Shot of a nine-inch Union Dahlgren gun. (Photo Credit: Public Domain/U.S. Navy/Wikipedia)

Civil War buffs have reason to cheer, reports WISTV in South Carolina. A recent archaeological excavation by the University of South Carolina has uncovered the wreck of the C.S.S. Peedee in an area of the Great Pee Dee River located in the northeastern corner of the state. Notably, historians indicate that the Confederate gunboat was destroyed by Confederate forces so that it could not be captured by the Union.

C.S.S. Peedee’s cannons were discovered 18 months before

Underwater archaeologist Chris Amer told local media that the discovery of two of the C.S.S. Peedee’s three guns – a Confederate Brooke rifled cannon and a nine-inch Union Dahlgren – suggested that discovery of the wreckage of the ship couldn’t be far behind. As it stands, the archeological team did indeed discover what remains of the C.S.S. Peedee near an area that was the Confederate Mars Bluff Navy Yard. Now Civil War experts can work to piece together the vessel’s history.

Piecing together a history in pieces

Amer candidly proclaimed that the remains of the C.S.S. Peedee are “as messy as the history that put it there.” As it stands, naval historians have learned more about the role inland Confederate naval yards played in the Civil War. The yards provided the Confederacy with protected areas along interior rivers where they could build and house gunboats and support ships.

What Amer and crew learned regarding the location of the C.S.S. Peedee, they gleaned from records of past salvage operations. There were several, but one was of particular use to the search team. According to North Carolina archeologist Michael Hartley, a boiler and other parts were salvaged at Mars Bluff in 1954. At that time, the water was low, which made it possible for Hartley to make a detailed map of the former gunship’s location. Based upon Hartley’s research and magnetic readings, Amer was able to locate the C.S.S. Peedee.

Raise the guns, find the lost cannon

Raising the two cannons that have been discovered and discovering the missing cannon are next on Amer’s agenda. He believes that a field of logs taken directly from Mars Bluff Navy Yard that carpet the river bed may be covering the cannon from view. Thus, Amer will be enlisting the assistance of local loggers for the task ahead.

Sources:

WISTV.com

A day on the Pee Dee River

Lincoln honored the dead at the Battle of Gettysburg with a plea for the Union to accept nothing but total victory in the Civil War. Image: CC pingnews.com/Flickr

The Gettysburg Address was given by President Abraham Lincoln 147 years ago today on Nov. 19, 1863. Lincoln gave the speech at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg, which is considered the turning point of the Civil War, when the Union army destroyed an invading Confederate force from July 1-3, 1863. When he gave the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln spoke for only two minutes, but his words were so eloquent and profound that they represent what the American people prefer to believe they’re country stands for to this day.

Why Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Penn. Though the Union army had defeated the Confederates at Gettysburg, the carnage was so horrible that anti-war sentiment had reached a fever pitch. There were New York draft riots, and opposition Democrats wanted to oust Lincoln and make concessions with the Confederacy. The stakes were high, and Lincoln made the most of his opportunity to rally the nation with a speech that began with the famous line “Four score and seven years ago.”

Key passages in the Gettysburg Address

Lincoln used the occasion of honoring the victims of the Battle of Gettysburg to make his case for total victory in the Civil War. He dedicated the battlefield “as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live.” Ironically, he said “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.” Other unforgettable lines include his description of the soldier’s sacrifice as “the last full measure of devotion,” and the imperative that “these dead shall not have died in vain.” Finally, he cemented the speech in history by saying that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The Battle of Gettysburg

July 1-3, 1863, 172,000 Union and confederate soldiers collided at Gettysburg, Penn. Afterward, the battlefield was littered with the bodies of nearly 8,000 men and 5,000 horses, rotting in the summer heat. Nearly 50,000 Americans from both sides were wounded. In the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate general Robert E. Lee retreated with his decimated force back to Virginia with the Union army hot on his heels.

Sources

TIME

Washington Post

Wikipedia

Poppy flowers are always popular on Memorial Day, from the McRae poem "In Flanders Field." Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Good morning campers; it’s almost Memorial Day and some of you, no doubt, are wondering just exactly what is Memorial Day history. You may want to know how it came about, how it was made official, so on and so forth. So, in advance of packing up to camp out at the lake, go to Grandma’s house or just getting away from all the noise, here’s some of the dish on Memorial Day.

Memorial Day history starts with the Civil War

It wasn’t actually called Memorial Day at first. There are differing opinions as to when was the first observance, but what is clear is that days of remembrance were observed immediately after the end of the Civil War, and the graves of the fallen were decorated.  Initially, it was actually called Decoration Day, not the most imaginative of names.  (We give our holidays such uncolorful names in this country. Maybe some quick cash for a study group to come up with better names would be in order.)

Got the attention of veterans

The town of Waterloo, New York, on May 5, 1866, got the attention of two Army Generals, John Logan and John Murray. John Logan, as it turns out, was the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for Civil War veterans. (Later it became the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.)  The group announced on May 5, 1868, that it would be observing a Decoration Day on May 30 that year.  Southern states, still reeling from a massive case of sour grapes, generally opposed it.

Memorial Day becomes official

The name Memorial Day didn’t become official until 1967. The next year, Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day and Presidents Day (then Washington’s Birthday) from the traditional specified dates to designated Mondays to make the logistics easier for everyone. Since then, some veterans groups have petitioned regularly to move Memorial Day from its current position as the last Monday in May back to May 30.  Memorial Day 2010 will be May 31.