Peach State launches 150th website

Georgia, a linchpin for a Union victory in the Civil War, Thursday rolled out Phase One of its long-anticipated website marketing the 150th anniversary of the conflict.

The state, which is sponsoring no events during the sesquicentennial, sees the modest site as a tourism portal and primer on the war.

It's posted an interactive map of sites, with popup descriptions and photos. I also like the interactive timeline of Georgia and the war. The second phase of the site will include driving trails; stories and written observations from Georgians during the Civil War; and a multimedia section for video and images.

Upcoming in Picket: Authentic Campaigner

I hope to be posting soon a Q&A from my recent interview with the founder of the Authentic Campaigner website, a popular place to learn about events, buy, sell and trade items and discuss issues.

Flap over textbook, black Confederate soldiers

A textbook distributed to Virginia fourth-graders says that thousands of African- Americans fought for the South -- a claim rejected by most historians but often made by groups seeking to play down slavery's role as a cause of the conflict. • Article

Medicinal plants aided Civil War doctors

Through Oct. 30, the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris Township, N.J., will offer an exhibit and cellphone tour on medicinal plants of the North-South conflict. Plants in the tour include the poppy, used as a painkiller; tansy, a tiny daisy-like flower, brewed as a tea to reduce fever; and the native dogwood tree, a substitute for quinine in the battle against malaria. • Details

Complexity of loyalties in Appalachia

Why did some Appalachian communities support the Confederate cause while others remained loyal to the Union? That's one topic to be covered during a Tuesday lecture at the Culture Center in Charleston, W. Va., by Auburn University history professor and Civil War author Kenneth W. Noe. • Article