A Monument of Paper

The second item in Trinity College’s Long Room that I thought deserved a place on this blog is certainly a different kind of memorial than I usually encounter.  A copy of one volume of  Ireland’s Memorial Records 1914-1918 was on display.  This book lists over 49,000 Irishmen who died in World War I: name, birthplace, rank, unit, cause of death, and place of death.

Read Full Post »

Jennie Wade House

As a follow-up to the previous post, these are photos of the Jennie Wade House, which of course was never known by that name during her life. Jennie was born and lived elsewhere, but she died in this house during the Battle of Gettysburg, and so it is the place most associated with her.

Read Full Post »

Wilson Wordless Wednesday

Read Full Post »

Our immigrant past

Sacred to the memory of Alexander Doull, Colonel of Artillery in the Army of the Potomac, previously lieutenant in the Royal British Artillery

The inscription on Colonel Doull’s tombstone reminds us of a fact about the United States Civil War that be forgotten – the important role that immigrants played in the armies. About 25% of the Union army was estimated to be foreign-born immigrants. With the rate of immigration in the 19th century, we also have to assume that there was a significant slice of the United States-born soldiers who had parents or grandparents who were immigrants.

Read Full Post »

A short service

Samuel Pickands joined the 1st Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Artillery, on February 1, 1862. By the end of March, he was dead, most likely of disease. According to the Ohio Roster Commission’s Offical Roster of soldiers, Pickands died on March 25 in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The tombstone identifies his place of death as Virginia rather than West Virginia. As West Virginia did not enter the Union until June 20, 1863, Pickand and his family would have known the state where he died as Virginia. Even if they were aware of the movement for West Virginia to become its own state, the convention to create a state constitution did not present a document for ratification until mid-February, and the ratification occurred at least a month after Pickands’ death.

Read Full Post »

My wife, the spy

You’ve probably never heard of this particular Charles Dickinson, but it’s likely that you are familiar with his wife. In 1853, Dickinson was a musician in a traveling variety show, and he married one of the actresses, born Harriet Wood, but known to history as Pauline Cushman. Dickinson and his bride eventually returned to his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, where he found work as a music teacher. The couple lived with Dickinson’s parents and had two children, Charlie and Ida. At the end of 1861, Dickinson enlisted as a musician and marched off to the Civil War. In less than a year, he was discharged home in extremely poor health. He expired almost exactly a year after his enlistment. Cushman left her children with her husband’s family and resumed her acting career. Not long after, the opportunity presented itself to become a spy for the Union Army. Once she was discovered to be a spy and narrowly escaped execution, Cushman continued to travel the lecture circuit talking about her exploits. She was not present when either of her children by Dickinson died. The rift between Cushman and her first husband’s family, who resented what they considered her abandonment of her maternal duties, never healed.

Read Full Post »

Crane Wordless Wednesday

Read Full Post »

Killed in action at the Battle of Antietam

One hundred and fifty years ago today near Sharpsburg, Maryland, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac clashed in what would live on to this day as the bloodiest one day battle in United States history.. At the end of the day, the casualties numbered nearly 23,000. Captain James Colwell was among the dead. A Carlisle, Pennsylvania, lawyer, Colwell responded to President Lincoln’s call for volunteers and enlisted at the start of the Civil War. He was named 1st Lieutenant of the 7th Pennsylvania Reserves/36th Pennsylvania Volunteers and promoted to Captain the July before his death. When Colwell fell at the battle of Antietam, he left behind a wife and four children.

Another blog post about Colwell can be found here.

Read Full Post »

Battle of South Mountain

One hundred and fifty years ago today, James H. Williamson fell at the Battle of South Mountain in Maryland. As the Army of the Potomac pursued the Army of Northern Virginia through Maryland, they clashed over three mountain passes – Crampton’s, Turner’s, and Fox’s Gaps. Under the command of Major General George McClellan, the Union army forced General Robert E. Lee’s army into retreat but did not pursue them quickly. Three days later, the armies would clash again in a much better known engagement, the Battle of Antietam.

The Battle of South Mountain, Civil War Trust.
South Mountain, CWSAC Battle Summaries.

Read Full Post »

Killed in battle

Based on some research on the 124th OVI that Thomas Gifford was a part of, I think the inscription here says that he was killed in the Battle of Dallas, Georgia. The battle was actually a series of smaller engagements that occurred in late May and early June of 1864 that were part of the Atlanta campaign.

Read Full Post »