My World - Fort Sumter

Approaching on the ferry

April 12, 2011 is the 150-th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Sumter that began a four yearlong civil war in the United States. In December 1860, South Carolina and six other states had seceded from the union and the governor demanded that all Federal troops withdraw from Charleston. Major Robert Anderson move his command to the island Fort Sumter. Maintaining the fort became newly elected President Lincoln's first crisis. When Maj. Anderson refused to surrender the fort, Confederate General Beauregard ordered the bombardment of Fort Sumter from shore batteries Maj Anderson surrendered the next day.

Fort Sumter is now a National Park. This year begins a sesquicentennial celebration, review, and reenactment of the Civil War. My hope is that this retrospective look backward will lead to resolve to solve those political, economic, racial and cultural differences that still cause much strife in the United States today.

These shots were taken in June 2006. I plan future Civil War themed posts in the future. There are many books on this war and much material is online. Photographs were taken and those of Mathew Brady are available from the National Archives.

Gun emplacement

Inside the walls

View toward Charleston

Flags, past and present

Window Views - Third story lookout

As I walk through the City of Frederick, I usually look up for interesting windows and/or reflections. On October 17 I spotted both - a reflection of the blue sky and a lone figure watching. These windows are the second and third floors of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Below is a close up of the figure in the window.

My World extra - Gettysburg battlefield

General George Meade

Commander of the Army of the Potomac

Cannon aimed toward Confederate lines

The Confederate Infantry attacked across these fields

Chris and Michael examine monument
to Massachusetts Sharpshooters

Cannon battery

View of Union lines from Little Round Top

After the war, the states erected monuments to their units who fought at Gettysburg. The large monument is the Pennsylvania monument. Statues were placed to honor leaders of the units and some monuments note the place where a soldier was killed.

Window views - Gettysburg windows

My grandsons and I went to Gettysburg National Park last Friday. We found display windows in the museum and windows of a few buildings on the battlefield. (The Visitor Center also has lots of windows.) I will get shots of windows of historical homes and buildings in Gettysburg on a future visit. For additional images of this historic place, follow the links to Gettysburg in the sidebar.

Museum display window with prison cell door

Windows on the battlefield

My World extra - Gettysburg National Cemetery

Last Friday my grandsons and I again visited Gettysburg. We started at the new Visitor's Center and Museum and then went to the Soldiers National Cemetery and joined a Park Ranger's walking tour. He described how this spot came to be our nations first military cemetery. Evergreen Cemetery, established in 1854, was on a hill just south of the town of Gettysburg. Cemetery Hill and the ridge that ran south to Little Round Top had a commanding view of the land to the west. As Lee marched his Army into Pennsylvania in June of 1863, Union forces first engaged Lee's Army to the northwest of Gettysburg and were pushed back. The Union forces established a defensive position on Cemetery Hill and were soon reinforced by General Meade's Army of the Potomac. Lee's Army took up positions along Seminary Ridge across the fields and the ensuing July 3 - 5 battle resulted in 10,000 dead, 30,000 wounded and 10,000 captured.

The land now holding the dead was the site of many cannons during the battle. Recognize the maker of this one? The cannons used at Gettysburg inflicted much of the carnage by both armies. When the armies left the battlefield on July 5, many wounded and the dead remained. Bodies were buried in shallow graves and the wounded were cared for in homes and other buildings in the town. Some of the bodies were recovered by family and carried home for burial. The people in Gettysburg felt that the dead soldiers deserved a proper burial. A committee of representatives of Union states was formed to plan for the new cemetery. David Wills, a lawyer in Gettysburg chaired the committee. William Saunders, a well-known landscape architect, was hired to design the cemetery.

The design included a monument to the Union soldiers with semi-circle rows of graves organized by state. In October, the reburial began and took five months to complete. The confederate dead were left buried on the battlefield and were re-interred in southern cemeteries in the early 1870's. On November 19, 1863, the cemetery was dedicated with President Lincoln making his best-known speech near the end of a four hour ceremony. Thus Soldier's National Cemetery as it was first called, became the nations first national cemetery, over a year before Arlington National cemetery was dedicated.

The graves were grouped by state if the name and state of the remains could be identified. (Weather had obliterated many of the hastily prepared original markers.) The unknown graves were marked with numbered headstones. Post war burials continued within the semi-circle of graves. Most were veterans from the town of Gettysburg and Adams County, Pennsylvania. In the 1880's additional areas were opened for burial with veterans of Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II interred at Gettysburg.

Note: The Ranger Chuck Teague and the National Park Service web site, especially the Virtual Tour the Aftermath were the source for most of this post.

My World - Gettysburg revisited

Last Friday the grandsons and I made another visit to Gettysburg National Military Park. We have been to Gettysburg several times in the past, but this is the first time since the new Visitor's Center opened in 2008. The new center is south of the National cemetery with access from both Taneytown Rd (Rt 134) and Baltimore Pike (Rt 97). The center includes visitor information, the museum, the cyclorama, bookstore, food services and is the starting point for guided tours of the park. The new building is more attractive and roomy than the old Visitor's Center. There is also a lot more parking than before. The National Park Service web site for Gettysburg contains a wealth of information.

Abe Lincoln and his hat are prominently featured through out the building. Here Chris gets his picture taken with him. The Visitor Center, Cemetery and battlefield are free. Access to the museum and cyclorama are about $10. The fee includes a 22-minute movie about the Battle of Gettysburg. Guided bus tours cost more.

After the movie we ascended the stairs to the platform in center of the Cyclorama. Cycloramas were 360-degree paintings where the viewer stood in the center. They were popular in the 1800's though few remain today.

The "Battle of Gettysburg" depicts the charge toward Union lines by Pickett's infantry on July 3, 1863. The Union victory on that day was the turning point, but not the end, of the US Civil War. Lee's army retreated and more battles were fought. Sherman's army stormed across the south. The war ended at Appomattox, VA in April, 1865. Paul Philippoteaux and his staff of 20 artists painted the cyclorama in 1883 - 1884. It is 377 feet around and 42 feet high. It was first on display in other US cities and later permanently displayed in Gettysburg. In 2003 a conservation effort began in preparation for moving the painting to the new Visitor Center. The new display includes light and sound effects. Along with the narration of the events of the battle, sounds of the guns are heard and portions of the painting are lighted. (Note: non-flash photography is allowed).

At the entrance to the museum are displays of confederate and union uniforms. There also were 3 people in 1860's period dress roaming the Visitor Center. The museum displays weapons, artifacts, documents and events of the period. There are also several video displays providing information. One section has typical camp settings for soldiers of that time period.

The US Civil War was the first to be photographed. Historical photographs are included in many of the displays. The photographs of the battlefields and wounded that were published in papers back home gave everyone a sense of the horrors of war. The National Archives and the Center for Civil War Photography are two online resources for Civil War images.

Note: This post is one in a series of posts I am doing this week on Gettysburg. "Extra" editions of "My World" will appear with Gettysburg images, as well as on my other memes.

My World Tuesday - John Brown's Raid

Harpers Ferry may have become a footnote to history as a town ravaged by floods and passed by with the advent of railroads and highways, if not for the events of October 1859. The events were precipitated by the actions of John Brown, a preacher and an abolitionist.

On the night of the 16-th, Brown and eighteen of his raiders marched from the Kennedy farm in Maryland across the old Potomac River Bridge and into Harpers Ferry. They attacked the US Arsenal and Armory with the intent of taking the weapons and ammunition, instigating a slave rebellion, and waging war against slavery from the Appalachian Mountains. Local militia penned raiders in the armory firehouse, now referred to as John Brown's fort.

On the morning of October 18, a party of 12 marines under the command of Col Robert E. Lee, stormed the fort and capture Brown and his raiders. In all seventeen people were killed: two slaves, three townsmen, a slaveholder, one Marine and ten raiders. Brown was charged with murder and treason. The trial in Charles Town lasted 5 days. He was found guilty and sentenced to hang on the gallows. Brown was executed on December 2 and his body returned to New York for burial. Six of his raiders were also tried and executed; five escaped.


The building where John Brown was captured was the only armory building to survive the war, however souvenir hunters had vandalized it. The notoriety of John Brown made it of interest to historians and the public. In 1891, it was dismantled and shipped to Chicago for the Exposition. In 1895 it was returned to Harpers Ferry and exhibited at a nearby farm. In 1909 the fort was purchased by Storer College and moved to the Harpers Ferry campus. Then in 1968 the Park Service moved it to its present location, about 150 feet from its original site.

The entrance to the John Brown Museum is under the flag in the picture above. It contains portraits, information on his life and video presentations of the raid.

This year is the sesquicentennial anniversary of John Brown's raid and several events are being planned to commemorate the event, including a symposium and re-enactment of the march to Harpers Ferry. For more information see the web site johnbrownraid.org.


It is ironic that Brown's first victim was a free African-American employee of the B&O Railroad. Brown's raiders stopped an approaching train on the bridge and Heyward Shepherd went to investigate. He was shot and killed.

These events further inflamed the passions on the issue of slavery. At the time of John Brown's raid , Harpers Ferry was part of Virginia. In 1861 the War Between the States began. The counties in the northwestern part of Virginia split from the rest of the state and became the state of West Virginia on June 20, 1963. The Confederate Army destroyed the bridges, arsenal and armory in Harpers Ferry. The bridges were rebuilt and destroyed several times during the war. The town changed hands several times during the course of the war.

Sky Watch Friday - Battlefield skies

These photos were taken when we visited Gettysburg National Military Park with 2 of our grandsons in June 2004. It is the site of the July 1863 battle that is considered the turning point of the civil War. Above is the monument dedicated to the Pennsylvania soldiers who fought at Gettysburg. The next three views are from the top of the monument just below the dome. And the last view is from Little Round Top near the southern end of the battlefield.

Bridge between north and south

On September 17, 1862 the Union and Confederate armies fought the bloodiest one day battle in US history. Robert E. Lee had led his Army into Maryland with the intent of moving into Pennsylvania and isolating Washington, DC from the northern states. General George McClellan moved his Army from Washington to engage Lee. The armies met in the quiet, rural valley along Antietam Creek. The battle started before dawn in a cornfield, continued on a lane along the creek, and ended with the battle for this bridge over the creek. Southern forces held the high ground at the bridge, while the northern forces attacked across open field to the bridge, eventually capturing the bridge. At the end of the day, 23,000 soldiers of both armies were killed, wounded or missing. Lee's army retreated to the safety of Virginia and the war continued for another 2 years. The battle at Antietam had a significant political impact, as President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation after the Union victory.

The grounds where this battle was fought are a national park and contain a national cemetery and remain much as they were in 1862. The cemetery continued in use for US servicemen until 1953. In 2000, one local resident who was killed in the attack on the USS Cole was buried here.

Confederates defended from here

Union attacked from this side

Among the many plaques around the battlefield is this one near the bridge. Note the photograph in the lower left taken 4 days after the battle. And in the painting of the battle by a union officer, note the size of sycamore tree just to the right of the bridge.