi – famous for its connection to “Old Douglas,” a camel that saw service until it was killed at Vicksburg -- served at Kennesaw Mountain. It was in Adams' brigade (Featherston’s division) in Loring’s Corps, which was deployed near the Western & Atlantic Railroad.

“The location would be just off of the park's northern property to the east of the visitor center,” said Amanda Corman, a park ranger and curator at the site.

The regiment hauled cannon to the Confederates' commanding heights but was not involved in defending against the worst of the June 27, 1864, Union assault, given it was on the far right of the Rebel line.

During a brief visit recently, I studied the Sykes items on exhibit under dark light and asked Corman for additional details and photos.

“The Sykes artifacts are able to provide a personal look into items that an officer may own and take into battle. Unfortunately, there (are) rarely personal items of the common solider to compare such items to an officer's belongings,” she wrote.

I am grateful to Corman and the park for these descriptions of the artifacts. All photos are from the National Park Service.

Leather trunk (right): The item has brass studs and a conventional design, and is 18 inches high, 15 inches wide and nearly 28 inches long. It was embossed at top with a small but ornate design. Trunks were often sent to the rear for safekeeping during marching and fighting. Sherman's cavalry captured hundreds of pieces of Confederate baggage near Fayetteville, Ga., in late July 1864.

Field cap (kepi): The butternut headgear – made from cotton and dyed wool jean cloth -- is homespun with a black oilcloth brim. It features cloth lining, a cardboard button and an oilcloth sweat band. Oilcloth was a substitute for leather. The kepi was copied from a design worn by the French army.

Money belt (above): This artifact is believed to be made of suede or soft leather. It features several compartments, white pearl buttons and strings for tying at the waist. As a lieutenant colonel in infantry, Sykes earned about $170 a month. But it was common for soldiers to go months without being paid.

Sock: It is made of a simple chain weave and the thread is unbleached. Jolie Elder with the Center for Knit and Crochet wrote this about Sykes’ sock: “I wasn’t able to measure the sock, but to my eyes the gauge looked finer than typical for today. I was impressed with how many times the heel had been darned. Sock-making was surely a time-consuming chore and someone was determined this sock get the maximum wear possible.”

Linen duster: At hip length, the garment has outside patch pockets and cloth-covered buttons. Sykes may have worn this jacket in hot weather in place of a frock coat.

Sash (above): Made of a red and black floral design, the sash is about 6 feet long and 1-inch wide. The park on Facebook said this of the garment: “Unique in its design, the sash features a floral motif, common in textile patterns of the Victorian Era. If you look closely, you’ll see the pattern is of roses and thorns, often interpreted as symbols of love and the pains that one must sometimes endure for the sake of love. Could it be that Sykes was gifted this sash of roses and thorns by his wife, Emma, as a reminder of her and the love they shared?”

Glove: The tan item was made for the right hand. The Union and Confederate armies did not supply gloves, so soldiers had to purchase their own.

Frock coat: The coat has Federal eagle buttons and two large gilt wire stars on each collar to signify Sykes’ standing at lieutenant colonel. It featured no braiding. Because of shortages, Confederate officers commonly pilfered Union buttons to replace those they lost.

The 43^rd Mississippi Infantry was formed in summer 1862 with 11 companies. It surrendered in April 1865.

A lawyer, husband and father from a wealthy Mississippi slaveholding family, Sykes survived every hardship of the Atlanta Campaign.

The lieutenant colonel's brother, William, was killed in combat at Decatur, Ala., in 1864. Earlier in the war, Lum was wounded and taken prisoner at Corinth, Ms.

I’ll close this post with part of another June 1864 letter written by Sykes, as published in Vermilya’s blog associated with his 2014 book “The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain” from Arcadia Press. (Vermilya is currently a ranger with Gettysburg National Military Park).

“As long as this unprecedented campaign continues we will have to rough it in the same way, marching, lying, and sleeping in line of battle ready to move at a moment’s notice, day or night. I am now using Paul’s horse, the celebrated ‘Plug Ugly’ as he calls him, as near no horse has ever troubled a man in or out of the army.”

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.

These tools helped keep submarine Hunley running -- whether on the surface or underwater. The gizmos are now on exhibit at conservation lab near Charleston

Conserved glass bottle, wrench and hammer carried by sub crew (Friends of the Hunley)

In-depth research and tinkering went into the design and construction of the stealthy submarine H.L. Hunley. While there were predecessors, the Confederate vessel was the first to be an effective weapon, sinking a Union ship off Charleston Harbor.

“We think it was very watertight. The construction was very sound, according to the riveting,” said Nick DeLong, among the Clemson University archaeologists conserving the Hunley at a lab in North Charleston, S.C.The rivets were inverted, creating a smooth exterior and reducing drag in the water.

“They knew a lot more about hydrodynamics than people thought,” DeLong told the Picket on Thursday as the Friends of the Hunley announced “Tools & Tides,” a new exhibit at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center.

The submarine had a rather complex system of drawing, pumping and discharging water, so the moving parts required regular maintenance. The Hunley was a “work in progress” that required the crew to keep it seaworthy with common tools. Adding to the challenge was a tiny environment that featured limited lighting and likely condensation from water, sweat and breathing.

The small exhibit, timed to the anniversary of the Feb. 17, 1864, sinking of the USS Housatonic, features tools that would be useful for quick repairs. The display (left) includes bolts, a wrench, chisel and hammer -- items you would find in a Home Depot, for example, but took years of conservation to be made ready for their debut.

The exhibit opens to the public this weekend.

“It was a very basic tool set to help (with) anything on the fly,” said DeLong. “While the submarine was revolutionary, they had to use what they knew to solve problems they could not foresee.”

The eight-man crew perished after the Hunley went down after jamming a torpedo into the Housatonic’s wooden hull. To this day, historians and others disagree on what caused the loss of the Hunley shortly after it became the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel.

It’s tempting to engage in conjecture on how the artifacts could have been used to save the ship. For example, if there was a problem with the ballast tank, perhaps the wrench or a T-shaped tool would have been helpful in making a repair, allowing the Hunley to rise to the surface. But we just don’t know what failed.

Here’s a look at the recently conserved items in the new exhibit, with all photos and most of the captions provided by the Friends of the Hunley. Several tools were discovered beneath Capt. George Dixon’s bench. DeLong said the artifacts likely did not shift much when the Hunley went to the bottom. This is the first time they have been put on exhibit.

Glass bottle

The 12-sided glass apothecary bottle was found on the crew bench still holding liquid from 1864 (The hand-cranked submarine was recovered in 2000 and has proved to be a time capsule holding precious artifacts).

The contents of the bottle remained a mystery until testing revealed it was mercury, which was most likely used for the submarine’s depth gauge. DeLong says the remaining fluid in the container matches the amount of mercury needed to operate the gauge.

T-shaped tool

(Friends of the Hunley)

The artifact was found between the pump mechanism and the frame ring, suggesting it was used to adjust or remove portions of the forward ballast pump. The Hunley had a forward and aft pump, with the crew department in between, DeLong told the Picket.

“They (the pumps) were quite effective. They were connected through piping so if one failed the other would pump water.” The crew opened a valve that would allow water in, making the Hunley descend. The pumps pushed water out so that it could rise to the surface.

Chisel

This wrought-iron tool was uncovered next to the forward bulkhead. It was stuck to the hull and bilge pump pipe due to heavy concretion. It has a flat-blade edge and would have been used for general utilitarian tasks.

Bolts/wedges

The tools served as flat-head wedges, according to DeLong. They were used to hold some of the submarine’s frame rings.

The bolts, with an attached nut, were found beneath the forward pump outflow pipe under the captain seat and could have been integral components in the ballast and pump system's operation.

They were treated using a sub-critical chamber, a cutting-edge conservation technique developed by the Hunley scientific team, officials said in a press release. 

Ball-peen hammer

Clemson conservator Johanna Rivera cleans hammer (Friends of the Hunley)

Made of different materials, the ball-peen hammer required different conservation methods. For example, the treatment used for the iron can be detrimental for the wood handle. The Clemson team removed the head of the hammer and placed it in sodium hydroxide. The handle was immersed in polyethylene glycol.

Wrench

This large adjustable monkey wrench underwent desalination in sodium hydroxide and then was rinsed in deionized water and placed in the lab oven to quickly dry. Next, it was cleaned with air abrasion and a special coating was applied to protect the metal from corrosion.

They plan to dive deeper into use of the tools

Chisel, top left, and other items in display case (Friends of the Hunley)

The Clemson archaeologists intend to do a deeper analysis of the use of these tools and their interaction. The T-shaped item may have been a key, but the project does not know how it was used, said DeLong.

“We want to look at the submarine as a functioning artifact,” he said. Among the topics to be studied was the Hunley’s air intake system

DeLong is among those completing a volume on the crew members and their personal belongings.

The Hunley museum is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sundays. The Warren Lasch Conservation Center is at 1250 Supply St. in North Charleston. Tickets for tours can be purchased online here. The cost is $18 for adults and $10 for youth ages 6-12, plus a service charge

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.