Soldier
Soldier
In the dense, comforting shade of a century-old spreading maple, a section of the row of headstones farthest back in the military veteran’s section, the first stones to be installed during the Civil War, reads only:
SOLDIER
1861–1865
A father, brother, husband, son of someone, unknown, but honored by a headstone that tells of his final sacrifice, rests there.
One of the most moving photos I took from the 2010 Memorial Day ceremony at Chartiers Cemetery, but perhaps the most fitting, no name, no rank, no distinguishing remarks, but the most common thread of all, a soldier.
And not just in remembering the Civil War, or even other conflicts following. My ancestors were fighting their own civil wars in Eastern Europe at the time of America’s Civil War, only one in a long line of civil wars that perhaps finalized their decisions to leave the only land they’d known to come to America for freedom and a chance at the dream they’d never see, not even today, in the lands where their families had lived for centuries. A few decades later, they had no qualms about bearing arms and traveling back to those lands to protect the country they had embraced as their home. Centuries of soldiers everywhere who fought for freedom, protected their loved ones, gave their lives, each brought us a step closer. May the day soon come when no one needs to die for freedom.
This photo is one of my most often-shared images from this site; I am honored.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Conversation Around the Fire
“Conversation Around the Fire”, ink, 7″ x 10″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
I had the chance to do one field sketch at yesterday’s reenactment event as the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves took a break from maneuvers to warm up and just have a good conversation with hot coffee around the fire. I had intended to sketch maybe two people, and maybe one or two ladies in dresses, when I’d visualized the sketches I’d like to get based on past events, but it was so cold and windy not too many people were standing around outside. This is done in ink on multi-media paper.
A Cold Day in April
A Cold April Afternoon
Just a few photos from yesterday’s Civil War Living History event at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. I always look for one that works well in sepia, and this group from the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves huddled around the campfire that sputtered in the wind worked well, especially when I got to an angle where no houses could be seen on the hill in the distance.
Below a young re-enactor wears a period dress and crocheted sontag to match and her hair tucked into a light snood with a young lady’s headpiece made by her mother as she gazes out a window of the Capt. Thos. Espy Post on the dim and cold afternoon.
Young Lady
And we had a surprise guest—Andrew Carnegie himself, or so it seemed!
Andrew Carnegie himself came to visit.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Images of Living History
Waiting
Each year Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall hosts a living history event in remembrance of the Civil War, guided by the Library & Music Hall’s own Civil War expert, Espy Post Curator Diane Klinefelter, and including the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves in uniform as docents and re-enactors. Other re-enactors also take part as well as historians and vendors of all sorts to share their knowledge of this time in our country’s history. This year’s event is Saturday, April 5, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I have information about this year’s event below. I’ll be there taking photos as usual, and possibly doing some sketches.
Drummer Boy
In April 2011 and April 2012, as part of the commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, ACFL&MH also hosted re-enactment events held in Carnegie Park where re-enactors encamped and staged historic battles. I photographed these two events at the Library & Music Hall and at Carnegie Park, as I have photographed these living history events for years. I was so moved by the solemnity and dignity of the re-enactors. Some of the images have stayed with me since that time and I’ve been wanting to share them in an exhibit since then.
Adjutant’s Tent
I did my best to capture as many as possible without modern anachronisms such as cars, surrounding homes and electrical wires as well as visitors in street clothes and re-enactors using cell phones. These eight photos reflect just a few memorable sights from those events.
Here are the photos in the exhibit
Flyer for Living History Exhibit
Mid-day Meal
Powder Boy
Adjutant’s Tent
Drummer Boy
Waiting
Catching the Cadence
The First Shot
Bucktails
Thanks to Maggie Forbes and Diane Klinefelter for giving me the opportunity and the place to hang this exhibit.
Framed prints are for sale at $75.00 each; $25.00 of each sale is donated to ACFL&MH. Unframed prints are for sale at $25.00 each.
This exhibit joins two other exhibits in the Reception Hall, “Of Harps and Fig Leaves” and “Carnegie Photographed”.
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Schedule for the Living History Event
Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall 2014 Civil War Living History Day – April 5, 2014
Ongoing – 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Tours of the Capt. Thomas Espy Post, 2nd Floor
Guns of Gettysburg Display, Studio – “B”
Photo Exhibit – Petersburg & The Crater, Library – 1st Floor
Civil War authors book signings, Reception Hall – 2nd Floor
Sutlers, Studio – “B”
Food Court, Music Hall Lobby – 1st Floor
Civil War Used Book Sale, Studio – “B”
Co. A, 9th PA Reserves drills, Outdoors West Lawn
Touring Stations: Civil War Medicine, Infantry, Artillery, Recruiting, Studio – “B”
11:00 AM
Music Hall– 1st Floor, “The Dead Lay All About – Gettysburg: the Aftermath”, Kristopher D. White
1:00 PM
Reception Hall – 2nd Floor, “Sweet Glory: a novel”, Lisa Y. Potocar
3:00 PM
Music Hall– 1st Floor, Almost Famous Bluegrass Band Steven Moore & Friends
10:30; 12:15; 1:45 PM
Chartiers Cemetery Tours of the GAR Section, Shuttle in front of Library Steps
Waiting
Waiting
A row of antique bentwood chairs awaits the long-dead members of the Capt. Thos. Espy Post in the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall; these quiet chairs in somber light speak of lives past.
The chairs, the quarter-sawn oak panels, glass-front bookcases holding books that chronicle the Civil War are all authentic, left behind from the members of this post room, opened in 1906. The carpet is a printed replica that resembles the scraps of carpet surviving around the edges of the room. Once there were over 7,000 posts for members of the Grand Army of the Republic all over the country, now there are only six, and this one is possibly the most intact, and lovingly restored to its original dignified grandeur.
Every so often I get to visit the room and photograph the room and its contents. See other photos of the Capt. Thos. Espy Post and related Civil War activities at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
Relic No. 48: Cotton
Relic No. 48: Cotton
This is one of the relics in the Capt. Thos. Espy Post No. 153 of the Grand Army of the Republic at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.
Among other things, I’ve been photographing the artifacts for documentation and to use the images for the newsletter, for signage, to accompany press releases and many other purposes to let the public know the room exists and holds treasures.
And while I do this for the Library & Music Hall at other times, this week it’s in recognition of the first shot fired in what would become the American Civil War, 150 years ago yesterday, April 12, 1861.
Why is some dirty old cotton a cherished relic in this historic room? Luckily, the Post members published a Catalogue of Relics in 1911, naming and describing each of the exhibits held in the room. Not all of them are relics from the war itself; many of them are simply things the members found interesting or particularly moving, as with this cotton boll:
48—COTTON
Was picked from the cotton bushes in 1881 by W. H. H. Lea, late Lieutenant of Co. I, 112th Reg., Pa. Vols., while on a visit to the Virginia battlefield, from the narrow strip of ground between the Union and rebel lines and directly in front of the rebel fort at Petersburg, Va., blown up July 30, 1864. Over this ground the charging columns passed. Almost every foot of this ground was covered with Union dead or stained by as brave blood as ever flowed from the veins of American soldiers. Has been in possession of W. H. H. Lea for 25 years. Secured from him January, 1906, for Memorial Hall.
He was so moved by his visit to this battlefield, and his memories from the war, that he picked this handful of cotton from the battlefield, brought it home and held onto it for 25 years until he felt he had a safe place to keep it, tacking it to velvet-covered cardboard. Such are the things that carry memories.
“Memorial Hall” was their name for the Espy Post as they saw the room to be the holding place for “the paraphernalia, books, records and papers belonging to said Post and all relics of the late Civil War now in possession of said Post, or hereafter acquired; …”.
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You’ll see this photo and many others I’ve taken of the Capt. Thos. Espy Post in an article The Civil War Picket outlining the room’s content, origins and functions and meaning the society of the day. Read “Intact GAR relics-meeting room in Pa.: A singular spot to share their war experiences” by Phil Gast: http://civil-war-picket.blogspot.com/2014/01/intact-gar-relics-meeting-room-in-pa.html
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
At the Window
At the Window
Remembrance Day commemorates the anniversary of the 1863 Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg during which President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, always held on a weekend near the actual date of November 19, 1863. The Capt. Thos. Espy Post No. 153 of the GAR is open for tours each Saturday from 11 to 3, but today we as part of our Remembrance Day activities we welcomed back Diane Klinefelter as the curator for the post, and she also gave tours today in authentic dress. Our mayor gave a presentation and reading of the Gettysburg Address.
Soldier
Soldier
In the dense, comforting shade of a century-old spreading maple, a section of the row of headstones farthest back in the military veteran’s section, the first stones to be installed during the Civil War, reads only:
SOLDIER
1861–1865
A father, brother, husband, son of someone, unknown, but honored by a headstone that tells of his final sacrifice, rests there.
One of the most moving photos I took from the 2010 Memorial Day ceremony at Chartiers Cemetery, but perhaps the most fitting, no name, no rank, no distinguishing remarks, but the most common thread of all, a soldier.
And not just in remembering the Civil War, or even other conflicts following. My ancestors were fighting their own civil wars in Eastern Europe at the time of America’s Civil War, only one in a long line of civil wars that perhaps finalized their decisions to leave the only land they’d known to come to America for freedom and a chance at the dream they’d never see, not even today, in the lands where their families had lived for centuries. A few decades later, they had no qualms about bearing arms and traveling back to those lands to protect the country they had embraced as their home. Centuries of soldiers everywhere who fought for freedom, protected their loved ones, gave their lives, each brought us a step closer. May the day soon come when no one needs to die for freedom.
This photo is one of my most often-shared images from this site and on Pinterest; I am honored.
Soldier
Soldier
In the dense, comforting shade of a century-old spreading maple, a section of the row of headstones farthest back in the military veteran’s section, the first stones to be installed during the Civil War, read only:
SOLDIER
1861–1865
A father, brother, husband, son of someone, unknown, but honored by a headstone that tells of his final sacrifice, rests there.
One of the most moving photos I took from the 2010 Memorial Day ceremony at Chartiers Cemetery, but perhaps the most fitting, no name, no rank, no distinguishing remarks, but the most common thread of all, a soldier.
And not just in remembering the Civil War, or even other conflicts following. My ancestors were fighting their own civil wars in Eastern Europe at the time of America’s Civil War, only one in a long line of civil wars that perhaps finalized their decisions to leave the only land they’d known to come to America for freedom and a chance at the dream they’d never see, not even today, in the lands where their families had lived for centuries. A few decades later, they had no qualms about bearing arms and traveling back to those lands to protect the country they had embraced as their home. Centuries of soldiers everywhere who fought for freedom, protected their loved ones, gave their lives, each brought us a step closer. May the day soon come when no one needs to die for freedom.
This photo is one of my most often-shared images from this site and on Pinterest; I am honored.
Soldier
Soldier
FOR VETERAN’S DAY…
In the dense, comforting shade of a century-old spreading maple, a section of the row of headstones farthest back in the military veteran’s section, the first stones to be installed during the Civil War, read only:
SOLDIER
1861–1865
A father, brother, husband, son of someone, unknown, but honored by a headstone that tells of his final sacrifice, rests there.
One of the most moving photos I took from the 2010 Memorial Day ceremony at Chartiers Cemetery, but perhaps the most fitting, no name, no rank, no distinguishing remarks, but the most common thread of all, a soldier.
And not just in remembering the Civil War, or even other conflicts following. My ancestors were fighting their own civil wars in Eastern Europe at the time of America’s Civil War, only one in a long line of civil wars that perhaps finalized their decisions to leave the only land they’d known to come to America for freedom and a chance at the dream they’d never see, not even today, in the lands where their families had lived for centuries. A few decades later, they had no qualms about bearing arms and traveling back to those lands to protect the country they had embraced as their home. Centuries of soldiers everywhere who fought for freedom, protected their loved ones, gave their lives, each brought us a step closer. May the day soon come when no one needs to die for freedom.
This photo is one of my most often-shared images from this site and on Pinterest; I am honored.
Living History 2012
A father and young son dressed as bucktails, denoted by the buck's tail attached to their hats which marked them as sharpshooters.
I had always wondered about reenactors of various wars. Hadn’t we done our best to end them, to heal and move forward? I can see dressing up in clothing from another era, but why would anyone want to reenact a bloody battle?
After meeting and getting to know at least one group of Civil War reenactors, the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves based at the Capt. Thos. Espy Post No. 153 of the G.A.R. at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, I’ve come to understand that for most it’s not the battles, but respecting and learning from the history of the events, of spending a day or a few days literally in the shoes of someone—often an ancestor—who lived and may have even given their life more than a century before, to understand their decisions and maybe a little more about life in that era, and how it led to where we are today.
Mixing Metaphors, from last year's event.
So it’s more about history for many, about being an expert in how things were, and a perspective on how we are. It’s also about wearing neat clothes and living life as someone else for a while. And about adding your personality to that character, reacting to your surroundings as that person might have, as the two ladies on the swings did—had they been dressed like that and walking through a park and seen the swings, of course they would have hopped on and gone for a ride.
Four reenactment groups camped at Carnegie Park from a frosty 35-degree Friday night, through a misty, cold and sleeting Saturday. Both Union and Confederate reenactors participated, pitching their tents among the trees.
Their realistic setups showed us how Civil War camps were organized and what they actually carried around with them before the days of easy communications and even carbon copies. In addition to setting up and hanging around in period clothing, reenactors also participated in Artillery Demonstrations and a reenactment of skirmishes.
But this event wasn’t all about reenacting battles with guns as another two groups met on another field to play Civil War-era base ball. And back at the Library & Music Hall people enjoyed a Victorian Tea, an impressive fashion show narrated with letters from an ancestor, tours of the Espy Post and more activities.
Below is a slide show from events this year which I attended; this includes the tea, fashion show, reenactment, baseball and tours of the Post. I will use these in the future when I design the newsletter and promotional materials for the Library & Music Hall.
Soldier
Soldier
In the dense, comforting shade of a century-old spreading maple, a section of the row of headstones farthest back in the military veteran’s section, the first stones to be installed during the Civil War, read only:
SOLDIER
1861–1865
A father, brother, husband, son of someone, unknown, but honored by a headstone that tells of his final sacrifice, rests there.
One of the most moving photos I took from yesterday’s ceremony at Chartiers Cemetery, but perhaps the most fitting, no name, no rank, no distinguishing remarks, but the most common thread of all, a soldier.
And not just in remembering the Civil War, or even other conflicts following. My ancestors were fighting their own civil wars in Eastern Europe at the time of America’s Civil War, only one in a long line of civil wars that perhaps finalized their decisions to leave the only land they’d known to come to America for freedom and a chance at the dream they’d never see, not even today, in the lands where their families had lived for centuries. A few decades later, they had no qualms about bearing arms and traveling back to those lands to protect the country they had embraced as their home. Centuries of soldiers everywhere who fought for freedom, protected their loved ones, gave their lives, each brought us a step closer. May the day soon come when no one needs to die for freedom.
Reenacting For the Sake of History
Mixing Metaphors
I had always wondered about reenactors of various wars. Hadn’t we done our best to end them, to heal and move forward? I can see dressing up in clothing from another era, but why would anyone want to reenact a bloody battle?
After meeting and getting to know at least one group of Civil War reenactors, the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves based at the Capt. Thos. Espy Post No. 153 of the G.A.R., I’ve come to understand that for most it’s not the battles, but respecting and learning from the history of the events, of spending a day or a few days literally in the shoes of someone—perhaps even an ancestor—who lived and may have even given their life more than a century before, to understand their decisions and maybe a little more about life in that era, and how it led to where we are today.
So it’s more about history, about being an expert in how things were, and a perspective on how we are. It’s also about wearing neat clothes and living life as someone else for a while. And about adding your personality to that character, reacting to your surroundings as that person might have, as the two ladies on the swings did—had they been dressed like that and walking through a park and seen the swings, of course they would have hopped on and gone for a ride.
Four reenactment groups camped at Carnegie Park from a frosty 38-degree Friday night, April 29, through a misty, drizzly Sunday morning, May 1. Both Union and Confederate reenactors participated, pitching their tents among the trees and turning the familiar park into a convincing scene from 150 years ago, only the occasional anachronism like a car or the mowed grass or tennis shoes jarring your attention back to the future.
Their realistic setups showed us how Civil War camps were organized and what they actually carried around with them before the days of easy communications and even carbon copies. In addition to setting up and hanging around in period clothing, reenactors also participated in Artillery Demonstrations and a reenactment of skirmishes at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg.
I’ll be posting a series of photos I took from this weekend on a site I set up for the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, the first entitled Living History Weekend: The Encampment featuring a dozen images (out of over a hundred) of just reenactors living the life for the afternoon.
Relic No. 48: Cotton
Relic No. 48: Cotton
This is one of the relics in the Capt. Thos. Espy Post No. 153 of the Grand Army of the Republic at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.
Among other things, I’ve been photographing the artifacts for documentation and to use the images for the newsletter, for signage, to accompany press releases and many other purposes to let the public know the room exists and holds treasures.
And while I do this for the Library & Music Hall at other times, this week it’s in recognition of the first shot fired in what would become the American Civil War, 150 years ago yesterday, April 12, 1861.
Why is some dirty old cotton a cherished relic in this historic room? Luckily, the Post members published a Catalogue of Relics in 1911, naming and describing each of the exhibits held in the room. Not all of them are relics from the war itself; many of them are simply things the members found interesting or particularly moving, as with this cotton boll:
48—COTTON
Was picked from the cotton bushes in 1881 by W. H. H. Lea, late Lieutenant of Co. I, 112th Reg., Pa. Vols., while on a visit to the Virginia battlefield, from the narrow strip of ground between the Union and rebel lines and directly in front of the rebel fort at Petersburg, Va., blown up July 30, 1864. Over this ground the charging columns passed. Almost every foot of this ground was covered with Union dead or stained by as brave blood as ever flowed from the veins of American soldiers. Has been in possession of W. H. H. Lea for 25 years. Secured from him January, 1906, for Memorial Hall.
He was so moved by his visit to this battlefield, and his memories from the war, that he picked this handful of cotton from the battlefield, brought it home and held onto it for 25 years until he felt he had a safe place to keep it, tacking it to velvet-covered cardboard. Such are the things that carry memories.
“Memorial Hall” was their name for the Espy Post as they saw the room to be the holding place for “the paraphernalia, books, records and papers belonging to said Post and all relics of the late Civil War now in possession of said Post, or hereafter acquired; …”.
Treasures Left Behind
Treasures Left Behind
I’ve been immersed in the re-opening of the Capt. Thomas Espy Post No. 153 of the Grand Army of the Republic—yes that’s really its full name—at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, and most of the photos I’ve taken in the past few weeks have been of the room or of the Lincoln Photos Exhibit. This is one view of the room including the cases with the uniforms and small artifacts collected by post members so long ago.
G.A.R. posts were formed by veterans of the Civil War as a fraternal organization for social meetings and assistance and support to veterans and their families. At one time there were about 7,000 of them around the country, now there are about a half dozen still in existence. This newly restored room now has the distinction of being perhaps the most intact of these posts in the country.
It was installed in an existing room in the Library in 1906 an members met there until the last one died in 1937, at which time the door was simply left locked until sometime in the mid-1980s when the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves re-enactor unit undertook to care for it. Water damage, vermin, dirt and time took its toll on the munitions, uniforms, books and various artifacts, but surprisingly, much of the content was still in the room and could be restored.
Read more about the room by visiting www.CarnegieCarnegie.com, and plan a real visit to the room. I’m not so interested in military matters, but I do love history. All this was left for us to learn.
Today 