HAMILTON, N.C.—Saturday, November 28, saw the fulfillment of over two years of effort, running through the idea, then planning, and finally the install tion of signage for Fort Branch, Hamilton, N.C. The project began with a 2017 Blue and Gray Education Society (BGES) tour’s side trip to the fo The visitors noted the lack of ad equate signs explaining the fort positions, artillery, and its his tory. The germ started with the visit, then a follow up to find o interest in new signage. Over the next two years, through research, job changes, the covid lockdown, and then more site visits, the fi steps were in place. Individual sign sponsors generously stepped forward, the text and imagery were completed, posts were erected, and finally the signs we mounted.
Society is a 501C-3 organization headquartered in Chatham, Va., that supports learning about our history. The Society’s mission is, among other things, to reveal our past for our future through facilitating the study an
Navy Medal of Honor sign. 38 – American Battlefield Trust 47 – Advertiser Index 10 – Black Powder, White
America’s Monthly New Blue and Gray Education Society Donates Historical Signage for Fort Branch understanding of the American Civil War. They accomplish this by interpreting and preserving Civil War battlefields and other historically significant places a artifacts. Through the generosity of BGES members and other supporters, the Society focuses on several projects annually. The Society has prepared Preservation Reports for several threatened Civil War sites includ ing the Mobile and Vicksburg Campaigns, as well as Price’s Missouri Raid of 1864. These reports were presented at BGESconducted conferences sponsored by the American Battlefield Protection Program, for concerned citizens and local governments affiliated with the respective campaigns. The report findings were subsequently published and used as definitive guidance for preservation and education-
The Society has also created an artillery display for the Battle Raymond, Miss., and helped the Friends of Raymond achieve their goal of being the first significa battlefield to have one restored cannon sited where every cannon was actually positioned during the May 12, 1863, battle. The Society has nearly 200 signs now posted at sites around the country. The BGES provided, in partnership with Chesterfield County, Va., over 40 interpretive markers related to the Bermuda Hundred Campaign. Other sites, supported by the generosity of BGES members, in conjunction with local supporters, include nu merous battlefields such as North Anna and Cedar Creek, Va., South Mountain and Crampton’s Gap, Md., Van Dorn’s Holly Springs, Mississippi Raid, Perryville, Ky. and Grand Gulf, Miss. Doug Cumins noted that “We Smoke 40 – Book Reviews 29 – Central Virginia Battlefield Trust
visited Fort Branch on a tour. The fort is in good condition and has most of the cannon originally mounted in the fort and that i very unusual.” Len Reidel, BGES Executive Director, mentioned that Fort Branch was “a target of opportunity. It is exactly wha BGES exists for.” The Society felt, that “the Fort Branch volun teers are a small group that coul use assistance, and BGES is a group able to provide that assistance.” We offered our assistance because the Fort Branch folks did not know we existed, so if we didn’t volunteer our services, th would likely have never asked. The 18 signs, 12 small, 5 large, and a very large entrance sign, have information about the fort’s history and relationship t the War, the half dozen different cannon types and their particular position in the fort, changin 34 – Emerging Civil War 22 – The Graphic War 24 – Inspection, ARMS! 28 – News Briefs
military and naval technology, and the Confederate efforts defending the Roanoke River valley. Not slighting the Federals who tried to eliminate the fort, there is a marker on the river f to two Union sailors who earned the Medal of Honor whilst attack ing the fort July 9, 1862. The Medal of Honor sign represents a series of coincidental events. The sign’s origin was in a chance conversation, overheard at Fort Fisher, about an ancestor who earned the medal near Hamilton, North Carolina, the nearest town to the fort. Gettin his name led to information about a Union sailor who fought at Rainbow Bluff July 9, 1862. Additional research found the medal’s citation. Other research ers then went through the Offici Records and discovered that two sailors earned the medal that da 18 – The Source 8 – The Unfinished Fight 14 – This And That 6 – Trivia
Quartermaster Alexander Hand, a Delaware native, was aboard USS Ceres when it came under fire. Hand was cited for his ga lantry when he “courageously re turned the raking enemy fire an was spoken of for ‘good conduct and cool bravery under enemy fire,’ by the commanding office Hand survived the war as did th other hero, John Kelley, Firema Second Class. Kelly, born in Ireland in 1841, also returned Confederate fire and was cited “courageously carrying out his duties through the engagement.” He too was spoken of for “good conduct and cool bravery under enemy fire.” Individual BGES donors funded the signs. The smaller signs were credited to individual