"Legends and Lies in Female Soldier Portraits" Article in Military Images Magazine

 I recently came across this article by Kurt Luther, founder of Civil War Photo Sleuth, an online tool for users to help identify individuals in images.  In his piece in Military Images magazine, he deals with misidentified images of women soldiers.  Among the photos he mentions is allegedly one of Jennie Hodgers in the collection of the Gilder Lehrman Institute.  I was actually going to use it in my book.  Sent the $165 check  and everything.  As you can see, the image is not viewable on their website.  I assumed based on the description that it was the photo below. But when I received the image via Dropbox, it was not what I thought.  And I had serious reservations about whether the soldier depicted was indeed Hodgers.  It didn't look like her to me.  And when I asked them to provide the provenance, they sent me a page from an auction house catalog they bought it from merely claiming the image to be Hodgers based on a resemblance to this photo:

Irving Block Prison

 Known as the "Bastille" of Memphis, Irving Block was originally constructed as office buildings in 1860.  But, like so many structures, it was repurposed as a Confederate hospital after the war broke out.  And then in 1862, when Union forces began their occupation of Memphis, they turned it into a prison for soldiers and Confederate sympathizers.  During its time in Federal possession, the facility became intertwined with corruption and plagued with deplorable conditions.

Irving Block prison, 1864
www.historic-memphis.com

Video: Women Soldiers Brought to Life

 I've been working on this project for a while now and finally got to a point where I could wrap it up and share it.  I took some images of women soldiers, colorized and animated them using AI.  If you have worked with AI, you know it can be fickle.  I can't tell you how many times I had to redo something because it just didn't turn out the way I wanted despite composing very specific prompts.  And I will say that there are some details that still aren't what I wanted.  I'm sure down the road I will still tweak this video, or make a complete new one.  But, until then, here it is:  

 

 

Animated Frances Elizabeth Quinn

 I have enjoyed experimenting with AI and Civil War photos, including the few of women soldiers.  Here is a short one I recently made of Frances Elizabeth Quinn who served as "Frank Miller" in the 90th Illinois Infantry.  I untangled her garbled story and revealed the truth of her troubled past in my book.  Short video of an animated Frances Elizabeth Quinn, alias Frances Hook, who serves as "Frank Miller" in the 90th Illinois Infantry. The photos were taken while she was hospitalized in Nashville in 1864 from a nasty leg wound. Nurses encouraged her to have the images made and sell them in order to raise funds for herself. There are letters written by soldiers who mentioned buying one. And you can find images for auction periodically today. 

At some point, I hope someone will colorize these images.  This is beyond my extremely meager skills.  If that happens, I'll redo the animation and make a new video. 

 

Items Dealing with Women Soldiers up for Auction

Occasionally, I see period images of women soldiers and letters written by male soldiers about them come up for auction.  These items often involve previously undocumented women soldiers or contain valuable information that adds to the narratives of the women researchers like me have already written about.  Regardless, these pieces are tangible and exciting connections to the stories that comprise a small and intriguing part of Civil War history.

Battlefield Trust Aims to Try to Save Pamplin Park

 Named after Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr., a businessman and philanthropist based in Oregon, Pamplin Park is a site of of what has been typically referred to as "the Breakthrough."  The Federals were able to successfully break the Confederate lines during this attack occurring April 2nd, 1865.  This concluded the nearly year-long Petersburg Campaign and ultimately the end of the war as Confederates evacuated the capital at Richmond.  Today, Pamplin Park encompasses over 400 acres and multiple museums, trails, and historic homes.   Also today, the park has been in financial trouble, which has led to closures, cancellations, and limited visits to appointment only.  But a month ago, the park announced that walk-in visits would be allowed on the weekends.  I have been to Pamplin Park a couple of times and enjoyed my time.  So the American Battlefield Trust's announcement recently that they were attempting to acquire the campus was welcome news.

There are no woman soldier connection to this site that I am currently aware of.  But back in 2019, Mark gifted me a plaque placed on a bench there in my name.  Here is a picture of it.  I haven't been back, so I don't know if it is even still there.  I certainly hope so!   I also hope the Trust can save this property not only for history's sake but also for the preservation of this thoughtful gift that Mark gave me memorializing the brave women soldiers I have been researching for nearly fifteen years now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battlefield Trust Aims to Preserve Land Women Soldiers Fought On

The Battlefield Trust announced recently an opportunity to purchase over 1,000 acres at Chickasaw Bayou.  This was the North's first major attempt to take the vital city of Vicksburg.  Previous expeditions had failed without truly threatening the city with Holly Springs being the most notable.  

Early War Alabama Woman Soldier?

 I've dabbled with AI to animate photos of woman soldiers, which you can see on my YouTube channel.  I've got others I have not publicized yet but will at some point.  I want to go back and re-work some of them.  But they're neat, and I've used some in my presentations to add to the attendees' experience.  AI is controversial today, but it can certainly serve as a positive tool.  In the case of historical topics, these enhanced photos and videos can humanize the individuals we study and bring them closer to us.

 You can find various AI videos on YouTube.  Some are great.  Others are goofy.  I came across this video I found especially intriguing because it contains a couple of Civil War women soldiers. 

Video: Animated Almeda Hart, alias "James Strong," 127th Illinois Infantry

My latest venture into using AI to try to bring women soldiers of the Civil War to life involves working with Almeda Butler Hart who served as a mounted courier for General David Stuart's brigade during the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.  Almeda and Henry were newlyweds, and she didn't want to be separated from him when he enlisted.

The audio and video are not perfectly synched.  But I think it's still effective in giving life to this extraordinary woman.  The picture I used is of a younger Almeda when she was a teenager before the war.  She was actually around 25 at the time of Chickasaw Bayou.  At the end of the video, I included a picture of her as she was closer to her time of service.  I didn't use it in the video throughout because the quality is rather poor.

Video: Women Soldiers at Lake Providence, Louisiana

In this video, Mark and I talk about Federal efforts to dig canals to facilitate their goal of investing the city of Vicksburg, deemed to be the "key" to a Union victory by President Abraham Lincoln.  A camp was established at Lake Providence to serve as a base while these operations were going on.  Among the soldiers there were at least two women soldiers.  In this video, we talk about this location and the women there.

For more, read this previous blog post [HERE].