Carteret County Public Library Honors “Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory” With Traveling Civil War Photography Exhibit in April

RALEIGH – Since the beginning of the Civil War (1861-1865) 150 years have passed, but its widespread impact and defining characteristics remain vivid. These can especially be seen in North Carolina as illustrated by the “Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory: Civil War Sesquicentennial Photography Exhibit” (www.nccivilwar150.com).

The exhibit will be hosted by Carteret County Public Library in Beaufort from April 2 to 28, commemorating the Civil War Sesquicentennial with a variety of images.

“The Civil War occurred when photography was just becoming popular and became the first conflict to be widely recorded in this manner,” explains N.C. State Historic Sites Division Director Keith Hardison. “Battlefield images fascinated the public and acquainted them, in a dramatic way, with the horrors of war. The ‘Freedom, Sacrifice, Memory’ exhibit presents images that compare and contrast the conditions of war, then and now.”

The exhibit has been traveling around the state since April 2011 on simultaneous eastern and western routes, visiting 50 libraries and four museums with its showcase of 24 images. The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (www.ncdcr.gov) commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with images gathered from the State Archives (www.archives.ncdcr.gov), the N.C. Museum of History (www.ncmuseumofhistory.org) and State Historic Sites (www.nchistoricsites.org). A notebook will accompany the exhibit with further information and seeking viewer comments.

Among the exhibit’s pictures is one of a Union Army charge at Fort Fisher near Wilmington. At the time Fort Fisher was the largest earthen fortification in the world and received ships laden with supplies needed by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army. Fort Fisher fell to Union forces in January 1865. The fort and surrounding property in Kure Beach is now a state historic site.

The exhibit was displayed by the N.C. Maritime Museum (NCMM) in Beaufort in January 2012. Currently the Civil War exhibit Watched by Sound and Sea: Occupied Beaufort 1862 at the NCMM examines the role of the Beaufort harbor as a resupply station for the Union Army.

Call the Carteret County Public Library (252) 728-2050 for more information on the exhibit. Contact the Department of Cultural Resources (919) 807-7389 for tour information.