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Posts Tagged ‘Missing Soldiers Office’
The end of the Civil War brought an end to the dangers Clara Barton faced as a volunteer army nurse, but it did not bring an end to her work. In March 1865, with the support of President Lincoln, she accomplished the monumental task of establishing the Missing Soldiers Office—just weeks before […]
During the Civil War years, hundreds of thousands of soldiers wrote letters home, many containing card-sized photos of themself. By the end of the conflict, thousands of letters and images remained undelivered at the Dead Letter Office in Washington, D.C. For decades after the war, the employees of the Dead Letter Office […]
When thinking of reasons why people wrote the Missing Soldiers Office (MSO), it is assumed that they were family looking for loved ones. The search for Lieutenant Grover Young (or Youngs) of the 5th Kansas Cavalry initiated from a decidedly less personal source – a newspaper. Why would a newspaper be concerned […]
Battle-Tempered: The Physical and Psychological Consequences of War Join the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and partner organizations for a unique one-day conference. 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM Monocacy National Battlefield “Character, Warrior Identity, and Moral Leadership: Union Colonel Charles Gilpin at Monocacy and in Peace” Stephen A. Goldman, MD 9:30 […]
At the Medical Lake Cemetery in Spokane, Washington, a family who migrated from Maine in the 1870s is laid to rest. Among the headstones stands a cenotaph for the eldest child: Madison Frederick Boissonnault. While they honored the passing of their soldier kin, you will not find Madison’s remains in Washington State […]
On January 30, 1865, Washington was abuzz with gossip. A government clerk named Adoniram Burroughs had been shot twice at the Treasury Department. At a time when death was seemingly everywhere due to the war, this incident managed to stand out. A key detail traveled with the story: the killer was a […]
In 1866, New Jersey became the last Northern state to officially abolish slavery. Decades of a “modified” institution allowed for a slow gradual emancipation process and a transitional status from enslaved to “apprenticed for life.” This delay did not inhibit enslaved and free populations from enlisting in the Union Army.[1] Private Joseph […]
On December 18, 1865, following the ratification of the 13th Amendment, President Andrew Johnson addressed the United States Senate. He declared: I have the honor to state that the rebellion waged by a portion of the people against the properly constituted authority of the Government of the United States has been suppressed; […]
What happens when a regiment loses track of one of their own? In the chaos of war, this unfortunate circumstance sometimes happened, including to Private Jesse Wiley Ball, Company F of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry. Born in Virginia in 1832, Jesse and the Ball family moved to Indiana in the late 1840s. […]
When an assassin’s bullet struck James Garfield in July 1881, the battle to save the president’s life began. In the weeks that followed, doctors argued over how to treat the stricken executive. In the end, Dr. D. Willard Bliss, a former Civil War surgeon, took control of Garfield’s recovery and controversy has […]
