Institute’s executive director interviewed for Civil War music project

Dr. Charles Hubbard will be providing some commentary for an upcoming project involving music of the Civil War, and today the crew working on this undertaking spent some time recording an interview with him in the auditorium of LMU’s Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum.  The museum has one of the world’s finest collections of Civil War sheet music.  We’ll have more information on this project as it develops.  Until then, here are a few photos of the interview session.

Lincoln and the political shift toward hard war

…is one of the subjects raised in an interesting article posted at Civil Warriors.  Ethan Rafuse explains the relationship between political necessity and the shift toward a more aggressive military effort.

Herndon letter on Lincoln’s religion up for sale

Anyone with an interest in Lincoln’s religious beliefs and $30,000 to spare might want to check out this item, a letter outlining Lincoln’s religious beliefs written in 1866 by his law partner and biographer William Herndon.

Hat tip: American Creation

“Abraham Lincoln and the Technology of War” exhibit now open

The newest temporary exhibit at LMU’s Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum opened on April 15.  “Abraham Lincoln and the Technology of War” examines the impact of nineteenth-century innovations on the Civil War and explores Lincoln’s personal involvement with these new tools of war making:

Modern weapons such as ironclad ships, repeating rifles and breech-loading cannons increased the capability of one side to inflict damage on the other. Wooden ships in navy fleets around the world were rendered obsolete when the ironclads U.S.S. Monitor and C.S.S. Virginia battled in early March 1862. Railroads increased the logistical capabilities of both North and South, and Samuel’s Morse’s telegraph created an almost instantaneous means of communications between armies and governments.

President Abraham Lincoln spent much of his time in the Telegraph Office of the War Department, pouring over telegrams from his generals so he could better understand the methodology of warfare. Lincoln’s fascination with machines and machinery was well documented throughout his life and presidency. In fact Lincoln was the only United States president to hold a patent. He even test fired Christian Spencer’s repeating rifle on White House grounds.

Included in the exhibit are artifacts from the B&O Railroad Museum, the Kentucky Military History Museum, the National Firearms Museum, the Center for Northern Indiana History, the Tennessee State Museum and the Vicksburg National Military Park-U.S.S. Cairo. Some rare items from the collection of the ALLM are a Greene bolt-action breech-loading rifle, Captain John Worden’s speaking trumpet and a collection of carte de visite photographs.

For additional information, see the press release at LMU’s website.

Welcome to the blog!

This site is a public outreach of the Abraham Lincoln Institute for the Study of Leadership and Public Policy at Lincoln Memorial University, which operates under the direction of Dr. Charles M. Hubbard.  We’ll be posting information about Abraham Lincoln and his era, updates about what’s going on at the Institute and at LMU, interviews with Lincoln and Civil War historians, guest posts by historians, and more.  We welcome you to subscribe to the blog by e-mail or to simply stop by on a regular basis.