In Picture 12/20, there is a black civil war soldier titled "Daguerreotype of Unknown Black Civil War Soldier" with the description "a black man from the waist up, dressed in a button-down cap and holding a rifle against his left shoulder, is undoubtedly of a Union soldier." It appears that he has what looks to be a buck tail on his hat, just like the famous Pennsylvania regiments that were nicknamed "The Bucktails." I had never heard of any African-American units using the same symbol and I was wondering if there was a connection there at all. I tried to Google image search the picture, but to no avail. Anyone know anything further?

These were Federal Dead, not Confederate dead. Which is really rare for Battlefield death pictures.

These were Federal Dead, not Confederate dead. Which is really rare for Battlefield death pictures.

Could this diary ever be made into a book, to be read by the public?

Wasn't that the table Phil Sheridan gave to George Custer as a present to Libbie? If so, was it she who donated the table to the Smithsonian after her husband died at the Little Big Horn?

It always amazes me how technology and medical advancements blossom during war, aviation being a prime example.

With medicine, it is at the time we are destroying limbs and lives that we do the most to restore and save.

Kinda sad, and yet hopeful...

The Lincoln cartoon shows what looks to be Lt. Gen. W. Scott in the picture on the wall.

I suggest the caricature shows Lincoln not as a Don Quixote-like figure but almost certainly Hamlet, Prince of the Danes, the dark, mad, morally corrupt and doomed Shakespearean figure well-known to Americans in the mid-19th century.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to view and read the pages of Adam Francis Plummer's Diary as a link to this slide show. I personally think it would add alot to this online article/pictorial.

Due to it being President Lincoln's hat there is no doubt it was made of the finest beaver short hair. When the pelt was processed, they used some type of a combination comb & cutter to remove all the longer more coarse hair from the beaver pelt. When finished with the complete more elaborate process all that remained was the short, very fine, and softer under hair. I don't know if top-hats where made of any other materials but no respectable gentleman would wear one not made of beaver. This style was fashionable all over the world with the upper-classes for many years, putting a huge demand and value on beaver’s pelt. The demand for these valuable pelts, led to the exploration and eventual settling of the Western and North Western territories of North America years before it would have taken place otherwise! If the wealthy had worn hats made of a different material, it could have been many more years before any of the gold rushes! The only thing that saved the beaver from extinction was, they where just as busy about there reproduction as they are about everything else and unfortunately the top-hat fell out of style! Japanese dignitaries were probably the last peoples to figure out the top-hat was no longer in style, as they still sported them proudly until the late 1940’s!

Not all slaves were forbidden from learning to read and write. Just because the majority of them were kept illiterate does not mean they all were. Some needed to be able to read, write, and do sums simply because their duties necessitated such. Some, and these were the fortunate few, were children of the house slaves were able to learn as the children of the plantation owners did if they had a private tutor who taught them in their early years so the child had someone to learn with. There were as many different situations as there were plantations.

I'm curious about how and where Mr. Plummer gained his literacy. Slaves were forbidden from learning to read and write.

Consider this as a poster for fundraising. Powerful piece! ( D. of Unknown Black Civil War Soldier )

beautiful calligraphy!