Bryan S. Bush

My Dear Fellow Citizens:

This Saturday on November 7, plans to be a busy day for me. I will be at the Hardin Co. Library in Elizabethtown, Kentucky discussing Louisville During the Civil War at 1 Pm, and then I will be heading to the Frazier International History Museum at 3 Pm to also give a lecture on Louisville During the Civil War, but the Frazier Museum is also having a Civil War artifacts workshop. Several of the items from their collection will be on display for the general public to see upclose. I have asked that George Prentice’s Henry Rifle be put on display. This is a rare opportunity and I encourage everyone to come out to the Frazier Museum. They are also having a fantastic exhibit on local heroes from WW II. So come out and have some fun.

My Dear Fellow Readers:
This past Sunday I had a fantastic time at the J. B. Speed Art Museum. I arrived at the museum at 12 am on Sunday in order to be able to check out the new exhibit Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln. If you have not seen the exhibit, I highly recommended it. They have some very rare artifacts, such as Abraham Lincoln’s solid gold pocket watch made by Tiffany’s, his walking stick, his life face mask, a silk ribbon from his coffin. They also have artifacts from Mary Todd Lincoln, Thomas Lincoln, and Robert Todd. They also have artifacts from Col. Frank Wolford, Confederate General Ben Hardin Helm, James Speed, Joshua Speed, and many other Kentucky related artifacts from the Civil War. They also mentioned General Stephen Gano Burbridge! It was nice to see how the exhibit tied together information from my two books on Burbridge and Lincoln and the Speeds.
As for the lecture, I had a good turn out and many of the folks afterwards asked quite alot of good questions. I would like to personally thank Megan Robertson and hope to work with the Speed Museum in the near future again.

My Dear Fellow Readers:

I encourage everyone to attend my speech on Lincoln and the Speeds on Sunday July 12, at 2 PM at the J. B. Speed Art Museum. The lecture coincides with their new exhibit on Abraham Lincoln entitled: Beyond the Log Cabin: Kentucky’s Abraham Lincoln, which covers the topics of The Frontier World of Abraham Lincoln,The Lexington World of Young Mary Ann Todd, Lincoln’s Rise, Lincoln and Kentucky at War, Remembering Lincoln Then and Now. Give yourself plenty of time to listen to my lecture and visit the new display on Lincoln. I look forward to meeting everyone.

My Dear Fellow Readers:

For the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the Carnegie Museum, under the direction of Sallie Newkirk, and Pam Peters with the Floyd County Historical Society Museum have asked me to be involved in a new exhibit on New Albany’s role during the Civil War. New Albany alone recruited three regiments: The 38th Indiana, the 23rd Indiana, and the 66th Indiana. Several generals came out of these regiments, including Benjamin Scribner, Daniel Griffin, Walter Q. Gresham, just to name a few. Pam Peters and I are coordinating facts. Amazingly there were many contrabands I did not know about who served in these regiments and I am learning more about the underground railroad. This should be a fun project and I am looking forward to working with Pam and Sallie.

Guided Tour: Civil War Museum of the Western Theatre is now available on DVD and is for sale in Bryan’s store.

Here’s the description from the store page:

Historian Bryan S. Bush gives you a virtual tour of the Civil War Battles of the Western Theater Museum in Bardstown, Kentucky. He will take you through the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Perryville, Stones River, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, the Atlanta Campaign, and fall of Atlanta. Mr. Bush will introduce you to the artifacts worn by leaders in the Cavalry, Navy, Infantry, and Artillery, such as General John Hunt Morgan, Simon B. Buckner, Benjamin Hardin Helm, William Woodruff, and many others. Mr. Bush will also cover the medical corps and military bands during the Civil War. So come take an adventure through the Civil War of the Western Theater.

My Dear Fellow Readers:

I just got back from the Frazier International History Museum and checked out their new exhibit on the Civil War entitled: Liberty on the Border. The display was actually developed several years ago by the Cincinatti History Complex. The original display had artifacts from the Ohio Historical Society, the Kentucky Historical Society Museum, the Filson Club Historical Society and the Museum of the Confederacy. The new display is very light on historical artifacts, which I offered to the help the museum with the artifacts several months ago, but was turned down. The display does a excellent job covering the pre-war years and the problem both Ohio and Kentucky faced with the issue of slavery, emancipators, and abolitionists in Kentucky and Ohio. The display also covers the war years, the aftermath, and the legacy of the Civil War.  According to the brochure, the display covers three major areas-Liberty Denied, Liberty’s Trial: The War Years and Liberty’s Legacy. There are many hands on exhibits, including a debate as to whether a fellow Kentuckian should join Union General Lovell Rousseau’s Union 5th Ky or join the Kentucky Confederates, Lincoln’s election results, Lincoln’s precarious position on how to handle Kentucky in 1860, Camp Nelson, and songs of the era. Other subjects included General Stephen Gano Burbridge and his order Number 59, which is near and dear to my heart, how Hollywood has covered the war, such as Birth of A Nation, Gone with the Wind, Roots, and Glory. The exhibit also covers GAR and UCV, problems with the 13th and 15th Amendment, and many other subjects, related to racism and the romanticism of the war. This is a well covered display and MUST be seen by any lover of the Civil War and Reconstruction, but I might add that NONE of my books are for sale, including Lincoln and the Speeds, and Butcher Burbridge, which is appalling considering Burbridge is directly covered in the display!  But don’t let my spilled milk get in the way of seeing this display. I might add that the attendance was very light and I was only the only Civil War soldier present in full uniform. There were no historical presenters for the night. Tony Dingman, of the Frazier museum, does an excellent Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, but he was not present. They did have one performer and he was very good, but I felt sorry for him considering he had to sing for almost two hours. There were no programs for this event as in past events. I missed the historical presenters, bring them back for these events.

On August 22, at 5:15 Pm I will be signing my two new books on Lincoln and the Speeds and Union General Stephen Gano Burbridge. I will also be unveiling my newest DVD on the tour of the Civil War Museum in Bardstown, Kentucky. The museum is 10,000 square feet and has been ranked the 4th best Civil War museum in the United States. If you have not been I highly recommend the museum. The artifacts alone will knock your socks off. The entire cast of the Broadway Play “The Civil War” will also be at the museum to kick off their play at the Stephen Foster Amphitheater. This looks like a fun event and the museum is open to the public. Hope to see everyone there.

In about two or three weeks I should have a new dvd on my web site. The dvd will have me as your tour guide of the Civil War Museum in Bardstown, Kentucky. The tour will cover the 12 major battles of the Western Theater, cavalry, infantry, artillery, navy, medical and bands. I will highlight many key artifacts from the Civil War museum. The dvd will have battle maps, music, sounds effects. The DVD should be an assest to anyone’s Civil War library. Keep watching my site for further details.

The Borders event has been confirmed for Friday, April 4 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at the store located at Fourth Street Live! in downtown Louisville. Bryan will be signing his new book Lincoln and the Speeds. See Bryan’s Upcoming Appearances page for this listing, in addition to other upcoming events.

Also, Bryan has worked out a deal with Wide Awake Films to sell the new documentary The Battle of Perryville in his online store. The price of the DVD is $24.95.

On that note, Bryan has recently finished shooting a DVD tour of the Civil War Museum of the Western Theater in Bardstown, Kentucky (I’ll ask Bryan to talk more about it here soon). This will also become available for sale in Bryan’s store once post-production is complete.

Dear fellow readers: I just returned from the Frazier museum to view the new exhibit on Lincoln in the Kentucky Historical Society History Mobile exhibit. I have visited the History mobile in the past and really admired their exhibit on Lewis & Clark, and Kentucky During the Civil War. I must admit that this time I must admit that the exhibit lacked Lincoln artifacts and had very few display cases. The exhibit traces Lincoln’s early life in Kentucky, Emancipation, and the views Kentuckians had of Lincoln during 1863 and 1864. I really like the first person narratives from Thomas Bramlette, Hodge, and other Kentuckians on their views about Lincoln. From my standpoint I was glad to see them mention Lincoln’s friendship with Joshua Speed and General Stephen Gano Burbridge’s rule in Kentucky. They had a LCD TV playing images of the the White House in 1864, and Hodgenville, but I must admit, the TV could have been utilized better with a documentary on Lincoln and Kentucky. I also would have like to see some Lincoln artifacts or artifacts connected to Lincoln through other Kentukians. I still recommend Kentuckians to see the exhibit. I am very much looking forward to seeing the documentary on KET on Saturday.