New Jersey Civil War Flag Exhibition Unveiling - December 30, 2014

-
New Jersey Civil War Flag Exhibition Unveiling
December 30, 2014

Representatives of the New Jersey State Museum and the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association will participate in the unveiling of five historic New Jersey Civil War flags at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, December 30th, 2014. The unveiling will take place at the State Museum Flag Gallery, located on the first floor at 225 West State Street (the building housing the NJ State Archives at the corner of West State and Calhoun Streets) in Trenton.


The State Museum collections include over a hundred flags carried by New Jersey soldiers in the war and the museum periodically rotates five of them for display in specially designed archival exhibit cases. Some of the flags are so fragile they have not been on public display for decades.  The unveiling event will feature an educational gallery walk by flag historian Dr. David Martin, author of the award winning New Jersey at Gettysburg Guidebook.

The forthcoming rotation includes the national colors of the 1st, 8th and 9th Infantry regiments, the state colors of the 7th Infantry regiment, and a rare divisional flag from the 3rd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, in which the famed Second New Jersey Brigade served.  The national flag of the 9th regiment has a particularly dramatic history.  When that unit was almost overrun at the battle of Drewry's Bluff, Virginia on May 16, 1864, Color Sergeant George Meyers stripped the flag from its staff and wound it around his body under his coat so he could pick up a musket and protect it from capture. When the fight was over, Meyers dropped the musket and re-mounted the flag on a stick he picked up on the battlefield. 

As part of the Civil War 150th anniversary, the gallery also features a rotating mini-exhibit of firearms, equipment, photographs, and military documents of the era. The documents are from the New Jersey State Archives collection, and the military items are on loan from private collectors around New Jersey. In keeping with the museum's Civil War Sesquicentennial annual theme, the new exhibit will focus on the 4th, 9th and 33rd Infantry regiments and the events of 1865, including President Lincoln's assassination.  The artifacts will include the 1865 diary of Medal of Honor recipient John Beech of the 4th New Jersey Infantry and the presentation sword and 1865 diary of Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Bray of the 33rd New Jersey Infantry. The exhibit was prepared by Nicholas Ciotola, Curator of Cultural History at the New Jersey State Museum, with the aid of members of the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association.

For more information, visit www.njcivilwar150.org.


Do you enjoy the articles and features that The History Girl produces each week? 
If so, consider a donation to keep the movement going!
Location: 225 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for the comments!

Popular posts from this blog

The Birth and Death of a Ski Area: Craigmeur

-
Image
The Birth and Death of a Ski Area: Craigmeur Written by Elizabeth Holste By the 1930s skiing was already becoming a popular sport in the United States. Major department stores like Bamberger’s, Gimbel’s, Sak’s and Wanamaker’s were even selling ski equipment. Some even gave ski lessons inside their stores on ski slides. In 1935, the first winter sports show was held inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Read more

The Golden Age of Shopping: Downtown Newark

-
Image
The Golden Age of Shopping: Downtown Newark Written by NJ Historian In a time before malls and regional shopping centers filled New Jersey's landscape, Newark was a prime shopping destination. Imagine hopping into the family car, on a bus, or train in the 1940s or 1950s and spending the day in Newark shopping, eating at restaurants, or watching a show. Crowds on busy streets passed by stores with large plate-glass windows displaying the newest fashions and most modern conveniences. While the intersection of Broad and Market streets, known as the Four Corners, was Newark’s commercial hub, just a few blocks away, the area around Military Park presented a different kind of experience  It was known as "Ladies’ Mile" for the stores that catered to the elegant ladies who bought the finest objects in America. This was the Golden Age in Newark. But as quickly as it came, it ended by the 1970s, when new indoor malls and big-box stores began to spring up in suburban locations s
Read more

The Industrial Remains of Long Pond Ironworks

-
Image
The Industrial Remains of Long Pond Ironworks Written by NJ Historian The Highlands Region of New Jersey was once home to many industrious ironworks and forges. The forges at Long Pond, Ringwood, Midvale, Pompton, Bloomingdale, and Charlottenburg produced iron products for the young and quickly growing U.S. economy and even provided materials for troops during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. All of these forges, with the exception of Long Pond, are no longer standing. Today, nestled within Long Pond Ironworks State Park, the remains of a colonial furnace and two Civil War era furnaces remind hikers, naturalists, and visitors of the rich ores once mined and smelted in this region of northern New Jersey, not far from the New York border. The remnants of the town left behind by progress and time are indicative of the immense operations that thrived and provided jobs to thousands over the course of their histories. Time has allowed much of this industri
Read more