Civil War Technology-- Part 4: Money, Lincoln and Lowe

From the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group, October 2022.

**  MONEY

GREENBACKS:  As a way to pay the Army.  Use of stamps as money.    Lincoln's wallet (at Ford's Theater) has a compartment for stamps.

Confederate money was only redeemable ten years after the war.

**  LINCOLN

A big supporter of any and all things new with technology and innovation.  He even had a patent for a way to get boats over shallow water.

**  THADDEUS LOWE

He had a competitor at Fortress Monroe.  A Union barge as a base to launch balloons could be considered the first U.S. aircraft carrier.

A Balloon Corps was established.  Zeppelin came to visit Lowwe during the war.

Thomas Jefferson had seen the Montgofier Brothers launch a balloon in Paris.

--Old Secesh

A North Carolina Connection To Those Three Captured Confederate Soldiers

Continuing with the last two posts.

Clete Dolinger now lives in southwestern Virginia, but two of his ancestors must have been from North Carolina, judging from their regiments.

Andrew Blevins, 30th North Carolina
John Baldwin, 50th Virginia
Ephraim Blevins, 37th North Carolina.

A Follow Up.  --Old Secesh

And Now, the Rest of the Story: Those Three Captured Confederates-- Part 2

I figured this to be a perfect fit with the new Civil War stamps since I have been writing about them this month.

I even went down to my local post office and got one of the only two sheets of them they had left.

On the back side of the Civil War sheet is the photo (which I have seen many times) of Dolinger's relatives taken later the day of July 3, 1863, after Pickett's Charge.  The men are carrying extra bedrolls, but had no weapons.  They had already been shuttled around between various prisoner holding areas and then been on burial detail for the Union soldiers.

"Humiliated and knowing they would be transported to a regular POW camp, they collected extra clothing and blankets from the dead to prepare for internment," Gettysburg officials said.  I must admit I always thought these Confederate soldiers did not fit the usual bedraggled look of Lee's soldiers.

Dolinger ordered five sets of the stamps at his local post office and when the clerk asked why, he said, "Because that's my kin.  They were drafted into the army and they had to go."  The Virginia postal official then contacted Washington, D.C. about him and Dolinger was then invited to speak.  It gives a real human connection to those long-ago events.

In 1949, his grandmother showed him the family photo album and that picture was in it.  He wants the five sheets for his children and grandchildren.

He also took his granddaddy's granddaddy's sword and canteen with him to Gettysburg.

Making It Human.  --Old Secesh

And Now, The Rest of the Story: Those Three Captured Confederates-- Part 1

From the May 23, 2013, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "A Postal Service event in Gettysburg features descendant of rebels in stamp photo" by Tom Barnes.

Clete Dolinger of southwest Virginia had known the three Confederate prisoners shown in the famous Matthew Brady photo were his ancestors ever since 1949 when he was ten years old.

"The soldier on the right is Andrew Blevins, and he was my granddaddy's granddaddy.  The one on the left is his son, Ephraim Blevins, and the one in the middle is my grandmother's great uncle, John Baldwin."

Dolinger made the six-hour trip to Gettysburg today where he will speak at the U.S. Postal Service event unveiling the new Gettysburg stamp of Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863.

More to Come.  --Old Secesh

Text From Civil War Stamps-- Part 4

"LORENA" LYRICS BY HENRY WEBSTER--  A popular song on both sides-- 
"But then, 'tis past, the years are gone,
I'll not call up their shadowy forms;
I'll say to them, 'Lost years, sleep on!
Sleep on! nor heed life's pelting storms."

RUFUS R. DAWES, 6TH WISCONSIN INFANTRY, Describing Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg--  "For a mile up and down the fields before us in splendid lines...of the Army of Northern Virginia swept down upon us.  They came half way up this slope, wavered, began to fire, then to scatter and then to run, and how our men did yell, 'Come on, Johnny, come on.'"


WILLIAM TUNNARD, 3RD LOUISIANA INFANTRY, Describing the Siege of Vicksburg--  "Dogs howled through the streets at night, cats screamed forth their hideous cries, and an army of rats, seeking food, would scamper around your feet."

Well worth getting yourself a commemorative sheet.

Old Secesh

Text From Civil War Stamps Sheet-- Part 3

There is a photo of three Confederate soldiers captured at The Battle of Gettysburg.  I found a very interesting story about this photo.  Now we know what their names are.

There were also five quotes which I will list:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN:  "But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate--we can not hallow--this ground.  The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our power to add or detract."

CLARA BARTON--  Nurse--  "...what armies and how much war I have seen...what thousands of marching troops, what fields of slain, what prisons, what hospitals, what ruins, what cities in ahes, what hunger and nakedness, what orpanage, what widowhood, what wrongs and what vengeance."

Frankly, My Dear....  --Old Secesh

Text From the Civil War Stamps-- Part 2

The Vicksburg stamp.

"Taking place at the same time in the western theater was the climax of the longest and most complex military campaign of the Civil War: the Battle of Vicksburg.  A busy port city, Vicksburg was the last major Confederate stronghold preventing the Union from gaining complete control of the Mississippi River.  President Abraham Lincoln considered its capture 'the key' to bringing the war to an end..

After the U.S. Navy was unable to bombard the city into submission, General Ulysses S. Grant planned and implemented what has been called 'the greatest amphibious operation in American history up to that time.'  Grant marched his troops south along the western bank of the Mississippi River, and the Navy transported more than 20,000 men east across the river to an undefended site well below Vicksburg.

The troops then mounted an attack from the open ground east of the city.  Their assault began on May 19, but a long siege commenced after frontal attacks failed.  Finally, six weeks into the siege and with the city in ruins, Confederate general John C. Pemberton arranged a meeting with Grant and surrendered on July 4, one dau after the Union victory at Gettysburg.

The Battle of Gettysburg and Battle of Vicksburg stamps are part of the U.S. Postal Servives series commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War."

And, a Job Well Done.  --Old Secesh

Text From Civil War Stamps-- Part 1

From the front of the sheet of stamps (ten with five of each on the front)

THE CIVIL WAR
1863
A NATION TOUCHED WITH FIRE

"In June 1863, Confederate general Robert E. Lee began to carry out his bold plan to invade Pennsylvania and perhaps deal a decisive blow to the Union.  By the end of the month, troops from his Army of Northern Virgina had moved out of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, on their way toward Pennsylvania.

There, on July 1, near the small town of Gettysburg, his forces would meet those of Major General George Gordon Meade, the newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac.

The ensuing three-day Battle of Gettysburg-- in places soon known across the nation as the Peach Orchard, Little Round Top, and the Devil's Den--was the largest battle fought during the war and Lee's first major defeat.

There were some 45,000 casualties, including more than 7,500 killed or mortally wounded.  For Lee's forces and the South, Gettysburg has often been called the 'high water mark of the Rebellion.""

Tomorrow, Vicksburg.  --Old Secesh

The Post Office's Sesquicentennial Stamps

From the May 23, 2013, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Edward Colimore.

The Post Office began their Civil War Sesquicentennial series to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the war in 2011 with the Battles of Fort Sumter and Bull Run which took place in 1861.  Last year's stamps featured the 1862 Battles of Antietam and New Orleans.  I like the fact that the first three years featured a naval battle, which is often overlooked when it comes to the war.

These stamps come in souvenire sheets with two stamps on the front along with a short history of the event shown.  On the reverse side there is a background photograph and five more of each stamp and some comments by participants.

This years reverse side has the famous Matthew Brady photograph of three Confederates captured at the Battle of Gettysburg and comments by Abraham Lincoln, nurse Clara Barton, Union soldier Rufus R. Dawes and Confederate William Tunnard.

Get Driving Over to Your Local P.O..  --Old Secesh

Postal Service Issues Gettysburg and Vicksburg Stamps

From the May 25, 2013, Philadelphia Inquirer by Edward Colimore..

On Mat 23rd, a reproduction of an 1887 chromolithograph made by Thure de Thulestrup was unveiled at the Postal Service's stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg fought July 1-3, 1863.  Swedish-born Thulestrup worked for Harper's Weekly after the Civil War.

His work was one of a series of popular prints commissioned in the 1880s by Boston publisher Louis Prang & Company to commemorate the war.  This particular print showed Pickett's Charge on the final day of the battle, the last Confederate attempt to break the Union line.

The other stamp issued May 23rd is a reproduction of the 1863 Currie & Ives lithograph titled  "Admiral Porter's Fleet Running the Rebel Blockade of the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, April 16th, 1863.  (Yes, the Fort Fisher Admiral Porter.)  The Confederate citadel Vicksburg, surrendered the day after the end of the Battle of Gettysburg.

These are Forever Stamps.

I'll Have to Get Me a Sheet of These Stamps.  --Old Secesh

Introducing the New Forever Stamps

From the April 24th Sacramento (Ca) Bee "U.S. Postal Service Commemorates the 150th Civil War Anniversary."

Two new "Forever Stamps" (that seems to be the new thing for the post office, you hear about them everywhere.  Try to eat in a Taco Bell and not hear it ten times.) have been introduced featuring two major April events, the Battles of New Orleans and Antietam.

The First-Day-of-Issue ceremony took place at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans (OK, I get the New Orleans connection, but, still World War II? for the Civil War?  Should have been a Civil War Museum or perhaps the Antietam Battlefield.)  Of course, this is also the 70th anniversary of that war.

The New Orleans stamps features a reproduction of a very colorful Currier & Ives lithograph.

The Antietam one is a reproduction of an 1887  painting by Thure de Thulstrong.

Guess I'll Have to Go Out and Buy Me Some.  --Old Secesh

Stamping Out the Civil War

From the Jan. 4, 2011 Natinal Parks Traveler by Bob Janiskee.

I had posted earlier about the Fort Sumter stamp coming out this new year in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the start of it.

there will be two stamps coming out this year. One will be for Fort Sumter, the opening action of the war. But, coming out the same day, April 12th, will also be a stamp for the First Battle Of Bull Run (or First Battle of Manassas as Southerners call it).

The Fort Sumter stamp is the famous Currier & Ives lithograph. First Bull Run is the 1964 painting by Sidney E. King's "The Capture of Rickett's Battery.

I'm not exactly sure what a stamp panel is, but it will have comments by Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson along with some of the lines from the song "Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier. The pane background is of an 1861 Union regiment nears Falls Church, Virginia.

Looking forward to these two stamps. There will be two new ones a year for the duration of the sesquicentennial.

Wish there Would Be More. --Old B-Runner

Civil War Stamps-- Part 2

Continuing with the brochure.

As I mentioned, this series features every Civil War stamp ever issued, including the entire Centennial series and a special 20-stamp issue from 1995. Each stamp is in mint condition.

There was a 3 cent 1749 Washington and Lee University stamp. Probably a bicentennial as the first date was 1749 but last date was covered.

Also, a 4 cent Lee-Jackson stamp with a picture of Stratford Hall, Lee's birthplace.

A 4 cent Fort Sumter 1861-1961 centennial stamp.

A 5 cent Appomattox Civil War Centennial 1865-1965 stamp with a shadow of a soldier with stacked rifles and the words "WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE..." Considering the amount of hatred displayed in battles, the aftermath of the war was suprisingly peaceful as far as the soldiers on both sides.

The "Stonewall" Jackson 32 cent stamp was issued June 29, 1995 in Gettysburg, Pa. Of interest, and something I didn't know, at the First Battle of Bull Run he was wearing his blue US Army uniform. Gray was not the standardized Confederate uniform in the early months of the war.

So, you get the Civil War stamps along with a history of US postal increases with this set.

What Will Postage Increase to Next? When Will It Break the Dollar Mark? --Old B-Runner

Civil War Stamps Collection

I received an interesting brochure from the US Post Office concerning a Civil War stamp collection. It featues a notebook in which you can place pages as you get them. Each page has a Mort Kunstler print, a blurb, and an authentic stamp.

Being retired and cutting back, I'm not buying it, but sure would like to do so. Anyway, I enjoyed reading the brochure and looking at the prints and stamps.

There was a 3 cent Final Encampment of the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic), the main Union veterans group. There was also a 3 cent Final Reunion- United Confederate Veterans issued May 30, 1951 at Norfolk, Virginia. Interestingly enough, both the UCV and GAR featured the same picture of a young man and old man. Only the GAR one was in red and the insignia on the cap was GAR. The UCV was gray and either UCV or CSA on the insignia. I couldn't tell. The final GAR Encampment must have been around the same time as the UCV one. Only the GAR called their annual get-togethers encampments and the UCV had reunions.

Imagine, 3 CENT postage back in 1951!!!

There was also a 3 cent Sherman-Grant-Sheridan stamp issued Feb. 18, 1937 at Washington, DC. So the price of a stamp stayed the same from 1931 to 1951.

So, Who Sends Letters Anymore? --Da B-R'er