'Gray Ghost' fueled Culpepper's fascination with Civil War
By Winston Skinner
The Times-Herald
Newnan, GA
John Culpepper is a genial man who has spent most of his six decades a few minutes from one of America's most famous Civil War sites.
The chairman of the Georgia Civil War Commission, Culpepper and his family lived in North Carolina until moving to Chickamauga in northwest Georgia in 1958. "My dad was a textile worker," he said.
Chickamauga was a textile town at that time, but it was the town's tie to Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park just a mile away that fascinated Culpepper. As a youth, he spent many hours on his bicycle riding around the park and other sites reminiscent of the Civil War days.
Culpepper, 64, is working to encourage Georgia communities and organizations to get prepared for the Civil War's 150th anniversary -- which will be observed from 2011-2015. He recently spoke to members of a local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp.
Culpepper grew up in the cowboys-and-Indians era. Many television shows of the time featured cowpokes and gunslingers. A 1957 series, "The Gray Ghost," captivated young Culpepper.
The series starred Tod Andrews as Maj. John Singleton Mosby, a daring Confederate hero. One of Mosby's Rangers was William Thomas Overby, who grew up in Coweta County and was hanged by Union troops in Virginia in 1864 after he refused to reveal the location of Mosby and his comrades.
Overby's remains were exhumed from a rural Virginia cemetery and reinterred at Oak Hill Cemetery in Newnan in 1997. A large monument to Overby -- sometimes called "the Nathan Hale of the Confederacy" -- is on the grounds of the Coweta County Courthouse, and a state historical marker designates the site of his boyhood home on Highway 34 west of Newnan.
Culpepper remembered that -- after becoming a fan of "The Gray Ghost" -- "I became fascinated with the war."
http://www.times-herald.com/local/Gray-Ghost-fueled-Culpeppers-fascination-with-Civil-War-941861
Saturday, January 9, 2010
STEPHEN D. LEE INSTITUTE SET FOR FEBRUARY
STEPHEN DILL LEE INSTITUTE
FEBRUARY 26-27 2010
SHERATON MUSIC CITY HOTEL
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
The American System of Liberty:
Nullification, Secession and States’ Rights
The Institute is now taking registrations and reservations for our upcoming meeting on February 26-27 in Nashville. Please call our headquarters at Elm Springs to register (1-800-MY DIXIE) or register at www.StephenDLeeInstitute.com .
Don’t miss Thomas DiLorenzo, Donald Livingston, Kent Masterson Brown Marshall DeRosa, W. Kirk Wood, and Brion McClanahan.
A special treat will occur on Friday evening with a book signing by the authors and an unforgettable historical lecture on The Battle of Franklin by nationally known historian Thomas Cartwright.
Anyone desiring information can contact Brag Bowling at 804-389-3620.
FEBRUARY 26-27 2010
SHERATON MUSIC CITY HOTEL
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
The American System of Liberty:
Nullification, Secession and States’ Rights
The Institute is now taking registrations and reservations for our upcoming meeting on February 26-27 in Nashville. Please call our headquarters at Elm Springs to register (1-800-MY DIXIE) or register at www.StephenDLeeInstitute.com .
Don’t miss Thomas DiLorenzo, Donald Livingston, Kent Masterson Brown Marshall DeRosa, W. Kirk Wood, and Brion McClanahan.
A special treat will occur on Friday evening with a book signing by the authors and an unforgettable historical lecture on The Battle of Franklin by nationally known historian Thomas Cartwright.
Anyone desiring information can contact Brag Bowling at 804-389-3620.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Georgia Governor Signs Confederate History Month Proclamation
CONFEDERATE HISTORY MONTH
WHEREAS: April is the month in which the Confederate States of America began a four-year conflict in the Civil War. Confederate Memorial Day on April 26 is a time when Georgians honor the more than 90,000 brave men and women who served the Confederate States of America. Georgia joined the Confederacy in January 1861 when a convention ratified the ordinance of secession, and Georgia has long cherished her Confederate history and the great leaders who made sacrifices on her behalf; and
WHEREAS: Among those who served the Confederacy were Native Americans who saw action in the Confederate armed forces as well as in governmental service. Two such individuals who made a significant contribution to the state’s history were Stand Watie and Elias Cornelius Boudinot, both born in Calhoun County; and
WHEREAS: In 1861, Stand Watie was commissioned as a Colonel in the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles and by May 1864 rose to the rank of Brigadier General. He and his unit participated in 27 major engagements and numerous smaller skirmishes, more than any other unit encountered west of the Mississippi River. Watie participated in what is considered to be the most significant Confederate victory in Indian Territory, which took place at Cabin Creek during mid-September 1864. He led a raid that captured a Federal wagon train and netted approximately one million dollars worth of wagons, mules, commissary supplies, and other needed items. In February 1865, Watie was given command of the Indian Division of Indian Territory. He officially surrendered on June 23, 1865 with the distinction of being the last Confederate General to surrender and the only one to be a Cherokee Indian; and
WHEREAS: Elias Cornelius Boudinot served as secretary of the Arkansas secession convention in May 1861 and later joined the regiment raised by his uncle, Stand Watie on December 4, 1861. Boudinot rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before being elected as Cherokee delegate to the Confederate States Congress. This made him the first Native American to hold such a position, and it is where he earned his reputation as an Indian spokesman. After the war, he continued to fight for the rights of all Indians and called for Indian Territory to be made an official territory of the United States. He helped write proposed legislation naming the new territory "Oklahoma"; and
WHEREAS: It is important that Georgians reflect upon our state’s past and honor and respect the devotion of her Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens; now
THEREFORE: I, SONNY PERDUE, Governor of the state of Georgia, do hereby proclaim April 2010 as CONFEDERATE HISTORY MONTH and April 26, 2010, as CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY in Georgia and encourage our citizens to observe this occasion with appropriate ceremonies.
In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the Executive Department to be affixed this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord two thousand nine.
WHEREAS: April is the month in which the Confederate States of America began a four-year conflict in the Civil War. Confederate Memorial Day on April 26 is a time when Georgians honor the more than 90,000 brave men and women who served the Confederate States of America. Georgia joined the Confederacy in January 1861 when a convention ratified the ordinance of secession, and Georgia has long cherished her Confederate history and the great leaders who made sacrifices on her behalf; and
WHEREAS: Among those who served the Confederacy were Native Americans who saw action in the Confederate armed forces as well as in governmental service. Two such individuals who made a significant contribution to the state’s history were Stand Watie and Elias Cornelius Boudinot, both born in Calhoun County; and
WHEREAS: In 1861, Stand Watie was commissioned as a Colonel in the First Cherokee Mounted Rifles and by May 1864 rose to the rank of Brigadier General. He and his unit participated in 27 major engagements and numerous smaller skirmishes, more than any other unit encountered west of the Mississippi River. Watie participated in what is considered to be the most significant Confederate victory in Indian Territory, which took place at Cabin Creek during mid-September 1864. He led a raid that captured a Federal wagon train and netted approximately one million dollars worth of wagons, mules, commissary supplies, and other needed items. In February 1865, Watie was given command of the Indian Division of Indian Territory. He officially surrendered on June 23, 1865 with the distinction of being the last Confederate General to surrender and the only one to be a Cherokee Indian; and
WHEREAS: Elias Cornelius Boudinot served as secretary of the Arkansas secession convention in May 1861 and later joined the regiment raised by his uncle, Stand Watie on December 4, 1861. Boudinot rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before being elected as Cherokee delegate to the Confederate States Congress. This made him the first Native American to hold such a position, and it is where he earned his reputation as an Indian spokesman. After the war, he continued to fight for the rights of all Indians and called for Indian Territory to be made an official territory of the United States. He helped write proposed legislation naming the new territory "Oklahoma"; and
WHEREAS: It is important that Georgians reflect upon our state’s past and honor and respect the devotion of her Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens; now
THEREFORE: I, SONNY PERDUE, Governor of the state of Georgia, do hereby proclaim April 2010 as CONFEDERATE HISTORY MONTH and April 26, 2010, as CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY in Georgia and encourage our citizens to observe this occasion with appropriate ceremonies.
In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the Executive Department to be affixed this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord two thousand nine.
UDC Honors Black Confederates
UDC members hold grave marking ceremony for 18 Confederate soldiers
A most unusual memorial grave marking ceremony was recently held at Maplewood Cemetery in Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee. This was the dedication of markers for 18 Tennessee Colored Confederate Pensioners. Pamela Wood of Sparta and Barbara Parsons of Crossville, both members of the Capt. Sally Tompkins 2123 UDC, attended the impressive ceremony.
Cathy Gordon Wood, president of the Giles County 257, United Daughters of the Confederacy, used newspaper accounts and Tennessee Colored Confederate Pension applications to locate these Giles County men, their respective service to the Confederacy, and their family members. One of the Colored Confederates received the Southern Cross of Honor for his service.
The Captain Sally Tompkins 2123 UDC chapter in Cookeville has marked four Colored Confederate graves, and chapter member Pamela Wood (no relation to Cathy Wood) currently serves as chairman of the Tennessee Recognition of Black Confederates committee. When she began planning this memorial service, Cathy Wood of Pulaski contacted the chapter regarding the grave markings they had done, and also Pamela Wood for procedure to apply for the Veterans Administration markers since the chapter had applied for and received four VA markers for Colored Confederates in the past.
To the great shock of everyone involved the VA refused to supply the markers for the 18 Colored Confederates, stating that they were slaves and did not qualify. Several of these Colored Confederate veterans had attended military reunions for many years up until their deaths. They had received pensions from the state of Tennessee for their service. May 23, 1958, Confederate veterans were declared by the U.S. Congress as, “All Confederate veterans are U.S. military veterans, and deserve all the rights and honors pertinent to such service.” Quote from U.S. Statutes at large, Volume 72, Part 1, Pages 133-134.
Though many efforts were made to secure the proper recognition for these Colored Confederate veterans, the VA would not change their position, stating the men served as cooks, teamsters, and body servants, not as soldiers. This argument does not hold up because men who served in these same positions in the Union army have been given VA grave markers. This is a clear case of discrimination by the Veterans Administration.
Rather than allowing 18 Confederate soldiers to go unmarked, the Giles County 257 UDC chapter began a fundraising effort and raised the necessary funds to purchase the markers. The Capt. Sally Tompkins 2123 UDC also sent a donation to aid in the purchase these markers.
Property was purchased in Maplewood Cemetery and a double rainbow of 18 grave markers were placed together. There will also be a fence placed around the markers; however, it had been raining too much to be able to install the fence before the dedication service.
Approximately 300 people attended the ceremony including many descendants of the men being honored, state representatives, the city and county mayors and a letter was read from Governor Bredesen. A sketch of the service of each veteran was given as well as family information and the location of their burial, if known, was included on their memorial marker. Family members gave brief accounts of family history on their ancestors. At the conclusion of the addresses family members removed the covers placed on the markers during the service, and the service was closed with the playing of the “Echo Taps.”
http://www.crossville-chronicle.com/features/local_story_351151432.html
A most unusual memorial grave marking ceremony was recently held at Maplewood Cemetery in Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee. This was the dedication of markers for 18 Tennessee Colored Confederate Pensioners. Pamela Wood of Sparta and Barbara Parsons of Crossville, both members of the Capt. Sally Tompkins 2123 UDC, attended the impressive ceremony.
Cathy Gordon Wood, president of the Giles County 257, United Daughters of the Confederacy, used newspaper accounts and Tennessee Colored Confederate Pension applications to locate these Giles County men, their respective service to the Confederacy, and their family members. One of the Colored Confederates received the Southern Cross of Honor for his service.
The Captain Sally Tompkins 2123 UDC chapter in Cookeville has marked four Colored Confederate graves, and chapter member Pamela Wood (no relation to Cathy Wood) currently serves as chairman of the Tennessee Recognition of Black Confederates committee. When she began planning this memorial service, Cathy Wood of Pulaski contacted the chapter regarding the grave markings they had done, and also Pamela Wood for procedure to apply for the Veterans Administration markers since the chapter had applied for and received four VA markers for Colored Confederates in the past.
To the great shock of everyone involved the VA refused to supply the markers for the 18 Colored Confederates, stating that they were slaves and did not qualify. Several of these Colored Confederate veterans had attended military reunions for many years up until their deaths. They had received pensions from the state of Tennessee for their service. May 23, 1958, Confederate veterans were declared by the U.S. Congress as, “All Confederate veterans are U.S. military veterans, and deserve all the rights and honors pertinent to such service.” Quote from U.S. Statutes at large, Volume 72, Part 1, Pages 133-134.
Though many efforts were made to secure the proper recognition for these Colored Confederate veterans, the VA would not change their position, stating the men served as cooks, teamsters, and body servants, not as soldiers. This argument does not hold up because men who served in these same positions in the Union army have been given VA grave markers. This is a clear case of discrimination by the Veterans Administration.
Rather than allowing 18 Confederate soldiers to go unmarked, the Giles County 257 UDC chapter began a fundraising effort and raised the necessary funds to purchase the markers. The Capt. Sally Tompkins 2123 UDC also sent a donation to aid in the purchase these markers.
Property was purchased in Maplewood Cemetery and a double rainbow of 18 grave markers were placed together. There will also be a fence placed around the markers; however, it had been raining too much to be able to install the fence before the dedication service.
Approximately 300 people attended the ceremony including many descendants of the men being honored, state representatives, the city and county mayors and a letter was read from Governor Bredesen. A sketch of the service of each veteran was given as well as family information and the location of their burial, if known, was included on their memorial marker. Family members gave brief accounts of family history on their ancestors. At the conclusion of the addresses family members removed the covers placed on the markers during the service, and the service was closed with the playing of the “Echo Taps.”
http://www.crossville-chronicle.com/features/local_story_351151432.html
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Site Related to "The General" Due for Makeover
Friday, Dec. 11, 2009
General historic site in line for makeover
By: Andy Johns
Staff File Photo: A train passes a 108-year-old monument marking the end of the Great Locomotive Chase outside Ringgold, Ga., in Catoosa County.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to help Catoosa County commissioners spend a $2,500 grant awarded to the county in 2007.
The state grant can be spent only for improvements to the site where The General locomotive was abandoned at the end of the Great Locomotive Chase in 1862. The money has been sitting in an account since it was awarded as officials tried to determine how it might best be used.
Members of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp brought up the issue at a recent County Commission meeting.
"They just needed somebody like us to agitate them or at least present (ideas) to them," said John Bryson, a member of the camp.
In 1862, a group of Union soldiers and a Union spy stole a locomotive, The General, in what is now Kennesaw, Ga., and drove the train toward Chattanooga while trying to burn bridges and cut telegraph wires along the way. The General ran out of steam about two miles north of Ringgold, where a large marble marker has stood since 1901.
The grant will be used for improvements to the site, but commissioners and Sons of Confederate Veterans camp members have debated about an additional plaque, directional signs informing drivers of the marker or more parking space along state Highway 151, where the marker sits.
After the initial meeting, commissioners agreed the county probably could get more "bang for its buck" if they opted for a marker or plaque, but commission Chairman Keith Greene asked for the veterans group to come up with recommendations.
The group met Wednesday and appointed a committee to consider the options.
Committee member Tom Poteet said all the options were improvements, but whatever is done needs to be completed by the 150th anniversary of the chase in 2012.
Agencies have plans to promote Civil War sites across Georgia during the sesquicentennial in hopes of promoting history.
"We definitely need to get it done before that," Mr. Poteet said.
Bill Clark, another member of the committee, said the marker would help inform local residents, many of whom might not even know the story of the chase.
"The old-timers do," he said. "The people new here in the last 15 or 20 years, I doubt it."
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/dec/11/general-historic-site-in-line-for-makeover/
Video: "The General" historic site in line for makeover
- Friday, Dec. 11, 2009
1862, a group of Union soldiers and a Union spy stole a locomotive, The General, in what is now Kennesaw, Ga., and drove the train toward Chattanooga while trying to burn bridges and cut telegraph wires along the way. The General ran out of steam about two miles north of Ringgold, where a large marble marker has stood since 1901.
See Video of the discussion of "The General"
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/dec/11/video-general-historic-site-line-makeover/
General historic site in line for makeover
By: Andy Johns
Staff File Photo: A train passes a 108-year-old monument marking the end of the Great Locomotive Chase outside Ringgold, Ga., in Catoosa County.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to help Catoosa County commissioners spend a $2,500 grant awarded to the county in 2007.
The state grant can be spent only for improvements to the site where The General locomotive was abandoned at the end of the Great Locomotive Chase in 1862. The money has been sitting in an account since it was awarded as officials tried to determine how it might best be used.
Members of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp brought up the issue at a recent County Commission meeting.
"They just needed somebody like us to agitate them or at least present (ideas) to them," said John Bryson, a member of the camp.
In 1862, a group of Union soldiers and a Union spy stole a locomotive, The General, in what is now Kennesaw, Ga., and drove the train toward Chattanooga while trying to burn bridges and cut telegraph wires along the way. The General ran out of steam about two miles north of Ringgold, where a large marble marker has stood since 1901.
The grant will be used for improvements to the site, but commissioners and Sons of Confederate Veterans camp members have debated about an additional plaque, directional signs informing drivers of the marker or more parking space along state Highway 151, where the marker sits.
After the initial meeting, commissioners agreed the county probably could get more "bang for its buck" if they opted for a marker or plaque, but commission Chairman Keith Greene asked for the veterans group to come up with recommendations.
The group met Wednesday and appointed a committee to consider the options.
Committee member Tom Poteet said all the options were improvements, but whatever is done needs to be completed by the 150th anniversary of the chase in 2012.
Agencies have plans to promote Civil War sites across Georgia during the sesquicentennial in hopes of promoting history.
"We definitely need to get it done before that," Mr. Poteet said.
Bill Clark, another member of the committee, said the marker would help inform local residents, many of whom might not even know the story of the chase.
"The old-timers do," he said. "The people new here in the last 15 or 20 years, I doubt it."
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/dec/11/general-historic-site-in-line-for-makeover/
Video: "The General" historic site in line for makeover
- Friday, Dec. 11, 2009
1862, a group of Union soldiers and a Union spy stole a locomotive, The General, in what is now Kennesaw, Ga., and drove the train toward Chattanooga while trying to burn bridges and cut telegraph wires along the way. The General ran out of steam about two miles north of Ringgold, where a large marble marker has stood since 1901.
See Video of the discussion of "The General"
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/dec/11/video-general-historic-site-line-makeover/
New Hunley Discoveries
Research on Hunley spurs new discoveries
By Tony Bartelme
The Post and Courier
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Clemson Professor Michael Drews explains how the subcritical reactor at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center works. Conservators working on the H.L. Hunley have discovered a new way to preserve iron artifacts using this new technology.
The complex reaction between iron and seawater has always plagued marine conservators. The new preservation technology could ease their frustration. At right is an X-ray imaging of before and after treatment.
Water is just water, right? Not at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, where researchers with Clemson University and conservators working on the H.L. Hunley use super-pressurized water in ways that could transform the preservation of metal artifacts, increase the durability of offshore windmills and even make paint cling better to ship hulls.
The secret of the water's transformation is tucked in a corner of the Lasch lab, in a room next to the Hunley and a pair of cannons from the Confederate raider Alabama.
"This is the big one," said Michael Drews, director of the Clemson Conservation Center at the Lasch lab, pointing to a panel of levers and pumps next to a waist-high metal cylinder.
Called a "subcritical reactor," the contraption is a sophisticated cousin of the pressure cooker and has nothing to do with radioactivity.
Instead, it creates pressures 50 times higher than what might be found in the open air, and this intense pressure causes materials to react differently. The boiling point for water, for instance, shoots from 212 degrees Fahrenheit to 392 degrees.
Just below this higher boiling point, water becomes "subcritical" and behaves like methanol and other solvents.
Drews and other Clemson researchers have been investigating whether subcritical water could preserve iron artifacts. They've tested the process on several of the Hunley's rivets, and so far, the subcritical technique has successfully preserved these pieces 10 times faster than other processes.
Paul Mardikian, the Hunley's senior conservator, has described the process as a potential "turning point in the history of archaeology and conservation."
This work also has led to new looks at how metal can be protected from corrosion, research that bolstered Clemson Restoration Institute's successful proposal to the federal government for a national wind turbine drive train test lab.
The $98 million wind lab will be built next to Lasch lab.
"Metal and the sea. It's all connected," Drews said. "The Hunley showed what happens to metal in the long term, and we're using what we're learning from the Hunley and applying it to modern metals."
New discovery
Iron and seawater have a complex relationship, one that sometimes resembles a love story with an unhappy ending.
Put a piece of iron, such as a submarine, in the ocean, and iron and water begin to merge, with iron swapping its ions with chloride ions in the seawater. As long as the iron stays under water, this relationship is stable, and the iron stays well preserved.
But if you remove the iron and expose it the air, the romance turns bad; new and often violent reactions begin as the iron oxidizes. After being pulled from the sea, old cannonballs have been known to spontaneously combust.
On the Hunley, metal shavings collected during the removal of some rivets got so hot they burned plastic bags. Had the sub's conservators removed the Hunley from the sea and left it alone, the sub would be a pile of dust today, Mardikian said.
Marine conservators always have wrestled with how to preserve iron once it was removed from the sea. They boiled artifacts, heated them and painted over them, but none of those techniques worked.
For the Hunley, conservators decided the safest course was to soak the sub in a caustic bath and zap it with electricity for a number of years to remove the chlorides.
By chance, the Hunley conservators discovered a new option. In the fall of 2001, Mardikian had a meeting at Clemson, and Drews, a professor in the university's material science and engineering school, happened to sit in.
Drews had been working with subcritical water and its effect in wastewater systems. As he listened to Mardikian, Drews wondered: Could subcritical water work on the Hunley? If it did, Drews thought, conservators might be able to preserve artifacts in a matter of weeks or months instead of years.
During the past several years, Drews and the Hunley's chemist, Nestor Gonzalez, tested subcritical water's effects on thimble-sized iron artifacts using a scuba-tank-sized reactor nicknamed "Felipe 1."
They studied how these artifacts did compared with artifacts preserved through slower methods. So far, Drews said, the subcritical technique has worked.
Useful for paint
Now they're poised to begin testing the process on artifacts in the new large subcritical reactor, which is big enough to preserve cannonballs.
Drews said someday the subcritical technique could be used on even bigger objects, such as cannons.
How about the Hunley?
That's not likely, Drews said. Years of tests on large objects still need to be done. "The Hunley is unique, and the risk (of something happening to it) is unacceptable." Besides, the need for a sub-sized pressure chamber probably would be limited to a few artifacts, making the construction of a large subcritical apparatus a tough investment to justify.
Research into the effects of subcritical water on iron artifacts also has led to other discoveries.
Drews said researchers learned that the process has an etching effect on metal that can be seen only with powerful electron microscopes. Drews said he didn't confirm this until the lab acquired such a microscope a year or so ago.
Researchers are now studying whether this etching effect could help paint cling to metal more securely, an important issue in maritime circles. Work on the Hunley also spurred research into new ways to prevent barnacles and other sea life from accumulating on ship hulls and foundations for offshore wind turbines.
Partly because of this metals research, the International Conference on Historic Metal Conservation will meet in Charleston in October.
About 300 conservators, museum officials and scientists from 50 countries are expected to attend. "The vision of what we wanted to do here is starting to fall into place," Drews said.
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/dec/27/research-on-hunley-spurs-new-discoveries/
By Tony Bartelme
The Post and Courier
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Clemson Professor Michael Drews explains how the subcritical reactor at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center works. Conservators working on the H.L. Hunley have discovered a new way to preserve iron artifacts using this new technology.
The complex reaction between iron and seawater has always plagued marine conservators. The new preservation technology could ease their frustration. At right is an X-ray imaging of before and after treatment.
Water is just water, right? Not at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, where researchers with Clemson University and conservators working on the H.L. Hunley use super-pressurized water in ways that could transform the preservation of metal artifacts, increase the durability of offshore windmills and even make paint cling better to ship hulls.
The secret of the water's transformation is tucked in a corner of the Lasch lab, in a room next to the Hunley and a pair of cannons from the Confederate raider Alabama.
"This is the big one," said Michael Drews, director of the Clemson Conservation Center at the Lasch lab, pointing to a panel of levers and pumps next to a waist-high metal cylinder.
Called a "subcritical reactor," the contraption is a sophisticated cousin of the pressure cooker and has nothing to do with radioactivity.
Instead, it creates pressures 50 times higher than what might be found in the open air, and this intense pressure causes materials to react differently. The boiling point for water, for instance, shoots from 212 degrees Fahrenheit to 392 degrees.
Just below this higher boiling point, water becomes "subcritical" and behaves like methanol and other solvents.
Drews and other Clemson researchers have been investigating whether subcritical water could preserve iron artifacts. They've tested the process on several of the Hunley's rivets, and so far, the subcritical technique has successfully preserved these pieces 10 times faster than other processes.
Paul Mardikian, the Hunley's senior conservator, has described the process as a potential "turning point in the history of archaeology and conservation."
This work also has led to new looks at how metal can be protected from corrosion, research that bolstered Clemson Restoration Institute's successful proposal to the federal government for a national wind turbine drive train test lab.
The $98 million wind lab will be built next to Lasch lab.
"Metal and the sea. It's all connected," Drews said. "The Hunley showed what happens to metal in the long term, and we're using what we're learning from the Hunley and applying it to modern metals."
New discovery
Iron and seawater have a complex relationship, one that sometimes resembles a love story with an unhappy ending.
Put a piece of iron, such as a submarine, in the ocean, and iron and water begin to merge, with iron swapping its ions with chloride ions in the seawater. As long as the iron stays under water, this relationship is stable, and the iron stays well preserved.
But if you remove the iron and expose it the air, the romance turns bad; new and often violent reactions begin as the iron oxidizes. After being pulled from the sea, old cannonballs have been known to spontaneously combust.
On the Hunley, metal shavings collected during the removal of some rivets got so hot they burned plastic bags. Had the sub's conservators removed the Hunley from the sea and left it alone, the sub would be a pile of dust today, Mardikian said.
Marine conservators always have wrestled with how to preserve iron once it was removed from the sea. They boiled artifacts, heated them and painted over them, but none of those techniques worked.
For the Hunley, conservators decided the safest course was to soak the sub in a caustic bath and zap it with electricity for a number of years to remove the chlorides.
By chance, the Hunley conservators discovered a new option. In the fall of 2001, Mardikian had a meeting at Clemson, and Drews, a professor in the university's material science and engineering school, happened to sit in.
Drews had been working with subcritical water and its effect in wastewater systems. As he listened to Mardikian, Drews wondered: Could subcritical water work on the Hunley? If it did, Drews thought, conservators might be able to preserve artifacts in a matter of weeks or months instead of years.
During the past several years, Drews and the Hunley's chemist, Nestor Gonzalez, tested subcritical water's effects on thimble-sized iron artifacts using a scuba-tank-sized reactor nicknamed "Felipe 1."
They studied how these artifacts did compared with artifacts preserved through slower methods. So far, Drews said, the subcritical technique has worked.
Useful for paint
Now they're poised to begin testing the process on artifacts in the new large subcritical reactor, which is big enough to preserve cannonballs.
Drews said someday the subcritical technique could be used on even bigger objects, such as cannons.
How about the Hunley?
That's not likely, Drews said. Years of tests on large objects still need to be done. "The Hunley is unique, and the risk (of something happening to it) is unacceptable." Besides, the need for a sub-sized pressure chamber probably would be limited to a few artifacts, making the construction of a large subcritical apparatus a tough investment to justify.
Research into the effects of subcritical water on iron artifacts also has led to other discoveries.
Drews said researchers learned that the process has an etching effect on metal that can be seen only with powerful electron microscopes. Drews said he didn't confirm this until the lab acquired such a microscope a year or so ago.
Researchers are now studying whether this etching effect could help paint cling to metal more securely, an important issue in maritime circles. Work on the Hunley also spurred research into new ways to prevent barnacles and other sea life from accumulating on ship hulls and foundations for offshore wind turbines.
Partly because of this metals research, the International Conference on Historic Metal Conservation will meet in Charleston in October.
About 300 conservators, museum officials and scientists from 50 countries are expected to attend. "The vision of what we wanted to do here is starting to fall into place," Drews said.
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/dec/27/research-on-hunley-spurs-new-discoveries/
Restoration Work in Historic Richmond Cemeteries
Volunteers reclaim Hollywood, Shockoe Hill cemeteries
A new stone now stands where one needed retoring within the Presidents Circle.
David Gilliam, general manager of Hollywood Cemetery, points out a few of the steps that have already been made in the restoration process.
Related Info
HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY
Location: 412 S. Cherry St., Richmond
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Info: hollywoodcemetery.org or (804) 648-8501
SHOCKOE HILL CEMETERY
Location: Fourth and Hospital streets, Richmond
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Info: foshc.rrpfoundation.org
WHO’S BURIED THERE
A Who’s Who of those buried in two of Richmond’s historic cemeteries.
In Shockoe Hill Cemetery, which opened in 1822:
John Marshall: former chief justice of the United States
Elizabeth Van Lew: Union spy during the Civil War who organized an extensive informants network and assisted Union prisoners
Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton: beloved of Edgar Allan Poe as a teenager
John Wickham: prominent lawyer who defended Aaron Burr in his 1807 treason trial
William Foushee: first mayor of Richmond
William H. Cabell: governor of Virginia from 1805 to 1808
Peter Francisco: known as the Sampson of the American Revolution; celebrated by George Washington and others for feats of strength and bravery
Jane Stanard: family friend and inspiration for Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “To Helen”
John D. Blair: prominent Presbyterian minister and city leader
John Allan: along with wife Frances, took in a young Edgar Allan Poe but didn’t formally adopt him
Johnson Jones Hooper: noted mid-19th-century humorist
SOURCE: Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery
In Hollywood Cemetery, which opened in 1848:
James Monroe: president of the United States, 1817-1825
John Tyler: president of the United States, 1841-1845
Jefferson Davis: president of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865
J.E.B. Stuart: Confederate general
Ellen Glasgow: Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, 1942
Lewis Ginter: Richmond leader of American Tobacco Co., creator of Ginter Park and builder of The Jefferson Hotel
John Harvie: delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress, 1777-1778; a signer of the Articles of Confederation; his estate became the site of Hollywood Cemetery
Matthew Fontaine Maury: Confederate scientist considered the father of modern oceanography
Lewis F. Powell Jr.: Supreme Court justice
Edward Valentine: sculptor whose most famous work is the recumbent statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee
Published: December 28, 2009
The ravages of time, nature and society had left their marks on two of Richmond's most historic cemeteries.
Trash and debris littered Shockoe Hill Cemetery in Jackson Ward, where cars had crashed into the brick wall lining the perimeter of the city's first municipally owned cemetery not associated with a church.
Hollywood Cemetery near Oregon Hill was pummeled in 2003 by Hurricane Isabel, which toppled more than 100 mature trees to block every road and damage many monuments. Other headstones suffered from botched repairs, while tourist buses had wrecked important ironwork.
The cemeteries, both on the National Register of Historic Places, are the burial grounds for some of Virginia's most prominent people: U.S. presidents, Supreme Court justices, governors and mayors.
Now the cemeteries are benefiting from two volunteer organizations -- Friends of Hollywood Cemetery and Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery -- that formed recently to bring new attention to the riches and the needs of each place.
"We're reclaiming it and making it part of the city again," said Jeffry Burden of the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery.
. . .
Hollywood Cemetery, established in 1847, was one of the nation's first cemeteries designed in the "rural style," with meandering roads that follow the contours of 135 acres overlooking the James River just west of downtown.
The center of attention is Presidents Circle, where Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler are buried. Other notables elsewhere in the cemetery include Confederate President Jefferson Davis, six Virginia governors, 22 Confederate generals, two Supreme Court justices, Confederate soldiers, business leaders and literary figures.
Monroe, who died in 1831, was moved to Hollywood in 1859. The sarcophagus of the nation's fifth president is topped by a 12-foot-tall cast iron "birdcage." Tyler, who died in 1862, is buried beneath a monolithic granite shaft erected by the federal government in 1915. At the top, a bronze Greek urn is supported by two eagles. A bronze bust of the 10th president stands on a pedestal at one side.
A survey by Pennsylvania consultant Robert Mosko in 2007 estimated that a full restoration of the cemetery and its monuments could cost $7 million. Even though Hollywood remains an active cemetery, income from about 200 burials a year produces only about half of the cemetery's $1 million to $1.5 million operating budget, with only about $75,000 allocated to restoration and preservation, said cemetery director David Gilliam. The rest of the operating budget comes from investment income.
So Friends of Hollywood was created to concentrate on raising money. The first phase has a goal of $1.5 million to $2 million, said Mary Hoge Anderson, a Friends board member. That amount would repair Presidents Circle and cover repairs in surrounding areas. Because the Friends group is set up as a 501(c)(3), it's eligible for grants and matching gifts that the nonprofit cemetery would not be able to qualify for under its 501(c)(13) status.
The project already has received $50,000 from the Roller-Bottimore Foundation and $20,000 from the Marietta M. & Samuel Tate Morgan Jr. Foundation, both of Richmond. Restoration work has begun within the circle to repair some of the damage, including from Hurricane Isabel.
Where a falling tree had shattered the marble cross for Mary Heath Davenport Newton in Presidents Circle, a replacement stone once again is identical to the cross of Elise Williams Atkinson beside it.
A new headstone has been created for Eliza Maury Withers, whose father, Matthew Fontaine Maury, is portrayed on Monument Avenue as the "Pathfinder of the Seas." A long-ago repair with mortar had left black streaks across the face of her headstone. The new marble stone is identical in size and shape to the original.
Other remaining projects include repairs to the ornamental cast iron fence, only a third of which remains intact across from Presidents Circle. The rest was destroyed by tour buses before the area was declared pedestrian-only.
"The cemetery is similar to a historic structure that you want to preserve," Anderson said. "That's what we're trying to do here."
"The challenge," Gilliam said, "is to build an endowment so that when we're no longer active with sales, we can operate."
. . .
Shockoe Hill Cemetery may be one of the most overlooked cemeteries in the city.
The city-owned cemetery, where Chief Justice John Marshall is buried, opened in 1822 on 12.7 acres in North Richmond as the cemetery at St. John's Episcopal Church in Church Hill neared capacity.
But through the years, as burials at Shockoe Hill became less frequent -- just three in the past 28 years -- the cemetery fell into a state of disarray. A few family plots remain, but otherwise, the cemetery is full.
When the John Marshall Foundation celebrated Marshall's 250th birthday at his gravesite in 2005, "the cemetery didn't look like we wanted. It was not being maintained," said Doug Welsh, who helped organize the Friends of Shockoe Hill group.
Maintenance of Shockoe Hill rests with the city, but the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery is taking a vested interest in beautifying and promoting the cemetery near the Gilpin Court public-housing complex.
A few years ago, the John Marshall Foundation contributed $1,800 to have a historical marker placed at the cemetery. The Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery organizes groups of volunteers to take on duties such as providing upkeep for gravesites, raking leaves or cosmetic work with the Keeper's House.
Across Hospital Street lies Hebrew Cemetery, a private cemetery affiliated with Congregation Beth Ahabah. Hebrew and Shockoe Hill cemeteries form the largest parcel of land in Jackson Ward, said William B. Thalhimer III, chairman of the Hebrew Cemetery committee.
The two organizations work in conjunction to beautify their cemeteries in an effort to become a park environment for all of Jackson Ward, Thalhimer said.
Within the past six months, Welsh said, a plethora of volunteers have come forward to help with the cemetery --from high school groups to Revolutionary and Civil war groups.
O. Wayne Edwards, cemeteries manager for the city, said the city and the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery have a good working relationship as they move toward the common goal of increasing public awareness of the cemetery.
"It's great what they're doing; we furnished the records and whatever help they need, they call me and we get it done," Edwards said.
The cemetery is filled with history and the remains of thousands of people, from the prominent to the poor. One section of Shockoe, along the intersection of Fourth and Hospital streets, is a site of single graves for Confederate soldiers, paupers and stillborn babies, Welsh said.
Ultimately, the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery sees the cemetery becoming a place that attracts genealogical groups, historical groups, and families that want to visit their ancestors or reclaim burial sites. The group also aims for programming next year that celebrates the cemetery's rich history.
Despite being surrounded by the city, a tranquil quiet washes over the cemetery. Welsh said Shockoe Hill is his place to unwind and consider life among the headstones.
"Life goes by you quickly; we need as much time to reflect as we can," he said.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/CEME28_20091227-215604/313869
A new stone now stands where one needed retoring within the Presidents Circle.
David Gilliam, general manager of Hollywood Cemetery, points out a few of the steps that have already been made in the restoration process.
Related Info
HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY
Location: 412 S. Cherry St., Richmond
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Info: hollywoodcemetery.org or (804) 648-8501
SHOCKOE HILL CEMETERY
Location: Fourth and Hospital streets, Richmond
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Info: foshc.rrpfoundation.org
WHO’S BURIED THERE
A Who’s Who of those buried in two of Richmond’s historic cemeteries.
In Shockoe Hill Cemetery, which opened in 1822:
John Marshall: former chief justice of the United States
Elizabeth Van Lew: Union spy during the Civil War who organized an extensive informants network and assisted Union prisoners
Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton: beloved of Edgar Allan Poe as a teenager
John Wickham: prominent lawyer who defended Aaron Burr in his 1807 treason trial
William Foushee: first mayor of Richmond
William H. Cabell: governor of Virginia from 1805 to 1808
Peter Francisco: known as the Sampson of the American Revolution; celebrated by George Washington and others for feats of strength and bravery
Jane Stanard: family friend and inspiration for Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “To Helen”
John D. Blair: prominent Presbyterian minister and city leader
John Allan: along with wife Frances, took in a young Edgar Allan Poe but didn’t formally adopt him
Johnson Jones Hooper: noted mid-19th-century humorist
SOURCE: Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery
In Hollywood Cemetery, which opened in 1848:
James Monroe: president of the United States, 1817-1825
John Tyler: president of the United States, 1841-1845
Jefferson Davis: president of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865
J.E.B. Stuart: Confederate general
Ellen Glasgow: Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, 1942
Lewis Ginter: Richmond leader of American Tobacco Co., creator of Ginter Park and builder of The Jefferson Hotel
John Harvie: delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress, 1777-1778; a signer of the Articles of Confederation; his estate became the site of Hollywood Cemetery
Matthew Fontaine Maury: Confederate scientist considered the father of modern oceanography
Lewis F. Powell Jr.: Supreme Court justice
Edward Valentine: sculptor whose most famous work is the recumbent statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee
Published: December 28, 2009
The ravages of time, nature and society had left their marks on two of Richmond's most historic cemeteries.
Trash and debris littered Shockoe Hill Cemetery in Jackson Ward, where cars had crashed into the brick wall lining the perimeter of the city's first municipally owned cemetery not associated with a church.
Hollywood Cemetery near Oregon Hill was pummeled in 2003 by Hurricane Isabel, which toppled more than 100 mature trees to block every road and damage many monuments. Other headstones suffered from botched repairs, while tourist buses had wrecked important ironwork.
The cemeteries, both on the National Register of Historic Places, are the burial grounds for some of Virginia's most prominent people: U.S. presidents, Supreme Court justices, governors and mayors.
Now the cemeteries are benefiting from two volunteer organizations -- Friends of Hollywood Cemetery and Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery -- that formed recently to bring new attention to the riches and the needs of each place.
"We're reclaiming it and making it part of the city again," said Jeffry Burden of the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery.
. . .
Hollywood Cemetery, established in 1847, was one of the nation's first cemeteries designed in the "rural style," with meandering roads that follow the contours of 135 acres overlooking the James River just west of downtown.
The center of attention is Presidents Circle, where Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler are buried. Other notables elsewhere in the cemetery include Confederate President Jefferson Davis, six Virginia governors, 22 Confederate generals, two Supreme Court justices, Confederate soldiers, business leaders and literary figures.
Monroe, who died in 1831, was moved to Hollywood in 1859. The sarcophagus of the nation's fifth president is topped by a 12-foot-tall cast iron "birdcage." Tyler, who died in 1862, is buried beneath a monolithic granite shaft erected by the federal government in 1915. At the top, a bronze Greek urn is supported by two eagles. A bronze bust of the 10th president stands on a pedestal at one side.
A survey by Pennsylvania consultant Robert Mosko in 2007 estimated that a full restoration of the cemetery and its monuments could cost $7 million. Even though Hollywood remains an active cemetery, income from about 200 burials a year produces only about half of the cemetery's $1 million to $1.5 million operating budget, with only about $75,000 allocated to restoration and preservation, said cemetery director David Gilliam. The rest of the operating budget comes from investment income.
So Friends of Hollywood was created to concentrate on raising money. The first phase has a goal of $1.5 million to $2 million, said Mary Hoge Anderson, a Friends board member. That amount would repair Presidents Circle and cover repairs in surrounding areas. Because the Friends group is set up as a 501(c)(3), it's eligible for grants and matching gifts that the nonprofit cemetery would not be able to qualify for under its 501(c)(13) status.
The project already has received $50,000 from the Roller-Bottimore Foundation and $20,000 from the Marietta M. & Samuel Tate Morgan Jr. Foundation, both of Richmond. Restoration work has begun within the circle to repair some of the damage, including from Hurricane Isabel.
Where a falling tree had shattered the marble cross for Mary Heath Davenport Newton in Presidents Circle, a replacement stone once again is identical to the cross of Elise Williams Atkinson beside it.
A new headstone has been created for Eliza Maury Withers, whose father, Matthew Fontaine Maury, is portrayed on Monument Avenue as the "Pathfinder of the Seas." A long-ago repair with mortar had left black streaks across the face of her headstone. The new marble stone is identical in size and shape to the original.
Other remaining projects include repairs to the ornamental cast iron fence, only a third of which remains intact across from Presidents Circle. The rest was destroyed by tour buses before the area was declared pedestrian-only.
"The cemetery is similar to a historic structure that you want to preserve," Anderson said. "That's what we're trying to do here."
"The challenge," Gilliam said, "is to build an endowment so that when we're no longer active with sales, we can operate."
. . .
Shockoe Hill Cemetery may be one of the most overlooked cemeteries in the city.
The city-owned cemetery, where Chief Justice John Marshall is buried, opened in 1822 on 12.7 acres in North Richmond as the cemetery at St. John's Episcopal Church in Church Hill neared capacity.
But through the years, as burials at Shockoe Hill became less frequent -- just three in the past 28 years -- the cemetery fell into a state of disarray. A few family plots remain, but otherwise, the cemetery is full.
When the John Marshall Foundation celebrated Marshall's 250th birthday at his gravesite in 2005, "the cemetery didn't look like we wanted. It was not being maintained," said Doug Welsh, who helped organize the Friends of Shockoe Hill group.
Maintenance of Shockoe Hill rests with the city, but the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery is taking a vested interest in beautifying and promoting the cemetery near the Gilpin Court public-housing complex.
A few years ago, the John Marshall Foundation contributed $1,800 to have a historical marker placed at the cemetery. The Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery organizes groups of volunteers to take on duties such as providing upkeep for gravesites, raking leaves or cosmetic work with the Keeper's House.
Across Hospital Street lies Hebrew Cemetery, a private cemetery affiliated with Congregation Beth Ahabah. Hebrew and Shockoe Hill cemeteries form the largest parcel of land in Jackson Ward, said William B. Thalhimer III, chairman of the Hebrew Cemetery committee.
The two organizations work in conjunction to beautify their cemeteries in an effort to become a park environment for all of Jackson Ward, Thalhimer said.
Within the past six months, Welsh said, a plethora of volunteers have come forward to help with the cemetery --from high school groups to Revolutionary and Civil war groups.
O. Wayne Edwards, cemeteries manager for the city, said the city and the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery have a good working relationship as they move toward the common goal of increasing public awareness of the cemetery.
"It's great what they're doing; we furnished the records and whatever help they need, they call me and we get it done," Edwards said.
The cemetery is filled with history and the remains of thousands of people, from the prominent to the poor. One section of Shockoe, along the intersection of Fourth and Hospital streets, is a site of single graves for Confederate soldiers, paupers and stillborn babies, Welsh said.
Ultimately, the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery sees the cemetery becoming a place that attracts genealogical groups, historical groups, and families that want to visit their ancestors or reclaim burial sites. The group also aims for programming next year that celebrates the cemetery's rich history.
Despite being surrounded by the city, a tranquil quiet washes over the cemetery. Welsh said Shockoe Hill is his place to unwind and consider life among the headstones.
"Life goes by you quickly; we need as much time to reflect as we can," he said.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/CEME28_20091227-215604/313869
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