End of the Grand Tour

We arrived back home Friday, and all agree, we had a really good trip. We spent Thursday morning at the visitor center (more on this in a minute), and then I met with Eric Lindblade of Ten Roads Publishing (more on this in a few days). After lunch, we hit several of the shops (some really good ones squeezed between the kitschy tourist stuff) and made a few more rounds on the battlefield, and then left town. In all we visited eight battlefields (can you count New Market? You drive through this one while traveling down the interstate). We explored the positions of quite a few Tar Heel regiments.

I was really good vis-a-vis book purchases: I only came home with three. They include Tom Clemens’s Volume 1 of Carman’s The Maryland Campaign; Johnson and Anderson’s Artillery Hell; and, a little book by Jayne E. Blair entitled Tragedy at Montpelier: The Untold Story of Ten Confederate Deserters from North Carolina. It appears that these ten men served in the 3rd NCST. I look forward to reading these as time permits.

This was my first trip to the new Gettysburg visitor center. I have read many mixed reviews about the new visitor center – some good and some bad. Some believe that the visitor center focuses too much on the causes of the war, and not enough about the actual battle of Gettysburg. Maybe, maybe not. I do wish they had focused a little more on why they (the Union soldiers) fought. There was just a slight mention throughout the displays of what Union soldiers fought for: preservation of the Union. Gary W. Gallagher had a really good piece on this neglected subject in a recent Civil War Times. The vast majority of Union soldiers did not enlist to fight for the abolition of slavery; they enlisted to preserve the Union. I agree with Gallagher that this story is almost a forgotten aspect of the war. I also watched the film “A New Birth of Freedom.” This is the second time in the past few weeks that I have seen this tidbit in a public place: that the advancement of slavery in the South was due to the demand of cotton by Northern and Great Britain industrialist and textile mill owners. The other place where this was brought up was on the History Channel’s America: The Story of Us. The History Channel special even went as far as to state that slavery was on the decline in Southern States until the industrial revolution happened in the North. This is not something that I’ve really looked into; what do you think? The History Channel cannot be wrong, can it?

There were precious few mentions of North Carolina in the visitor center. Maybe I just missed them with the thousands (tens of?) school kids milling about. They did have the flag of the 47th North Carolina Troops on display. Personally, I could do without the grand overview of the War that the Gettysburg Visitor Center presents. Is that not why we have the museums in Harrisburg, PA, or at Tredgar in Richmond? The Park proudly displays a small plaque stating that what is displayed is but a fraction of the collection it has. It seemed to me that much of the non-Gettysburg collection was on loan from somewhere else. Get rid of all of the other stuff and put more Gettysburg on display. The battle is why people come to Park anyway. Then maybe some of these other fine pieces can grace other museums and they can all be enjoyed and used to teach, rather than just locked away in a vault somewhere.

Speaking of those milling school kids, several of whom appeared to have been taught manners by chimpanzees, we were all distressed by the general rudeness and lack of decorum exhibited by many visitors. Yes, seventh-graders in large numbers will be loud even if they whisper, but we noted that at many other museums (the Smithsonian, the state museums in Raleigh), there are “suits” on hand who will quickly squash loud, disrespectful, or disruptive behavior. The docents were nice, but more scary guys in suits might have improved the atmosphere for those of us not interested in yelling across the galleries to our BFFs.

Once again, all had a really great time. I got some research for future projects finished, and I look forward to sharing more with you in the future.

An interview with Skip Smith

I recently found a press release about the 26th NCT Reactivated’s latest preservation project: the flag of the 22nd North Carolina Troops. I thought some of you might be interested in learning more about what these great folks do for North Carolina History. Below, please find an interview with my friend, Skip Smith, Colonel of the 26th North Carolina Troops.

Skip, several news outlets are reporting that the 26th NCT Reactivated is going to raise funds to preserve yet another North Carolina battle flag. How did your group get involved in the preservation process?

In 2004 we decided to raise the money to preserve the 26th NC's Burgess Mill flag...initially we had not thought about the big picture but, it did not take long for us to realize that we needed to work on other flags...in talking with Betsy Buford, then NCMOH Director we found that there was a great need in this area as the Mus. did not have the funds to restore much of what they have in storage...we each exchange letters stating that we were formally creating a partnership with the NCMOH to raise money for the restoration of some of the battle flags...it has now evolved into the project and goal to raise the money for one flag per year...

Why is preserving Confederate battle flags important? Some people would prefer to just let them rot.

We decided to focus on the Battle Flags for one reason - they represent all men who marched beneath their folds...they have a story to tell and the only way this could be done was for them to be on display...while we respect other people's feeling and opinions, we do not let that dictate our mission...our focus is on the history and story these flags tell and not the modern politically correct story that some weave into them...these were battle flags that were designed to lead troops into battle...they became the pride of each Regiment...and for us it is important to preserve them for future generations...

What have been some of your most successful fundraising endeavors?

While there are other projects we have completed, there are three that have a special place in our minds...a) we have completed the fundraising for four North Carolina regiments battle flags, b) we raised $27,000 for a creation of a monument to the 26th NC on the New Bern Battlefield and c) the 26th NC led the process of getting the North Carolina Memorial at Gettysburg cleaned....

How do you decide which flag to preserve next - do you look at all of the flags to see which ones are in the greatest need, or are you drawn to certain flags because of their background?

After we completed the Burgess Mill flag of the 26th NC, we decided to first focus on the other flags from the Pettigrew-Kirkland-McCrae Brigade...our second flag was going to be the 11th NC's but, once we got started our friends in the 1st NC came forward and asked to be able to take care of that flag...we were very happy to turn that over and shifted gears to the 52nd NC's flag...once that flag was complete we went after the 47th NC's...once the fundraising for this flag was complete our goal of taking care of the brigade's battle flags was complete...we then looked at the list of flags the Mus. has and decided to work on the 58th NC's flag as this is a unit we portray from time to time...as to the process of picking our flags, we have a )committee that looks at the list of flags and by working with the Mus. we simply select one...

Tell us about your newest endeavor, the restoration of the flag of the 22nd North Carolina Troops.

This year's project, the battle flag of the 22nd NC, came in a different way...two years ago the Greensboro newspaper ran an article on the Adopt-an-Artifact program that the NCMOH had started...in this story they used the battle flag of the 22nd NC as the focus because there was a company from Guilford County in the 22nd NC...several people responded to the story by sending in donations to restore the battle flag of the 22nd NC (about $500)...in talking with the Mus. last year about our 2010 project, we started talking about the fact that this money might sit there for a while and we just did not feel this was right for those people that had sent in their donations...thus, we decided to make it our next project....we have trifolds and posters at each State Historic Site to not only raise awareness to our project but to also encourage others to adopt a flag to restore...at this time there are five organizations working on other flags!!!

What can people do to help?

To help with the restoration of the 22nd NC's battle flag, people can visit our website www.26nc.org and click on the link at the bottom of the homepage...

You can help preserve the flag of the 58th NCT

Late last year, I talked to Skip Smith of the Society for the Preservation of the Twenty-sixth North Carolina about their 2009 preservation project. They were discussing a couple of different projects. If you will recall, back last May I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a program at the History Museum in Raleigh. That program was to welcome home the flags of the 26th NCT, 37th NCT, and artifacts that belonged to Bryan Grimes. The living historians and descendants in the reactivated 26th NCT facilitated those items coming to the North Carolina Museum in History. The great folks in the 26th NCT have raised numerous funds to help with various projects, like the monument on the battlefield of New Bern, and preservation of flags from other regiments, like the 47th NCT.

For 2009, they have chosen to concentrate their efforts on preserving the remnants of the flag of the 58th NCT, an effort that I wholeheartedly concur with.

The Museum of History in Raleigh has remnants of two different 58th NCT flags. The more traditional looking part of the flag comes from, what we believe, the canton of the Second National that the 58th NCT was issued sometime in 1863. The “58” and the “NC” come from a different flag, an Atlanta/Dalton depot issued flag the regiment received probably in February 1864. It would appear that neither flag was captured or surrendered during the war. Both of the above remnants were taken home by Maj. G. W. F. Harper at the end of the conflict, and remained in his family until donated to the museum in 1929.

In my mind, I have that the Atlanta/Dalton depot flag was cut up before the regiment surrendered at Greensboro in May 1865, each member of the regiment receiving a piece of the flag, and Harper taking the “58”and the “NC”. However, I cannot prove that at this time. It would be nice if this could be confirmed.

Would you not consider helping preserve the flag of the 58th North Carolina Troops? You can go here for more information.