From the desk of Jan Hommel, Museum Director:

What was America’s first and only “family feud”? (War Between the States)

The nation’s bloodiest and most divisive war was fought not against a foreign aggressor but between citizens of the United States. It was not a “civil war” as it is most often called because the Southern states were not seeking to rule the North; they merely wanted to secede or leave and form their own country. The Northern states, seeking to preserve the United States as it was, took action to protect northern economic interests and to prevent secession. A more accurate term would be “The War Between the States”, or “The War for Southern Independence”, or “The War of the Rebellion”, or “The War of Northern Aggression.”

Dr. Brunson’s 11^th grade AP U.S. History class visited the museum this week for an introduction to the War Between the States. The American “Civil War” or War Between the States, is very personal and people still take sides today! Why is that? Students found evidence of a ‘personal’ war in the names of the war, the people, the age of soldiers and the number of soldiers lost per battle. Students were quick to see how such loss would impact every family in the United States physically, economically and socially and the years that it took for the Nation to recover.

The students also had the opportunity to taste Civil War Hardtack (provided by Dr. Glen Graves and family). Hardtack is a biscuit made of flour and water and looks like a big soda cracker. Civil War soldiers ate a lot of hardtack. Hardtack was so hard the soldiers called them “sheet iron crackers” or “tooth dullers.” Soldiers were rationed 6-8 hardtack crackers every 3 days. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it was and is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages, land migrations, and military campaigns.