“Hospital & Military Prison at Point Lookout”

The image appears in a book owned and digitized by the New-York Historical Society. It includes watercolor sketches of Confederate prisoners of war and the African American troops who guarded them. It also includes correspondence and notes. Click here or on the image above to view the catalog record and the complete book.

There’s a story about a Union soldier who when he came across his former enslaver said “Bottom rail on top now.”

Access the Point Lookout State Park website for more information.

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“One More River to Cross”

“One More River to Cross” is a permanent exhibit at the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center which “features the rich stories of the Underground Railroad in Niagara Falls, the crucial role of its location and geography, and the action of its residents – particularly its African American residents. The exhibition highlights modern connections to this history and invites visitors to consider their own choices when faced with present-day limitations on people’s freedoms.”

A number of African American men who served in the 1st US Colored Cavalry enlisted in Buffalo, New York — some as substitutes. One theory is that they had settled in upstate New York as they made their journey on the Underground Railroad.

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African Americans in Petersburg, Virginia

African Americans in Petersburg: Historic Contexts and Resources for Preservation, Planning, Research and Interpretation (1994) is a 135-page report — and you can download it for free! If you want to get directly to the map, click on the title (or the map) and look at image 61 of 135.

Do not be put off by the publication date. The report includes highly detailed information about the
city’s population from 1790-1960; a detailed timeline; a list of historic places (neighborhoods, areas, and districts); descriptions of buildings and sites outside predominately African American neighborhoods; notable African Americans from Petersburg; and maps of Petersburg showing predominantly or wholly Black settlements in 1877, 1915, 1930, 1944, 1950,

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Map of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal: connecting Chesapeake Bay with Currituck, Albemarle and Pamplico sounds and their tributary streams

This 1855 map shows “railroad stations, life saving stations, lighthouses, landings along rivers, names of shoals, and inset table with soundings for canals and locks. Proposed canals in Carteret County, N.C. and near Virginia Beach, and “Proposed Extension of Inland Navigation” along coast north of Wilmington.”

Click here or on the image to view the catalog record at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in its North Carolina Collection.

The following excerpt is from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Agricultural Resources (NCDNAR):
“The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal was proposed initially by William Byrd II in 1728. Surveys were made but engineering complications held up the project until the 1850s. Upon opening on January 9, 1859, the waterway provided an economic link between North Carolina and Virginia, connecting Albemarle Sound and Chesapeake Bay. The full canal was seventy-five miles long, but only fourteen of those cut through land. Of those miles five are in North Carolina, essentially bisecting Currituck County at Coinjock. The rest of the canal followed natural channels and dredged rivers.”

The complete article on the NCDNAR blog summarizes the project’s construction and financing, its role during the Civil War, and its commercial use afterwards. It’s still in use by pleasure craft.

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Our Twin Cities of the Nineteenth Century, Norfolk and Portsmouth

Our Twin Cities of the Nineteenth Century: (Norfolk and Portsmouth) Their Past, Present and Future (Norfolk, Va: Barcroft, Publisher, 1887-88) can be accessed at FamilySearch.org and HathiTrust.org.

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