National Civil War Museum
Encyclopedia
The National Civil War Museum, located at One Lincoln Circle at Reservoir Park
in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
, is a permanent, nonprofit educational institution created to promote the preservation of material culture and sources of information that are directly relevant to the American Civil War
of 1861–1865, and the aftermath period of the war as related to Civil War Veterans' service organizations, including the Grand Army of the Republic
, United Confederate Veterans
and the Daughters of the Confederacy to 1920. The museum also serves as the National Headquarters for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
(SUVCW), the legal successor to the Grand Army of the Republic
(GAR). In 2009, the museum became affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington, D.C.
. The exhibits and self-guided tour begin on the second floor of the museum (first ten galleries) and continue on the first floor (last seven galleries and theater). A gift shop
, temporary exhibit gallery, and museum support are on the first floor. A "Walk of Valor," consisting of red bricks bearing the names of Civil War veterans who have been honored by their surviving descendants, contributes to the museum's memorial-like grounds.
's exhibits are designed to tell "the entire story of the American Civil War
... without bias to the Union
or Confederate
causes". The exhibition covers the period from 1850 to 1876, with its major focus on the Civil War years of 1861 to 1865. The majority of the collection of over 24,000 artifact
s, photograph
s, document
s, manuscript
s, and other printed matter was acquired between 1994 and 1999 by the city of Harrisburg, under Mayor
Stephen R. Reed
, who is the museum's founder. Part of the rationale for the museum's location is Harrisburg's relative closeness to Gettysburg
, and the many tourists
who visit there.
The museum's galleries are as follows:
A video We the People focuses on ten characters from all walks of life and their fates before, during, and after the war. It is presented in segments in galleries 1, 4, 9, 14 and concludes in the theater.
Reservoir Park (Harrisburg)
Reservoir Park is the largest municipal public park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and occupies approximately in the Allison Hill neighborhood of the city. Reservoir Park is also home to the National Civil War Museum and provides the setting for many of Harrisburg's most popular outdoor festivals...
in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
, is a permanent, nonprofit educational institution created to promote the preservation of material culture and sources of information that are directly relevant to the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
of 1861–1865, and the aftermath period of the war as related to Civil War Veterans' service organizations, including the Grand Army of the Republic
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, US Marines and US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, it was dissolved in 1956 when its last member died...
, United Confederate Veterans
United Confederate Veterans
The United Confederate Veterans, also known as the UCV, was a veteran's organization for former Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War, and was equivalent to the Grand Army of the Republic which was the organization for Union veterans....
and the Daughters of the Confederacy to 1920. The museum also serves as the National Headquarters for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is an American fraternal organization, the legal successor to the Grand Army of the Republic . Founded in late 1881, it was originally one of several competing organizations of descendants of Union veterans...
(SUVCW), the legal successor to the Grand Army of the Republic
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, US Marines and US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, it was dissolved in 1956 when its last member died...
(GAR). In 2009, the museum became affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
History
Former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed, a Civil War enthusiast, is credited as the founder of the museum, which cost $32 million to construct.Location
The museum is located in a two-story brick building in Harrisburg's Reservoir ParkReservoir Park (Harrisburg)
Reservoir Park is the largest municipal public park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and occupies approximately in the Allison Hill neighborhood of the city. Reservoir Park is also home to the National Civil War Museum and provides the setting for many of Harrisburg's most popular outdoor festivals...
. The exhibits and self-guided tour begin on the second floor of the museum (first ten galleries) and continue on the first floor (last seven galleries and theater). A gift shop
Gift shop
A gift shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collections and other souvenirs....
, temporary exhibit gallery, and museum support are on the first floor. A "Walk of Valor," consisting of red bricks bearing the names of Civil War veterans who have been honored by their surviving descendants, contributes to the museum's memorial-like grounds.
Exhibits
The museumMuseum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
's exhibits are designed to tell "the entire story of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
... without bias to the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
or Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
causes". The exhibition covers the period from 1850 to 1876, with its major focus on the Civil War years of 1861 to 1865. The majority of the collection of over 24,000 artifact
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
s, photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s, document
Document
The term document has multiple meanings in ordinary language and in scholarship. WordNet 3.1. lists four meanings :* document, written document, papers...
s, manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s, and other printed matter was acquired between 1994 and 1999 by the city of Harrisburg, under Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Stephen R. Reed
Stephen R. Reed
Stephen Russell Reed is the former and longest-serving mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He moved to Harrisburg with his parents as a boy.- Biography :...
, who is the museum's founder. Part of the rationale for the museum's location is Harrisburg's relative closeness to Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
, and the many tourists
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
who visit there.
The museum's galleries are as follows:
- A House Divided, 1850–1860 (examines the events leading up to the Civil War);
- American SlaverySlaverySlavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
: The Peculiar Institution, 1850–1860 (how nineteenth century Americans saw slavery); - First Shots, 1861 (Fort SumterFort SumterFort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
); - Making of ArmiesArmyAn army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
(recruiting, training, and equipping both armies); - Weapons and Equipment (with many artifacts);
- CampaignsMilitary campaignIn the military sciences, the term military campaign applies to large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war...
and BattleBattleGenerally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
s of 1861-1862 (early campaigns and the tactics, strategies. and logistics); - Battle MapMapA map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
, 1861–1862 (emphasis on how geographyGeographyGeography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
and topographyTopographyTopography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
affected troop movements); - Camp CurtinCamp CurtinCamp Curtin was a military training camp in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War.When news of the bombardment and subsequent surrender of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina reached Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers...
(the Civil War's largest Union campMilitary campA military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent facility for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large campsites. In the Roman era the military camp had highly...
, located in Harrisburg); - Why Men Fought, 1861–1863 (motivations of soldiers on both sides);
- Civil War MusicMusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
(displays of musical instruments and recorded music to listen to); - Gettysburg, 1863 (a turning pointTurning point of the American Civil WarThere is widespread disagreement over the turning point of the American Civil War. The idea of a turning point is an event after which most observers would agree that the eventual outcome was inevitable. While the Battle of Gettysburg is the most widely cited , there are several other arguable...
of the war); - Costs of War (Civil War medicineMedicineMedicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
); - Women in the War (women's various roles);
- NavyNavyA navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
(focuses on maritime engagements); - Campaigns and Battles of 1864–1865 (the last years of the Civil War);
- Battle Map, 1863-1865 (from Stones RiverBattle of Stones RiverThe Battle of Stones River or Second Battle of Murfreesboro , was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War...
to AppomattoxAppomattoxAppomattox may refer to:*Appomattox, Virginia, a town*Appomattox County, Virginia* Appomattox Basin, a name for the Tri-Cities, Virginia region*Appomattox Court House, a court house in Virginia...
); - Lincoln: War & Remembrance (remembering the Civil War, Abraham LincolnAbraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, and veterans' roles after the war).
A video We the People focuses on ten characters from all walks of life and their fates before, during, and after the war. It is presented in segments in galleries 1, 4, 9, 14 and concludes in the theater.
Artifacts
The museum contains a large collection of original artifacts, including weapons, uniforms, camp and personal effects and similar items. Among the many articles on display are:- portable writing kit of General Winfield Scott
- 1852 Sharps carbine and a pike head from the raid on Harper’s Ferry
- last battle map used by General Robert E. Lee during the Appomattox campaign
- pen used by Governor Wise to sign John Brown’s death warrant
- Lincoln’s leather hat box used on the 1860 (first term) campaign trail
- two of three know sabers of General J.E.B. Stuart's including one presented by his cousin on Stuart’s wedding
- sleeve of General George Pickett removed from his coat after he was wounded at the Battle of Gaines’ Mill, traces of blood are visible
- shadow box of relics once in possession of "Stonewall" Jackson, including hair from his horse, "Little Sorell", wood from his chair, and cloth from his desk
- Major General George McClellan’s saddle, used when he was General-In-Chief of the Union army
- Lee’s hat cord and Bible, inscribed in his hand, used for almost 20 years, until its capture four days before Lee’s surrender at Appomatox
- sword belt presented to General Ulysses S. Grant to commemorate the capture of Vicksburg
- gauntlet worn by “Stonewall” Jackson earlier in the war
- Bowie knife captured from one of "Mosby’s Rangers"
- doeskin riding gauntlets belonging to Lee
- chair taken from the captured Confederate White House
- kepi belonging to Major General Pickett
- a lock of hair belonging to and a post-war painting of General George Pickett passed down through his family
- bullet-ridden fence post from along the Harrisburg Road in Gettysburg
- various other rifles, revolvers, officer’s swords, and munitions later discovered on battlefields
- rare chains, iron shackles, and bracelets from the antebellum slave trade, including a slave collar with remnants of the original linen interior lining
- wooden saddle & tack box used by Grant
- memorabilia from Civil War veterans reunions
- collection of memorabilia from Lincoln’s assassination including a lock of Lincoln’s hair, a sash from the funeral train, (the original) telegram ordering the arrest of John Wilkes Booth, a ticket to that night’s production of "Our American CousinOur American CousinOur American Cousin is an 1858 play in three acts by English playwright Tom Taylor. The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward, boorish but honest American, Asa Trenchard, to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate...
" at Ford's TheatreFord's TheatreFord's Theatre is a historic theater in Washington, D.C., used for various stage performances beginning in the 1860s. It is also the site of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865...
, a replica of his "life mask", and a fragment of Mary Todd LincolnMary Todd LincolnMary Ann Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865.-Life before the White House:...
's dress that she wore the night of the assassination - the key to Libby Prison, a prison used for Federal officers
- lead bullets, complete with teeth marks, given to patients in anticipation of pain during surgery
- stateroom plaque inscribed "D.G. Farragut, USN" carried by him from stateroom to stateroom during his naval career
- a Lincoln Administration China plate and lantern from Lincoln’s home in Springfield, Illinois
See also
- New England Civil War MuseumNew England Civil War MuseumThe New England Civil War Museum was established in March 1994. It is housed in the Memorial Building, a former Grand Army of the Republic Hall in Rockville, Connecticut. Its collection includes prints, paintings, lithographs, photos, and original papers. The museum has a large collection of...
- National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus
- Louisiana's Civil War Museum at Confederate Memorial HallConfederate Memorial HallConfederate Memorial Hall is a museum located in New Orleans, Louisiana containing historical artifacts related to the Confederate States of America and the American Civil War. It is historically also known as "Memorial Hall". It houses the second largest collection of Confederate Civil War items...
External links
- Official website
- Louisiana's Civil War Museum at Confederate Memorial Hall