The Tanning Industry in Sullivan County, New York

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Steve

Take a look at the westerly slope of Denman Mountain, opposite the mighty monolith of the Bushnell tannery tower in Claryville, as the moon rises. You’ll see a score of virgin white pine trees towering against the skyline. Or drive around on the east slope of Red Hill and on the saddle between Peekamoose and Table Mountain; to the northeast you’ll spy a handful of red spruce which were too isolated to fall to the axe. Atop Cornell Mountain is the only other stand of trees that were here before the white men. With the exception of a few elderly, gnarled and beautiful apple trees, practically every other tree has grown in the past hundred years of time!

The Evergreen Cemetery at Bethel was named for the virgin hemlock tree which still stands over the grave of the man who was clearing the land for a cemetery. He was killed when a limb fell from that tree (This is atypical tree, apparently once a clump of hemlock, for it’s really more than one. Normally hemlocks grow tall and true, much like the masts on clipper-ships, with comparatively small branches. This tree’s branches are huge, and think … a limb fell from it to kill in 1813! It’s age to have a limb that large?

Those valuable remaining red spruce are now part of the “absolute wilderness” of the “forever wild” Forest Preserve protected by the Constitution of the State. However, when you cross the Tappan Zee Bridge of the New York State Thruway remember its concrete footings, sunken barges, are pinned to the mud of the Hudson’s bottom by the tallest pines from the very shadow of these few precious Claryville white pines. Also, when you look at the older homes of Liberty, recall that many were built from that very grove of pine, saved for posterity by the far-sighted operators of the tannery . . . only to be sold by Jarius TerBush to builder and contractor James E. Dice II.

The sight that greeted the first European’s eyes here in the Cats-kills, from a high vantage point, was an unbroken carpet of dark blue color, interspersed with shadows of black. This was the view that vast, uninhabited areas of hemlock gave to the entire countryside.

The immense spreads of hemlock timber made the Catskills an island in the midst of the westward push of civilization. But today there’s just the one documented virgin hemlock left standing . . . though some are still rotting on the forest floor . . . Other virgin trees of any kind probably number less than 100.

Then the tanneries came, with the turnpikes, the sawmills, the villages and hamlets around them . . . the canal, the railroads, the inevi¬table major transportation to link them to market.

The Newburgh – Cochecton Turnpike was built in 1808. The Delaware and Hudson Canal in 1828. The Erie Railroad in 1851. The Denning to Napanoch Plank Road in 1856 . . . All of these run generally east and west, connecting the hinterlands with the rivers and the centers of population. And generally this holds true. A north to south railroad was planned, but never built, contrary to Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester’s History of Ulster Co.

Continue reading →

Posted in civil war | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Anna Etheridge; the Angel of the Third Corps

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Steve

ANNA ETHEREDIGE – The Angel of the 3rd Corps.

images

Anna Etheridge is a person who was common to all the regiments of the Union 3rd Corps. She is mentioned in numerous regimental histories that I’ve read from this corps, and I don’t think a history of the brigade can be written without talking about her.

Annie Blair was born in Detroit Michigan on May 3rd, 1844. She is said to have been of Dutch descent and her father, was well-to-do at the time of her birth. In her early childhood, however, the family fortunes changed, and a move was made either to Minnesota or Wisconsin,…where her father died when she was twelve years old. While still young, Anna married a Mr. Etheridge.

When the Civil War broke out, she joined the Second Michigan in Detroit, but she then transferred her allegiance to the Third Michigan, and lived in the field with it. She never carried a rifle, or course, but it was said that she carried pistols. She was wounded in the hand at Chancellorsville. General Kearny gave her the Kearny Cross for her devotion to the wounded at Fair Oaks, and commissioned her as a regimental sergeant. She was sometimes called Michigan Annie, and Gentle Annie.
Continue reading →

Posted in civil war | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rosslyn Chapel, Oak Island and the Templar Treasure

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Steve

Some of you might remember the part that Rosslyn Chapel played in the book ‘The DaVinci Code.” I have been reading as much as I can, lately, about the Knights Templar, and that has brought me continuously back to Rosslyn chapel… I won’t go into all the anamolies associated with this incredible building; you have to see it to believe it. There is no Church or Cathedral like it in the world…but here is an oddity, one that brings us to the new world, Oak Island and the Templar Treasure.

There were carvings in Rosslyn Chapel that shouldn’t have been there. Among the most prominent are carvings of Indian Maize (corn)…Europe didn’t know about corn when Rosslyn was built, in 1446, 46 years before Columbus. Where did the Masons who built this castle learn about corn?

On this site is the story of Henry Sinclair’s (of the Sinclair family that built Rosslyn castle) voyages to the new world, in the 1300’s.

Prince Henry Sinclair was the subject of historian Frederick J. Pohl’s book “Atlantic Crossings Before Columbus”, which was published in 1961. Not all historians agreed with Pohl, but he made a highly convincing case that this blond, sea-going Scot, born at Rosslyn Castle near Edinburgh in 1345, not only wandered about mainland Nova Scotia in 1398, but also lived among the Micmacs long enough to be remembered through centuries as the man-god “Glooscap”.

This Zeno Narrative told about a survey to make a map of the travels of the Sinclairs to Nova Scotia in about 1393; it was conducted by Nicolo Zeno, and later by Prince Henry’s ships. This Zeno Map of the North proved to be the most accurate map in existence for the next 150 years!

Not only did the Zeno Map chart the sea with uncanny precision, it also showed certain landmarks. For example, it illustrated two cities in Estotilanda (Nova Scotia), possibly founded by Sinclair at and St. Peter’s. A castle or fortification was shown. There is speculation that Zeno based his map upon a much more ancient map, coming from the Templars in the Middle East, carried in secrecy by them for safekeeping in Rosslyn Castle , until Price Henry commissioned its update by Zeno.

Further, there is a carving, in Westford, Massachusett , on rock, of a Templar knight. In the 1880s, the people of Westford, Massachusetts, knew of a strange carving on a rock beside a quiet road. Back then, they believed it to be a “primitive” Indian carving and, thinking no more of it, left it alone. But in 1954, the carving was “re-discovered” by an amateur archaeologist. Upon further examination, it was declared that the six-foot high figure punched into the rock seemed to represent a medieval knight. The effigy was in full armour, wearing helmet, mail and surcoat.

The existence of this incised figure – if it is genuine – would appear to corroborate a statement in the Zeno Narrative that explains that a cousin of Zichmni’s died while on the continent. If the Westford Knight is indeed a 14th century carving, it is typical of an effigy used to mark the grave of a fallen knight.

Now…on Oak Island, a small island off of Nova Scotia, is a hole where people have spent 150 years trying to discover treasure supposedly buried there. The legend was that it is pirate treasure, but the hole is an ingeniously engineered trap to prevent people from discovering what is inside it. To date, no one has gotten to the bottom of the hole.
Pirates did not have the skills to build such an effective hiding place for their treasure…but the Knights Templar did. If Henry Sinclair, a Knight Templar, spent a few years on Nova Scotia Island, he would be the perfect candidate for having constructed the treasury on Oak Island, to bury the Templar treasure.

Posted in templar | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Was it Jackson? The Shooting of Stonewall Jackson on the Evening of the Second Day of the Battle of Chancellorsville

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Steve

WAS IT JACKSON?

A Close examination of Capt. Charles H. Weygant’s Mysterious Horseman, May 2d, 1863
By Steve Haas

On the evening of May 2, 1863, the 124th New York had a meeting with a group of Confederate horsemen. The regiment fired on those horsemen, and the horsemen disappeared into the woods.

 For the rest of their lives, the men of the 124th believed they had shot at Confederate Major Thomas J. Jackson, who was killed that night by his own troops. The 124th believed that they had either killed Jackson, or caused him to turn back into his own troops, causing his death by the hands of his own men. This belief was held by many other men and regiments in the III Corps, and formed a good part of the lore of the survivors of this Corps.

 This article is meant as a critical analysis of that event, a detailed look at a mystery in one regiment’s archives. Hopefully, this will clear up the mystery.

 The account of Charles Weygant, author the 124th’s regimental history, reads as follows: ”

 …..A moment later, my attention was drawn to a slight rustling in the road, just in front of me, and a horseman rode up and asked, in a tone of authority, ‘What regiment is this?’ and added, ‘Colonel, don’t fire into your own men,’ for at that juncture, in reply to another slight shower of bullets which passed over their left, our regiment, without waiting for orders, opened a straggling fire. Colonel Ellis, who at the time stood talking with me, stepped toward the questioner and replied, in a loud voice, ‘This is the One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth New York, and by —— we will give them shot for shot, friend or foe.’ Meantime several other horsemen appeared, and drew rein in the shadow of the trees. At Colonel Ellis’ gruff answer, this unknown officer whirled and put spurs to his horse, and the whole party dashed in the woods on the farther, or north side of the road, followed by a ball from Colonel Ellis’ revolver and a volley from Company A….”[1]

 Weygant then gives several quotes from Professor R.L. Dabney, of the Union Theological Seminary, Virginia, from his book, “Life and Campaigns of Lieutenant-General Thomas J. Jackson,” and some officers of General Jackson’s Staff to show that Jackson did indeed utter those words, was in the locale, and gave actions similar to those described in Weygant’s account. He concludes thusly, “Again I ask, was the officer who rode out of the woods and asked, ‘What regiment is this,’ Stonewall Jackson? Let others answer as they may, in my mind there is not the slightest doubt if it; but as to whether his mortal hurt was caused by one of the bullets the 124th sent after him as he rode away, or by that of one of his own men as he returned to them is not so clear.”[2]

 In order to reconcile the question of the 124th’s involvement in the wounding of General Thomas J. Jackson, two key facts must be established; first is the geographical position of Colonel Emlin Franklin’s First Brigade, 3rd Division, III Corps; the second is to determine the time of the encounter with Weygant’s mysterious horseman.

 Weygant recalled that the 124th NY was ordered from the vicinity of Catherine Furnace late in the afternoon of May 2 and was massed with other units by General Sickles as soon as they “came to another cleared farm.” He goes on to state that  “our brigade (Franklin’s)….moved on across the open space and took position in the edge of the woods beyond.”  He describes the position of the regiment thusly:

 ”The right of the 124th now rested on a road which ran at right angles with their line and into the woods in front of them. This road was….the “Orange Plank Road…the clearing behind us was the Van Wert farm. We were facing West”[3]

 This road is further defined later in Captain Weygant’s narrative, when he vividly (and accurately) described the late night attack of General Birney’s division, spearheaded by General J. Hobart Ward’s Brigade. The only road available for Ward’s troops that could accommodate their formation of column of companies closed en masse was the road leading from Catherine Furnace north to Hazel Grove, or through a break in the forest known as “Vista” and terminating at the Orange Plank Road near an old school house. Certainly it was this road that anchored the right of the 124th NY, not the Orange Plank Road. And, since this lane runs in a roughly north-south direction, the 124th NY must have been facing north, not West.

 As for the “clearing” described by Weygant as the Van Wert Farm, Col. Emlin Franklin, the brigade commander, reported that his brigade was located “on a hill” and “placed in a position to the left and front (of a line of III Corps Artillery) about 200 yards holding a line of woods which skirted an open field.”[4] This position is confirmed in the official report of the 3rd Division, III Corps, written by Captain Henry R. Dalton, Assistant Adjutant-General of the 3rd Division (for the deceased General Amiel Whipple). Dalton submitted “the First Brigade was then put in two lines, to the left and front of the batteries, close to the woods on the edge of the open field….[5] Although the terrain does bear some similarity to the vicinity of the Van Wert Farm, there were simply no III Corps units positioned at Van Werts’. The terrain described by Franklin, Dalton and Weygant can only be the Hazel Grove sector; the farmhouse was just a small structure noted on many maps of the area. It is important to note that the position of the 1st Brigade at Hazel Grove is over 100 yards southwest of Van Wert’s on Orange Plank Road.

 As for the time of the encounter with the horseman, eyewitness accounts written very soon after the battle provide interesting information. Private Henry Howell of Co. E., 124th NY, in a letter dated May 7, 1863 wrote that:

 ”There was a rail fence breastwork that protected the first line from the minnie balls. Until 11 o’clock the 122d PV (Pennsylvania Volunteers) were on the first line and we were 8 or ten rods (about 50 yards) behind them…at 11 o’clock we changed places with the front line and stood there until morning.”[6]

 The pieces seem to fit, corroborating the accounts of Dalton, Franklin and Weygant. While First Sergeant Sprenger’s account mentions a time of “10 pm”, the official report of his regimental commander, Lieut. Col. Edward McGovern, 122 PV asserted that “about 11 p.m. the enemy advanced and opened fire. My skirmishers fell back, as directed, and immediately I opened fire….shortly afterward, I was relieved by the 124th New York Volunteers.”[7]

 Weygant, in his vivid description of his night reconnaissance patrol, gives us little indication of the time of this mission. One might surmise that it took place soon after the 124th took to the picket line at 11 p.m. This premise gains further support upon consideration of another Howell letter…this one written by Henry’s brother, Corporal William Howell, also of Company E. On May 4, 1863, William wrote: We were behind a fence at the edge of a wood where the rebs were in force…(They were) said to  be Stonewall Jackson, just come down from Culpepper…we sent 40 men a few rods into the woods…[8]

 With General Sickles’ planed night attack fast approaching its “jump off” time, the requirement of timely information as to what lay ahead for Ward’s men in the woods around Vista and beyond became crucial. Logically, the task was delegated to the III Corps most advanced unit at the time: the 124th NY. While Company B’s Captain Henry Murray probed a trail obliquing from the regiments’ left flank, Weygant lead his small squad north into Vista. His exciting account of the sortie concluded with the unfortunate wounding of private Ciles and the hasty withdrawal of Weygant’s now compromised reconnaissance. It would not be unusual for the Confederates to investigate the reason for some unexpected firing so near to their front lines, especially when the location of the enemy was unclear; this is exactly what prompted Jackson’s reconnoiter.

 When was General Thomas Jackson shot?
Continue reading →

Posted in chancellorsville, civil war | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Strange Mystery of Boston Corbitt

Posted on October 4, 2009 by Steve

This story is from the book ”the Real Wild West, The Creation of the American West,” by Michael Wallis. Read this to the end; it has a shocking, surprise ending (it isn’t what you think it is).

The Booth legend that persisted the longest came from the Oklahoma Territory town of Enid, just west of the immense domain created in the late 1800′s by G.W. Miller and his sons. This Booth story began in Enid on January 13, 1903, with the demise of David E. George, an itinerant house painter nearly sixty years old who swallowed strychnine and died after having told several folks that he was John Wilkes Booth, the killer of Lincoln.

 The story of David George did not cease with his death. His corpse was taken to an Enid undertaker for embalming, but because of questions about his identity, local authorities requested that the burial be delayed until the investigation was completed. Apparently, that prove quickly fell apart and everyone eventually lost interest in the case and forgot about the body, which languished for many years on a storeroom shelf.

Enid old timers could recall that when they were boys they would sneak into the funeral parlor to take a peek at “John Wilkes Booth.” Some Enid boosters planned to ship the body, entombed in a glass case, to the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair as part of the Oklahoma exhibit. Not surprisingly, the world’s fair people rejected that proposal.

The ‘Booth Mummy” would up in the possession of carnival exhibitors and went out on the road. By the late 1930′s, the mummy was reported to be on the carnival circuit. It survived a train wreck, thieves, debt collectors, and enraged veterans of the Grand Army of the Potomac who threatened to hang the cadaver.

In 1938, a tattooed man from a circus bought the Booth mummy-by then known only as “john” for several thousand dollars. He and his wife lugged the body around the country in a trailer that doubled as their home and a portable exhibit hall. When the tattooed man ran into financial problems, a report surfaced that “John” was seized in lieu of overdue loan payments.

Folks in Enid who tried to track the mummy through the years said that by the 1960′s, they heard that “John” was on exhibit somewhere in Ohio. That was the last reported sighting of   the remains of the man who once said he was John Wilkes Booth.

Then, in 1995, a Maryland schoolteacher and history buff petitioned a court to exhume the remains of John WIlkes Booth, whom most credible historians contend was buried in 1865 in a Baltimore cemetery. The teacher believed Booth really had escaped the burning barn and gone to Enid. He wanted to have tests conducted on the remains to prove his theory. The judge refused the request, finding no good reason to disturb the grave.

But, in Oklahoma stories still circulate about the mummy. So does another tale of Bosten Corbett, the soldier who allegedly killed Booth.

After collecting a cash bounty for his deed, Corbett reportedly developed severe mental problems which led to his castrating himself as a radical form of penance for past promiscuities. By 1887, he had found a job as a doorkeeper for the Kansas legislature. His service was brief but memorable. Angered by a legislative chaplain’s prayer which Corbett considered sacrilegious, he brandished two pistols and terrorized the entire chamber. Declared insane, Corbett escaped from the Kansas State Hospital in Topeka in 1888, vanishing in the mists of history and time.

More than a century later, another story about Corbett has surfaced. It tells of his escaping to Oklahoma terriritory, where he took an assumed name. It was said he found a town out in the cattle country that he liked, and he stayed there until the day he died. The name of the town was Enid.

Posted in 101 ranch, american west | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Hot Times at Hazel Grove; The Federal Third Corps on the Second Day of the Battle of Chancellorsville.

Posted on September 26, 2009 by Steve

HOT TIME AT HAZEL GROVE

THE FEDERAL THIRD CORPS ON THE SECOND DAY
OF THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE, MAY 1-3, 1863
By Steve Haas 

Summary:

The III Corps of the Army of the Potomac, the Federal army, was a major participant in the fighting at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Under its commander, Major-General Daniel S. Sickles, it was initially cut off and virtually surrounded by the Confederate flank attack at the beginning of the battle. The III Corps had to find its way back to the Federal line, in the dark, without being overwhelmed by superior Confederate forces, and without being fired upon by nervous Federal troops.  On the second day of the battle, the III Corps provided the core of the opposition to repeated Confederate attacks against the Federal lines. It was hard fighting by the regiments of the III Corps which prevented the initial Federal rout from becoming a general stampede.   

April 28, 1863 marked the beginning of the spring campaign in the Eastern Theatre of the American Civil War. The Federal Army, the Army of the Potomac, was composed of 120,000 well-equipped, trained men with new moral and a new General, Major-General Joseph (“Fighting Joe”) Hooker. This Federal army had a confidence and a dash that had been lacking for almost a year, since the disastrous Federal defeat on the Peninsula of Virginia in the spring of 1862, the Pyrrhic victory at Antietam in September of 1862, and the disastrous Federal defeat at Fredericksburg in December of 1862. It was eager to come to grips with their Confederate foe.

  The Confederate Army facing the Federals was, on the other hand, at the lowest ebb in fighting capabilities since the beginning of the war. The campaign was beginning, and the Federal army facing them, was crossing the Rappahannock River river, which had separated the two armies over the winter, yet the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under its already legendary leader, General Robert Edward Lee, was not ready to face this Federal thrust. General Lee had only 40,000 troops with him[1]. This was woefully little to face such a huge Federal force.  Fully a third of the Confederate army, the Confederate II Corps under Major-General James Longstreet, was south of Richmond, foraging for supplies. These men were not expected to return to the Army of Northern Virginia before this upcoming battle was over.

 The original Federal battle plan called for a two-pronged attack; half the Federal army, 60,000 men of the Federal V, XI and XII Corps, was to pin the Confederates around the Confederate right flank by threatening the Confederate positions at Fredericksburg, Virginia. The other half of the Federal army, 60,000 men under the Federal I, III and VI Corps, was to perform a wide flanking maneuver around the Confederate left flank, acting as a hammer against the Fredericksburg anvil. If the Confederates turned to face either force (either of which was larger than the whole Confederate army), the other force could attack the Confederates from the rear. The plan worked brilliantly at first. By the night of May 1, 60,000 Federal soldiers were camped at the crossroads village of Chancellorsville, poised on the next day to march against the 40,000 strong Confederate army. Sixty thousand other Federals were watching the Confederate army from across the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, waiting to follow and attack the Confederates if they abandoned their works. The Confederates were in a seemingly impossible position, unable to flee, without enough strength to fight.  General Hooker was certainly justified in releasing a statement to his troops stating that the Confederates must “either ingloriously fly, or come out from their entrenchments to face certain defeat.”

 No other major campaign of the Civil War had started with such a disparity of numbers between the two forces facing each other. Confederate General Lee would not have been faulted for retreating in the face of overwhelming numbers, finding a good defensive position and waiting for his Second Corps under General Longstreet to come up and even the odds against him. General Lee, however, was supremely confident in the quality of his army, the quality of his subordinate leadership, in his own capabilities and the capability of his chief subordinate, Major-General Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson, commander of the Confederate I Corps. Lee also knew the army he was facing and, especially, knew the man in charge of that Army. General Lee felt he could handle General Hooker, and anything General Hooker could throw at him. Not only was General Lee willing to face the Federal army with only 1/3 of their numbers, he was also to do something which some would say stretched the word audacity to the point of lunacy; he split his army three different times within the next two days, in the face of overwhelming numbers. Yet there was method to this madness. At the point of combat, he managed always to have a superiority of numbers. In no other battle in American history would one general so dominate another as General Lee dominated General Hooker.

 General Lee was successful in everything except his stated goal of destroying the Federal army, and many say it was happenstance, which prevented him from doing that. On the first day of the battle, General Jackson marched around the flank of the Federal army and completely routed the XI Corps of the Federal army, driving it from the field in total disarray. Only the fall of darkness prevented the Confederates from driving on and routing the rest of the Federal army. The one blot on his victory was the mortal wounding of the famous Stonewall Jackson; some say if General Jackson had not been shot on the first day of the battle, the South would indeed have driven the Federal army into the Rappahannock River and destroyed it.

 On the second day of the battle, General Lee continued his attacks on the Federal army, pushing it into a tight defensive position. Then he took most of the army, leaving a small force to contain the main Federal army, and headed East to attack the Federal VI Corps, which had been approaching the Confederate rear from the direction of Fredericksburg. While not defeating the VI Corps, General Lee managed to force it to retreat across the Rappahannock River. General Lee returned west to deal with the rest of the Federal army, but that too had retreated across the Rappahannock, ending the battle.

Chancmap

Continue reading →

Posted in chancellorsville, civil war | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Men Must See Us, Today; the 124th New York at Gettysburg

Posted on September 26, 2009 by Steve

“THE MEN MUST SEE US TODAY”

The 124th New York Volunteers at Houck’s Ridge,
Gettysburg, 1863

Troiani Print for t-shirt
 

On the afternoon of July 2, 1863 a titanic struggle took place at Gettysburg between Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s First Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General James Longstreet, and elements of ultimately five Corps of the Federal army, led by Major General George Gordon Meade. The final defeat of General Longstreet’s attack was due as much to the skill and heroic sacrifice of tens of thousands of Federal soldiers as it was to any great feats of generalship on the part of the Federal officers. The 124th New York State Volunteers were one regiment that contributed to the defeat of the Confederate attack. Their story, and the story of the fighting that occurred at Devil’s Den on that hot afternoon, illustrates the fine fighting qualities of the Federal Army of the Potomac which were a primary cause of the ultimate Federal victory at Gettysburg.

Major General George Gordon Meade, commander of the Federal forces at Gettysburg, had hard choices to make on the evening of July 1, 1863, regarding the dispositions of his forces for the next day’s battle. He had present on the battlefield three of his seven corps, the I, XI and XII Corps. Yet of these three, two, the I and the XI, had been shattered by the first day’s fighting while the XII Corps was the smallest Corps in the Army, numbering little less than 9,000 men. Meade was expecting two other corps shortly, the II and the III Corps, while his remaining two corps, the V and the VI, should be up in the morning and afternoon of the next day. It seemed obvious to Meade, from information gained during that day’s fighting, that the Confederates were concentrated in front of him, while his own army was scattered and still coming onto the field. And the Confederates had the initiative, having driven the Federal troops from the field on the 1st of July.

Nevertheless, the Federal army was formed in an excellent defensive position. This position has come to be known as “the Fish Hook”, starting at Culp’s Hill on the Federal right, curving west and then south around Cemetery Hill in the center, and then continuing south to Little and Big Round Top on the southern part of the line, the Federal Left. Big Round Top was unsuitable for defense, due to its height and heavy tree cover, but Little Round Top was an excellent defensive position, and should serve to anchor the left of Meade’s line.

A natural bastion facing west and south, Little Round Top would be hard to take if manned by any decent amount of men. General Meade sent orders to Brigadier General Daniel Sickles, commanding the Federal III Corps, that when the Corps came up from the next morning, it was to take position with his left on Little Round Top and extending to the north along Cemetery Ridge, replacing units of the XII Corps which had occupied this position . Then General Meade forgot about his left flank, concentrating his energy on forming his available troops of the I, XI and XII Corps to defend the northern part of his line against the expected Confederate assault .
Continue reading →

Posted in civil war, gettysburg | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The Great Northfield (Minnesota) Raid

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Steve

On September 7, 1876, Northfield experienced one of its most important historical events. An outlaw gang led by Jesse James tried to rob the First National Bank of Northfield. Local citizens, recognizing what was happening, armed themselves and resisted the robbers, successfully thwarting the theft, but not before the bank’s cashier, Joseph Lee Heywood (who also served as Northfield’s and Carleton College’s treasurer) and a Swedish immigrant, Nicholas Gustafson, were murdered. A couple of the James-Younger gang were killed in the street, while the rest of the Gang (except for Jesse and Frank James, who escaped west into the Dakotas), were cornered near Madelia, Minnesota, and were either killed, or taken into custody. The failed raid has sometimes been called the last major event of the American Civil War. The event has become a major tourist draw for the city.

One result of the attempted bank robbery by the James-Younger gang is an outdoor festival, The Defeat of Jesse James Days,[4] held the weekend after Labor Day every year to commemorate the event. The festival is among the largest outdoor celebrations in Minnesota. Thousands of visitors witness reenactments of the robbery, watch championship rodeo, enjoy a carnival, watch the parade, explore arts and crafts expositions, and attend musical performances

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northfield,_Minnesota

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Just when you thought you knew the story of the James-Younger Gang’s failed Northfield bank heist in 1876, along comes an old letter — and a new twist in the tale.

The young medical student shot the bank robber dead. That’s a fact. It’s what happened to the outlaw’s body afterward that is less clear. Just found: a new twist in the old grisly story of the infamous Northfield, Minn., bank robbery of 1876.

Henry Wheeler was home in Northfield on summer break from his medical studies on Sept. 7 that year when eight or more members of the James-Younger Gang rode into town on horseback to rob the First National Bank. Wheeler, 22, ran for a rifle. From a second-story window of the Dampier Hotel, he fatally shot Clell (McClelland) Miller, the bullet tearing a hole just below Miller’s left shoulder.

In seven short minutes, the raid had gone horribly awry. Miller and another desperado were dead in the street. The bank’s acting cashier refused to open the safe and lay dying on the bank floor. A Swedish immigrant who didn’t understand much English failed to follow the robbers’ orders and was shot; he died four days later. The remaining members of the gang fled town, including Jesse James and Cole Younger.

Gawkers arrived by train the next day to view the two outlaws’ bodies. A Northfield photographer propped up the corpses and snapped pictures, probably using toothpicks to keep their eyes open, a common crime-photo practice in the late 1800s. In less than a month, the photographer sold 50,000 gruesome pictures, at $2 a dozen.

Bodies of Clell Miller and William Stiles

Bodies of Clell Miller and William Stiles

Three days after the robbery, a Sunday, the bank cashier, a hero, was buried with all due respect. Miller and the other robber were buried in a paupers’ corner of the Northfield Cemetery in the dark of night, with no mourners and no funeral service.

Behind the scenes, Wheeler had asked the police chief for the outlaws’ bodies, explaining that his medical school, the University of Michigan, was short on spare cadavers. In those days, medical students often were expected to procure bodies to study.

According to the version usually told, authorities denied Wheeler the bodies, but, wink-wink, they let it be known that the outlaws’ graves were shallow and no one would be guarding the cemetery. Sure enough, grave robbers set to work that night and exhumed the bodies. Wheeler and two Michigan classmates, also from Northfield, were the diggers. They shipped the exhumed bodies to Ann Arbor in kegs labeled “FRESH PAINT.” The bodies served medicine as intended.

Later, Wheeler became a respected physician and kept Miller’s skeleton in his office closet in Grand Forks, N.D. He loved to show off the bones, as well as his rifle, to friends and special patients. Eventually, the skeleton succumbed to a fire.

But a forgotten letter in the Minnesota Historical Society collections tells another chapter. Whether true or not — and it’s probably not — the tale is certainly juicy.

Francis Butler wrote to a historian in 1962 that at the time of the infamous robbery, his father was a 10-year-old boy living on the family farm 5 miles northeast of Northfield. Undoubtedly, Butler wrote, his gregarious Irish grandfather, Patrick Butler, took his older sons into Northfield to view the dead outlaws. Francis’ father later passed on the story about what happened when Wheeler asked the town fathers for one of the bodies.

“They considered this,” Francis Butler wrote, “and allowed that since Wheeler had killed him, he was entitled to him.”

However, officials did not want to outrage the public, so it was suggested that Miller’s pine casket be filled with stones and that the body secretly be given to Wheeler.

It was Sept. 9 or 10, Butler wrote, and either Wheeler’s vacation was not yet over or the weather was still too warm to ship the body by train to Ann Arbor. That raised the quandary of what to do with the body temporarily. A local farmer had a solution. He offered to put the bandit’s body in his pickling box — a long, lead-lined box in the back of his barn that was used to cure hogs slaughtered for salt pork during the winter. This was agreed to, and the farmer took appropriate care to disguise the temporary resting place.

Soon after, a young Swedish immigrant who had worked for the farmer that summer showed up to collect his wages. The farmer explained that no one — repeat, no one — was paid until the wheat crop was marketed. The young man was persistent. Again, he demanded his pay.

So the farmer took the hired man out to the barn. He pulled an old horse blanket off the top of the pickling box, pointed to Miller’s decaying corpse and said, “That is the last man who asked me for his pay before he was entitled to it.”

Posted in american west, Jesse James | 1 Comment

A History of King Arthur and Early Post-Roman Britain

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Steve

In order to understand Arthur, you have to have a little time-sense. Rome was in the process of decay; Rome fell to Alaric, the Hun in 403, A.D., and this marked the effective end of the Eastern Roman Empire, though it continued on in various forms for a few years after. The story of Arthur is also the story of the fall of the Roman Empire. I shall give a brief history of THAT as it relates to Britain (don’t worry, I’m not doing a Gibbons here, re-writing ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.’ Just insofar as Britain is concerned).

Arthur lived in the period of 460 to about 540 A.D., so you can see, from these dates, what was happening in Britain; they couldn’t depend on Rome anymore, and were on their own, so to speak. Most of this story has to deal with the decline of Roman power in Britain, and the attempts by the British to defend themselves without the Imperial Legion.

You have to understand, also, that Britain was important to Rome; it was the breadbasket of Gaul (France); it supplied most of the food to support the Roman Legions who were defending Gaul against barbarian attacks….and Gaul was important to Britain, because it was the site of most of Rome’s strength. If Gaul fell, Britain would be isolated. There was a very close relationship here, and many British rulers had lands in Gaul.

We shall start the story of Arthur in about 280 A.D. Britain had just recently become the target for raids by the Angles and the Saxons; these were two Germanic tribes who lived in and around Denmark. You can look upon them as Vikings.

In any case, Britain had no defense against these attacks, from the West. The Saxons would land a few ships on Britain, each with about 75 men, spend a few days raiding and, by the time help arrived, would be on their ships heading for home.

The Roman response to this was to create a British Navy, the Classis Britannica. They put a man in charge of this called Mausaeus Carausis, a native of Roman Belgicum (modern Belgium). He did a good job, but it wasn’t long before there were charges of collusion with the Anglo-Saxons…and he was dismissed.

Rather than taking this lying down, he declared himself Emperor, adding the Imperial names “Marcus Aurelius” to his own…he defeated two Roman Fleets sent against him and ruled Britain and Northern Gaul from A.D. 287 to A.D. 293.

In A.D. 293 The Ceasar, or junior Emperor Constantius Chlorus (under the short-lived political reforms institutued by Emperor Diocletion, Rome was ruled by four Emperors at this time, two Senior and two Junior Emperors. Constantius was one of the junior Emperors) finally defeated Carausis in a battle fought near Bononia Morinorum (Boulogne) in north Gaul. Carausis was assassinated by his own deputy in charge of finances, Allectus, and this is all we hear from Carausis.

Constantius Chlorus then proceeded to go pacify Gaul (which was in turmoil because of all this fighting), while Alectus returned to Britain and declared HIMSELF Ceasar. Well, it wasn’t too long before Constantius invaded Britain to attack Alectus in 296. Alectus was defeated and beheaded.

Britain, however, was in shambles with all this fighting, and the Picts, in the North, took advantage of it to invade. They ravaged, pillaged and burned down as far as Eboracum (York), in Britain, until Constantius led an army against them and defeated them, decisively, in 306 A.D. Constantius, unfortunately, died at Eboracum. His troops immediately proclaimed his son, Constantine, Emperor of Rome, which, though highly illegal under the Diocletion reforms, was highly popular with the Roman Armies.

Constantine spent some time in Britain, garrisoning the country against the Barbarians, and then led his legions out of Britain towards Rome. Civil War followed for many years, but in 324, Constantine defeated his last rivals and was officially proclaimed Emperor of Rome.

Constantine was the last, great Roman Emperor. He stabilized the Empire, and was given the name ‘the Great’ for his efforts. He ceased the persecution of the Christians and adopted the Christian religion, himself, making it the official religion of Rome. His reign was generally peaceful.

However, a British Army commander had forcefully seized the throne of Rome. He was the third Britain to declare himself Emperor in a very short period of time. The Britains remembered the glory of this, and the precedent would be set, to Britain’s misfortune  

Skipping ahead a couple of decades, in 382 A.D., another Roman general in Britain, Maximus Magnus, seizing the opportunity of disorder in the Empire, declared himself Ceasar and invaded Gaul, taking with him two Legions in Britain, which never returned. The current Roman Emperor, Theodosius, was willing to accept a join regentship with Maximus, but this was not good enough for Maximus. In 387, Maximus invaded Italy, taking Milan, was defeated by Theodosius in two battles and was beheaded. The memory of Magnus Maximus was retained by the people of Britain, later to become the Welsh, in the Mabinogion, a collection of Celtic stories first written down in 1300. The relevant story is entitled, “The Dream of Macsen Wledig,” and is the only one of the Mabinogion which bears any relevance to history.

The troops lost by Britain in Magnus’ aborted attempt to seize the throne of Rome affected Britain deeply. The Picts and the Scotii again invaded Britain. Two distinct invasions are recorded, both of which were repelled only by the intervention of Roman troops from the continent.

In the early years of the 5th century, in 401 and 403, the Visigoths, under Alaric invaded Italy, and were defeated, but only by calling in as many Legions as could be called, further weakening Britain. The instability caused by THIS brought the rise of even another Imperial pretender in Britain, a common soldier named Constantine (no relationship to the others). The time seemed propitious, due to the instability. Constantine crossed into Gaul and seized the province, The current Roman Emperor, Honorious, was forced to recognize Constantine as co-regent in the West.

Rome was sacked by Alaric in 410. The Emperor, Honorious, moved the capital to Milan and then Ravena. By this time, there was no effective Roman help for Britain. In 410, Honorious wrote to a British high council of some sort stating this very fact, telling Britain that Rome could not help them. They were on their own.

All I have written up to this point is history. From now on, we venture into scholarly speculation. We know that some sort of British council existed, because they sent an appeal to Honorious, and he replied to them. We know that, in 425, a leader arose named Vortigern. In the next letter, I shall go into the history of Vortigern, the man who saved Britain and ultimately doomed it to Anglo-Saxon conquest due to passion and poor judgement…but you must understand that all of what I say is my own interpretation of the works I have read. It should be right…but it could be all wrong.

The first history of Britain that we are aware of was written in 540, A.D. by a mad monk called Gildas. Unfortunately, it is much more concerned with the moral failings of the British kings than with any particular detail. Besides providing a framework within which to work, Gildas has caused more problems than he has solved by writing his work. He doesn’t mention Arthur.

Continue reading →

Posted in arthur, britain | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

May Day, 1971

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Steve

May Day, 1971

A recent discussion on the Bully Pulpit reminded me of the May Day demonstration, in Washington, D.C., May 1, 1971. It was the last major anti-war demonstration, and one of the more interesting.

 I went down, from Stony Brook, on Long Island, with the Red Balloon Collective, of course. For some reason that I cannot fathom, today, we had rented an 18 foot u-haul truck, loaded the back with six cases of Boone’s Farm Apple Wine and headed to Washington, D.C. with six of us; two in the front, and four in the back. We picked up people, along the way, so the truck was full when we arrived at Washington, D.C….and the cases of wine were empty. All I really remember was rolling out of the truck at the Tidal Basin, and falling asleep.

 At 6:00, in the morning, the 82nd Airborne and the D.C. police rousted us out of our slumbers, with tear gas, riot batons and helicopters. The object was to disrupt the demonstrations planned for that day, and it might have been effective except that there was little organization to disrupt; we knew where we were supposed to be at 9:00 that day, and scattering us like that just got us up in time to do it.

 My post was at Dupont Circle, and I got there with 1500 or so others, lining the sidewalk, waiting to step out on the street to stop the city and stop the war. I was wearing a green WWII jacket, dungarees, kicker boots, my black motorcycle helmet (painted black over the white helmet, but chipped, through many demonstrations giving it a strange black/white pastiche). a canteen tied to my leg with bandage tape, for drinking and also to wash the teargas off.

 At 9:00, the five of the Red Ballon Collective who had made it to the demonstration stepped off the sidewalk and took position across the street, blocking traffic. The rest of the 1500 demonstrators watched us, with interest. A car stopped in front of us, we lifted the hood, and began pulling the distributor wires. Some instinct made me look up, and there was this big, beffy black cop staring at me, heading in my direction. I broked off from my mayhem on the car, and headed for the sidewalk, sure that my ‘comrades’ would protect me…and the crowd parted like the Red Sea. The cop tackled me, started to beat me, I took off my helmet and surrendered.

 I had my picture taken, and was shoved in the back of a paddy wagon. When the wagon was full, it started off for the jail…and the assholes in the wagon, with me, decided to try and turn it over by rocking it back and forth, from the inside. I was trying to convince them that this was not a good idea, when the wagon stopped, and this guy came in with a club, agreeing with my position on the subject, and all was quiet.

 We were placed in an old jail, somewhere in Northern D.C.; 12 of us stuffed in one-person cells. There was room for one person to life on the cot, and one under it, and that was all the room we had. There were women, there, and they were let go, early, with some discussion on all our parts. Sandwiches were handed out, sometime in the afternoon. I was finally freed about 11:00 at night; I posted $10.00 bond, and was dumped, unceremoniously on the streets of North Washington D.C. in the middle of the night, with no money, no idea where I was, and no idea where my ride home was.

 I called Long Island, at 1:00 in the morning, and, after a lot of annoying chatter about being woken up in the middle of the night, found out that the truck was parked at Georgetown University. It was a long walk, but I made it around about sunup, and got hooked up with some of those who were responsible for the truck, who were ready to go home. Unfortunatley, the truck had been tear-gassed, and all the gear in the back was saturated; we couldn’t get into the back. We actually spent some time calling around D.C. looking for something illegal to transport to Long Island, since the truck wouldn’t be searched…but that didn’t happen.

 That is all I really remember.

Posted in anti-war | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment