Concussion of thundering 1st Connecticut mortars at the Battle of the Crater left artillerist Chester Beckwith with bleeding ears and a lifetime of pain. Descendants have donated his 1861 rifle, accoutrements to a New England museum

Tom Therrien and Kimberly Beckwith with Springfield and cartridge box (NE Civil War Museum) and 1st Connecticut mortars at Yorktown, Company C (labeled 8) position near the Crater and the "Dictator," Company G, Petersburg (Library of Congress)

Amid the heat, flashes of fire and acrid smoke rising from belching siege mortars, Chester Beckwith furiously worked to prepare ammunition to support the Union assault during the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864.

The artificer with Company C, 1^st Connecticut Heavy Artillery, was cutting timed fuses in the bombproof/powder magazine of Fort Rice at Petersburg during the bombardment, according to his pension file kept by the National Archives.

“While so engaged the concussion produced by the firing of the heavy siege guns and mortars injured both of my ears so that blood came from them…during many months afterward I was troubled with a discharge of matter from both ears,” he wrote.

In the end, the company’s ten 10-inch mortars fired 360 rounds during the doomed assault that resulted in disaster and eight months of ghastly trench warfare.

A 2019 article on HistoryNet.com details the injury that cost Beckwith much of his hearing for the rest of his life.

Beckwith, a carpenter by trade who repaired artillery equipment as an artificer, served through the end of the war. He was plagued by his injury and the loss of his brother, Robert, who was mortally wounded at Second Manassas in August 1862.

Chester H. Beckwith’s military service and sacrifice will be remembered following the donation last fall of his 1861 Springfield rifle-musket and accoutrements to the New England Civil War Museum & Research Center in Vernon, Ct. (Photos at left and below courtesy of the museum)

Dan Hayden, the museum’s executive director, told the Picket conservators will prepare the artifacts for exhibit rotation.

“We focus on bringing to life individual people of the time period, but more importantly, to create a way to highlight the emotional and human elements that show how similar we are to them, even today,” said Hayden.

Two cousins, Kimberly Beckwith, a Connecticut native currently working in the Netherlands, and Tom Therrien, who moved from Connecticut to North Carolina a year ago, traveled to the museum to make the donation.

The artifacts for years were kept by Beckwith’s late father. The gift seems especially appropriate because Alfred Pierce Beckwith was a highly skilled machinist who could fix almost anything, she wrote in an email

“So he was sort of artificer too (he was also a jet engine mechanic in the Air Force in the late ‘50's to the early ‘60s.) It seems those skills run in my family of handy Yankees who served their country.”  

His younger brother Robert died at 2nd Manassas

The 1^st Connecticut Heavy Artillery saw extensive service during operations in Washington, D.C., Virginia and North Carolina. Company C participated in the Peninsular Campaign and ended up at Fort Brady on the James River by the end of the war.

Chester Beckwith was 35 when he mustered in for three years in March 1862. His pension records indicate he had red hair and blue eyes. While 22 men from the Vernon area served with the 1^st Heavies, Beckwith hailed from Windham, nearly 20 miles away.

Beckwith’s younger brother, Robert, was living in Pennsylvania when joined the 1^st New Jersey Infantry. Some of Robert’s letters to relatives have been published on HistoryNet and the Spared & Shared blog.

In July 1862, Robert wrote to friends about a visit from Chester at his camp in Virginia.

“Oh, tell Susanna that I was surprised the day I was sitting in my tent & who should come & look in but Chester. He has been [in] one fight with me but I did not know it at the time. He is in the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery. They lay about one mile from me. We are to go there 2 or 3 times a week. I expect him over tomorrow -- Sunday. He was paid off the other day & sent $40 dollars home to Minerva (Chester’s wife). Chester said he had written to you the other day.”

Robert was mortally wounded at Manassas a month later, apparently dying days later while being held prisoner. His grave in Windham may be a cenotaph. 

(I have been unable to find a photo of Chester. Robert’s image can be seen here. I have been unable to locate the current owner to obtain permission to include it here. Photo at right by Matthew Dingler, town of Windham)

Chester was detailed as an artificer on January 10, 1864, a role that acknowledged his skills and ability to repair the critical equipment that the 1st Heavies operated, a museum Facebook post says. When his original term expired on March 18, he reenlisted, serving until September 1865.

At Petersburg, the regiment’s companies were stationed at a couple forts, with Beckwith’s at Fort Rice near the larger Fort Sedgwick. They were in the thick of action during the Battle of the Crater.

The 1^st Heavies' most famous mortar, the massive “Dictator,” was operated by Company G.

Company C was in the thick of things

Much has been written about the siege of Petersburg in 1864-65; I won’t be able to get into detail here. But the Federal force depended on heavy guns like those used by the 1^st Heavies.

National Archives map shows Fort Rice (center right) across from Rives Salient (click to enlarge)

Company C was across from Confederate Rives Salient and adjacent to the original location of Confederate Battery 22, part of the initial Confederate Dimmock Line, said Emmanuel Dabney, chief of resource management at Petersburg National Battlefield.

“Keep in mind much work was done by Union troops in July 1864 to dismantle the original Dimmock Line which lay behind the Federal fortifications,” Dabney told the Picket.

The line was a series of 55 Rebel artillery batteries and connected earthworks. They were built to protect Petersburg’s vital railroads and industry.

The 1^st Heavies were among the artillery units meant to suppress Confederate resistance as the attack unfolded on July 30, 1864.

The Battle of the Crater dashed Union hopes for an end to the siege and, for that matter, the Confederacy. After a massive explosion from a mine set off by engineers, Federal troops, including U.S. Colored Troops, rushed in, only to be rebuffed by dazed Confederates who held strong.

According to Beckwith’s pension files from the 1870s, a sergeant from Company C wrote a letter to pension officials detailing the artificer’s injuries. The article on HistoryNet describes how gunners were told to place canister rounds into 10-inch shells to be fired from mortars.

Union artillery on July 30; Fort Rice is numbered 8, click to enlarge (Baylor University Digital Collections)

Sgt. Elisha Jordan wrote the following:

“…I was on duty…near Fort Rice in front of Petersburg Va on July 30th 1864. I know that Chester H. Beckwith was an artificer…and was on duty in the bombproof sawing fuses during the explosion of Burnside’s mine and attack on enemy line….I was ordered to go in the bombproof and direct said Beckwith to put 27 grape shots into a shell which I did and found Beckwith with his ears bleeding badly….I know that ever after this day while in the service Beckwith was excused from roll call because his hearing was bad.”

The HistoryNet authors obtained the pension information from the National Archives in Washington. I have been unable to travel there for those purposes.

A lot of suffering for Chester and Mary

Chester Beckwith returned to Connecticut and worked as a carpenter. His wife Minerva passed away in 1879 and he married Mary E. Beckwith in 1903.

Dana B. Shoaf, editor in chief of HistoryNet in 2019, wrote Mary recalled occasionally “the blood would run out of his ears and head,” and that “he was [in] dretfull suffer as long as he lived.”

Chester died of a “lingering illness” in Hamburg (North Lyme), Ct., in November 1909 at age 82 or 83. Half of his 10 children survived him. His body was returned to Windham, where he was buried at Windham Center Cemetery. At one point, a U.S. flag and Grand Army of the Republic marker were evident at his grave.

An ailing Mary’s application for a widow’s pension in 1912 apparently was denied because the government determined Chester’s wartime injuries did not cause his death, Shoaf wrote.

I have been unable to determine when Mary died and where she is buried.

(Matthew Dingler, Windham’s cemetery sexton, was of great help to me as I researched the resting places for the Beckwith family. He mentioned the history and Victorian homes of Willimantic, which is part of Windham. A mill drew many immigrants. He also mentioned the humorous Battle of the Frogs story. Read about it here)

A trove of weaponry and an ode to hard tack

The inscription about Chester Beckwith is slowing fading away (Courtesy Kimberly Beckwith)

Kimberly Beckwith grew up believing Chester and Minerva were distant a distant uncle and aunt. Not many stories were passed down, though her father said they underwent some kind of tragedy, Beckwith told the Picket.

After further research, Kimberly now believes Chester and Minerva were her great-great-grandparents. To this day, the family has deep ties to the Windham area.

She turned to the museum in Vernon for the donation after doing online research. She and her late sister, Lynda, inherited the items after their father died in February 2023. (Lynda thought first of donating the items to a museum in Pennsylvania, where she lived.)

The items were Chester’s Springfield, bayonet and seven-rivet scabbard, percussion cap box, cartridge box, belt buckle and a book with regimental history. The family also donated an early edition of John Billings' “Hard Tack and Coffee,” a memoir containing tales of the war and illustrations.

The cartridge box still bears the pressed stamp of Gaylord contractors in Chicopee, Massachusetts, with a late pattern percussion cap box and bayonet with seven-rivet scabbard.

The museum says this of the artifacts:

“Though his belt and cartridge box sling have passed out of existence, the buckle remains, as most notably does the musket sling. Along with an early edition of John D. Billings' 'Hard Tack and Coffee,' the remainders of Chester's service with the 1st Heavies will be proudly conserved and interpreted for future visitors at the museum.”

The 1861 Springfield was used by most soldiers from Vernon and many New England soldiers in general. 

Museum serves up soldier artifacts and library

The Civil War museum in Vernon is housed in the former meeting place of the Thomas F. Burpee Post #71 of the GAR. The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Alden Skinner Camp #45 meet in the building today.

Highlights of the permanent collection include New England and GAR artifacts, a wartime uniform of Seth Plumb of the 8th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, a pair of trousers owned by James Baldwin of the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery, and personal effects of Thomas Burpee, including spurs, belt, shoulder boards, tin cup and the bullet believed to have mortally wounded him at Cold Harbor, Va., in 1864. 

1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery monument near Capitol in Hartford (Cosmo Marino, hmdb.org)

Thirty-six Vernon men died during the war, 14 of them killed in battle and 11 dying in Confederate prison camps, said Hayden.

The research center and archives contains letters, diaries, journals

“We curate the library to help researchers find sources around the everyday soldier, as well as to the general public for finding information about their relatives who served during the Civil War. Notably, famed artist Don Troiani donated his research archive he collected while preparing to paint his Civil War works of art. These are being scanned and will be made available for public access,” the director added.

The New England Civil War Museum & Research Center, 14 Park Place, Vernon, is open 10 a.m.- p.m. on Saturday and Sundays. Call 860-870-3563 for more information.

First of 20 Enfield rifles to be preserved emerges from wood treatment at Georgia lab. After 160 years in water, weapon made for South appears to be doing fine

Right side of treated rifle, bottom portion, nose cap at end of barrel, two rifles chosen for treatment (Georgia DNR)

Conservation in Georgia of 20 Enfield rifles has reached a significant milestone, with the first walnut stock emerging from treatment and appearing to be doing well outside a wet environment.

“I was thinking about it; this is the longest this rifle has been out of water in over 160 years,” said Josh Headlee, curator and historic preservation specialist with the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

“I want to give it a little time to monitor it closely and make sure nothing bad is going to happen to it. However, I think it’s going to work. The rifle seems pretty stable,” he said.

The British-made weapons – which went down with a Confederate blockade runner in Charleston Harbor -- have been displayed for nearly 15 years in a 300-gallon aquarium at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Douglas County as corrosive salts are removed.

The stack of Enfield rifles in lining and crate at Sweetwater Creek State Park.

Saltwater destroyed most of the iron components, including barrels, locks and bayonets. The trigger guards, butt plates and nose caps at the end of the barrels are made of brass and are still intact.

The state’s aim is to eventually exhibit the wooden remnants of the rifles.

Lab picked two rifles for initial treatment

Headlee in 2022 selected two rifles (left, Georgia DNR) to be treated with a solution made by Preservation Solutions. Conservators previously used SP-11 to treat an intact coffin found in 2013 on the edge of the marsh at Fort McAllister, a Confederate river outpost below Savannah.

Before chemical treatment, the rifles are kept in water, which protects their cellular structure. 

Without immersion in a preserver, pieces of wood will shrink, warp and crack. “They could literally just fall apart,” Headlee previously told the Picket. (Treated rifle above, Georgia DNR. View shows were the lock and hammer would have been.)

SP-11 is designed to displace water in the wood with preservatives that help to solidify the wood so it can be permanently exposed to the air.

The curator said he is watching the preserved rifle to see if there is leaching, cracking or splitting of the wood as it continues to dry.

If this weapon remains stable, Headlee said, the second Enfield will undergo the treatment. “We’re slowly picking the hard crusty layer off of it before we put it in the wood preserver,” he added. (Left side of the rifle, above)

The items are being treated at a facility at Panola Mountain State Park east of Atlanta.

Divers pulled up prized weapons decades ago

The Pattern 1853 Enfields were carried by the blockade runner CSS Stono and were bound for Charleston, S.C., in 1863. The rifles, stored in a wooden crate, were placed in an alternating butt to muzzle pattern, and blocks were used to prevent the weapons from shifting.

The Stono, laden with precious arms, munitions and goods from Europe, in 1863 ran aground on a submerged sandbar off Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor while trying to evade Federal ships.

An archaeological diver pulled up the box carrying the 20 rifles in the late 1980s. One end was damaged, apparently when the ship sank. Some of the Enfields were damaged.

Officials did not initially know how many of the highly prized Pattern 1853 rifles were inside, their position or condition. 

Each weapon originally weighed about 9 pounds and was approximately 53 inches long. The bore is .577-caliber. (At right, treated gun, Georgia DNR. It shows were the trigger guard and assembly would have been.)

The craftsmanship involved in the manufacture of the guns was very good, Headlee previously said. “Enfield was top quality.”

The Enfield was the second-most widely used infantry weapon in the Civil War after the Springfield.

The 1851 and 1853 Enfields, made for the British army, were an important technological advance from smoothbore to rifled muskets, increasing the accuracy and distance.

At least one of the weapons bears the mark, “T. Turner,” a reference to well-known English gunmaker Thomas Turner, who turned out quality weapons in the mid-19^th century.

Barrel plugs called tampions remarkably survived

 A tin and lead lining that sealed the cargo from salt air and ensured the rifles were not tampered with is in bad condition.

But there is a silver lining to all of this: Components made of brass withstood the onslaught of corrosive saltwater. Conservators are still trying to determine how to treat them.

Iron or steel screws holding the butt plates in place deteriorated over the years and the plates just slid off, said Headlee.

Conservators years ago found in the crate a bullet mold, tools and tampions -- cork and brass plugs inserted into the muzzle to ward off moisture.

The team counted 20 tampions (above, Georgia DNR) “in various states” of condition. Tampions are used on cannons and rifles to keep debris from falling into their barrels.

Headlee finds it remarkable much of the cork used for the Enfield tampions remains.

“They were just found in a grouping. We feel like they were in a box or bag in the crate.”

A closer look at chains and bayonet remnants

The Enfields featured a nipple protector, which kept the hammer away from the firing mechanism when not in use. A chain was attached to a plug placed over the weapon’s nipple.

Headlee last year sent me a photo of one chain from the Stono guns (above, Georgia DNR). “Some of them are still on the rifles.”

He reached out to Enfield experts in England and elsewhere about the half dozen remnants of iron bayonets found stacked together. They told him bayonets normally would be shipped in a separate box.

“Why bayonets (remnant below, Georgia DNR) were in this crate I have no idea,” Headlee said. “They are all but gone. The fact we have this much is amazing.” The pieces are about an inch and a half long.

The Enfield fired a Minie ball. No ammunition was found in the crate.

Eventually, if all goes as hoped, the 20 rifles will go on display somewhere in the state.

“Even up to the end of the (Civil War), the Enfield rifle was kind of the M16 rifle of the day,” said Headlee. “It had been used for years and years. Bang for the buck, it was as good as any standard weapon.”

Springfield and Enfield rifles were neck and neck in effectiveness, he added. “They were like a Ford and a Chevy.”

Interestingly, the  nose cap is the only metal piece still attached to the wooden stock of the treated rifle. It appears to be riveted in place and conservators don't want to risk breaking the fragile stock to remove it for treatment. 

One-act plays will look at Civil War lives of Walt Whitman and Robert Smalls

Two one-act plays being staged at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, bring to life true stories of the Civil War. “Lilacs and Letters” and “Small Beginnings” look at the struggles, sacrifices and resilience of the time, according to the library. Actors Zaxx Nation and Reggie Guyton are reprising their roles as Walt Whitman and Robert Smalls. -- Article

2-day symposium focuses on hellish conditions in Missouri during war

Four nationally recognized speakers on topics ranging from guerrilla warfare and slavery to events in Missouri during the Civil War are featured in a symposium on Friday, Aug. 27, and Saturday, Aug. 28, in Springfield. The in-person and online event is hosted by Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation. -- Details

Wilson's Creek battlefield: Bed that held Gen. Lyon's body and multimedia kiosks among the highlights of renovated museum

Exhibit details action by the Pulaski Light Artillery Battle (NPS photo)

The bed on which the body of Union Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon (left) was laid is the centerpiece of the newly renovated visitor center and museum at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in southwest Missouri.

Officials last week unveiled the $3.5 million renovation project, which expands exhibit space by about 1,800 feet, park Superintendent Sarah Cunningham told the Picket in an email. The work was supported by Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation and the National Park Foundation.

“The new exhibits will highlight more of the park’s collection Civil War artifacts as well as new audio-visual exhibits. This makes it possible for people to view historic weapons demonstrations and digitally view fragile artifacts and other items in storage,” she said of kiosks and other features. 

The Battle of Wilson's Creek on Aug. 10, 1861 -- the second major battle of the war -- resulted in a Confederate victory after its forces made multiple assaults on Union lines. Federal troops retreated to Springfield. 

Though victorious on the field, the Southerners were not able to pursue the Union forces. Lyon lost the battle and his life, but he achieved his goal: Missouri remained largely under Union control.

Visitors will see approximately 90 percent of all edged weapons and firearms from the park’s museum collection and will learn the history of 19^th-century firearms technology and how it affected the outcome of the war, Cunningham said.

(Morphy Auctions)

A featured firearm is a rare Model 1860 Henry repeating rifle (above), recently donated to the park by the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation. While the weapon was made in 1864 and has no connection to the fighting at Wilson’s Creek, the rifle belonged to George Fulton, a Missouri veteran of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War. The Henry was among the most technologically advanced weapons of the conflict.

Cunningham said the park will be able to display additional items from the collection of Trans-Mississippi Theater artifacts purchased from Dr. Thomas Sweeney in 2005.  

The original “Lyon bed" (below) belonging to the John Ray family previously was displayed at the historic Ray House. Park officials wanted to feature the artifact and secure its future in the climate-controlled museum. A reproduction bed is now visible in the Ray House.  

While the Ray House was not hit by fire, it was in the thick of the fighting during the battle.

The Lyon bed in park museum. (National Park Service photo)

“As soon as the battle ended, the family emerged from the cellar to find their farm house was now a hospital, and immediately began to assist medical personnel in treating the wounded and dying,” the park says on its web site.

“The children made many trips to secure water from the springhouse for the suffering soldiers. Later, the body of General Nathaniel Lyon was brought to the house and examined before it was removed to Springfield under a flag of truce. Roxanna (John Ray’s wife) supplied a counterpane, or bedspread, to cover the body. While most of the wounded were quickly removed to Springfield, one soldier would convalesce with the Rays for several weeks before he could be moved. In addition, most of the family's livestock and crops were gone, foraged by hungry soldiers.”

The visitor center before (top) and after the renovation (NPS photo)

According to the Aurora Advertiser newspaper, two new exhibits showcase the loading and firing of artillery and their transportation. Other cases included possessions of civilians caught up in the fighting.

An exhibit focuses on the Confederate Pulaski Light Artillery Battery. The Arkansas unit engaged in a furious exchange with a Federal battery at Wilson’s Creek, and it checked Lyon’s advance.

A 2018 article in Emerging Civil details the battery's trial by fire and the acclaim it received for helping turn the tide of the battle.

Artillery piece and limber in the foreground (NPS photo)

US Colored Troopers marker is installed at Ohio cemetery

A monument to black soldiers who fought in the Union Army during the Civil War was in place at a western Ohio cemetery for Memorial Day. The United States Colored Troops monument at Ferncliff Cemetery in Springfield bears the names of 139 men interred there. Dedication had been planned for Monday, but it has been postponed because of pandemic safety precautions. • Article

'Do not forsake us': Letter written by a peeved Lincoln donated to presidential museum

Craig Schneeberger with letter (courtesy Abraham Lincoln PLM)

Recent gifts to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., celebrate two aspects of the rich story of our 16^th president – the passionate politician and a young boy lost in a book.

A few days ahead of Lincoln’s birthday, the library on Friday said an angry letter written to a colleague and a painting that shows the buckskin-clad Lincoln reading while taking a break from chopping wood were recently donated.

The oil on canvas art work, painted in the late 19^th century by William Morton Jackson Rice, will hang in the presidential library for the rest of the year. “The Young Abe Lincoln” is a gift of philanthropist Louis Moore Bacon, a press release said, and is 7 feet wide and nearly 5 feet tall.

According to the library, an auction house previously described the painting this way: “This Romantic view of Abe Lincoln exemplifies the spirit of the era. Here is the heroic figure: strong, pure and, as yet, unworried by the hardships of leading a country at war with itself.”

(click to enlarge)

The letter was donated by a Georgia descendant of Illinois politician Andrew McCormack, whose career included a stint as Springfield mayor. His name also has been spelled McCormick.

Lincoln was unhappy that McCormack and others in the “Long Nine” group, named for their height, wanted to give the state printer job to newspaper editor William Walters, a Democrat, rather than his choice, friend and Whig ally Simeon Francis.

Lincoln, showing his political skills and partisanship, wrote to the legislators, probably in January 1839. He signed the letter with only his last name, perhaps as a declaration of anger:

“I have just learned, with utter astonishment, that you have some notion of voting for Walters,” Lincoln wrote to McCormack. “This certainly can not be true. It can not be, that one so true, firm, and unwavering as you have ever been, can for a moment think of such a thing. What! Support that pet of all those who continually slander and abuse you, and labour, day and night, for your destruction. All our friends are ready to cut our throats about it.”

Lincoln's strong words notwithstanding, Walters won the vote.

The letter was passed down by McCormack’s descendants and was donated by Fred Schneeberger of Dunwoody, a suburb of Atlanta. His son, Craig, had visited the Springfield museum and suggested it go there.

"We just loved the museum up there," the younger Schneeberger told the Picket. The document had been passed down for seven generations, and there was no consideration of it being sold because it could be lost to any public access, he said. The first-born son of the next generation would receive it, but Craig's son thought it should be donated, and the idea went from there.

(Click to enlarge)

Schneeberger said the family doesn't mind that Lincoln took their ancestor and others to task. "I think it's just politics. Everyone gets nailed once in a while."

“Both these items are wonderful additions to our collection,” said Alan Lowe, executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, in the release. “One shows the Lincoln that we sometimes forget – the politician trying to lead a team. The other shows Lincoln as we’d like to remember him – hardworking and never wasting an opportunity to improve himself.”

Full text of Lincoln letter

Dear Captain:

I have just learned, with utter astonishment, that you have some notion of voting for Walters.  This certainly can not be true.  It can not be, that one so true, firm, and unwavering as you have ever been, can for a moment think of such a thing.  What!  Support that pet of all those who continually slander and abuse you, and labour, day and night, for your destruction.  All our friends are ready to cut our throats about it.  An angel from heaven could not make them believe, that we do not connive at it.  For Heaven’s sake, for your friends sake, for the sake of the recollection of all the hard battles we have heretofore fought shoulder, to shoulder, do not forsake us this time.  We have been told for two or three days that you were in danger; but we gave it the lie whenever we heard it.  We were willing to bet our lives upon you.  Stand by us this time, and nothing in our power to confer, shall ever be denied you.  Surely!  Surely! You do not doubt my friendship for you.  If you do, what under Heaven can I do, to convince you.  Surely you will not think those who have been your revilers, better friends than I.  Read this & write what you will do.

Your friend,

Lincoln

Aluminum foil ironclad on the port bow!

Alaric Fulton, 9, learned that using a layered design for his replica steam-propelled warship could help it withstand attacks. The boy took part in the ironclads session of “Civil War Tech: Science Adventures in History” at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill. Participants used tinfoil to make an ironclad. They could bombard another’s ship with pennies, magnets, cotton balls, pencils and marbles. • Article

Illegally removed remains of soldier at Wilson's Creek to be buried this weekend

Flat marker that will go over grave (Springfield National Cemetery)

The soldier’s identity went with him to a shallow grave following the second major battle of the Civil War. More than four years after part of his remains were illegally removed by a relic hunter, the soldier will be reburied Saturday

The Department of Veterans Affairs will conduct the public service, in conjunction with the National Park Service, at 10 a.m. CT at Springfield National Cemetery in Missouri. 

Re-enactors and staff members at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield will perform honors, including the firing of a cannon and a 21-volley salute. A marker will state the identity of the soldier remains unknown.

“I just want to honor this soldier and give him proper burial rites,” Wilson’s Creek Superintendent Ted Hillmer told the Picket.

Gary Edmondson of the cemetery said the soldier will be buried among Confederate fallen and veterans who served during more recent conflicts.

Officials are not certain which side the man -- believed to be at least 20 years old -- fought with, but they believe he may have been a Confederate because of the manner and haste of burial.

An NPS investigation found the skeleton was about 29 percent complete. The recovered bones were from the knees and below. There was not enough of the right material to test for DNA, Hillmer said. “There is no confirmation or history of the family.”

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the western district of Missouri, Coy Matthew Hamilton, then 31, of Springfield, admitted to removing remains from the Wilson's Creek battlefield.

Hamilton said he and a friend found the remains on Feb. 27, 2011, while paddling down Wilson's Creek, looking for archaeological artifacts.

“Recent heavy rains had eroded parts of the riverbank, and during the early afternoon, Hamilton saw a bone sticking out of an eroded embankment by the creek,” prosecutors said in a November 2012 press release. “Hamilton attempted to remove the bone, breaking it in the process. He then began digging into the embankment, removing additional bones. Ten days later, Hamilton, through an intermediary, turned the bones in to the National Park Service.”

Confederates won a victory at Wilson's Creek (NPS)

A subsequent excavation of the remaining skeleton found eight handmade, machine-tooled buttons made of bone, near the ankles. They were manufactured between 1800 and 1865 and consistent with buttons used during the Civil War.

The Battle of Wilson’s Creek, on Aug. 10, 1861, resulted in a Confederate victory after its forces made multiple assaults on Union lines. Eventually, Federal troops retreated to Springfield.

“The remains were found in a location that would have been in an area of intensive fighting,” federal prosecutors wrote. “Mounted, infantry, and artillery units were in and near the vicinity of the find, which was just north of a road crossing the creek. The shallow grave suggested an expedient but respectful interment, head to the west in concert with Christian practices of the time.”

Hamilton avoided federal prosecution for disturbing and removing items from an archaeological site by agreeing to pay $5,351 in restitution to the NPS and performing 60 hours of community service.

Hillmer, who said the park was involved in a similar burial in 2003, has invited the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War to take part in Saturday’s event. 

Live blog: Lincoln funeral re-enactment

The State Journal-Register newspaper in Springfield, Ill., is live blogging and posting compelling photos from this weekend’s re-creation of the funeral procession and burial of President Abraham Lincoln, 150 years ago this month. • Article

Betrayal at Ebenezer Creek: Deaths of freed slaves in Georgia swamp drew outrage and had repercussions

Ebenezer Creek in Effingham County, Ga. (The Trust for Public Land)

A paddle through bald cypress and water tupelo in Georgia’s Ebenezer Creek is enchanting.

Water storks use their inscrutable eyes to watch for striped bass. American alligators, feed, too, in the National Natural Landmark. Everywhere are the cypress, their swollen trunks and “knees” rising from the murky waters.

Beyond enchanting, says KayakGuide.com, the best remaining cypress-gum swamp forest in the Savannah River basin offers scenes “straight out of Tolkien’s Trilogy.”

But the swamp forest offered no tantalizing respite on Dec. 9, 1864, when Ebenezer Creek became a nightmarish death trap for just-freed slaves.

The refugees had been following a column of Union troops that was quickly advancing on Savannah during Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea.

Confederate horsemen were on their foe's heels, notably rear elements of the 14^th Corps, commanded by Union Brig. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis (not to be confused with the Confederate president).

"Contrabands," or former slaves, during the Civil War (Library of  Congress)

Upon his orders, Union soldiers hastily removed pontoon bridges they had just used to cross Ebenezer Creek.  The stranded slaves were left on their own, effectively betrayed by Davis.

Rebel cavalry under Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler rode into the chaotic scene, swords slashing. Whole families rushed into the water in a bid to escape, and most of the casualties were the result of drowning.

Union Col. Charles D. Kerr of the 16^th Illinois, who would later help raise an outcry over Davis’ decision, wrote that with “cries of anguish and despair, men, women, and children rushed by the hundreds into the turbid stream, and many were drowned before our eyes. From what we learned afterwards of those who remained on land, their fate at the hands of Wheeler’s troops was scarcely to be preferred.”

(State of Georgia)

An historical marker erected in 2010 in this remote area of Effingham County, northwest of Savannah, said that hundreds of the slaves drowned.

While some estimate up to 5,000 were at Ebenezer Creek, no one was making a daily count of those following each Federal column.

“Consequently, it is hard to know how many drowned, how many got across -- some did -- and how many were picked up by Confederate cavalry -- Wheeler reported thousands,” said Charlie Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, who has toured the site. A few Federal soldiers did try to help the slaves.

Gen. Jefferson Davis

Last week, The Trust for Public Land announced that the historic crossing has been protected for a future greenway park through purchases of private property. For now, there is no public access to the site, save a canoe or kayak ride or private tour.

“The site is especially evocative because there is not much evidence of modern life -- no paved roads or telephone lines,” Crawford told the Picket. “Also, the old road bed is elevated, so you can imagine how the low-lying areas to either side could be swampy after a rain.  For someone who couldn’t swim or was trying to bring along children, the road was the only place to be.”

The horrific incident, which occurred 150 years ago Tuesday, had a dramatic -- if short-lived – impact.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton met in Savannah with Sherman and African-American church leaders as outrage grew over the Ebenezer Creek incident.

President Lincoln approved Sherman’s Field Order No. 15, confiscating 400,000 acres of coastal property and redistributing it in 40-acre parcels to former slaves. Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, would later rescind the order.

Book: General planned to rid himself of slaves

The Union’s Jefferson Davis had more than his share of notoriety before the Ebenezer Creek debacle.

Two years before the March to the Sea, he was given command of the 14^th Corps during the Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea, Davis shot and killed Union Maj. Gen. William “Bull” Nelson following an argument. He was never charged.

(The Trust for Public Land)

Despite that scandal, Davis was considered a competent officer. He led the corps during the march, finding a need to cross Ebenezer Creek's swollen and wide waters. Mindful of Rebel raiders, his troops set up the pontoon bridges.

A 1998 Civil War Times article argues that Davis was annoyed by the demands of the thousands of freed slaves he was unable to put to work.

Angered by food shortages and the fact the slaves were slowing his march, along with mud that bogged down equipment, the general decided to rid himself of the refugees by having his subordinates tell them to wait to cross.

The soldiers than removed the temporary bridges. A stampede ensued, with some victims crushed in the rush while many more "contrabands" drowned.

Anne Sarah Rubin, in her recent book, “Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and American Memory” writes that Davis had planned such a move. “In no way could the deaths be excused as a product of a quick decision.”

Tour of property in 2012 (Georgia Battlefields Association)

While there is no evidence Sherman knew of the plan, he later defended Davis’ actions as militarily necessary and unavoidable, writes Rubin.

An outraged Maj. James A. Connolly of Illinois wrote about the massacre, and accompanying publicity led Stanton to travel to Savannah. He called the incident an "inhuman, barbarous proceeding."

Davis was neither punished nor reprimanded. Sherman, who himself was hardly progressive on his attitude toward African-Americans, never made any move to bring justice to the freed slaves.

Sherman did issue Field Order No. 15 on Jan. 16, 1865, while his troops occupied Savannah. It punished Southern planters and provided for about 400,000 acres to be distributed to former slaves.

“From Sherman’s perspective the most important priority in issuing the directive was military expediency,” says the New Georgia Encyclopedia. “It served as a means of providing for the thousands of black refugees who had been following his army since its invasion of Georgia. He could not afford to support or protect these refugees while on campaign.”

While the order was scrapped by President Andrew Johnson, its legacy continues because the slave reparations movement has pointed to it as the federal government’s promise to make restitution to blacks for enslavement.

And it’s also the likely origin for the phrase “forty acres and a mule,” which spread throughout the South following the march, according to the encyclopedia.

Dying in the pursuit of freedom

(Georgia Civil War Heritage Trails)

The history of Ebenezer Creek, which flows into the Savannah River near the South Carolina border, starts well before the Civil War. It is near one of the first settlements in the British colony of Georgia.

In 1734, Lutherans escaping religious persecution in Salzburg, Austria, arrived in the 1-year-old town of Savannah looking for a new home,” says Sherpa Guides. Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe directed the group approximately 30 miles up the Savannah River to Ebenezer Creek.

Ebenezer was around for a few decades but the town was heavily damaged during the American Revolution and the county seat was moved to Springfield, Ga. Very little is left of the settlement.

The city of Springfield has been interested in a recreational greenway, and preservationists and the federal and state government supported its move to acquire the Civil War property as part of the project.

The 275-acre parcel was purchased with a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grant of $400,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The money went through the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, according to the Savannah Morning News.

(The Trust for Public Land)

An additional $100,000 came from the Trust for Public Land, from donations by the R. Howard Dobbs Jr. Foundation and the Knobloch Family Foundation.

The purchase protects two miles of rivers and streams.

“The city of Springfield is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Ebenezer crossing property,” says Mayor Barton Alderman. “This purchase will be important for Springfield, Effingham County and the State of Georgia due to the historical and cultural nature of the property.

“It has been our dream to preserve Ebenezer Creek’s natural beauty for the enjoyment of future generations. Our hope is that the Creek will remain as it is now, bringing tourists to enjoy the peace and serenity of the area.”

Curt Soper, Georgia and Alabama director for the Trust for Public Land, said the “significance of the Ebenezer crossing is immense and this land is protected in memory of the many lives that were lost here 150 years ago in the pursuit of freedom.”

There is no legal access to the property yet, Soper tells the Picket, because it is surrounded by private land.

“The city of Springfield expects to work on this in the future, but the site is not ready for unfettered public access just yet,” he says. “It is easier to paddle by the site in a canoe or kayak as there is a boat launch nearby on the Savannah River at the mouth of Ebenezer Creek.

Alderman told the Savannah newspaper that if the city can gain access, parking and restrooms might be built.

Michael Thurmond

A Georgia Historical Society and Georgia Department of Economic Development marker sits along a road about a mile from the pontoon crossing site. It was dedicated in 2010.

Among the speakers was Michael Thurmond, former Georgia labor commissioner. He is the author of “Freedom: Georgia's Antislavery Heritage, 1733-1865.”

Thurmond told the crowd, “We come to commemorate, consecrate and celebrate the nameless and faceless heroes and heroines, the men, women and children, who sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of the precious commodity called freedom,” Thurmond said.

Steve Longcrier, head of the nonprofit Georgia Civil War Heritage Trails, said his organization is developing an interpretive sign that will be installed next to Ebenezer Creek.

“The public awareness of that significant historic site is far-reaching,” says Longcrier.