Civil War Oddities

You might think you know all about the Civil War, but what you don’t know might surprise you.

Historian Chris Hart came out to the John McIntire Library today to share some lesser known Civil War tales with our community. We had the chance to catch up with him and learn a little bit about our shared history.

“Civil War oddities. There’s all kinds of different stories that exist out there about the war. Some we’ve heard of, some we haven’t. But I got interested a little bit and I thought lets put some things together, like people who traded sides, stories of people who lost their limbs, like Stonewall Jackson, they amputated his arm and buried it completely separate from him in a marked grave, very unusual. One of my favorites, the Colonel who actually preformed surgery on himself. So there’s all kinds of fascinating little stories that I thought “well I like them, maybe somebody else would like them as well”.”

Hart works as an historic re-enacter and program developer at Roscoe Village. He also portrays many literary characters as well as other persons from history such as Titanic survivors. Hart was enthused to tell us that he plans to return to Zanesville to play one of our most historic residents.

“I’m very excited about the fact that I will be returning to Zanesville area in September and October, I’m going to be doing Zane Grey the author in first person.”

To learn more about any upcoming events or just to brush up on your history lessons, visit the Muskingum County Library.