A Thank You...I will be back!

I want to thank everyone that supports this blog. It has been an amazing year couple years since I started this endeavor, and I continually receive positive feedback about this site and the models that it showcases.

I have not updated for a while because I have focused my attention on other important projects like my family and work life. This site is not going away! Although I have not been posting frequently, I wanted to let you know that I am still here making or finding great models to show where history took place. I have big plans for this site, its content, and other methods of  how we can use Google Earth and Sketchup to educate people about the American Civil War and its various locations. So please stay tuned!

One of the big plans that I am working on right now is a huge Google Earth .kmz file about the 150th Anniverasy of the Battle of Antietam. This file will mirror my "Battle of Fort Sumter" file. It will be filled with old and new battle maps, geo-located photos, 3D models, and links to a variety of media. It will be released in September 2012.

Again, Thank you for all the articles (Google Earth Blog, Free Tech 4 Teachers Blog ), the follows (here on my blog, twitter and, facebook), and sharing that has occurred about this site. See you soon! In the mean time, if you have an opportunity.....

Battle of Fort Sumter

To commemorate the start of the Civil War on this 150th anniversary I have created a Google Earth file of the Battle of Fort Sumter



This file contains:

• 3D version of Fort Sumter before it was attacked
• 3D version of the Floating Battery of Charleston that was used to fire on Fort Sumter
• Historical map overlays of the locations of various Confederate Batteries that fired on Fort Sumter.
• These maps come from Library of Congress and the National Archives 
• Geo-located Civil War Era photos of the damage Fort Sumter endured and the locations of the Confederate batteries. These photos also come from Library of Congress and the National Archives
• Twitter Feeds of the Washington Post's twitter campaign of the Civil War
• Links to Qwiki and Wikipedia articles and media about the Battle and various locations

Created by Darian Robbins of 3D Serves U (www.3dservesu.com). See it here in Google Earth here

If you just want to see Fort Sumter only. See it in Google Earth here

Secession Hall

This a model of Secession Hall in Charlestown, SC. 150 years ago today, "the Convention met in St. Andrews Hall on Broad Street an adopted the Ordinance of Secession on roll call vote. On the question being put, "Will the Convention adopt the Ordinance?" it passed in the affirmative. Yeas, 169; Nays, none. "

quote taken from " http://www.wadehamptoncamp.org/hist-sc.html

The building doesn't exist anymore, but if you can download the model to Google Earth and see the building in its original location. Download here

Scourage of War- Gettysburg, 3D Civil War Game

No, this post is not about Google Earth Civil War models, but it was too cool not to post this!

A gaming company called Norb Software has just released a game called "Scourage of War: Gettyburg." It is a 3D battle simulation of the Battle of Gettysburg for your PC. You can download a demo of teh game and purchase an activation code. Im about to play the demo, I will give a review in a minute. If you want to check it out yourself go here:

http://www.norbsoftware.com/Portal/

The Alabama State Capitol

From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_State_Capitol


"The Alabama State Capitol, also known as First Confederate Capitol, is located on Goat Hill in Montgomery, Alabama. The structure was built in 1851. The building also served as the Capitol of the Confederacy in 1861, and a commemorative brass marker in the shape of a six-pointed star is set at the precise location (on the top step, to the right of the door, between the middle columns) where Jefferson Davis stood on February 18, 1861, to take his oath of office as first (and only) President of the Confederate States of America."






The model was created by the Google 3D Warehouse. You can see the model in Google Earth here.

The Shoppach House

Google Earth Model

Street View

"This is the Shoppach House in Benton, Arkansas. This house was built in 1853 by John F. Shoppach in what were the outskirts of town on Old Military Road and is the oldest currently standing building in Benton. The house has four main rooms including two symmetrical bedrooms on each side of the dog-trot breezeway that runs through the middle of the house. None of the walls contain studs and each is only the thickness of a single board. In April of 1861 the building served as the site for the presentation of a battle flag to Saline County’s Company E of the 1st Arkansas Infantry, Confederate States of America. The flag was made by the women of Benton and along with Company E saw action in such battles as Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. In 1863, Union troops occupied Benton. The union officers made the house their official quarters, while the troops were quartered in a fort constructed across the road on what is now the southeast corner of Carpenter and Military roads."

Model and text by Jeffrey Hughey. See in Google Earth Here.

The Barbara Fritchie House in Frederick, MD

From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Fritchie

Barbara Fritchie (née Hauer) (December 3, 1766 – December 18, 1862), also known as Barbara Frietchie, and sometimes spelled Frietschie, was a Unionist during the Civil War. She was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and married John Casper Fritchie, a glove maker, on May 6, 1806.

She was a friend of Francis Scott Key and they participated together in a memorial service at Frederick, Maryland, when George Washington died. A central figure in the history of Frederick, she lived in a house that has, in modern times, become a stop on the town's walking tour. According to one story, at the age of 90 she waved the Union flag in the middle of the street to block, or at least antagonize Stonewall Jackson's troops, as they passed through Frederick in the Maryland Campaign. This event is the subject of John Greenleaf Whittier's poem of 1864, Barbara Frietchie. When Winston Churchill passed through Frederick in 1943, he stopped at the house and recited the poem from memory, an excerpt of which follows.

"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,But spare your country's flag," she said.A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,Over the face of the leader came;The nobler nature within him stirredTo life at that woman's deed and word;"Who touches a hair of yon gray head Dies like a dog! March on!" he said.

Barbara Fritchie died at the age of 96 and was interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery, in Frederick City.

The model was created by drobbins of 3D Services. See it in Google Earth here.

Virginia State Capitol

From Wikipedia:

"The building also served as the Capitol of the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The State Capitol Building, the adjacent Virginia Governor's Mansion, and the White House of the Confederacy (about 3 blocks away to the north) were spared when departing Confederate troops were ordered to burn the city's warehouses and factories, and fires spread out of control in April, 1865. The first flag to fly over the capitol since secession was hoisted by Lieutenant Johnston L. de Peyster. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln toured the Capitol building during his visit to Richmond about a week before his assassination in Washington, DC."

Modeled by Mason Thrall

See it Google Earth

The Archibald Borden House, Praire Grove Battlefield, Arkansas

"Prairie Grove is recognized nationally as one of America's most intact Civil War battlefields. The park protects the battle site and interprets the Battle of Prairie Grove, where on December 7, 1862, the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi clashed with the Union Army of the Frontier resulting in about 2,700 casualties in a day of fierce fighting. This marked the last major Civil War engagement in northwest Arkansas." (Quoted from battlefield website)



"The Archibald Borden House is the only structure in the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park that is located on it's original site. The house was the site of some of the heaviest fighting in the engagement that took place on December 7, 1862."

The model was done by Snow. See the model here.