Michigan Civil War Blog

Making Sense of the Civil War

An interesting series begins soon at the Baldwin Public Library, 300 West Merrill Street, Birmingham, entitled “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War”, a free reading and discussion series in five parts. Group discussion events will be held Tuesdays in March through May.

Here's a link to their brochure: Making Sense at Baldwin

Raid on Indiana Exhibit

Michigan units helped put down the incursion by Confederate forces under J.H. Morgan into Northern space some 148 years ago this month. So it's cool to see how folks in a neighboring State are stepping up their commemoration of such events. The new interactive exhibit reflects the results of a $4.3 million capital campaign, an amazing investment in these hard-pressed days:

Conner Prairie Launches Groundbreaking Civil War Experience

FISHERS, Ind. (June 2, 2011) – Five years of research, planning, design and construction culminate this weekend as Conner Prairie Interactive History Park, Indiana’s only Smithsonian Affiliate, officially opens what is being described as the "next generation" of the American museum exhibit - 1863 Civil War Journey: Raid on Indiana ("Civil War Journey").

According to Conner Prairie President and CEO, Ellen M. Rosenthal, "Civil War Journey is a vivid illustration of the transition from exhibit to experience. Whether one refers to it as ‘next generation’ or ‘Museum 3.0,’ Civil War Journey will truly immerse our visitors in history. It is unconventional. It is evocative. And in terms of what museums traditionally have been and now are becoming, it is strikingly transformative."

Civil War Journey, brought to life by nationally-renowned Bob Noll, Creative Director of Boston Productions Inc. (bpi), is the first experience to fully combine the artistry and magic of technology with the authenticity and warmth of characters. Images, video, sound, live characters and period-specific sets and buildings work in concert to create an unparalleled experience. Most importantly, the experience engages visitors to become active participants.

 Civil War Journey takes place in a recreation of the southeastern Indiana town of Dupont. It chronicles the only Civil War battle fought on Indiana soil, triggered by the July 8, 1863 Ohio River crossing and subsequent capture of Corydon, Indiana by Confederate General John Hunt Morgan and his band of 2,400 cavalry. Morgan’s Raid left up to 15 dead and more than 40 wounded in Corydon before moving on to several other small Indiana towns including Dupont.  

 

No mistake

The Emancipation Proclamation is coming to Michigan in this first year of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. It will be at The Henry Ford on June 20-22, just eleven days from now -- not a copy, the real thing. As much as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are venerated in the US of A, and they should be, the EP ought to be, for it represents a new birth, a rebirth, of freedom for the Nation that helped fulfill the promise of those founding documents.

"What I did, I did after a very full deliberation, and under a very heavy and solemn sense of responsibility. I can only trust in God that I have made no mistake."
-- Abraham Lincoln, September 24, 1862

That trust was well-placed.

Great article about it in today's Detroit News: It changed America

The Henry Ford Civil War Kick-off

Had the privilege last nite of attending the ceremonial opening of the National Archives exhibit on the Civil War Sesquicentennial at The Henry Ford in Dearborn. It is an amazing and large exhibition of materiel! Kids should definitely like it, given its videos, interactivity, and artifacts like the 1860 census book in which U.S. Grant is found.

Besides the special NA room, THF has its own Michigan-related exhibit. Featuring an 1861 artillery piece and other artifacts, the centerpiece is the Loomis Battery. That alone is well worth the trip.

And an amazing fact: the exhibit was opened with a symbolic ribbon cutting by Mr. William Clay Ford, Jr., who used an original foot officer’s sword from the Museum collection. The sword belonged to Captain Joshua Slayton of the 13^th Michigan, who hailed from Eaton Rapids. His picture is here: Slayton

Pure Michigan and the Civil War

Pure Michigan is the award-winning tagline that has come to "brand" Michigan in recent years. You can sign up for email newsletters and such, and yesterday arrived an email headed "May your month be filled with Pure Michigan moments". Cool. But even cooler as the lead story is this:

Celebrate the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War this Memorial Day weekend with a visit to The Henry Ford, where you'll experience one of the nation's most comprehensive and inspirational Civil War tributes in the exciting National Archives traveling exhibit, "Discovering the Civil War." Read More

The image in the email is of a drummer boy, a contemporary who has dressed in period clothing and is holding a kit. Invoking the idea that young people are involved, should be involved, need to be involved.

The link takes you to The Henry Ford website: THF CWS.

Obviously, Michigan and the Civil War is Pure Michigan.

Capitol furnishings

First Capitol Furnishings At Museum
The original furnishings from the first state Capitol building in Detroit are on long-term display at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing.

When Michigan was finally admitted to the Union on Jan. 26, 1837, it already had a state Capitol. The Michigan Territorial Capitol in Detroit had become the seat of state government with the convening of the first state legislature in November 1835.

When the seat of government moved to Lansing in 1847, the furnishings came along. Several pieces were saved when Michigan's third capitol was dedicated in 1879. They are now in the collections of the Michigan Historical Museum.

Among the original capitol furnishings now on exhibit are the podium and matching speaker's chair inherited by the House of Representatives from the unicameral territorial legislature. The large desk in the exhibit was most likely used by both Stevens T. MASON, when he was Territorial Secretary, and by Kintzing PRITCHETTE and his successor Secretaries of State.

Plymouth and the Sesquicentennial

The Plymouth Michigan Historical Museum is commemorating the Civil War Sesquicentennial with a new exhibition: PHM 150

Plymouth Museum and the Civil War Sesquicentennial

Starting January 28, the Historical Museum in Plymouth, Michigan will reopen with a new exhibit entitled  "Rediscovering the Civil War."

Lincoln and Churchill event

Democracy's Greatest Leaders: Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill

January 27th, 2011, 7:00 PM, Gerald R. Ford Museum

Speaker: Gleaves Whitney

"2011 will be a year of considerable reflection. It is the 70th anniversary of America's entry into World War II and the 150th anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War. The extraordinary leaders of these horrific wars not only led their people to victory; they also helped shape our modern world. Many regard Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill as the two greatest democratic leaders of all time. Who really were these men? What obstacles did they overcome? How did they mobilize armies and the English language? Why do they endure in our collective imagination? In his talk, Gleaves Whitney will explore some answers to these questions."

 

 

 

Hero or villain?

The Detroit Historical Museum has reopened after prepping for a new exhibit [DHS] on "lives of a wide range of community leaders who provoked passionate opinions throughout metro Detroit."

What makes a leader, the Museum asks?  What qualities or characteristics define leadership?  Are leaders a product of their era or do they transcend time? Why are some viewed as hero and some villain?

Good questions. Lewis Cass is among the group of 16. His record could speak for itself: War of 1812 military leader, governor of the Michigan territory, Secretary of War, ambassador, US Senator, nominee for President, Secretary of State. Hero? Well, besides his service under fire, he resigned from the Buchanan Cabinet due to the 'doughface' response to Southern secession. Villain? Well, he was a proponent of popular sovereignty, which could have extended slavery into the West.

Here's how one Michigander wrote this about him in the early part of the Civil War: "It was with something of veneration that I looked at this man .... He did not seem to belong to the present so much as to the past. Fifty years before I was born, he had been a living witness of the inauguration of George Washington as first President of the United States. He had watched the rowth of the American Union from the time of adoption of the Constitution. He had been a contemporary of Jefferson, Madison, the Adamses, Burr and Hamilton. ... His work was done, and it seemed as if a portrait by one of the great masters had stepped down from the canvas to mingle with living persons."

From Riding With Custer, J.H.Kidd, Bison Books edition at p.26.

Did Cass transcend and, if so, as hero? He stands as one of the two Michigan representatives in Statuary Hall. His name is on a Detroit street, a county, a town. And, unlike many of his generation, he lived to see his country reunited, having proven himself of greater presidential stuff than the one he last served.