The United States Civil War Sesquicentennial
Monroe, Michigan
May, 1862
The 150th anniversary of the Civil War is being remembered throughout our nation. Read more about what happened around the country and in our hometown of Monroe……
May 13, 1862 – While docked in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, the crew of the Confederate transport ship the Planter, thirteen slaves, made a daring escape for the North. While the white captain and officers were ashore, the crew, led by Robert Smalls, commandeered the ship and transported it through Confederate lines to surrender it to Union Forces. As a civilian, Smalls would go onto to serve in both the Navy and Army during the Civil War. He also went on to become a Congressman during Reconstruction.
May 16, 1862 – General order No. 28 was issued by General Benjamin Butler in New Orleans due to the repeated insults of the soldiers from the women of the city. This controversial order would be known as the “Woman Order”. It read as follows: “As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subjected to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans….when any female shall…show contempt for the United States, she shall be regarded as a woman of the town plying her avocation.” Sarah Morgan would give the southern view of the order in her published diary, Sarah Morgan: The Civil War Diary of a Southern Woman.
May 25, 1862 – At the Battle of Winchester (part of Jackson’s Valley Campaign), Confederate Major General Stonewall Jackson defeated Major General Nathaniel Bank’s retreating Federals. During the month of May of 1862, Jackson held almost sixty thousand Federal troops in the Shenandoah preventing them from joining McClellan on his Peninsular Campaign.
Read more about it…
From our hometown, as reported in the Monroe Commercial…
15th Michigan Regiment, Soldier Werther & Wife
Letter from Co. A., 4th Michigan - Before Yorktown
Death of Captain Darrah
A Soldier In Luck
The Civil War in Images – Although photography had been invented by the time of the Civil War, shutter speed prevented the use of cameras on the battlefield to record the actions of the battles. Newspapers relied on amateur and professional artists to capture these images on paper. These artists included American artist Winslow Homer and Cartoonist Thomas Nast. The May 2012 issue of National Geographic Magazine (available at the Ellis Library and Information Center) details the life of a war artist and gives a detailed view of their war work. The Ellis Library and Reference Center Collection includes several magazines and journals that focus on the Civil War.
Paging through the Civil War – This is a history book club that focuses on the American Civil War. Please join us on Thursday, May 24 at 7 pm for a discussion of the nonfiction book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Monroe County Civil War Fallen Memorial Dedication – The dedication of Monroe County’s Civil War Fallen Memorial will take place on Sunday May 27, 2012 at 2 pm at Soldiers & Sailors Park located at East Front and Navarre Streets in Monroe. For more information please call (734) 847-9527.
Learn more about the Civil War - The Monroe County Civil War Round Table, sponsored by the Friends of Ellis, meets the second Thursday of every month at the Ellis Library and Reference Center. Each month a new speaker is invited to share his or her knowledge about specific Civil War events. This month we will meet on Thursday, May 10 at 7 pm. Fr. Rich Luberti will speak on Monroe’s Confederate Chaplain: Fr. James Sheeran, C.SS.R
