Elizabeth City, NC – Join the Museum of the Albemarle on Sunday, March 11 beginning at 1:00pm for “Isaac Byrum Day.” At the age of 21, Isaac Byrum a native of Chowan County, enlisted as a Private in Company M, 1st Regiment NC Infantry. However, his company was mustered out of service in November of 1861. Mr. Byrum re-enlisted as a Private in Company F, 11th Regiment NC Troops in February of 1862. He was wounded in the left leg and left for dead on the battlefield at Gettysburg in the summer of 1863. He was later found and his left leg was amputated. After the war, Mr. Byrum returned home to the farm in Ryland where he was raised and married for the second time raising ten children.
Beginning at 2:00 pm, Earl Rountree of Gates County will discuss the life of his Great Grandfather Isaac Byrum of Chowan County.
Visitors can view Mr. Byrum’s hand carved wooden leg in the “Our Story” exhibit. In the Museum’s newest exhibit “Under Both Flags: Civil War in the Albemarle” there is a life cast of Mr. Byrum based upon a photograph taken in the early 1900s.
At 3:00 pm, Ansley Wegner, North Carolina Office of Archives and History, will discuss and sign the book she authored, “Phantom Pain: North Carolina’s Artificial-Limbs Program for Confederate Veterans”
During the Civil War amputations constituted roughly 75 percent of all operations performed. Ms. Wegner’s book examines North Carolina’s extensive program to supply and fit its Confederate amputees with artificial arms and legs. The book surveys amputation’s place in Victorian medical science and the problems faced by disabled veterans as they returned to civilian life. Ms. Wegner compares North Carolina’s artificial limbs program with those of other former Confederate states, which placed North Carolina as one of the most progressive of the southern states in supporting its disabled and maimed Confederate veterans. After discussing the several types of artificial limbs patented by inventors during the Civil War and its aftermath, Wegner explains the response of recipients to their new limbs. While some of them adjusted to the prostheses, others suffered from residual problems associated with stumps that never healed properly. Many veterans reported phantom pain from the amputated region. “Phantom Pain” includes a useful index to records in the North Carolina State Archives related to Civil War amputees, artificial-limb recipients, and veterans who requested commutations because they were unable to use an artificial limb. The paperback volume is illustrated with pictures of surgical instruments, artificial limbs, and veterans with their prostheses.
Ms. Wegner will have available for viewing the leg of Samuel Clark of Granville County. The leg is an above the knee prosthetic made by Jewett’s Patent Leg Company and was purchased July 25, 1866. Mr. Clark was wounded at Chancellorsville, Virginia on May 3, 1863 and right leg was amputated. Mr. Clark retired to the Invalid Corps on April 23, 1864. He was nominated for the Badge of Distinction for gallantry at Chancellorsville.
For more information, please contact the Museum of the Albemarle at 252-335-1453.
This event is free to the public.
The Museum of the Albemarle is located at 501 S. Water Street, Elizabeth City, NC. (252)335-1453. www.museumofthealbemarle.com. Find us on Facebook! Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed Sundays, Mondays and State Holidays. Serving Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties, the museum is the northeast regional history museum of the North Carolina Division of State History Museums within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future. Information is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.