Latest Posts
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…
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…
Transcription Tuesday is Here! (And So Are Some New Vessels…)
The Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine Transcription Tuesday event has arrived! We are delighted to welcome today’s transcribers to our maritime community! To mark the occasion, we have added some new vessels to those currently available for transcription. Up to know, the ship’s musters we have been working on were all related to…
Ratings Focus: Landsmen
Our new “Ratings Focus” series takes a look at the different ratings you are encountering on the American Civil War Muster Rolls. The aim of these posts is to explain the roles and responsibilities of men who held a particular rating, and how that may have changed during the conflict. To start, we are taking…
Join Civil War Bluejackets on Transcription Tuesday, 31 January 2023!
Every year, Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine holds a major online transcription event entitled “Transcription Tuesday.” It calls on those interested in family and social history to support a number of not-for-profit transcription projects by transcribing some of their available documents (read more about Transcription Tuesday here). This year is the seventh annual…
“My Shirt Took Fire Burning Me Terribly”: USS Juniata Sailors Recount their Fort Fisher Injuries
Service in the Civil War Navy brought with it a much reduced risk of injury or death when compared to the army- but it was far from safe. Sailors consistently faced risks such as disease, shipboard accidents and drowning during their time as Bluejackets. Inevitably, casualties also occurred in combat. For those who recovered, the…
Bluejacket Community Discoveries: The Seaman Born at Sea
There is no doubt that the Civil War Bluejackets “Where Born” Workflow on Zooniverse offers some of the most compelling detail about our sailors. The entries in that column lay bare the wide range of ethnicities that could be present on a single vessel, each of them contributing something different to the onboard community. Occasionally…
Finding Finns: Revealing the Untold Story of Finnish Mariners in the American Civil War
With the help of our Citizen Scientists, Civil War Bluejackets is setting out to reveal new insights into the life of the common U.S. sailor during the American Civil War. The project blog has already examined the experiences of some African American, Irish, British and native-born white American sailors- representatives of the groups who made…
Civil War Bluejackets Workshop: The Irish Experience
Last week we joined the Irish American Heritage Museum in Albany for our latest Bluejackets workshop. As well as explaining what the project is about and demonstrating how volunteers can use Zooniverse, the talk also explored what naval records can tell us about Irish immigrants- and shared some of their stories. The talk is now…
Celebrating Thanksgiving on a Union Monitor
As Thanksgiving approaches, we wanted to take a look at how U.S. sailors during the American Civil War celebrated the holiday. Thanksgiving was an important day for immigrants as well as for native-born Americans during the Civil War, as it provided them with an opportunity to embrace one of the flagship dates in their new…
Bluejacket Community Discoveries: Surviving Sabine Pass- Deception & Deceit in the Life of a U.S. Sailor
Our latest Bluejackets Discoveries post comes courtesy of our Zooniverse community member @dona79. While working on transcribing details from a Muster Sheet of USS Arizona, @dona79 noted that four of the men had the following entry recorded beside them: “escaped from U.S. Gunboat Sachem and transferred to U.S.S. Portsmouth”. What was the story behind these…
Bluejacket Community Discoveries: The African American Crew of USS Albermarle
Our latest Zooniverse Community Discoveries post is based on identifications made by Community member @bmp77, who noted that the entire crew on one muster sheet was marked as “negro”. @bmp77 identified that the ship in question was USS Albermarle, and the sheet was dated to June of 1865. We decided to take a closer “visual”…
Sheets from the Fleet: Tattoos & Scars Aboard USS Acacia
In our second instalment of the Sheets from the Fleet series, which explores a random sheet from the Civil War Bluejackets Project, we are looking at entries aboard USS Acacia from the closing days of the war, on 1st April 1865. The Acacia was a steam-powered tugboat that entered U.S. service in late 1863. The…
Research Update: A First Look at Civil War Sailor’s Occupations
Thanks to everyone who is working so hard to complete classifications on Civil War Bluejackets. It is still very early days, but our Information Science team have begun to have a look at some of the early data coming in from your efforts on “A” vessel muster sheets. Ultimately, we are hoping that we will…
Bluejacket Community Discoveries: “Property Of…”
Our latest Community Discoveries post- showcasing information spotted by our Zooniverse Citizen Scientists- relates to detail uncovered by community members @Okapi24 and @monkalie. While working on a muster from the USS Alfred Robb, taken on 30th June 1864, they identified something interesting about the first two men listed- instead of providing nativity information under the…
Bluejacket Community Discoveries: What’s in a Name? The Case of “Burden Portsmouth”
On our Zooniverse Talk forums, one of our community members- A Panther Incensed (@chocloteer) -alerted us to a particularly unusual name encountered on one of the muster sheets. @chocloteer noted the following: “The 12th person listed is named ‘Portsmouth, Burden’. He transferred from Portsmouth.” It seemed a little odd that someone who transferred from “Portsmouth”…
PRESS RELEASE: MAJOR NEW PROJECT TO REVEAL NEW INSIGHTS INTO 19TH CENTURY SAILORS IN THE U.S. NAVY
A new project will help tell the stories of sailors in the American Civil War in ways never before possible. The “Civil War Bluejackets” Project—so named because of the distinctive uniform worn by U.S. Civil War sailors—is a collaboration between historians at the Northumbria University, information and data scientists at the University of Sheffield and…
Volunteer for Civil War Bluejackets Beta Testing!
We are moving closer and closer to the full launch of the transcription phase of Civil War Bluejackets, where we will be seeking Citizen Scientists to assist us in transcribing all the Civil War Muster Rolls of the U.S. Navy on the Zooniverse platform. We have just entered the Beta Testing phase on Zooniverse, where…
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The Civil War Bluejackets Project 