Touch the Elbow - Blogging the Civil War

Arlington National Cemetery has been in the news lately for a number of reported transgressions, including misidentifying bodies and grave sites, dumping ashes of the cremated in a dirt pile, and using discarded gravestones to prevent soil erosion along a stream’s banks. Now a northern Virginia funeral home with a National Cemetery contract has been fined $50,000 for, among other violations, inappropriately storing the bodies of those waiting burial in a garage.

That this should be happening at any cemetery, least of all Arlington, violates one of the bedrock rules few in life will tolerate. To avoid bringing somebody’s blood to a boil: don’t play around with somebody’s heart; don’t insult somebody’s mother; don’t screw around with somebody’s money; don’t kick somebody’s dog; and, certainly least of all, don’t screw around with the dead, particularly if they have living relatives.

In my random travels across the US, I have visited some interesting places that have left an impact on me to this day. One such trip was to Memphis, Tennessee and the Pink Palace Mansion and Museum.

The museum started in an unfinished mansion that the City of Memphis would come into control of when the founder of Piggly Wiggly foreclosed on it during the Great Depression. The exhibits themselves came from the citizens of Memphis. If you lived in Memphis and had something cool that you wanted to share with your fellow citizens, you would bring it to the staff and they would put it out for show. Through the years the museum would flourish and expand. While the main part of the museum is not in a modern building that is to the right and below the mansion (the world’s largest underground IMAX Theater is underneath the mansion’s front yard) – you can still find things that date back to the old days. One of my favorites is the Shrunken Heads display which are two real heads that were brought back from Africa, and include a recipe card for making it yourself. The other is a hand carved, moving circus. It is so delicate; it only is turned on twice a day. If you look close, you can even see reflections in the past, as the crowd is segregated.

After a long hiatus it's time to get back to the 2010 Gettysburg Seminar and what better place to pick up then to take a behind the scenes peek at the Cyclorama.

From Sanitary Commission fairs held in major cities throughout the North, to the Christian Commission providing hot coffee, religious tracts, and writing paper, to circles of women and children picking lint, rolling bandages, knitting socks and mittens, and through care packages and letters, private citizens did their best to ensure the wellbeing and morale of soldiers at the front. Gettysburg, in particular, tugged at the heartstrings of those at home and they responded with compassion and generosity both in large and small ways to meet the needs of the more than 20,000 who had been wounded and were lying in hospital beds.

Whether it was personal bias or truly an objective conclusion, some observers of the aftermath of Gettysburg concluded there was a stark contrast between Union and Confederate soldiers.

What's worse than being late for the start of a movie? Normally I'd say being a half hour late for the start of a tour of Seminary Ridge and the Lutheran Seminary. But there was a very good reason for being late.

I’ve always wondered how the world of Pokemon would be if Abraham Lincoln had been involved. Luckily, I don’t have to wonder anymore thanks to the fine folks at Walkingsquares.com….

Click link above to see bigger version.

Preservation and development. Civil War Preservation Trust President Jim Lightizer opened a news conference to a National Press Club audience in Washington yesterday by saying the two don’t necessarily cancel each other out. They can co-exist in today’s society if given careful thought and planning; developers, power companies, and local governments just need to be mindful of our common past and heritage and ensure the legacy of the past is carried forward far into the future.

There's more to report on the 2010 Gettysburg Seminar, but those stories will have to wait for another day, or two, or five. In the meantime, while you're drumming your fingers in anticipation, here's a book to consider adding to your collection or downloading to your eReader.

As promised, we've updated the list of Civil War related conferences scheduled for the rest of the year. Please let us know if we've missed any.

This post originally ran on May 10th. Thanks to tips from readers Hal Jespersen and Jim Schmidt one correction and one additional conference have been added.

Matt Atkinson, whose soft, slow drawl left no doubts as to Southern roots, returned to Gettysburg a few months ago, this time in a full-time position after an assignment at Vicksburg. He considers himself a fortunate man that his wife was also able to land a similar job at the Park, a place that most tugs at their hearts and emotions. A fortunate man, indeed, but one who chose as his topic a discourse on those who fared less well in the three days of fighting and were consigned to Camp Letterman, which existed on "80 acres for 120 days."

Seasonal Park Ranger Chuck Teague took over center stage to enlighten us all on the “The U.S. Marshal at Gettysburg.” A picture of James Arness in his Marshal Matt Dillon television persona filled the overhead screen, but that was only Chuck’s way of starting with a joke. He was really there to talk about the Provost Marshal. However, before you click on “Read more,” name all 150 duties performed by the Provost Marshall’s Office. Time’s up and you couldn’t do it, could you? Of course not, because there were only 88 separate duties. Well, on fourth thought, maybe not even that many. But one thing I can tell you for certain, after listening to Chuck, the P.M. was sure as heck busy. But why take my word for it, particularly when Chuck’s here to explain the whole thing.

The Seminar's Saturday morning session continues as Scott Hartwig, a Supervisory Park Ranger at Gettysburg, follows William Hewitt and steps up to present to his audience “The Gettysburg Campaign and Battle – An Eclectic Review.”

Co-sponsored by the Gettysburg National Military Park and The Gettysburg Foundation, this bi-annual seminar, which this year focused on “Gettysburg: The Aftermath and The End of the Campaign,” has to be one of the best kept secrets going. I found out about the seminar by word- of-mouth only three weeks before the event and was fortunate to get in, because enrollment was limited to 250 participnts. I’m labeling the seminar a well kept secret, because in February I had put together a long list of conferences and seminars scheduled for around the country during the year and will give you a guess as to one didn’t that appear on that list.