Thanks for playing 'Guess the Mystery Artifact' from a Civil War blockade runner! Johnny, what do we have for our lucky winner?

(Courtesy of Fort Fisher State Historic Site)

The photo caught my eye immediately. Is that a clump of seashells? Or a weird formation from the moon’s surface? What the heck?

I was intrigued by an accompanying Facebook post Wednesday from North Carolina’s Fort Fisher State Historic Site, which posed this question:

Can you guess what this artifact is?

Hint 1: It came in via the blockade

Hint 2: Used by soldiers in battle

Hint 3: How many pieces are here?

We will reveal the answer tomorrow at 2pm.

I was all in after that -- and read the comments. Most of nearly a dozen readers claimed they were percussion caps for a rifle.

Bingo!

Sure enough, the Civil War site said in a Thursday update, the photo depicts about 300 tiny percussion caps, likely for an Enfield. They were packaged in a metal box about 3 inches wide and an inch deep. They went down with the blockade runner Modern Greece in 1862.

This painting is believed to depict the Modern Greece (NCpedia)

Percussion caps were critical to firing small arms during the conflict. They were made of copper and had a rim or flange. The cap would be placed at the breech, or back end of the gun. When the trigger was pulled, the hammer would strike the cap, causing a flame to ignite powder in the barrel, shooting a ball out of the muzzle.

The South, which had limitations in manufacturing, turned to other countries, notably England, for such items.

Swift blockade runners carried a mix of war materiel and goods to the port in exchange for exported cotton and other items. The ships carried items to and from Europe, largely via the Bahamas and Bermuda.

Bowie knife recovered in the early 1960s (FFSHS)

Enterprising owners took the risk of running the gauntlet of U.S. Navy ships trying to keep them away from vital ports, including Wilmington, which is about 15 miles north of the state park. But most of the runs succeeded and it was a lucrative business.

Wilmington was ideally situated for blockade-running. Located 28 miles up the Cape Fear River, it was free from enemy bombardment as long as the forts at the mouth of the river -- Fisher and Caswell -- remained in Confederate hands.

In June 1862, the Modern Greece, a screw steam freighter, was trying to reach an inlet for its final run up the Cape Fear River. The USS Cambridge and the USS Stars and Stripes opened their guns on the ship. That heavy fire forced the Modern Greece ashore and it ran aground.

The garrison at Fort Fisher and the Union ships traded gunfire, and it was soon apparent the damaged blockade runner’s career was over.

“You have Confederate troops trying to salvage, you have the Union navy trying to pull it from shore, to take the cargo and get prize money,” John Moseley, assistant site manager at Fort Fisher, told the Picket. (Union crews were offered rewards for the seizure of goods from failed runs.)

Today, numerous artifacts from the Modern Greece and other blockade runners are at Fort Fisher, and are rotated on display.

The shores off this part of North Carolina are littered with the remnants of such vessels. The Modern Greece was rediscovered in 1962 and the recovery of items soon began, with early diving by U.S. Navy frogmen.

“During the next two years, researchers from what's now our Office of Archives and History and the U.S. Navy recovered 11,500 artifacts from the Modern Greece shipwreck site,” says the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “Work at the site led our agency to establish one of the nation’s first underwater archaeology programs.”

Among the recovered items are numerous Enfield rifles intended for Confederate units. Other artifacts were items meant for civilians.

A 2012 YouTube video on a web page about the Modern Greece features interviews with divers and others associated with the discovery of the shipwreck. “Some looked like you could almost shoot them,” one man says of the rifles, which had been covered in sand for 100 years.

The museum at Fort Fisher has shovels, tin sheets, medical supplies and tools, a Bowie knife and a jar of, yes, raisins.

Moseley says the Modern Greece wreck is about 600 yards northeast of the fort and several hundred yards offshore. Over time, the Atlantic Ocean has encroached onshore, taking away a large part of what was once the fort.

Artillery demonstration at fort several years ago (FFSHS)

Conservation work on Modern Greece artifacts continues at a state Underwater Archaeology Branch facility in nearby Kure Beach.

Assistant state archaeologist Stephen Atkinson told the Picket on Thursday that employees are working toward repackaging artifacts for transfer to a state storage facility in Raleigh for future curation and display.

“As for the wet artifacts, they still remain in our care at UAB, as we do not currently have the time/staff/funding/space to treat them all. (You’d be surprised what it would take to conserve hundreds of pick axes and hoe heads! Not to mention the muskets…),” he wrote in an email.

“So we make sure they are well taken care of in their tanks for now. We have not visited the wreck itself for some time but once the pandemic restrictions are lifted we plan to do a comprehensive condition assessment of all known blockade runners.”

Maryland's Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area gets boost

The Hagerstown (Md.) City Council on Tuesday voted to approve expansion of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area. With so many local economies having been rocked by the loss in tourism due to the coronavirus, the city was looking for ways to replace some of that revenue. Hagerstown is home to some significant sites from the Civil War. WDVM article

Rebounding after arson fire: CSS Chattahoochee engines have been conserved, are now inside National Civil War Naval Museum

[Updated Jan. 27]

Months after an arson fire tore through an outside storage area at National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Ga, engine components of the gunboat CSS Chattahoochee that survived the inferno have been conserved and moved inside, where they are exhibited near the vessel’s remains.

Curator Jeff Seymour, in a video posted last month to YouTube, gave a brief description of an ongoing conservation project involving the hybrid Confederate gunboat and the large ironclad CSS Jackson.

“This is a rare example of a steam engine … that still survives from the time period,” Seymour said of the Chattahoochee’s power system, which was built in Columbus and shipped downstream to Saffold, about 10 miles north of the Florida border, where the wooden boat was built.

Remains of the Jackson and the twin-screw Chattahoochee are the star exhibits of the museum and are inside the main building. Both were lost in April 1865 at war’s end -- the Jackson set afire by Federal captors and the Chattahoochee scuttled by its own crew. Neither vessel fired upon the enemy in their relatively short history. They were recovered from the Chattahoochee River in the 1960s.

For 20 years, the Chattahoochee piston heads and the locally made Jackson’s fantail were kept in a padlocked and fenced pole barn about 100 yards from the museum, awaiting funds that would make it possible to conserve and display them. A June 1, 2020, fire destroyed modern vessels and damaged the fantail’s wood.

The Chattahoochee’s wrought iron and cast iron engines, the iron plates from the Jackson’s armor and the iron plating to the fantail survived, though they were exposed to the thermal heat.

CSS Muscogee, later dubbed Jackson (Wikipedia)

The Jackson's fantail in 2019 (Picket photo)

The fantail was the half-moon shaped rear deck of the Confederate warship, which was never fully operational. The section of armor and wood protected the vessel’s propellers and rudder and is a remarkable example of design and construction prowess. 

A $10,000 reward was offered and federal agents were brought in to assist local authorities in the investigation.

Columbus Fire Marshal Ricky Shores recently told the Picket that the investigation is closed.

“However, if new information becomes available we will evaluate the status of the case,” he wrote in an email. “In short, we just don’t have anything to (pursue) at this point …No one has been charged as of yet.”

A view of the pole barn remains in January 2021 (Picket photo)

Jackson's rust-colored armor plating in destroyed pole barn (Picket photo)

Besides Civil War artifacts, the pole barn included modern craft and replica pieces. The Civil War items were long exposed to the elements and were slowly deteriorating.

The venue has a web page  that has kept the public up on the conservation of the engines and fantail.

Museum Executive Director Holly Wait said in an email, "The iron plating (and the wood) of the fantail were cleaned and conserved and are now inside the Museum.  However, because of the fire the fantail was dismantled piece by piece. We await more grant funding to build crates for the wood and recreate the iron fantail."

Conserved fantail plates in lower crates at left (NCWNM photo)

Charred remnants of fantail wood are on display (NCWNM photo)

The most-recent web update says Terra Mare Conservators and others began their formal work in early September, documenting, cleaning and treating the engines and fantail.

Seymour, director of history and collections at the museum, wrote: “Since the fantail was upside down, the wooden structure was the first part to receive attention. Each beam was documented and carefully removed for conservation work. Using a process called photogrammetry, the archaeologists took hundreds of images of each layer in order to better understand the structure.

“As each level emerged, we were able to see elements of this vessel that no one has seen since 1864. As each level surfaced, several questions about how the Jackson was constructed were answered, but many more questions developed. Simply, this structure is much more complex than we thought heading into this project."

CSS Chattahoochee engines in early 2019 before fire (Picket photo)

Each plate of the fantail weighs nearly 400 pounds. They and Chattahoochee machinery underwent a blast cleaning using dry ice.

“In preparation for the engines, access panels were removed and the interior of these piston heads saw the light of day for the first time since the 1860s,” Seymour wrote. “In every cavity was Chattahoochee river mud. Many hours were spent removing mud from difficult places thanks to the help of some of our great volunteers.”

The Picket was allowed inside the padlocked and fenced shed in early 2019, with Seymour detailing the artifacts and their importance when it comes to understanding design and construction. 

Remnants of the shed after the fire (Columbus Fire and EMS)

“Personally, I have to pinch myself every morning as a reminder that this project is really happening,” he wrote in the late 2020 update. “We have the best people in their fields working on this complex mission. And most importantly, we’re saving a few singular artifacts that are important to the story of Columbus and the nation.”

As for the Jackson armor still stored in the pole barn, Wait said the pieces will be conserved when funding allows.

"Visitors were understandably upset about the arson but delighted that the conservation project went ahead and that the pieces are inside," she wrote about the engine and fantail. "We await more funding to  complete the larger exhibition that ties all this together."

New 3D experience showcases Gettysburg landmarks as you've never seen them. Virtual tours of homes are 'up-close and personal'

Virtual tour of two-room home of Lydia Leister (NPS images)

Whether Covid-19 or distance is keeping you away from Gettysburg, park officials hope you take in virtual tours of landmarks – most recently, two homes that were riddled by gunfire during the battle and another where President Abraham Lincoln put the finishing touches on his famous address.

Gettysburg National Military Park recently launched a page that features three sites related to the Civil War and the house and show barn at Eisenhower National Historic Site.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring these 3D tours to our visitors. Thanks to this new technology, these historic buildings can be experienced and enjoyed by all our visitors at any time,” Gettysburg Superintendent Steven D. Sims said in a statement. “These amazing tours put the visitor in control of an up-close and personal experience with the stories of each of these structures.” 

Each page has a virtual walk-through of the structure and a second smaller image that provides audio. Viewers can choose which floor to look at, obtain a 3D cutaway image of the entire structure and view floor plans. The tours are available for home computers, smartphones or virtual reality headsets, park officials said.

Here are details on the three homes that date to the July 1863 battle in southern Pennsylvania, as provided by the park. Click each name for a link.

Adam Brian (Bryan) farm (above): The free black man lived on this 12-acre farm with his wife, Elizabeth, and two children. He purchased the land in 1857, grew wheat, barley and hay, and tended a small apple and peach orchard. Afraid of being captured and sold into slavery, Brian and his family left their home when Confederate troops entered Pennsylvania. Following the battle, they returned to find their home riddled with bullet holes, windows smashed, and furniture thrown about the yard. The crops and orchard were ruined, and their farm fields a graveyard for hastily buried soldiers. Brian repaired his home, replaced his fences, and farmed his land until 1869, when he moved to town and worked at a local hotel. “Stand at the southern facing window of the Abraham Brian house and ponder what it must have meant to be an African American citizen of Gettysburg on the eve of the battle," the NPS says.

Lydia Leister house (above): Union Maj. Gen. George G. Meade made the two-room home headquarters during the battle.Late in the evening of July 2, Meade held a council of war in this house to decide if the army should stay and hold their hard-fought high ground or abandon their position.The artillery bombardment prior to Pickett's Charge on July 3 caused considerable damage to the house.

Model of wartime Gettysburg at Wills house

David Wills (left) home: The lawyer’s residence was the center of the clean-up process after the battle and where Lincoln finalized his Gettysburg Address, the speech that transformed the battlefield from a place of death and devastation to the symbol of our nation's "new birth of freedom." The house is now a museum with six galleries.  During the battle, citizens huddled in its cellar. It became a temporary hospital.

It currently is closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Where 'Fighting Joe' Wheeler whupped 'em: A quick revisit to the Brown's Mill cavalry battlefield outside Atlanta

Scenes from Brown's Mill (All park photos by Civil War Picket)

I made a brief stop Saturday afternoon at Brown’s Mill Battlefield Historic Site in Coweta County, Ga. The park is just a few miles from Newnan, which was home to a half dozen Confederate hospitals during the Civil War.

But the area also is known for a cavalry clash that ended in a disaster for Federal forces.

I had not visited the 200-acre, county-operated site in several years. The Brown’s Mill park includes a few interpretive signs, walking and bike trails and a parade field suitable for re-enactments. (The Picket wrote about the battle and the opening of the park in these articles from  2011 and 2013.)

My focus this visit was a June 1908 monument remembering the only battle fought in Coweta County. Erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, it pays tribute to cavalrymen under the command of Lt. Gen. Joseph “Fighting Joe” Wheeler.

In recent years, I have read about how often Union Maj. Gen. William Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign was stymied by the performance of his cavalry.

Notwithstanding Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard's success during a July 1864 raid east of Atlanta, historians and others have pointed out that Sherman did not have much confidence in his top cavalry division commanders. They lacked aggressiveness and competence and often suffered from self-doubt. And, observers say, Sherman was often ineffective in using his troopers to meet objectives.

Charlie Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, last year told me that Garrard may have been the best division chief – when compared to Edward McCook, Judson Kilpatrick and George Stoneman -- “but that’s not saying much.”

McCook (left) suffered ignominy at Brown’s Mill on July 30, 1864.

Sherman had tasked McCook and Maj. Gen. Stoneman with cutting vital railroads south of Atlanta so that he would not have to engage in a prolonged siege of Atlanta. McCook, after damaging some track at Lovejoy Station, hoped to rendezvous with Stoneman. He had nearly 3,000 men under his command.

But Stoneman had chosen to ride toward Macon, with the hope of reaching the large Confederate prison at Andersonville to the south. 

With no rendezvous, McCook hurried toward the Chattahoochee River and  Federal lines to the north. Wheeler (right), hot on the Union cavalry's trail, pursued them from Newnan and ambushed the exhausted forces at Brown's Mill. 

A report written for the park's master plan describes the dismounted fighting and this detail:

"As Major Root and the 8th Iowa formed for the charge, Wheeler renewed the assault on McCook’s right. 'Follow me! My brave men!' he commanded. A wild Rebel yell answered the little general as he led his Texans and Tennesseans back into the fight. At the same time, 'Sul' Ross’s Texas brigade came up on their right, dismounted, and joined the fight.”

The attack overwhelmed McCook's flank.

“Wheeler had his best day as a soldier,” said Crawford. “This is where McCook lost control and was broken up.”  McCook held a brief council of war, suggesting the force surrender. Other officers decided to fight and McCook basically gave up command. It was every man for himself then, with separate columns attempting to break out from the trap.

Men fled toward the river and more than 1,200 were taken prisoner over the new few days (the monument mistakenly has a much lower figure). Some men, including an officer naked except for his hat, managed to swim or take a few ferries to safety.

Wheeler's force of about 1,400 riders also freed about 500 Confederate prisoners and seized supplies. It was a bloody debacle, in which there was saber-to-saber fighting, a trail of bodies and the heroic actions of a Union trooper who received the Medal of Honor.

A day later, Stoneman was defeated and captured at the Battle of Sunshine Creek.

The Union cavalry clearly failed to attain its goal in the McCook-Stoneman raid, forcing Sherman to change tactics and besiege Atlanta and use infantry at Jonesboro, wrote historian David Evans in his book “Sherman’s Horsemen."

Brown's Mill was one of few Confederate victories during the Atlanta Campaign. The fighting at Brown's Mill cost McCook about 100 killed and wounded, while Wheeler's casualties probably numbered less than 50, according to Evans.

The Coweta County park is along Millard Farmer Road hear the intersection with Old Corinth Road. It was the scene of much of the heaviest fighting. 

An interpretive panel near the monument details some of the units involved at Brown’s Mill.