The so-called "Gettysburg Flag" in the Lora McMahon King Heritage Room at Union Adventist University has been a part of my life for over twenty years. When I arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the summer of 2003 to take the positions of library director and college archivist, this treasured possession was one of the first items library staff brought to my attention. The flag was a gift to the college in 1985 from Muriel Fleming O'Connor (1913-1996), an alumnus (class of 1934)

Fort Foote occupied what felt like a remote place four miles south of Alexandria and eight miles south of Washington, D.C. With no access by road and despite daily contact with the outside world when supplies were delivered by boat from Alexandria, a sense of isolation created boredom. After the 2nd Battalion of the Ninth New York Heavy Artillery had been there a while, perhaps on several occasions, some soldiers, including my great-great-grandfather David Stevenson on at lea

Fact checking family traditions can be pretty simple, especially when they are related to well-documented events.