New Book on the Role of USCT at Wilmington's Battle of Forks Road-- Part 3

This new book also briefly covers efforts to preserve the Battle of Forks Road which led to its inclusion in North Carolina's Civil War Trails and the preservation of earthworks from the battle which are on the grounds of what is now the Cameron Art Museum.

The book is dedicated to  to the memory of Sgt.  Fred Johnson, a Korean War veteran and Civil War re-enactor who participated in many  Forks Road anniversary programs and was instrumental in obtaining  the state historical marker  honoring black Forks Road veterans buried at the Wilmington National Cemetery.

The title of the book evokes the memory of the 1989 historical movie about the all-black (except officers) 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment.  It is an apt comparison as black troops at both actions proved they could fight.  However, with the 54th, they were repulsed with heavy losses and at Forks Road, the black troops won.

--Old B-Runner

New Exhibit at Fort Fisher "From Slave to Soldier: The African American Experience at Fort Fisher"

From the Friends of Fort Fisher.

There will be a reception in honor o this new exhibit at the Fort Fisher Museum on Thursday, March 12, 2020, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. for Friends of Fort Fisher members and their guests.

Blacks have been a part of the Fort Fisher story from its earliest beginnings, from the free and enslaved men who helped build the fort, worked in the camps and assisted the white Confederates in battle.  Large numbers of members of the United States Colored Troops regiments also took part in the capture of the fort and the ensuing operations against Wilmington.

They were also involved in the live-fire anti-aircraft training that took place at the fort during World War II.

Fort Fisher State Historic Site's  collection manager and exhibit coordinator , Becky Sawyer,  will share a presentation on the exhibit and be on hand for an exclusive Q&A  following her presentation.

Refreshments will be served.

Sure Would Like to be There.  --Old B-Runner

New Theory As to Why the Submarine Hunley Sank

From the February 23, 2020, WTOC 11 Low Country News by Bill Sharpe.

On the night of February 17, 1864, the Confederate submarine Hunley sank after it used a torpedo to sing the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor.  It was the first warship to be sunk by a submarine in world history.

But, the Hunley never returned to its base.  Its location was just found a short time ago by writer and undersea explorer Clive Cussler, who just recently died.

Rachel Lance, a U.S. Navy biomedical engineer who holds an engineering from Duke University has made a bold claim as to why the Hunley sank that night.

In her research, she has determined that  the blast from the torpedo  sent blast waves through the submarine's iron hull and caused instant death for the men inside.

The ship was raised off the Charleston Harbor floor in 2000 and now sits at the Hunley Museum in North Charleston, South Carolina.

This is not a new story, but interesting anyway.

--Old B-Runner

Pirates, Revolution and Ironclads-- Part 2: The CSS Georgia, Water Witch and Rattlesbake

The CSS Georgia ironclad was sunk in 1864 to prevent capture by General Sherman's Union forces.  It was relatively forgotten until the 1960s when Savannah River dredging revealed the remains.  In 2013, a portion was recovered and that continued to 2015.  However, none of the ship is currently on display.

The USS Water Witch was captured by the Confederate Navy and the Rattlesnake, passenger ship turned into a gunboat and then a blockade-runner.  Both were sunk just south of the Savannah River.

The Water Witch was sunk by Confederates to avoid capture.  The Rattlesnake was sunk in a battle with the ironclad Monitor USS Montauk.  This ship served as a temporary prison for six of the Lincoln assassination conspirators.

Artifacts from the Water Witch and a full scale model of it can be seen at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia.

--Old V-Runner

New Visitors Center at Fort Fisher-- Part 2

The Fort Fisher State Historic Site is visited by over 800,000 people a year.  The current center was built in the early 1960s and designed to handle roughly 40,000 a year comfortably.

However, it was a whole lot better than the original "museum" which was a roughly 20-by-20-foot structure on Battle Acre.

--Old B-Runner

Kinston's CSS Neuse Interpretive Center-- Part 4: Much On Display

There is also a 12-foot Brooke Rifle cannon replica built to scale.  These were the cannons on the Neuse.  It  has a functioning carriage, there is a barracks used by troops garrisoned in Kinston and a reconstruction of part of the ironclad's deck.

Display cases and wall plaques offer stories of the crew, including its captain, Joseph Price and 2nd Lt. Richard Bacot who wrote the earlier account of the ship's final minutes as a Confederate warship.

Photos recount the herculean efforts to free the hull from the Neuse River mud and the lengthy process requiring archaeologists, historians, volunteers and state assistance to accomplish it.

--Old B-R'er

Kinston's CSS Neuse Interpretive Center-- Part 1: "We Removed Our Powder & Stores & Burnt the Vessel"

From the May 19, 2016, Examiner "Kinston Discoveries 2016:  CSS Neuse Interpretive Center recounts ironclad's fate" by Kathy Newbern and J.S. Fletcher.

The CSS Neuse Interpretive Center is located at 100 N. Queen Street in downtown Kinston, North Carolina.

What is left of the wreck of the CSS Neuse is now housed in the center after being under water for almost 100 years and then out in the open air for over another 50 years.

A young officer aboard the CSS Neuse wrote of the ship's tragic end:  All the troops had withdrawn from Kinston & the Yankees 18,000 strong came upon us & not having any prospect of being relieved before our provisions ran out & being in a narrow river where we could not work the ship under fire, after shelling the Yankee cavalry for a little while, we removed our powder & stores & burnt the vessel."

--Old B-Runner

Conservation of USS Monitor Turret Contines

From the May 5, 2016, Archaeology.

Conservators at the USS Monitor Center at The Mariners' Museum in Hampton Roads, Virginia, have begun removing marine concretion from the surface of the Monitor's turret which has been soaking in a 90,000 gallon treatment tank for five years.

They will also remove the metal shields that line the interior of the turret and look for small artifacts that may have become trapped there when the ship sank.

Most of the shields are in delicate condition "but there are still four or five of them that are mostly intact --all on the starboard side of the turret where most of  the artifacts have been found.  So we believe there's a pretty good chance that there are more of them waiting to be exposed," said senior conservator William H. Hoffman.

So far, they have recovered a bone-handled knife, a silver table spoon, a monkey wrench, a glass tube for a steam engine gauge and a cartridge for a naval carbine behind the shields.

--Old B-TurretRunner

Civil War Quiz Bowl in Fayetteville, N.C.

From the Jan. 15, 2016, Fayetteville (NC) Observer "Quiz Bowl tests Civil War knowledge Jan. 28."

The Museum of the Cape Fear in Fayetteville, N.C. will be hosting its 15th annual Civil War Quiz Bowl Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Pate Room.

Contestants will be able to choose from 14 categories and host and Quiz Bowl founder Jim Greathouse will be asking the questions.

Categories include: 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865, Literature, From Fayetteville to Durham's Station, True or False, Mixed Bag, Multiple Choice, Who Am I?, North Carolina's Story, Chronology and Aye Aye Capt'in.

It is open for up to 20 contestants.

--Old B-R'er

The 3/8 Scale CSS Albemarle

The State of North Carolina is home to two recreated models of Confederate ironclads, sister ships CSS Albemarle and CSS Neuse II.  The Neuse is a full-sized model but on land.

The replica CSS Albemarle is a 3/8 scale, 63-foot ship that is able to move under its own power and is anchored at Port O' Plymouth Museum in Plymouth.  (The Neuse is at Kinston along with the remains of the hull of the original.)

The new Albemarle was built in 2002 and is self-powered.

Each year it is taken out during the Living History Weekend held the last weekend in every April.

--Old B-IronRunner

The CSS Shenandoah's Ensign

From Wikipedia.

This was the only Confederate flag to circumnavigate the world (even the Alabama didn't do that).  It was the last Confederate flag to be lowered.

And, last week it was once again on display on the 150th anniversary of its "Last Flag Down."

It has been in the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, since 1907.

Lt. Dabney (Minor) Scales, CSN, gave the flag to his cousin, Eliza Hull Maury, for safekeeping.  She was the daughter of Richard Launcelot Maury, oldest son of Matthew Fontaine Maury.

Col. Robert Launcelot Maury, CSA, Eliza's brother, brought the flag from England in 1873 and donated it to the museum in 1904.

It measures  88 by 136 inches and is the so-called "Stainless Banner," the Confederacy's Second National Banner.

--Old B-Runner

Hunley Museum Created in North Charleston, S.C.

From the April 3, 2015, Washington Times "Museum created at lab where historic submarine conserved" by Bruce Smith, AP.

North Charleston, South Carolina.  Artifacts that were formerly displayed hodge-podge where the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is being conserved are now arrayed in a manner that makes sense in a museum next to the lab.

The conservation work on the famous sub is expected to take another five years, but now, working with design Dimensions of Raleigh, N.C., a museum has been created.  It includes interactive exhibits, videos and displays.  there is also an exhibit that explains what was happening in Charleston during the war.  then visitors see information about the vessel and its crew, then they get to see the actual Hunley.

It is estimated that more than 500,000 have viewed the submarine over the years (and that is considering it is usually open only on the weekends which it was when I tried to see it awhile back during the week).

Once the ship is conserved, the Hunley will be on permanent display in a $40 million museum to be built nearby.

Good Old Friends of the Hunley Doing Some More Greay Work.  --Old B-Runner

CSS Neuse Center Grand Opening in Kinston-- Part 4

Scharf was wrong, though.  Actually the CSS Neuse was still in the Neuse River at its end and the Confederates at Kinstin were under Bragg.  The Federals were led by General  Jacob D. Cox in 1865 at Kinston.

The General Foster that Scharf mentioned did lead an attack against Kinston in 1862 (and also attacked the Neuse while under construction at Seven Springs, N.C., near Goldsboro).  Confederate General Hardee wasn't too far away at the time of the Neuse's destruction.  He fought Union General Henry Slocum at the Battle of Averasboro.

North Carolina Sites director Andrew Duppstadt will present "Final Days of the Neuse" presentation at 11 a.m.

Wade Sokolosky will then talk about the Battle of Wyse Fork (Second Battle of Kinston) at 1 p.m..

Historian Dennis Harper will then lead a tour of that battlefield at 2 p.m..

Like I Said Before, I Sure Would Have Liked to Have Been There.  --Old B-Runner

Freedom Coming: Freedom for All Exhibit at Fort Fisher

From the Feb. 1, 2015, Lumina (Wrightsville Beach, NC) News "Fort Fisher features Freedom for All exhibit."

A photo of an 1861 Springfield rifle and a captured Confederate officer's sword belonging to USCT Private Luke Martin accompanies the article.

A traveling exhibit of informational panels along with these two artifacts will be on display at Fort Fisher until February  12th at the museum.  The exhibit is to mark the observance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery in 1865.

"Freedom Coming: Freedom for All" is part of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources' 150th observance of the end of the Civil War and recognition of Black History Month.

Private Luke Martin enlisted in the 1st North Carolina Colored Infantry in May 1863, as soon as a person of color could legally enlist in the Union Army.  Martin's son, the late Luke P. Martin, Jr., loaned his father's rifle and captured sword to the exhibit.

The exhibit is traveling to state museums, historic sites, libraries and other cultural venues through August 10, 2015.

--Old B-Runner

The CSS Albemarle's Smokestack and Me

I came across this in the Jan. 18, 2014, Raleigh (NC) News & Observer "Enormous museum tells story of the 'Cradle of North Carolina'" by Gary McCollough.

It is at the Museum of the Albemarle at Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank Rivers. The museum covers four centuries of history in the area.

But, I was most interested in the part where he mentioned that the museum has the smokestack of the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle. That smokestack was one of the things that got me, for better or worse, hooked on the Civil War.

Mom used to take me often to the NC History and Archives Museum when we lived in Raleigh and I would go through the Civil War stuff, but was always transfixed by that huge old piece of iron with what appeared to be shell holes in it. That was a real touch of history.

I haven't been back to the museum in a long time and did not know the smokestack is now in Elizabeth City so will have to plan a trip to this museum on one of my next trips back to North Carolina.

That Was a Neat Old Stack. --Old B-R'er

War Along the South Carolina Coast

From the August 25, 2012, WIS TV 10 "Poor Fort Sumter: Museum curator describes destruction" by Renee Standera.

The head South Carolina State Museum Curator of History, JoAnn Zeise, described the destruction of Fort Sumter.  It was bombarded at the beginning of the war, then on a regular basis starting in 1863 until those tall brick walls were reduced to rubble.

The museum's newest exhibit "Naval War on the Coast" tells of the fort's woes and is one of six planned in the future.

Other items of interest:

**  At Port Royal in 1861, it was brother versus brother.  Captain Percival Drayron commanded the USS Pochahontas battling his brother Confederate General Thomas Drayton in the forts.  Port Royal then became a major Union base for the duration of the war.

**  Then, there were the blockade-runners, a very specifically designed ship (especially toward the end of the war).  Sleek, fast and hard to see to run through the Union blockade.

**  South Carolina ladies learned that their New Orleans counterparts had raised money to build ironclads.  They held balls and other things to raise money to help finance the four ironclads built at Charleston: Palmetto State, Chicora, Columbia and  Charleston.

Old B-Runner

Monitor Museum Up In the Air

From the Oct. 14, 2012, New York Post "Historic ship in a land war" by Kate Briquelet.

Janice and George Weinman, of Brooklyn, New York, have dreams of building the Greenport Monitor Museum, but for the last ten years, New York City has been threatening to take their land for the museum to be used as part of a park.

Their Monitor Museum has been a roadshow since 1996, mostly visiting schools.

In 2003, Motiva Company gave them a one acre site near Quay Street where the Monitor was built.  Unfortunately for the Weinmans, their parcel is in part of where the city plans to build a 28 acre park stretching from North 9th Street to Quay Street.

The city has so far only acquired 2 of 6 privately-owned parcels of land.  Worse, there is no schedule or budget to get those land units needed.  The city has offered some unacceptable choices to the Weinmans as to there museum.  One of the offers involves a room attached to a comfort station.

I'm Pulling for the Weinmans.  --Old B-R'er

Is It the CSS Alabama's Flag?

From the June 12, 2011, Tarrytown-Sleepy Hollow (NY) Patch.

The Historical Society of Tarrytown -Sleepy Hollow has a flag said to have come from the Confederate Raider CSS Alabama which resides in a large glass case, supported with acid-free paper.  The staff has been working on validating its Alabama connection.

They say that when it's unfurled that it takes up an entire room.

It has been in the society's collection a long time and was originally labelled as the flag from the Alabama.  If it is confirmed as such, it will be sent to the History Museum of Mobile (Al) if they can get something in exchange.  The Alabama museum has a large CSS Alabama collection, including one of the ship's cannons.

I looked at the Wikipedia article on the CSS Alabama and it didn't mention this flag.

In addition, the historical society has  a small display dedicated to John L. Worden, the USS Monitor's original commander, Lt. John L. Worden, who was born, according to the Patch, just north of Sleepy Hollow in Scarborough.  Wikipedia lists him as being born in Sparta, Mount Pleasant Township, Westchester County.

It Will  Be Interesting to Find Out If the Flag Indeed Came From the Alabama.  --Old B-Runner

Fort Fisher Cannon Dedicated Today in Raleigh

From the September 17th Raleigh (NC) New & Observer "Civil War cannon to be dedicated Tuesday at N.C. history museum" by Jeanna Smialek.

This cannon was used by Confederates at Fort Fisher and now will find a home sitting on a concrete pad in front of the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh's Bicentennial Park.  It is a Blakely cannon, manufactured in 1862 by Fawcett, Preston & Co., of Liverpool, England.

This particular piece was used at the battle over the blockade-runner Hebe which had run aground north of Fort Fisher, guarding New Inlet of the Cape Fear River leading to Wilmington.  This cannon was captured by the USS Minnesota and other gunboats and shipped to Washington, DC, as a war trophy.

It has been at the Washington Navy Shipyard for decades since until the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum at Hatteras requested it for a USS Minnesota display.  When the staff realized it had not been used on the Minnesota, they contacted the Raleigh museum.

The N.C. Museum of History secured a renewable 5-year loan and sent it to East Carolina University where months were spent cleaning and preparing it for display.  Workers there went through many layers of rust and paint and made an exciting discovery.  There was a maker's mark on the weapons carriage.  They also cleared up an inscription concerning the cannon's capture.

Wow, a Fort Fisher Cannon.  --Old B-Runner

Fort Fisher 5th Biggest North Carolina Museum and Historical Attraction in 2010

From the Feb. 22, 2011, RR Newswire.

Attendance figures for state attractions are in and Fort Fisher ranked the fifth highest with 618,373.

The Figures:

1.  Biltmore-- Asheville-- 1,069,359
2.  Fort Macon State Historic Site-- Atlantic Beach--  799,322  (What, Macon outdrew us?)
3.  NC Zoo--  Asheville--  755,531
4.  NC Museum of Natural Sciences--  Raleigh--  708,398
5.  Fort Fisher State Historic Site--  Kure Beach--  618,373

6.  Marbles Kids Museum--  Raleigh--  570,793
7.  Discovery Place--  Charlotte--  530,423
8.  Wright Brothers Memorial--  Kill Devil Hills--  478,391
9.  Museum of Life and Science--  Durham--  433,018
10.  Fort Fisher NC Aquarium--  Kure Beach--  429,883  (Well worth the admission)

13.  NC Museum of History--  Raleigh--  324,200
15.  Fort Raleigh National Historic Site--  Manteo--  305,711
18.  Grandfather Mountain--  Linville--  255,000
20.  Battleship North Carolina--  Wilmington--  209,034
21.  NASCAR Hall of Fame--  Charlotte--  202,460
22.  North Carolina Maritime Museum--  Beaufort--  185,155

Of course, part of Fort Fisher's attendance is based on people coming for the beach park.

Some History Still Popular.  --Old B-Runner