With the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Civil?War just under way, Georgia Public Broadcasting tonight takes note of the war’s continuing presence in everyday life with the show “Civil War Treasures in Your Nation’s Attic.”
Created in conjunction with Atlanta’s National Archives facility, the “Antiques Roadshow”-type program focuses on relics dating from the Civil War — or sometimes not — owned by metro Atlantans.
Here’s a sampling of the items viewers will see, and the stories behind them.
● When Tom Camp of Sharpsburg received this Confederate battle flag as a Christmas gift from his brother a few years back, its value was mostly sentimental. The battles it commemorates include Griswoldville, where Camp’s great-great-grandfather, Abner Norman, a second lieutenant in the 2nd Georgia Cavalry, was killed in action. “I never thought it was an original battle flag,” he said. “I figured it was a reunion flag because of the date on it, 1912.” Camp would learn from an expert at the Archives that the nearly 2-by-3-foot flag was a fake, a modern reproduction. That news has not changed Camp’s appreciation of the flag as a memento of his ancestor. It still hangs in his den.
● Madeline Griffin of Atlanta has detailed knowledge of the life of the man who owned this powder horn. Her great-great-grandfather, Doctor (his first name) Franklin McKee of Missouri, enlisted in the Union Army in 1861, served three years and had a cousin who fought for the Confederacy. She also now knows a lot about the rifle Doctor loaded using this horn (a .58-caliber single-shot made in Pennsylvania in the 1830s). But the origin of the horn itself remains a bit of an unknown. It “was almost certainly made by Doc or someone in his family,” she says, “but I can’t prove that. It is made from a cow’s horn.” She does know its history since: “Doc gave the rifle and powder horn to his grandson, Hugh Wilson, who gave it to his daughter, Elizabeth Wilson Griffin, my mom, who gave it to me.”
● Tom Barnett of Dunwoody wasn’t sure the two artillery shells he brought would measure up to the other Civil War relics on view. So when artillery and munitions expert Butch Holcombe called him up, he was a bit surprised. Barnett, an Army artillery buff, had purchased the round, 2.5-pound projectile at a show. The other shell, a gift from a friend, had been dug up by a friend; this 5-pounder he believed to be a Hotchkiss projectile. He learned that the second shell was indeed a Hotchkiss, used by the Union army. The other was one of part of a collection of iron balls called “grape shot” that were fired from a large artillery piece known as a columbiard. Said Barnett: “The entire day was a wonderful wealth of information, and I am deeply indebted to [the Archives and GPB] for a very enjoyable day.”
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TV PREVIEW
“Civil War Treasures in Your Nation’s Attic”
9 tonight. GPB. Repeats at?1:30 p.m. Sunday.
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