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At the Medical Lake Cemetery in Spokane, Washington, a family who migrated from Maine in the 1870s is laid to rest. Among the headstones stands a cenotaph for the eldest child: Madison Frederick Boissonnault. While they honored the passing of their soldier kin, you will not find Madison’s remains in Washington State […]
On January 30, 1865, Washington was abuzz with gossip. A government clerk named Adoniram Burroughs had been shot twice at the Treasury Department. At a time when death was seemingly everywhere due to the war, this incident managed to stand out. A key detail traveled with the story: the killer was a […]
By the time of the Civil War, Valentine’s Day was already a well-established holiday. Couples would exchange tokens of affection, including homemade gifts. Merchants capitalized on the separation of loved ones, marketing ready-made cards (some with funny messages, others with sentimental ones) and care packages that could be mailed to sweethearts far […]
“G. Bubenzer” was added to Clara Barton’s “Roll of Missing Men” with only #6647 and “Hospital Steward” in his listing. It may seem odd that a hospital worker would go missing. It’s often the combat soldiers and field staff that disappear – or the wounded left unaccounted for during muster. Was it […]
In 1866, New Jersey became the last Northern state to officially abolish slavery. Decades of a “modified” institution allowed for a slow gradual emancipation process and a transitional status from enslaved to “apprenticed for life.” This delay did not inhibit enslaved and free populations from enlisting in the Union Army.[1] Private Joseph […]
On December 18, 1865, following the ratification of the 13th Amendment, President Andrew Johnson addressed the United States Senate. He declared: I have the honor to state that the rebellion waged by a portion of the people against the properly constituted authority of the Government of the United States has been suppressed; […]
What happens when a regiment loses track of one of their own? In the chaos of war, this unfortunate circumstance sometimes happened, including to Private Jesse Wiley Ball, Company F of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry. Born in Virginia in 1832, Jesse and the Ball family moved to Indiana in the late 1840s. […]
Massachusetts has an undisputed claim on Thanksgiving. The story of the Mayflower, early America’s tough start, and the meal shared between Native Americans and Pilgrims in 1621 is part of our national identity. But Washington, D.C. deserves some credit for the holiday too. For it was here, in an attempt to lift […]
The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) hasn’t had a living member since 1956. At the corner of 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, blocks from the Missing Soldiers Office Museum, a lonely old obelisk has stood tall since 1909. Today, the organization that the memorial honors is mostly forgotten. A lingering handful […]
Fall brings changing leaves and, for some, an appetite for visiting graveyards. Holidays like Halloween and Day of the Dead inspire us to walk among these final resting places. Clara Barton passed away in her Glen Echo, Maryland, home on April 12, 1912. Her body was transported to North Oxford, Massachusetts, where […]
