NC -- Raleigh -- North Carolina Museum of History -- Exhibit: Call to Arms:
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NCHISA_071204_001.JPG: A Call To Arms: North Carolina Military History Gallery:
North Carolina's military heritage dates to the first Spanish and English exploratory expeditions into the area in the sixteenth century. In 1711, a war with the Tuscarora Indians nearly annihilated the colonists. That war was the first of many conflicts in which North Carolinians have taken part both at home and abroad. Some, such as the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the Spanish-American War, had little impact on the state. However, the American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the war in Iraq have touched thousands of Tar Heel lives.
World War II brought the expansion of Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville, and the establishment of the Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune, at Jacksonville, and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, in Goldsboro. These permanent sites serve not only as important defense facilities but also major contributors to the state's economy. In addition, the National Guard and various reserve components have assumed increasingly active roles in military affairs. This exhibit is dedicated to those North Carolinians who have answered "a call to arms."
NCHISA_071204_005.JPG: American Revolution:
Liberty and justice for all! The American Revolution (1775-1783) ended two centuries of British rule, creating the United States of America.
North Carolinians were among the first Americans to defy British policies, including fifty-one women who promised not to drink any more English tea at the "Edenton Tea Party" in 1774. And by signing the Halifax Resolves in April 1776, North Carolina was the first colony to urge others to declare independence from England.
Not all North Carolinians wanted independence in 1775, before the Revolution began. Of the estimated 170,000 state residents (not including the 80,000 enslaved people), half were Loyalists who supported England, and half were Patriots willing to take up arms for independence.
The British plans to subdue the South with the Loyalists' help and move to conquer the North were thwarted at the Battle of Moores Creeks in 1776. This battle left North Carolina free from invasion until 1780. Other battles played out in North Carolina -- Kings Mountain (1780) and Guilford Courthouse (1781) -- helping turn the war in favor of the Americans.
The Revolutionary War era was a time of progress for some, and dislocation for others. After the Revolution came statehood and a chance to build new bonds between a state deeply divided.
NCHISA_071204_012.JPG: The North Carolina Continental Line:
The North Carolina Continental line, which would ultimately include eleven regiments and six to seven thousand soldiers, was born in the summer of 1775. In June, the Continental Congress issued quotas to each state, tasking North Carolina with recruiting one thousand men for service. In response, the Provincial Congress, meeting in Hillsborough in August, authorized the creation of the first two North Carolina Continental regiments under the command of James Moore and Robert Howe. While the First and Second regiments served in North Carolina in 1776, the Provincial Congress raised another eight regiments, including the North Carolina Light Horse, to meet increased quotas from the Continental Congress.
North Carolina's Continental line joined George Washington's main army near Philadelphia in August 1777 and participated in the defense of the city that fall. After surviving Valley Forge, the soldiers took part in the campaign through New Jersey in 1778 that culminated in the battle of Monmouth Courthouse. The North Carolina regiments -- reduced to three units -- moved south as the theater of war shifted, only to be captured by the British after the failed defense of Charleston in May 1780. New recruits failed to enlist in large numbers until June 1781, after the American success at Guilford Courthouse had inspired more men to serve. The state's Continental line limped through the rest of the war with Gen. Nathanael Greene's army in the south. When the army disbanded in 1783, it included only one North Carolina unit consisting of two hundred soldiers.
NCHISA_071204_013.JPG: The British Invade North Carolina:
War returned to North Carolina when the British army's focus shifted to the southern colonies in 1779. Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis aimed to subdue the South and started by seizing Savannah and Charleston. In June 1780, his army marched north out of Charleston, beginning a campaign that would wind through three states over the next year and a half. The Continental army, led in the South by Gen. Horatio Gates and, later, by Gen. Nathanael Greene, met the British threat. The two armies followed each other's movements and clashed in some of the war's most ferocious battles, including Cowpens and Eutaw Springs in South Carolina and Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina. Soldiers from both sides ravaged the countryside for good and supplies and incited the local residents.
After concluding that "North Carolina is of all the provinces in America the most difficult to attack," Cornwallis marched on to Virginia in September 1791. His army dug in at the coastal town of Yorktown, where a combined force of French and American army and navy troops forced Cornwallis's surrender on October 19. The allied victory signaled the end of the Revolutionary War and the beginning of the independent American nation.
NCHISA_071204_018.JPG: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse:
More than one year of cat and mouse through the Carolinas culminated in the clash of Greene's and Cornwallis's troops on March 15, 1781, at the battle of Guilford Courthouse. Greene chose a hillside along the main road from Hillsborough where he positioned his 4,000 men. The North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia militias -- many of which had never before seen battle -- made up the front lines. Cornwallis reported, "I never saw such fighting... the Americans fought like demons," but after two hours of bayonet charges, artillery fire, and heavy musket rounds, the battle ended with an American retreat.
Cornwallis was quick to claim victory for the British. His army took control of the coastal town of Wilmington in early April, but it remained one of only three British strongholds in the South, besides Charleston and Savannah. Cornwallis' proclaimed victory came at the expense of such high casualties that many at home questioned the good news. Charles James Fox, a member of Parliament, believed "another such victory would destroy the British Army." Fox's prediction seems to forecast Cornwallis' fate. The toll that the battle of Guilford Courthouse took on the British army strengthened the American campaign toward Yorktown and helped to bring Cornwallis's surrender in October 1781.
NCHISA_071204_024.JPG: Mexican-American War:
North Carolina native James Knox Polk served as president from 1845 to 1849. He favored expanding the United States and pushed for the admission of Texas to the Union; the purchase of California and New Mexico; the acquisition of Oregon; and locating the boundary between Mexico and the United States at a place favored by Texas. Fighting broke out between Mexico and the United States over the border's location.
With the onset of war, President Polk called for North Carolina to raise a regiment of about 1,000 men in local companies across the state. Initially, more than that number volunteered. But enthusiasm for military service wanned when the men learned that their enlistment would last not just twelve months but for the "duration of the war."
The state eventually deployed a smaller regiment than originally planned. Unfortunately, it was plagued with discipline problems and saw no active service. Even so, the volunteer regiment lost approximately a fourth of its members to disease and disabilities. Other North Carolinians in regular army units fared better, and a number received praise for their valor. For many of these soldiers, the war provided valuable training for a looming conflict.
NCHISA_071204_026.JPG: Sword from Mexican-American War
NCHISA_071204_038.JPG: US-led Kuwaiti war painting
NCHISA_071204_052.JPG: Adolf Hitler pin cushion
NCHISA_071204_056.JPG: Distinguished Service cross from World War II
NCHISA_071204_061.JPG: High-altitude image of Hiroshima. A North Carolinian was on the Enola Gay.
NCHISA_071204_079.JPG: World War II:
When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, many Americans favored neutrality and isolationism to protect their nation from the threat of another world war. The Japanese air attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, in the Hawaiian Islands, on December 7, 1941, put an end to such sentiment. America's declaration of war against Japan was answered with a declaration of war against the United States by Germany.
War-related jobs required thousands of workers, and women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers. Both blacks and whites operated chapters of the United Service Organizations (USO) and the Red Cross. Schoolchildren bought savings stamps to help finance the war and also collected scrap metal and other salvage items for use in war industries. Existing military installations expanded greatly, and new ones sprang up across the state. By the end of the war, more people had trained at bases in North Carolina than in any other state. World War II was indeed "everybody's war."
North Carolinians of all races enlisted for service by the thousands. All branches of the military accepted women in noncombat roles for the first time. When the war ended in 1945, around 7,000 Tar Heals had died for their country.
NCHISA_071204_080.JPG: No idea who these kids were but they asked to be photographed
NCHISA_071204_084.JPG: Artificial limb from World War I
NCHISA_071204_110.JPG: World War I:
With the outbreak of war in Europe in August 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared that a state of neutrality existed between the United States and the warring nations. Americans read with horror about the deaths of thousands of European soldiers from technological innovations such as machine guns, submarines, airplanes, dirigibles, tanks, flamethrowers, and poison gases.
American founds ways to help the Allied forces by serving as volunteer ambulance drivers, soldiers, and airmen. Any spirit of neutrality ended when Germany launched unrestricted submarine warfare, which meant that American merchant ships would be sunk without warning. This eventually led to a United States declaration of war against Germany in April 1917.
North Carolina made numerous contributions during World War I, both at home and on the battlefield. Soldiers trained at camps in Charlotte, Fayetteville, and Raleigh. Service groups formed, including the Red Cross, the War Camp Community Service, and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA).
More than 86,000 Tar Heel men and women served in the First World War. Many North Carolina soldiers were assigned to the Thirtieth and Eighty-first Divisions. Thousands of North Carolinians served in other army units or with the marines and navy. When the war finally ended on November 11, 1918, the state had lost 2,375 men.
NCHISA_071204_111.JPG: Spanish-American War:
Fueled by sensational news reports of Spanish atrocities in Cuba and the sinking of the battleship USS Maine, many Americans clamored for war against Spain. On April 20, 1898, the United States Congress declared war, and North Carolina furnished three infantry regiments for the conflict.
Following training, the First North Carolina Volunteers departed for Jacksonville, Florida, and eventually reached Cuba for occupation duty. It was the only one of the three regiments to serve there. The Second North Carolina Volunteers first mobilized in May 1898, but the companies of the Second soon found themselves scattered across the South. Discipline declined due to boredom and inactivity, and the regiment was ordered back to Raleigh and demobilized.
North Carolina was one of three states with all-African American regiments, consisting of black officers and enlisted soldiers. However, prevailing racial prejudices did not allow the men of the black Third Regiment North Carolina Volunteers to demonstrate their military abilities, and the regiment was disbanded.
Despite the poor record of its volunteer units, the state provided men in the regular army and navy who served with distinction, and several individuals earned national recognition.
NCHISA_071204_162.JPG: The War of 1812:
Despite the United States victory over England in the American Revolution, tensions remained strong between the two nations. The British navy's policy of stopping American merchant ships on the high seas and forcing crew members into British service especially outraged Americans. "Impressment" became a key reason for the declaration of war by the United States against England on June 18, 1812.
Several North Carolinians became well known for their service during the war. Otway Burns won fame as a licensed privateer seizing enemy ships and cargo, and naval captain Johnston Blakeley also captured several British ships.
Greensboro native Dolley Payne Madison, wife of President James Madison, gained the gratitude of the nation when she saved valuable items from the presidential residence before British troops torched it in August 1814.
Native son Andrew Jackson, born in the Waxhaw region along the North Carolina-South Carolina border, defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. Ironically, a peace treaty between the warring nations had been signed at Ghent in Belgium the month before, on December 24, 1814.
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Wikipedia Description: North Carolina Museum of History
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The North Carolina Museum of History is located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. Permanent exhibits focus on the state’s military history, decorative arts, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, and more. Visitors will see a variety of short-term and traveling exhibits. (An exhibit list follows the "History" section below.) Admission is free, and special programs include craft demonstrations, music concerts and family events. The Museum Shop features North Carolina crafts.
The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives and History, an agency of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
The museum is located at 5 East Edenton Street in Raleigh. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. Contact: 919-807-7900 or ncmuseumofhistory.org.
History:
Frederick Augustus Olds, known as the “father” of the North Carolina Museum of History, began collecting items from across North Carolina in the late 1800s. He traversed the state, acquiring pieces of the past and the stories associated with them. Some of the objects were related to events in the state’s history, while others might have seemed rather strange. (One item was simply labeled a “box of rocks.”) Olds amassed a large private collection, and on December 5, 1902, he merged his items with the collection owned and displayed in the State Museum (the modern-day North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences). This assortment of historical artifacts became known as the "Hall of History" and was opened to the public. Thirty-seven cases contained everything from a studded shoe buckle owned by James Iredell to the death mask of Confederate General Robert Hoke.
The North Carolina Historical Commission took over the Hall of History in 1914 and moved the collection to the Ruffin Building; however, this space quickly became limited. The hall made another move in 1939 t ...More...
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2007 photos: Equipment this year: I used the Fuji S9000 almost exclusively except for the period when it broke and I had to send it back for repairs. In August, I bought a Canon Rebel Xti, my first digital SLR (vs regular digital) which I tried as well but I wasn't that excited by it.
Trips this year: Two weeks down south (including Graceland, Shiloh, VIcksburg, and New Orleans), a week at a time share in Costa Rica over my 50th birthday, a week off for a family reunion in the Wisconsin Dells (with sidetrips to Dayton, Springfield, and Madison), a week in San Diego for the Comic-Con with a side trip to Michigan for two family reunions, a drive up to Niagara Falls, a couple of weekend jaunts including the Civil War Preservation Trust Grand Review in Vicksburg, and a December journey to three state capitols (Richmond, Raleigh, and Columbia). I saw sites in 18 states and 3 other countries this year -- the first year I'd been to more than two other countries since we lived in Venezuela when I was a little toddler.
Ego strokes: A photo that I took at the National Archives was used as the author photo on the book jacket for David A. Nichols' "A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution." I became a volunteer photographer at both Sixth and I Historic Synagogue and the Civil War Preservation Trust (later renamed "Civil War Trust")..
Number of photos taken this year: 225,000.
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