What’s going on with the U.S.S. Monitor?

I had the opportunity, several years ago while an undergraduate at East Carolina University, to see the first major piece of the Monitor brought to the public, when the anchor was finally unveiled after having been treated. Since then, all sorts of things have developed. For those who haven’t been to the Monitor exhibit, it sounds like quite the experience (I haven’t made it myself yet! - Hey, sounds like a potential tour feature of the department encampment next year. What do you think DC Hanlon?).

Yet, to keep track of what’s going on, I did find an interesting blog that focuses specifically on the ship. As of today, the latest post on “goings-on” was made on April 4 and it focuses on the Dahlgren gun site bar. For those who follow the underwritten naval side of the Civil War, this looks like a good place to follow active preservation work in that area.

Remembrance Day in the news

From Brother DC Hanlon…

“The lead article in the Style newspaper section of The Washington Post features “At Last, a Gettysburg Redress“. Yes, the play on headline words is clever but the article, itself, is well researched and well written. All the whys and wherefores of this new center are all encased.

Remembrance Day is always memorable and special to the Sons Of Union Veterans. Now you have an additional reason to put it on your calendar as a place to visit, give a speech, march in the parade…and seek out the new visitor’s center.”

Are you flying to attend the National Encampment? A word of advice.

An important item from Brother PDC Hammond…

If you are flying and live near an airport served by Southwest, considering flying into Manchester, New Hampshire on Southwest instead of Logan Airport in Boston. Word has it from someone who has friends who fly into the Peabody regularly area for business, that they say Manchester is far better than Logan. You are probably going to need to rent a car, no matter where you fly into, so that topic is the same. The distance from either airport is about the same, so again, the issue is a wash. But as far as convenience and ease of use, everyone is saying that, if flying to attend the National Encampment, go to Manchester. It’s a much smaller airport, has more convenient passenger services (baggage claim, car rental counter, etc.) and is MUCH better to get in and out of. Logan is renowned for its difficulty getting to and from the airport.

Viewing this blog in Internet Explorer or Firefox?

As another note of significance regarding the technical aspects of this blog…

If you have a chance to view this with either the Mozilla Firefox browser or the Internet Explorer browser, go with the Firefox option. The aesthetic features of the site prove to be far better with Firefox. Firefox 2 is free to download and use.

Friends of South Mountain State Battlefield Event, 4/12/08

The Friends of South Mountain State Battlefield will hold an open house and membership drive Saturday, April 12, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Greenbrier State Park Visitor Center. The Friends of South Mountain State Battlefield originally began as the Friends of Gathland and the Friends of Washington Monument State Parks in 1992. The two groups later merged to form the new organization shortly after the creation of the State Battlefield in 2000. Since that time, the group has been active in assisting the battlefield staff in the preservation and interpretation of the battlefield.

Some of the accomplishments of the Friends have been the installation of interpretive markers at Gathland State Park telling of the life of Civil War correspondent George Alfred Townsend, additional interpretive markers describing the Battle of South Mountain, printing of interpretive materials and the acquisition of several important artifacts.

The most recent acquisition was the pistol carried by Sgt. Charles Goodwin during the battle. Sgt. Goodwin was a courier assigned to deliver a message to Maj. Gen. Jesse Reno toward the end of the Sept. 14, 1862 battle. Sgt. Goodwin was with Maj. Gen. Reno when the general was mortally wounded on the field.
Sgt. Goodwin grabbed the reins of the general’s horse and led it off the field so the Confederates wouldn’t capture the general. Reno would die later that evening from his wounds.

The full article is at:
http://www.herald- mail.com/ ?cmd=displaystor y&story_id= 190756&format= html

The “tag cloud”

I’ve been asked a particular question about the blog twice from two different brothers, so I figured I better respond on a broad scale.

Those annoyingly long and large words in the bottom corner of the sidebar on the right are part of a “tag cloud.” Each time I write a new post, I include “tags” that are relevant to the material within the post. You can see a list of tags for a particular post just under the header for the post. In turn, when I create these tags, they impact the “tag cloud” in the sidebar. The more I write about a particular subject that has been covered in a tag within the post, the larger the corresponding word gets in the tag cloud. In time, these can get rather large and even slip off into the dark edges of the blog where one can’t read the full tag. This can be a particularly annoying feature for those of us who deal with print publications layout - it just looks like sloppy formatting, but it’s really just a feature particular to blogging. Ironically, I learned the basics of blogging through the same graduate program that is training me to be a stickler when it comes to editing and publications layout. Nevertheless, this tag cloud serves as a tool for navigation through posts. When you select a hyperlink in the tag cloud, it will take you to all posts that have that particular tag. While I use a tag cloud, I opted not to include a category cloud - the two together in a blog can really get confusing.

Hope this helps. If there are any other questions, please feel free to ask.

Today is, after all, April 9!

It was a mere 143 years ago today at the sleepy little village of Appomattox Court House…

New effort initiated to restore Nagle statue on 48th Pennsylvania Monument at Antietam

John Hoptak, a National Park Service ranger at Antietam, has launched an effort to replace the missing sword on General James Nagle’s statue that sits atop the monument to the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry at Antietam.

He has launched a new blogsite at www.amonumentaltask.blogspot.com so people can learn more and learn where to send donations. He is hoping to have all the money raised and the sword physically replaced in two years.

The website includes an official Press Release that all are welcome to use when talking about the project with interested groups or media.

 

The Dept. of Md., SUVCW Ancestry Matrix

Just to let everyone know, if a submission was made to me about a Union ancestor and it was intended for inclusion in the ancestry matrix, it will be online soon.  You can access the ancestry matrix via the image in the sidebar (on the right) of the G.A.R. veteran receiving a flower from a little girl (incidentally, I am a huge fan of G.A.R. postcard art and encourage anyone to send in similar art for inclusion on this blog).

I also want to encourage those within the department, who haven’t sent in ancestral information, to do so. The matrix is large, but not quite large enough (all of the brothers in the department are not yet represented), and I’d love to see it grow to cause a reader to do a good bit of scrolling to read through it all.

An appeal for help

Some of you may recall my call for help a few months back, when I first announced the release of Camp #1881’s G.A.R. ornament. Well, now, more than ever, we need your help. If we don’t sell enough to cover 90% of our invoice by the end of the month, we have to ship the rest back to the company.

Ultimately, in selling these ornaments and raising money, we hope to make statement/message, and we have an excellent opportunity to do so through a relatively inexpensive Virginia Department of Historic Resources sign (about $1,300). The sign will remember the two reunions that took place in July and September 1881 between Union veterans of Carlisle, Pa. and Confederate veterans of Luray, Va. The first reunion took place in Luray in July 1881 (on the day of the 20th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas), and the second reunion took place in Carlisle, Pa. in September 1881.

The statement/message we want to make? It’s to leave a subtle reminder on the landscape that Union and Confederate veterans, as early as 20 years after First Bull Run and 16 years after Appomattox were able to come together and shake hands and exchange good feelings in the name of reconciliation and reunion. As the Sesquicentennial approaches, it is our opinion that this marker will help remind folks that through the efforts of many veterans, sectional animosities were laid aside in the interest of moving forward, together again as a nation of Americans under one flag.

However, we can’t do this without the help of you - our Brothers. Again, if we don’t raise 90% of our invoice by the end of April, we have to send the rest of the ornaments (the original order was for 250) back to the company by the end of April, and the project will be nothing more than an unrealized dream. Obviously, this is something we don’t want to see happen.

So again, we appeal to you all to lend a helping hand in making this possible, and hopefully, within the year, we can all stand together at the dedication of this marker that will stand as a reminder to all that the veterans - blue and gray - moved forward in the name of reunion, reconciliation and peace and, because of their efforts, we can stand together today as one people with nearly 145 years of history as one nation, again, since that day at Appomattox.

The ornaments sell for $20 each and checks or money orders may be made out to the “Luray-Carlisle Reunion Camp.” Please send orders to me directly at:

Robert Moore
1519 Parkersburg Turnpike
Swoope, Virginia 24479-2225

Also, considering the time constraints necessary to get the job done to sell approximately 100 ornaments by the end of April, I am offering another incentive - no shipping!

We thank everyone in advance for all the help that can be mustered for the support of this project!

In Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty,

Robert Moore
Camp Commander
Luray-Carlisle Reunion Camp #1881