An inside look at how Monocacy's new museum has taken shape: Better technology and overlapping stories of soldiers, civilians and the Maryland landscape

The story of Monocacy, the battle and its people, is told in an upstairs museum (NPS photos)

Having weathered delays, a broken air conditioning system and the government shutdown, staff at Monocacy National Battlefield near Frederick, Md., are putting the finishing touches on exhibits in the park’s revamped museum.

“The museum is undergoing a soft opening currently …We still have a few pieces to put out and some cosmetic elements to finish in-house,” park ranger Matt Borders said in e-mail to The Civil War Picket on Thursday.

The exhibits are upstairs in the visitor center.

The museum closed late last year for a long-overdue overhaul. Revamped exhibits are telling a wider story than when the old iteration opened in 2007, officials said.

"What is currently up are the big exhibits, the digital program, etc., that were done by the museum exhibit contractors and (look) really nice," Borders said of the new offerings.

The new museum themes include, combat, terror and tedium, care for the wounded and civilian-military interaction.

“Their stories overlap and those relationships are important to the story of Monocacy, and we want to focus on more personal stories,” said Tracy Evans, chief or resource education and visitor services.

Borders said reviews from visitors who have seen the new exhibits since the shutdown ended have been positive. One big change is a new map of the battle and troop movements. It will be projected onto a white surface rather the old physical map that sometimes had broken parts.

At Monocacy on July 9, 1864, outnumbered Federals delayed Confederates bent on taking Washington, D.C. By the time Rebel troops reached the capital’s outskirts, Union reinforcements had arrived. 

The staff shared three photos showing the phases of the work and Borders provided details, told in chronological order.

DECONSTRUCTION

Last December, Monocacy National Battlefield staff, along with staff from the Harpers Ferry Training Center, began the deconstruction of the visitor center museum. The museum space and exhibits were nearly 20 years old, so it was time for an upgrade. The removal of the central island in the museum, which had housed the electronics for the previous museum, opened up the floor plan and will allow guests to move much more freely around the space. We have also opened up the overheard, making the museum space brighter and utilizing the architecture of the building. 

TIME FOR DRYWALLING

While the center of the room was opened, we have also pushed out the walls, particularly on the east side of the building. This additional space will allow the new museum to focus more on the Monocacy Campaign than the previous museum had been. To do this. we will have several themes utilized throughout the museum, looking at not only the soldiers of the American Civil War, but also the civilian stories of the farms and those of the enslaved that worked the farms. 

PAINTED WALLS, READY FOR CARPET

With new paint and very shortly to have new carpets, the museum has really been coming together. One of the big questions we have received throughout this process has been, "Will you still have the electric map?"

Yes, sort of. The fiberoptic map was at the end of its life, so the entire map program has been redone and expanded upon. It will be located in the center of the museum now, to better accommodate guests, especially in large groups and will be on two large display screens to provide easy viewing and closed captioning. 

Fort Fisher site in North Carolina to rebuild demolished earthworks and temporarily close for move to a new visitor center and museum

Planned traverses (top), reproduction guns, new visitor center, Civil War image (Fort Fisher, Library of Congress)

In a noteworthy project, Fort Fisher State Historic Site near Kure Beach, N.C., in coming months will restore a portion of earthworks that were leveled during World War II to make way for a training base airstrip. The work is in conjunction with a new visitor center.

The park will close Tuesday for a few months as workers relocate exhibits, artifacts and offices to the new 20,000 square-foot building, officials said. All site features west of U.S. 421 will be off-limits to visitors, including the museum, restrooms, tour trail and parking lot. The Battle Acre tour stop will remain available.

The Confederacy’s Fort Fisher was built on the peninsula between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, south of Wilmington. 

On Jan. 15, 1865, after a naval bombardment, the Federal army attacked from the western, river side while Marines pushed in from the northeast bastion. The fall of the “Gibraltar of the South” cut off blockade runners and the last supply line through Wilmington to Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. U.S. Colored Troops were among those taking part in the attack. (Click map at left to enlarge)

The visitor center is just north of the east-west line mounds of earth known as traverses that were part of the defenses. Much of the eastern part of the fort has been claimed by the ocean. 

The earthworks reconstruction will be done by Bordeaux Construction, which also built the visitor center. The design is based on historic maps, photographs and descriptions. “The architects at Clark Nexsen are striving for authenticity while also meeting modern safety requirements,” says Fort Fisher site manager Jim Steele.

The Picket asked assistant site manager Chad Jefferds about the significant upgrade at the park. The responses have been edited for brevity.

Q.  I understand all of the park, including staffing, will not be available for the next few months, except for one trail on the east?

A. All site features surrounding the current visitor center will be off the table – especially since there will be demolition of the current visitor center and reconstruction of the earthworks. It’s a safety measure.

New visitor center is in the middle, at left is current one, traverses above them (Fort Fisher)

Q. Regarding the new visitor center/museum, I understand the bottom floor will open sometime in July, with an information desk, restrooms and a gift shop?

A. Our plan based on the current construction schedule is to have a soft opening in July. We will be able to orient visitors, have some educational programming and conduct modified guided tours as well as offer restroom facilities and the gift shop.

Q. The top floor, with all the exhibits, is expected to open around Labor Day, right?

A. This is also correct, based on the current construction schedule.

New fortifications that will be built on site (Fort Fisher)

Q. Regarding "rebuilding the fort" what exactly will that involve? I know there are new reproduction Napoleon artillery pieces.

A. Rebuilding the fort will involve the reconstruction of the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th traverses and center sally port of the land face. These were destroyed during World War II when the Army built an airstrip when the area was used for training anti-aircraft and coastal artillery units. 

With three traverses will come two gun emplacements, and (we) will have a heavy cannon in each, along with two 12-pounder Napoleons in the center sally port.

(Trails map modifications showing new traverses/ Dennis Gast)

There will be a tunnel allowing visitors to pass through the fort at the center sally port as would have been the case originally, along with bombproofs under the traverses. 

This exhibit will allow people to interact with the fort in a whole new way, as the tunnels and bombproofs have been caved in and inaccessible since the late 19th century.

Montage of Timothy O'Sullivan photos of traverses; click to enlarge

Q. Were these features prominent in a particular action at Fort Fisher?

A. Yes. Essentially everything between Shepherd’s Battery on the western end of the fort’s land face and the center sally port were the scenes of intense fighting during the US Army’s assault in January 1865. The fighting went from along the traverses from west to east and was often hand-to-hand.

Archaeological work last summer on site of traverses (Fort Fisher)

Q. New South Associates, a cultural resources management services company, last summer did archaeology work ahead of this. Can you briefly summarize what they found? Did it add any understanding to the Civil War history of the fort?

A. In preparation for rebuilding the fort, New South conducted archaeology on the airstrip targeting where the bombproof under the 8^th traverse was located. We were able to confirm it using measurements taken by US Army engineers after the battle. It definitely added a new layer to our understanding of the fort and its construction. (The team of archaeologist uncovered the remnants of a Civil War ammunition magazine and its connecting tunnels, according to the Wilmington Star-News.)

Q. When do you hope the earthworks construction will begin and conclude?

New earthworks at left, new visitor to their north, at far right (Fort Fisher)

A. Earthworks construction has technically already been underway as workers have been moving dirt from the visitor center construction site to the earthwork construction site. It will begin in earnest within the next month or so, as the concrete forms for the bombproofs and tunnel are completed and arrive on site.

Q. Can you please tell me more about the new museum? Will it be much different from the current one? Will there be any new themes or artifacts? What are the most notable items?

Click to enlarge to see features of new earthworks (Fort Fisher)

A. The new museum will be three times larger than the current one, with more room for groups, educational space, rental opportunities, staff offices, etc. The exhibit area is also larger and will be based on the experiences of the place by the people who lived, fought, and died here.

While Fort Fisher is still the focus, the approach in developing our exhibits was much more driven by people, including underrepresented groups. There will be ways for all our visitors to connect with the shared experiences of this place – something for everyone.

In terms of artifacts and notable items, we do have a few things up our sleeve to help people understand the magnitude of the bombardments that took place here in late 1864 and early 1865.

Q. What do you want Fort Fisher visitors to learn from the museum and visitor center?

A. We all want people to leave here with is a sense of the importance of this place and the shared experiences of the diverse people who have walked before us here. 

Q. Will there be a movie? If so, is it the same as now? Are there any new technology/interactive features in the new museum?

A. In the immediate (future) we will keep the same orientation film we have been using, but we will likely produce a new one as funding becomes available. Budget constraints limited the technological features immediately available, but there is room to expand our interactive features in the future. (Current exhibit, left, Fort Fisher photo)

Moving forward: Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Ark., signs construction contract for a larger venue about 1865 Mississippi River tragedy

Current design for front of museum (Courtesy Sultana Disaster Museum)

Backers of a larger and more dynamic museum about the Sultana maritime disaster at the end of the Civil War have taken a major step, signing a $6.389 million contract this week for construction of the Marion, Ark., venue.

The contract with Zellner Construction of nearby Memphis, Tenn., involves renovating the 1939 high school gymnasium to repurpose it as a museum and to build an addition to the front of the museum for an auditorium and entry.

“We are elated we have finally signed a construction contract,” said John Fogleman, president of the Sultana Historical Preservation Society, which is leading the effort. “There were many who doubted that a new Sultana Disaster Museum would ever be built.”

Fogleman said he expects construction to perhaps begin in March, after anticipated approval by government agencies. Officials hope the new site will open in mid-2025, ideally around the time of the 160^th anniversary of the tragedy.

“We selected Zellner because of their excellent reputation, their course of work in the past with our architects and the fact they were the low bidder (of five),” he wrote in an email on Wednesday.

The exhibits will be bid separately. None have been as yet designed.

The overcrowded Sultana just hours before the explosion  (Library of Congress)

Gene Salecker, Sultana author, collector and museum supporter, said he believes the big attraction will be a mock-up of the forward part of the Sultana, which will include the boilers.

“Since the boilers were the main cause of the destruction of the Sultana, we are hoping to have a display on how the boilers worked and what went wrong,” he said, describing the overall museum experience as immersive. “We have tons of information and a great number of artifacts to put into each display

“We are hoping to walk people through the entire war/experience of the Sultana. People will walk through a section about the importance of the Mississippi in American history and the Civil War. We will have a display on soldiers in the war, on prisoners and on the prisoner exchange. The history of the Sultana will cover its construction, it's early life, it's importance of spreading the word of Lincoln's assassination, and then the overcrowding, the explosion, the rescues and the reunions.”

The disaster is currently remembered at a small museum a few blocks from the future site. Dreams for a larger facility germinated many years ago.

The city, close to where the side-wheeler Sultana exploded and caught fire in the Mississippi River, broke ground in 2022 for a museum that will honor soldiers who died in the disaster and residents who helped save others who were plunged into the river in late April 1865.

Carved comb made by Union POW in a Confederate prison (Gene Salecker)

About 1,200 passengers and crew perished. Hundreds of Federal soldiers, many recently freed from Confederate prisons, including Andersonville and Cahaba, were on their way home.

Museum officials say the exhibits will build off the full story of the Sultana with information about the importance of the river, the Confederate prisoner of war camps at Cahaba and Andersonville, the bribery and corruption that led to the overcrowding of the side-wheel steamboat, the explosion and fire, and the creation of the Sultana Survivors Association.

Fogleman and others have raised thus far donations, grants and pledges totaling $10.369 million. “We are still seeking money,” he said. The city of Marion has helped with fund-raising, including revenue from the Advertising and Promotion Committee to fund operating costs.

The society’s board added three new members, according to Fogleman, with the aim of having younger representatives and more women. They bring social media, marketing, banking and other skills, he said.

The story of the Sultana runs deep in the blood of two members of the Sultana society.

Fogleman’s great-grandfather, John Fogleman, after lashing two or three logs together, poled his way through the current of the Mississippi River and toward survivors. He plucked dozens of people -- mostly Federal soldiers -- from the chilly river. It’s possible his sons Leroy and Gustavus assisted.

Franklin Barton and LeRoy and Gustavus Fogleman (Courtesy of John Fogleman)

The present-day Fogleman’s and cousin Frank Barton share another great-great-grandfather, Franklin Hardin Barton, an officer with the 23^rd Arkansas Cavalry. He used a dugout canoe to reach survivors, many of whom were burned or scalded.

Frank Barton, treasurer of the Sultana Historical Society, told the Picket on Wednesday he is glad the Sultana story will “finally have a permanent venue that is befitting of this historical event and will honor those men and women that were aboard the Sultana that fateful night in April of 1865. Part of the Sultana story is how this country forgot those individuals and this new museum will be another step in correcting that part of the Sultana disaster story.”

This article will be updated

Previous Sultana coverage:

• Documentary, events mark 150th anniversary

• Will victim's journal and Bible become part of collection?

• Descendants drop flowers in memory of the lost

• Model captures every detail of Sultana
• Disaster took lives of those who had endured so much
• Siblings recall learning of disaster