Sites named national historic landmarks

An Oklahoma battlefield was among three Civil War-related venues named national historic landmarks Monday. The program, administered by the National Park Service, began in 1935. The department, in a press release, provided these details:

Camp Nelson Historic and Archaeological District, Jessamine County, Ky. One of the nation’s largest recruitment and training centers for African-American soldiers, Camp Nelson is also significant as the site of a large refugee camp for the wives and children of the soldiers who were escaping slavery.

Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Hartford, Conn. Though best known to modern audiences for her anti-slavery work, including the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Harriet Beecher Stowe was widely recognized in her lifetime as a highly prolific and nationally significant reformer for a wide variety of causes.

Honey Springs Battlefield, McIntosh and Muskogee Counties, Okla. The Battle of Honey Springs on July 17, 1863, was the largest battle in Indian Territory in which Native Americans fought as members of both Union and Confederate armies. The latter failed to take Fort Gibson and the Union victory left the North in control of Indian territory north of the Arkansas River. A re-enactment is planned Nov. 8-10.

• Full list of places receiving designation • More about Honey Springs Battlefield

Weekend artifact show launches commemoration of burning of coastal town

A coastal community in southeast Georgia, rebuilt from the ashes, this year is marking the 150^th anniversary of its burning at the hands of Union troops.

Leaders of the effort have launched a “Burning of Darien” website and are getting the word out through Facebook about events, culminating June 15 in a commemoration at the town’s downtown district and a living history encampment on nearby Butler Island.

First up is a Civil War artifact show planned from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at Fort King George, the British crown’s southern outpost in the 1720s and 1730s.

Residents are encouraged to bring in items and explain their backstory.

"These artifacts may include those handed down from ancestors, or the neat stuff you happened upon in your yard when planting that garden, or maybe even interesting items you bought off others since you are a serious collector," the Facebook page says.

Experts will explain the items' significance.

“We are trying to get people to bring in effects and loan them to the museum for the 150^th events,” said Steven Smith, site manager at the fort and a leader of the Darien sesquicentennial committee.

Smith said artifacts and other items will be displayed in a new Civil War museum at the town’s Trailhead Center.

About 500 residents had largely fled inland in the weeks prior to Union troops moving from St. Simons Island on the town, known then for its rice and timber exports. It held little strategic importance, historians say.

Col. Robert Gould Shaw (left), who objected to the deserted and undefended town’s burning, commanded the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He was ordered to seize any supplies and commit the destruction by Col. James Montgomery, commander of the 2^nd South Carolina Volunteers, which also participated.

Only a few structures survived the June 11, 1863, incident, depicted in the 1989 film “Glory.”

“This is something that didn’t happen in the Civil War,” coastal historian Buddy Sullivan told the Picket.

Events leading up to the June 15 commemoration include lectures, a screening of “Glory” and the unveiling of a new bridge mural.

• Burning of Darien website

COMING SOON: The Picket takes a closer look at the Darien incident and efforts to promote tourism in the region.

Bringing them home: Details of services, burial of two USS Monitor crew members

USS Navy photo of Monitor crew

Thursday, on an airport tarmac in suburban Washington, D.C., in a choreographed military display of respect, flag-draped caskets bearing the remains of two men who died on active duty will be taken from a plane to waiting hearses.

Unlike service members who died in Afghanistan, Iraq or other places, no one knows these men, or for that matter, their identities.

They were lost along with 14 of their shipmates, more than 150 years ago, when the ironclad USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, N.C. The bodies of the two were found in the Union vessel’s gun turret in 2002.

Years of intense research and forensic analysis thus far have not ascertained their identity, but efforts continue at Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in Hawaii.

Facial reconstructions of two sailors

The U.S. Navy is providing full honors to the two sailors, expected to be the last seamen from the Civil War whose remains will be located. Burial is scheduled for Friday afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery. Members of the public can attend the interment.

"The fact it has been 150 years or two days (since a death) doesn't make any difference,” said Stuart B. McLean, director of ceremonies and special events in Naval District Washington.

Ten families that possibly may be descendants of the sailors will attend. Each family has been assigned a casualty assistance officer.

The Picket this week learned details of events related to the USS Monitor crew interment.

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, ABOUT 11:30 AM

The event at Dulles International Airport in Virginia is called a “dignified transfer of remains.”

The caskets are being carried aboard a commercial flight from Honolulu, home to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), where the bones and teeth were analyzed. Based off those, experts have narrowed down from 16 individuals that were missing from the Monitor to about six who could be the two sailors.

2002 expedition (U.S. Navy)

Media will be on hand to witness the flag-covered caskets being taken from a conveyor attached to the plane. “Hand salute” and other commands will be uttered as the remains are solemnly carried by teams to the two hearses on the tarmac.

"It will be quick, but stirring,” McLean said of the remains transfer.

The remains will be held overnight at an area funeral home.

FRIDAY, MARCH 8

Midday

Descendants of the Monitor crew will attend a luncheon hosted by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation in Alexandria, Va.

4 p.m., invitation-only funeral service at Fort Myer Memorial Chapel.

Family members, dignitaries and others will attend the non-denominational Christian service. It was determined that the sailors were Christian, McLean told the Picket.

Speakers are Navy Secretary Ray Mabus; Kathryn Sullivan, former astronaut and acting under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere; and Civil War historian and author James B. McPherson.

Scripture readings and a homily are planned, as well as the singing of the Navy hymn, “Eternal Father.”

About 4:30 p.m.

The caskets will be carried on caissons from the chapel to Arlington National Cemetery. 

Family members and mourners will follow the Army’s Old Guard military escort.

Burial will take place in section 46 of the cemetery, which is between the amphitheater and the USS Maine Mast memorial.

“There’s lot of interest” by members of the public in attending the interment, said McLean, although he could not estimate how many might attend. At least 50 people in period costume will be on hand, but weapons of any kind are not allowed.

Driving to the grave site also is prohibited and the public cannot take part in the funeral procession. Attendees may park in the ANC Welcome Center parking garage and either walk or take, for a fee, the Martz tour tram to the Amphitheater.

Turret recovery (U.S. Navy)

The specific date of the interment was chosen to recognize the Monitor's role in the Battle of Hampton Roads 151 years ago on March 8-9. The Monitor sank off the North Carolina coast on Dec. 31, 1862.

A monument bearing the names of the 16 lost sailors will be erected at a later date, according to McLean.

IN THE FUTURE

Forensic experts will continue their efforts to identify the two sailors. Military records from the Civil War aren’t good and there are no dental X-rays, making the task very challenging.

"What I would like people to know is that we're here, and committed to the ideal of bringing home our fallen," says U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Danang McKay, JPAC command senior enlisted leader. "It doesn't matter if that happened during World War II or it happens in future conflicts, we will always be here. We'll bring you home."

The biological profiles concluded that the sailors were both white males, one was 17 to 24 years old; the other was in his 30's. Both stood about 5 foot 7 inches tall.

Forensic anthropologist Robert Mann, director of the Forensic Science Academy for JPAC, in a statement said teams are trying to locate other descendants of other missing Monitor crew members to take DNA samples.

"We will never give up trying to identify these sailors," said Mann.

• More about Friday’s interment service

• Ongoing efforts to identify crew members

Free tours this month of Civil War Atlanta

This month provides an opportunity for those interested in the Civil War to take part in free, guided tours in areas of the Atlanta Campaign. The Atlanta Preservation Center is marking the decennial of its “Phoenix Flies” program, a celebration of “living landmarks.”

The organization works with experts and other groups to put on the program, which runs March 9-24. Although some of the other events may touch on the Civil War, these are specific to the topic.

Most of the events require reservations.

Click each date below to get details, including times, and availability.

-- March 9, 23: Civil War Atlanta walking tour, put on by the Georgia Battlefields Association. Participants will learn about the city’s role during the war and see where well-known photographs of Atlanta were taken.

-- March 10, 17, 24: Battle of Utoy Creek and cemetery tour. Event includes an extensive amount of walking. Read this Picket article to learn more about this little-known clash during the Atlanta Campaign.

-- March 14, 21: Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War History Museum. World’s largest oil painting, depicting Battle of Atlanta, and the Texas of Great Locomotive Chase fame.

-- March 16, 17, 23, 24: Tour of Shoupade Park in Cobb County. Two each day. The River Line Historic Area helped save these two unique 1864 forts from development. Many of the shoupades built by Confederates along the Chattahoochee River no longer exist. Another community group, the Mableton Improvement Coalition, says this in a recent newsletter: “MIC is working on a Preservation Plan for the Civil War fortifications in Mableton, some of which contain shoupades. This is a great opportunity to see a shoupade up close, which isn't possible now in Mableton. Hopefully the Preservation Plan will be another step in opening the battlefield park to the public.”

-- March 17: (Event is full) Front lines of the Battle of Atlanta.

Why is the program called “Phoenix Flies”?

"The phoenix is a mythical, flying creature that is born from the ashes of its own incineration, the Atlanta Preservation Center says on its website. “Like this powerful creature, so too was Atlanta reborn from her ashes after the Civil War.”

Telling the stark stories of Andersonville

Union prisoners (NPS photo)

Visitors to a living history event will learn about conditions faced by prisoner and guard alike at Camp Sumter, the infamous Civil War miiltary prison in Georgia.

The program is Saturday, March 9, and Sunday, March 10, at Andersonville National Historic Site, about 10 miles northeast of Americus. Most of the activities will take place at a re-created section of the stockade wall, next to replica prisoner tents. Artillery and guard demonstrations will occur twice each day. Admission is free

Bobby Hughes in white frock

"Inside the stockade, we are now going to an approach that recognizes that while there was a routine to the life of prisoners, they certainly didn't set a watch by it," Eric Leonard, chief of education and interpretation at Andersonville, told the Picket. “This is also intended to draw visitors in to ask more questions and more actively experience the event.”

Camp Sumter was in operation only 14 months, but 12,920 Union prisoners -- 29 percent of the overall population -- succumbed to poor diet and water, disease, the elements and unsanitary conditions. 

Among the living historians and re-enactors on hand will be about a dozen members of the Georgia Sharpshooters, portraying Confederate guards.  

NHS photo

Bobby Hughes, who leads Company B, 2^nd Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, said he hopes visitors get “a better understanding of what it was like on both sides of the wall. It was not all peaches and ice cream for the guards.”

Approximately 3,600 men served as guards at Camp Sumter, with about 870 required to cover a 24-hour shift.

“They were doing their job,” said Hughes. “Many did not want to be there.”

They suffered from many of the same disease problems as the prisoners, although they sometimes received extra food to supplement meager rations. According to the National Park Service, 202, or 6.5% died, at Andersonville. Among the ill, the death rate was about the same as for POWs.

On Saturday, Hughes’ group will represent the 26^th Alabama Infantry, which delivered the first groups of Union prisoners to Camp Sumter. They were more sympathetic to the growing plight of the prisoners, said Hughes, who lives in Savannah.

Eventually, old men and young boys in the Georgia Reserves did more of the guard duty. The Georgia Sharpshooters will portray that contingent on Sunday.

“They were a little more apathetic,” according to Hughes “They had never seen action.”

Photo: Bobby Hughes

Prisoners who crossed the stockade’s lower wood rails, or “deadline”, were shot dead. The number of those shot was probably exaggerated at the trial of camp commandant Henry Wirz, said Hughes. Wirz was the only man executed for war crimes during the Civil War.

Members of the Georgia Sharpshooters have portrayed Union soldiers in previous events at Andersonville. To Hughes, their story is of perseverance.

“You had your freedom taken away,” he told the Picket. “You learn to adapt, overcome and carry on.”

• Details of Andersonville event, directions

• Georgia Sharpshooters