First Lincoln Assassination Report Found After 147 Years
This summer, we’ll hear that Abraham Lincoln is a vampire still living today. Luckily, we can also read an interesting non-fiction report that hasn’t been seen since 1865. The first doctor to reach President Abraham Lincoln after he was shot wrote his report on the day that Lincoln died. However, his report was filed away in the National Archives and believed to not have been seen since that time.I saw this story and found it interesting. I’ve read some books about the Lincoln assassination and even written a little about it. There are so many books out there about Lincoln that it’s hard to find something new about him (hopefully, you don’t consider Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter a fresh view). Dr. Charles Leale was 40 feet from Lincoln in Ford’s Theater the night the President was shot. He rushed to Read more…
Who is “Genl. Scofield”?
As the country remembers the men who fought in the Civil War 150 years ago, a general lies forgotten in a grave atop Meadow Mountain just off of old U.S. Route 40. The only clue to who this man was is a grave marker that answers few questions and raises more. In Memory of Genl. Scofield Civil War Veteran Killed on this Mountain 1894 Donated by A.J. Irwin & Son For years, Marie Lancaster of Addison, Pa., cared for the grave making sure the grave was trimmed and occasionally bringing flowers or a U.S. flag to leave by the marker. “We just saw the grave while we were taking a Sunday drive and, after looking at it up close, my husband and I were of the opinion that a high-ranking military man like Gen. Scofield deserved a more prominent burial Read more…
Giving History a Hand…and Arm
History can be funny, fascinating, inspiring and sometimes just plain yucky. The National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, MD, received a forearm as an anonymous donation this year. It is a human foremarm that still has the right hand and skin attached. It is said to have been found by a farmer in Sharpsburg, MD, about two weeks after the 1862 Battle of Antietam. It had been displayed for decades at a private museum. It was shown in a glass-topped, pine case with a card that read, “Human arm found on the Antietam Battlefield,” according to the Associated Press report. When the museum’s owner died in 2001, the museum’s contents were sold at auction. Museum officials are hoping to verify that it is a relic of the battle, though they have little hope of figuring out which soldier’s arm Read more…
Romney, WV, in the Civil War
To live in Romney during the Civil War was to wonder each morning which state and even which country you lived in. Virginia or West Virginia? The United States of America or the Confederate States of America? It’s not that the 450 residents were confused. They considered themselves Virginians in the Confederate States of America. However, what they believed mattered little when political shenanigans or military might were involved. Here’s a story that ran in Wonderful West Virginia about the small town of Romney. Only Winchester, VA, is said to have changed hands more times between Union and Confederate control during the Civil War. The most-commonly cited number is that Romney changed hands 56 times during the war. Add to that, Romney was also in a state that broke off of a Confederate state to form a Union one, and Read more…
Looking Back: Samuel Cormany makes a wartime decision
When Samuel Cormany left Franklin County in 1859, his country united. He returned to find it split in two and a decision to make that hundreds of thousands of other men had made and were making. With his family barely started, should he risk his life in a war between the states? Cormany returned to Franklin County in August 1862. Since he had been gone, he had gone to college, married, had a child and lived in Canada. His time away had changed his viewpoint of the world as well as his physical appearance. The first family he stopped in to see on his way home was his half-sister Lydia and her husband Henry Rebok who lived near Mechanicsburg. “Sister Lydia didn’t recognize me, nor did Henry – not knowing anything of our coming, and my being away since early Read more…
Living in Gettysburg
I’ve been to the annual Gettysburg battle re-enactment once in my five years living here and I enjoyed it. Even though I don’t go each year, I still enjoy this time of year. How could I not being a history buff? I can see how many people still appreciate history by the turnout and I do attend many of the other events associated with the re-enactment. I’ll visit encampments, talk to re-enactors and attend demonstrations from Civil War cooking to loading a rifle. So much of my time is spent researching history that it is nice to get out and take a step back in time to get a feel for how history was lived. It helps me get a sense of things as I write. I learn about the little details that can add richness and authenticity to my Read more…
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