Latest Posts
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…
Civil War Bluejackets Conference Report
Civil War Bluejackets held a successful project conference January 30-February 1 at the Fluegel US Naval Academy Alumni Center in Annapolis, Maryland. Over fifty people attended presenting research and discussing the roles of common sailors across the world from the 1780s to the 1920s. The Bluejackets team also, for the first time, showcased a demo…
Press Release: Groundbreaking Research Using AI to Explore American Civil War History
We have a new Civil War Bluejackets Press Release that highlights some of the groundbreaking work that everyone who has supported and contributed to the project has helped to realise. You can read the Press Release in full below, and also on the Northumbria University website here and Newsroom here. Northumbria Contributes to Groundbreaking Research…
Civil War Bluejackets Conference Programme
We are excited to be heading to Annapolis for the Civil War Bluejackets Conference, The Common Navy Sailor in the Long Nineteenth Century, taking place from January 30-February 1 next. The conference will share the work of Civil War Bluejackets and showcase some of the leading American and international research currently being undertaken by scholars…
Civil War Bluejackets Features in Muster
We were very pleased that a piece we recently prepared on the project has been published in Muster, the digital blog of The Journal of the Civil War Era. Entitled “Civil War Bluejackets: Citizen Science, Machine Learning, and the US Navy Common Sailor” we explore both some of our aims with the project and some…
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…
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…
Civil War Bluejackets Visit The Mississippi
Sharing both the findings and the methodologies of the Civil War Bluejackets Project on an ongoing basis is a major goal of our work. To that end, we have just completed a series of talks, together with some research during a whirlwind few days along the Mississippi River. ‘Ol Man River plays an important role…
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…
Civil War Bluejackets Moving to Phase 2!
We have major (and exciting!) news to share with our Bluejackets Zooniverse Community. The data our Zooniverse volunteers has collected so far has paid enormous dividends, and is now allowing us to move into Phase 2 of the project. The transcriptions have now successfully trained our computer model to digitally read the wartime muster sheets—a…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
Ratings Focus: “Ordinary Seamen” & “Seamen”
Our last Ratings Focus post looked at the lowest adult rank on board Civil War vessels, that of “Landsman” (you can read that here). For this installment, we are taking a look at the backgrounds, roles and responsibilities of Ordinary Seamen and Seamen, vital positions within wartime crews, and ones that indicated a sailor who…
Bluejacket Image Focus: The Faces of Wartime U.S. Sailors at Baton Rouge
Among the many excellent naval images held by the Library of Congress is a Stereograph view (here) that depicts Union bluejackets in the act of resupplying their vessels at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It originally appeared in Volume 1 of the Photographic History of the Civil War, along with another image of a Baton Rouge coaling…
Touring the Flagships of the Civil War U.S. Navy – In Letterheads…
Things have been a bit quiet on the Bluejackets blog of late as we were away in the Archives, seeking out historical detail to compliment the work being undertaken by our Citizen Science community over on Zooniverse. While there we uncovered lots of fantastic information that will help us add further context to what you…
Video: Machine Learning & Your Transcriptions
Have you been wondering why we are asking our Zooniverse Citizen Scientists to draw boxes around Muster Roll transcriptions? To answer that question- and to give you an insight into the exciting machine learning software we are developing as part of Civil War Bluejackets- team member Dr Morgan Harvey explains all in our new video!
Video: Civil War Bluejackets at The American Civil War Museum
Not long ago Bluejackets team member Professor Wayne Hsieh discussed the Civil War Bluejackets Project in a talk for the American Civil War Museum. Wayne’s talk is a great introduction to what we are doing and what we hope the results will be. It is now available on YouTube, so if you would like to…
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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The Civil War Bluejackets Project 