In this, the 150th anniversary year of the culmination of the American Civil War, you have a rare opportunity to take a walk through the dark side of the conflict and its aftermath. The Indiana State Museum has created a splendid display titled “So costly a sacrifice: Lincoln and Loss” that promises to enthrall, educate and enlighten each and every visitor. Dale Ogden, chief curator of history and culture at ISM, has gathered many rarely seen relics and objects that, when viewed together, explain the deep sense of sorrow and loss felt by millions of Americans during the Great War of Rebellion.
The exhibit, which opened last Saturday and runs through July 5th, not only focuses on the tragic aftermath of unexpected death felt by the average American family, but also explains our shared national tragedy after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Ogden, along with ISM Senior Vice-President of collections and interpretation Susannah Koerber, have assembled a display of objects that are sure to tug at the heartstrings of visitors in a way that no words on a page or JPEGs on a computer screen could ever accomplish.
Upon entering the exhibit, the visitor steps back in time to a somber scene that is tastefully dark in design and mood to capture the solemnity of silence and respect. The exhibit begins with a selection of Hoosier artifacts that introduce us to the powerful, yet by today’s standards, tastefully understated world of mortality in 19th Century America. Each cautious step brings the visitor face-to-face with haunting reminders of death in the heartland. A mourning handkerchief and cap from Wayne County rest alongside a pair of empty baby shoes and unfilled mittens from an infant from Cambridge City. Ebony black mourning clothing and jewelry lay near hair wreaths. However, the artifact in this section that touches all but the most marble heart among us is surely the diminutive child’s coffin.
The visitor is then guided to a display of items that are perhaps most closely associated with mortality and mourning in 19th Century America: Civil War artifacts. Some 620,000 soldiers died in the Civil War. That number is roughly equal to all of the soldiers lost in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, combined. The Civil War’s rate of death, which according to Curator Ogden was about two-and-one-half percent of the entire population, would translate to 8 million fatalities today.
Hearing these startling figures accentuates the appearance of a handsomely crafted artifact in the center of the display; the gleaming cold steel of a Civil War surgeon’s kit belonging to Dr. Albert G. Preston of Greencastle, surgeon of the 55th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The kit was used to treat wounded soldiers at the battles of Shiloh in 1862 and in the Vicksburg campaign the following year. The impact of the latter exhibit upon the former comes into better clarity as Mr. Ogden explains that twice as many Civil War soldiers died from disease as from battle wounds.
The surgeon’s kit is surrounded by equally impressive artifacts including Infantry Sergeant William Wilson’s shell jacket. As a member of the legendary Iron Brigade’s 19th Indiana Infantry, Wilson, from Elizabethtown in Bartholomew County, was shot four times during the conflict. Other important items on display include a Gatling gun, two bullet-scarred “war logs,” a presentation sword and a massive artillery shell with a colorful history, But for the story of that shell, you’ll have to ask Dale himself as we journalists gathered that day were sworn to secrecy. Suffice it to say, it’s a story worthy of the query.
However, the exhibits that are sure to attract the liveliest interest among visitors are the sections devoted to the assassination of Lincoln and it’s aftermath, skillfully told through the display of relics. Far from an overstatement, Curator Ogden describes the mania to possess these sacred objects as “an attempt to touch the True Cross.” Ogden explains the significance of Lincoln’s shooting on Good Friday, death on Holy Saturday and church services on Easter Sunday as a national religious transformation. Lincoln quickly ascended into secular sainthood and Ogden explains that many believed his death was the price we paid for the bloodshed during the Civil War and for the sin of slavery.
Among the items on display are a reliquary including a splinter of wood from the John Wilkes Booth autopsy table, strand of twine from the rope used to hang conspirator David Herold, a pillowcase fragment and piece of towel stained with the blood of Lincoln, scraps of wallpaper from the house in which Lincoln died, and an assortment of relic items associated with the great man’s funeral. Of particular interest to Hoosiers is Governor Oliver P. Morton’s personal ticket to, and bow tie worn at, Lincoln’s viewing in the Indiana State House.
It must be noted that Dale Ogden and Susannah Koerber have flipped the paradigm with this exhibit by choosing to display the actual objects rather than photographic reproductions, as is sadly the habit at many museums nowadays. For example, both the playbill from the Ford’s theatre production of “Our American Cousin” and the imperial cabinet photo of the Lincoln funeral in Indianapolis are the real McCoys. Of special interest to me was the blood-stained fragment of the dress worn by lead actress Laura Keene that fateful night. Keene was among the first to enter the box after the shooting. She sat on the floor resting Lincoln’s head in her lap as the great man lay dying.
Although the exhibit relies upon and appears to revolve around Lincoln and the Civil War, Ogden and Koerber have ingeniously drawn their guests into a much deeper conversation. The political and military aspects of the exhibit tell only a part of the story. The war also killed a significant number of civilians; battles raged across farm and field, encampments of troops spread epidemic disease, guerrillas ensnared women and children in violence and reprisals, draft rioters targeted innocent citizens, and shortages of food in parts of the South brought starvation.
What began with the Civil War continued on as an incalculable epidemic for a generation afterwards. Veterans were dying of old war wounds, drinking themselves to an early grave or simply disappearing into the wilds of the American frontier, all in a desperate attempt to escape the nightmare of battle that raged on within them long after the last gun fell silent. Widowed brides died of broken hearts; orphaned children met an early demise. No attempt was ever made to document these deaths, and there is no way for us to make a retrospective count. Distinguished Civil War historian James McPherson has estimated that there were 50,000 civilian deaths during the war, but nobody knows how many died afterwards as a direct result of the conflict. What this exhibit explains is that the Civil War and the death of Abraham Lincoln defined the act of mourning and the funerary art from Reconstruction through the Gilded Age and into the Progressive Era.
I invite you to join Dale Ogden and I this Saturday (Valentine’s Day) on Nelson Price’s “Hoosier History Live” radio show from noon to 1 p.m. ET on WICR 88.7 FM. Mr. Ogden will share insights about the approach to death and mourning during the Victorian era. I will join Dale and Nelson in studio to talk a little on the Lincoln funeral train. I’ve profiled Nelson Price in past articles. Nelson is considered to be one of the leading voices in the preservation and promotion of Indianapolis and Indiana history. The author of several highly respected books on his home city and state, Price’s show airs live every Saturday at noon. Join us live or listen via the webpage at www.hoosierhistorylive starting at noon. Get your questions ready, call in and be a part of the show yourself.
After the show, you can meet Nelson Price in person at a book signing at Bookmamas bookstore in Irvington from 2 to 4 p.m. Nelson will be appearing and signing copies of his books alongside local authors Forrest Bowman, Jr., David Williams, Julie Young, Tom Rumer, and Fred Cavinder. But first, be sure and take a walk through the exhibit, “So costly a sacrifice: Lincoln and Loss” at the Indiana State Museum and experience for yourself the depth of feeling it is sure to evoke.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest book is “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
