behind AotW

In a press release Wednesday, the Librarian of Congress announced a fantastic new project to digitize selected books from the collection:

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today announced that the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded the Library of Congress a $2 million grant for a program to digitize thousands of public-domain works, with a major focus on at-risk “brittle books” and U.S. history volumes.

The project, “Digitizing American Imprints at the Library of Congress,” will include not only the scanning of volumes, but also the development of suitable page-turner display technology, capability to scan and display foldouts, and a pilot program to capture high-level metadata, such as table of contents, chapters/sections and index …

“ÀúDigitizing American Imprints' will make a major contribution to the collective body of knowledge that is accessible worldwide, further democratizing the information that is a key to functional societies and economies,” Dr. Billington said…

Among the items to be scanned are some of particular interest to Civil War historians including rare regimental histories, memoirs, and diaries as well as selections from the Confederate States of America Collection.

You’ll notice that the LoC will not be charging the public for access to this material, nor was a sell-out “partnership” with a commercial outfit required to obtain the resources to make it possible. This is worth crowing about. Some creative thinking and financing has gone into this effort and it ought to be rewarded.

All hail the Library of Congress and the folks at the Sloan Foundation.

I have some follow-up to the last post, about General McClellan dashing over the field during the battle of Antietam on 17 September 1862. Happily more battle illustration is required in accompaniment.

A Fateful Turn: Late morning looking east toward the Roulette Farm (James Hope via ANBP)

This is one of the five famous Hope Paintings, a series of very large panoramic views painted by battle veteran James Hope working from sketches he made during the battle. These were first exhibited to the public in or after 1872 at his Watkins Glen studio.

The Park Service notes describe this picture:

… burning Mumma Farm is seen on the left, and Gen. George McClellan is riding with his staff on his only visit onto the battlefield that day at about 2:00 pm. On the right, Richardson’s and French’s Union Divisions advancing on Bloody Lane.

Is this further evidence of McClellan’s whereabouts on the field or artistic interpretation?

I’ve been lured again by a pretty picture to post about being open to options when interpreting historical information. The image is from the Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, May 1886:

General McClellan riding the line of battle at Antietam.
(by Edwin Forbes, after his sketch made at the time.)

The troops were Hooker's and Sedgwick's, and the time about 11 A. M. of September 17. General McClellan rode his black horse, “Daniel Webster,” which, on account of the difficulty of keeping pace with him, was better known to the staff as “that devil Dan.”–EDITOR.

I think this is pure fantasy. I don’t remember another reference to such a ride, certainly not in advance of the Federal line between the East and West Woods, as shown here. However, combat artist Forbes was on the scene that day, so maybe I shouldn’t dismiss this image entirely …

Pontoon bridge at Berlin, Md., October 1862

In the last week of October 1862, General George McClellan crossed the bulk of his Army of the Potomac into Virginia, ready to again do battle with General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. It was the first significant movement of the Army–outside of the scrap at Shepherdstown on 19-20 September–since the Battle of Antietam.

Conventional wisdom has it that McClellan had stalled continuously since Antietam in defiance of President Lincoln’s impatience with the lack of pursuit of Lee’s battered ANV, and that the President fired the General immediately after the election in November for that lack of aggressive action.

But is this too simplistic?

Rev. Robert Hall Morrison, DD (from Davidson College portrait)

The Reverend Doctor Morrison (1798-1889) was father-in-law to three Confederate general officers: D.H. Hill (m. Isabella S. Morrison 1848), Rufus C. Barringer (m. Eugenia 1854; she d. 1858, typhoid), and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (m. Mary Anna 1857).

I know of no other patriarch of that distinction.

Hard core students of the American Civil War already know that D.H. Hill and “Stonewall” Jackson were brothers-in-law, though not always happily so. Most will probably not have seen how wide that family net spreads.

I love Akismet. It’s very good at identifying comment spam and putting it to one side for me to review later. But my needs have been modest: it took more than 8 months for Akismet to trap the first 2,000 spam comments to this blog.

Then some invisible switch was thrown or critical mass reached out there in the dark underworld where these spammers live. In December I began to see between one and three hundred attempts per day, each one eating bandwidth and server resources. I couldn’t keep up, and as they arrived in bursts I saw performance problems.

So I added Bad Behavior to my arsenal. It doesn’t just quarantine spam, it blocks most of it outright – it never hits my server or database. Since I installed Bad Behavior a week ago only 5 spam attempts (out of 1100) got through to Akismet for my attention.

My life is my own again.

This is a picture taken June 6, 1936 in the cemetary at Winchester on decoration day.
I [George Dellinger] am in uniform X. The other one is Daniel Miller, a Confederate vet,
now in his 100th year. I am in my 92nd year (from the back of the photo)

George Dellinger, formerly of Company D, 23rd Virginia Cavalry, sent this photograph to the Hagerstown (Md.) Historical Society in response to a US Antietam Celebration Commission questionnaire. The Commission organized the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of that momentous battle at Sharpsburg, Maryland on 17 September 1937, and had canvassed surviving Civil War veterans for their memories and present circumstances.

This and other photos, along with letters of reply from many of the veterans, are now online at one of two new exhibits created by the folks at the Western Maryland Historical Library.

William Price Craighill (1833-1909) may have been something of a prodigy as he entered the US Military Academy at West Point at age 16 in 1849.

W.P. Craighill, c. 1849

He graduated in 1853, ranked second in the class which included famous ACW Generals Sheridan and Hood, and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was an instructor at West Point, and though from Virginia, stayed with the Union, seeing War service on fortifications and other engineering projects across the US. His long Army career peaked in 1895 when he was appointed Brigadier General and Chief of Engineers, US Army.

I bring Craighill to you in several contexts – a kind of 3-for-the-price-of-one post …

This humble blog is off to a flash-bang start in 2007, thanks to you – the Reader of the Year.

A big ‘hello’ to all my new brothers and sisters at the 9rules Network and to all the people who have already found this blog through the network. Over the last couple of years 9rules has become an excellent place to discover high value blogs, on all sorts of subjects. I’m glad to now be a part of that dynamic community. And yes, there are nine rules behind the name. I identify most closely with #4: Simple is Beautiful.

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A big shout-out also to Harry Smeltzer for his excellent article on Civil War blogs in the current issue of America’s Civil War magazine.

Although there are dozens of fine ACW blogs out there–most better than mine–Harry made me and this blog look particularly good. Very nice press. Thanks Harry!

So … another big ‘howdy’ to the readers who are joining us as a result of that piece. It’s good to see all the new faces.

To all our readers: I hope you’ll find something you can use and enjoy here, and that you’ll feel free to comment often and let me know what you think.

Thanks again and happy New Year to all of us!