The N.C. Society of Historians recently recognized Ed and Sue Curtis of Salisbury for their work with two projects related to the Salisbury Confederate Prison.
The couple regularly work on uncovering information about the military prison located in Salisbury by the Confederate government in November 1861 and the thousands of soldiers sent to Salisbury to guard or to be guarded.
Their tours of the prison site have been conducted for many descendants, historical groups and students of history of all ages. Their talks on the prison has taken them throughout North Carolina as well as in Ohio, New York and South Carolina.
The N.C. Society of Historians, created in 1941, held its annual awards banquet Oct. 20 in Mooresville at the Hilton Garden Inn.
President Elizabeth Bray Sherrill presented awards in several categories relating to local, regional or statewide historical people, places or events.
Sue Curtis, as chairman of the 15th Annual Salisbury Confederate Prison Symposium hosted by the Robert F. Hoke Chapter No. 78 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, received a Paul Green Multimedia Award.
The symposium was held April 13-15 and arranged using the five objectives of the UDC – historical, memorial, educational, benevolent and patriotic.
A banquet and lecture on archaeology at the prison site was held on the Friday evening of April 13, along with recognition of veterans. April 14 at Catawba College included six lectures by historians, professors and authors, giving details on some guards, commandants, chaplains, baseball games, shared South Carolina prisoners and relevance of the study of this military prison.
On Sunday morning, April 15, two public memorial services for Confederate soldiers and Union prisoners were held with flags, speakers, music and reenactors in blue and gray. This was followed by an afternoon tour of the prison site.
Donations were made by the symposium to a nursing home and the museum fund of the Salisbury Confederate Prison Association Inc. Publicity for this North Carolina event was carried locally and in regional and national publications and attendees came to Salisbury from Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and various sections of North Carolina.
Ed Curtis received a Joe M. McLaurin Newsletter Award for his work as editor of The Prison Exchange, the quarterly publication of the Salisbury Confederate Prison Association Inc.
The eight-page newsletter for the 2011-2012 SCPA year was recognized for providing information about the local Confederate military prison and those who were there. The newsletter was mailed to more than 200 members in 29 states, District of Columbia, Canada, England and Singapore, as well as to a number of museums and libraries.
Included in the newsletters are transcriptions of official documents that relate to the prison, images, a period map showing the railroad routes in North Carolina that brought those to and from Salisbury and military and genealogical material on both prisoners and guards.
Announcements and updates on activities such as the Dec. 9, 2011, display at the library marking the 150th observance of the first prisoners sent to the Salisbury Confederate Prison and the two-day shovel test on March 10 and 31 were shared along with other planned project.