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Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg

To properly bury the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg, a "Soldiers Cemetery" was established on the battleground near the center of the Union line. Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin supported the proposal with state funds to purchase the cemetery grounds and pay for the re-interment of Union dead from inadequate grave sites that covered the battlefield. It was here during the dedication ceremony on November 19, 1863, that President Abraham Lincoln spoke of "these honored dead..." and renewed the Union cause to reunite the war-torn nation with his most famous speech, the "Gettysburg Address". The cemetery was landscaped by William Saunders, founder of the National Grange. The Cemetery was completed by 1872, and turned over to the care of the Federal government. In 1933 responsibility of the cemetery was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service.

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14 pdr. James Rifle

The James Rifle was not a widely used cannon in either army, though the 2nd Connecticut Battery was armed them at Gettysburg. All James Rifles fired 14-pound elongated shells and were accurate up to 1,500 yards.

The James Rifle, Type I. is actually a remanufactured M1841 6 Pounder that has been rifled using the James Rifling System, typically using 15 rifle grooves. These guns are not pure James Rifles, and are externally the same as the typical M1841 6 Pounder.

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State of Virginia Monument (Gettysburg)

The Virginia monument was the first of the Confederate State monuments at Gettysburg. It was unveiled by Miss Virginia Carter, a niece of Robert E. Lee.

It is also the largest of the Confederate monuments, a fitting tribute for the state that provided the largest contingent to the Army of Northern Virginia, its commander, and its name. Lee's figure, topping the monument astride his favorite horse, Traveller, was created by sculptor Frederick Sievers from photographs and life masks of the general. He even went to Lexington, Virginia to study Traveller's skeleton, preserved at Washington and Lee University.

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The Civil War In the News

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Current Civil War Discussions

Neely's "Fate of Liberty" and Camp Chase

I have been looking into the issue of civilian arrests in West Virginia by Union authorities, and I found in Kenneth W. Noe's essay "Who Were the Bushwhackers?" this criticism of Mark Neely's book- ---Quote--- All told, the annotated rosters [of Camp Chase] and descriptive lists of... [?]

Bragg's presentation sword

I posted this in the Stonewall and Bragg discussion but see some merit in a new post. Anyone have any documentation on the presentation? Why was H. Marshall chosen to make the sword? He was not, and is still not very well known.They may have liked him or been sucking, up but the brigades of Bate... [?]

CW Monument at Dover NH for Prroh

Pat this is the monument that we were discussing last night. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1469[/ATTACH] [?]

Regiment number

May be a dumb question but is there any logic to regiment numbers? Or was it simply a matter of the order they were formed or authorized by the government? [?]

Texas Secession

NB1 may be able to clarify things a little, but I read this in Lone Star by TR Fehrenbach about Texas secession, 1st edition page 345. It seems that a special convention was held in January 1861 to vote on Texas secession. After the affirmative vote took place, "Sam Houston threw his whole weight... [?]

Confederate political choices

This is is sort of bordering on a what if. But what I'm trying to figure out is - were the best qualified people picked for the positions in the government, to begin with? Or were compromises made so that all areas would be represented and merit came second? It might not have changed the war... [?]

Whither Women's Suffrage in the CSA?

Would women have achieved voting rights in the CSA, had the Confederacy won, or, had Lincoln allowed the CSA to breakaway without war? In the book *Confederate Minds: The Struggle for Intellectual Independence in the Civil War South*, by Michael Bernath, there is the following section: ... [?]

Would there had been anarchy if Lincoln just let the South go without a fight?

600,000 Americans dead all so the South could not be free. All the other countries were able to end slavery peacefully, so why not the U.S.A.? Was it worth it all? Would things had been worst if Lincoln just let the South go? I mean, these guys were ready for war before Lincoln even took over. How... [?]

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