Dismantling of Civil War battle diorama upsets teens

AUSTIN -- Destroyed or simply dismantled?

That's the question facing the Texas Military Forces Museum, where Executive Director Jeff Hunt has been accused of wrecking a Civil War battle diorama that took high school students years to build.

What began as an issue of historically tiny proportions has ballooned into a growing controversy -- especially in Arizona, where the state Legislature, Gov. Janet Napolitano and Sen. John McCain have reportedly weighed in.

At the center of the public relations nightmare is a 10- by 5-foot diorama depicting the 1865 Battle of Palmetto Ranch, in South Texas. Officials at the Austin museum say the $23,000 model was historically inaccurate -- and too bulky -- and that Hunt dismantled it last fall and stored the pieces for later use.

But an Arizona history teacher whose students built the diorama said that Hunt left broken pieces on its base and that the tiny Civil War soldiers were left in a heap. The teacher said some of his students cried when they learned the fate of their project.

"He [Hunt] said it was awful; he said it was the worst thing he ever saw -- I listened to this and I was kind of stunned," said the teacher, Glen Frakes of Gilbert, Ariz., describing what he said was his only conversation with Hunt.

"I asked what the status of it was, and he said 'We dismantled it.' ... When I told my students about what happened, they were in deep shock."

'Correct it'

The Texas Military Forces Museum is part of Austin's Camp Mabry, which is headquarters for the Texas Army National Guard, the Texas Air National Guard and the Texas State Guard.

Hunt referred a Star-Telegram inquiry to a spokesman for the military camp, who acknowledged that the diorama was commissioned several years earlier and was on display only a few weeks.

The spokesman, Col. Bill Meehan, said that the matter could have been handled better but that ultimately the museum director decides what to do with exhibits of material that is not historic artifacts. He said Hunt took the diorama apart himself shortly after becoming director of the museum.

"Our intent is not to disappoint those kids," said Meehan, who said the pieces were stored carefully.

"We're going to reuse it and we're going to display it differently. We're going to keep it and correct it."

Before coming to the museum in October of 2007, Hunt was fired from a job as curator of the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg. A spokeswoman for the Texas Historical Commission said Hunt worked at the Fredericksburg museum for several years but was dismissed for failing to adhere to agency policy.

Frakes, 61, says Hunt should lose his job in Austin as well.

He said that the soldiers and miniature horses were attached with epoxy and that it would have been difficult for Hunt to remove them without damaging them.

In comments to the Austin Chronicle, Hunt acknowledged that some damage arose when the diorama was dismantled. "Taking this apart, did some rifles get bent? Some figures get broken? Sure," he said.

Past relationship

Frakes said that he has been working with students building dioramas for more than three decades and that he had a long relationship with the Texas Military Forces Museum, which over the years has featured four of his students' dioramas.

He said that he previously had a diorama displayed in the Smithsonian and currently has more than 20 on display around the country.

Meehan that said the Battle of Palmetto Ranch model incorrectly showed mountains in the background and that it depicted too many dead soldiers.

Frakes disputes that point and said that he and his students would have been willing to make changes if the model had been shipped back to Arizona. Frakes said that it was built under the direction of the previous director and with ideas drawn -- ironically enough -- from a book written by Hunt.

The book, The Last Battle of the Civil War: Palmetto Ranch, was published in 2002 by the University of Texas Press.

According to reports in the Arizona news media, the Arizona Senate drafted a resolution in March honoring the diorama effort, and the resolution was sent to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick.

Arizona media also reported that presidential candidate McCain and Arizona Gov. Napolitano have raised questions about the diorama drama.