Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991 TAG: 9103070050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY ZINIE CHEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
As part of its centennial celebration, the Civil War museum is displaying personal belongings of Maj. Raleigh Spinks Camp, who fought with both the 7th Texas Infantry and the 40th Georgia Infantry. The display also includes letters he wrote home to his family during the war.
The artifacts and personal manuscripts from Camp's diary were lent to the museum by Camp's great-grandson, Thomas Towers of Goochland. Towers also donated money to restore a map Camp drew of the battle of Vicksburg, also on display at the museum, said museum registrar Malinda Collier.
The major's effects also include ambrotype photographs of Camp and Marlboro, his black manservant, both dressed in Confederate uniforms. Ambrotype was a popular 19th-century photographic process.
"There's photographic evidence Confederate soldiers brought manservants on active duty," said museum historian John Coski, adding that "manservant" was a nice way to say "slave" back in those days.
"Southerners used euphemisms for slaves, like `manservants,' and `my people,' except when announcing sales or ads about runaway slaves," Coski said.
Slaves were known to be combatants in battles, but only when directly fired upon by Northern guns.
"That was the exception to the rule, but it did happen," Coski said.
Camp was wounded in the Atlanta campaign but survived the war. He died in 1867 at age 38 after contracting meningitis.
Such personal items as Camp's have become popular among collectors, said museum spokesman Clay Dye.
"In part, it's because everyone can relate to the Civil War," Dye said. "So many people have a relative who was either a federal or Confederate soldier or a slave."
But the public doesn't get to view many objects because museums are often forced out of the market by private collectors who outbid them for the items.
The Museum of the Confederacy, which was founded in 1890 and opened to the public in 1896, has seen an increase in attendance since October, Coski said. The resurgence of interest in the Civil War came after PBS aired "The Civil War," a five-part series by Ken Burns.
Coski also attributed the rise in attendance to the slump in the economy, causing people to cut back on their travel.
"People want to stick close to home, especially when they can't afford to go to Europe," he said.
"The Civil War," along with movies such as "Glory," have helped business at Virginia's Civil War attractions, said David Zunker of the state Division of Tourism.
Attendance at Petersburg National Battlefield Park, for example, increased from October to December, said Bill Martin, director of Petersburg's Department of Tourism.
"It's by far the most popular subject in American history," Coski said, adding that war is always a source of interest.
"It could be the way history has been taught," Coski said. "[History] is periodized into wars, and is patriotic, nationalistic hubris, in a way."
by CNB