CorpComms Magazine

An account that tweets authentic narratives from civilians who lived in North Carolina between 1861 and 1865 has been created by historian LeRae Umfleet to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.

The initiative kicks off with a quote from the Raleigh Register, which reads: 'Women's sphere is about the domestic altar and within the tranquil precincts of the social circle'

The @CivilianWartime account, which draws on diaries and letters from North Carolina residents at the time of the Civil War 150 years ago, has more than 600 followers and the #CW150 hashtag has reached an average of 40,000 users per 50 tweets, according to the website tweetreach.com.

One of the first tweets comes from the diary of Mary Jeffreys Bethell. On March 15, she says: 'I fear there will be civil war.'

Umfleet, who works in the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, has also created a blog that provides the full quotation for each tweet to get around the 140 character limit. Jeffreys Bethell's tweet is accompanied by link to an extract from her diary.

The project is designed to help a younger more contemporary audience understand the impact that the war had on local residents.

Twitter user TJ Zidaroff tweeted today saying: '@CivilianWartime I love this!!! You are giving a voice to history!'

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