Wed by the “Famous Fighting Methodist Preacher”
One spring day in 1864, John W. Widney and Mary A. Fitzwater Brown were married in Orange, Ohio. The newlyweds were accompanied by John’s mother, Eliza, and Mary’s brother, John.
Tag: civil war
June’s Hero, the Gallant Tompkins
During the first months of the Civil War, the Union urgently needed heroes. Fortunately for the patriotic Northern press, it did not have to look too far to find them.
Men of the Military Telegraph Service
By Michael J. McAfee Organized out of wartime necessity in 1861, the Military Telegraph Service was a contract agency of the Quartermaster Department rather than the Signal Corps. It served
Memento of a Senseless Death: The portrait of a surgeon recalls a wartime murder
By Daniel R. Glenn A loud knock jolted Henry McCarthy from sleep at his home in a black community in New Bern, N.C., on the night of April 20, 1864.
Fighting for Freedom: Portraits of soldiers and other Civil War participants
No single group experienced such a dramatic change in fortunes during the Civil War than men of color. In 1861, the vast majority were held in bondage. Those who gained
Silver for The Superb: Hometown tribute to a national hero
By Matt Hagans The favorite son of Norristown arrived home on a stretcher laid across the backs of seats inside a railcar. A guard of veterans lifted the stretcher bearing
Faces in Cases: Representative images from the Bryan Watson collection
Bryan Watson’s passion for collecting might be summed up in a fortune cookie he once received: “Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” His treasure can be
Old Pap: The neglected legacy of one of the Union’s most loyal brigadiers
By Ben Myers Alpheus Starkey Williams sat calmly on horseback, an unlit cigar characteristically grasped between his lips. Before him stood his “Red Star” division—the first division of the Twentieth
Fallout from the Johnston Reconnaissance: A late-war letter by Robert E. Lee sheds light on an enduring Gettysburg controversy
By Dave Batalo and Ronald S. Coddington One day in late January 1865, a child was born in Virginia as the Confederacy lay on its deathbed. News traveled to the
Gettysburg Album: Portraits of Union and Confederate soldiers in the Gettysburg Campaign
So Close, So Far The roughly 400-strong 11th Mississippi Infantry participated in Pickett’s Charge. The assault cost the regiment about half its number. Among the survivors was Pvt. John F.