Committee seeks to preserve Camp Dick
as Kentucky Civil War interpretative site

Gov. Beriah Magoffin, trying to maintain Kentucky’s neutral role in the Civil War, complained in 1861 to President Abraham Lincoln about the establishment of Camp Dick Robinson.

The governor declared that the camp, being used as a staging ground for the Commonwealth’s first Union regiments, was in violation of Kentucky’s Civil War status. Read more

LSU scientists may be on right path
to identifying Civil War participants

Is it possible to identify people who fought in the Civil War?

The efforts of forensic anthropologists at Louisiana State University may make this happen.

Using models of skulls and layers of clay, scientists at the university have reconstructed the faces of two sailors who served on the USS Monitor in 1862. Read more

Holt House group seeks 400 $100 donors
to secure matching funds for restoration

If that’s accomplished by Sept. 22, the resulting $40,000 will help secure funds needed to match grants. Those grants will make restoration of the historic Judge Joseph Holt House a reality.
Read more

First on Louisville market
Rebs cursed Union weapon that was
‘loaded on Sunday, shot all week’

Civil War Confederates, armed with muzzle-loaders, cursed a sparingly used but highly effective repeating rifle used by Union forces.

The 15-shot Henry frequently was described as “that damned Yankee rifle that they load on Sunday and shoot all week!”
Read more

H.L. Hunley…
‘David’ receives first unobstructed view
at North Charleston conservation lab

It was the Civil War’s David-Goliath moment. Now, for the first time in nearly 150 years, viewers will get an unobstructed view of David.

David was the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, which, in 1864, sank “Goliath,” the Union ship Housatonic. In early January, the raised sub was in full view as a massive steel truss used to lift the vessel was removed. Read more

If Grant had looked in mirror,
he may have seen Curt Fields

Curt Fields’ resemblance to Gen. U.S. Grant is what some witnesses would describe as eerie.

This career educator and former history teacher is the same height and similar weight (5-foot-8, 150 pounds) and has the same body style of the commander who won the Civil War. Through extensive research, Fields also presents an accurate persona of the Union general in first person speaking presentations and in responses to questions from his audiences. Read more

Loreta became Lt. Buford with help
from disguise that included metal corset

“Lt. Harry T. Buford, reporting for duty sir,” the soldier said to the captain. Little did the captain know that the young lieutenant was a woman disguised as a man.

Loreta Janeta Velazquez was born in Cuba in 1842 into a wealthy family. From the time she was a young child, Loreta was rebellious and dreamed of a life full of adventure. Read more

Ramage honored for contributions
to regional, state Civil War history

Dr. James Ramage has been honored with the Behringer-Crawford Museum’s Two-Headed Calf Community Service award for his contributions to the preservation and understanding of regional and state history.

The retired Northern Kentucky University Regents Professor of History was presented his award in November, being cited for his extraordinary contributions to history and learning. Read more

Tower of Books provides insight
to volumes written about Lincoln

How many books have been written about President Abraham Lincoln?

A 35-foot-high Tower of Books constructed near Washington’s Ford’s Theatre provides a good idea. Read more

News in Brief...
New Bloedner Monument
dedicated at Cave Hill

Dedication of a replacement monument related to the Battle of Rowlett’s Station in Hart County was conducted in December at Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery.

The Bloedner Monument replacement honors the 32nd Indiana Infantry’s role at Rowlett’s Station on Dec. 17, 1861. Read more

Kentucky’s Civil War leaders…
W.T. Martin suffered under Wheeler,
but thrived in Mississippi leadership

Anyone who has suffered under poor management can appreciate the plight of CSA Gen. William T. Martin.

The Glasgow native, although opposed to secession, raised a cavalry group in Adams County, Miss., where he was practicing law and led them to Richmond, Va. Read more

Lee’s surrender sword, uniform join
display at Confederacy’s new museum

The sword Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had at his side when he surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant has returned to Appomattox, Va., as the centerpiece of a new museum examining the post-Civil War struggle to heal the nation.

The uniform Lee wore that day in 1865 also was on display March 31 when the Museum of the Confederacy opened its 11,700-square-foot museum. The Appomattox facility, located within a mile of where the war effectively ended, is the first in a regional system planned by the Museum of the Confederacy to make its vast collection of Confederate artifacts and manuscripts more accessible. Some 10 percent of its holdings are only on display at any one time at the Richmond museum. Read more

Book review
Gilmore’s book is for those youngsters
who love horses; they’ll like Sam, Willy

There’s a special relationship between horses and young people. And the relationship between Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s horse, Sam, and the general’s son, Willy, underscores that.

Upon Which Everything Depends, Two Tales of a Horse Named Sam, is a children’s book that tells the story of a horse Gen. Sherman found at Shiloh. Read more

Minnesota drummer boy Albert Woolson
was last Civil War survivor; died in 1956

When Albert Henry Woolson died in 1956, he was acknowledged as the last surviving member of the Union Army. That distinction was extended and he also became known as the undisputed last surviving Civil War veteran on either side. 

That final acknowledgement occurred after three men who claimed Confederate Civil War status was discounted. Read more

Cumberland Gap Friends receive grant
for production of educational video

The National Park Foundation recently presented the Friends of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park a $10,000 Impact Grant to support the development of the education DVD, The Civil War at Cumberland Gap. Read more

Civil War also brought soaring costs,
poor economy, staggering casualties

Several things are common to all wars – soaring expenses, an unstable economy and staggering human casualties. The Civil War was no exception.

In dollars and cents, the U.S. government estimated in January 1863 that the Civil War was costing it $2.5 million daily. A final official total estimate in 1879 amounted to $6,190,000,000.
Read more

Descendant says Jefferson Davis is one
of history’s most misunderstood figures

According to one of his descendants, Kentucky’s Jefferson Davis is “one of the most misunderstood figures in this country’s history.”

Bert Hayes-Davis, the great-great grandson of the only president of the Confederacy, is among the descendants of the Fairview-born luminary who gather every two years at Rosemont Plantation near Woodville, Miss., to celebrate the ancestor they consider an American hero. Read more