The Real McCoy
When you’re working with Civil War pension files at the National Archives, you never really know what you’re going to get. A soldier’s file could be a few pages or a few hundred. It could include a simple rejection or repeated special investigations. If you’re lucky, it might include something like a photograph or an original marriage certificate. I’ve looked at a lot of pension files over the years and know to expect the unexpected, but nothing could have prepared me for Lewis McCoy. As this photo shows, it was a monster.
The Only Thing You Can Do Is Refuse To Forget
Guest post by Kathleen M. O'Brien
When I was about 12 years old, my father pulled an old magazine out of a closet and showed it to me. He explained that an article in there described something awful, but it was true and was something I should know about. This was my introduction to an atrocity.
Occupation: Legislator
I'm running behind on blog posts because I spent the last several weeks in Washington. DC. working in the National Archives on a project related to the 66th U.S. Colored Infantry (USCI) regiment. In (belated) honor of Black History Month, I’d like to share the stories of two of the enlisted men who served in this regiment during the Civil War.
The First English Settlers in New England
Until recently, if you had asked me what colony was established by the English in North America in 1607, I would have said Jamestown, and I would have been right, but only partially. In fact, there were two colonies established by the English in North America in 1607. Jamestown, established in May 1607 on the James River in Virginia, was one; the other was the Popham Colony, established in August 1607 at the mouth of the Kennebec River, north of what is now Portland, Maine.