America's Civil War Today - September 2009
New Coins, Lincoln Writings, Gettysburg and Liverpool Attractions
Sep 23, 2009
The latest news about the U.S. Civil War involves the issuance of commemorative quarters from the U.S. Mint, the finding of a Lincoln-written note, a Lincoln Twitter account, and details about new attractions in Gettysburg and Great Britain.
Commemorative Coins
Five U.S. national parks related to the war will be among 56 National Park Service sites featured in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. The U.S. Mint will circulate the new quarters over 12 years starting in 2010.
The head side of the quarters will depict the restored 1932 portrait of George Washington. The reverse will show the selected sites.
Gettysburg National Pak and Vicksburg National Park will be released during 2011. Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine will be featured during 2013. Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and Fort Moultrie (part of Fort Sumter National Monument) will appear during 2016.
Lincolniana
A flea market attendee in Ohio found and authenticated a note written by Abraham Lincoln on the day he died. He found the note written on a small discolored envelop in a box of papers he purchased. The note read: “Let this man enter with this note. April 14, 1865. A. Lincoln.”
An associate director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, thinks the note is authentic. He said that while people have forged Lincoln’s signature, the numerals appear the way Lincoln would have written them.
Lincoln has joined the social networking site Twitter. It was done by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to report important Lincoln activities during key dates of his career. A recent Lincoln Twitter read: “Lincoln delivers Senate campaign speech on need to end slavery in the U.S.”
Gettysburg
A white oak tree has been removed from the Gettysburg Battlefield’s West Confederate Avenue. It was at least 147 years old and witnessed the battle. The root system was failing and the tree was leaning over a house. The wood from the tree will be used as gifts to support preservation fundraising.
The Farnsworth House, with its brick side riddled with bullet holes and which claims to be one of the most haunted inns in the country, has opened a séance room that replicates Victorian-period efforts to communicate with the dead. The attraction actually is a show that provides parlor tricks to recreate the illusions used years ago to reach the departed. The inn is situated on Baltimore Street within the historic town.
Liverpool Attractions
A Liverpool newspaper reported that city officials are considering an American Civil War tour and trail to attract American tourists. The sites would include the cotton exchange that received 60 percent of the cotton shipped by Southern states during 1861 and the shipyards that built ships for the Confederacy. Other sites are related to Union spies, Confederate financiers and the docks where U.S. ships moored to deliver aid to unemployed cotton mill workers.
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