Former names | Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia, Civil War Library and Museum |
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Established | 1888 |
Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US |
Coordinates | 39°56′48″N75°10′18″W / 39.946537°N 75.171799°W |
Type | History museum |
Collections | American Civil War artifacts and portraits |
Chairperson | Mark E. Bender |
Website | civilwarmuseumphila |
The Civil War Museum of Philadelphia (formerly the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia and previously the Civil War Library and Museum) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, claims to be the oldest chartered American Civil War institution in the United States. The museum was founded in 1888 by veteran U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps officers.
In 2008, the museum closed to the public in anticipation of a move to other quarters. In June 2016, the museum announced that ownership of its collection of about 3,000 artifacts would transfer to the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center, "the non-profit partner of the National Park Service at Gettysburg." [1] [2] Artifacts from the collection will continue to be displayed in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center. Books, archives, and other two-dimensional material will continue to be owned by the Civil War Museum and are available to researchers at the Heritage Center of the Union League of Philadelphia. [1]
While closed, the collection was stored at the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center, where material from the collection was displayed from 2013 to 2015.
On August 7, 2007, the museum announced that it would relocate from 1805 Pine Street near Rittenhouse Square to the former First Bank of the United States building near Independence Hall. Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street presented the museum with a check for $1.2 million to assist in its relocation. [3] On August 2, 2008, the Pine Street location permanently closed and the museum planned to reopen in its new location in 2011. [4] [5]
In 2009, Governor Ed Rendell canceled the state's portion of the funding needed to relocate the museum, prompting the National Park Service to withdraw its offer to use the First Bank building. [6]
The museum displayed the mounted head of "Old Baldy", the horse that was ridden by U.S. Major General George G. Meade during most of the Civil War. Old Baldy's head was mounted in 1882 and restored in 1991. In 2010, it was returned to its owner, the Grand Army of the Republic Museum and Library in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, which had loaned it to the museum in 1979. [7] [8]
In addition to a large portrait and artifacts associated with General Meade, the museum's collection included personal items from other U.S. generals, including Ulysses S. Grant, John F. Reynolds, and George B. McClellan.
The collection also included a large number of military escutcheons, which were made in the United States from the end of the Civil War until about 1907. They resembled a coat of arms and depicted the military record of a veteran. Usually commissioned by the veteran or his family to memorialize his service, they were produced by an artist using chromolithography.
The museum had items pertaining to Abraham Lincoln, including a cast of his hands, a lock of hair, and a death mask.
The Battle of Gettysburg was a three-day battle in the American Civil War fought between Union and Confederate forces between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, which was won by the Union, is widely considered the Civil War's turning point, ending the Confederacy's aspirations to establish an independent nation. It was the Civil War's bloodiest battle, claiming over 50,000 combined casualties over three days.
Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Defense Courier Service, Defense Information Systems Agency headquarters, and the U.S. Navy's Cryptologic Warfare Group Six. It is named for George G. Meade, a Union general from the U.S. Civil War, who served as commander of the Army of the Potomac. The fort's smaller census-designated place includes support facilities such as schools, housing, and the offices of the Military Intelligence Civilian Excepted Career Program (MICECP).
George Gordon Meade was a United States Army Major General who commanded the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War from 1863 to 1865. He fought in many of the key battles of the Eastern theater and defeated the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Daniel Edgar Sickles was an American politician, soldier, and diplomat.
The Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum was a Civil War museum located in Atlanta, Georgia. Its most noted attraction was the Atlanta Cyclorama, a cylindrical panoramic painting of the Battle of Atlanta. As of December 2021, the Cyclorama is located at the Atlanta History Center, while the building is now Zoo Atlanta's Savanna Hall.
The National Civil War Museum, located at One Lincoln Circle at Reservoir Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is a private 501c(3) nonprofit promoting the preservation of material culture and sources of information that are directly relevant to the American Civil War and the postwar period as related to veterans' service organizations, including the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Confederate Veterans. The museum serves as the National Headquarters for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW).
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a railroad museum in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Old Baldy was the horse ridden by Union Major General George G. Meade at the Battle of Gettysburg and in many other important battles of the American Civil War.
The African American Museum in Philadelphia (AAMP) is notable as the first museum funded and built by a municipality to help preserve, interpret and exhibit the heritage of African Americans. Opened during the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations, the AAMP is located in historic Philadelphia on Arch Street, a few blocks away from the Liberty Bell. It was formerly known as the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum.
During the American Civil War, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania played a critical role in the Union, providing a substantial supply of military personnel, equipment, and leadership to the Federal government. The state raised over 360,000 soldiers for the Federal armies. It served as a significant source of artillery guns, small arms, ammunition, armor for the new revolutionary style of ironclad types of gunboats for the rapidly expanding United States Navy, and food supplies. The Phoenixville Iron Company by itself produced well over 1,000 cannons, and the Frankford Arsenal was a major supply depot.
The Battle of Gettysburg, also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama, is a cyclorama painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett's Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. After being commissioned by Chicago investors, Philippoteaux studied the battlefield and interviewed participants, completing the cyclorama in 1883. A Boston version of the cyclorama was later made, as well as two other major copies. After being displayed in several other locations in whole and in part, the Boston version was taken to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and was displayed there beginning in the 1910s. In 1942, it was purchased by the National Park Service. The cyclorama has been restored multiple times and is on display at Gettysburg National Military Park.
The Independence Seaport Museum was founded in 1961 and is located in the Penn's Landing complex along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The collections at the Independence Seaport Museum document maritime history and culture along the Delaware River. At the museum are two National Historic Landmark ships and the J. Welles Henderson Archives and Library.
During the American Civil War, Philadelphia was an important source of troops, money, weapons, medical care, and supplies for the Union.
George Gordon Meade Easby, also known as Meade or Mr. Easby an American artist, actor and film producer. He also served as an employee of the U.S. State Department for over twenty-five years and as a talk host on an AM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Easby was the great-grandson of General George Meade, victor of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg against Robert E. Lee, and a descendant of seven signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Easby's mother was a descendant of Nicholas Waln, who came to Philadelphia in 1682 aboard the ship Welcome with William Penn, and was later given the section of the city now known as Frankford.
The 1913 Gettysburg reunion was a Gettysburg Battlefield encampment of American Civil War veterans for the Battle of Gettysburg's 50th anniversary. The June 29 – July 4 gathering of 53,407 veterans was the largest Civil War veteran reunion. All honorably-discharged veterans in the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Confederate Veterans were invited, and veterans from 46 of the 48 states attended.
Don Troiani is an American painter whose work focuses on his native country's military heritage, mostly from the American Revolution, War of 1812 and American Civil War. His highly realistic and historically accurate oil and watercolor works are most well known in the form of marketed mass-produced printed limited-edition reproductions, illustrated books, book compilations, museum and government collections. He is also a militaria collector.
The George Gordon Meade Memorial, also known as the Meade Memorial or Major General George Gordon Meade, is a public artwork in Washington, D.C. honoring George Meade, a career military officer from Pennsylvania who is best known for defeating General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg. The monument is sited on the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW in front of the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse. It was originally located at Union Square, but was removed and placed in storage for fourteen years before being installed at its current location. The statue was sculpted by Charles Grafly, an educator and founder of the National Sculpture Society, and was a gift from the state of Pennsylvania. Prominent attendees at the dedication ceremony in 1927 included President Calvin Coolidge, Governor John Stuchell Fisher, Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon, and Senator Simeon D. Fess.
The Gettysburg National Museum was a Gettysburg Battlefield visitor attraction on the south border of the Gettysburg borough. Established by George D. Rosensteel after working at his uncle's 1888 Round Top Museum, the facility had an interpretive Battle of Gettysburg map using incandescent lights and was acquired by the National Park Service for use as the 1974–2008 Gettysburg National Military Park museum and visitor center after the Cyclorama Building at Gettysburg and before the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center.
Major General George Gordon Meade is an equestrian statue that stands in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The statue, which was unveiled in 1887, was designed by sculptor Alexander Milne Calder and honors George Meade, who had served as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was later a commissioner for the park. The statue is one of two statues of Meade at Fairmount, with the other one being a part of the Smith Memorial Arch.