Welcome to the National Civil war museum in harrisburg, pennsylvania. We opened in 2001. We were one of the first museums to talk about the entire civil war under one roof. The mission of the museum is to educate on the civil war, the causes leading up to the civil war, the war years, and the years after the war, including reconstruction and the lives of the veterans who far during the civil war, including the fraternal organizations that they belonged to. When you first come into the museum, the first galleries he addresses the causes of the war. Just beyond that, you have an exhibit gallery that talks about slavery during the war. The on that, we have galleries the talk about the first shots of the war am a down in fort sumter in north carolina. And the making of the armies. This museum talks about the entire war come all the various battles, the politics behind the war. So it really gives a really good general overview of what happened prior to the civil war, during the civil war, and after. The gallery we are standing and standing in now talks about the spring and summer of 1863, starting with the battle of chancellorsville and moving into july in the battle of gettysburg. In the spring of 1863, the union army, under Joseph Hooker decided it was time to have an advance on the Confederate Army in Northern Virginia. The selected advance was going to take place at the crossroads of chancellorsville, virginia. The Northern Army intended to move around the find of the army of Northern Virginia, across the Rappahannock River before they really had a chance to realize what was going on. It turned out that the Northern Army of the potomac under general hooker really didnt have the communications set up to be able to full or follow through with their plan. Generally dust general lee, attempting to fend off the federal flank attack in the spring of 1863, divided his army into three different parts, which was unheard of during the civil war. One part he kept in fredericksburg as a block against the federal army that was just across the Rappahannock River. General lee also kept part of the army with him at chancellorsville to but a large portion went with general jackson on a flanking movement around the union left flank. He was able to maneuver quickly enough, using the talented generals under him to gain the upper ham, by winning the battle of chancellorsville. The first part of like to show you is this gauntlet, which belonged to general thomas j stonewall jackson, one of the commanders of the Confederate Army. On the evening of may 2, 1863, he went ahead of his line on a scouting mission and, upon his return, because of the dark knight, his own men did not realize that he and his staff had been out beyond their lines and he was fired upon. General jackson was wounded in the left arm and right hand on may 10. He succumbed to the effects of his wound and pneumonia. That is how general jackson met his end. This is one of the gauntlets he was wearing during the campaign. We also have a paragon lets that belonged to general lee. These goblets were worn by general lee during the chancellorsville campaign, which was considered to be one of his finest hours. It was hope that the move into pennsylvania would be a turn in the war. It didnt turn out that way. After the confederates were defeated at the battle of gettysburg and forced to retreat into regina, that pretty much guaranteed that the war would continue on. It was also a turning point in the war. The south had finally bumper to a serious defeat and it showed that the south was an invincible and it gave the northern armies new hope. The exhibit space we are in now talks about the end of the war. From the surrender at appomattox up through the years after the war. It talks a bit about the lives of veterans after the war. This figure represents efraim slaughter. He was a former slave. He was with the 37th United States colored troop, a hardfought unit in 1864. He participated in several battles, including the battle of newmarket heights. After the war, efraim slaughter moved to harrisburg, pennsylvania where we are now. This very lifelike representation of efraim slaughter is actually in his older years. We chose the image of efraim slaughter because he was a local to harrisburg. He died in 1843. We wanted a representation of the veterans of the war in their old age to be in this gallery. Efraim slaughter, he is actually buried about half a mile from the museum. So definitely very local. He has family that is still in this area today. As a matter of fact, recently, boost kepi that belonged to a from slaughter it was donated to the museum from his family. You can see the showcasing us. Those were fired at his funeral in 1943. We have seen some of the artifacts that are on permanent display. My have pulled some of the artifacts that we have in storage. In total, we have over 4000 original, threedimensional artifacts. This is a small selection of the number. Right here, we have a commission signed by president lincoln and secretary of war edward stanton. This belonged to general john buford, who was a calvary commander for the army of the potomac at gettysburg. This is a really nice piece here at the National Civil war museum. We like to keep things balanced. So i post this commission, which is actually signed by president franklin pierce. What is interesting about this is the secretary of the war in 1853 was jefferson davis. Both of these commissions were for john buford. This was as a First Lieutenant in 1850 three. And this as a Major General in 1863. Right here, we have a hat band. This is a navy item from the uss monitor, famous for being one of the first ironclad, the famous battle between the monitor and the merrimack. This is an original hat band worn by one of the sailors on the monitor. Those are very rare. We are excited to have it in the collection. Right down in front here, we have what is known as a henry rifle. This was when of the first, if not the first, repeating rifles, successful repeating rifle used during the war. The u. S. Government didnt purchase many of these. One of the official reasons was they were afraid the soldiers would waste ammunition, believe it or not. This could hold 15 rounds of ammunition. You can see right here under the barrel is the magazine. You can see the spring. You would just load the magazine and you could fire 15 shots. The confederates referred to this weapon as they rifle that the yankees would load on sunday and fire all week. You have to remember, this was a hugely forward technology. Armies had far with single shot muzzleloaders for centuries. Now all evasive and, you had these weapons that could fire 15 shots as quickly as you can say 15 shots. It was huge, mind blowing really. Thats one of the advances that was made during the civil war. Speaking of weapons, we have a super a civil war hero shotgun. What is unique about this is there is a coffee grounder coffee grinder right here in the box of the shotgun. You grind up your coffee there and it comes out right through this whole here. That might seem kind of odd, to have a coffee grinder integrated into a weapon. But back then, that is what infantrymen loved. They loved their coffee. And this was a convenient and easy way for them to get their coffee while they are on their march. Companies like winchester, cold, colt and others made the brighter in the stock and had made prototypes with the coffee grinder in the stock. However, it was never massproduced. It wasnt efficient. None were ever ordered. This piece right here is one we are especially proud of, as most americans are. This is a medal of honor, which was donated to the museum by the soldiers ancestors if you use ago. This was to lieutenant james vernay of the 11th illinois infantry. During the siege of vicksburg, he volunteered to pilot a steamship past the confederate batteries at vicksburg, which was an amazingly dangerous thing to do. General grant needed to get troops and supplies south of vicksburg in order to cross the river with his army and come up behind vicksburg. Lieutenant vernay volunteered to help pilot the steamship and he was successful, although his ship did take 16 direct hits. He still managed to get the ship through and down to where it needed to be. On the reverse of the metal, medal, the original inscription. To janes major james d vernay it says the congress to brevet major james d vernay for gallantry in vicksburg city april 22, 1863. This was presented in 1896 to then brevet major vernay. It wasnt unusual for soldiers who were awarded the medal of honor to get them years after the actual war had ended. And this particular medal is of that variety. The medal itself, the the original case that it is in, was made by tiffany and company in new york. They were only famous for their they werent only famous for their lamps and jewelry, but in the civil war, they made weapons. They made swords, highly sought after, presentation quality swords. And they had the contract for the medal of honor as well. The last two pieces we have, right here, we have a model 1849 colt pocket revolver. This was done up on the field of gettysburg many years after the battle. As you can see, it is very corroded. But the interesting thing about this is the brass piece here, you can actually still read the serial number, which is really quite interesting. And in addition to that, the revolver is still fully cap and loaded bashfully cap fully capped and loaded. It is really interesting because it can actually allow you to use your imagination. This revolver, while we will probably never know exactly who carried it, we can imagine who might have carried it and what were the circumstances of him losing this weapon on the field. But its really a very interesting artifact from the battle of gettysburg. The last piece we have here is a bible. This bible is interesting in that it was carried by a confederate private named adam troutman. He was with the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia at the battle of antietam. He was hit by a musket ball during that battle. However, this bible, which he was carrying with him in his pocket, stopped that ball and most likely saved his life. And you can see the musket ball was to write there. Was wedged right there. You can see the impact. Private trout meant presented private troutman presented this bible to his brother. Unfortunately for him, he probably should have kept it because he was killed in battle later in the war. But at the battle of antietam, this did save his life. I hope that people who come and visit the museum will leave with a better sense of the country and why it is the way it is today. The civil war was a defining moment in our countrys history. A lot of what goes on today is still affected by what happened during the civil war, whether it is race relations, how we display a flag, and there are so many other things, from clothing sizes to your boots that you wear, just an amazing amount of change happened in a very short period of time, which tends to happen during wartime. But the civil war really helped the finest nation. Helped define this nation. And i hope it gives people a clearer sense of where we are, because of where weve been. This weekend, we are featuring the history of harrisburg, pennsylvania. Learn more about harrisburg and other stops on our cities tour citiestour. N. Org you are watching American History tv. Monday night on the communicators, tom wheeler talks about his tenure as the head of the commission, its major decisions, including Net Neutrality and the issues he sees facing the trump administration. The idea that you should scale back the fcc and give a lot of its responsibilities to the fpc is something that the networks have been pushing for years. Before he took this job, there was a headline, an article in the Washington Post that said in essence here
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