Trivia Advent Calendar

[Eva Elisabeth]

What do you guess is #11?
   

[RJNorton]

A piece of a fence rail split by Abraham Lincoln himself?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, Roger!!!! It's on display at the Smithsonian.

The exhibit said: "This fence-rail piece is one of the many souvenirs made made for friends and political supporters of presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. This particular piece is attributed to Lincoln's cousin and rail-splitting partner, John Hanks. It was sold by another cousin, Dennis F. Hanks, at the Northwest Soldiers' Home Fair at Chicago in May 1865 for the charitable relief and care of soldiers. The fair opened a little more than a month after Lincoln's assassination in April 1865. Dennis Hanks wrote the label for each fence for his illiterate cousin John Hanks, who added his X as an affidavit."

Some more info is here: http://americanhistory.si.edu/lincoln/railsplitter
       

[Eva Elisabeth]

Well, it's the 12th here, so here's #12. I'm sorry it's another very small one so will only appear after logging on:

  W.12.jpg (Size: 1.14 KB / Downloads: 24)
Guess what?

[Dave Taylor]

Whatever it is, it is very tiny. Any chance you could make it bigger, Eva?

[Eva Elisabeth]

I think two helpful distinct features are still visible. However, here's a bigger cutting:
   

[Dave Taylor]

I know it's late at night where you are Eva and that I'm clearly fishing for clues, but does this object have anything to do with the assassination of Lincoln? If so I will delve more deeply into it otherwise I'll let the real Lincoln experts take over.

[Eva Elisabeth]

This very specimen has first of all to do with the CW.

[Dave Taylor]

Oh goodie, you put up another picture. It looks like it could be part of a gun boat.

[STS Lincolnite]

I agree with Dave. Is it the USS Montauk?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Excellent guesses, Dave and Scott, and quite close. It's not the USS Montauk, Scott. This is the USS Montauk (on the left*):
   
So, what is #12?

*[Precisely: USS Montauk (1862-1904) - at left, and USS Lehigh (1863-1904) - at right.Laid up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, circa late 1902 or early 1903.]

[Dave Taylor]

The USS Monitor?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Very good, Dave! This is correct.
   
The description reads: "View on deck looking forward on the starboard side, while the ship was in the James River, Virginia, 9 July 1862. The turret, with the muzzle of one of Monitor's two XI-inch Dahlgren smoothbore guns showing, is at left. Note dents in turret armor from hits by Confederate heavy guns and crewmembers atop the turret.
Officers at right are (left to right): Third Assistant Engineer Robinson W. Hands, Acting Master Louis N. Stodder, Second Assistant Engineer Albert B. Campbell (seated) and Acting Volunteer Lieutenant William Flye (with binoculars)."

This and more pictures are here:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-us...onitor.htm
...and here's another interesting website (via which I found the photos):
http://users.wowway.com/~jenkins/ironclads/ironclad.htm

[Gene C]

When you started this thread I wasn't sure what to expect, but I've enjoyed it, keep up the good work!

[RJNorton]

I second Gene, Eva. This has been a wonderful addition to the forum. Kudos to you!