Dispatches From the Civil War April 5, 2007

'Carry Me Home: Dispatches from the Civil War,' will explore the ways in which those in the field recorded their experiences, shared information among themselves, and conveyed details back to those on the home front. Throughout the Civil War, soldiers, prisoners and hospital workers documented their experiences by writing letters, keeping diaries and drawing pictures. Their primary audience was family and friends but their outpourings were also attempts to come to grips with what they experienced and, at least in a few cases, conscious efforts to chronicle details for future generations. They were joined in the field by newspapermen, illustrators and photographers, many of whom were assigned to specific units and traveled with the troops, the first generation of 'embedded' journalists. Highlights of the exhibition, which will feature letters, diaries, sketchbooks, drawings, prints, photographs, newspapers, broadsides, song sheets and posters, all produced between 1861 and 1865.