The United States of America as we see it today is not the original Union that began the American Civil War. The very idea of what the American Union was faced its most serious test during the over four years of carnage, hell, and industrial fratricide. States such as New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Minnesota sent many thousands of their sons and fathers to wear the blue uniform. The passing of the Emancipation Proclamation in the wake of the bloody victory at Antietam, and the introduction of colored troops in 1863 would transform the cause of the Union from preservation to restoration. Within this gallery are examples of bullets recovered from certain battlefields such as Antietam, and Gettysburg, but also a rare piece of an original black dress worn by Miss Mary Todd Lincoln…which may have been the one she wore that tragic night.