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.”
Fort Monroe and Vicinity Showing Entrance to Chesapeake Bay, Norfolk, Portsmoth, Gosport Navy Yard etc
Click here or on the image above to view the image and catalog record at the Library of Congress. The following are excerpts from three websites. Click on the links to access the complete article:
“On November 1, 1767 Andrew Sprowle, a merchant and ship owner, established the Gosport Shipyard on the western shore of the Elizabeth River under the British flag. The shipyard developed and prospered as both a naval and merchant shipyard. When the American Revolution began in 1775, Sprowle chose to remain loyal to the Crown and fled the area aboard the Royal Governor’s flagship. All his properties were confiscated by the Colony of Virginia. While being operated by Virginia, in 1779, the shipyard was burned by the British.
“This former colonial shipyard became the Navy’s nucleus in the Hampton Roads area where the largest naval base in the world has developed. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard is the U.S. Navy’s oldest shipyard and actually predates the United States Navy Department by 31 years. The largest shipyard on the East Coast. Known for most of its first century as “Gosport”, it was renamed “Norfolk” in 1862 after the largest city in the area. It has never borne the name of its home city of Portsmouth. “250 Years of Excellence,” Naval Sea Systems Command
“Gosport Navy Yard reached its peak in the late 1850s, employing more than 1,400 workers. The completion of the steam screw frigates USS Roanoke and USS Colorado in 1859 proved the yard’s capabilities to construct modern warships for the US Navy.” John V. Quarstein, “Gosport Navy Yard: Before the Storm,” Mariners Museum, April 16, 2020
“The Norfolk Naval Shipyard is sometimes confused with Norfolk Naval Base (officially ‘Naval Station Norfolk’), which was constructed during World War I for the Atlantic Fleet. “The Norfolk Naval Base is a more-recent military facility, located on the east side of the Elizabeth River opposite Craney Island in Norfolk. The much-older Norfolk Naval Shipyard is on the west bank of the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, eight miles south of the aircraft carrier base. The shipyard triggered the growth of military facilities in Hampton Roads, including Portsmouth Naval Hospital (built in 1827-30).” “Norfolk Naval Shipyard,” Virginia Places
“The President’s authority to commission the officers of colored volunteer notwithstanding, state executives exerted considerable influence in the selection of officers of Negro regiments. Clamoring for the protection of states’ rights, the governors argued that native white men of their respective states should be appointed officers of the Negro troops they mobilized.”
John T. Blassingame. “The Selection of Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers of Negro Troops in the Union Troops, 1863-1865,” Negro History Bulletin,Vol. 30, No. 1 (January 1967), pp. 8-11.
This photograph of an unidentified cavalry officer is held in the collection of the Missouri Historical Society. The catalog record describes it as a “half-length portrait of a man in uniform with a sword. Subject’s hat has crossed sabers, indicating cavalry.”
The Library of Congress catalog record for this 1863 pencil drawing by Edwin Forbes includes this note “”Sutler’s tent, near Stoneman’s Switch, Falmouth, Va.”
Here’s an excerpt from Claire Prechtel-Kluskens’s article “Sutlers of the Civil War,” NGS Magazine, April-June 2014, p. 39
“Civil War sutlers were the 19th century equivalent of the modoern US Army’s post exchaned (PX) or commissary. Soldiers in the field patronized these traeveling storekeepers to purchase needed goods and desired luxuries that were not provided by the US government.
“If your ancestor was a sutler, there are records and publications that may provide insight on his activities and store inventory. Even if your ancestor wasn’t a sutler, knowing more about his regimental sutler (or sutlers in general) will broaden your understanding of your Civil War soldiers’ experiences by learning about what items soldiers purchased to enhance their every day lives in the field.”
“New rifle musket ball caliber 0.58-inch. This final version of the Minie bullet resulted from experiments conducted by James H. Burton at the Harpers Ferry Armory during the early 1850s.” Year: 1855. Image Credit: Smithsonian Neg. No. 91-10712; Harpers Ferry NHP Cat. No. 13645.
The Minie ball, invented by French Army officer Claude-Etienne Minie, was modified by James H. Burton who began his career as a machinist at Harpers Ferry Armory. The bullets delivered devastating injuries. A Minie ball flattened on impact shattering bone which caused splinters and further muscle and tissue damage.
Civil War Tech: The Minie Ball (9:51) YouTube, January 24, 2016 This video clip includes animations of how the Minie ball functioned, battlefield re-enactments and comments from James Meigs, Editor-in-Chief, Popular Mechanics, Brian Williams, “NBC Nightly News,” and General Colin L. Powell.
Warning! This content is graphic and may be disturbing to some viewers.
While researching the lives of my great-great-grandfather Edward R. Pitt and his brother William Thomas Pitt of Norfolk County, Virginia, I found fascinating (and sometimes disturbing) details about the civilian and military experiences of those who served in the 1st U.S. Colored Cavalry.
The regiment included free men, freedom seekers and white officers from the United States and abroad. It was organized at Camp Hamilton, Virginia in 1863, attached to Fortress Monroe, Virginia in 1864, and mustered out at Brazos Santiago, Texas in 1866.
1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 