The Mad Genealogist

Confederate Ironclads

• CSS Albemarle, Albemarle type. Sunk by spar torpedo in Roanoke River near Plymouth NC 28 Oct 1864 (0 killed). Raised by Union 21 Apr 1865. Sold to be broken up 15 Oct 1867.
• CSS Arkansas, Arkansas type. Destroyed to prevent capture above Baton Rouge LA 6 Aug 1862. Wreck located in 1981 under a rock levee at Baton Rouge.
• CSS Atlanta. Captured by USS Weehawken and Nahant in Wassaw Sound near Savannah River 17 Jun 1863, taken into Union service; see USS Atlanta.

It is a common misconception that admiralty Court records are limited to cases pertaining to seamen and the vessels that traveled the high seas. While a court with admiralty powers regularly oversaw such matters as seamen’s wages, smuggling, piracy, prize (the confiscation of enemy ships and their cargo during wartime),shipwrecks, salvage, insurance, freight and passenger contracts, bottomry (using a ship as collateral), and contracts between merchants and mariners, they also had civil and criminal jurisdiction over all persons having any relation to maritime transactions, including shipbuilders and dockworkers.

Ironically the first By 1775 African Americans numbered more than 500,000 or roughly 25 percent of the North American population. Of these, only 10 percent were free, the rest subject to slavery or indenture. Nonetheless, many blacks had been at the forefront of political unrest in Massachusetts, and on March 5, 1770, Crispus Attucks was killed at the so called Boston Massacre, becoming the first African American to die for his country. 

Here is a web site of original Civil War photographs which  are truly amazing.  They were taken in Washington, DC,  Gettysburg, Fairfax & Fredericksburg, VA,  and various other  locations.  Here are the directions for using the web  site.

• Run the cursor over the photograph and the picture.
• Caption will pop up.
• Click  photo to enlarge.

Truly fortunate that so many of these have survived. Probably a million wet plate photos were made during  the civil war on glass plate.  Popular during the war, they  lost their appeal afterwards and so many were sold for the  glass.  Many used in green houses. Over the years the sun  caused the images to disappear.

I received this link in an email. I am a military buff and I enjoy viewing old photos like theses.If you are a Civil War buff, you might enjoy these amazing photos also.  A lot are really morbid though. To Enlarge the picture and get further clarification, click on the pictures.  If you are a history buff you will enjoy this site! Original Photographs from the Civil War

I saw a rootsweb mail list posting and thought I would check it out. Wow, someone has taken the time to digitally photograph National Archives records and post them online. The Site reads:

The photographs below cover British prisoners held in the United States due to the War of 1812. This includes not only Army and Navy prisoners but also those taken on merchant vessels and privateers. The listing is by first letter of the surname only e.g Brown, John might be followed by Black, Charles.In total some 15,000 names are registered.

My brother is a Civil War buff and called me yesterday to wish me a happy 40th Birthday. After raking me over the coals about being over the hill he mentioned if i would like to go see Battle of Chickamauga Reenactment.

The Battle of Chickamauga hold special significance with my ancestry. I had at least 4 direct and 10 brothers of the direct ancestors that fought in the battle. My wifes side had at least 6 and 1 Union soldier from New York that deserted sometime after the battle and later became her GGGrand Father.

On the eve of Memorial Day, Ancestry.com is making its entire U.S. Military Collection — the largest online collection of American military records — available for free to the public. From May 20 through May 31, people can log on to http://www.ancestry.com/military to view more than 100 million names and 700 titles and databases of military records, the majority of which come from NARA, from all 50 U.S. states.

They list some of their Feature Databases which are:

• U.S. Navy Cruise Books – Yearbook-style books detailing sailors and others on board U.S. navy ships, dating from 1940

Grrrrrrr!!! What makes me a Mad Genealogist. This Kind of thing makes me mad. Although my ancestors fought and died for the Confederacy, I have a great respect for all fallen soldiers no matter the side they fought for or their race. they have all earned my respect.

By MELANIE DABOVICH, Associated Press writer

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Working in secret, federal archaeologists have dug up the remains of dozens of soldiers and children near a Civil War-era fort after an informant tipped them off about widespread grave-looting.

I am a history nut. I Especially love military history. So when I saw this posting on a rootsweb maillist I had to see if it was any good. Here is what the site says:

As we approach the bicentennials of both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis,  Alexander Street Press is offering free access to some of our  most popular collections. Through April 30, 2008 you can explore three  of our Civil War databases with no restrictions. As a bonus, we are  also offering free access to two streaming music databases, which contain  songs from the Civil War era. No registration is required.