The American Civil War Museum Magazine SPRING 2022
A People’s Contest: America’s Civil War and Emancipation
FROM THE CEO
The American Civil War Museum
Magazine
Dear Friends
Publisher
Welcome to another edition of the magazine of the American Civil War Museum. We have started off the New Year as we mean to go on: busy and engaged in telling the stories of the American Civil War.
Managing Editor
On Saturday, 19 February, we were delighted to welcome 73 in-person and 30 online participants to our 2022 Symposium titled The Soldier’s Civil War. This was held, for the first time ever, at our Tredegar site in Richmond. We have ambitions to build on this great tradition and potentially expand to more than one day with new and innovative features that help showcase our facilities and capabilities. In that vein, we began this year by offering behind-the-scenes collections tours and a wonderful reception in the lobby of the main museum. More details of what proved to be a tremendous event can be found on page 7, and thank you again to our sponsors Americana Corner and to our partners the John L. Nau III Center for Civil War Studies at the University of Virginia. Looking ahead to June we will open the Robins Theatre and begin showing the original film A People’s Contest: America’s Civil War and Emancipation. This new theatre is the capstone of our permanent exhibition with technology that will immerse visitors in an experience that brings the origins of the War to life and documents its course and consequences with impactful sights and sounds. We look forward to a celebratory Gala in June and formally cutting the ribbon on what promises to be an enormous draw to our Tredegar site. It will be an absolute must-see addition to our Tredegar facility.
Rob Havers, Ph.D. ACWM President & CEO Robert Hancock
Art Director/Designer John Dixon
Editorial Review Photo: Caroline Martin In addition to these activities, over the course of the last six months the ACWM has been busy behind the scenes working on a comprehensive strategic plan to chart the next five years of this great institution and deliver on our ambition to be actively known nationally and internationally. More details of that plan and how it will roll up into our fundraising efforts is discussed by Don King, Chair of our Foundation Board on the next page. We are also delighted to announce the formation of our Historian Advisory Council which brings together some of the best and the brightest historians active in the field of the Civil War. More details of this new endeavor is found on page 26. We are very excited by what this will mean for our offerings in the future. In addition to these endeavors, we continue, daily, to deliver on our mission and welcome visitors to all three of our sites as well as to conserve and preserve the vital artifacts of the American Civil War. Please enjoy this latest edition of our magazine and come and see us soon, on line, or in person.
Rob Havers President & CEO
Stephanie Arduini Ana Edwards Kelly Hancock
Museum Board of Directors Daniel G. Stoddard, Chair Claude P. Foster, Vice Chair Walter S. Robertson III, Treasurer Mario White, Secretary Edward L. Ayers, Ph.D. J. Gordon Beittenmiller Hans Binnendijk, Ph.D. Audrey P. Davis George C. Freeman III Hon. David C. Gompert Bruce C. Gottwald, Sr. Monroe E. Harris, Jr. D.D.S. Elizabeth Cabell Jennings Richard S. Johnson John L. Nau III William R. Piper Lewis F. Powell III O. Randolph Rollins Kenneth P. Ruscio, Ph.D. Thomas L. Saunders III Leigh Luter Schell Julie Sherman Ruth Streeter W. Hildebrandt Surgner, Jr. Mario M. White Elisabeth M. Wollan, Ph.D. Rob Havers, Ph.D. (ex officio)
Foundation Board of Directors Donald E. King, President J. Gordon Beittenmiller David C. Gompert Elizabeth Cabell Jennings Walter S. Robertson III Kenneth P. Ruscio Ph.D. Jeffrey Wilt Elisabeth M. Wollan Ph.D. (ex officio) The magazine of the ACWM is published quarterly by The American Civil War Museum, 490 Tredegar St., Richmond, VA 23219
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The contents of this magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the American Civil War Museum.
FOUNDATION UPDATE Dear Friends Hoping for a return to normalcy after two difficult pandemic years, the American Civil War Museum and Foundation have exciting plans for the coming year: • Continued increase in attendance and profitability • Opening of an amazing experience theatre • Adoption of a new strategic plan • Launch of a corresponding capital campaign • Significant improvements to our facilities, including comprehensive restoration of the White House. The Museum performed above expectations during the past year, steadily increasing attendance and exceeding budgeted performance. The 17th annual symposium, A Soldier’s War, was a resounding success. It was held at the restored Foundry to the delight of a large audience (both in person and virtual) and featured some of our nation’s best Civil War historians. We anticipate an even better symposium next year. In June, plan to attend the grand opening of the Robins Theatre presentation of The People’s Contest: America’s Civil War and Emancipation. This state-of-the-art immersion film will give viewers a sensational 12-minute introduction to the Civil War and our Museum exhibits.
roadmap for fulfilment of our mission to tell the whole story of the Civil War from multiple perspectives. A corresponding new capital campaign will be launched soon after the strategic plan is completed. The strategic plan and the capital campaign will include needed improvements to our facilities at Tredegar and Appomattox, a professionally designed full renovation of the White House, and other exciting additions to the Museum. Please be a partner in the ACWM’s growing success. At this critical time for our nation and the world, the mission of the ACWM could not be more important.
Donald E. King Chair, American Civil War Museum Foundation
We will soon complete a new strategic plan. Under the leadership of CEO Rob Havers, board members, staff, donors, and other stakeholders have contributed to a well-considered
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ACWM.org @acwmuseum @acwmuseum @americancivilwarmuseum @theamericancivilwarmuseum
Aliyah Harrison Digital Engagement Manager
Jake Huff Visitor Engagement Associate-Richmond
Lexie Hunt Collections Manager
Grace Mendez Visitor Engagement Associate-Richmond
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CONTENTS
SPRING 2022
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Two Deaths part one
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2 3 6 7 9
Letter from the CEO Letter from the Foundation President In Memoriam: Gottwald Symposium Perspective Lee Monument Time Capsule Reveal
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Witness to Atrocities The forgotten Stony Creek Raid
ACWM NEWS 11
Robins Theater Opening & Film Premiere
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Civics 101: VDOL Visit
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Summer Programs / Historian Advisors
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Recent Donation
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New Richmond Theater A public success despite the critics
SHOP 34
Book Highlights
ON THE COVER: A scene from the new short film A People’s Contest: America’s Civil War and Emancipation. See page 11 for more details.
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IN MEMORIAM Floyd D. Gottwald, Jr. Photo courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch
The American Civil War Museum would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the friendship and generous leadership support of the late Floyd D. Gottwald, Jr. and his family foundation, The Herndon Foundation. The ACWM would not exist today if it were not for the extraordinary leadership and foresight of the Gottwald Family under the guidance of both Bruce Gottwald, Sr. and his brother Floyd. Over the years, although his schedule was full, Mr. Gottwald tried to attend the programs and events offered by the museum, including the opening gala in May 2019, and he was always a positive and supportive voice for the museum. Under Floyd Gottwald’s direction, and with the assistance of his three sons, William M. Gottwald, John D. Gottwald and James T. Gottwald, the Herndon Foundation has generously supported the museum since 2004. We are forever grateful to them for their continued generosity and commitment to the ACWM, making the museum a profound success. We asked Bill Gottwald the following question regarding his father's long history of philanthropy and generosity: "What was the driving cause or purpose of your father's generosity and philanthropy, in general, and what did he want to achieve?"
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Bill kindly answered with the following: "Dad was born in 1922, which means he would have formed his childhood memories during the depression. I think he must have observed how much those less fortunate suffered during those times. I see that as a direct connection leading to his interest in helping children in this area with their education. His real interest in the heritage and history of Virginia must have come from growing up in Fulton in the East End so near the Civil War battlefields and the cemetery in Fulton as well as attending John Marshall High School and VMI. Albemarle Paper, where he worked after WWII, had plants along the river near the New Market corporate offices today and owned the Tredegar Iron Works. He used to take my brothers and me down to Tredegar to play, probably while he was getting some work done at the plant on Saturdays. He also felt that to have a vibrant city Richmond needed to have a good symphony, good museums and the like. I think overall he was interested in having Richmond put its best face forward and wanted to do what he could to help that." Through the family's foundation, The Herndon Foundation, Mr. Gottwald's legacy, as described by his son, Bill, will continue to benefit all Virginians.
e v i t c e p s r e P In cap e R m u i s o p m Sy by Kelly Hancock
For s event e en y ears, the museum has hosted an annual Symposium, but this year was
special, not only because it was a return to in-person programming but also because it was the first to be held onsite. The 17th annual Symposium took place in the Foundry Building—the building constructed in 1861 specifically to manufacture cannon during the American Civil War. There is something incredibly impactful about hearing history in an historic setting.
Dr. Peter Carmichael
Speaking of history, it is often said that more books have been written about the Civil War than any other event in American History. Yet, new books are still being written and research continues. We continue to study the Civil War because, as one participant put it, “this study is critical to defining our present.” The 2022 Symposium, “The Soldier’s War,” provided just a glimpse of the challenges ordinary fighting men faced and of the reverberations of that impact on their families and in their postwar lives, but it shed new light on the age old subject. In the words of one attendee, the sessions featured “transparent original research being done into topics not explored before.”
Dr. Lesley Gordon
Dr. Lorien Foote
The impressive lineup of speakers included Dr. Peter Carmichael of Gettysburg College, Dr. Lesley Gordon of the University of Alabama, Dr. Lorien Foote of Texas A&M, Dr. Holly Pinheiro of Furman University, and Dr. Jonathan Jones of the Virginia Military Institute. The Symposium was carried out in partnership with the University of Virginia’s John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History and with the center’s director, Dr. Caroline Janney, serving as the moderator. Americana Corner sponsored the event, providing generous support. The first session, conducted by Dr. Carmichael, looked at what we can learn from the correspondence of semi-literate soldiers whose letters, due to the phonetic way in which they were written, read as if they were spoken around a family table. These letters provide insight into the thoughts, emotions, and conflicts of average men, missing their families, fighting for survival, and struggling with the difficulties of camp life.
Continued on page 8
Photos by John Dixon, ACWM T H E A M ER I C A N CI V I L WA R M US EU M
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Continued from page 7 Following Carmichael, Dr. Lesley Gordon explored the impact of accusations of cowardice through a case study of the 2nd Texas. This regiment that entered the war with high hopes of being hailed for their bravery was denounced as a “pack of cowards” by General William Hardee after the Battle of Shiloh. Six months later, their colonel, William P. Rogers, perhaps trying to shake off aspersions of cowardice, died at Corinth after being shot multiple times leading a charge on a Union position. Examining specific incidences of escaped Union prisoners in the Carolinas from September 1864 to the end of the war, Dr. Lorien Foote painted a picture not only of the breakdown of the Southern prison system but also of the Confederate home front. Federal prisoners were aided by enslaved people, Unionists, and even formerly loyal Confederates disaffected after the privations of what seemed to be a ceaseless and fruitless war. Drs. Holly Pinheiro and Jonathan Jones rounded out the day by focusing on the experiences of soldiers in the postwar years, examining the war’s impact on them and on their families. Dr. Pinheiro’s research specifically looked at African American soldiers from Philadelphia and what their sacrifices meant to their families, especially in light of racism. Dr. Jones addressed the opioid crisis that followed the Civil War and used the experience of John Tackett Goolrick to personalize the devastating impact of addiction. This was the first Symposium for which we have offered a livestream but it will not be the last. The pandemic has brought changes to our audience and to our programming. We are grateful to all who participated, both near and far, and look forward to next year’s Symposium. END
Kelly Hancock is the ACWM Public Programs Manager
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Dr. Holly Pinheiro
Dr. Jonathan Jones
Dr. Caroline Janney
History of a History Emerges from Lee Monument Cornerstone Box By Chris Graham Photos by John Dixon
American Historical Association president James Grossman is fond of saying, “everything has a history.” Even what we call history has a history. The recovery of the cornerstone box from Richmond’s Robert E. Lee Monument has given us an opportunity to explore that history of a history familiar to many of us. Lee Monument builders placed the cornerstone box in the monument’s pedestal in 1887, and workers removed the box in December 2021 while dismantling that pedestal. In January 2020, American Civil War Museum staff visited the box and its contents that are currently undergoing conservation at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Most of the objects recovered were paper—pamphlets, books, money, maps, and chamber of commerce booklets. Some are unfolded on baker’s racks, allowing the folds and creases to relax. Others are in a freezer, awaiting an opportunity to mitigate moisture damage. Taken together, the dozens of objects represent an intriguing snapshot of Richmond in 1889 and of the history that the dominant culture then wanted conveyed to future generations. They were remarkably successful in their endeavors. continued on next page
ACWM's Chris Graham (left) and CEO Dr. Rob Havers (right) observe Katherine Ridgway, State Archaeological Conservator at Virginia Department of Historic Resources, as she examines a book from the time capsule.
An illustration of Robert E. Lee’s family tree found in the time capsule.
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continued from previous page
While awaiting conservation, the VDHR commissioned a series of blog posts from local historians about the pieces in the box. ACWM curator Chris Graham has contributed two posts. One is on Carlton McCarthy’s well known book, Detailed Minutae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia and the other is a pamphlet containing speeches delivered during the 1886 annual reunion of the Pegram’s Battalion Association. Both documents were designed to express heartfelt regard for former comrades in arms—the living and the dead. Both documents did so through facts, memories, elisions, rhetorical flights, and political intentionality. Taken together, the lessons of McCarthy and the veterans of Pegram’s Battalion
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(Left) Dr. Havers looks over artifacts from the capsule. (Top) The copper case that held the items in near perfect condition for 131 years. (Bottom) Katherine Ridgway displays and explains some of the paper items.
painted a picture of Confederate soldiers. They were so high minded in their sense of duty that they were not concerned with the politics of the war. They were so good humored and virtuous that the hardships they faced and overcame only proved the superiority of the White southern character and cause. This way of conceiving of Civil War soldiers—as uniformly virtuous and as aloof from politics—dominated the way that Americans thought about the war itself for much of the twentieth century. It was also deceptive and untrue. Generations of historians, reenactors, and museum professionals have chipped away at this understanding to reveal an experience that was marked by intense political engagement, petty rivalries in the ranks, the self-inflicted wounds of
To see the blog posts on McCarthy and Pegram’s Battalion and the rest of the contents, visit the Virginia Department of Historic Resources: www.dhr.virginia.gov/blog/ Confederate policy, all alongside the courage regularly exhibited on battlefields and stoic endurance of shortages in camp. Altogether, we have a much more complex vision of the experience of Confederate soldiers and veterans today and can more accurately discern the value of the contents of the cornerstone box. END Chris Graham is the ACWM Curator of Exhibitions
Find Yourself in History Robins Theater Opening in June The Robins Theater space, designed by Solid Light, Inc. is equipped with state-of-the-art technology in video and audio components. The latest technology is utilized to support the dramatic visuals of the film, immersing the audience in the Civil War era. The theater itself adds a modern multi-use space for programs, performances, or lectures. During Museum hours, visitors will have the opportunity to view the original film A People’s Contest: America’s Civil War and Emancipation, which is just under thirteen minutes in length. This film was developed to inspire an understanding of the origins, motivations, course and aftermath of the War, and compliments the ACWM flagship exhibit, A People’s Contest: Struggles for Nation & Freedom in Civil War America. This years-long project reflects scholarship and storytelling in a unique manner. First-person historical quotes, historical photos, and archival materials compliment contemporary filmmaking techniques to create an innovative experience rooted in the stories of the Civil War era. With an original script and musical score, the film reflects themes of the Museum’s flagship exhibit by presenting distinctive and unexpected elements.
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o Tw
eD aths n i the aF ylim This article quotes from letters and diaries using the original spelling, grammar, and punctuation, providing words or punctuation in brackets only when necessary for clarification. Part One
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By Dr. John M. Coski James Agee’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Death in the Family, chronicles a father’s death in an automobile accident and his family’s emotionally wrenching reactions, as revealed through his six-year-old son. The posthumously published novel comes to mind in reading through a collection of letters and diaries donated to the Museum last year. Even before the outbreak of a civil war that took more than 750,000 lives, death was a way of life in mid-19th-century America, as historian Drew Gilpin Faust detailed in her 2007 study, This Republic of Suffering. The scale of death in the Civil War can inure us to the countless human tragedies those numbers represent. The news of two deaths that the Paden family of Trumbull County, Ohio, received from a Washington, D.C., military hospital humanizes the numbers and offers a poignant story worthy of Agee’s novel.
"he died happy" Pennsylvania-born farmer Robert T. Paden and his wife, Irishborn Sarah West Paden, and their seven children moved from Pymatuning, Mercer County, Pennsylvania (where he owned a small farm) across the state line to Orangeville, Ohio, just before the outbreak of civil war in 1861. The three oldest sons, James (born 1837), William (born 1839), and Thomas Francis, or “Frank” (born 1841), enlisted eventually in different branches of Pennsylvania troops. Possibly a result of reduced family circumstances, the eldest daughter, Mary Ellen or “Mollie” (born 1843), worked as a domestic servant with other families, and youngest daughter, Melissa Jane or “Millie” (born 1846), lived with relatives during the war years. On February 17, 1863, Robert Paden died at the age of 50. Mollie wrote to her brother William, a corporal in the 10 th Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry in Virginia, to break the news and assure him that their father “died happy,” endured his suffering without complaint, and was resigned to his death. In contrast, “it was all the neighbors could do to keep mother alive when he died she fainted three times and then cramped but they got her up and gave her cloroform and put her asleep when she awaked she was perfectly calm and reconciled,” Mollie wrote. “Wm just imaggin our feelings Father a corpse on the bed and Mother so bad of we have bin through that we never did before and we are alone and oh how lonely for he was always here being sick so long and now he is no where to be found. bee a good boy write often I stil hope you can get a furlow…”
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William replied that he could not obtain a furlough to come home and noted that his father had not told him to “take a French” (“French leave,” or go AWOL). “I am sure that Father is gone where there is no storms where it is summer all the time and where there is no war, nothing but joy and peace for ever.” With three sons in the army, the opening of another season of military campaigns gave Sarah Paden and her daughters renewed cause for anxiety. On April 5, William told sister Mollie that “an early campaign and a heavy move” seemed imminent but assured her that “The army appears to think they will be successful.” He notified Millie on April 28 that they “have marching orders to start tomorrow morning for the front.” Because their mail was to be stopped for 60 days, he asked her to “Please tell our folks that if they do not hear from me that that is no sign that I am dead.” Then the waiting began. William wrote again on May 3, days before the Battle of the Wilderness and the beginning of the grueling Overland Campaign. “Sister Mary, it is with the blessing of god that I have the power to inform you that I am still alive,” he wrote Mollie “in haste” on May 13 “from Rifle Pit in the Woods.” He told her that they had eight days of fighting and marching, without heavy loss. On May 20 he acknowledged receipt of seven letters. “This is the hardest campaign we ever had,” he told sister Mollie, but leavened that report with good news: “I have the pleasure to invite you to not write any more to me, for we expect to go to the state [Pennsylvania] as soon as this campaign is over.”
(Above) A letter written by William Paden on July 13, 1861 to his family. Image: ACWM collection "Crossing the North Anna River." Pencil illustration. Image: Library of Congress
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"your dear brother
Wm is very low. He must die"
Instead of a joyous reunion with their brother, the Paden siblings received the kind of news they had long dreaded. In her diary entry for June 5th Mollie noted that, after a busy day of activities, she “came home in the evening & heard Wm was wounded” Two days later, her diary offered an ominous update: “letter in the afternoon mail from Finly Hospital Wm severely wounded” Having survived the brutal fighting in the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, William had been wounded on May 23rd, on the first day of the three-day battle of the North Anna River.
The letter was from W. W. Winchester, the chaplain of the Finley Hospital in Washington, D.C. Dated June 3rd, it informed Sarah Paden that William was “very low & not likely to live many days, He has a fearful wound on his right leg from a shell bruising very severely. It has started bleeding, & a few days ago, the surgeons were obliged to tie an artery at the thigh to prevent his immediate death But he is too weak to bear amputation.” “He does not complain now of pain, but grows weaker,” Winchester continued. “I can assure you Madam he speaks like one who is trusting in the Savior, I see him every day & pray with him. He is comforted & calm.”
An Illustration of Finley U.S. General Hospital, Washington D.C. 1864 Image: Library of Congress
William’s sisters wrote him a letter on June 8. “Oh dear what news this is My dashing Brother,” wrote Millie. “I pray to God that you will be spared to come Home…Your dear Mother is weeping all the time. Oh if you could come home with one limb” Mollie reiterated that “Mother is taking it very hard it seems as thought she could not give you up for as long as there is life there is hope”
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Although he was stationed in Alexandria, Virginia, a few miles away from Finley Hospital, eldest brother James learned of William’s wounding in a letter from his sister. The day after receiving the letter, he went “on hunt of him” and found him. The account he gave was much more optimistic than that of Chaplain Winchester. William “was glad to see me…I think that he will get well a gane….He has quite a good nurse. I am going to see him to morrow a gane or next day William told me to wright and tell ma not to fret for he thought he would get well in corse of a month….” “[G]lorious news letter from James & a young man in the Finly Hospital,” gushed Mollie in her diary on June 18th. “Wm living & likely to recover” June 20 was William’s [23rd] birthday. “Williams birth day poor boy hes far from here suffering Oh! that I was with him,” Mollie noted. Chaplain Winchester confirmed to sister Millie that James was visiting William often, but also confessed “surprise and indignation” at James’ failure to keep his family informed about William. Winchester also dissented from James’ prognosis. Winchester repeated that William was “very low” and “must die.” The leg had become so mortified that it proved necessary, after all, to amputate it above the knee. The chaplain waxed poetical about his love and admiration for William, who is “worthy the love of any sister.” After apologizing that “you have been kept in such suspense,” Winchester penned an addendum that could only have exacerbated the suspense and anxiety. “I have just seen your brother since writing the above,” he wrote the next morning. “He is better than I expected, He is stronger than he was a few days ago, I should say it is possible he may survive. I dare not state my hope any stronger” Nurse Leonora Clark expressed similar guarded optimism in a letter to Mrs. Paden. The surgeon in charge “has taken a most kind and Brotherly interest” in William, and she has “felt from the first day that he came in to the Ward that I could not do to much for him I can well imagine that all that know him love him…I have been thinking today that the kind Father has been moved by your prayers and tears and so has moved my heart to try constantly to fill so far as possible your place too him I cannot give you much incouragement he is so very weak I can only hope for your and his sake that he may recover” Sister Millie wrote to William on the evening of Sunday, June 26th, reacting to the “good news” conveyed by a returned comrade that William was improving. She confirmed that “James dont write very often he has not written to us but once since you was wounded” and that they had not heard anything in almost two weeks. Mother “would like to go to you but I fear the Travels & excitement would overcome her.” But, she added, “you need not be surprised if you see me walking up to your bedside some day I wish you would speak to your Nurse & tell her to write and let me know what chance there would be for me there. …I have always had a desire to go to the Hospital & do something for the soldiers & I think that now is the time to go while you are there. Oh if I could just go & take care of you.” Millie’s resolution to “do something for the soldiers” may not have been out of character, but it was not something she expressed in her earlier surviving letters. The portrait that emerges from those letters is of a 19th-century “material girl” concerned primarily with dresses, bonnets, perfumes, and flirtations with young men. She soon got her wish and left a few days later for Washington as the family emissary and to try to obtain work in the hospital.
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“Independence day Oh! day of trouble,” wrote Mollie in her diary on July 4th. “Received the sad sad letter from the chaplain Wm gone to rest” She also appended a note to her entry for June 25th: “Oh! William died tonight we knew it not oh dear dear” The letter from Chaplain Winchester, dated June 26 – the same day that Millie had written to her brother – informed Mrs. Paden that “Your dear Son Wm Paden, for whom you & we have been anxious these past few weeks finished his Earthly sufferings & Entered into rest last night.” He described William’s final hours and assured his mother that “I can not doubt that he died the death of a true believer, His language from the first has been uniform & full of trust in Christ.” James had been to visit but was not present at William’s deathbed. “Your Son appeared to be gaining in strength slowly until this fearfully hot weather. He was a noble hearted boy. May God comfort & sustain you in this great loss is the prayer of Your’s in Christ.” END Dr. Coski served as the Museum’s staff historian and the Director of the Eleanor S. Brockenbrough Library and Archives for more than 30 years.
The letter written to Sarah Paden by Chaplain Winchester on June 26, 1864, informing her that William had died of his wounds. Image: ACWM Collection
The next issue of the magazine will include part two of "Two Deaths in the Family."
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Civics 101 The Inaugural Virginia Declaration of Learning Program
As the sesquicentennial approaches
(250 th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence in 2026), momentum to strengthen civic education across the nation has spurred the creation of professional development programs aimed at helping educators integrate civics into their classrooms. In 2021, the American Civil War Museum partnered with the Chrysler Museum of Art, Diplomatic Reception Room, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the Virginia Department of Education, and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture to launch the inaugural yearlong Virginia Declaration of Learning program. The Virginia Declaration of Learning is a product of the Declaration of Learning initiative launched on January 30, 2013, by the Department of State and Diplomatic Reception Rooms in conjunction with eleven other government agencies and organizations. The goal of the initiative is to collaborate with state and local institutions to facilitate professional development programs that utilize their respective collections to help educators create object-based lesson plans. Each partner institution selects objects that evoke stories of civic engagement and inspire students to recognize the importance of playing an active role in their communities.
The program is open to 4th-12th grade teachers of art, social studies, language arts, gifted and talented, special education, and ESL/ELL as well as librarians and media specialists. There are also no parameters on school type. The application process for the program gauged each educator’s interest in civic engagement and object-based learning. The ACWM and its partner organizations invited 30 educators to participate out
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By Leah Baer Photos by John Dixon
of a pool of 116 applicants. The VDOL partners divided the participants into six regional teams and assigned each one a mentor who participated in the Arkansas Declaration of Learning program. After a year of planning, the Summit (or workshop portion of the program) commenced virtually on July 19th and concluded on July 23rd. The objects selected by the American Civil War museum were the Van Lew Plate and Saucer, the Battle Flag of the 49th North Carolina Infantry, a “Measuring Rod” Textbook Evaluation Pamphlet, the Chesterfield County Poll Book, and the Great Seal of the Confederacy. Throughout the week each museum partner shared their respective objects and led sessions that delved into new pedagogical techniques. After surveying the objects, educators selected one from each institution to create a unit plan, daily lesson plan, and a civic engagement plan. The Chesterfield County Poll Book proved to be one of the most popular ACWM objects among the cohort. William Shuman, a social studies educator at Cosby High School in Chesterfield County, used the poll book to guide a discussion about the history of voting limitations and the impetus for an inspiring student-led civic engagement project. Students in one of Shuman’s classes mobilized to increase voter turnout in Chesterfield County. The students divided themselves into teams and
Ana Edwards welcomes the VDOL participants and gives a brief history of the Tredegar Ironworks. Ana also lead tours of Brown's Island. (Left and above) VDOL participants examine a group of carte-de-viste images from the Motley Collection.
Robert Hancock, ACWM Senior Curator, talks about the significance of selected artifacts to the topic of civic engagement.
designated tasks such as creating a social media plan and conducting outreach to help people living in senior living communities vote. The regional teams met throughout the week and frequently during the academic school year to work on and review their plans. Despite only meeting virtually, the educators forged strong bonds that were unequivocal when they gathered at Mount Vernon on February 3 for a weekend of site visits. After spending a day at Mount Vernon that included exploring the grounds and presentations, the group traveled to Richmond to visit the ACWM and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. Their visit at the ACWM entailed a self-guided tour of “A People’s Contest,” a brief walk to Brown’s Island to see the recently unveiled Emancipation and Freedom monument, and a preview of some of the artifacts that will be included in the 2022-2023 VDOL program.
(Top-bottom) Van Lew Plate and Saucer, Great Seal of the Confederacy, Chesterfield County, VA Poll Book. Photos: ACWM Collection
The VDOL program brings the collection of the American Civil War Museum into classrooms throughout the state. The students that are touched through this program will not only develop criticalthinking skills through object-based learning but also be inspired to become more civically engaged in their communities. END
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s s e n t i W s e i t i c o r t to A to Atrocities
By Chris Graham
Historian Peter Carmichael has studied the local memory of the Stony Creek Raid through Sussex County, Virginia and has
discovered that few, if any, people in that place remember it.
Image: Librar y of Congress.
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Stony Creek Depot
In the cold December of 1864
, during the siege of Petersburg, United States General in Chief Ulysses Grant determined to probe the strength of the Army of Northern Virginia after General Jubal Early’s divisions rejoined it following their disastrous turn in the Shenandoah Valley. Along the way, if the probe could disrupt one of the remaining supply lines— the Weldon Railroad—that sustained Lee’s army, so much the better. Major General Gouverneur K. Warren led one cavalry and three infantry divisions directly south toward the Virginia-North Carolina border. After passing through Sussex Court House and over the Nottoway River, Warren’s soldiers began tearing up railroad track. They eventually destroyed 17 miles before they began a judicious retreat in the face of General A.P. Hill’s rapidly approaching Confederate infantry force that had been dispatched to obstruct the Federal advance.
Nottoway River
Weldon Railroad
Sussex Courthouse
(Above) A map of Sussex and Southampton counties, Virginia. 1863. Image: Library of Congress. (Left) Wood-cut illustration. "General Warren's raid–Soldiers making a Greek Cross (the Fifth Corps badge) out of the heated rails of the Weldon Railroad." Published in Harper's Weekly, 1864. Image: Library of Congress.
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Image courtesy of Andrew Hagenbuch. Hagenbuch.org
First-hand Account Benjamin “Ben” Del Fel Hagenbuch was a private in the U.S. Army, Company C of the 210th Pennsylvania Infantry. He wrote several letters to his wife throughout years of service. Below is an excerpt from one letter dated December 13, 1864 detailing his experiences in the Stony Creek raid: … [We] continued our march until we reached the Weldon Road about 8 o'clock and commenced tearing it up until 12 at night then we rested until morning then at it again until 12 o'clock that night. We tore up about 40 miles of railroad then turned to come back with the rebs in hot pursuit. We burnt every thing on our way: mansions, granaries, courthouses, churches, and fences, nothing but destruction. Oh, but it was awful to hear the poor women begging of the soldiers to leave their cattle, pigs, and poultry. But no, not anything that was made to eat escaped, and I do not believe there is many chickens or cattle on the road. God being my helper, I never was off the road after anything, nor was I in a house, nor could I have the heart. Many of them payed for it with their lives, for on our road back there was 15 of our men found with their throats cut. Some shot all stragglers that were behind. The rear guard fell in the hands of the [Confederate] Bushwhackers and guerrillas… Transcript of the letter provided by Andrew Hagenbuch. Letters from Ben Del Fel Hagenbuch are housed at Auburn University Library’s Civil War Diaries and Letters Collection: https://content.lib.auburn.edu/ digital/collection/civil2/id/27555
Not mentioned in official reports, but revealed through sometimes cryptic references in personal correspondence, was the fact that the lines of advance and retreat were marked by rampant drunkenness of U.S. soldiers, the guerrilla murders of U.S. soldiers by Confederate partisans, at least one rape by a U.S. officer, if not more, and the burning of numerous homes. These sort of events were common in frontier places like Missouri or in smaller scenes in Kentucky or the North Carolina mountains. But murder and rape on the battle lines between the Confederate and United States premier field armies in Virginia? On this front, supposedly, two noble armies had been locked in a gentlemanly, if bloody, fight. Only recently has the killing of Black soldiers by their Confederate captors in the eastern theater become common knowledge. But instances of brutality are still rare in public memory. Perhaps it’s for this reason that folks in Sussex don’t remember the Stony Creek Raid. continued on next page
Sketch of a burned house with a body on the porch. Image: Library of Congress.
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But one
witness , if mute, survived.
10 inches
This doll, manufactured in Germany by J.D. Kestner, belonged to Anne Brown Mayes, the nine year old daughter of Irvin and Martha Ann Mayes of Sussex County. Irvin Brown had started as a planter in Sussex before becoming a merchant there in 1850. After his marriage in 1853 and the birth of Anne Brown, the family relocated to Petersburg in 1860; although, they may have maintained a family home and business in Sussex. If so, they possibly retreated there when the siege enveloped their adopted home town in the summer of 1864. According to Betty Mayes Tredway—Anne Brown’s sister who donated the doll to the museum (and who had not yet been born at the time of the events she narrated)—Anne Brown taunted U.S. soldiers on their line of march with this doll, calling out “hurray for General Beauregard,” the name Anne Brown had given the figurine. Betty Mayes Tredway claimed that the Mayes home itself had been “destroyed by fire, by the ruthless hands of the Yankees.” Another document in the item history file suggests that the doll had been the sole survivor of the fire and that the doll itself had been burned. Though that claim is not supported by the physical evidence (the doll showing no signs of having been through a fire), it is entirely possible that the Mayes home was one of the residences burned.
Photo: ACWM 3 inches
See “General Beauregard” on exhibit in A People’s Contest at ACWM-Tredegar in Richmond, Virginia. Photo: John Dixon, ACWM
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Following the war, the Mayes family lived in Petersburg. Anne Brown died in 1880, unmarried and of unknown causes. Betty Tredway eventually moved to Hicksford, now known as Emporia, and became a member of the Greensville Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She donated this doll to the Confederate Museum in 1925, “hoping this will serve as a relic, from the ‘Land that Used to Be,’ and that it may find a permanent dwelling in our museum…” Artifacts such as this doll—along with documentary research—can often be witness to what people so easily forget. END
Chris Graham is the ACWM Curator of Exhibitions
An article in the Richmond News Leader from October 2, 1925 announcing the donation of the doll to the Museum. Image: Library of Virginia
Dr. Peter Carmichael’s report on his Stony Creek Raid research can be found at https://tinyurl.com/Stony-Creek-Raid.
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SUMMER PROGRAMS 5/9 5/12 5/22 5/26 6/30 9/21 &22
Nathan Hall, NPS Ranger Emily Lapisardi, Actor U.S. Fleet Forces Woodwind Quintet Nick Saccot, NPS Ranger Scott L. Mingus and Joseph L. Owen Dr. Joan Waugh, UCLA professor emeritus
acwm.org/events/
We at the American Civil War Museum
find ourselves, once more, in the process of transitioning our programing from completely virtual to a mix of both, so please pay close attention when examining our offerings. We held our first in-person History Happy Hour in March and will round out the season with our last one on May 9 given by Ranger Nathan Hall on “The Richmond Resistance.” May will be a busy month with three other events: On May 12 at 6:00 p.m. join us at our Appomattox location to hear Emily Lapisardi talk about her annotated and edited edition of Rose Greenhow’s My Imprisonment.
Stop by ACWM Richmond on May 22, to enjoy a free concert in the lobby from the U.S. Fleet Forces Woodwind Quintet.
Join us virtually on May 26 at 6:30 for a presentation by Nick Sacco, Park Ranger at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, Missouri.
As our kickoff event in this bicentennial year of Grant’s birth, Nick will delve into “Myths, Stories, and Realities” in the life of Ulysses S. Grant. We will round out the yearlong commemoration of Grant’s birth with two in-person programs on September 21 and 22 in Richmond and Appomattox, respectively. These programs with feature noted historian and UCLA professor emeritus, Dr. Joan Waugh, author of the prize-winning U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth, (University of North Carolina Press, 2009). More information will be forthcoming soon. On June 30, we will continue our virtual book talks with authors Scott L. Mingus and Joseph L. Owen. Join us virtually as they talk about their recent book Unceasing Fury: Texans at the Battle of Chickamauga. Stay tuned for more by visiting our programs page.
Historian Advisory Council Formed
Engaging with scholars and leaders for the next generation of historians. The museum is always looking to bring our patrons more in depth experiences surrounding the Civil War and its aftermath. To this end, we have formed an Historian Advisory Council consisting of scholars from across the United States who are recognized authorities in the field. Their expertise spans the full range of topics within the umbrella of Civil War history. The eleven participants also include those whose body of work through their career has shaped current scholarship of the era, as well as those who are leaders expanding our understanding as part of the next generation of historians. The council will be a standing body that can help ensure that ACWM is a leading resource of the Civil War era. They will offer advice on Museum projects and initiatives such as programs or exhibits drawn from the latest, most accurate understanding of the history. They will also keep us apprised of trends or questions in scholarship related to the Civil War era, connect us to a broader network of scholars, and strategize on how the Museum can support the academic community in turn. 26
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David Blight, Yale University
Aaron Sheehan-Dean, LSU
Wayne Hseih, U.S. Naval Academy
Kathryn Shively, VCU
Caroline Janney, University of Virginia
Manisha Sinha, University of Connecticut
Andrew Lang, Mississippi State University
Joan Waugh, UCLA
Kate Masur, Northwestern University
Kidada Williams, Wayne State University
Tamika Nunley, Cornell University
A
VAGABOND COMPANY of
HARLOTS ARTFUL DODGERS and
The New Richmond Theatre
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It all started with a little
spark.. spark
Then, a box of fireworks, used in the previous night’s performance, exploded. John Hewitt, the stage manager of the Richmond Theatre who had lodgings in the building, described the scene: “Suddenly there were several loud explosions and I thought I heard the roar of flames. I immediately jumped up, opened the door of the office and found the entire stage and the proscenium wrapt in the fiery element. The heat was intense, and the flames like hungry serpents were twisting around the columns that supported the family circle of boxes…and tongues of fire lapped the damask curtains of the private boxes.” The Richmond Theatre was no more. According to The Daily Dispatch the theatre was a complete wreck with nothing left but a portion of the walls. Arson was suspected. Thousands of dollars’ worth of scenery, props, and costumes were lost. But like a Phoenix from the flames, Elizabeth Magill, the owner, immediately started to rebuild the theatre on the ashes of the old. Richmond had a long history of “legitimate” theater. The Marshall Theatre, later known as the Richmond Theatre, was built on the corner of 7th and Broad Streets in 1818 and had seen many of the leading lights of American theater on its stage, including the 1821 premiere performance of Junius Brutus Booth, the father of the infamous John Wilkes. All the Booth boys, John Wilkes and his brothers Edwin and Junius, Jr., would tread the boards of the Marshall before the war. In 1861, despite the war, the Richmond Theatre was in full swing. Since November, John Hill Hewitt had offered the ever growing population of the Confederate capital dramas and farces such as “Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady,” “How to Win a Husband,” and “Romeo and Juliet,” interspersed with musical and dance numbers. Many of the best theater people had fled north of the Mason-Dixon Line at the beginning of hostilities, so Hewitt was hard pressed to put together a company of performers.
John Wilkes, Edwin, and Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., shown here in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, played the Richmond Theatre before the war.
I was induced by friends to undertake the management of the Richmond Theatre, one of the oldest and best appointed establishments of the kind,” he wrote after the war. “The chance for making money was good…. But, how to gather a company was the question. I, however, managed in a short time to collect enough of the fag-ends of dismantled companies to open the theatre with a passable exhibition of novelty, if not of talent. The thing took well, and money flowed into the treasury, but often had I cause to upbraid myself for having fallen so low in my own estimation, for I had always considered myself a gentleman, and I found that, in taking the control of this theatre and its vagabond company, I had forfeited any claims to a respectable stand in the ranks of society — with one or two exceptions, the company I had engaged was composed of harlots and ‘artful dodgers.’ (Above) John Hill Hewitt (1801-1890) was the Richmond Theater’s first wartime manager after the departure of Kunkel and Moxley’s company in the spring of 1861. He was a songwriter, poet, playwright, essayist, and musician. He is probably best remembered for writing the song “All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight.”
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So, Hewitt’s vagabond company played their parts as best they could with the women, due to a lack of sufficient actors, taking on some of the male parts. Reviews were generally favorable, if not gushing with praise, and money was rolling in. However, fate is a fickle muse and just as things were looking up the theater burned down. “Immediately on the destruction of the Richmond Theatre,” wrote Hewitt, “I engaged the old Trinity Church, gave it the title of the ‘Richmond Varieties’ and continued to attract crowded houses.” The Varieties was located close to the Exchange and Ballard hotels, which ensured a constant influx of customers. “Taken collectively the little theatre on Franklin Street presents many attractions to a person who desires to pass an evening pleasantly,” wrote the Richmond Dispatch. “The Dramatic Company at the Varieties having succeeded admirably in the representation of light pieces, will commence this week with discreet
“a fawning sycophant, with just enough brains to know how to fascinate a frail woman…”
selections from the ‘legitimate drama.’” The bowdlerized versions of Shakespeare’s plays could always ensure legitimacy. “During the past week the little Theatre [The Varieties] has been literally crammed; the audiences have been orderly, and everything tends to make it an attractive place of amusement. The Willow Copse, Macbeth, and Richard III have been produced with good effect.” Meanwhile, work continued on building the new theater, which was advertised as being even more magnificent than the old one.
Hewitt, however, did not await the completion of the new theater. Whether he fell out of favor with the owner, Mrs. Magill, or just needed a change of scenery—for actors are cosmopolites and claim citizenship nowhere—he left Richmond for a theater in Augusta, Georgia. Management of the Richmond Theatre players fell to Richard D’Orsey Ogden, an actor in the company whom Hewitt described as “a fawning sycophant, with just enough brains to know how to fascinate a frail woman and keep himself from the clutches of the conscript officer.” More on that later. On February 9, 1863, a little more than a year after the old theater burned down, the New Richmond Theatre opened its doors to the public, “unequaled for elegance and comfort.” It was four stories tall with a Greek revival front of fluted columns. A central pit with benches was surrounded by raised, horseshoe-shaped rows of balcony seating. The seats and backs were cushioned and divided by cast-iron scrolls. The stage was sixty-one feet deep, on either side of which, between the footlights and curtain, were four private boxes within the proscenium flanked by more Corinthian columns. Every care was taken to make each seat in the building desirable, which was not the case in the old Theatre. continued on next page
Broadside for the New Richmond Theatre The Richmond Theatre continued to be a venue for entertainment after the war—even hosting Oscar Wilde during his U.S. lecture tour— until it was demolished in 1896. T H E A M ER I C A N CI V I L WA R M US EU M
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“The dialogue is stupid, the incidents stale, and the plot ridiculous.”
Their inaugural production was Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Reviews, however, were not favorable. One critic stated flatly that “As You Like It was ‘not as we like it.’” Richard D’Orsey Ogden, the new manager, was not off to a great start. The Southern Illustrated News was probably the theater’s harshest critic. “We laugh at the tragedies and are disposed to weep over comedies and farces,” they stated. “Hamlet’s advice to the players is nightly ignored, and managerial skill woefully lacking.” “Will this company never learn their respective parts? It seems that were they to repeat any one piece till doomsday the prompter would still be the most important personage in the dramatis personae.” In defense of the actors, the theater was open six days a week and often performed upwards of 10 different plays and one-act farces a week not including the dance and musical interludes. Original war dramas were popular and, according to Hewitt, “replete with the most gushing patriotism.” Occasionally this gushing patriotism turned violent and some audience members had to be reminded that the “Yankees” they saw on the stage were only actors playing a part. When The Virginia Cavalier premiered, The Southern Illustrated News did not hold back its disdain. Penned by an anonymous “Captain,” (actually Capt. Alexander, a member of General Winder’s dreaded military police enforcing martial law in Richmond) “’Twas the same old story of ‘virtue rewarded—villainy foiled’—interspersed with singing and dancing. As the plot began to unfold itself, some of the literary gentlemen groaned inadvertently, and despondingly moved toward the door….The dialogue is stupid, the incidents stale, and the plot ridiculous.” The critics obviously held little sway with the public as The Virginia Cavalier became the greatest hit of the Confederate stage. The editors of the Richmond Whig lamented the “elevation of the drama” that seemed to be nightly ignored at the theater. “The thing is impossible!” they wrote. “The stage is controlled by persons whose primary object is to put money in their purses. They, occasionally, make a pretense of ‘elevating the drama’ by presenting some standard play which will afford intellectual entertainment to ‘judicious’ playgoers, but the moral lessons of such a performance are sure to be neutralized by meretricious dance, a vulgar farce, or double entendre.” Despite what the critics might think, the theater’s manager, Richard D’Orsey Ogden, knew how to attract an audience. Ogden gave them The Angel of Death! Just the sort of thing the drama critics deplored. Reviews were mixed, but most decried the cheap sensationalism and, to some, the blasphemous content. Ogden, ever the opportunist, printed side by side both good and bad reviews, inviting the audience to decide for themselves. Thus, he packed the house, with many eager to catch a glimpse of Miss Katie Estelle’s appearance as not only the Angel of Death but also as the personification of “Love,” minus her pasteboard wings and in a flesh-colored costume that “began too late and left off too soon.”
Newspaper advertisement for the May 9, 1864, premiere of The Ghost of the Dismal Swamp!
“D’Ogden [the Examiner’s regular perversion of Richard D’Orsey Ogden’s name] as the ‘moral elevator,’ has descended from the high perch to which he promised to raise the drama, and has gone down into the slough of bawdery [sic] and of ribaldry, and made the temple of Thespis a cesspool of excrement and foul vapours.” Plunging necklines and bare legs were just the beginning. “The illegitimate and spectacular drama has long ago supplanted the legitimate,” lamented the newspapers. The next spectacle offered was The Ghost of the Dismal Swamp, a play especially written to exhibit the new technology able to produce on stage the spectral image of a translucent apparition. The illusion was known as “Pepper’s Ghost” (named after
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the 19th century patentee). A strong light was shone upon an actor below the stage which was reflected on a large piece of glass set at an angle on the stage. The newspapers stated that The New Richmond Theatre spent $19,000 setting up the apparatus. The “ghost” was a subject of great wonder to all who saw it. The critics, of course, hated it. “It [the ghost] was first produced in a play written especially for its representation, ‘The Ghost of the Dismal Swamp,’ and a very dismal piece it was, bearing the unmistakable earmarks of the ‘unknown Captain,’ [Capt. Alexander, the author of the Virginia Cavalier] booted and spurred. Shakespeare says, ‘the play is the thing,’ but in this case the play was nothing—a huge mass of words, formed into a variety of ungrammatical and unmeaning sentences, which could have had their origins nowhere else but in the brain of the ‘unknown Captain.’” No matter, Ogden used the illusion whenever he could whether or not a play called for it.
The crowds flooded in as did the cash. All seemed to be going swimmingly for “Count D’Orsey.” That is before the conscript officers showed up. The Richmond Whig reported: “The conscript officer has been after the players at our two places of public amusement— the [New Richmond] Theatre and Metropolitan Hall—with a sharp stick. On Friday, Mr. Ogden, of the Theatre, and Mr. Thorpe, late an actor at the same popular place of resort, were arrested by him and taken to Camp Lee.” Ogden took the case to court, claiming he was an English subject with papers from the British consulate to prove it. After many long speeches from both sides (Ogden’s lawyer siting the 1794 treaty between the United States and Great Britain which protected domiciled Englishmen from conscription, perhaps forgetting that he was sitting in a Confederate States courtroom), the judge decided Ogden was a fit subject for conscription into the army. continued on next page
Ida Vernon (1843-1923) was 18 years old when she first performed on the Richmond Theatre stage. She performed with Kate Estelle the roles of Romeo and Juliet. “As an actress Miss Vernon undoubtedly claims preeminence in her profession….In everything that calls forth the gentlest sensibilities of the heart she is ‘all heart herself.’” (Below) An illustration of Pepper’s Ghost effect.
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Despite the court’s ruling, Ogden decided he did not wish to join the army and hopped on a train heading north. Authorities caught up with him at Bowling Green, Virginia, but, according to a newspaper report, “Ogden leaped from the cars as gracefully as he ever leaped from the tower in ‘The Romance of a Poor Young Man,’ and on gaining ground, took to the woods, much to the chagrin of his custodians.” He was finally caught, brought ignominiously back to Richmond, and put in prison. He was soon put on the sick list. The papers reported with ill-hidden sarcasm and with tongues firmly in cheeks that Ogden had been transferred from his prison cell to a hospital “where he can be furnished by his friends with the delicacies of the season—things he has been used to and can’t do without. It is said Ogden is to be severely reprimanded by the military authorities for allowing himself to be caught.” Well, the war soon ended, and Ogden found himself back on the stage apparently none the worse for wear.
Actor & Soldier Shell jacket worn by Edwin Forrest “Beau” Barnes while serving with the Richmond Howitzers. Whether he was named after the famous actor Edwin Forrest is unknown, but he followed his namesake onto the stage and performed in Richmond before enlisting in the Confederate army. According to Barnes, “Mr. R. D. Ogden, our manager, was an overbearing and domineering character.” Barnes married Jennie Partington, sister of Sallie, Kate, and Mary Partington. All the Partington sisters performed at the Richmond Theatre during the war. Jennie tragically died in 1862. Sallie Partington (18341907) One of her greatest stage triumphs was “The Little Highwayman” (aka “Highwayman’s Holiday”), a play by Thomas Sullivan. “Here, Miss Partington appeared in high cavalry boots, spurs a yard long, riding crop, and a cocked hat. Naturally of scant stature, she appeared in this toggery like Puss in Boots and never failed to bring down the house.” She thought John Wilkes Booth the most talented of the family of actors and always maintained that he was never captured, but had escaped to Australia after the assassination of Lincoln.
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The Richmond Theatre had survived a devastating fire, soaring inflation, bad acting, hostile critics, the loss of actors to the army or to the theaters in the north, ersatz costumes, and the “best abused” manager in America. Yet, even the poorest exhibition could not help drawing a crowd. From a theatrical production point of view, those four years in the history of the Richmond Theatre probably deserve to be forgotten. However, it served its purpose of entertaining a war-weary public and gave the newspapers something to write about other than the latest slaughter on the battlefield. In trying times, people needed to be amused and entertained. The quality of the production did not matter. The Richmond Whig may have summed it up best when they opined: “We believe the audience generally were as well satisfied as they expected to be.” High praise, indeed. END Robert Hancock is the museum’s Senior Curator and Director of the Collections Department and would have loved to have seen the over-acting Ogden’s personation of Othello. For further reading, he highly recommends Richard Harwell’s Brief Candle: The Confederate Theatre, reprinted from the proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 1971 which is available online through Google Books.
Recent
Donation The museum has recently acquired a series of nine watercolor and two pencil sketches made by Horace Rawdon while serving as a musician with the 105th Ohio Infantry. These sketches chronicle his involvement with the army in Tennessee and Georgia as they fought their way to Atlanta, a major supply hub for Confederate forces in the area. Stay tuned for more about Rawdon and his paintings in a future issue of the magazine. Detail of Rawdon’s depiction of the battle at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, November 25, 1863.
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Books Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War
Bonds of War: How Civil War Financial Agents Sold the World on the Union
By Roger Lowenstein
By David K. Thomson
Roger Lowenstein reveals the largely untold story of how Lincoln used the urgency of the Civil War to transform a union of states into a nation. Through a financial lens, he explores how this second American revolution, led by Lincoln, his cabinet, and a Congress studded with towering statesmen, changed the direction of the country and established a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
This fascinating work of financial and political history during the Civil War era shows how the marketing and sale of bonds crossed the Atlantic to Europe and beyond, helping ensure foreign countries’ vested interest in the Union’s success. David K. Thomson demonstrates how Europe, and ultimately all corners of the globe, grew deeply interdependent on American finance during, and in the immediate aftermath of, the American Civil War.
Publisher: Penguin Press (March 8, 2022) Hardcover: 448 pages; SKU: 154526 Retail: $30.00; Member: $27.00
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (April 12, 2022) Paperback: 288 pages; SKU: 154527 Retail: $29.95; Member: $26.96
Rose Greenhow’s My Imprisonment: An Annotated Edition By Emily Lapisardi This scholarly edition of her 1863 memoirs enhances her work for the first time with copious footnotes, a complete index, and an introduction. Annotations by Greenhow reveal her intelligence and political savvy and afford fascinating insights into wartime Washington, D.C. Credited by General P. G.T. Beauregard with providing intelligence crucial to the southern victory at the First Battle of Bull Run, Greenhow was subsequently arrested and imprisoned for nearly a year. Her book describes her arrest and imprisonment in detail and speaks eloquently to her role as an active participant in a turbulent era. This edition presents Greenhow’s remarkable narrative within a contextual framework for the modern reader. Publisher: Winston Lewis Publishing (May 1, 2021) Hardcover: 400 pages ; SKU: 154551 Retail: $45.00; Member: $40.50
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Benjamin Franklin Butler: A Noisy, Fearless Life By Elizabeth D. Leonard Prize-winning biographer Elizabeth D. Leonard chronicles Butler’s successful career in law, his achievements as one of Abraham Lincoln’s premier civilian generals, and his role in developing wartime policy in support of slavery’s fugitives as the nation advanced toward emancipation. Leonard also highlights Butler’s personal and political evolution, revealing how his limited understanding of racism and the horrors of slavery transformed over time, leading him into a postwar role as one of the nation’s foremost advocates for Black freedom and civil rights, and one of its notable opponents of white supremacy and neo-Confederate resurgence. Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (May 24, 2022) Hardcover: 392 pages; SKU: 154528 Retail: $36.00; Member Price: $32.40
Salmon P. Chase: Lincoln’s Vital Rival By Walter Stahr Salmon P. Chase is best remembered as a rival of Lincoln’s for the Republican nomination in 1860, but there would not have been a national Republican Party and Lincoln could not have won the presidency were it not for the vital groundwork Chase laid over the previous two decades. He would also prove vital to the Civil War effort by raising the billions of dollars that allowed the Union to win the war. Drawing on previously overlooked sources, Walter Stahr sheds new light on a complex and fascinating political figure, as well as on the pivotal events of the Civil War and its aftermath. Publisher: Simon & Schuster (February 22, 2022) Hardcover: 848 pages; SKU: 154529 Retail: $35.00; Member: $31.50
The Great: “What Ifs” of the American Civil War: Historians Tackle the Conflict’s Most Intriguing Possibilities
A House Built by Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House By Jonathan W. White Jonathan White illuminates why Lincoln’s unprecedented welcoming of African American men and women to the White House transformed the trajectory of race relations in the United States. More than a good-will gesture, the president conferred with guests such as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth about the essential issues of citizenship and voting rights. Drawing from an array of primary sources, White reveals how African Americans used the White House as a national stage to amplify their calls for equality. Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (February 12, 2022) Hardcover: 288 pages; SKU: 154531 Retail: $26.00; Member: $23.40
The Cacophony of Politics: Northern Democrats and the American Civil War By J. Matthew Gallman
Each entry of this essay collection focuses on one of the most important events of the war and unpacks the options of the moment. To understand what happened, we must look with a clear and objective eye at what could have happened, with the full multitude of choices before us. These essays also explode the assumptions people make when they ask “what if ” and then jump to wishful conclusions. This collection of thoughtful essays offers not alternate histories or counterfactual scenarios, but an invitation to ask, to learn, and to wonder.
The Cacophony of Politics charts the trajectory of the Democratic Party as the party of opposition in the North during the Civil War. A comprehensive overview, this book reveals the myriad complications and contingencies of political life in the Northern states and explains the objectives of the nearly half of eligible Northern voters who cast a ballot against Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Offering a definitive account of the Democratic Party in the North, Gallman shows the limits of ideology and the ways the Civil War―and the nature of nineteenth-century political culture―confounded the Democrats’ self-image and exacerbated their divisions, especially over the central issue of slavery.
Publisher: Savas Beatie (March 4, 2022) Hardcover: 312 pages; SKU: 154536 Retail: $29.95; Member: $26.96
Publisher: University of Virginia Press (November 9, 2021) Hardcover: 416 pages; SKU: 154541 Retail: $35.00; Member: $31.50
By Chris Mackowski and Brian Matthew Jordan
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The ACWM membership program
enables us to preserve and maintain our artifacts, provide educational resources, and bring new stories and exhibitions to our visitors. Membership benefits include: Free admission to all three sites A digital subscription to the ACWM magazine A 10% discount at the ACWM Museum Shop Acknowledgment in the ACWM Annual Report Discounted tickets to ACWM events and a Membership lapel pin Other premium gifts are included based on membership level. Visit ACWM.org to learn more!
Join or renew @ ACWM.org
