Michigan Civil War Blog

Michigan Cavalry Brigade Painting Rediscovered

I've heard from fellow Commissioner and MI CWS Committee Chairman Brian James Egen of the following amazing story ... with a request for help:

We found an oil painting of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade Monument at Gettysburg in our collections here at The Henry Ford. It is a great painting of a bucolic scene with sheaves of winter wheat shocked in piles around the monument with the Rummel Farm in the distance. We are very excited about this painting and have been frantically doing research trying to find the back-story of whom, when, where, and more importantly why – particularly the Michigan Cavalry Brigade monument of all the others on the main battlefield? 

The painting was done, we believe in 1890, by Jessie C. Zinn (Lohr) who was born in Gettysburg (possibly in nearby York Springs to be exact) on July 4, 1863. She was married on July 15, 1891 to Lindsy [sic] Luther Lohr Lohr who was supposedly trained at the Lutheran Seminary in town. Since the painting was signed Jessie C. Zinn we presumably speculate that it was done between June 12, 1889 (Michigan Day at G-burg) and July 15, 1891 when she was married. We have found an amazing amount of information and tracked down her grandson, Lawrence Lohr. The family is not aware of any other military themed paintings that she did – at least that they are aware – except for one. Mr. Lohr told us his cousin John Zinn, who lives in Gettysburg, has another Jessie Zinn painting done around the same time of people out visiting the “High Water Mark”. He described it as “people on a Sunday afternoon stroll visiting the battlefield.” 

Our painting, which is approximately 43” x 57”, is substantial enough and unique to the artist’s other works, that we are currently thinking it may have been a commissioned piece. That being said, someone from Michigan (probably from the Brigade) must have commissioned it. Russell Alger? Libby Custer? James Kidd? Custer family? Cavalry Brigade Association? Although the accession record contains very little about the particulars we understand it was donated to The Henry Ford with a Tecumseh, MI/Detroit connection. Although we have found a ton of material on the artist and her family from Gettysburg, the trail goes cold as to the Michigan connection and why. Here is what we know about the Tecumseh/Detroit connections at the moment:  Joseph Elliot Gray was one of the founding family members of Tecumseh. His son Elliot was 1st Lt. Company B, 7th MI Cavalry. He was wounded at Gettysburg and discharged about 10 days later somewhere nearby. He apparently was instrumental in the GAR 140th Post in Tecumseh, MI.  Alger, who just ended his term as Governor, mentions Lt. Elliot in his speech during the Monument’s dedication so we presume Elliot was in attendance – did he meet the artist during that time? Did someone commission her after the dedication? So many questions. 

As you can imagine, it is pretty exciting and we are eager to find out more and have it displayed during Civil War Remembrance weekend. It is also has recently been published to our online collections web site - THF You will see it in the middle of the thumbnails. 

Brian asks: Is anyone out there with more information?

The CW at the DIA

The Detroit Institute of Arts is presenting a new installation of American art that examines the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery.

The works will be on view starting Thursday, Dec. 27, and will become part of the permanent collection galleries in the museum's Richard A. Manoogian Wing of American art. The works include George Henry Hall's still life titled "Patriotic Bouquet" and George C. Lambin's image of a Union officer titled "At the Front."

The installation is part of an effort to commemorate the Civil War and the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

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."