January 31, 2001

HistoryChannel.com has just launched a new feature called the
HISTORYCHANNEL.COM NETWORK, which is a searchable, categorized index of the best history sites on the Web.

I am writing to invite you to submit an application for
http://www.secondwi.com/ and have it listed in our search engine and
directory.   Membership is totally FREE, and it allows you to leverage the traffic, content and brand power of HistoryChannel.com to benefit your site

January 26, 2001

Hunley Researchers Move Slowly, Viewers Disappointed 

01/24/2001
Civil War Interactive

Scientists who had hoped to begin excavating silt from inside the rear of
the Confederate submarine Hunley were delayed yesterday when it took most of
the day to move equipment into position.

Also distressed were some visitors, including out-of-town tourists, who had
hoped to see the historic first scoop.

"We thought we'd be a part of history," said Larry Renninger, of Pittsburgh,
who was visiting with his wife, Carolyn. "But we have to catch a flight out
of here tomorrow. We'll be back later, I guess."

The Reningers and the others had paid $5 to watch the exploration of the
ship on a view screen outside the lab where the vessel rests in a holding
tank. The lab has now been closed to tourists to allow the researchers to
work. Some 50,000 people toured the lab since public tours began being
offered last October, generating around $600,000 that will be applied to the
research effort, officials said.

Attempts have been made to investigate the interior of the Hunley with
everything from high-powered X-ray machines to sonographs, according to
researcher Harry Pecorelli.

"She has blocked us on every front," Pecorelli said. The silt and mud which
has filled the vessel is opaque to the wavelengths used by the team. The
interior of the sub just shows up as a white blob, they said.

They will use stainless steel spoons and trowels to dig out the first
compartment to be entered in the rear of the sub. A hole was torn in the
hull at that point, possibly decades ago, probably by a dragging ship
anchor. They anticipate this part of the project will take two weeks or so.
It is hoped that closer inspection of the inside of the rivets holding the
hull in place will make it possible to figure out how to remove them in
order to access the rest of the interior of the vessel.

Pecorelli said researchers discovered the rivets were countersunk so its
surface would be smoother and more streamlined according to reports in the
Columbia, S. C., media

An additional impediment to researchers has been the thickness of the sub's
hull, as well as a half-inch-thick gray-green concretion, a concrete-like
coating of shells, stone and sand. When X-ray machines have been used to try
to penetrate the 3-foot-wide hull, the sediment inside has served as a
natural shield, Pecorelli said.

Nine oak coffins have been brought to the warehouse adjacent to the Hunley
lab. Plans have been made to bury the sailors in the "Hunley plot" in
Charleston's Magnolia Cemetery next to two earlier crews that died in the
sub.

Civil War Interactive, 2001
www.civilwarinteractive.com

Confederate sub rises again 
The Hunley harbors clues to how 9 men died
Gregg Zoroya

01/22/2001
USA Today
(Copyright 2001)

When archaeologists this week begin exploring a Confederate submarine that
was pulled out of the ocean off Charleston, S.C., in August, there are
relics they certainly expect to find -- sidearms, an ancient depth gauge,
the Civil War-era technology that drove this famous iron-riveted craft
through the water.

They also intend to unravel the mystery of why the H.L. Hunley, operated by
eight men working at hand cranks to turn the propeller while a ninth
steered, went down after sinking a Union warship the night of Feb. 17, 1864.

But other treasures, some that researchers say may be too much to hope for,
may be inside the submersible -- clothing and personal effects of the crew,
maybe even a legendary charm that, according to history, was always kept
close by the boat's commanding officer, Lt. George Dixon.

It is said to be a $20 gold piece given to Dixon by his fiancee, one he
carried in his pocket at the Battle of Shiloh. Struck by a Union bullet in
that fight, Dixon always felt his life was saved because the ball penetrated
the coin so that it became bell-shaped, with the bullet imbedded inside.
Dixon hung on to it as a lucky amulet.

"It would be just too good to be true to have something like that actually
come out of the Hunley," says project historian Mark Ragan, whose twin
passions are submarines and the Civil War. "But I think everybody would
totally flip if they found the thing."

Up until this week, a team of underwater archaeologists, conservators and
specialized technicians have been working for months to stabilize, monitor
and map the exterior of the 40-foot craft. The Hunley has been resting in an
assembly of struts, nylon slings and foam cushions, suspended at the same
45-degree angle it was found on the ocean floor, in a 90,000-gallon tank at
the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in the Old Charleston Navy Base in
North Charleston.

Led by Robert Neyland, chief underwater archaeologist with the U.S. Navy,
the team will begin excavation efforts this week by first scooping sediment
out of a 3-by--foot gash in the starboard stern that conservators believe
may have been caused by anchor chains dragging the bottom after the Hunley
sank. After exploring the interior of this hole, which they surmise may give
them a look inside one of the ballast tanks, the team will begin the
painstaking effort of slowly drilling out rivets and removing upper-hull
iron plates from the submarine. From there, researchers intend to explore
the interior in a process that could take weeks or months, carefully
conducting studies at each step to avoid structurally damaging the craft.

Neyland says special sonar imaging developed at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology has shown that there are layers of material along the bottom
of the sub's interior, from stem to stern, particularly in the lower-sitting
forward area. The rest of the submarine is filled with oxygen-depleted silt
or sediment that might have acted as a strong preservative, Neyland says.

He believes that material could likely contain what's left of the crew and
their personal effects, perhaps even shreds of cloth and leather.

"I think the odds are extremely good that what we'll find is the skeletal
remains of the crew," says Neyland, whose underwater resume includes
recovery work on the USS Monitor and NASA's Liberty Bell 7 space capsule.

Soft tissue remains of the crew are unlikely. But not impossible. To be
prepared, the team has on hand the services of a medical examiner. With
skeletal remains, forensic scientists can possibly reconstruct what the
Confederate crew looked like.

"One of the really exciting things is going to be putting faces on these
men," says Neyland. "You can actually look into the faces of the men who
took this ship out."

The Hunley initially was a disaster as a naval weapon. Financed by a New
Orleans lawyer, Horace Lawson Hunley, the ship had sunk twice during trial
runs, killing 13 members of two crews, including Hunley. Each time it was
recovered, re-equipped and sent out again in hopes of breaking the Union
blockade of Charleston. Under Dixon's leadership, the nine men who took the
Hunley on its final mission became proficient at navigating the 7-ton
vessel, with its claustrophobic crew compartment, miles out to sea.

On Feb. 17, they successfully rammed a "torpedo" or 135-pound explosive into
the hull of the USS Housatonic, a Union warship anchored four miles
offshore. The resulting explosion sunk the steam- driven Housatonic in a
matter of minutes, killing five of its crew. But then, inexplicably, the
Hunley went down and remained undiscovered for more than 130 years, until a
team led by author and adventurer Clive Cussler located it in 1995.

Under the auspices of the Hunley Commission, a state organization formed to
raise and protect the submarine, a 600-ton crane was used to raise the
craft. It was covered in a thin, hard layer of concretion, a mixture of
corroded iron and seawater carbonates. The ship's rescuers found the craft
in remarkable condition, right down to the glass in the portholes that
remained fully intact.

"In a way," says Neyland, "it's kind of like we found the Wright brothers'
aircraft buried in the sand dunes."

GRAPHIC, B/W, Sam Ward, USA TODAY (Diagram); PHOTO, B/W, Hunley.org; PHOTO,
B/W, Barbara Volgaris; Caption: First sub to sink a ship: The Hunley is
transported to a storage tank, after 136 years at the bottom of the sea.

News
Scientists to get first look into Rebel sub Hunley
Chris Burritt
STAFF

01/21/2001
The Atlanta Journal - Constitution
Home
(Copyright, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution - 2001)

North Charleston, S.C. --- Nearly 137 years after the H.L. Hunley sank,
presumably with nine Confederate sailors aboard, archaeologists start Monday
extracting the sediment shrouding one of the Civil War's lingering
mysteries.

"What are they going to find in there?" wondered Walter Edgar, a professor
of Southern studies at the University of South Carolina.

Scientists plan to start what's expected to be a three-month excavation by
removing the densely packed sand and silt from a hole in the back of the
submarine, the first in history to sink an enemy warship. Just big enough to
put an arm inside, the hole opens into a ballast tank, not the central
section where the crew propelled the vessel with a hand crank.

To reach the crew compartment, scientists plan to cut the Hunley's
boilerplate skin and lift sections along the sub's top side, said Hunley
Commission Chairman Glenn McConnell, a Republican state senator from
Charleston.

Researchers will lower the chilled water in the green tank where the
barnacle-encrusted Hunley has been submerged since August. A crew recovered
it from 30 feet of murky water near the shipping channel leading into
Charleston Harbor.

A barge transported the sub to a North Charleston laboratory for what's
estimated to be the $17 million recovery, excavation and preservation of the
historic sub.

The Hunley was the weary Confederacy's last-ditch secret weapon against the
Union blockade of Charleston Harbor.

In the darkness of Feb. 17, 1864, it rammed the USS Housatonic with a long
battering ram affixed with 90 pounds of black powder. As it backed away, the
Hunley sank, filling with sediment and covered by sand and silt, a process
that scientists speculate could have preserved human skin and hair in
addition to the bones.

Researchers don't know whether the sediment will remain stuck together or
crumble, McConnell said. So they've taken steps to support what scientists
believe will be contents strewn with bones and artifacts such as
navigational tools, guns and possibly a gold coin, a gift to the sub's
commander, Lt. George Dixon, from his sweetheart.

"It ought to be like a time capsule," said Randy Burbage, a Hunley
Commission member who is chairman of the Confederate Heritage Trust, a
coalition of Charleston-area heritage groups. "Everything they had in there
that night ought to be in there, including the gold coin."

Working with high-tech scanning technology, scientists have mapped the hull,
which has helped them decide how to open the Hunley. Sonar images of the
sub's interior revealed bursts of gold, which researchers believe could
pinpoint artifacts and other objects with consistencies different from the
sediment.

"We got a reading that indicated there are artifacts concentrated around the
front end," said McConnell, a finding that bolsters the theory that the
Hunley sank bow first, causing the sub's contents to slide in that
direction.

In the crew compartment, he said, the sonar images "suggest there is
something there other than sediment. It gave us a very eerie feeling."

What's actually inside has been left to the imagination of the thousands of
people who've viewed the Hunley during sold-out tours of the North
Charleston lab.

The tours end today, but public viewing of the excavation will not. Cameras
in the lab will broadcast what's happening onto big- screen TVs in an
adjacent room, where Friends of the Hunley has set up a store selling Hunley
memorabilia, including books, clothing and foam can insulators.

For $5 a day, people can sit on bleachers and watch the recovery. Also, the
TV broadcast can be viewed on the Friends of the Hunley Web site by people
who purchase charter memberships.

The Web broadcast "has been one of the huge selling points," said Kellen
Butler, in charge of memberships for Friends of the Hunley. So far, more
than 4,000 people have purchased memberships, she said.

The group has sold memberships as far away as Poland, while the tours drew a
more regional crowd, including South Carolina schoolchildren and
Charlestonians such as 44-year-old Martin Jensen.

"History is always exciting," he said, especially so in this instance
because of the likelihood of human remains.

"There is a dignified way of doing things," he said, "and I think they have
done it to the best of their ability."

Burbage said officials hope to bury the remains next fall in Charleston's
Magnolia Cemetery.

> ON THE WEB: Friends of the Hunley: www.hunley.org

Thanks Scott:

 I was looking through a just-published book/CD combo called 
"The Civil War on the Web: 
A Guide to the Very Best Sites"
http://www.scholarly.com/bkdetail.asp?0-8420-2849-8>. 
 It lists only a very few Wisconsin regimental sites, but the 2nd's was one of them,
 as was my 15th.  Congratulations! -- Scott

Scott C. Meeker
15th Wisconsin Webmaster
http://www.15thwisconsin.net

January 14, 2001
Gods and Generals
Gods and Generals is the prequel to The Killer Angels, the novel upon which the film Gettysburg was based. Written by Jeff Shaara (son of Michael Shaara, author of The Killer Angels), Gods and Generals will soon be a major motion picture written and directed by Ron Maxwell.

The movie will be filmed in and around Sharpsburg, Maryland, the site of the Antietam Battlefield, and on actual historic locations in Virginia and West Virginia. 

Many of the actors from the movie Gettysburg will reprise their roles in the new film, which also features the new characters Stonewall Jackson, Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, Myra Hancock, Mary Custis Lee, and Fanny Chamberlain. 

Filming is scheduled for Summer-Fall 2001.

Gods and Generals and Jeff Shaara

http://www.ronmaxwell.com/ggenerals.html

Jeff Shaara

January 13, 2001

Notes from "If This Is War"
Gary Van Kauwenbergh

I recently reread Alan Gaff's book, "If This Is War", and thought I'd share the notes I made on some items I thought were interesting. When reading the notes, bear in mind this book only covers the period of time when the unit began forming in late April of 1881 until shortly after the battle of Bull's Run, which was fought on July 21 of that year.

1. Scott's vs. Hardee's: Gaff says the companies did start using Scott's when they began forming at Camp Randall, but mixed in Hardee's so quickly that within 2-3 months, were using nothing but Hardee's. The unit was still wearing gray when they switched completely to Hardee's. Gaff makes five references to the drill manuals the 2d Wisconsin used to train with.
A.. Page 301. [While at Camp Randall]: "The Second Wisconsin began its military training with the officers reading from General Winfield Scott's Infantry Tactics."
B. Page 98. [Early June, 1861, still at Camp Randall]: "The companies were drilled during the day after their commanders had spent the evenings mastering the intricacies of Winfield Scott's Infantry Tactics, first published in 1840, and W.J. Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, originally printed in 1855."
C. Page 155. [After reaching Virginia]: "Although the tactics of Scott and Hardee were both in vogue, Scott's manual was gradually superseded and one of the Badgers could claim, "We are drilling Hardee altogether, every movement being made in double quick time, a change which is liked very much.""
D. Page 303. July 2, 1861: "...after the regiment reached General McDowell's Army...the use of Scott's manual was gradually replaced by William J Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactic, until one Badger wrote on July 2, "We are drilling Hardee altogether.""
E. Page 293. [August 4, 1861, After Bull's Run]: "...with the arrival of [Col Edgar] O'Connor [as commander], the regimental drill was officially changed from Scott to Hardee."

2. Muskets:
A. Page 129. June 22, 1861: "that evening seven hundred and eighty Harper's Ferry muskets, with 40 rounds of buckshot were distributed equally throughout the regiment.
B. Page 145. "By he afternoon of July 1[, 1861], the entire regiment was armed with Harper's Ferry flintlock muskets that bad been altered to the percussion system.
C. Page 303. "... it was not until the Second Wisconsin marched into Virginia on July 2 that every soldier had his own musket.
D. Page 161. "Captain Colwell's Company B was issued eighty-four new Springfield rifled muskets on July 13[, 1861]."
E. Page 284: On July 23, after the battle, President Lincoln and Governor Randall review the unit, and the muskets are pronounced "unacceptable."

3. Miscellaneous:
A. Page 117: "Each man carried a knapsack bearing his company letter, a haversack and a three pint canteen covered with flannel."
B. Music in camp, page 105: "Every night when the campfires were blazing there would be groups of men gathered around amateur musicians playing the jewsharp, the bones, the banjo, the tambourine, the guitar or violin, ("drawing the tail of a horse across the bowels of a cat" as the
boys liked to call it.)"
C. Numerous references are made to the oppressive heat, and men suffering from heat stroke during the battle of Bull's Run. Even though the unit had newly issued gray cotton uniform available, but the unit wore their older gray wool uniforms during the battle. "The gray summer uniforms were
left in camp because it was felt the soldiers needed the old wool clothes to keep warm in the cool nights." (page 165)
D. The original flagstaff on the regimental national colors was broken by a cannon ball the took of the head of color bearer (page 197.) During the retreat, the colors would have been captured by confederate horsemen, except for the efforts of two musicians who threw down their instruments in defense of the colors (page 237.) The first regimental flag was not presented to the unit until after the battle (pages 288-289.)
E. Page 69. Cpt. Allen sings "The Star Spangled Banner" at a rally in Mineral Point on May 4, 1861. The song is not yet the recognized as our national anthem.

4. Humorous Quotes:
A. Page 106. "The folks in Racine were disturbed by the news that the boys of their company "played cards, drank whisky and stole chickens [on] Sundays."
B. Page 135, from Cpt. Tom Allen, concerning the regimental band: "...our brass band afforded us daily exhibitions of tunes of excruciating melody, and of marching time, to which no man, except a broken-legged cripple, could possibly keep step."
C. Page 146. "[A member of Company K], while on picket, shot a cow that failed to answer his challenge."

January 11, 2001

Thought this might interest you if you hadn't seen it already. Laurie
-----
Subject: News for a Civil War buff 1/11/2001
HOW DO WE REMEMBER THE CIVIL WAR? 
GO ONLINE TO SEE

01/10/2001
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Did you think that the Civil War ended in 1865? Not in the memory of
Missourians. Even if you are not a Civil War buff, you may be interested in learning more about how St. Louisans continue to remember the conflict. From Civil War re-enactors to Hispanic Confederates to the songs of the North and South, you will find rich historical content at the Civil War sites on our network, which you can visit at
http://communities.postnet.com/stlouis/history2

If you feel the call to serve your nonprofit organization by joining our growing network of Community Web Sites, call 314-340-8323 to find out how.

Good stories can be accurate:
The popularity of the past is proved by Jeff Shaara's historical novels
Joseph Frey
National Post
01/09/2001
National Post
>
"It's the survival of a nation's culture, if you can keep young people interested in their own history," says Jeff Shaara, historical novelist and author of the New York Times best-sellers Gods and Generals, The Last Full Measure and Gone for Soldiers.

"My generation, the Baby Boomers, in the United States broke with our history. It was no longer cool to look back; anyone who did was considered a right-wing nut. It was a generation later when people started to come back to American history, based on the PBS Civil War series, my father's novel -- The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, which won the Pulitzer Prize -- and Ted Turner's movie Gettysburg. They started realizing that when you get beyond the names, dates and places, it's interesting."

 Now 48, Jeff Shaara began writing his first novel six years ago after a successful career as a rare coin dealer. A natural storyteller, Shaara is not constrained by the academic historian's dry approach to history. "I
read historical fiction, and when it is done well, it can be superb," says Jack
Granatstein, a well-known historian who is the former director of the Canadian War Museum. "I have always admired Gore Vidal's historical novels because he makes a point of getting the history right. It seems to me that historical fiction can get both children and adults interested in the subject [in a way] that historians cannot. Historians usually write dreadfully and spoil it for many people."

Handcuffed by time constraints, many teachers, either out of routine or necessity, fall back on teaching dates, names and places, though the
current vogue is to drop dates, which deprives students of chronological context. A frequent speaker at teachers' associations, this past November, Shaara addressed the American National Convention of English Teachers. Increasingly, teachers are using his novels to teach Civil War history, since Shaara's books are historically accurate. He develops complex characters, provides insight into behind-the-scenes intrigue and in the process captivates students who are normally turned off by history.

"My great joy in telling these stories, whether it is the Civil War stories, the Mexican-American War or now the American Revolution, is that I love erasing false myths," says Shaara. "I did it with Ulysses Grant; the idea that Grant was a drunkard is simply not true. Now I'm tackling false myths surrounding Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.... Legends unfortunately explode themselves into history books and popular culture. I so try to get away from that."

Shaara is leery of modern biography because it is often written by someone who is trying to establish a reputation as a biographer or get tenure at a university and is desperate to publish something new -- and often revisionist.
>
Instead, he gets into the original writings of his characters and their contemporaries; he reads research materials from various decades and takes himself out of today and modern interpretation. Reading Shaara's books, the stories are told from the characters' point of view, and you feel as if you are there. It works because he gets into the characters' minds.

Rise to Rebellion, the first of Shaara's two novels on the American Revolution, will be published on June 26. The novel starts with the Boston Massacre in 1770 and ends shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The main characters are George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John and Abigail Adams and the British general Thomas Gage.
>
The minor characters include Jefferson, John Hancock and Guy Carleton, who in 1775 successfully defended Quebec City from the combined forces of the American generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold and inflicted upon Washington his first big failure. Franklin almost freezes to death in the Quebec wilderness while trying to convince French Canadians to join the rebellion against Britain.
>
Combining military action and personal intrigue, Rise to Rebellion examines why the American Revolution started. Through the eyes of Franklin and others, a story unfolds, delving into cultural sensitivities, political plunders and economic interests from both the British and American perspectives, showing how misunderstandings were aggravated by distance and slow communications. "One of the things that is hard for today's Americans to realize is how fiercely loyal we were to King George III. We were English subjects who were by and large happy. We liked the King. It was Parliament and the ministries who were the bad guys," says Shaara. When Thomas Paine published Common Sense in January, 1776, the pamphlet cut to the quick and outlined to the English colonists why they did not need a monarch. This was something that had never been explained to them before, and loyalties quickly changed.
>
Movies, like historical novels, can effectively convey a nation's history to a mass audience, as the Australians have proven with movies such as Breaker Morant, Gallipoli and -- with a Canadian subject -- Black Robe.

"There are so many good stories in history," says Shaara. "Why Hollywood [sometimes] has to modify history is a travesty. Beginning this August, Ron Maxwell, who produced Gettysburg, will start filming my two Civil War novels. I trust him to stay true to the books and to history; otherwise, I would not have agreed to the projects, regardless of how much they paid me."

The more people KNOW about Civil War history, the easier it will be to save the battlefields. If you belong to a Round Table, be active in it and help it grow.
>
 If you don't belong to a RT, maybe we can help you start one. We'll be happy mail a copy of our _Civil War Round Table Organization Guide_ to any one who would like to take a shot at starting a new CWRT to join the nearly 400 others which are in active operation today.
>
Or, if you'd like to join one, tell us where you live (and if it's in a small town, tell us the larger towns in your vicinity) and we'll tell you if there is a Civil War Round Table nearby.

NEWS
3 states wrapped up in flag battle 'Stars and bars' an incendiary issue in
S.C., Miss. and Ga.
Larry Copeland

USA Today
(Copyright 2001)

ATLANTA -- As the 2001 session of the Georgia Legislature opens today, a bitter fight is looming over the Confederate battle emblem that has been part of the state flag since 1956.
The governor, Democrat Roy Barnes, has kept a low profile on the flag question, hoping that state legislators will find "common ground" on the issue.
>
Any search for common ground might be short-lived, though.
>
Some Republican state politicians figure a flag fight would inflict political damage on Barnes and the Democratic majority but benefit themselves.
>
And African-American activists, who have threatened an economic boycott similar to that imposed on South Carolina, say they are running out of patience.

Nearly 136 years after the end of the Civil War, Georgia is one of three Southern states where the Confederate flag issue threatens to dominate political debate in the new year.

* In Mississippi, which struggled much of last year over whether to change its flag design, voters could decide in April whether to keep the current flag.

* In South Carolina, which last year moved a Confederate flag from atop the state Capitol's dome to a nearby monument after the boycott, both sides vow to fight on.

The Confederate battle flag, blue diagonal bars studded with 13 stars and set against a red background, means very different things to the two sides.

Southern heritage groups say the battle emblem is an honored historical symbol and that efforts to mothball it are part of an unrelenting assault on their regional culture.

Many black activists and others view it as a vestige of slavery that has been commandeered by neo-Nazis and hate groups.

The flag incites intense passions on both sides -- passions that defy easy solutions.

Flag-weary South Carolina residents hoped the issue had been put to rest there after the boycott and a sustained turn in the national spotlight. Instead, an alliance called Save Our Flag held a rally Saturday at the Capitol to urge legislators to restore the flag to the dome.

The NAACP, which initiated the boycott, plans a demonstration Jan. 15 -- Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- to express dissatisfaction that the flag is still flown on Statehouse grounds.

South Carolina has become a rallying cry for both sides in other states.

"That's helping us," says Tunica, Miss., attorney Greg Stewart, who's leading an initiative to save the 106-year-old state flag, which has the Rebel banner in the top left corner. "One of our arguments is saying, 'Hey, South Carolina tried to compromise, and there's still a boycott there. So why compromise?' "

Stewart, who also is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, says he expects Mississippians to vote about 70%-30% to retain the current flag in a vote in April. No one on either side, Stewart says, likes the proposed new design. It has 20 white stars, representing the 13 original states and the nations or groups that have controlled Mississippi, including Native Americans.

But former governor William Winters, who chaired a commission that recommended a new design, says he believes that enough voters are ready for a change. "I'm optimistic that once people of Mississippi understand what is involved in this important symbol for our state, they will choose a symbol that is unifying rather than divisive," he says.

Some Georgians also are looking to South Carolina -- but for different reasons.
>
"I am praying that we find some middle ground. If we don't, Georgia is going to be devastated. It's going to be a hundred times worse than South Carolina," Georgia state Rep. Tyrone Brooks says.

The Atlanta Democrat will introduce legislation today to restore the pre-1956 flag and make the current banner the "Memorial Flag of Georgia," to be placed in archives and museums.

U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., has said he will be a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Georgia flag.

Lewis and others say the flag violates the 14th Amendment's equal
protection clause and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Many Georgians share the sentiment of Andrew Young, former Atlanta mayor and onetime United Nations ambassador who is one of the state's best-known African-Americans. He urged legislators to ignore the flag controversy and concentrate on such issues as election and education reforms.

Jan 06, 2001
Civil War center director starts task
BY GARY ROBERTSON
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Alex Wise has left his post as director of the Virginia Department of Human
Resources to become the full-time executive director of the proposed
Tredegar National Civil War Center.

The center would re-examine the roles of Union and Confederate forces and would tell the story of African-Americans in the war.

The 10-year project would be developed around the site of the Tredegar Gun Foundry on the north bank of the James River in downtown Richmond. It would be next door to the Richmond Civil War Visitor Center operated by the
National Park Service.

"The first major task is to start to raise planning funds," said Wise, who is renting office space on East Franklin Street in Shockoe Bottom.

Planning costs for the first phase of the project - a 12,000-square-foot exhibit space - will require raising upward of $1 million, Wise said.

Gov. Jim Gilmore has renewed his commitment to the Civil War center by pledging $500,000 in the biennial budget, half of which already has been approved by the General Assembly.

"While the majority of funding for this project will come from private sources, it is vital that these funds are approved in order for the fund raising, museum design, program development and marketing to begin," the governor said.

Wise said that besides organizing an ambitious program of fund raising, he will cement the partnerships that will be required to advance the Civil War Center from a dream to a reality.

The center already is scheduled to receive one of the nation's finest collections of African-American military uniforms, weapons and related items.

And it has assembled a group of nationally recognized Civil War historians to serve as historical advisers for the project. They are James H. McPherson of Princeton University, Thavolia Glymph of Duke University, Gary W. Gallagher of the University of Virginia and Charles B. Dew of Williams College.

Contact Gary Robertson at (804) 649-6346 or grobertson@timesdispatch.com <mailto:grobertson@timesdispatch.com>

Jim Campi, Director of Policy and Communications
The Civil War Preservation Trust
1331 H Street N.W., Suite 1001
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: 202-367-1861
Fax: 202-367-1865
Website: <http://www.civilwar.org>

January 8, 2001

Dig gives historians a handle on Roper's Knob at Franklin
By SHELLEY MAYS
Associated Press Newswires

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) - New information has been unearthed from Roper's Knob that now can be added to the history books to strengthen Franklin's role in the Civil War.

After three months of digging, state archaeologists have completed the excavation of Franklin's highest point, which served as a fortified signal station for Union troops in 1863 and was a key communication link between Nashville and Murfreesboro.

The archaeological investigation of Roper's Knob, located between Liberty Pike and Mack Hatcher Parkway, was designed to determine the nature of surviving archaeological remains related to both military occupation and civilian use.

The most significant find is a large, square blockhouse that measures 42 feet side to side with a heavy timber fortification and earthworks. The average blockhouse was 18-by-30 feet.

"It was eight-sided but not a true octagon, which was originally thought," said Ben Nance, a historic archaeologist for the Tennessee Division of Archaeology.

"Blockhouses were used extensively in Middle Tennessee as railroad defenses. They could build them near a railroad bridge or trestle and could be operated by a small contingent of men.

"This one was large enough for 60 men."

However, very few military artifacts were found because, Nance said, collectors already have been digging them out for years. A few artifacts were unearthed, such as Union buttons, Minie balls and gun parts.

Another significant discovery is a pre-Civil War house about 200 feet from the blockhouse believed to have been the home of George Roper Sr.

"The foundation of the home is so substantial. It indicates either a stone cottage or a large house with a basement with a log house on top," Nance said.

Brought to the surface at the house site were artifacts that indicated mid-19th-century dates, such as pieces of decorative ceramics, glass and bone buttons.

Historical written accounts by Park Marshall, a local historian and former mayor of Franklin who was a boy during the Civil War, wrote that a man named Roper lived on the hill for many years but never owned the land.

The archaeological project was made possible by grants from the Tennessee Historical Commission, Tennessee War Commission and 80 volunteers who helped with the digging.

"It was like a dream come true for me. I was a frustrated archaeologist in college. I just got too busy and didn't do it," said volunteer Joyce Peck of Franklin. "It's exciting to be able to touch history that has been buried for 200 years."

The next step for Nance and other state archaeologists is to complete an analysis, catalog artifacts and write a report. That work will probably last until next summer.

The Heritage Foundation, which purchased land on Roper's Knob for $440,000 in 1996, plans to eventually open the 57-acre passive park to the community. For now, the preservation group will continue to cut trails.

"Our plan for 2001 would be to add benches and trail signage, and add a conservation easement," said Mary Pearce, Heritage Foundation executive director.

The park is open only to Heritage Foundation members for now, but special arrangements with groups or schools can be made with signed releases.

Another task is developing a parking plan for better access to Roper's Knob.

"My biggest fantasy for Roper's Knob is to reconstruct the signal post as it was during the Civil War," Pearce said.

In the future, Roper's Knob may be added to the network of Franklin area Civil War sites - sites that include Carnton Plantation and Carter House - and save green space from development.

"Roper's Knob is another excellent interpretive area regarding Franklin's role in the Civil War," said Thomas Cartwright, director of the Carter House. "You might not have any interest in the Civil War, but when it comes to saving green space, everyone is a winner."

Information gained from this project will provide the basis for future excavations and will help facilitate the long-range preservation of Roper's Knob, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 6, 2000.

"I hope we can come back to it," said Nance. "There is a little bit more we could learn up here. But it all depends on funding."

The state owns 22 acres on top of historic Roper's Knob. It is illegal for individuals to dig for artifacts on state property.

This is good news from Franklin, but any examination of the site of the Battle of Franklin today underscores the disastrous consequences of what CAN happen when not enough people care about preservating a battlefield site.

Thankfully, more and more people in the Franklin area are realizing that they, in fact, have a valuable treasure in their community which has been on the verge of almost total destruction. It is good to see that community interest is finally turning in the direction of the preservation of what is
left of the battlefield where the Confederate army lost its most disastrous battle of the Civil War.

January 4, 2001

Subject: Enfield Bluing FYI
The attached linked article makes a very convincing case for not removing the bluing on Enfields.
Craig S. Mickelson

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/1864/enf/enfblue.htm

January 2, 2001

Dear Camp Members,

Some of you know that I have been working on obtaining a proper grave marker for a Civil War vet from Vermont who is buried in Stevens Point, WI. He is Charles W. Dolloff - a Medal of Honor (MOH) recipient. Mr. Dolloff's grave made no mention of his Civil War service or the fact that he was a MOH recipient.

After some "problems" (and a year and a half) I finally received a proper marker for Mr. Dolloff. I would like to plan a dedication ceremony for May 19th, 2001. Please let me know if you and your Camp (and/or your reenactment group) would wish to participate.

Please pass this on to other Camp members. My home telephone is (715) 344-0671 or you/they can respond via e-mail.

Here is one of many responses regarding the "new" educational standards of learning in the state of Virginia. Only one person out of several dozen responding thought it was a good idea to "dumb down" American history in favor of diversity.
Several have asked what can be done...
The "reality" answer is, probably nothing.
BUT--the only hope is to get to the Governor
Gov. Jim Gilmore
State Capitol
Richmond VA 23219
website www.state.va.us <http://www.state.va.us>

Try to convince him that this sort of thing weakens our national culture.
Give him a holler... (And be NICE...)
Thanks, Laurie, and all the others who responded.
It sure does bother me! I teach in Upper Michigan, and I would be outraged if they pulled this kind of thing here! We're still working on trying to get the people to understand the causes of the Civil War and what the Confederates were fighting for. While diversity is one of our Core Democratic Values, it doesn't mean we should "dumb down" America. This is exactly what's happening in a lot of schools today. While we are comprised of many different nationalities. We seem to lose sight that we are AMERICANS, not African-Americans, Asian-Americans, German-Americans, etc. It's one of those things that really bugs me. While I feel that everything adds to our history, why do the educational "experts" in Virginia feel that you have to replace or dump anyone or anything? There's no reason why all of them can't be included in a full program. You're not teaching for mastery at elementary levels in social studies. You're giving them an introduction that they can build on. Kids need to get a thread for the continuity of our history, and leaving anyone out destroys this thread of understanding.
Laurie Rasmussen
2d Wisconsin

New Millennium, Same Old Problem
Early grades to `simplify' history
Keller, Pocahontas replace Southern generals in lessons
Vaishali Honawar
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
12/31/2000
Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, and J.E.B. Stuart will be glossed over until the fifth grade as Helen Keller and Pocahontas become Virginia's new classroom heroes.
A state Board of Education committee believes turning away from the South's three most beloved political and military heroes will make it easier to teach fourth graders about the Civil War, possibly by removing sentiment and emotion from the still-politically-charged struggle.
Fourth graders should get a "simplified" version of Virginia history, the committee said in issuing revisions to the state's Standards of Learning for History.
The recommendation has drawn fire from those who see it is an effort to water down the state's Confederate tradition. Board members shouldn't worry that students have to memorize too many names in lower grades, said Steve Hunt, president of the group PASS-SOL, a pro-SOL group of parents and students in Virginia.
"They master the entire English language before they start school," he said.
Simplifying things will "lead to removing elements of history from the curriculum," Mr. Hunt said.
He called it "inappropriate" to "leave out the names of people associated with the American Civil War and American history."
J. Brandon Bell, a Board of Education member who co-chaired the Review and Revision Committee for the History and Social Science tests, said, "We did debate back and forth; we wondered if we should have any names at all."
Mr. Bell added: "When you have 80 people in a committee, you have trouble agreeing what names to use."
Members included Virginia politicians, teachers and local school officials.
The committee's deliberations occurred against the backdrop of protests against flying the Confederate flag in South Carolina's state capitol and a variety of arguments over honoring Confederate traditions in Virginia, particularly among members of the the black- controlled Richmond City Council.
Mr. Bell said Lee would not disappear altogether - he would suddenly appear in the fifth- and sixth-grade history classes.
The committee decided teachers should focus on other historical names, including women, and on places on the globe that reveal cultural diversity.
First graders, for example, would learn about the Indian princess Pocahontas and not just Capt. John Smith, Virginia's most famous settler. Second graders would learn of Helen Keller - an uplifting tale of a woman who was born blind, deaf and mute, but who learned to speak through determination and courage.
Third graders will learn about the highly developed West African empire of Mali, to show the continent was not just a backward supplier of slaves.
Also under the revised SOLs, more emphasis would be bestowed on Confucianism and the Indus Valley, an ancient civilization between India and Pakistan that disappeared thousands of years ago.
Public hearings on the revisions will be held around the state, including in Fairfax on Jan. 8. History and social science SOL tests typically have had the lowest scores among all SOLs. This year, an average 49 percent of the state's fifth graders failed the test, as did 50 percent of eighth graders. High schoolers in some parts of the state did worse, posting failure rates of 60 percent on average.
Standards of Learning in History, English, Science and Math were adopted by the Virginia Department of Education in 1995 as part of a major overhaul of the education system.
Tests based on the standards have been administered since 1998. By 2004, all high school students will have to pass the tests to graduate. One of the reasons behind the revisions, Mr. Bell said, was to introduce children to other cultures. "One of the teachers on the K-3 review team said that the first time African-American children hear of their ancestors, they hear about them as slaves. So we decided to include the empire of Mali." Second graders learning geography would be asked to locate China and Egypt on world maps and where Powhatan, Sioux and Pueblo Indians lived on U.S. maps. Third-graders would have to know the parts of the Americas explored by Christopher Columbus, Juan Ponce de Leon, Jacques Cartier and Christopher Newport. Higher grades will learn about Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism under world history.
INS AND OUTS OF SOL TESTS
The following changes would be incorporated into elementary curricula under proposed revisions to the history and social sciences parts of Virginia's Standards of Learning tests.
IN
>>Pocahontas
>>George Washington
>>Betsy Ross
>>Abraham Lincoln
>>Presidents Day
>>Fourth of July
>>The Washington Monument
>>Christopher Columbus
>>Juan Ponce de Leon
>>The Powhatan, the Sioux, the Pueblo
>>Thomas Jefferson
>>Rosa Parks
>>Martin Luther King
>>Thurgood Marshall
>>Harlem Renaissance
>>Pearl Harbor
>>Ancient river civilizations, including Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley,
>>the civilization of the Hebrews, Phoenicians and Kush
>>Alexander the Great
>>Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism
>>East African kingdoms
>>West African civilizations
OUT
>>Robert E. Lee
>>Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
>>Paul Revere
>>Johnny Appleseed
>>Booker T. Washington
>>Harriet Tubman
>>Davy Crockett
>>John Paul Jones
>>Jane Addams
>>Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims
>>Independence Day
>>Flag Day
>>Veterans Day
>>Memorial Day
>>Jamestown
>>Harry F. Byrd
>>
Source: Virginia Department of Education

January 2, 2001

Dear Friends,

As a member of the comittee to revise the "uniform and equipment standards" of our handbook, I am dismayed at some of the responses and rumors floating around. I cannot see how the new proposed document can be perceived as excessive or how stereotypical words like "stitch counting" can be applied to it. The previous document in the handbook had some items that were outdated or that needed elaboration- the new version sent out in the Fugleman is a PROPOSAL of the changes we in the committee felt needed the be changed. The reason this revised section in the handbook was published in the newsletter and posted on our website was so that each member of the 2nd could review it, take notes, form an opinion, spot likes, dislikes and discrepancies. This way, at the Assoc. meeting an INFORMED and CIVIL discussion can take place when it comes time to vote on the document's ratification. I am really happy to see that some have taken the time to look the proposes over and bring to light some oversights that have been made by us in the comittee, without being judgemental or abrasive-thankyou.
    On a personal note, I am offended by finger pointing, name calling and derogative terms. I suppose I fall into the category of "young" and even possibly a "whelp", but I am a proud member of Company E, the Oshkosh Volunteers and I'm NOT a Mudill wanabbe nor a "stitch Nazi"!! Neither are our comrades in Co. A and I can't make the connection on how the proposed guideline changes for the 2nd Wisc. have one iota to do with that company. I personally would like an explanation for the connection because I'm baffled.
Making one company or group of individuals out to be "bad guys" only drives a wedge through our grand regiment. A good friend of mine in Co. E has always said that each company in the Assoc. is different, but that we all have so much more in common than than what is different- think about it pards. Everyone in reenacting has their own standards- that is obvious, and sometimes one person's standards may not agree with yours. Ask yourself however, the next time you are angered, embarrassed, annoyed or made uncomfortable by the soldier next to you, is it because they are acting like a jerk, personally wronged you, or are forcing something upon you, or is it because they think a little differently than you. I urge especially the regimental and comapny officers, both field and administrative positions, to be unifiers and NOT dividers in our regiment. Like it or not, this is part of your duty when you wear those shoulder straps or stripes-please do so.

Most Respectfully,
Matt Smith
a young whelp in Co. E