Category: Citizen Scientist Discoveries
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Living with Hernias: Exploring One of the Most Common Pension Claims of Civil War Sailors
Anyone who works with Civil War pensions—particularly those of naval veterans—will have encountered men who suffered from hernias. In their applications, they usually blame lifting heavy materials or being struck by an object (but for more on that, read on). Though easily treated today, hernias were extremely debilitating in the 19th century, causing both severe
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Uncovering the Lives Behind a USS Wabash Guncrew
Last week the Civil War Bluejackets team at Northumbria were joined by aspiring historian Madeleine Egner, who came on board for a few days to find out more about the project and to undertake some historical research. Over the course of her short time with us, Madeleine carried out some really valuable work an insightful
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: On the Trail of “Thirty Ordinary Seamen from the Yard,” Fort Pickens, Florida, 1861. Part 2
A recent post (see here) brought you the first part of an examination conducted by our Zooniverse Moderators R. Roberts (@GROBSTER) and Robert Croke (@SandyCycler) into documents relating to the U.S. sailors who were present at the momentous events at Fort Pickens, Florida during the early days of the rising crisis in the United States
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: On the Trail of “Thirty Ordinary Seamen from the Yard,” Fort Pickens, Florida, 1861. Part 1
The Civil War Bluejackets Project has benefited greatly from the dedication and commitment of our two Zooniverse moderators, R. Roberts (@GROBSTER) and Robert Croke (@SandyCycler). Their efforts in guiding new users through the transcription process and their enthusiastic engagement with comments and queries on “Talk” are impressive enough, but both are also dedicated researchers of
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: An Update on the Search for Frank Branch, African American Child in the U.S. Navy
Our last post in the Community Discoveries series told the story of Frank Branch, an African American boy enslaved in Richmond, Virginia who escaped to enlist in the wartime U.S. Navy (you can read it here). The discovery came thanks to our ongoing partnership with the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, who have a team
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: On the Trail of an African American Child in the Union Navy
Recently Civil War Bluejackets and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society have been collaborating as part of our efforts to identify African American sailors on the muster sheets. A number of Society members have joined our Zooniverse community, where they are making invaluable contributions towards uncovering the stories of these men. One of them, @Grobster,
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: Mapping the Crew of USS Buckthorn
One of our Bluejacket Zooniverse Community members recently flagged a very interesting sheet with us from USS Buckthorn. The June 1864 muster is unusual for the level of detail it provides on the nativity of the small crew aboard, which extends not just to their state/country of birth, but also the specific locality they hailed
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: Army v Navy?
In our latest Citizen Science Discoveries post, we turn to a topic that, perhaps surprisingly, is one we discuss regularly on our Zooniverse Talk – soldiers. The U.S. Navy and the Army may have a famed rivalry (especially on the football field!) but our Citizen Scientists frequently encounter references to soldiers on our Civil War
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: Recovering the Last, Lost Crew of USS Annie
For our latest Bluejacket Community Discoveries post, we take a look at the only muster sheet that relates to the unfortunate U.S. schooner Annie. The sheet has been worked and commented on by a number of our Civil War Bluejackets Community, including @mermex, @Beth52 and @KaiserSnowse. The reason it has drawn particular attention is its
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: An International Navy
A number of our previous posts have examined the international aspects of the wartime U.S. Navy, demonstrating just how cosmopolitan ships’ crews could be (e.g. see here). Recently one of our Zooniverse Community members @KaiserSnowse has been keeping an eagle-eye out for interesting nativities among the muster rolls, identifying a range of examples that serve
The Civil War Bluejackets Project 