death of a wagon master

Posted on September 7, 2019 by SUMPTER

still in life

Right from the get-go there were issues with President Ulysses S. Grant’s cabinet. Six months later there was another problem – Grant’s trusted aide, confidant, and Secretary of War, John A. Rawlins died after a long bout with tuberculosis.

From the September 25, 1869 issue of Harper’s Weekly:

GENERAL JOHN A. RAWLINS.

GENERAL JOHN A. RAWLINS, late Secretary of War, died on the afternoon of September 6. The loss to the country will not be easily repaired; that sustained by the President is totally irreparable, for the latter has not only been deprived of a faithful servant, but also of a trusted friend.

JOHN A. RAWLINS was born in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, February 13, 1831. At his death, therefore, he was in his thirty-ninth year. He received a common-school and academic education, and until twenty-three years of age was engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1853 he entered the law-office of J.P. STEPHENS, of Galena, where he made the acquaintance of President GRANT. In 1854 he was admitted to the bar, and was afterwards tolerably successful in his profession.

almost their whole war ahead of them

Previous to the war General RAWLINS’S career was comparatively obscure, but he had that strength of character and sturdy patriotism which, in the new era that opened in 1861, made him a prominent soldier. From the beginning of the war his record is closely associated with that of General GRANT. Soon after the fight at Sumter a large public meeting was held at Galena at which GRANT presided, and RAWLINS spoke. The latter had been known as a Democrat, and his declaration in favor of coercive measures to maintain the Union had on that account a greater effect.

In August, 1861, he was a Major in the Forty-fifth Illinois, known as the lead-mine regiment; but at the request of GRANT, then a Brigadier-General, he received an appointment as Assistant Adjutant-General, and was assigned to the officer at whose request the appointment was given. From that time he accompanied General GRANT on all his campaigns.

He was made a Lieuteuant-Colonel November 1, 1862, and a Brigadier-General of Volunteers August 11, 1863. He was first appointed Chief-of-Staff to General Grant in November, 1862, and retained this position after the elevation of the latter to the rank of Lieutenant-General. On March 3, 1865, he was confirmed Brevet Major-General. His faithful services as Chief-of-Staff were fully appreciated by General GRANT, who in no small degree owed his remarkable success to General RAWLINS.

dry camping?

For a short time after General Grant’s inauguration General SCHOFIELD remained at the head of the War Department. But the President decided to appoint General RAWLINS to that place in his Cabinet, and finally prevailed upon him to accept it. He was unanimously confirmed, and his appointment was satisfactory both to Republicans and Democrats. Under his charge the affairs of the army have been conducted with increased efficiency, and with a wise economy of expenditure.

General RAWLINS was a victim of consumption, a malady contracted bt exposure during the war. His private character was such as to win the esteem and affection of all who knew him. His temper was equable, and his domestic relations were of the most pleasant nature. His first wife, whom he married June, 1856, died in 1861. In December, 1863, he married Miss MARY E. HURLBURT of Danbury, Connecticut. This lady, who survives him, is herself an invalid.

In the same issue Harper’s gave President Grant some advice about picking a successor:

GENERAL RAWLINS.

The great assent of the country to the words of Attorney-General HOAR’S touching message, in speaking of General RAWLINS – “a man so upright, able, and faithful” – shows how deep is the public sense of his loss. It shows also the sagacity of the President’s course in selecting for so important a position a man with whose character and capacity he was thoroughly satisfied, although his name might not be familiar to the public. From the beginning of the war intimately associated with General GRANT, General RAWLINS constantly proved his ability; and the testimony of all who knew best, since his accession to the War Department, proves the vigor and sagacity with which, even in his extreme ill health, it was conducted by the Secretary. Had he been a conspicuous politician, is it likely that he would have been a better officer, or that the country would more truly mourn his death?

with wife and child at City Point

In selecting his successor we hope the President will look among those that he knows rather than those whom the politicians expect or present. We understand the necessity of party sympathy and support, and we also insist that it is the duty of every man to be a politician, so far as that word implies a knowledge of the principles involved in the questions upon which he votes. But the word politician has come to mean the hucksters in politics, the doers of dirty work claiming to be the party, and in that sense we use it. General Rawlins could not have been the candidate of the politicians; but the party that supported General Grant, as well as the country at large, were satisfied with his appointment. They will be equally pleased with a successor whom upon his appointment they may not know, if his administration of the office shows them, as in the case of General RAWLINS, that the President has selected a man “upright, able, and faithful.”

Wikipedia points out that John Aaron Rawlins was certainly faithful to the Union. At a Galena town meeting after Fort Sumter he said, “I have been a Democrat all my life; but this is no longer a question of politics; It is simply country or no country; I have favored every honorable compromise; but the day for compromise is passed; only one course is left us. We will stand by the flag of our country, and appeal to the god of battles.” (NY Times September 7, 1869)

His loyalty to Ulysses S. Grant included doing his best to keep the general away from alcohol. James M. McPherson has written, “… a hard substratum of truth about Grant’s drinking remains. He may have been an alcoholic in the medical meaning of that term. He was a binge drinker. For months he could go without liquor, but if he once imbibed it was hard for him to stop. His wife and his chief of staff John A. Rawlins were his best protectors. With their help, Grant stayed on the wagon nearly all the time during the war. If he did get drunk (and this is much disputed by historians) it never happened at a time crucial to military operation.”[1]

According to documentation at archive.org the 45th Illinois remembered its first major at its reunion on September 28, 1869:

patriot from Galena

John A. Rawlins “was originally buried in a friend’s vault in Congressional Cemetery in Washington. He was subsequently moved to Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery.”

In the short term President Grant followed Harper’s advice. He appointed another long-time associate, General William T. Sherman, as on one month interim Secretary of War.

General Grant “in no small degree owed his remarkable success to General RAWLINS.”

All the material from Harper’s Weekly 1869 is available at the Internet Archive. From the Library of Congress: the study; Grant’s upper left-hand man “taken October 1861 at Cairo Ill” ; Grant, Bowers, and Rawlins at Cold Harbor; with family at his City Point quarters; still at City Point with Grant and Bowers; statue in Washington, D.C.

“a man so upright, able, and faithful”

  1. [1]McPherson, James M. The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. Print. pages 588-589.↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, The Grant Administration, Veterans | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“the cereals of August”

Posted on August 30, 2019 by SUMPTER

First Bull Run, July 21, 1861 2 PM

A recent post was about a medallion and monument related to the American Civil War that was found on a single page in a newspaper from 150 years ago. And, mirabile dictu, the editors at Harper’s Weekly packed even more blue-gray matter onto the very same page! The paper looked at a picture of a grain harvest in Virginia and saw something like a symbol of national regeneration.

From the August 21, 1869 issue of Harper’s Weekly:

HARVESTING ON THE BATTLEFIELD OF BULL RUN.

How rapidly the wounds of war are healed! Half a million of men are swept from the earth by a civil war; but before a grateful people have done writing their epitaphs their places are more than filled, and the census scarcely notes the increase of mortality on their account.

Eight years have passed since the battle of Bull Run, and to-day there is left scarcely a trace of this early conflict of the war. Where the youth of the North and of the South met in array of battle eight years ago, there to-day the farmers are harvesting the cereals of August. The field that was red with blood is yellow with grain. And now the improvements of agriculture are illustrated upon the arena where then a feudal system of labor arrayed its boastful champions.

into plowshares and mechanical reapers

There were two Civil War battles on the Bull Run or Manassas site. The first, on July 21, 1861, was the first major battle in the war. Although Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, in response to the rebel bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter, proposed his “Anaconda Plan” – a slow, methodical squeeze on the South and capture of its territory, there was a lot of political pressure in the North for the Union army to take it to the rebels right away. At the White House on June 29th Union commander Irwin McDowell wanted more time to train his new recruits. President Abraham reportedly ordered General McDowell to begin the offensive with these words: “You are green, it is true, but they are green, also; you are all green alike.”[1]

It would seem that New York’s 38th Infantry Regiment was certainly green. The two year regiment didn’t leave for the Washington, D.C. area until June 19th. On July 7th “it was ordered to Alexandria and assigned to the 2nd brigade, 3d division, Army of Northeastern Virginia, and was active at the first battle of Bull Run, where it lost 128 in killed, wounded and missing.”

About ten days after the battle a member of the 38th wrote home. The soldiers who survived were a lot less green. From a Seneca County, New York newspaper (probably) published on August 15, 1861:

From a Seneca Falls Boy in the Battle of Bull’s Run.

The writer of the following letter is the eldest son of Mr. HILDRETH HALSEY of the Town:

Headquarters 38 REGT, CAMP SCOTT, Co. H,
Washington, D.C., July 31, 1861.

Dear Father and Mother: – I wrote you a few lines Tuesday, on our return from the battle-field, but suppose you have not got them yet. I begin to feel a little like myself now, although I am stiff and sore yet; but will attempt to give you an account of our movements and of the battle, as correct as I can. I will commence at Centreville, from which place we started for the battle-field.

NY 38th in Willcox brigade

We were all aroused from our slumbers at 12 o’clock on Saturday night and held in readiness until daylight Sunday morning, when we started on the march for Manassas or Bull run, which are in fact all one. We reached there about noon, after marching fifteen miles, and wading muddy streams up to our waists, without having anything to eat since six o’clock Saturday afternoon, save a few hard sea biscuits, which were not very palatable, but had they been ever so good we could not have taken time to eat them.

Just before we entered the field we threw off our blankets, haversacks and jackets, and marched into the field in our shirt sleeves, in a body of five thousand men, which consisted of the whole of the Second Brigade, under command of Col. Wilcox, acting under Brigadier General McDowell. There was only one Regiment on the field before us, and they laid down under the hills, entirely out of sight of the enemy. I believe they fired two shots at random into the woods and then retreated. I do not know what Regiment it was but think it was one from Pennsylvania. Our entire Brigade then received orders to advance on the enemy, which we did on quick time. The enemy then began to fire into us from their masked batteries with terrific force, but fortunately we were so far advanced that the balls passed over our heads, many of them falling into the ranks of different Regiments in the rear of us, killing many of them. At this time we were about half a mile in advance of our battery. The enemy then emerged from the woods and “let sliver” at us with great power. We then retreated and our battery advanced in front of us and fired into the Rebel batteries with powerful force but I think without much avail, as they were too numerous and most of them built of stone and railroad iron, which were almost impenetrable.

Willcox at Henry Hill

The enemy soon got range of our battery and fired into it with such force that they soon killed some of our artillerymen and horses, and broke the wheels of some of our best gun-carriages. Then the Rebels, or what is called the Black Horse Cavalry, rushed out of the woods to take our battery, which they failed to do. During this bombardment we laid just over the point of the hill, and when they attempted to take our battery, we gave them such a shower of bullets, that only three out of sixty retreated, all the rest being killed. We kept them back for about half an hour, when they again rushed upon us with such a powerful body of men that we were obliged to retreat for the last time. The order was then given for a general retreat, which was executed as fast as possible, but when we had got about four miles from the battle-field we were partially headed off by the Rebels, who fired into us with tremendous force, killing many and taking a great many prisoners. The greatest confusion prevailed at this time; those who were scarcely able to walk, at once started at the top of their speed and scattered through the woods in all directions. Many of the wounded jumped from the ambulances and wagons and fled to the woods for refuge.

I notice that the papers foot up the loss of Federal troops at about six hundred, which I am pained to say is too low an estimate, as I am sure the loss will not fall short of 1,000 to 1,500 killed. As to the Rebel loss I can only say that is great. They laid, in many places, like bundles of wheat in the harvest-field.There were from 40 to 60 killed in our Regiment and a great many wounded. Our whole force in the field did not number over 25,000 men, while that of the enemy it is said numbered from 50,000 to 60,000. So you see we stood rather a poor chance to win the battle.

dueling artillery

I was in the hottest of the battle a little over three hours and escaped without even a scratch while those who stood by my side were shot and instantly killed. I was not the least frightened after we had fired the first shot until we had left the field and reached our old quarters near Alexandria. And then to think of what we had passed through during forty-eight hours seems almost incredible, yet it is true. From the time we started from Centreville, until we returned here we marched sixty miles, without a moment’s rest or anything to eat except a few hard sea-biscuit. We suffered more from want of water than victuals. All that we had was what we could dip up out of a mud-puddle along the road. If anybody had told me what I had to pass through, before I started, my first thought would have been that I never could endure it, but as the old saying is, we don’t know what we can endure until we try.

I could write a great deal more, but have not time at present, as I have got to turn out to drill soon. I have only to say that I feel thankful to God for the preservation of my life through the late battle, and hope that it will be spared through all battles to come, until such time as we may all see the Stars and Stripes float all over the United States.

Truly yours,

GEO. R. HALSEY

P.S. – I picked up a beautiful sword on the battle-field, worth about $25.

fought in shirtsleeves

First Bull run is also famous for the greenness of some Northern civilians. Many Washingtonians, including some United States Senators drove their carriages out for a look at the great battle and brought their picnic lunches. The dinner theater became interactive. The American Battlefield Trust explains that most of the spectators stayed well away from the actual fighting, but many of them got caught up in the mass stampede of retreating Union soldiers. None of the spectators from Washington were wounded, although Congressman Alfred Ely was captured and confined in Richmond’s Libby Prison for about five months. “Only one civilian was killed in the battle, the aged widow Judith Henry whose home was engulfed by the fighting.”

Bull Run, Va. Ruins of Mrs. Judith Henry’s house, March, 1862

her grave at Groveton

One young man from Boston, not part of the capital throng, apparently got much nearer the actual battle. According to documentation at Project Gutenberg Edward Henry Clement recounted the adventure of his brother, Andrew J. Clement, at a March 1909 meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Andrew had written up a “little paper” about his adventure years before his death in 1908:

THE BULL-RUN MUSKET.

A single dead soldier of the Union army was an object of intense public interest up to the date of the battle of Bull Run in July, 1861.

The New-York Times
July 18, 1861

The New-York Times
July 19, 1861

The New-York Times
July 20, 1861

_____________

There were two lads of us who left Boston to visit our brothers—both of whom were in the army and in the same company. We expected to find the Army at Washington; and we each carried a box of dainties to delight our brothers with. On reaching Washington, we were sorely disappointed to find that the army had started on its march to Richmond; and that no civilians were allowed to follow—not even to cross the Potomac into Virginia. So there was nothing to do but see the sights in Washington and return to our homes. But we had been there only two days when the news came of a fight or skirmish on July 18th at Blackburn’s Ford, where several were killed, and one of the dead was the brother of my companion. It was a terrible blow to my friend, and a great shock for me.

early death at Blackburn’s Ford

We immediately telegraphed home, and at once came the reply “Get the body, if you can, and send it home.” Well, we two lads went to the War Department and I suppose our sorrowful tale moved them with compassion, for they gave each of us a pass to go to the front to get the body of the dead soldier. I’ve got that pass stowed away now, among my papers, as a War curiosity. It reads,

Allow the bearer, Mr. Andrew J. Clement, to pass the lines and go to the Front for the body of a friend.

                                                        DRAKE DE KAY
                                                       Aid de Camp.

Later in the war, the death of a soldier was of too little importance to awaken such sympathy at Headquarters. Indeed, two days later, there were thousands killed within two miles of the spot where those killed in this skirmish were buried. After much difficulty, we hired a light wagon in which my friend rode, while I got a seat in an army wagon that was taking out supplies. It was just midnight on Saturday July 20th when we started from Willard’s Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. There was a full moon, and the night was lovely. I was all excitement. I was going to join the army. I should see my brother, and perhaps I should see the big battle everybody was talking about as soon to be fought.

Well, I saw all that I expected to see and a good deal more. As the horses toiled painfully all that night over the rough and hilly roads, I little thought that on the very next night I should be more painfully trudging back over that very route footsore and weary, a gun on my shoulder—and ready to fight if the victorious enemy came up with us. Yet such was the case, and the gun in the hall is the one that I carried to Washington after the battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE BATTLE AT BULL’S RUN.

Of course the ride that beautiful night was too exciting for sleep. It was just after daybreak, when we were taking a hasty breakfast at a small tavern, that we heard the first boom of a heavy gun. This was the gun that opened the great battle of Bull Run. We were yet six miles away from the army—and all were impatient to reach our destination. The horses were kept at their best working pace, and when we had gone three miles we met troops marching towards us. These were certain regiments that wouldn’t fight because the ninety days of their term of service had just expired. They looked thoroughly ashamed of themselves, and marched in great disorder. The officer with our wagon, and the soldier who drove it, both scoffed at them and called them sneaks and cowards; and, cowards as they were, they didn’t resent the insults. For myself, I felt as though they all deserved shooting when they got to Washington.

GALLANT CHARGE OF THE SIXTY-NINTH REGIMENT, NEW YORK STATE MILITIA, UPON A REBEL BATTERY AT THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN.

An hour later we reached Centreville and looked down on the battle-field. Hastily finding where my friend’s dead brother was buried, I left him to his mournful task of recovering the corpse while I went to find my own brother whom I yet hoped to meet alive. But it wasn’t an easy task. The line of battle was long; and, in spite of my inquiries, I went wrong. I went to the right wing only to find that the regiment I sought was probably away off on the left wing. Nobody seemed able to give exact information, and everybody wanted to know what a boy in black clothes and a straw hat was doing on the battle-field. Once I went up and sat down in the rear of a battery of light artillery to watch the effect of the firing, and the Capt. drove me off with terrible oaths. But I went around a small farm house and crept back again, and saw the grapeshot scatter the “rebs.” And so I went on from point to point, staring and asking questions, and being stared at and questioned in return. At length I learned that the regiment I wanted was at the extreme left. So off I started, already weary from loss of sleep, excitement and tramping under the hot sun.

Arriving at the left, I again was attracted by a battery in action, and it was while I stood entranced with excitement that my brother discovered me. His regiment was lying in the bush close by supporting this very battery. Never was a man more surprised than was he at that moment. He supposed I was at home in Boston. But, before he would talk, he made me go into the woods and lie down with the soldiers so as to be in less danger. And there I crawled around and shook hands with nearly a hundred men whom I had known all my life. Many were the questions I answered, and scores of messages were given me to take home to parents and friends. The boys seemed very sad—for a member had been killed in this company only three days before, and they expected to be actively fighting again at any moment. At length my brother insisted that I should go back to Centreville out of danger, and I started with a heavy heart. But secretly I resolved to try to go to Richmond with the army, for I felt sure it would only take a few days. Up to that time it seemed to be victory for us; and I didn’t believe it could possibly be otherwise. So I went back to Centreville. I was very hungry as well as tired. It was now past four o’clock in the afternoon.

The New-York Times
July 21, 1861

The New-York Times
July 22, 1861

The New-York Times
July 23, 1861

______________

I soon found a group of sick officers who were about to dine off of boiled beef close by the army wagon in which I had come from Washington. They asked me to join them. I had just got fairly seated when the astounding news came that our army was defeated and was retreating. I didn’t believe it; but I rushed to the hilltop to see for myself. Down there on the plain, where I had been in the morning, there was certainly much dust and confusion. Just then fresh troops, the reserves, started to go down, but even to my inexperienced eye it was plain that they went in bad order and went too late. It was there that I saw the general who wore two hats—one crushed over the other—and who was reported in newspaper accounts of the scene as being very drunk that day. He certainly appeared decidedly drunk at that moment.

CHARGE OF THE BLACK HORSE CAVALRY UPON THE FIRE ZOUAVES AT THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN.

Wild with excitement, I rushed down hill too; but long before I got where I had been a few hours before, I met the rush of panic stricken men coming pell-mell from the field. To resist this rush was impossible and worse than useless. Wagons driven at full speed came with the men. Shouted curses filled the air. Wagons broke down, and, cutting the harnesses, men mounted the horses and rode off toward Centreville. Muskets were thrown away and filled the road for a long distance. It was there that I picked up my gun, begged a pocket full of ammunition, and resolved to do my share when the terrible Black Horse Cavalry reached us—for it was reported that they were coming at full speed. Ere long I reached Centreville again, and left the rush to look for my wagon. It had gone, long before, in the grand stampede for Washington. That didn’t worry me much then—I thought I would find my brother again; and fight in company with the boys I grew up with. So I waited and waited at Centreville till the sun got low. I saw at length that it would be useless to try to find anybody. There were several roads; and all were full of disorganized troops.

But the first mad rush was over. All the army did not run. I did not run a step. It was nearly sunset when I left Centreville; and, as I was terribly hungry, I stopped, after going about a mile, and joined two of N. Y. 69th regiment who were having a regular feast out of a broken down and abandoned sutler’s wagon. I remember that I ate a whole can of roast chicken and many sweet biscuits, and washed the whole down with some sherry wine drank from the bottle—my first experience in wine drinking.

RETREAT OF OUR TROOPS FROM BULL RUN, BY MOONLIGHT. COLONEL BLENKER’S BRIGADE COVERING.

Much refreshed, I took up my musket and started for Washington with an oddly mixed crowd of gay militia uniforms representing parts of many regiments. Yet there were still behind us good, orderly, full regiments, that stayed in Centreville till after midnight and came into Washington late the next day in fine marching order. They did not run, and my brother’s regiment was one of them. It was 10 p. m. when I reached Fairfax Court House. There I rested, sitting on a rail fence, as a motley crowd poured by, each squad saying that the Black Horse Cavalry was coming. So I clung to my musket, though my shoulders began to get a little sore. It was after midnight when I started again. The night was very dark, for heavy clouds obscured the moon. The road, very rough in itself, was now full of materials thrown out of wagons. There were shovels, pickaxes, boxes, barrels, iron mess-kettles, muskets, knapsacks, and all sorts of litter that soldiers could throw away, and over these and the loose stones of the rough road we stumbled in the dark, amid choking dust, and up and down the long rolling hills that the army marched over so often afterwards during that terrible war. Still, I well remember that it seemed to me a sort of wild picnic; and I would clutch my gun and feel of my cartridges in a very determined mood to defend Washington to the death.

celebrating First Manassas at Virginia state capitol

Wearily the night wore on; and steadily I tramped, talking in the dark, from time to time, with strangers—men from all parts of the Union whom I didn’t see then and probably never saw afterwards. Bad as it was to march in the dust, it was still worse when it began to rain just before daybreak. Gently it came at first; and slowly the dust became a thick paste of slippery mud. Steadily the storm increased till it became a downpour. I had on a thin black summer suit, a straw hat, and a pair of low-cut thin shoes and white stockings. When day broke we were a bedraggled, thoroughly soaked, mud-stained party. Of all that vast crowd probably I presented the worst appearance, for I was the only citizen in that section of the crowd. I bantered jokes with such as were in joking mood, but most of the crowd were now silent and weary. All along the road lay men asleep in the pouring rain. There were blood blisters on my feet, but never once did I stop except to get a drink of water at a brook just after daylight. The rain now fell in torrents; we were literally wading in mud and water.

The thirty miles from Centreville to Washington seemed three times that distance. My gun grew more and more heavy, and I shifted it constantly. It was about ten o’clock Monday forenoon when I reached the Virginia end of Long Bridge. A strong guard was posted there to stop the troops; for Washington was already full of fugitive soldiers. Forcing my way through a vast mob of shouting, cursing soldiers, I reached the officer in charge, and got a rough reception. First he doubted my pass; next he wanted to take away my musket, but I protested that I had saved it from the enemy; and at length he allowed me to pass carrying the gun I had so honestly won. I went down Pennsylvania Avenue much stared at as I limped along. Reaching my hotel, I took a bath and turned into a good bed, thinking of my brother and the thousands of other soldiers who were out in the rain and many of whom would perhaps have no bed to turn into for three years; for there were a few three years regiments even then.

remembering First Manassas (c1872)

The next day, to my great joy, my brother’s regiment marched in and over to Georgetown heights; and, after visiting them there, I sent my gun home by Adams Ex. and took the train for Boston. Said my father, when I got home, “Well, I think you have got enough of war now.” “No, sir,” I said, and in less than thirty days I had enlisted; and three years from the date of the first battle of Bull Run I was skirmishing about six miles from Richmond—three years—and yet I hadn’t quite got to Richmond.

That Bull-Run musket is the only war weapon left in the family, and I hope you will keep it in memory of the good work I was willing to do with it, even before I was a soldier.

According to the report on the historical society’s meeting Andrew J. Clement served as First Sergeant, Company M, First Massachusetts Cavalry. Margaret Leech mentions Sergeant Clement in her Reveille in Washington: 1860-1865.

According to documentation at Wikipediathe Library of Congress, two years after the Massachusetts Historical meeting and fifty years after the first battle, it wasn’t war, it was peace at the Bull Run battlefield:

“Veterans Register and Receive badges here”

“W.C. Round, Confederate veteran” wearing badge

President Taft drove out from Washington

July 21, 1911 at Henry Farm, Confederate veteran and Virginia governor William Mann wearin’ the gray (jacket)

I don’t think there’s too much farming going on at the Bull Run battlefield these days. Since 1940 the site has been a national park. This post has mostly been about the first battle, but on August 30-September 1 this year the Manassas National Military Park is commemorating the 157th anniversary of Second Manassas. Besides the location and Confederate victory, Stonewall Jackson was common to both battles. His “steadfastness influenced the outcome of both battles.” (see brochure)

on contested ground

calm on the battlefield

an influential general

I first used the letter from George Halsey during the halcyon days of the American Civil War Sesquicentennial. Brigade commander Orlando B. Willcox would eventually receive the Medal of Honor for his conduct at First Bull Run. I found the letter at the Seneca Falls (NY) public library in one of several big loose leaf binders filled with newspaper clippings from the Civil War years.
You can find all the Harper’s Weekly from 1869 at the Internet Archive

The New York State Military Museum provides the rosters for the state Civil War units. And a whole lot more

The images of First Manassas (except for the top one) are from Harper’s Weekly August 3 and August 10, 1861. They are online at Son of the South.
Hal Jespersen’s maps are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license: July 18th; July 21stmorning; July 21st early afternoon
From the Library of Congress: First Manassas at 2 PM, originally published in the August 10, 1861 issue of Harper’s Weekly; Robert E. L. Russell’s sketch of First Manassas at 3 PM; remains of Judith Henry’s house – the Organization of American Historians agrees; Carol M. Highsmith’s photo of Judith Henry’s gravesite – you can see more about it at Find A Grave; also from Carol M. Highsmith: cannon at the national park, Stonewall statue erected in 1938; Manassas National Battlefield Park brochure; Richmond celebration; Bartow monument (c1872), but according to Wikipedia, the white obelisk monument dedicated in September 1861 was stolen in 1862 (a smaller marker from 1936 still should be there); from the peace jubilee: registration, ex-Confederate W.C. Round, President Taft, ex-Confederate and Virginia governor William Mann center stage – the governor served in the 12th Virginia Infantry, which apparently didn’t take part in First Manassas, group shot of the vets; George N. Barnard’s photo near Sudley church from March 1862.

peace party at Henry Farm, 1911

interlude: “Along Bull Run near Sudley church” March 1862

  1. [1]McPherson, James M. The Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989. Print. pages 335-336.↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Aftermath, Battlefields, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction, Veterans | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

white lion, black cargo

Posted on August 23, 2019 by SUMPTER

probably from English privateer

400 years ago this month the first Africans arrived in the colony of Virginia in what is now the United States. According to Encyclopedia Virginia, in the summer of 1619 two English privateers, the White Lion and the Treasurer attacked the São João Bautista, a Portuguese ship, as it approached modern Mexico with its cargo of West African slaves. Each English ship stole some of the slaves. The White Lion’s “captain, John Colyn Jope, bore a Dutch letter of marque, paperwork that allowed him, as a civilian, to attack and plunder Spanish ships”. In late August the White Lion landed at Point Comfort in Virginia. According to the National Park Service (Historic Jamestowne), the Africans were bartered for food. John Rolfe, the colony’s Secretary, wrote: “About the latter end of August, a Dutch man of Warr of the burden of a 160 tunes arrived at Point-Comfort, the Comandors name Capt Jope, his Pilott for the West Indies one Mr Marmaduke an Englishman. … He brought not any thing but 20. and odd Negroes, w[hich] the Governo[r] and Cape Merchant bought for victuall[s].” The Park Service said that Mr. Rolfe referred to the White Lion as a Dutch ship to avoid anyone blaming the English for piracy.

it’s history

The Park Service goes on to point out that the peculiar institution was unknown in Virginia at the time. Slavery evolved gradually from something like “indentured servitude to life long servitude.” A series of customs and laws that strengthened slavery are listed from
the 1630s to 1705. This process is summed up by The Jamestown Chronicles:

By the 1650s there were free people of color in the colony, but most did not do as well economically as free white Virginians. Although legal discrimination was evident by the late 17th century, Africans, such as Anthony Johnson, did prosper in Virginia. He owned land in Northampton County, had one servant, and owned one slave.

The first law recognizing the existence of slavery in Virginia was passed in 1661, and a law making it hereditary was passed the next year. As landowners created laws to control the labor they needed, institutionalized slavery gradually evolved from these laws and a “slave code” was produced by the General Assembly in 1705.

fleeing to freedom at Point Comfort

The Zinn Education Project notices some ironies with the 1619 landing: the landing was at Point Comfort, but life was anything but comfortable for the majority of African-Americans under slavery; “1619 also was the year that a semblance of democracy came to Virginia” when the first legislative assembly convened – the assembly included elected Burgesses; Fort Monroe on Point Comfort became a destination for slaves seeking their freedom during the Civil War – General Benjamin Butler declared the male slaves that showed up to be contraband of war, and he wasn’t going to give them back.

1619 was also the time when a group of English people living in Holland were planning to establish a colony in the New World where they would be free to practice their non-Anglican religion without losing other parts of English culture to Dutch influence.

A mid-nineteenth century historian from Virginia mentioned “the Pilgrims” in the same chapter he covered the 1619 landing at Point Comfort. He began by reviewing that first legislative assembly. He closed by mentioning another Virginia market for humans about the same time, but the women probably weren’t forced to get on the boat. From History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia by Charles Campbell (1860) (at Project Gutenberg (pages 143-147):

Thus after eleven years of suffering, peril, discord, and tyranny, intermingled with romantic adventure, bold enterprise, the dignity of danger, virtuous fortitude, and generous heroism, were at length established a local legislature and a regular administration of right. The Virginia planters expressed their gratitude to the company, and begged them to reduce into a compend, with his majesty’s approbation, such of the laws of England as were applicable to Virginia, with suitable additions, “because it was not fit that his subjects should be governed by any other rules than such as received their influence from him.” The acts of the Assembly were transmitted to England for the approval of the treasurer and company. They were thought to have been very judiciously framed, but the company’s committee found them “exceeding intricate and full of labor.” There was granted to the old planters an exemption from all compulsive service to the colony, with a confirmation of their estates, which were to be holden as by English subjects.

It is remarkable, that from about 1614, for some seven years, James the First had governed England without a parliament; and the Virginia Company was during this period a rallying point for the friends of civil and religious freedom, and the colony enjoyed the privilege, denied to the mother country, of holding a legislative assembly.

Yeardley finding a scarcity of corn, undertook to promote the cultivation of it, and this year was blessed with abundant crops of grain. But an extraordinary mortality carried off not less than three hundred of the people. Three thousand acres of land were allotted to the governor, and twelve thousand to the company. The Margaret, of Bristol, arrived with some settlers, and “also many devout gifts.” The Trial brought a cargo of corn and cattle. The expenditure of the Virginia Company at this period, on account of the colony, was estimated at between four and five thousand pounds a year.

A body of English Puritans, persecuted on account of their nonconformity, had, in 1608, sought an asylum in Holland. In 1617 they conceived the design of removing to America, and in 1619 they obtained from the Virginia Company, by the influence of Sir Edward Sandys, the treasurer, “a large patent,” authorizing them to settle in Virginia. They embarked in the latter part of the year 1620, in the Mayflower, intending to settle somewhere near the Hudson River, which lay within the Virginia Company’s territory. The Pilgrims were, however, conducted to the bleak and barren coast of Massachusetts, where they landed on the twenty-second day of December, (new style,) 1620, on the rock of Plymouth. Thus, thirteen years after the settlement of Jamestown, was laid the foundation of the New England States. The place of their landing was beyond the limits of the Virginia Company.

In the month of August, 1619, a Dutch man-of-war visited Jamestown and sold the settlers twenty negroes, the first introduced into Virginia. Some time before this, Captain Argall sent out, at the expense of the Earl of Warwick, on a “filibustering” cruise to the West Indies, a ship called the Treasurer, manned “with the ablest men in the colony,” under an old commission from the Duke of Savoy against the Spanish dominions in the western hemisphere. She returned to Virginia after some ten months, with her booty, which consisted of captured negroes, who were not left in Virginia, because Captain Argall had gone back to England, but were put on the Earl of Warwick’s plantation in the Somer Islands.

colonial beginnings

It is probable that the planters who purchased the negroes from the Dutch man-of-war reasoned but little on the morality of the act, or if any scruples of conscience presented themselves, they could be readily silenced by reflecting that the negroes were heathens, descendants of Ham, and consigned by Divine appointment to perpetual bondage. The planters may, if they reasoned at all on the subject, have supposed that they were even performing a humane act in releasing these Africans from the noisome hold of the ship. They might well believe that the condition of the negro slave would be less degraded and wretched in Virginia than it had been in their native country. This first purchase was probably not looked upon as a matter of much consequence, and for several ages the increase of the blacks in Virginia was so inconsiderable as not to attract any special attention. The condition of the white servants of the colony, many of them convicts, was so abject, that men, accustomed to see their own race in bondage, could look with more indifference at the worse condition of the slaves.

“cruel slave-trade” … elevating?

The negroes purchased by the slavers on the coast of Africa were brought from the interior, convicts sold into slavery, children sold by heathen parents destitute of natural affection, kidnapped villagers, and captives taken in war, the greater part of them born in hereditary bondage. The circumstances under which they were consigned to the slave-ship evince the wretchedness of their condition in their native country, where they were the victims of idolatry, barbarism, and war. The negroes imported were usually between the ages of fourteen and thirty, two-thirds of them being males. The new negro, just transferred from the wilds of a distant continent, was indolent, ignorant of the modes and implements of labor, and of the language of his master, and perhaps of his fellow-laborers. To tame and domesticate, to instruct in the modes of industry, and to reduce to subordination and usefulness a barbarian, gross, obtuse, perverse, must have demanded persevering efforts and severe discipline.

While the cruel slave-trade was prompted by a remorseless cupidity, an inscrutable Providence turned the wickedness of men into the means of bringing about beneficent results. The system of slavery, doubtless, entailed many evils on slave and slave-holder, and, perhaps, the greater on the latter. These evils are the tax paid for the elevation of the negro from his aboriginal condition.

Among the vessels that came over to Virginia from England, about this time, is mentioned a bark of five tons. A fleet sent out by the Virginia Company brought over, in 1619, more than twelve hundred settlers. The planters at length enjoyed the blessings of property in the soil, and the society of women. The wives were sold to the colonists for one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco, and it was ordered that this debt should have precedence of all others. The price of a wife afterwards became higher. The bishops in England, by the king’s orders, collected nearly fifteen hundred pounds to build a college or university at Henrico, intended in part for the education of Indian children.

In July, 1620, the population of the colony was estimated at four thousand. One hundred “disorderly persons” or convicts, sent over during the previous year by the king’s order, were employed as servants. For a brief interval the Virginia Company had enjoyed freedom of trade with the Low Countries, where they sold their tobacco; but in October, 1621, this was prohibited by an order in council; and from this time England claimed a monopoly of the trade of her plantations, and this principle was gradually adopted by all the European powers as they acquired transatlantic settlements.

The National Park Service at Fort Monroe is commemorating the First African Landing this weekend.

point of commemoration

According to the Encyclopedia Virginia, the Treasurer arrived in Virginia several days after the White Lion. Some of the Africans were apparently sold there, but most seem to have ended up in Bermuda.
From the Library of Congress: the first landing published in the January 1901 issue of Harper’s Monthly Magazine; contrabandenvelope; Fort Monroe NPS brochure in the tobacco field – said to be at Point Comfort in 1920; I don’t have any idea where that could have been on the peninsula
The two images of Africans being sold right off the boat come from U.S. History Images
DrStew82’s photo of the Virginia state historical marker is licensed under Creative Commons

at Point Comfort, 1920

Posted in 400 Years Ago, American History, Slavery, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

going way back

Posted on August 9, 2019 by SUMPTER

150 years ago Harper’s Weekly noticed some Civil War-related items that were associated with earlier times in American history. From its August 23, 1869 issue:

Unionist profiles

THE AMERICAN TRIUMVIRATE.

A MEDALLION has been recently published by W. MILLER & Co., Artists of Philadelphia, giving in a single view the heads of WASHINGTON, LINCOLN, and GRANT. The idea of combining these three heads in a single piece of art reflects a popular conception. WASHINGTON, LINCOLN, and GRANT were made Presidents at the three great critical eras of our history. WASHINGTON – the Virginian gentleman – is the characteristic representative of our colonial period. LINCOLN and GRANT belong to that new era in which the gigantic West plays so important a part. History will record that General GRANT was the guardian of our liberties even before he was called to the seat of Executive power. Truly WASHINGTON will ever stand upon record as the Father of his country, LINCOLN as its Savior, and Grant as its Preserver.

This medallion is of bronze, the heads being of life-size. It was privately presented to Mrs. General GRANT at Long Branch by ex-Secretary BORIE. Messrs. MILLER & Co. are executing a number of artistic pieces of this character, which are of great beauty and value.

rock solid

SOLDIERS’ MONUMENT AT PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS.

On Monday, August 9, the Soldiers’ Monument at Plymouth, Massachusetts, was dedicated. The location of a monument commemorative of the heroes of the war for the Union upon a spot which was nearly two hundred and fifty years ago rendered sacred by the landing of the Pilgrims makes this dedication an occasion of great popular interest; and we have, therefore, given an illustration of the monument on this page.

And it looks like the Plymouth monument is holding up quite well after all these years. In a post on August 30, 2015 at Historical Digression Patrick Browne describes the monument and includes a color photograph. Maine governor and Gettysburg hero Joshua Chamberlain gave the main speech. There’s a lot of symbolism at the top of the nearly 50 foot high statue: it is “crowned by an eagle with one foot on a serpent and another on a broken chain.” I’m pretty sure those were Abraham Lincoln’s goals by the end of the war: emancipating the slaves and preserving the Union against the rebels. At least early on some Confederates apparently adopted and adapted the rattlesnake or Gadsden flag, which was used by the American patriots during the Revolutionary War.

Another one of those amazing coincidences in life: a few days ago I was surprised to see what appeared to possibly be the rattlesnake flag combined with the Russian flag in a photo that was part of an article about protests in Moscow (The Economist July 27th 2019 page 42). It’s hard to be sure given the angle of the photo, but I think it is probably the flag of the Russian Libertarian party.

Alabama state flag 1861 (reverse)

rebels at Fort Moultrie, early 1861

flag of Libertarian Party of Russia

The first member of the American Triumvirate, George Washington, seems to have been on both sides of the snake issue. He was a leading rebel during the 1770’s but in 1787 was elected president of the Constitutional Convention in which each state gave up some of its sovereignty in order to create a stronger national government, and then in 1789 Mr. Washington was sworn in as the first president under that constitution.

correct date for pater

Mrs. Grant in profile

Thanksgiving in August? I got excited when I saw that image of re-enactors at the tercentenary pageant. Will there be a celebration for the 400th?
Of course this Harper’s material is going way back, even to the time before “0”. Ancient Rome had two famous triumvirates in the first century BCE. Unlike the American medallion, each Roman triumvirate was made up of contemporaries., but Caesar was a common theme – Julius and then his great-nephew Octavius in the second. Octavius became Augustus.
And there’s all that Latin. The Confederates used Noli Me Tangere for “Don’t Tread on Me”. According to Wikipedia the phrase is also used as the Latin translation of a bible verse, John 20:17.

render unto Caesar Augustus (c. 18 BC)

Plymouth Rock reunited

looking down on Plymouth, 1882 (Soldiers’ Monument – #7)

LeBeHa’s image of the Russia Libertarian party’s flag is licensed under Creative Commons. So is the image of the denarius by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. John O’Neill’s photo Plymouth Rock is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License. (Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. At the left of the rock can be seen where it was split in two in 1774, with the top part relocated to the town’s meetinghouse. The two parts were later rejoined in 1880, at which time the date 1620 was inscribed into the rock. Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA.) From the Library of Congress: Fort Moultrie, a detail from an image in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper from February 23, 1861 showing S.C. Governor Pickens’ wife and daughter visiting the fort; medallion; I’ve read that Julia Dent Grant always wanted her photographs taken in profile because of an eye problem; bird’s eye view of Plymouth; tercentenary. Fornax’s Alabama flag is in the public domain.

Plymouth, Mass. 1921

Posted in 150 Years Ago, 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, American History, Monuments and Statues, Postbellum Society | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

under the influence

Posted on July 20, 2019 by SUMPTER

150 years ago a newspaper doubted the truth of what it called a “verdict of Science” regarding earth’s next-door neighbor. From Harper’s Weekly May 22, 1869:

THE MOON’S INFLUENCE

WHATEVER be the influence exercised upon the earth by the varying positions of the planets, it is unquestionable that a very important effect is produced upon our orb by the changes in the position of our satellite the moon. That tiny orb, a mere speck compared with the larger planets, nevertheless by its nearness exerts an influence upon earth far greater than that produced by all the planets collectively. In old times it was never doubted that the moon greatly affected the superficial condition of our planet – not only as regards the weather, but also by more subtle forms of action. The words “lunatic” and “moon-struck” still exist to show this old belief – indicating the real or supposed effect of the moon’s action upon the cerebral or nervous organs of man. And in many of the old, indeed still prevalent, weather-proverbs, the belief in the influence of the moon upon the atmospheric conditions of our planet is abundantly shown. In recent times, Science has strongly combated [sic] this old belief; and some years ago it was authoritatively declared, as the verdict of Science, that the moon had no effect upon the weather at all. Now, even judging á priori, yet upon purely scientific grounds, this verdict of the savans might have safely been pronounced a mistake. Since the moon powerfully affects the ocean, the vast expanse of water which covers the larger part of the earth’s surface, producing the striking phenomenon of the tides – can it be doubted that lunar action does not equally, nay to a much greater extent, affect the still more mobile ocean of air (the atmosphere) which covers the whole surface of our planet? And if the moon produces tides and currents in the atmosphere, must it not to an important degree affect the weather, which is so largely dependent upon the currents, movements, and disturbances in the atmosphere?

full moons

In truth, although the recent dictum of Science ignoring the old belief, and denying that the moon has any influence on the weather, has not yet been formally revoked, it is easy to see that savans begin to falter in their doctrine. And well they may. A whole host of facts are arrayed against them. Professor Pidmieri [Luigi Palmieri], who has so closely studied the varying phenomena of Vesuvius, declares that there is a perceptible relation between the phases of the moon and the developments of volcanic action. Any one, too, who has lived in the south, or even sailed on the Mediterranean, may have noticed how carefully sleepers in the open air guard their head and face against the rays of the moon; he may even have seen instances of the injurious consequences (in the form of ophthalmia and other ills) which attend the neglect of such precautions. In India it is well known that meat exposed to the moon-rays immediately putrefies. Some of these facts indicate a lunar action more subtle than Science can as yet account for. But the moon’s influence on the weather is perfectly intelligible – on this ground, if no other, that it produces and tides and currents in the atmosphere just as it does in the less mobile ocean.

The subtlety might have to do with finding the right tool to measure. It seems like a big part of Science is its instruments and how powerful/sensitive they are. In 1609 Galileo Galilei adopted and adapted a Dutch telescope. “While not being the only one to observe the Moon through a telescope, Galileo was the first to deduce the cause of the uneven waning as light occlusion from lunar mountains and craters. In his study, he also made topographical charts, estimating the heights of the mountains. The Moon was not what was long thought to have been a translucent and perfect sphere, as Aristotle claimed …”

Telescopes have become more and more powerful. In Through the Telescope (1906) James Baikie presented quite detailed images of the moon, and he also gave Galileo his due:

… The man to whom the human race owes a debt of gratitude in connection with any great invention is not necessarily he who, perhaps by mere accident, may stumble on the principle of it, but he who takes up the raw material of the invention and shows the full powers and possibilities which are latent in it. In the present case there is one such man to whom, beyond all question, we owe the telescope as a practical astronomical instrument, and that man is Galileo Galilei. He himself admits that it was only after hearing, in 1609, that a Dutchman had succeeded in making such an instrument, that he set himself to investigate the matter, and produced telescopes ranging from one magnifying but three diameters up to the one with a power of thirty-three with which he made his famous discoveries; but this fact cannot deprive the great Italian of the credit which is undoubtedly his due. Others may have anticipated him in theory, or even to a small extent in practice, but Galileo first gave to the world the telescope as an instrument of real value in research.

The telescope with which he made his great discoveries was constructed on a principle which, except in the case of binoculars, is now discarded. It consisted of a double convex lens converging the rays of light from a distant object, and of a double concave lens, intercepting the convergent rays before they reach a focus, and rendering them parallel again … . His largest instrument, as already mentioned, had a power of only thirty-three diameters, and the field of view was very small. A more powerful one can now be obtained for a few shillings, or constructed, one might almost say, for a few pence; yet, as Proctor has observed: ‘If we regard the absolute importance of the discoveries effected by different telescopes, few, perhaps, will rank higher than the little tube now lying in the Tribune of Galileo at Florence.’

In his 1883 The Moon Reverend C.M. Westlake used evidence from the telescope to imagine traveling to and spending some time on the moon:

Apennines, Alps, and Caucasus. Paris Observatory.

… It is quite probable as the moon looks to-day so will it appear to observers thousands of years hence. An ideal view of the moon-world and its phenomena may be pleasing and profitable. We pass no planets or stars in our journey to the moon; for it is the nearest of the larger heavenly bodies. In imagination we traverse the 240,000 miles of space and stand at sunrise upon one of the mountain tops of the moon. Over head is a cloudless sky, of inky blackness; the background of countless brilliant stars, and of the earth, which is in appearance equal to many moons, and, when passing between the sun and the moon, is like a dark sphere in a circle of glittering gold and rubies. From the dark horizon, the sun suddenly darts his dazzling beams upon the tops of the mountains; yet for a time leaving the flanks and valleys still wrapped in total night. In the absence of air and vapor there is no gradual transition of night into day; no penciling streaks, no gilding and glowing, which make earth’s sunrise so beautiful; yet there is increase of illumination as more and more of the sun’s disk becomes visible above the horizon. The light, with a motion twenty-eight times slower than upon the earth, creeps down the mountain side, across the plain, and into the fearful blackness of the yawning crater.

Region of Maginus: Overlapping Craters. Paris Observatory.

Look where we may, we see vast regions of the wildest volcanic desolation, in which the ground is honey-combed with countless round pits or craters, some of them of immense depth and upward of four miles in diameter. On our right are steep gorges and precipitous chasms of appalling depth and blackness, and on our left cliffs, crags, and peaks tower far above us. We gaze upon the debris of long since expired volcanoes, but look in vain for a single vestige of past or present organic life. “No heaths or mosses soften the sharp edges and hard surfaces, no tints of cryptogamous or lichenous vegetation give a complexion of life to the hard fire-worn countenance of the scene. The whole landscape, as far as the eye can reach, is a realization of a fearful dream of desolation and lifelessness ; not a dream of death, for that implies evidence of pre-existing life, but a vision of a world upon which the light of life has never dawned.” In the midst of this dreary, desolate grandeur we look in vain for oceans, lakes, or seas; we listen in vain for the hum of industry or the sounds of wind or water, where there is no life to break the stillness, no breeze to murmur, “no brook to plash, no ocean to boom and foam.” Let this desolate, craggy, motionless world be filled with the activities of our own; and, in the absence of air, which is the medium of communication with the organs of hearing, it would still be a realm of dead silence. In vain would lips quiver and tongues essay to speak. The rattle of drums, the crash of musketry, the thunder of a thousand cannons would produce no sound in that airless world. At the close of the moon’s long day we see, in glorious perfection, the red protuberances, crimson flame billows, corona and zodiacal light of the sun; as during the day we may have seen its spots and faculae. During the lunar night periods of twenty-four hours each can be marked off by the successive reappearances of certain surface features of our globe. The positions of the constellations can be used for a similar purpose. Occasionally comets are seen in all their glory. The planets appear regularly every night; but meteors are never seen. Yet meteoric particles, sometimes singly and sometimes in showers, frequently smite the face of the moon. They meet with no resisting atmosphere, to melt them by its heat or break the velocity of their descent. These particles, under their initial velocity and the moon’s attraction, crush into its surface with a force greater than that of a cannon ball striking a target. Kepler, though forced to abandon the theory after measuring the dimensions of some of the moon’s craters, at first thought that they were artificial excavations in which the inhabitants sheltered themselves during the long and scorching days. They would be no less necessary as a protection from this bombardment of meteoric particles than from the frightful extremes of heat and cold.

the old gray mares (or maria)

Key to Chart of Moon. Nasmyth and Carpenter.
(to the left)

earthrise from Apollo 10

To get back to the 1869 Harper’s editorial, on February 2, 2016 at The Weather Channel reported on a scientific study that found that the moon does have a (very tiny) affect on earth’s rainfall:
“‘To the best of our knowledge, this phenomenon was predicted by the classical tidal theory, and there were actually some meteorologists who tried to detect it before (using station data, not satellites), but we are the first to convincingly demonstrate that the effect is actually there and is detectable, using satellite data,’ Tsubasa Kohyama, lead author of the study, told weather.com in an email.”
It does seem that scientific truths can change over time and scientific instruments play a part in that.
But the main thing I want to say is that I’m thankful that I could watch so much of the space program as a little kid growing up, and Apollo 11 was definitely the apex of that. I don’t have vivid memories of the details, but I could and did stay up for those first two humans stepping out on the lunar surface.
Apparently Luigi Palmieri had a crater on the moon named for him; the crater floor “has been flooded with lava.”

Eagle from Columbia

Buzz Aldrin salutes Old Glory

and we were there

From Wikimedia: newspaper; plaque. From the Library of Congress: full moons from about 1898, the photographs were taken a month apart. The howling wolf is from clker.com, and I got earthrise from Apollo 10 at WPClipart
Rev. C.M. Westlake’s The Moon is available at the Internet Archive
You can read Through the Telescope at Project Gutenberg. All the black and white images of the moon except for the two full moons come from his book. The lunar chart indicates that the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11’s Eagle landed at 20:17:40 UTC on Sunday July 20, 1969. “Mare Tranquilitatis” is about center left.

historical marker

in black and white

Posted in 150 Years Ago, Technology | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

fake views?

Posted on July 4, 2019 by SUMPTER

In its July 3, 1869 issue Harper’s Weekly presented a couple iconic images from the American independence movement during the 1770’s.

“proclaim liberty”

the British are shooting

The incident Paul Revere depicted did not happen in 1775. The Boston Massacre “was a confrontation on March 5, 1770 in which British soldiers shot and killed several people while being harassed by a mob in Boston.” Although it got the date wrong, Harper’s Weekly refrained from calling the incident a massacre. The engraving seems to imply that a British commander gave the order to fire, but there was no evidence of that. Unlike Harper’s, Wikipedia doesn’t mention British soldiers killing a number of colonists before March 5th, but on February 22, 1770 a customs house employee did kill an eleven year old boy. Tensions increased between then and March 5th.

rule of law and no standing armies

Later in the year eight British soldiers were tried in Boston for the murder of the citizens back in March. John Adams and Josiah Quincy II defended them. The jury only found two of the eight guilty – of manslaughter. They received greatly reduced sentences. The others were acquitted.

Wikipedia quoted John Adams on his role in the trial:

The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right. This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest Proofs of the Danger of Standing Armies.

— John Adams, on the third anniversary of the massacre

And indeed John Adams was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted (by twelve of thirteen colonies) 243 years ago today.

good memory

reminisce

Harper’s on Boston incident

According to front pages from The New-York Times, that city didn’t officially celebrate Independence 150 years ago today. It was like Decoration Day. July 4, 1868 also fell on a Sunday. The paper’s July 5th edition noted that New York had filled up during the past 48 hours with visitors from the “neighboring country,” and it listed all the scheduled events for July 5th. In its July 6th issue the Times reported that the metropolis celebrated “with much less of the sound and fury” as was usual. There were few deaths. People seemed more reserved when they considered the sacrifices of the nation’s founders.

The New-York Times
July 6, 1869

generation gap?

“Independence Hall in 1776”

The images of Independence Hall and The Pennsylvania Gazette and the portrait of John Adams come from Signers of the Declaration, a National Park Service publication from 1973. You can find it at Project Gutenberg. The John Adams biography began:
Few men contributed more to U.S. Independence than John Adams, the “Atlas of American Independence” in the eyes of fellow signer Richard Stockton. A giant among the Founding Fathers, Adams was one of the coterie of leaders who generated the American Revolution, for which his prolific writings provided many of the politico-philosophical foundations. Not only did he help draft the Declaration, but he also steered it through the Continental Congress.
Fact checking for the history of the  Declaration of Independence might have been pretty challenging. The National Parks Service publication explained the timing of some of the Declaration events:
On July 2, 1776 the Continental Congress voted for independence. For the remainder of July 2 and continuing until the 4th, Congress weighed and debated the content of the Declaration of Independence, which the drafting committee had submitted on June 28. Its author was young Thomas Jefferson, who had been in Congress about a year.
Congress altered the final draft considerably. Most of the changes consisted of refinements in phraseology. Two major passages, however, were deleted. The first, a censure of the people of Great Britain, seemed harsh and needless to most of the Delegates. The second, an impassioned condemnation of the slave trade, offended Southern planters as well as New England shippers, many of whom were as culpable as the British in the trade.
On July 4 all the Colonies except New York voted to adopt the Declaration. Congress ordered it printed and distributed to colonial officials, military units, and the press. John Hancock and Charles Thomson, President and Secretary of Congress respectively, were the only signers of this broadside copy. On July 8, outside the Pennsylvania State House, the document was first read to the public.

the freſheſt declaration

“Four days after obtaining New York’s approval of the Declaration on July 15, Congress ordered it engrossed on parchment for signature. At this time, indicative of unanimity, the title was changed from “A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress Assembled” to “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.”
Contrary to a widespread misconception, the 56 signers did not sign as a group and did not do so on July 4, 1776. The official event occurred on August 2, 1776, when 50 men probably took part. Later that year, five more apparently signed separately and one added his name in a subsequent year. Not until January 18, 1777, in the wake of Washington’s victories at Trenton and Princeton, did Congress, which had sought to protect the signers from British retaliation for as long as possible, authorize printing of the Declaration with all their names listed. At this time, Thomas McKean had not yet penned his name.
The publication’s forward was written by Richard M. Nixon, the United States president in 1973 :
“As we approach the two hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, each of us is stirred by the memory of those who framed the future of our country.”
“In the coming years we will have many opportunities to refresh our understanding of what America means, but none can mean more than personal visits to the sites where freedom was forged and our founding fathers actually made the decisions which have stood the severest tests of time.”
“I remember my reactions, for example, when I visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1972 to sign the new revenue sharing legislation. Walking into the building where that small group of patriots gathered some two centuries ago, I thought back to what it must have been like when the giants of our American heritage solemnly committed themselves and their children to liberty. The dilemmas they faced, the uncertainties they felt, the ideals they cherished—all seemed more alive to me than ever before, and I came away with an even stronger appreciation for their courage and their vision.”
“As people from all over the world visit the places described in this valuable book, they, too, will feel the excitement of history and relive in their minds the beginnings of a great Nation.”
“I commend this book to your attention and encourage all people, Americans and foreigners alike, to make a special effort to visit our historic sites during these Bicentennial years.”
“The White House
Washington, D.C.
(signature)
Richard Nixon”
I’m pretty sure President Nixon faced uncertainties and dilemmas in 1973; he wouldn’t be president in the Bicentennial year.
The NPS book included the engraving of March 5, 1770 that Harper’s Weekly used in 1869: “The Revolutionaries utilized this exaggerated version of the Boston Massacre (1770) by Paul Revere to nourish resentment of British troops.
All the Harper’s Weekly material from 1869 can be found at the Internet Archive. From the Library of Congress – the engraving, “A sensationalized portrayal of the skirmish, later to become known as the “Boston Massacre,” between British soldiers and citizens of Boston on March 5, 1770.” According to Wikipedia, “This famous depiction of the event was engraved by Paul Revere (copied from an engraving by Henry Pelham), colored by Christian Remick, and printed by Benjamin Edes”; Boston Commons monument
I added more information from Robert Middlekauff’s book on July 8, 2019.
July 9, 2019: I learned about the medial S at onlinewritingjobs; in A World on Fire Amanda Foreman writes about and pictures Charles Francis Adams and his sons Charles Jr. and Henry. “Though [Charles Sr.] was dutiful, honest, and hardworking, his family legacy cast a shadow over his entire life. ‘Charles Francis Adams naturally looked on all British [statesmen] as enemies,’ wrote Henry Adams.”[1]

code red

July 4th … or 5th

July 5, 2019: Any possible blue-gray connection? Well, not only was John Adams’ son John Quincy Adams the sixth United States president, he “became an important antislavery voice in the Congress” from 1831 until his death in 1848. John Q.’s son Charles Francis Adams Sr. served as United states minister to Britain from 1861-1868 and ran as the vice-presidential candidate on the Free Soil ticket in 1848. His son Charles Francis Adams Jr. served in a couple Massachusetts cavalry regiments from December 1861 until the end of the Civil War. His brother Henry was Charles Sr.’s personal secretary in London.

Front pages from The New-York Times during the first week in July were silent about Independence Day (although Jack Dempsey did win the World Heavyweight championship on the 4th by defeating Jess Willard in three rounds in Toledo, Ohio.) New Yorkers were gazing up in the sky again. And the British really were coming. The R34 was a dirigible and “became the first aircraft to make an east to west transatlantic flight in July 1919 and, with the return flight made the first two-way crossing.” One American, representing the U.S. Navy, was aboard.

__________________________________________

The New-York Times
July 3, 1919

The New-York Times
July 7, 1919

The New-York Times
July 10, 1919

____________________________

Back to the massacre. According to Robert Middlekauff, what happened on March 5, 1770 “does not seem to have been the result of a plot or plan on either side, but rather the consequence of deep hatreds and bad luck. The hatreds brought out roving bands of civilians and soldiers, all apparently in search of one another.” When British Captain Preston decided he had to rescue Private White, who was guarding the customshouse, he marched with six privates and a corporal to the confrontation. The crowd filled in behind the British detachment and surrounded it. Mr. Middlekauff wrote that Captain Preston made two understandable mistakes: “He did not immediately order the guard to march back up the street with White; instead he shifted its alignment from a column of twos to a single line, a rough semi-circle, facing out from the customshouse. And he ordered his men to load their muskets.”[2]

at Boston Common

  1. [1]Foreman, Amanda A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War. New York: Random House, 2010. Print. photos between pages 178 and 179.↩
  2. [2]Middlekauff, Robert The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution 1763-1789. New York Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Print. pages 203-205.↩
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Bullets Met at Gettysburg

Posted on July 2, 2019 by SUMPTER

work in progress – officially dedicated

On the sixth anniversary of Day 1 of the Battle of Gettysburg a monument in the National Cemetery on the battlefield was dedicated. The Soldiers’ National Monument hadn’t been quite completed, but a reported 15,000 people showed up for the ceremony. A United States Senator from Indiana, Oliver P. Morton, delivered the main address. A weekly newspaper quoted about three paragraphs of his lengthy speech: the surrender of Vicksburg on the day after Gettysburg was devastating to the Confederacy; the rebels might have lost their cause because of character defects; both the Northern and Southern soldiers were brave, and the dead are mourned both sides of Mason-Dixon. The article included the last paragraph of the Gettysburg Address, which inspired the first stanza of a poem written and recited for the occasion. Next the newspaper quoted from a travel magazine’s piece about Gettysburg. The journalist apparently got involved a little bit in what had become an important business for the town.

From the July 17, 1869 issue of Harper’s Weekly:

THE GETTYSBURG MONUMENT.

On the 1st of July the Monument erected by the loyal States to the memory of those who perished on the battlefield of Gettysburg was formally dedicated. It is erected in the cemetery in which the soldiers were buried where they fell. Fifteen thousand people were present at this dedication.

agony in the orange groves, too

The Rev. HENRY WARD BEECHER made the opening prayer. General MEADE made an appropriate speech, recalling the history of the battle. An address was read by Senator O.P. MORTON. He gave an eloquent review of the progress which Freedom has made during the last decade on both continents. He spoke of that 4th of July, 1863, as the most memorable since 1776. It was not only a day of victory in the East. “On another field it witnessed the surrender of another large rebel army to the great chieftain of the war, now our illustrious President. The captured of Vicksburg opened the navigation of the Mississippi River, and severed from the Confederacy all that part of its territory lying west of that river. The loss to the Confederacy was irreparable. It was cut off from its chief source of supplies. The limits of the war were greatly circumscribed. The mass of the rebel population was demoralized, and began to despair. From that day it became manifest that the rebellion could not succeed unless the Southern people exhibited that endurance, patience under adversity, and high devotion that will sacrifice every thing for the cause, which, as it turned out, they did not possess. By our victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg the rebellion lost its prestige in Europe and all hopes of foreign intervention.”

“At the foot of this Monument,” he continued, “sleep the heroes of the battle. Here lie the father, the husband, the brother and the only son. In far off homes, among the hills of New England, on the shores of the lakes and in the valleys and plains of the West, the widow, the orphan, and the aged parent are weeping for these beloved dead. Many of the tombs are marked “unknown,” but they will all be recognized on the morning of the resurrection. The unknown dead left behind them kindred, friends, and breaking hearts. None die so humble but leave some one to mourn. ‘Perished at Gettysburg, in defense of their country,’ 979 men, of whose names, homes, or lineage, there is no trace left on earth. Doubtless the Recording Angel has preserved the record, and when the books are opened on the last day their names will be found in letters of living light, on the immortal page of heroes who died that their country might live.

“In the fields before us are the graves of the rebel dead, now sunk to the level of the plain, ‘unmarked, unhonored, and unknown.’ They were our countrymen, of our blood, language, and history. They displayed a courage worthy of their country and of a better cause, and we may drop a tear to their memory. The news of this fatal field carried agony to thousands of Southern homes, and the wail of despair was heard in the everglades and orange groves of the South. Would to God that these men had died for their country, and not in fratricidal strife for its destruction. Oh, who can describe the wickedness of rebellion, or paint the horrors of civil war!”

war and peace, plenty and history

The monument is sixty feet in height. It consists of a massive pedestal twenty-five feet square at the base, crowned with a colossal statue representing the Genius of Liberty. Standing upon a three-quarters globe, she holds in her right hand the victor’s wreath of laurel, while with her left hand she clasps the sheathed sword through whose uncovered power the victory was won. Projecting from the angles of the pedestal are four buttresses supporting an equal number of allegorical statues, representing respectively War, History, Peace, and Plenty. War is personified by a statue of the American soldier, who, resting from the conflict, relates to History the story of the battle, which the monument is intended to commemorate. History, in a listening attitude, records, with stylus and tablet, the achievement of the field and the names of the honored dead. Peace is symbolized by a statue of the American mechanic characterized by appropriate accessories. Plenty is represented by a female figure with a sheaf of wheat and fruits of the earth, typifying peace and abundance as the soldier’s crowning triumph. The monument was designed by JAMES G. BATTERSON, of Hartford, Connecticut. The statues are of Carrara marble, and were executed in Italy.

It is impossible, in connection with this dedication, to forget the 19th of November, 1863, when President LINCOLN, standing upon the battle-field, delivered that short but memorable address, which will forever be associated with the greatest victory of the war. “In a larger sense,” he said, “we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

BAYARD TAYLOR, in the opening passage of his poem repeated by him on the occasion of the dedication, beautifully alludes to this address:

After the eyes that looked, the lips that spake
Here, from the shadows of impending death,
Those words of solemn breath,
What voice may fitly break
The silence, doubly hallowed, left by him!
We can but bow the head, with eyes grown dim.
And, as a Nation’s litany, repeat
The phrase his martyrdom hath made complete,
Noble as then, but now more sadly sweet:
“Let us, the Living, rather dedicate
Ourselves to the unfinished work, which they
Thus far advanced so nobly on its way,
And save the periled State!
Let us, upon this field where they, the brave,
Their last full measure of devotion gave,
Highly resolve they have not died in vain!
That, under God, the Nation’s later birth
Of Freedom, and the People’s gain
Of their own Sovereignty, shall never wane
And perish from the circle of the earth!”
From such a perfect text, shall Song aspire
To light its faded fire, –
And into wandering music turn
Its virtue, simple, sorrowful, and stern!
His voice all elegies anticipated:
For, whatsoe’er the strain,
We hear that one refrain,
“We consecrate ourselves to them, the Consecrated!”

consecrated

THE BATTLE-FIELD.

A correspondent of the Boston Traveller has recently visited the battle-field of Gettysburg, and writes as follows:

On Seminary Ridge the trees and fences are shattered and riddled, showing plainly how fierce was the contest where the fight began. Here we found two bullets, one driven into the other so far that they could not be pulled apart. The supposition is that a Union and a rebel sharp-shooter aimed so accurately for each other, and fired at so near the same time, that the bullets met, and one being a little more dense than the other, pierced the one coming from the opposite direction. Both fell, of course, to the ground, and thus prevented the death of both the marksmen, which must have been the result had the bullets merely grazed each other.
When we spoke of this curiosity at the hotel a whole army of relic speculators wished to purchase it. Doubtless the sum which we received for it was trebled when sold to the memento seekers who frequent the town. These speculators do a thriving business in the relic line, and have every thing to sell from a 100-pound shell to the smallest wares of the toy-shop, all in some way connected with the battle.
Canes cut from Culp’s Hill or Little Round Top are for sale in many shop-windows, and if the purchaser is a little incredulous and inclined to doubt that the canes came from those places, they will march out with him, take any sapling he may select, and make it into a cane in a remarkably short space of time. This business has become one of great importance to Gettysburg, and it is proposed to introduce machinery for the manufacture of toys from the battle-field wood.

unified bullets found on Seminary Ridge

historic preservation

pickers charge

The traces which we found of the fight along the front of Hancock’s and Sedgwick’s line – except in the blasted peach orchard – were not very distinct, owing to the growing fields of grain and the repairs which have been put upon the few farm-houses. But the graves of the rebel dead are there, dotting the fields for miles around. In one or two places the bones were sticking out, but generally their graves were covered with clover, and had none of that barbarously neglected appearance they have in the South.
At Little Round Top the bullet scars are still visible on the rocks, while several large flat stones near which officers were killed have been engraved with their names and and the date of their death. The stone-wall which the troops threw up as a breast-work is still entire, and the trees have not yet outgrown their wounds.

Our illustrations on pages 456 and 457 are mainly from sketches by THEODORE R. DAVIS.

One of our pictures represents the Gettysburg Spring. The curative properties of the spring were first brought prominently into notice in connection with the battle. The rebels were encamped about it, and their sick drank of its water and experienced relief. Adjoining the illustration of the spring we give another representing the Gettysburg Springs Hotel. This hotel is situated on the battle-field, one and one-half miles west of Gettysburg, near the spot where General REYNOLDS fell. This hotel has been built since the middle of February last, by a company composed of the members of the Gettysburg Springs Company and the most prominent citizens of the town. It is in every respect commodious, well appointed, and furnished with all the modern improvements. The scenery about it is of unrivaled beauty.

to your health

Harper’s Weekly returned to Gettysburg in its next issue, providing more information about the army of urchins selling battlefield relics, Culp’s Hill, the spot where General John F. Reynolds was killed, and Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed during the three day battle on July 3rd.

Harper’s Weekly
July 24, 1869

article concluded

Jennie Wade

______________

reliquary

catalogued

Wikipedia points out that are several versions of the Gettysburg Address that differ slightly.
All the 1869 Harper’s Weekly material is at the Internet Archive
You can read all the words spoken during the monument dedication at HathiTrust. General Meade did a good job. His remarks were only slightly shorter than Reverend Beecher’s opening prayer. Before unveiling the statue the general also touched on the grief Southerners had for their war dead, thanked God for the victory that “settled forever the trust in this country of the great principles of personal liberty and constitutional freedom,” and called for the proper burial of rebels at Gettysburg and all the other battlefields. General Meade also mentioned General Reynolds, “my bosom friend, as well as my right-hand officer”
One of the highlights of the Civil War 150th was looking at all the great Hal Jespersen battle maps. Gettysburg day 1 Map by Hal Jespersen, www.posix.com/CW is licensed by Creative Commons.
From the Library of Congress: Oliver P. Morton; the photograph of the Soldiers’ Monument from Gettysburg; the pictures and the story, c1911 (I don’t think the Genius of Liberty has a flag in her left hand. I checked it out at Stone Sentinels, which says it’s a sword.); the three generals and cemetery overview are from the same book; relics catalogued; Jennie Wade; National Park Service brochure

three Union generals

120 years after battle

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Battle Monuments, Battlefields, Civil War Cemeteries, Monuments and Statues, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Summer of Peace”

Posted on June 23, 2019 by SUMPTER

just a shadow of its future self

150 years ago this week a National Peace Jubilee was held in Boston, Massachusetts at the Coliseum, a temporary structure built especially for the Jubilee. In its May 22, 1869 issue Harper’s Weekly anticipated the big event:

THE NATIONAL PEACE JUBILEE BUILDING, BOSTON.

OUR illustration of this building on page 328 shows its present condition. The musical festival for which it is being constructed will be held in Boston next June, beginning on the 15th, and lasting during [f]ive days. The Coliseum, as this building is called, has been roofed, and the labor of finishing and decorating the interior has been commenced. Over twenty-seven thousand dollars have been subscribed in advance for tickets of admission. Arrangements have been made for the comfortable shelter of the thousands of strangers who are expected to visit Boston during the Jubilee week.

“mammoth oratorio chorus” practicing

Messrs. E. & G.G. HOOK, organ builders, of Boston, have contracted to furnish a large and powerful organ for the Coliseum, to be used at the National Peace Jubilee. It is intended that the instrument shall be one of such strength and power as shall sustain the vast chorus and orchestra, and fill the building with sound. The great chorus, the largest the world has ever seen, is now full, and the orchestral ranks are rapidly filling up, The superintendent of the chorus, Mr. E. TOURJEE, has found it necessary to issue a circular stating that no more choral organizations can be accepted, and that societies already accepted must make no more additions to their numbers. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, it is said, is to write a hymn to be sung by the grand chorus.

Harper’s Weekly’s coverage of the Jubilee in its July 3, 1869 issue also covered the city of Boston:

BOSTON AND THE PEACE JUBILEE.

WE publish this week several illustrations connected with Boston, to which attention has lately been attracted by the mammoth Jubilee. Not the least interesting of these is the photographic view of the city reproduced in our double-page cut.

the big noisy –

a well-watered city

__________________________

[The paper reviewed Boston’s history from its founding in 1630. “In the opening scenes of the Revolution Boston took a more prominent part than any city in the Colonies.” Boston developed commercial ties all over the world; it had a world class harbor.]

chief music-makers

Boston has made more noise than any city in the Union. It is the first article of the creed of Boston thinkers that that city is the centre of human civilization – that Boston is the “hub of the Universe.” Now that she has had the biggest concert of all history – we refer to the recent Musical Jubilee – she will henceforth consider herself as the centre of “music of the spheres.” We expected to hear the “anvil chorus” in New York, but were disappointed. Still, the Jubilee was a great success. The programme was carried out without difficulty. The rendering of the symphonies and the oratorio music was excellent, and the grand chorus was a remarkable success. We give portraits on this page of CARL ZERAHN, conductor of the symphony and oratorio music, and also of EBEN TOURJEE, the organizer of the choruses.

In connection with this Jubilee one thing is noticeable – and that is the death which occurred on the 17th. In the ancient theatres, where over 30,000 were assembled, both births and deaths were of frequent occurrence. It is not wonderful, therefore, that in an assemblage of sixty thousand there should have been a single death.

Well, the Jubilee is over. It is now a part of the history of noise-making Boston. Our artist, Mr. BUSH, has on page 420 illustrated the finale of the whole affair.

they had the music in them

According to front pages of The New-York Times President Grant (“Let us have peace” was part of his Republican presidential nomination acceptance letter in 1868) attended the Jubilee, I think on the second day, and then visited a couple other Massachusetts cities – Worcester and Springfield – before returning to the White House. According to shmoop Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. did write a poem for the festival. A Hymn of Peace was performed on the first day, set to Matthias Keller’s “American Hymn.”

by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

The New-York Times
June 16, 1869

The New-York Times
June 17, 1869

__________________________

In its coverage Harper’s Weekly included another poem, apparently recited on the first day. This one was written by Susan J. Adams and began with the quote from Abraham Lincoln about “the mystic cords of memory” and “the better angels of our nature.” For the poet “The Northern Lights are blending With the rays of the Southern Cross” “And the Summer of Peace is come!”

big music

completed Coliseum

“Feet shod swift for destruction
Now tread the paths of peace”

a really big show

Harper’s Weekly

June 26, 1869

_______________________________________

The shmoop link alludes to it. 100 years later another monster musical festival was held. It was also dedicated to peace, and whatever structures were needed were also temporary. But the 1969 show wasn’t performed in an urban setting – it was held on a 600 acre dairy farm in New York State. Although there was a lot of music spread over three or four days, somehow I don’t think the Anvil Chorus featured prominently. According to Wikipedia, in an audience of over 400,000 there were two births, two deaths, and four miscarriages during Woodstock.

Swami Satchidananda’s opening invocation, an OM of peace

big sound without big organ

a more permanent structure

You can find the peace poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes at Project Gutenberg. The Woodstock images are from the Wikipedia article: Mark Goff’s photo of Swami Satchidananda – you can read more about him at his website; Woodstock Whisperer’s picture of Joe Cocker performing is licensed by Creative Commons; the commemorative plaque. All the Harper’s Weekly material is from 1869 and can be found at the Internet Archive. From the Library of Congress: rehearsal from the June 5, 1869 issues of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper; the big crowd, completed Coliseum, and the big bass drum

and the beat goes on

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prize fliers

Posted on June 15, 2019 by SUMPTER

World War I was disruptive, and while it was a boon to aviation, it caused the postponement of an aerial competition. In 1913 the Daily Mail offered a prize of £10,000 to “the aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane in flight from any point in the United States of America, Canada or Newfoundland to any point in Great Britain or Ireland in 72 continuous hours.” The contest was back on after the Armistice was signed. There were at least a couple serious attempts in May 1919, but the prize wasn’t won until the next month. Between June 14 and June 15, 1919 two British citizens, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown, successfully made the first non-stop transatlantic flight by flying from Newfoundland to Ireland in about sixteen hours.

The New York Times June 15, 1919

The New York Times June 16, 1919

Wikipedia describes the crossing:

“SLOW RISING NEARLY CAUSED DISASTER AT THE START OF THE GREAT FLIGHT”

It was not an easy flight. The overloaded aircraft had difficulty taking off the rough field and only barely missed the tops of the trees. At 17:20 the wind-driven electrical generator failed, depriving them of radio contact, their intercom and heating. An exhaust pipe burst shortly afterwards, causing a frightening noise which made conversation impossible without the failed intercom.

At 5.00 p.m., they had to fly through thick fog. This was serious because it prevented Brown from being able to navigate using his sextant. Blind flying in fog or cloud should only be undertaken with gyroscopic instruments, which they did not have. Alcock twice lost control of the aircraft and nearly hit the sea after a spiral dive. He also had to deal with a broken trim control that made the plane become very nose-heavy as fuel was consumed.

At 12:15 a.m., Brown got a glimpse of the stars and could use his sextant, and found that they were on course.Their electric heating suits had failed, making them very cold in the open cockpit.

Then at 3:00am they flew into a large snowstorm. They were drenched by rain, their instruments iced up, and the plane was in danger of icing and becoming unflyable.The carburettors also iced up; it has been said that Brown had to climb out onto the wings to clear the engines, although he made no mention of that.

They made landfall in County Galway, crash-landing at 8:40 a.m. on 15 June 1919, not far from their intended landing place, after less than sixteen hours’ flying time. The aircraft was damaged upon arrival because of an attempt to land on what appeared from the air to be a suitable green field, but which turned out to be Derrygilmlagh Bog, near Clifden in County Galway in Ireland …

“THE TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT ENDED WITH A CRASH IN AN IRISH BOG”

The aviators were not hurt in the crash. However, John Alcock was killed on December 18, 1919 when the new Vickers amphibious aircraft he was piloting crashed in a fog. He was headed to Paris for an aeronautical exhibition. In his 1920 book Flying the Atlantic in Sixteen Hours (at Project Gutenberg) Sir Arthur Whitten Brown described the prize-winning flight, discussed the navigation of aircraft, and analyzed the possibilities of commercial transatlantic aviation. After the transatlantic flight and initial celebratory activities the aviators needed a good night sleep. Sir Whitten Brown described a phenomenon that is certainly still a part of air travel. Nowadays people call it jet lag:

CHART OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC SHOWING COURSE OF THE FLIGHT

The wayside gatherings seemed especially unreal—almost as if they had been scenes on the film. By some extraordinary method of news transmission the report of our arrival had spread all over the district, and in many districts between Clifden and Galway curious crowds had gathered. Near Galway we were stopped by another automobile, in which was Major Mays of the Royal Aëro Club, whose duty it was to examine the seals on the Vickers-Vimy, thus making sure that we had not landed in Ireland in a machine other than that in which we left Newfoundland. A reception had been prepared at Galway; but our hosts, realizing how tired we must be, considerately made it a short and informal affair. Afterwards we slept—for the first time in over forty hours.

Alcock and I awoke to find ourselves in a wonderland of seeming unreality—the product of violent change from utter isolation during the long flight to unexpected contact with crowds of people interested in us.

To begin with, getting up in the morning, after a satisfactory sleep of nine hours, was strange. In our eastward flight of two thousand miles we had overtaken time, in less than the period between one sunset and another, to the extent of three and a half hours. Our physical systems having accustomed themselves to habits regulated by the clocks of Newfoundland, we were reluctant to rise at 7 A. M.; for subconsciousness suggested that it was but 3:30 A. M.

This difficulty of adjustment to the sudden change in time lasted for several days. Probably it will be experienced by all passengers traveling on the rapid trans-ocean air services of the future—those who complete a westward journey becoming early risers without effort, those who land after an eastward flight becoming unconsciously lazy in the mornings, until the jolting effect of the dislocation wears off, and habit has accustomed itself to the new conditions.

HOT COFFEE WAS TAKEN ABOARD

THE MEN WHO WORKED WITHOUT GLORY TO MAKE THE FLIGHT POSSIBLE

SHIPPING THE FIRST DIRECT TRANSATLANTIC AIR MAIL

Wikipedia referenced the section I quoted at The Aviation History Online Museum,Flightglobal, and ireland.com
All the images with the all-caps captions come from Sir Arthur Whitten Brown’s book. The page from the New York Tribune can be found at the Library of Congress. The Trib really exaggerated the size of the prize. The bottom of the page shows some usually earth-bound vehicles that were approaching the Vicker-Vimy speed at times.

New York Tribune June 22, 1919

THE LATE CAPT. SIR JOHN ALCOCK JUST BEFORE STARTING

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a patriotic peace

Posted on June 14, 2019 by admin

This year I’m reading a book published in 1945. In this morning’s selection author Daniel Russell wondered if war was ever worth it. World War I showed that “[t]here is small place for flags and bugles.” He reviewed the horrors of the Second War that was then torturing the world. And then:

“Let us have peace.”

Since men go to war in the name of patriotism, it is well to remember what patriotism is and what it is not. Tolstoi believed that hate and contempt for others was inherent in it, and so he hated it. What he hated, in reality, was nationalism overemphasized and on the wrong track.

Patriotism is love of country.

It is the love of country expressing itself in service.

It dedicates itself to the prevention and final abolition of war.

It thrills to the war drums when they must be beaten, but it joins in the words spoken by an American soldier, words whose simplicity does not disguise the hatred of war born in the speaker’s own experience of it through the grim years of strife: “Let us have peace.”[1]

Flag Day Exercises, 1919

From the Library of Congress: General Grant; 1919 Flag Day exercises (Vice-President Marshall in dark suit with bow-tie); at the D.C. Post Office
I thought I was onto something unique, but I just found out you can buy Mr. Russell’s book on Amazon

Washington, D.C. Post-office
Flag day 1913

  1. [1]Russell, Daniel Meditations for Men Brief Studies of Religion and Life. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1945. Print. page 268.↩
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