Blue Gray Review | American Civil War more or less

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 400 Years Ago, Fort Monroe, Jamestown, John Rolfe, Poiint Comfort, Slavery, Virginia Colony | 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 Abraham Lincoln, Adolph Edward Borie, Gadsen flag, George Washington, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Plymouth Massachusetts, Ulysses S. Grant | 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 Apollo 11, Galileo Galilei, Luigi Palmieri, the moon, the telescope | 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]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]Middlekauff, Robert The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution 1763-1789. New York Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Print. pages 203-205.↩

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, American History | Tagged Boston Massacre, Declaration of Independence, Independence Day, John Adams, Liberty Bell, Paul Revere, propaganda | Leave a comment

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 Abraham Lincoln, Battle of Gettysburg, Bayard Taylor, Carrara marble, Civil War Monuments, George Gordon Meade, Gettysburg, Gettysburg Address, Henry Ward Beecher, James Goodwin Batterson, Oliver Hazard Perry Morton, Theodore R. Davis | 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

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Aftermath, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction | Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Boston, Carl Zerahn, Eben Tourjée, National Peace Jubilee, National Peace Jubilee 1869, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Sri Swami Satchidananda, Susan J. Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, Woodstock 1969 | Leave a comment

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

Posted in 100 Years Ago, Technology, World War I | Tagged Arthur Whitten Brown, First Transatlantic Flight, John Alcock, Transatlantic flight | Leave a comment

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

Posted in Aftermath, American History, American Society | Tagged Flag Day, Ulysses S. Grant | Leave a comment

more trans in transportation

Posted on June 7, 2019 by SUMPTER

Our society seems to like historical anniversaries ^[1], so I wondered if May 1919 headlines in The New York Times would mention the 50th anniversary of the completion of the United States’ First Transcontinental Railroad. I searched in vain. Certainly there were many momentous events in the aftermath of World War I, but I didn’t even notice a little blurb on the margins, such as “The Golden Spike fifty years on. See Page B2.”

However, the Times did observe another historical anniversary – on the fourth anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, the United States and its allies imposed its peace on Germany, despite German protests. As the month of May wore on there were a few minor negotiations about the proposed treaty terms.

unforgiveable

The New York Times
May 8, 1919

The New York Times
May 10, 1919

_______________________________

And the newspaper was keenly interested in another feat of transportation technology – the first transatlantic airplane flight. It was quite a competition. The first success was a flight with many legs and with several men on-board. In fact, it was very much an organizational effort. The NC-4 was one of three seaplanes started by the United States Navy. Many ships were out in the ocean trying to keep track of the planes.

The New York Times
May 11, 1919

Wikipedia summarizes, the NC-4’s accomplishment:

First transatlantic flight
On 8–31 May 1919, the U.S. Navy Curtiss NC-4 flying boat under the command of Albert Read, flew 4,526 statute miles (7,284 km) from Rockaway, New York, to Plymouth (England), via among other stops Trepassey (Newfoundland), Horta and Ponta Delgada (both Azores) and Lisbon (Portugal) in 53h 58m, spread over 23 days. The crossing from Newfoundland to the European mainland had taken 10 days 22 hours, with the total time in flight of 26h 46m. The longest non-stop leg of the journey, from Trepassey, Newfoundland, to Horta in the Azores, was 1,200 statute miles (1,900 km) and lasted 15h 18m.

The New York Times
May 18, 1919

The New York Times
May 19, 1919
new world war prophesied

The New York Times
May 26, 1919

The New York Times
May 28, 1919

NC-4 at Horta in Azores

the Wright stuff

Fifty years later earthlings anticipated an even longer journey, one with fewer legs even though it hopefully was going to be a round trip. The first leg was a whopper, at least 225,000 miles, but the second was relatively tiny as two men in an Eagle were scheduled to descend to the surface of the moon. This journey was also very much an organizational effort. In fact, the prior December three “astronauts” practiced that gigantic first leg. While they were orbiting the moon, they took a photograph of the earth.

earth from moon orbit

I thought of Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton’s sermon with the completion of the transcontinental railroad: “Three thousand two hundred and eighty-five miles of continuous railway within four degrees of latitude and fifty degrees of longitude in the temperate zone.” The crew of the Apollo 8 caught a lot more than that in a snapshot.

When I saw the image of the crashed seaplane, I thought of Walter Cronkite with tears in his eyes telling us about a crash during the Gemini stage of NASA’s moon campaign. It probably was the 1966 NASA T-38 crash

Henry Morgenthau Sr., who predicted a second world war in 15 or 20 years, served as the United States diplomat to the Ottoman Empire from 1913-1916 and reported the Armenian massacre as genocide.

According to the May 29, 1919 issue of The New York Times, Harry Hawker, who with navigator Kenneth Mackenzie Grieve, crashed during their attempt to win the Daily Mail £10,000 prize for the first flight across the Atlantic in “72 consecutive hours,” bashed the U.S. Navy effort. He “deprecated the organization which had won for the United States the honor of the first crossing of the Atlantic by a heavier than air machine.
He held that it was not a serious attempt, with a ship stationed at “every twenty yards.” Also, “if you put a ship every fifty miles it shows you have no fight in your motor.” One reason that the NC-4 wasn’t eligible for the prize is because it took longer than 72 hours.

The New York Times
May 11, 1919

New York Tribune
May 18, 1919

New York Tribune
May 18, 1919
commemorate the Lusitania

I got the earth image at Wikipedia. From the Library of Congress: recruiting poster; NC-4 at Horta; it’s crew; Times May 11th; Trib May 18th, June 15th, June 22nd

famous flyers
(Trib May 18, 1919)

gritty mechanic
(Trib May 18, 1919)

NC-4 at Lisbon
(Trib June 15, 1919)

have I seen this before? (New York Tribune June 22, 1919)

July 8, 2019: I’m adding a couple pictures from the July 20, 1919 issue of the New York Tribune at Library of Congress.

on Cape Cod

Smithsonian bound

^[1]at least Sumpter does↩

Posted in 100 Years Ago, Technology, World War I | Tagged Albert Cushing Read, Douglas MacArthur, Eddie Rickenbacker, First Transatlantic Flight, Harry George Hawker, Henry Morgenthau Sr., Naval Air Station Rockaway, Orville Wright, RMS Lusitania, Rudolf W. Schroeder, The Wright Brothers, Transatlantic flight, Treaty of Versailles | Leave a comment

divergent decoration

Posted on May 30, 2019 by SUMPTER

unknowns at Cypress Hills

150 years ago today a large procession traveled from Manhattan to Brooklyn to honor the memory and decorate the graves of thousands of soldiers who died during the American Civil War.

From the June 19, 1869 issue of Harper’s Weekly:

DECORATION EXERCISES AT CYPRESS HILLS CEMETERY.

The day appointed for the decoration of the graves of Union soldiers (May 30) was universally observed. We give on this page an illustration of the decoration at Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. The procession started from Union Square in this city about noon. The First Division was headed by Major-General ALEXANDER SHALER and his staff, mounted, which comprised four companies of United States Marines, accompanied by their famous band, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel BROOME; a squad of the Washington Gray Troop, commanded by Major KENT, and a troop of the Third Cavalry. Following up the rear of the division was General VARIAN and General BURGER, accompanied by several officers of their staffs. In the Second Division, seated in carriages, were the officers of the Memorial Executive Committee, and the orators of the day, Major-General DANIEL E. SICKLES and Grand Commander Colonel EDWARD B. LANSING. The catafalque used at the obsequies of President LINCOLN, decorated with flowers in monumental form, was drawn by eight white horses furnished by Dodd’s Express Company. Seventy-five boys of the Union Home and School, orphans of deceased Union soldiers, were in uniform, under the command of one of their own number. Fifty girls from the same school were in three of the large Erie Railroad express wagons, which were handsomely decorated with flags and bunting. One of the wagons was drawn by ten black horses. There were also two wagons filled with flowers.

Abraham Lincoln’s catafalque

For a long time before the head of the procession reached the portals of the cemetery the grounds were alive with people. Many had brought carriage-loads of flowers with them to decorate the graves. Many who had come afoot brought their modest floral offerings too, and more than one narrow grave was beautifully decked long before the hour for the ceremonies had arrived.

When the different organizations composing the procession had been properly disposed about the mound overlooking the soldiers’ graves, the services were opened by the singing of a hymn. After which a prayer was offered by the chaplain of the G.A.R., and a beautiful hymn sung by the soldiers’ orphans from the Union Home at Carmansville.

1863 photo of Daniel Sickles and his staff after the battle of Gettysburg

after Gettysburg and before “Our Memorial-day”

General SICKLES then advanced and addressed the assemblage. He said: “We stand where more than 3,000 soldiers of the Republic are buried. We come to scatter upon their graves the mute but eloquent tributes of our gratitude and affection. We bring with us the standards under which many of them fell – and here, too, are many of their children, whom it is our duty to care for and to cherish. Soldiers are here, merchants, men in all walks of life, all united to-day in asserting their sympathy for the object which has called us together. Our Memorial-day is of special interest to us, whose comrades lie buried here. We mourn the loss of friends who have fought side by side with us, our tears bedew the flowers we lay upon their quiet graves, but our grief is mingled with the pride we feel when we think of the noble services of those who did not die in vain when struggling to aid in the salvation of our country. The magistrate who enforces the laws, who wields the sword of justice to the end that the welfare of society may be preserved, is a benefactor; but the men who fill these graves are greater benefactors by far. They fought that the laws might be observed. They gave up home and life for country, and we enjoy to-day the fruits of their exertions, and may we ever hold them in grateful remembrance.

General SICKLES closed with an eloquent appeal in behalf of the soldiers’ orphans, claiming that their can be no more graceful or grateful service than to care for these children of the Republic, whose fathers died that the Republic might live.

The following is the hymn sung at the opening of the exercises:

Love unchanging for the dead,
Lying here in gloried sleep,
Where the angels softly tread,
While their holy watch they keep.

Wreaths we bring that ne’er shall fade,
Greener with the passing years,
Brighter for our sorrow’s shade,
Jeweled with our fallen tears.

Dying that the truth might live,
Here they rest in Freedom’s name,
Giving all that man can give –
Life for Glory’s deathless fame.

Bend in love, O azure sky!
Shine, O stars! at evening-time!
Watch where heroes calmly lie,
Clothed with faith and hope sublime.

God of nations bless the land
Thou hast saved to make us free!
Guide us with thy mighty hand,
Till all lands shall come to THEE!

Sabbath Day journey

Nowadays the ceremony at Cypress Hills seems to have been solemn and appropriate, but at the time it was somewhat controversial. According to the May 31, 1869 issue of The New-York Times, The Procession A Failure. Many people opposed parading on Sunday:

The Procession.

The parade yesterday was not the gorgeous or imposing pageant which it was generally expected to be, owing in a considerable measure to the unpleasant aspect of the weather, which probably deterred many persons from participating in it. A better reason may be found, however, in the injudicious determination of the Memorial Committee to conduct the ceremony in defiance of the expressed wishes of a large number of Sabbatarians and prominent private citizens, who willingly recognized the importance of honoring the Union dead, but were strenuously opposed to any display being made on Sunday. …

A day earlier the same newspaper reported that Decoration Day at Arlington, attended by President Grant and with ceremonies at the “Tomb of the Unknown,” was observed a day earlier on a Saturday:

Washington, D. C., Saturday, May 29th:

The city, to-day, has presented the appearance of Sunday, thousands having left to attend the solemn ceremonies of the decoration of the graves of our fallen heroes who lie buried beneath the sod at Arlington. The Departments were all closed, and but one subordinate official was in attendance at the White House. …

graves along the Potomac

The New-York Times
May 30, 1869

The New-York Times
May 31, 1869

Harper’s Weekly concluded

That might be an advantage of always celebrating Memorial Day on Monday, at least I don’t know of any religions that use Monday as Sabbath.

According to New York Department Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) Edward B. Lansing “was the 3rd Department Commander of the GAR in New York State.” He served in the 75th New York Infantry Regiment and “was wounded in action April 12 – 13, 1863 at Bayou Teche, La.” That was probably part of the Battle of Fort Bisland. He is buried at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York. The Fort Hill link provides a photo of the grave marker and an obituary. In addition to serving in the GAR, Colonel Lansing practiced law in Brooklyn until his death in 1887 at age 58.

wounded in Louisiana

William Henry Seward and Harriet Tubman are also buried at Fort Hill. More information about Carmansville is available at Gothamist.

You can find all the material from Harper’s Weekly in 1869 at the Internet Archive. From the Library of Congress: graves at Cypress Hills; President Lincoln’s catafalque; General Sickles and staff; Work Projects Administration poster from 1936 or 1937. The cutout from the 75th’s roster is found at the New York State Military Museum.

give or take a day or a few

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Veterans | Tagged 75th New York Infantry Regiment, Alexander Shaler, Battle of Fort Bisland, Cypress Hills Cemetery, Daniel Sickles, Edward B. Lansing, Grand Army of the Republic, Memorial (Decoration) Day, orphans, Sabbatarianism, Union Home at Carmansville, Union Square (New York City), war widows and orphans | Leave a comment