TEMPORARY POST ~ STAR AND POMEGRANATE MOTIFS
FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES
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Research for Dan Smith Inquiry
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Search Topics:
- During the Civil War, IIRC, Eighth Corps' insignia was a 6-sided star.
- Mexican American War
- Motif: Pomegranate's symbolism of abundance, and an association with grenade.
- Motif: Star
- Seal of Soloman
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Pomegranate and Star Motif
AI
The pomegranate in Civil War-era symbolism wasn't a dominant, singular icon like the rose or eagle, but its ancient meanings of fertility, life, abundance (many seeds), and complex duality (life/death, marriage/barrenness) resonated, appearing in literary allusions (Persephone myth), art (beauty, life amidst conflict), and even ironically in weaponry (hand grenades). It represented themes of survival, rebirth, and fractured unity, echoing the nation's struggle and its diverse peoples, especially when tied to the idea of a 'broken' yet seed-filled promise or identity.
Key Meanings & Contexts:
- Fertility & Rebirth: The fruit's many seeds link it to abundance, life, and renewal, a hopeful symbol for a fractured nation.
- Duality & Paradox: Its ancient use in contraception and medicine (both restorative and harmful) reflects the Civil War's paradox of death (grenades) and life (future).
- Mythological Links: The story of Persephone eating pomegranate seeds connected it to marriage, the underworld, and cyclical life, often used in literature to signify deep ties or unavoidable fates.
- Identity & Unity: The numerous seeds within a single fruit symbolize diverse people (or states) bound together, a concept relevant to a divided America.
- Literary & Artistic Use:
- Artists used it to explore themes of suffering, hope, and survival, sometimes linking it to the "broken heart" of a community, as seen in Armenian contexts.
- It appeared in post-nationalist flags as a symbol of infinite potential and a future beyond conflict.
- Modern Interpretation: The Hebrew word for pomegranate, rimon, also means grenade, highlighting its dual association with love/life and war/destruction, a powerful metaphor for the Civil War era.
In essence, the pomegranate's symbolism during the Civil War era, though often subtle, spoke to themes of life emerging from hardship, fractured unity, the promise of abundance, and the inherent contradictions of a nation at war with itself.
Compare to other similar cases:
E-Bay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/251473457725
and Pleasant Mills, NJ..
Find a Grave: (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89209579/reuben-coleman).
Photographers from Vineland, New Jersey
From: Saretzky, Gary D. “Nineteenth Century New Jersey Photographers,” New Jersey History, 2004.
Vineland, New Jersey
EDWARD LIVINGSTON WILSON,
Edward Livingston Wilson (1838–1903) was a prominent 19th-century American photographer, publisher, and author who significantly shaped the development of photography in the United States.
Key Contributions and Career
Publishing: He founded The Philadelphia Photographer in 1864, which was the first significant photographic journal in America. He later moved to New York and launched Wilson's Photographic Magazine in 1889.
Advocacy: Wilson was a tireless advocate for the profession, successfully campaigning against restrictive bromide patents and the federal photographic stamp tax. He also served as an officer for the National Photographic Association.
Expositions: He was the official photographer for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and later documented the 1884 New Orleans Centennial Exposition.
Travel and Exploration: In 1881, he traveled extensively through the Middle East, producing significant photographic records of places like Petra and Egypt. He compiled these experiences into the book In Scripture Lands: New Views of Sacred Places.
Education: He authored influential textbooks such as Wilson's Quarter Century in Photography (1887) and Cyclopaedic Photography (1894), which served as definitive guides for photographers of the era.
FIND A GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76928072/edward_l-wilson
Levi D. (DOLLOFF) Johnson (1832-1905) was an American photographer active around 1860, known for working in Bristol, New Hampshire, and later Vineland, New Jersey, specializing in daguerreotypes and ambrotypes; he married in 1860 and was noted for his skillful use of skylights, even in cloudy weather, making him a prominent local artist in the pre-Civil War era.
FIND A GRAVE: (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/110899423/levi_dolloff-johnson#:~:text=He%20died%20on%20October%2019,he%20continued%20as%20a%20photographer.)
Key Details:
- Active around 1860: Johnson was taking photographs in Bristol, NH, around this time, also serving as Town Clerk.
- Processes: He worked with popular 1850s/1860s processes like daguerreotypes (early, silver-plated copper plates) and ambrotypes (images on glass), notes p. 2; p. 4.
- Skill: Advertisements praised his ability to capture fine likenesses, especially his use of skylights for consistent, high-quality results in any weather, notes p. 2; p. 4.
- Personal Life: He married Ellen Caroline Rollins in December 1860 in Plymouth, NH, but she passed away in 1864, notes p. 1.
- Later Career: He moved to Vineland, New Jersey, continuing his photography work.
David and Ruben Coleman's hometown
https://jerseyman-historynowandthen.blogspot.com/2010/09/history-of-pleasant-mills.html?m=1
https://jerseyman-historynowandthen.blogspot.com/2010/09/history-of-pleasant-mills.html?m=1
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All of the research is evolving.
Please contact me with corrections, suggestions, or questions.
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2026
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