Linn’s Journey through the Croatan Sound depicted by GIS mapping

ArcGIS online provides viewers to visualize and interactively map historical events. Working with GIS has given me a better understanding of James Merrill Linn’s locations, battles and overall journey throughout the Civil War. My specific diary entry was dated between February 5-7, 1862, as Linn focuses on his expedition towards Roanoke Island. He starts at Stumpy Point, anchors on the shore of the Island the next day in the Croatan Sound, and then aboard the Spaulding, he travels around the bend of Roanoke Island where a cannonade commences. This cannonade depicts the start of the Battle of Roanoke Island.

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Roanoke Island in respect to Tyrell Shore

Dale Hartman and I hypothesized that Linn misinterpreted his location as he said, “the gun boats has moved up into the Channel between Roanoke Island and the Tyrell shore.” However, as shown to the left, Tyrell shore (shown as Tyrell county on the map) is not in close proximity to Roanoke Island, which is where the battle took place the same day. As Dale and I could stand corrected, we believe that Linn has made an error in his location. By just reading the diary entry, we would have assumed he did actually travel in the Channel between Tyrell Shore and Roanoke Island. However, GIS and maps in general give us the tools and resources to track Linn’s journey throughout the Civil War so we can better understand his locations day by day.

Bodenhamer discusses in his article the significance and consequences of GIS mapping. He says that “making data visual spurred intuitive interpretation- recognition of patterns, for instance- that remained hidden in statistical analysis” (17-18). For our purpose, GIS helped us visualize Linn’s experiences through the Civil War that we could not necessarily realize while just reading his diary entries.  As I mentioned before, Dale and I would not have been able to question Linn’s record of location on February 7, 1862 without using GIS to visualize his path to Roanoke Island.

Bodenhamer also mentions the importance of layers in GIS. He writes, “[g]eographic information systems operate a series of layers, each representing a different theme and tied to a specific location on planet earth. These layers are transparent, although the user can make any layer or combination of layers opaque while leaving others visible” (27). Because maps change over time as scholars continuously make new discoveries, layers benefit the viewer by giving a better sense of historical background of the map at the time. Additionally, layers focus on very specific events in history. For example, the layers “RoanokeRebels” and “Roanoke1862” are directed towards Civil War studies of battles in 1862. The layers are user-friendly and make the map more relevant to the viewer’s field of study.

Bodenhamer raises the point that there are some setbacks to GIS. For instance, scholars are trying to address the issue of “how… we as humanists make GIS do what it was not intended to do, namely, represent the world as culture and not simply mapped locations”(23). In some fields of research, cultural and social differences are critical and should be represented in the maps. However, when tracking Linn’s locations and comparing them to what he wrote in his diary entries, GIS serves its purpose in showing locations and different layers.

GIS has given me an overall better understanding of Linn’s journey throughout the Civil War. GIS and the Map app have essentially brought the diary entries to life and have made it easier to comprehend his path during the war. Here is my final product of Linn’s pathway between February 5-7, 1862:

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Map of Linn’s Journey February 5-7, 1862

Map app link:

http://bit.ly/1uJWaeX

 

 

Experiences while mapping

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Preview of my map

Although my experiences with mapping were very frustrating, I cannot deny that mapping is indeed very useful. For starters, as Bodenhamer mentioned in his article mapping provides for an “unparalleled ability to manage and visualize data within a spatial context,” and I whole-heartedly agree with this statement (17). Mapping can also allow for the researcher to make connections and observations, that could not have otherwise been made through the text.

For example, my classmates and I used ArcGIS in order to tell a story through James Merrill Linn’s diary entries. Through this exercise, I now have a much better understanding of Linn’s participation in the Civil War and his whereabouts. Through merely reading the diary entry, it is hard to understand and visualize where exactly Linn is topographically. The maps allowed me to learn that the terrain that Linn and the first brigade was marching through during the Battle at Roanoke was swamps. Linn does not mention swamps specifically in my diary entry, however, by collaborating with my classmate Sam and taking a look at his map I can hypothesize that this is the case. I can come to this conclusion because my map shows both General Reno’s first brigade and General Foster’s second brigade marching towards an area that is a swamp on Sam’s map. Additionally, I was able to learn of James’ Meriil Linn’s participation in the war since General Reno is James Merrill Linn’s commander, I think it is safe to assume that Linn is a part of this second brigade.

Secondly, as Bodenhamer mentioned, “GIS provides a way to manage, relate, and query events, as well as to visualize them” (21). This is definitely a true statement, as I was able to tell a story through10808098_10152962550098777_821413876_n my map. More specifically, on Sunday February 9th, Linn discusses in his diary entry going to see three forts. However, through his readings it is impossible for the reader to know which specific forts he is referring to. The one thing Linn does mention about each fort is how many guns is at each fort. Through this little bit of information, and with the help of the map, I was able to discover Linn’s path and which forts he visited on this day. I was able to do so because one of the maps had both the names of the forts and guns listed. I was able to connect how many guns mentioned in his diary to the number mentioned on the map to discover that Linn started south at Fort Bartow, then worked his way north to Fort Blanchard, and ended at Fort Huger. I would not have been able to make these connections without the help of mapping. I also liked the map notes feature of ArcGIS which allows us to attach notes to a point, path, etc. that we made. The map notes allows us to give the public evidence of our work. Overall, mapping provided me with an image that allows me to clearly visualize and better understand Linn’s journey.

Although there are many benefits that can come about from mapping, there are also many downfalls that I came across while using ArcGIS. While using ArcGIS I found myself questioning its reliability several times. When first working with ArcGIS, I was looking into battles that the north won during the Civil War in the year 1862. I was intrigued and began looking into the details of this war that ArcGIS provided. However, I was saddened when a lot of the statistics read -0.99. I remember specifically this was the number that appeared next to causalities. This does not make sense as a statistic, and when I asked one of my professors, they responded that this is the number that appears when the website does not know the statistic. I normally would not have had too much of an issue with this, but the website does not allow for the user to change the number. Therefore, even if I discover the correct number by doing research, there is no way for me to input that information which I find very frustrating. These observations also goes along with Bodenhamer’s argument that “the precision that is necessary for statistical work does not admit readily the sort of evidence used by most humanists” (20). Another issue I found relating to reliability was that on three different maps Fort Huger appeared in different places. These specific instances made me question in what other ways ArcGIS might also be unreliable.

Despite these downfalls, I definitely think that mapping can be used to help visualize and manage events in a spatial medium. I personally learned a lot about Linn through mapping his experiences, and I think mapping can also benefit others in similar ways for other projects.

This is the link to my mapping project: http://bit.ly/1BNvkrf

Mapping and the Battle of Roanoke

Although it took my a while to understand the program and how it all works, i found mapping to be incredibly useful and it allowed me to pull out a deeper understanding of what my diary entry truly means and how it connects to the war. Mapping itself is a very useful tool, and the ways that we utilized ArcGIS was very interesting. Although it took my a while to understand all the features, it allowed me to create a more interesting and compelling final product. Mapping allowed me to see what my diary was talking about in an easier context, by showing the course of the battle and his movements on an historical map. My mapping assignment allowed me to directly understand what effect my individual entry had on the war. Once i saw the historical map that was geo rectified on the the larger map, i was able to dissect my entry and see how his movements played out. Although it was hard for me to make conclusions from the basic writings of his diary, pulling out key phrases was what helped me in the long run. Little comments such as “He said he had been in pineswamp, but this was worse” and “Here we had to wade a pond up to our middle,” allowed me to make conclusions about where he moved around the map. GIS allows people to make a “more complicated story than traditional methods allowed,” (Bodenhamer) and thats exactly what i tired to do with my map. By combining the historical map and the entry, my story became stronger.

Looking at the historical map, a few things stuck out to me. My map notes below are without the historical map underneath it because it does not show up on my laptop, so i will have to explain. The battery image that comes up on the map is almost identical to the hand drawn sketch from Linn, as well as the location of the swamp in correlation to how he talks about his path to the battery. Although it may have seemed easy to me, its important to realize how perspective plays into all this. As Bodenhamer says, “the same body of water flowing in a channel may be called a brook, stream, or river.” This quote shows the importance of perspective, and it is important because someone else may have interpreted Linn’s writing in a different way from me. I made conclusions about the pineswamp and the pond, but they were not specifically talked about in the diary. Because of this, someone else may look at his path differently than i did.

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my map notes without the historical map

Capture

the battery from my entry

 

All in all, the practice of mapping allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the way that Linn records history and how maps can help us gain a better understanding of how history works. By using this software, i was able to figure out “what happens in a geographic space” (Bodenhammerr), which in my case, is the island of Roanoke and specifically my battle field.  Just by looking at the historical map and re reading my diary, i was able to make incredible conclusions about my entry. Mapping for me was useful and interesting, and i think that it is something that i would be interested in pursuing as a final project if i found information that fit well into a mapping situation.

http://bit.ly/1EVI9O8

Above is the embedded code to my map

Mapping Assignment & Blog Prompt

Objective: Work individually and collaboratively within ArcGIS Online environment to show how James Merrill Linn’s diary entries from Feb-Apr 1862 can help to narrate his experience as a participating soldier in the battles of Roanoke Island and South Mills.

Using the data layers identified in the GIS DataSources sheet in the Linn GIS Data Dictionary spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/a/bucknell.edu/spreadsheets/d/1zSoiHpFx2dlJ93dsfXGTy1tOBOaJRGplP6g-Y8HC7mM/edit?usp=sharing ) experiment with the data to consider the place names and locations that Linn identifies in his diary in relation to battle sites, topographical features (rivers, canals), allegiance and/or population. How does analysis of geospatial data help us to make sense of Linn’s descriptions and observations?

Deliverables:

  1. Two map layers submitted to the course story map that show your mastery of GIS skills; each layer should include at least point, one shape, and one path. Each layer should also include map notes and textual commentary that incorporates your interpretation of the diary entries and the data that is available to you within the course map with which you work.
  2. A 400-450 word blog post response to this prompt: What can GIS reveal to us about Linn’s participation in the Civil War – and more generally how we can use maps and spatial thinking to help us understand the complexities and nuances of history? Include three direct references to the Bodenhammer article; embed the story map into your post.
  3. Comment on one of your classmates’ posts.

Wednesday 11/12: Build test map w/ Janine

Friday 11/14: Read Bodenhammer article
Work on point, shape, and path
Choose 2 diary entries to create layers in story map (could be own entry plus one or two other entries)

Weekend: Close-read diary entries to be mapped; synthesize entries regarding Linn’s description of places
Experiment with ArcGIS Online data layers to think about how you want to use the story map to demonstrate Linn’s relationship to place

REMINDER: All students are required to attend either one talk session or the poster session for the Digital Humanities conference on Saturday, 11/15. The conference events take place in the LC. You will write a short (300 word) summary of the session you attended and if a poster, take a photograph of the poster you found most interesting. http://dsconf.blogs.bucknell.edu/

Monday/17: Refine story map layers in class

Wednesday 11/19: Complete work on story map layers in class; submit blog post with embedded link to web map application by 11pm.

Mapping Operation War Diary – Bringing the Battlefields of Yesterday to Life | Operation War Diary

More and more frequently interesting new Digital Humanities projects are discussed in the media. This morning, Professor Faull sent me a link to this article. Here is a project called “Operation War Diary” that is using GIS mapping (with which we’ll be working later in the course) to assess how much the landscapes described in the war diaries have changed in the 100 years since they were written.” Look at the bottom of the article: see how the team researching this project ask readers to help them determine which might be the best approach to doing this type of work.

Mapping Operation War Diary – Bringing the Battlefields of Yesterday to Life | Operation War Diary.