Compelling Civil War artifacts are among 100 objects the Atlanta History Center is highlighting to mark its centennial. Among them: USCT flag, ammo crate, a girl's diary, Sherman calling card, Cleburne sword, a Union map and a revolver

Solomon Luckie, Union map of Atlanta, detail of 127th USCT flag, sketch for Cyclorama (Courtesy AHC)

Through items big (the locomotive Texas weighing in at 53,000 pound) and small (less than an ounce for Gen. William T. Sherman’s calling card), nearly 20 Civil War-related artifacts are featured in “Atlanta in 100 Objects,” a book and accompanying exhibition that opens Saturday at the Atlanta History Center.

The AHC, celebrating its 100 anniversary this year, is inviting visitors to examine artifacts in galleries, rooms and exhibits across its 33 acres. There is a big variety, from a disco ball and Peachtree Street sign (below right, AHC) to a letter from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an Atlanta Crackers baseball jersey.

While many of the Civil War items, including the calling card and a map used by Sherman’s troops, are now on display, others (a diary by a 10-year old Atlanta girl and the fascinating flag of an African-American regiment) won’t debut or return until the July opening of “More Perfect Union: The American Civil War Era.”

Officials say visitors will see photographs of the Civil War objects being unveiled during the summer. That exhibition will feature breathtaking artifacts and a broader discussion of issues that engage the republic to this day: our belief systems, victory, defeat, reconciliation and the evolving meaning of freedom.

If you can’t travel to the history center by the end of the year to see the 100 objects, the $24.95 coffee table book (left) features photographs and descriptions “that offer a vibrant portrait of Atlanta through the objects that define it.”

The finely produced volume offers just a snippet of what's at the history center. There are thousands of items in the history center's collection, including those pertaining to Reconstruction and civil rights.

Here’s a closer look at the “Atlanta in 100 Objects” artifacts that are directly related to the Civil War.

Much of the information is from the AHC book, while other portions are from previous Picket reporting on these artifacts, many of which have been at the museum for some time.

Adapting the first map of Atlanta for military use

You know how annoying it can be: Unfolding and folding a road map often leads to rips in the paper. Commanders in the Army of the Cumberland besieging Atlanta were issued a linen version -- preventing that problem.

British-born engineer and cartographer Edward A. Vincent made a map for the young city of Atlanta in 1853. Of course, Atlanta was a much smaller town (about 2,600 residents) and Vincent created a circle with a one-mile radius.

“Vincent beautifully illustrated the curved lines that gave Atlanta streets their unusual layout,” a caption in the book states. The Western & Atlantic’s Zero Milepost was in the center (more on that below).

Sherman’s army adapted Vincent’s creation (he also designed Union Station). The one held by the AHC was made July 25, 1864. It was drawn and printed in the field by the topographical engineer office for the Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas.

The map is currently on exhibit in McElreath Hall on the AHC campus.

The other two large Federal armies in Georgia were the Army of the Ohio and the Army of the Tennessee. (Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center; click to enlarge)

Solomon and Nancy Luckie

Amid the bustle of Civil War Atlanta, 40 residents were an anomaly. Neither white nor enslaved, they were free blacks -- but they were not free in the fullest sense of the word. The residents toiled under restrictions and were always under a cloud of uncertainty.

Among them were successful barber and bathhouse owner Solomon Luckie, his wife Nancy (left, courtesy AHC) and their three children. The AHC has portraits of the couple; in his, Solomon wears a waistcoat, jacket and gold pinkie ring.

Luckie’s success story ended on Aug. 9, 1864, when one of thousands of Union artillery shells raining on besieged Atlanta hit a lamppost. Shrapnel struck the businessman, who was conversing with white businessmen at the intersection of Whitehall (Peachtree) and Alabama streets. He died hours later.

The lamppost for years was at the Underground Atlanta venue. It was moved to the AHC nearly a decade ago. It can be seen in an upstairs gallery associated with the Cyclorama.

Nancy and their children survived the war. “His descendants would live to see decades of success and struggles for Black Atlantans,” the book says of Solomon.

The two original portraits are not on display but copies are displayed with the lamppost.

Zero Milepost

The granite post that marked the birth of Atlanta and survived the Civil War today sits next to the locomotive Texas at the AHC.

Zero Milepost (Picket photo, right) was placed in the 1850s at the southeastern terminus of the Western & Atlantic Railroad in what is now downtown Atlanta, near Georgia State University. “It was this railroad that provided the impetus for the beginning and subsequent growth of the city of Atlanta and marks the center of the city from which the Atlanta city limits were measured,” says the National Park Service.

The Western & Atlantic was vital for the Confederacy, sending both supplies and troops to the front.

For 70 years, the marker sat in the open, but the growth of the city’s viaduct system led to the Central Avenue Bridge above it and the feature was enclosed in a building in the 1980s. With the exception of a few groups, the marker had not been visible to the public since 1994.

In 2018, the milepost was moved to the history center, sparking criticism by preservation and civic groups. A replica was left in the remote site. The museum and state officials said the original needed protection from planned construction work

At the time, an official with the Atlanta Preservation Center said news of the move was a dark day for preservation. “It is always better to leave things in their original location,” said David Mitchell.

The replica milestone as of this writing is inaccessible because of some kind of project being done ahead of the World Cup.

Battle of Atlanta revolver

In 2006, descendants of Union artillery Capt. Francis DeGress discovered a small pocket revolver (Picket photo, below) that their great-grandfather carried into the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864.

In the Cyclorama painting, galloping furiously to the rescue of Union troops who were briefly overrun at the Troup Hurt house is Maj. Gen. John A. “Black Jack” Logan, head of the Army of the Tennessee. Behind him is a revolver-toting DeGress.

DeGress, already a respected veteran, is about to become a folk hero to the Northern cause. He retakes the four 20-pounder Parrott guns that briefly fell into Confederate hands.

“He is an example of the sort of mid-level officer who was a natural leader, on whom the troops really came to depend. On whom the battle depended,” said AHC senior military historian and curator Gordon Jones.

The 1863 weapon was made by L.W. Pond Machine & Foundry Company in Worcester, Mass. It has been on display with other artifacts in the Cyclorama galleries.

According to “100 Objects,” descendants found a letter by artist Theodore Davis, a witness to the battle, friend of DeGress and a historical adviser to the Cyclorama painters. “The letter revealed that it was Davis who recommended DeGress’s dramatic pose with this revolver.”

Capt. Francis DeGress gallops behind Maj. Gen. Logan (Picket photo)

Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama painting and sketch

There’s a lot that can be said of the immense painting, which was made in the 1880s by mostly German artists with the American Panorama Company. Photos are helpful, but you really have to see this depiction in person to appreciate the artistry and chaos of battle.

Visitors at the AHC today stand or sit on a viewing platform and enjoy a powerful presentation projected onto the painting (Picket photo, right).

The book includes a foldout, 360-degree view of the painting and a preliminary sketch of the focal point – the furious fighting at the Troup Hurt house.

The Cyclorama, which was painted in Milwaukee to show a Union victory, was later modified and misinterpreted in Atlanta as showing a Southern triumph – however brief.

“Through the Cyclorama (visitors) can explore the larger question of how our memory and knowledge about the past can be shaped or mis-shaped, in the convergence of history, art, entertainment and myth,” says the book.

Patrick Cleburne’s presentation sword

One of the most compelling items in the former “Turning Point” exhibit was a sword presented by Rebel troops to Irish-born Confederate Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne. It is expected to come back on view.

An unknown maker produced the sword in Solingen, Prussia, circa 1864. Hammond Marshall of Atlanta, a dentist and jewelry maker, engraved the weapon.

(Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

Soldiers of the 15^th Arkansas Infantry – Cleburne’s adopted state -- presented him the sword on April 18, 1864. The scabbard features an Irish harp and the state seal of Arkansas is on the blade.

Cleburne was among six Confederate generals killed later that year at Franklin, Tenn. Before he set out, the officer uttered, “Well if we are to die, let us die like men.”

The “100 Objects” book features this postscript:

“Cleburne staff sent the sword to his fiancée, Susan Tarleton, in Alabama. It remained in the Tarleton family until 1944. It was discovered in an umbrellas stand in a New England antique store in the 1950s, after which it was purchased and donated to Atlanta History Center.”

The sword will be back in the public eye in July when "More Perfect Union" debuts.

Sherman’s photographer George N. Barnard

The AHC in 2024 purchased a rare copy of George N. Barnard’s “Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign,” thought to belong to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and signed in 1886 by his son Philemon.

Barnard traveled twice in 1864 to Atlanta following the Confederate surrender. The volume -- featuring 10 x 13 inches images -- includes scenes of the occupation of Nashville, the 1864 battles around Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, the Atlanta Campaign, Savannah, Ga., and South Carolina. In May 1866, Barnard traced the route of Sherman's North Georgia campaign, taking pictures at Resaca and elsewhere.

(Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

Keith F. Davis, the leading authority on Barnard, said the photographer ranks among the top echelon of Civil War photographers – Gardner, O’Sullivan, Cook, Rees, Reekie, Gibson and Brady. “None of them surpassed Barnard in terms of technical or creative skill,” says Davis, a photography curator, author and collector. “It’s hard to say that any one of them was 'the best' but Barnard was second to none.” 

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, said Barnard's contract with the Army called for him to principally take photos of fortifications, and he took many.

“We're lucky that he had time to take photos of the Ponder house, car shed, etc.” says Crawford, who has led many tours of  key sites in Civil War Atlanta.

The “100 Objects” book includes this summary of the difficult work:

“Working with glass negatives, Barnard required a portable field darkroom and time to set up, chemically prepare the plates, expose the image, and develop the negative – all performed on site. Transported in wagons over dirt roads, the glass negatives were always at risk for breakage. His photographs are not enlargements, they are the same size as the glass negative, some as large as 12-by-15 images.”

The volume will be displayed in July. Visitors will be able to use a digital display to flip through its pages.

Civil War diary – Carrie Berry

“We were fritened almost to death last night. Some mean soldiers set several houses on fire in different parts of the town. I could not go to sleep for fear that they would set our house on fire. We all dred the next few days to come for they said that they would set the last house on fire if they had to leave this place.”

Thus read the Nov. 12, 1864, journal entry of Carrie Berry, a 10-year-old girl living in Atlanta during the fall and occupation of the city. Hers is a very personal account of the shelling of her neighborhood, hiding in the family cellar and taking care of younger siblings.

(Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

In between were the seemingly mundane tasks of sewing and ironing. Carrie kept this diary from  August 1864 to January 1865.

The Berry family lived on Harris Street about a mile from the heart of downtown.

“Berry records her desires, reminding us that she is still a child,” according to the book.

In August 1864, she writes, ‘How I wish the federals would quit shelling us so that we could get out and get some fresh air. “Days earlier, she shared that it was her birthday, “But I did not have a cake – times were too hard so I celebrated with ironing.’”

Berry, who later married and had three children, died in 1921. She is buried at Oakland Cemetery, the resting place for Civil War soldiers and civilians alike.

The diary will go on display in July when “More Perfect Union” opens.

Confederate ammunition crate

(Photo courtesey Atlanta History Center)

On Aug. 20, 1960, construction workers digging the roadbed for interstate highways I-75 and I-85 near downtown Atlanta uncovered one of the largest assortments of Confederate artifacts in Atlanta’s history.

According to the history center, the find is known in local tradition as the “Expressway Cache.” (I was unfamiliar with the term). It was at a site that was near four railroad lines during the Civil War. Buried in the mud of a collapsed underground timber and earth supply depot were hundreds of muskets, projectile, railroad tools and other supplies.

The Atlanta Journal said “a mad scramble” of workers, highway department employees and onlookers looted the site.

This well-preserved crate, likely made in 1864, has a shipping address on one side: “To Gen’l Johnston / Atalanta (sic) / GA.”.

Look for it in July when the new Civil War exhibit opens.

Locomotive Texas

A line of text in “100 Objects” makes a pretty grand assertion:

“Given Atlanta’s establishment as a railroad hub, the 1856 locomotive Texas is perhaps the most significant object in the city.”

The Texas is lit up at night and is visible from the road (Civil War Picket photo)

The Texas, saved from destruction years after its prominent role in “The Great Locomotive Chase,” can be seen through an AHC window along West Paces Ferry Road.

While it is most famous for the Andrews Raid in 1862, the steam locomotive – which was at Grant Park before it was restored in 2017 and relocated to the AHC – symbolizes something else about the city.

AHC officials have long stressed the engine tells a much larger story of the postwar growth of the city, and they decided to paint it in an 1886 scheme, rather than the bright colors it wore at Grant Park -- in part because its surviving parts date closer to that year than the Civil War.

Like the locomotive General, the object of the chase, the Texas was saved (in 1907) from the scrap heap. The General presides at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Marietta, Ga. The Texas and General are the sole surviving locomotives of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, which played a large part in Atlanta’s early development.

Silk regimental flag of the 127^th USCT

A prize artifact acquired in 2019 by the Atlanta History Center captures the essence of why about 180,000 African Americans volunteered in the Union army during the Civil War. It will go on display in July, officials said.

“We Will Prove Ourselves Men” reads the motto on the striking flag that belonged to the 127^th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops, which was formed in Pennsylvania of free men and some who had escaped bondage. The reverse side features a bald eagle and the national motto, “E Pluribus Unum” –out of many, one.

(Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

This is one of three surviving examples of at least 12 USCT flags painted by David Bustill Bowser.

The 127^th trained at Camp William Penn near Philadelphia in 1864. It took part in combat during the siege of Petersburg and the surrender at Appomattox. USCT units -- which helped turn the tide in several campaigns and battles -- were led by white officers and it took time for soldiers to receive pay equal to their white counterparts.

They had limited opportunities and faced racism within the Union army. Some freed men captured by Confederate units were sold into slavery and in some instances, such as at Fort Pillow, black troops were victims of racially motivated atrocities.

Carpetbag

In the South, two terms of derision came to the fore in the years following the Civil War.

A scalawag was a white Southerner who did not conform to postwar expectations. They backed Reconstruction policies and, usually, the Republican Party.

Carpetbaggers were outsiders and, as the AHC says, “travelers from the North who came to the South to profit off the war; ravage local populations; and take advantage of efforts to rebuild the region’s economy, politics and social order.”

The AHC has a small carpetbag in its collection and describes such items this way:

“As the network of railways spread in the US during the prewar period, trains were connecting peoples and places quickly and efficiently. As a result, small industry developed to supply cheap travel bags. The bags were made from secondhand carpet scraps and sold for one or two dollars.”

The carpetbag currently is displayed in the "Gatheround" gallery.

Grand Army of the Republic reunion pot

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a large fraternal organization made up of Civil War Union veterans.

This commemorative Boston bean pot was presented to GAR members in Savannah, Ga., by veterans from Beverly, Mass. Three sides are adorned with the coats of arms of the states of Georgia and Massachusetts, as well as that of the Grand Army of the Republic. (Photo courtesy Atlanta History Center)

According to the AHC, the pot was given in gratitude for the care of a grave of a Beverly veteran, Erastus B. Davis, who died in Georgia in 1887. Savannah veterans decorated his unmarked grave, pledging to “keep it in proper order and mount it with the flag for which he offered up his life.”

A chaplain at one graveside service for a veteran said, “The blue and the gray … now lie side by side. All strife has been ended and only the olive branch prevails.”

The GAR pot will go in display in July.

Gen. William T. Sherman’s calling card

In the 19^th century, these small items were the equivalent of today’s business cards, though most did not include contact information.

That’s because they were often mailed or given out at battlefields, veteran reunions and public events. Former generals dispensed them as a sign of goodwill, rather than the pursuit of business.

Such was the case in January 1879, when William T. Sherman returned to Atlanta for the first since he vanquished his foes there. Over three days, Sherman met with local and state officials and gave out cards. 

“Sherman received a warm welcome. Atlantans gathered at the train station to welcome the Commanding General of the United States Army, with only the occasional sly comment about fire,” says “Atlanta in 100 Objects.”

The card is currently on display at McElreath Hall on the AHC campus.

Other items with ties to the Civil War

-- Death mask of railroad engineer Lemuel P. Grant, who designed Confederate fortifications protecting Atlanta. It is on display in the AHC lobby atrium. 

-- Wallet, library card and driver’s license for Margaret Mitchell Marsh, author of “Gone With the Wind”

-- Wilbur Kurtz’s easel. The artist and historian (right) in the 1930s oversaw the restoration of The Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama and the addition of diorama figures. The easel currently is positioned near the locomotive Texas.                                         

The AHC says patrons can enhance their experience through the Bloomberg Connects app, which offers additional audio and visual storytelling to enhance the “100 Objects” show.

This weekend's Civil War show in Dalton, Ga., features tons of relics and four lectures, including one on Confederate flags at Fort Donelson and Fort Henry

Guns and other collectibles at the 2018 show in Dalton (Civil War Picket photo)

Civil War historian and author Gregg Biggs will speak Saturday at the annual Chickamauga Civil War Show in Dalton, Ga., about Confederate flags flown during the Henry-Donelson Campaign in Tennessee.

The 31^st edition of the annual firearms, artifacts and relics show at the Dalton Convention Center, 2211 Tony Ingle Parkway, takes place Saturday and Sunday. Mike Kent, who has been producing Civil War shows for 35 years, said vendors will set up items on about 450 tables.

Biggs is one of four speakers scheduled Saturday

Many Confederate flags were captured as Union forces under Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant took Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February 1862 and gained vital land and river areas in the Western Theater. About 13,000 Confederates were taken prisoner.

Biggs, a noted flag expert, told the Picket his afternoon program will cover three major flag patterns in use: The first national flag of the Confederacy, Virginia state flags used by Brig. Gen. John Floyd’s brigade, and the first use of the Hardee pattern flag by Brig. Gen. Simon Bucker’s division. (Hardee example at left is 3rd Tennessee in a private collection. It was captured by the 14th Missouri.)

Buckner designed the flag while in Bowling Green, Ky., in January 1862. Hardee pattern flags had a blue field and a circular or rectangular white center. They are most identified with units in the Army of Tennessee.

The units holding the forts were from Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia. Biggs’ talk will cover existing flags and captured flags that cannot be located today.

"None of the captured CS flags from Henry or Donelson were ever sent to the War Department, which makes tracking them difficult," Biggs told the Picket. "Some were sent home by Union officers and most of those remain missing today."

A few days after Fort Donelson fell, Clarksville and Nashville were captured; the latter the first capital of a Confederate state to go into Union hands.

The lectures Saturday are in Room 1-A on the lower level of the trade center. Seminars are for paying attendees only, said Kent.

Other speakers on the schedule

11 a.m.: Michael J. Manning, author of “They Fought Like Veterans:The Military History of the Civil War in the Indian Territory.” A summary of the book says the strife of the Civil War severely fractured the Five Civilized Tribes, splitting allegiances between the Union and the Confederacy. 

Noon: Historian and author Scott Sallee on the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. He will present the theory that the killing had nothing to do with the Confederacy but, instead, the radical faction of the Republican Party and the highest levels of the U.S. government.

1 p.m.: Greg Biggs (see above)

2 p.m.: Fort Donelson expert and battlefield tour guide John Walsh will discuss photography during the Civil War. Walsh operates Fort Donelson Relics.

Relic shows are a major place for sellers, museum curators, authors, collectors and others to network.

Show hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sunday.  Admission is $12 for adults; children 12 and under are free.

11th Virginia flag captured at Pickett's Charge is sold at auction for a total $468,000. The largely intact artifact surfaced at a Georgia collectors show a few years back

A Confederate battle flag captured during Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg has sold at auction for $390,000, four years after it surfaced at a Civil War show in Dalton, Ga.

Fleischer’s Auctions listed the flag of the 11^th Virginia, which served in Kemper’s Brigade, as likely going between $150,000 and $300,000. With the buyer’s premium, a private individual purchased the flag Saturday for $468,000, president Adam Fleischer told the Picket in an email Sunday.

“The flag's high sale price was gratifying, given its historic significance and rarity,” said Fleischer. “Its recognition as one of the most valuable Civil War artifacts sold in recent years rightfully reflects its importance.” (Photos courtesy Fleischer's Auctions)

The flag was among dozens of Civil War and militaria items sold over the weekend by the Ohio business. There were 30 bids on the hand-sewn artifact involving four people on the phone. 

Fleischer talked with Columbus, Ohio, NPR station WOSU about the regimental flag.

“It was advanced by several successive color bearers who were either wounded or killed before it was ultimately captured by an officer in the 16th Vermont Infantry. That officer, after capturing the flag, was killed himself.”

The officer was 2^nd Lt. Cyren B. Lawton.

Fleischer’s said the flag hung at a home in Memphis, Tenn., for decades. It belonged to a 16th Vermont veteran who moved there are the war.

The person who brought the flag to the Chickamauga Civil War Show cracked open a wooden frame and unfolded the flag. With it was a tag:

"Confederate flag remnant, Taken at Gettysburg by Capt. H. F. Dix, 16th Vt. Vol. Inf. Loan of me Elizabeth Dix, June 1943." Dix kept the flag after comrades divided portions of the flag as a souvenir after the failed Confederate assault.

Gregg Biggs, a flag expert who wrote a report on the artifact for Fleischer's, was at the Dalton show and took photos of it being removed from its frame.

"This was a stunning flag to finally turn up so long after it's capture in July 1863," he told the Picket. "The 16th Vermont who took this flag also got the silk flag of the 2nd Florida Infantry, which is still missing and presumably still in Vermont if it has not fallen apart by now."

He said about 50%-55% of the original flag remained.

"The flag was heavily souvenired into the form of a plus (+) which was done in honor of the death of a fellow soldier," Biggs said by email. "After it turned up it went to a conservator who shadowed in the missing areas. If you look closely at the flag you can see these differences easily enough."

Biggs said the man who brought it to the Dalton show from Memphis was a descendant of a 16th Vermont veteran who moved to Tennessee after the war. A collector bought the flag, had it conserved and then sold it to an individual who later consigned it to Fleisher's Auctions, he added.

Mike Kent, who runs and promotes the Dalton show, told the Picket on Monday the flag came in as a walk-in item, but he was not aware of it until recently, because many rare and valuable items change hands without his knowledge.

“I get excited when articles such as the flag are brought to our shows, identified and often sold at high end auctions as it adds credence to our events and often encourages others to bring artifacts to our next event or some other show which keeps our industry alive,” Kent said in an email.

“For it to emerge after 158 years in the condition it is in is unbelievable. Cloth and paper items from the Civil War are usually the first to disintegrate due to their fragile nature and rough usage, which adds even more value to this particular flag. It was definitely one of the finest items to ever pass through our show and we all hope it is well cared for so that future generations may appreciate it."

It’s believed to be the only Confederate battle flag captured during the assault that is in private hands.

"Following the flag’s discovery, it was expertly conserved, and appropriate modern material was artfully arranged in the frame for display purposes," the auction house said.

The Confederate battle flag in the past decade has been embroiled in controversy. Some argue it’s a symbol of Southern culture while others call it a racist symbol. WOSU asked Fleischer how to contextualize Confederate relics.

“The artifact that we're offering is just contextualized by the fact that it's a historic artifact. It's not a monument. And as you can imagine, we put this online recently and it stoked a lot of controversy,” he told the station.

“There are those who think it should be destroyed, even as a historic artifact. But I guess what I would remind them is that this was a flag that a Northern officer lost his life to capture. And so it not only represents the Confederacy, but also the heroism of Union soldiers who captured it.”

Fleischer's said its weekend auction netted $2 million in sales.  

Military miniatures galore this weekend at Gettysburg as part of flag conservation effort. A painting class gets things started

Joshua Chamberlain, 20th Tenn., 146th NY (Courtesy of Mike Stelzel)

Visitors to Gettysburg National Military Park this weekend will see up to 300 military miniatures at an exhibition that will support efforts to conserve the park’s 2^nd North Carolina Infantry flag.

The park, the Gettysburg Foundation and the Artist Preservation Group (APG) are putting on the event at the museum and visitor center on Saturday and Sunday.

The APG – made of historical artists who support preservation efforts – will donate nearly $15,000 at the end of the weekend to cover all conservation costs.

“The main effort of the miniatures exhibition will focus on educating visitors about the history of the Civil War, the interpretation of the conflict through miniature art, and the material culture used by both sides in the conflict,” the park said in a news release.

A large part of the flag funding will come from a sold-out miniatures painting class that kicks off the four-day event. Funding also comes from raffles, sale of other art work and donations, founder Mike Stelzel told the Civil War Picket. (The APG has invited artists to exhibit their work during the Gettysburg event).

A new Berdan’s Sharpshooters figure (left) and supplies will be sold to 30 participants in the Thursday and Friday painting class, Stelzel said. “Artists like to paint the uniform as it is different than the normal ACW (American Civil War),” he said. “It's also a popular unit with many ACW miniature enthusiasts.”

The class, sponsored by Scale 75 USA, will feature artist Julio Cabos as instructor.

“Julio is one of the best in the world,” Stelzel said. “(He) paints a piece and donates that to us for one of our auctions. His work demands a very high price at auction.”

Stelzel said the nonprofit APG wants to promote the miniatures hobby to the public.

“We all enjoy engaging with the public taking about our art form. The most common remark we here is, ‘I had no idea something like this exists.’ We hope, too, that this might draw people to the park and (expose) them to our American history. Everyone wins.”

Officials said the 2^nd North Carolina likely carried the flag at Gettysburg in July 1863. The regiment brought 243 men to the field and suffered 61 casualties in three days of fighting.

Park spokesman Jason Martz says the current condition of the banner “is fair, yet stable.”

The flag was likely issued shortly before the battle  (GNMP)

“Older stabilizations from the 1980s, however, detract from the presentation of the flag while on exhibit due to their age and color. This project will vastly improve the stabilization and appearance on exhibit,” Martz said in an email.

The flag has typical characteristics of third bunting issue flags produced by the Richmond Clothing Bureau (RBC) from British-produced wool bunting for issuance to the Army of Northern Virginia in May 1863.

It was on exhibit at the park from 1987 until 2008 and then briefly from 2010 to 2012.  It has been on rest and in storage since 2012. Officials say conservation will allow for future display at the visitor center museum. (The flag will not be shown this weekend).

“A new conservation treatment will include unmounting the flag from its current support, removal of old encapsulation and underlays, documentation, (and) custom dying of new underlays/overlays for improved appearance and protection,” the park said.

The flag lists some of the battles in which the 2^nd North Carolina fought. The appearance of the Chancellorsville battle honor suggests an issuance of this flag to replace the regimental flag captured at Fredericksburg, the park says.

The regiment, formed in 1861, was part of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox.

Cushing's battery in action at Gettysburg (Mike Stelzel)

The late Angela Rosensteel Eckert and Lawrence Eckert donated the flag to Gettysburg National Military Park in 1987. The couple operated the Gettysburg National Museum and Electric Map for many years.

The exhibition will take place Saturday and Sunday at the Gilder Lehrman Institute Special Exhibits Gallery in the visitor center. Combination tickets for the film, museum and Cyclorama are $18.75 for adults, $17.75 for seniors and veterans, and $13.75 for children 6-12. Children 5 and under and active military have free admission.

Interpretive panel installed for flag finial at Georgia battlefield

Click images to read text, see finial (Georgia State Parks)

An interpretive panel is now in place next to a flag finial believed to have been used by a Federal regiment during the Battle of Pickett’s Mill in northwest Georgia.

Officials at the May 27, 1864, battlefield near Atlanta recently unveiled the eagle flag topper to visitors during events related to the anniversary of the fight that ended in a Confederate victory during the Atlanta Campaign.

The panel, which describes the use of finials, was not present in time for the ceremony. Here’s what it looks like after installation. 

Although, it does not specify a possible unit, rangers and experts believe the finial may have been carried by an Ohio or Indiana regiment.

The artifact was discovered in a ravine in 1963, they say.

Previous coverage:

-- Wreath laying ceremony in famous ravine at Pickett's Mill

-- The story of the flag finial and how it was "rediscovered"

Wreath is placed in Pickett's Mill ravine where a US flag finial was found. Hundreds of Union soldiers died nearby in artillery slaughter

An honor guard Saturday above a ravine where flag finial was found (Picket photo)

On a gorgeous late spring day, about 40 people and I walked single file down a trail in Paulding County, Ga. Sun pored through the trees as we made a gentle descent, a deep and breathtaking ravine to our right.

This might have been on any other morning a carefree trek away from worry and traffic congestion in metro Atlanta. But Saturday was no normal day – it was the 159^th anniversary of the Civil War’s Battle of Pickett’s Mill. And hundreds of Union soldiers died in that ravine on May 27, 1864.

A few minutes earlier, at the Pickett's Mill park museum, visitors got an overview of the slaughter. We then set out for a wreath-laying ceremony at the spot where a finial, the top of a U.S. flag carried in the battle, was found in 1963 at the bottom of the ravine. The flag topper, which sits in a case in the visitor center, was the star of the program Saturday. It's the first new exhibit at the park in years, staffers said.

**Photo gallery of Saturday's events at Pickett's Mill**

John Hoomes, curator preservationist and interpretive ranger at Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, said the scene must have been horrific as canister from two Confederate artillery pieces tore into the Federal soldiers who climbed the ravine in the second futile attack. Several color bearers, who were defenseless, were shot down.

Each regiment in the Union army had two sets of colors, one the U.S. flag and the other a regimental flag. These banners were sacred -- a point of pride and a means of leading and rallying men amid the chaos of combat.

The enemy always shot at color bearers and tried to seize flags. The Pickett's Mill finial is believed to have been put on an American flag.

The finial at Pickett's Mill likely belonged to an Ohio or Indiana regiment.

“As you walk down entering the ravine, you are entering the deadliest part of the battlefield,” Hoomes said.

My photos can’t begin to show just how deep the ravine is and the height those unfortunate men in Col. William H. Gibson’s brigade had to scale. The wreath was placed near the bottom of the ravine and a creek. I felt it was too steep for my knees and ankles, so I did not venture that far down. (At right, local historian Michael Hitt points to the Federals' objective.)

After the ceremony, we walked back up to the approximate location of where two Confederate cannons rained hell down the ravine in 1864. One of them, a bronze 12-pounder howitzer that was part of Confederate Capt. Thomas Key’s battery, is on display in the visitor center (see above). The original 780-pound barrel sits on a reproduction carriage.

The howitzer was cast in Boston by Cyrus Alger & Co. in 1851 for the Arkansas Military Institute. The number 9 is stamped on its muzzle face and the cannon is marked with an eagle and globe.

Capt. Key and his Arkansas four-gun battery played a large part in the Confederate victory. Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne ordered Key to place two guns to the right oblique to enfilade a ravine.

Federal troops under Maj. Gen. William Hazen and Gibson charged uphill in their futile attempt to take the top of a ridge. Key’s howitzers were ready for them.

“They shot solid shot and canister. And that was 48 balls per (canister) round,” Stephen Briggs, then interim director at Pickett’s Mill, told me in 2016. The battery fired 182 rounds of spherical case and canister in two hours, he said.

Crew prepares to fire reproduction howitzer on Saturday (Picket photo)

The Federal army suffered 1,600 casualties at the battle, compared to 500 for the South. The advance on Atlanta was delayed about a week. 

On Saturday, a reenactor artillery crew was firing blanks. Key’s Battery, associated with the Friends of Pickett’s Mill Battlefield, drilled and fired a reproduction cannon as park visitors held fingers to their ears. Activities elsewhere in the park included musket firing and a demonstration of camp life.

Tommy Carter with the finial he pulled from the ground (Picket photo)

The finial is in the visitor center museum. An interpretive panel had not arrived by Saturday but should be put up soon. For years, the finial was on a trophy stand and used as a book weight in the park library. Until last year, it was thought to possibly be a reproduction, but experts are now saying it is genuine.

Tommy Carter (above) of New Hope, Ga., was reunited with the finial for the first time since he and a cousin dug it up in the ravine in 1963. (It’s important to note that this was private property at the time, about 10 years before the state began acquiring land for the park and later prohibited such activity.)

The original Key's Battery cannon is only a few feet away from the finial exhibit. “That could be the cannon that hit that finial three times,” said Hoomes.