Some Stains Will Never Come Out

Detective Lt. Nicholas A. Paonessa is using a high-tech forensic tool called the Rofin Polilight PL500 to prove that a farm in Pennsylvania was used as a field hospital after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

Records show that farmer Daniel Lady and his family returned to a home filled with wounded soldiers and bodies.

Paonessa's investigation is confirming that story. In the darkened parlor, on his second trip to the farm since September, Paonessa pointed the bright blue light at a vaguely human outline on the wood floor. The shape became a distinct form, from head to knees, of a small-framed man. Four spots by a baseboard were revealed as being the fingerprints of a person sitting against the wall.

Theoretically, Paonessa said, old blood could reveal the victim's identity. Identification would require a well-preserved blood sample -- from between floorboards, for instance -- and a known descendant for comparison. [Link]

Elvis Gets a Gettysburg Address

Barbara Lee Rowe, a fourth cousin of Elvis Presley, has opened a store called "Kin of Rock and Roll" in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (here's the website). Her aim is to commemorate Presley relatives who served in the rebel army, and to sell some "decorative plates, candle holders and T-Shirts."

In a black binder with shiny silver text saying "Elvis' Family," Rowe has pages and pages of enlisted Presley kin from the Civil War. But she's proven Elvis' connection to only some of them, like Darlin Presley of the 26th North Carolina, who fought in Pickett's Charge and was taken prisoner. He later died at Point Lookout Prison in Maryland.

Horton Presley, of the 55th North Carolina infantry also served at Gettysburg and is related to Elvis.

"Confederate Americans are Americans too," Rowe said. "He knew he had Confederate ancestors and he was proud of it. But he was also proud to be an American. He would have put it in the proper perspective." [Link]

Photo Credits: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.00865, http://www.worldwideelvis.com/37-7800u.s.display.jpg

Lincoln, Grant & Lee: The Reunion Tour

From the Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Times Leader of Sept. 8, 2005:

Slots suppliers, Gettysburg opponents on tap for gambling board

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Grant, Lee and Lincoln were up in arms at the State Capitol on Thursday morning, but this time they weren't fighting over slavery or states' rights. Instead, their enemy was a slots casino near Gettysburg National Military Park.

Three "living historians" who portray the Civil War giants appeared with four other costumed protesters at a news conference organized by Adams County Rep. Stephen R. Maitland and No Casino Gettysburg, a nonprofit group opposed to the gambling proposal.

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[Read the whole story]

Woman Touches Leg of Civil War Veteran

From MyrtleBeachOnline.com of June 25, 2005:

Civil War soldier's wooden leg is prized possession at museum

LINDA MCNATT

Associated Press

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. - Slowly, carefully, Christine Brooks Young slipped her fingers into the white cotton gloves and pulled the protective covering over her hands.

Hesitantly, her hand moved to the dark, aged wood lying on the table at the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City.

Seemingly reaching across the generations, Young touched the artificial leg of Isaac Byrum Jr., her great-grandfather.

"It just makes me very proud, after hearing what he accomplished," said Young, a Suffolk resident who started researching her family history recently and found out about the leg.

"I remember, early on in my life, hearing about a relative who had served in the Civil War."

Byrum, a hardworking farmer from eastern North Carolina, lost his left leg in the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloody exchange that many consider the turning point of the war.

Fitted with a wooden leg at a Richmond hospital once he was released from a Union prison camp, the 24-year-old Byrum walked home and resumed his life. He would clear 55 acres of farmland, marry and have several children.

And, when the first wooden leg wore out, he carved two more - one for everyday use and one for church. In 1916, Byrum was buried in his "good" leg, said Don Pendergraft, museum exhibits chief.

"It really does have its own aura, doesn't it?"

[snip]

Young, a Suffolk businesswoman and wife of a local lawyer, said she thought little about her ancestry when she was younger. But, as she got older, she said, it became more important.

Once she became a grandmother, she wanted to know more about her own family history so she could pass it on to her granddaughter.

She learned about the leg when a cousin, who still lives in North Carolina, stopped by her office one afternoon and announced: "Your great-grandfather's leg is in the Albemarle Museum."

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[Read the whole story]