Let it fly!

National Anthem Day Through smoke and fire: The making of a national anthem

2012-03-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

It is the merry month of March in 1931 and the United States is in the throes of the Great Depression.

Herbert Hoover is president: A one term president, Hoover took office in 1929 prior to the crash of the Stock Market. He leaves in 1933 and Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes our president – for the first time.

But in 1931, the results of the 1930 census are released. We learn that our population has grown 16.2% in the last decade. It is not an insignificant fact when juxtaposed against the reality of the Depression: the nation's work force is unemployed and our social structure is in danger of crumbling.

It is an odd time to make a popular song into a national anthem. What moved Congress? Was it simply the need to do something positive? To try and inspire a sense of courage in our national psyche when the times were more than grim?

The real deal: The original Star-Spangled Banner (Smithsonian)

And why make The Star-Spangled Banner our national anthem? What does this former poem have within its lyrics that might inspire the families in the breadlines to take heart, to not give up, to look to the past so we can move into the future?

The story of The Star-Spangled Banner begins on the evening of August 24, 1814 when the British begin to burnWashington, D.C. ...

The destruction is such that the sky glows for miles aroundwith flames. The Capitol building, the Senate House, the President’s mansion –anything related to government and much that is not is burnt or destroyed by the British.

Earlier that day, Dolley Madison had received word from herhusband, President James Madison, to pack and leave their home. Immediately.

First Lady Dolley Madison

Dolley tried to comply. She really did. In fact, the guns ofbattle were not distant. Not at all! Oh dear! So much to do and as theafternoon wore on, you could hear the booming of cannon and the soldiersapproaching – retreating Americans as well as the advancing Brits! Mr. Carroll,a friend sent to help her, was getting rather cross with the First Lady as sheflatly refused to leave behind, in enemy hands, a life-size portrait of GeorgeWashington.

Oh! Tedious frame! Despite their efforts and the need forhaste, the frame just would not be unscrewed from the wall! The only thing forit was to cut the painting out, which is exactly what she did.

It was only then, as she later wrote her sister, afterputting “the precious portrait...in the hands of two gentlemen of New York, forsafekeeping,” that the First Lady allowed herself to be rescued.

Later, only three weeks and 35 miles away from that day, theBritish prepare to take Fort McHenry. The fort sits at the entrance toBaltimore harbor, a worthy target as Baltimore is the young country’s thirdlargest city. Having already captured the much smaller capitol and put thegovernment to flight, the British can win this war by winning Baltimore, asweet revenge on an impudent country that was but a colony some 30 years prior.

Defending Fort McHenry is Major George Armistead, uncle tothe Confederate Civil War hero, Brigadier General Lewis Armistead who is bestknown for his brave leadership of the ill-fated Pickett’s Charge at the Battleof Gettysburg.

Major George Armistead (by Rembrandt Peale, c. 1816)

The weather is wet, so stormy that Major Armistead is notflying the large garrison flag but its smaller companion, a “signal” or “stormflag.” He had commissioned both flags a year earlier from Baltimore flag maker,Mary Pickersgill.

The garrison flag measures 30’x42’. It has 15 stripes and 15stars. Each stripe is two feet wide and each star is two feet in diameter. It is so huge that in making it, Mrs. Pickersgill, herdaughter, nieces, and an indentured servant had to sew it in a local malt houseafter hours, by candlelight.

Seamstress Mary Pickersgill

It is so large that if you were to lay it out, it would nearly fill half of a basketball court. Its length would stretch from basket to center line, and its width would be wider than half the width of the court. It would be big enough for a dormitory tent. It would be big enough to cover a car – or a horse drawn carriage – or two. It is a flag of an extravagant size.

It is so large because Major Armistead’s originaldesire was to fly a banner “so large that the British will have no difficultyseeing it from a distance” (www.flaghouse.org).

But on this day, alas, the weather is very poor so Armisteaddecides to fly the smaller flag.

Shortly after sunrise on September 14, somewhere between6:30 and 7 a.m. that morning, the British begin to blast Fort McHenry. It is an attack that will last for over 24 hours.

Francis Scott Key looking for the flag (web)

On one of the British warships is an American prisoner, Dr.William Beanes, and two Americans who are there on his behalf: Col. John StuartSkinner and Francis Scott Key. Skinner and Key, arriving the night before undera military flag of truce, are there to persuade the British admiralty that Dr.Beanes should be released. Col. Skinner is a military diplomat whose job isjust this: to negotiate prisoners’ release while Key, a Supreme Court lawyer,is a friend of Dr. Beanes.

They meet with Major General Robert Ross, and AdmiralAlexander Cochrane aboard the HMS Tonnant. Ross is the very man responsible forthe torching of Washington. With him, Skinner has brought letters written by British prisoners of wartestifying to Dr. Beanes’ character and his good treatment of wounded British prisoners.Though initially not terribly keen on the idea, theBritish officers finally agree to release Dr. Beanes.

Gen. Ross died during the attack on Fort McHenry

Although the officers agree to the release, they also decidethat the Americans can not leave the ship until after the planned attack on FortMcHenry is over. What attack on Fort McHenry? The attack the British expect will win them the war. Having this information about the plan to attack Fort McHenry, the Americans are, by necessity, guests of the Crown for the interim. For practical reasons, however, they are moved to another ship.

It is from this curiousperspective of being right there, in the heart of the enemy camp, that theypass their “friendly captivity,” and watch helplessly as the enemy begins a 25-hourbombardment of Fort McHenry.

During the day, they occasionally see the storm flag throughthe increasingly dense smoke from the blasts of the bombs and mortars. This istheir only way of knowing if the fort stands or if it has fallen. As the attackcontinues and day lengthens again into night, it becomes increasingly difficultto see if the flag – if the fort – has survived:

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombsbursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flagwas still there.

The words to the national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, give, perhaps, the truest picture of whatthat battle was like. Although its author, the lawyer-poet, and thediplomat, along with the good Dr. Beanes, will be free when the attackis over, the truth is that the end of the battle also will foretell the war’send – and with it, the future of this still-new nation.

Francis Scott Key begins writing his poem, Defense of Fort McHenry, on the back ofsome papers he has in his pocket while on board ship. Nothing better describesthe emotions of that moment when, at sunrise the next day, he desperately looksto see if the flag is still flying.

Although Key and his fellow Americans do not know it, fortheir keepers are not likely to tell them, the British withdrew earlier thatmorning after being unable to take the fort.

Though Key and his colleagues donot see it, Major Armistead has replaced the storm flag with the much largergarrison flag shortly before dawn.

And, though Key and his comrades can nothear it, the garrison soldiers are firing their weapons in celebration and accompaniment to arather rowdy rendition of Yankee Doodle.

A contemporary illustration of the attack on Fort McHenry

As they search the skyline for a sign as to the outcome ofthe battle, the Americans finally see what they are looking for. Writes Key:

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s earlylight,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight'slast gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, throughthe perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched, were sogallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombsbursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flagwas still there.

O say, does that star spangled banner yetwave

O’er the land of the free, and the home ofthe brave?

Three months after the British defeat at Fort McHenry, theTreaty of Ghent is signed, the official end to a war in which no newterritories are gained by either side but a finality is given to the positionthe young democracy holds amongst the leading nations of the world.

When Key finishes his poem, he shows it to hisbrother-in-law who considers it a much finer song than poem and suggests apopular tune of the day to accompany it, albeit a drinking song. Within a week,Key’s words are in print and the poem, TheDefense of Fort McHenry, soon turns into the song, The Star-Spangled Banner, drinking tune and all.

Poet-lawyer Francis Scott Key (LoC)

In 1889, the Navy makes TheStar-Spangled Banner its official flag-raising song.

In 1916, PresidentWoodrow Wilson establishes the precedent of having The Star-Spangled Banner played at formal government occasions,military and otherwise.

But it is not until March 3, 1931 that The Star-Spangled Banner actually becomes the nation’s anthem.

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shallwave

O’er the land of the free and the home of thebrave.

It is a story, perhaps, worthy of inspiring a nation struggling with the desperate economic times of the Great Depression.

Let it fly!

The Armistead Punch Bowl, a gift from the citizens of Baltimore, c. 1816

Nebraska: Equality Before the Law

2012-03-01T12:30:00.001-08:00

The Nebraska state flag is a navy blue or "national blue" flag with the Nebraska state seal centered in the middle. The seal is simply designed the colors of gold and silver. It contains the state motto: Equality before the law.

The state flag of Nebraska was made official by the state legislature in 1925.

The images included within the seal, however, are not so simple. In a few carefully chosen symbols, Nebraska's broad history, dating to its territorial annexation, is depicted. These symbols represent agriculture (wheat sheaves and corn stalks), settlers (a cabin and a steamboat), andindustry (the smithy's hammer and anvil).

The seal also is designed to include geographical landmarks such as the Missouri River (running through the middle) and the Rocky Mountains (in the distant background).

Florence Hazen Miller

While the state seal dates to 1867, the same year Nebraska became a state, the state flag was not created until 1925. It was first raised on January 1, 1926 at the state capitol's new year's celebration.

The Nebraska state flag was designed by Florence Hazen Miller who also is credited with writing a history of the American Revolution.

Like many state flags, the Nebraska flag resulted from a contest sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which Ms. Miller was a member having colonial antecedents dating to the 1600s.

Nebraska is the 37th state. March 1, 1867 is the date of its statehood. At the center of the debate around Nebraska's statehood was whether or not African Americans should have the right to vote. President Andrew Johnson did not want to sign the bill allowing this, saying that the right to vote should be determined by individual states and not the federal government. Johnson did, however, finally sign the bill making Nebraska not just a state but a state in which all men, black and white, had the right to vote. Uhm, women, however, were a different subject! On August 2, 1919, Nebraska recognized women's right to vote. It was the 14th state to do so, giving all Nebraska citizens "equality before the law."

Let it fly!

sources:
Nebraskahistory.org
sos.ne.gov
usgennet.org

Bass Reeves & His Silver Star

2012-02-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

"Hi-ho,Silver!"

It's the call of the Lone Ranger, a masked hero who, atophis trusty steed, Silver, and with the help of his trusted sidekick, Tonto,defeats murderers, rustlers, and other nefarious outlaws in order to make the WildWest "a decent place to live." (To hear the original Lone Ranger radio show, click here.)

Silhouette of a cowboy against a setting sun (web)

In real life, the West was just as dangerous but far lessromantic. Covering hundreds of miles while following outlaws' trails for monthsat a time (usually with a cook, a deputy, and a wagon), the US Marshals workingthe Indian Territories (what is now Oklahoma) dealt with the roughest outlaws alawless land could produce. And when a bad guy was captured, the job was farfrom over:

"It sounds likeit would be a soft job to guard some prisoners who were chained to the wagon butit was really as dangerous as to capture them. Sometimes the prisoners had beensurprised and caught without a fight but a marshal never knew exactly whatwould happen when he started after some men. After he got them in the wagon,the guards had to be careful or two or three of the friends of the prisonerswould come up and throw guns on the [...] and release the prisoners."

from an interview with I.F. Williams, former deputy, c. 1937

One of the most well-known, well-respected, and mostsuccessful of the Wild West marshals was Bass Reeves. A former runaway slave from Texas, Reeves was the first AfricanAmerican US Marshal to be appointed West of the Mississippi River. Over thecourse of a 32-year career as a law officer, Reeves made over 3,000 arrests. Ofthose 3,000, only 14 resulted in a fatal shoot out with the deputy:

Bass Reeves (USMarshalsMuseum)

"One time ...Bass Reeves had the choice of some routine work or of capturing a black man whohad killed a fellow for a bale of cotton. 'Let Sherman and Adams go to Muskogeeand serve the papers,' he said as he did not want to get mixed up with whitefolks. 'I will go and get this man or bring his boots.' When he returned he hadhis man in the wagon. What happened [I asked.] 'He got in a log cabin andstarted firing at me, so I had to kill him, said the colored officer."

from the interview with I.F. Williams, former deputy, c.1937

What distinguished Reeves from so many others was just howgood he was at his job: He was smart, and although he could not read, he had animpeccable memory which allowed him to memorize the details of multiplewarrants at one time. Generally, he would have someone read aloud a warrant tohim so he could memorize it:

"He had anextraordinary ability to memorize long lists of criminals and their crimes andalways brought back the right man – or woman, as the case may be."

US Marshals Museum

Belle Starr turned herself in instead of being tracked by friend, Reeves

Reeves was 6'2" tall and weighed about 180 pounds. Hewas a fast and accurate shot, both with pistols and rifles, and he wasambidextrous. Sometimes Reeves would take a deputy with him, but not always:

"He wouldsometimes make the arrests alone and bring the prisoners to the wagon in whichthey would be chained. I saw him one time when he had three prisoners who broughthim a reward of $1,000.00."

from the interview with I.F. Williams, former deputy, c.1937

In all of his long history, Bass Reeves was never wounded –although he was often vulnerable. The following story demonstrates his single-handedcapture of two brothers notorious enough to bring a $5,000 reward. This is thestory as told by Reeves' contemporary, Adam Grayson, in a 1937 interview:

"It is said thathe pitched his camp about 28 miles from where he thought the notorious outlawsmight be found. He established the camp at this distance so that he could takehis time in making a plan of procedure for a capture without creating anysuspicions and look over the lay of the surrounding land. ... He disguisedhimself as a tramp. From his outward appearance, he was a tramp but inwardly hewas the fearless marshal with his duty ... With him, he had every aid that a USMarshal could need, handcuff [sic], six shooter and all with the steel breastplatewhile over this he wore very ragged clothes. He removed the heels off of an oldpair of shoes, carried a cane and he wore a very floppy hat in which he hadshot three bullet holes."

Reeves walked 28 miles before reaching the home the trainrobbers shared with their mother. He pretended to be a hungry tramp with thelaw on his trail. As proof, he showed the mother his hat with the three bulletholes in it. She believed his story, invited him in, and fed him. After dinner,Reeves was hoping her sons might still show up so he pretended to be tired andthen...

"After night hadfallen, Reeves thought he could hear a sharp whistle from the creek. The oldwoman went out and gave an answer. Then riders rode up where the mother talkedto them for a long while but they all finally came into the house. All finallyagreed to join forces and work together. While preparing to go to bed ... [Reeves]suggested that they all sleep in one room by saying that something might happenand if we are separated we couldn't be much protection to one another. ... Assoon as these boys were asleep, Reeves left his bed and managed to handcuff thepair without waking [them] ... He waited until early morning before he wokethem ... and said, 'Come on, boys, let's be going from here.' They realizedthat they were in the hands of the law. ... [He walked with the boys to his]camp 28 miles away, the mother followed him for three, cussing him and callinghim all sorts of names."

Bass Reeves (front row, left) and US Marshals, c. 1900 (Univ. of OK, Western Collection)

Reeves' long history also included having to bring in one ofhis five sons for murder. Benjamin Reeves had found his wife cheating on him,repeatedly. The first time, he and his wife reconciled. The next time, he nearlywhipped her lover to death and he did end up killing his wife. Benjamin Reevesran off into Indian territory. None of Reeves' colleagues wanted to take thewarrant so Reeves did it: He tracked his son into Indian territory and, severalweeks later, brought Benjamin back to stand trial.

Another time, Reeves, himself, was accused of murdering hiscook, William Leach, over an alleged dispute involving Reeves' dog and some hotgrease (www.theoutlaws.com). Reeves' defense was that he was cleaning his gun,and when he tried to dislodge a bullet that was stuck in the chamber, the gunwent off, accidentally wounding Leach in the neck. Leach died of the woundbefore a doctor could arrive. Reeves was arrested but was able to post $3,000 inbail. Although he was found innocent of murder, the expense of the trial issaid to have taken the bulk of his life's savings.

"Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker

Bass Reeves was born in 1838. After escaping into freeterritory, he farmed for awhile and also worked as a scout with an extensiveknowledge of several Indian languages including Seminole, Creek, and thelanguages of the other Five Civilized Tribes. According to one source, he heldthe rank of a Union Sergeant by the end of the Civil War (www.theoutlaws.com).

He was recruited as a US Marshal by Judge Isaac Parker ofthe Fort Smith Federal Court. Parker held court six days a week, tried over13,000 cases and ordered the hanging of 160 felons. He was the original "HangingJudge," and Reeves was his long-time colleague, responsible for some75,000 square miles of the most dangerous territory in the country. Reeves wasthe only US Marshal to start when Parker took office and to work – to survive – until the territory of Oklahoma became the state of Oklahoma.

Bass Reeves' actual badge

Reeves died on January 12, 1910 in Muskogee, Oklahoma ofBright's Disease, or liver complications. In 2010, he was posthumously inductedinto the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Hall of Fame.

Let it fly!

The Oklahoma state flag

sources used:

The Museum of Broadcast Communications

coax.net (The Legacyof Bass Reeves)

bradyenterpriseassociation.com

legendsofamerica.com

okstate.edu

outlaws.com

radiohalloffame.org

usmarshals.gov

usmarshalsmuseum.com

The Will of George Washington

2012-02-20T05:49:00.000-08:00

Vintage postcard celebrating Washington's birthday

Who was George Washington? This description is offered by one contemporary who knew him quite well:

"His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first order; his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton, Bacon or Locke; and as far as he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination but sure in its conclusion. ...

"His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest, ... of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the word, a wise, a good and a great man.

George Washington, c. 1782 (artist unknown)

"His temper was naturally irritable and high toned; but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual ascendancy over it. If ever, however, it broke its bonds, he was most tremendous in his wrath."

~ Thomas Jefferson
(American Characters: Selections from the National Portrait Gallery Accompanied by Literary Portraits 26)

While a bad temper may not be part of the national consciousness of George Washington, his reputation for integrity has remained intact for over two hundred years.

In 1839, President Rutherford Hayes signed the bill that made Washington's birthday an official federal holiday – on February 22. It was not until 1968 (the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill), when federal holidays were "bulked" into the "Monday holidays" we now take for granted, that the third Monday was designated by Congress as President's Day. It was intended to honor George Washington's birthday which is February 22.

Old school: Students with a bust of George Washington in the classroom (National Archives)

President's Day, however, is also referred to, by some, as Presidents' Day. Note the placement of the apostrophe. This change (or even omission) of the apostrophe has come to represent an entire world of difference: a popular nod to the idea that the federal holiday honoring one President's birthday should symbolize the respect we hold for all presidents' birthdays. Cynics attribute this interpretation to a less patriotic and more commercial motivation. However one chooses to interpret the federal holiday that falls on the third Monday in February, it all goes back to our first president.

The Surrender of Cornwallis (John Trumbull, c. 1797)

Liberty – and freedom – for all

Born in 1732, Washington was elected to the presidency by a unanimous vote.

It is more commonly related that many grateful Americans wanted to make Washington "king" of the new democracy. Imagine, for one moment, however, living in a world in which each generation before you had only known government under kings. Imagine what it took to fight such a war of separation – and then to win it!

Looming large, of course, in this new but uncertain present, are the day-to-day concerns of how this new nation will survive. Can it survive?

A Liberty Tree

To some children of the Revolution, caught in the shifting sands of this newly democratic world and the familiar touchstones of the past, there was only one imaginable answer: Washington, the national hero, should become king.

To other children of the Revolution, such an idea must have been anathema. It certainly was to Washington.

Given the times, Washington clearly had thought a great deal about the meaning of freedom. Perpetually tied close to 18th century American ideas of freedom, however, is the idea of slavery. This, too, seems to have occupied his conscience.

Prior to his death on December 14, 1799, Washington had begun to systematically free his slaves (Mount Vernon), a change from his careful management of family slaves when he would visit Philadelphia. It was Pennsylvania law that, after six months of residency, a slave would automatically be manumitted (freed). To avoid this, Washington would rotate slaves so that none could qualify.

In his will and testament, however, he clearly states his desire that all the slaves at Mount Vernon eventually be freed:

"Item 1: Upon the decease of my wife, it is my Will and desire, that all the slaves which I hold in my own right, shall receive their freedom."

Washington with slaves at Mount Vernon (Smithsonian, c. 1853 by JB Stearns)

He then goes on to explain why, though this is his "earnest wish," the legal intricacies of slave holding (his slaves, her slaves, dower slaves, Custis family slaves, etc.), made it something that could not be entirely resolved until his wife's death:

"To emancipate them during her life, would, tho' earnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties."

Ultimately, Martha Washington had freed all of her husband's slaves by New Year's Day, 1801. She freed her dower slaves by the time of her death. (Some accounts indicate all were freed; others that "nearly all" were freed; still other accounts that some were not hers to free.) In the interim, Washington's will also required that the slaves at Mount Vernon learn to read and write. He made financial provision for others, including those that were ill or old, as well as those that were orphaned, to be provided for.

To read George Washington's last will and testament in full, click here.

Washington's papers, in the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia, can be viewed online here.

Let if fly!
partial listing of sources:
American Characters, Lewis & Lewis (pp. 14-30)
Architects of America (aoc.gov)
archives.gov/publications
gwpapers.virginia.edu
mountvernon.org
pbs.org/georgewashington/collection

William Carney: Union Soldier, Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient

2012-02-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

This particular blog is dedicated to the celebration of African American History Month. I hope it inspires pride in our shared history, both the history that is past and the history that is yet to come. It also is dedicated to my husband and son, descendants of Col. Robert Gould Shaw of the Massachusetts 54th; and to David Roderick, television producer, musician, former colleague – and descendant of William Carney.

Boston, MA

Spring, 1863

About 600 African American soldiers, all armed and ready forbattle, muster on Boston Common.

Detail of the Saint-Gaudens memorial to the Massachusetts 54th

It is May, a saucy month in New England. The gardens aregreening and life seems full of possibility. This particular day is noexception. It is, in fact, absolutely golden: warm, sunny, a day to wrap yourarms around.

To be precise, it is late in May: the 28th, and despite thepleasant weather, we are at war with ourselves. Shiloh. Harper’s Ferry. Antietamhas too-recently made its blood offering. Fredericksburg. Chancellorsville. Alreadythis is a history of near loss for the Union Army, and a history of wondroussurvival for the Confederates.

But here, on Boston Common, there is both celebration andboldness in the air as the first Northern “coloured regiment” of the Union Army,the Massachusetts 54th, gets readyto march off to battle. Trained and armed just like their white counterparts,they are also uniformed and paid – just like their white counterparts.


The 54th Massachusetts in Boston, c. 1863

But unlike their white counterparts, these soldiers andtheir white officers march with a death sentence over their heads. On ChristmasEve, 1862, nearly a month before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation,Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ General Orders #111 declare that any andall commissioned Union officers be considered “as robbers and criminalsdeserving death” upon capture.

Further, whether the black soldiers be free men or runawayslaves, it it would not matter once they crossed Southern lines. At that time,all were considered “slaves [who were to be] “at once delivered over to...therespective States to which they belong to be dealt with according to the lawsof said States.”

Most of these men are free, but not all. They have come fromMassachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri...as far away as Bermuda. Theyall know the risks of serving in this regiment. In spite of these risks,perhaps because of these risks, they stand here now in regimental trim, readyto make their mark on history.

Lewis Henry Douglass, son of Frederick Douglass

Among the souls here today are Lewis Henry Douglass andCharles Redmond Douglass, sons of the former slave and great abolitionist, Frederick Douglass.

James Caldwell,grandson of Sojourner Truth, is hereas well.

So, too, is StephenAtkins Swails, a young man who will survive to become a Re-Constructionistlawyer, town mayor, and member of the 1868 electoral college.

William Harvey Carneyis here. Twenty-three years old, Carney was born into slavery. Both his parentswere slaves. Now they live in New Bedford, Massachusetts. When he was 15, he“embraced the gospel” and later believed he would become a minister (The Liberator November 6, 1863), but he is here, instead, respondingto a different type of calling:

"Previous to theformation of colored troops, I had a strong inclination to prepare myself forthe ministry; but when the country called for all persons, I could best servemy God serving my country and my oppressed brothers." (The Liberator 1863).

The Union flag. Lincoln refused to remove any stars.

Leading these men are the sons of socially prominent, whiteabolitionist families: Col. Robert GouldShaw, of Boston, who was married just a month prior, and Col. Norwood "Needles" Hallowell andhis younger brother, Lt. Col. Edward"Pen" Penrose Hallowell, will go on to lead the Massachusetts55th, a second African American regiment formed after the success of the54th.

They are gathered now, in front of the State House and willmarch to Boston Harbor, famous for a different party during a different war.From there, they sail south. Their ultimate destination is Fort Wagner, South Carolina.

William Carney with his medal, c. 1890s

They arrive July 18, 1863 having seen some prior skirmishesthe month before. The fort is located on Morris Island and guards the southernapproach into Charleston harbor. This battle will be the second attempt in aweek to win the fort. The first attempt resulted in over 300 Union deadcompared to the loss of 12 Confederate soldiers (www.wikipedia.org).

Five thousand Union soldiers attack the fort. TheMassachusetts 54th leads the way. Their approach is along the beach. They needto cross over a 30’ defensive embankment. It is here that Col. Shaw, leadinghis men by foot, raises his sword to storm the enemy walls.

“Forward 54th!” he cries. His men follow. Shaw is one of thefirst to reach the top of the wall.

Col. Robert Gould Shaw of the Massachusetts 54th

The Union dead number into the thousands. Of the 600soldiers of the 54th, 220 die as a result of the day’s battle. One of thosesoldiers, shot through the heart, is Col. Shaw. One of the survivors is WilliamCarney.

At battle’s end, the Confederacy strip Col. Shaw’s body,briefly put him on display, then throw him into the bottom of a mass grave withother soldiers of the 54th. The action is intended as an insult, not leastbecause officers’ bodies were, in those days, collected and returned from thebattleground to the family for a formal burial. Not so in this case.

The intended insult ends up as a point of honor between Col.Shaw and his men. His family says that this is where their son would want tobe, that he would have considered it an honor to be buried with his men.

His widow never remarries.

In the fire of battle, however, Carney sees the flag-bearerdrop the company flag. Without giving it any thought, he picks up the flagbefore it can be captured and fights his way to the Fort Wagner wall. He issaid to have kept the flag waving for 20 minutes during that desperate battle.When he finally gives up his position, family legend says that he actually wrapshimself in the flag in order to protect it.

Lithograph of the Fort Wagner debacle, July 17, 1863

The action also makes him a very special moving target: aformer slave, a black Union soldier, a company man bearing the company colors.Carney is wounded four times before he gives up the flag in safety. Twice inhis body. Once in his arm. The last bullet grazes his head.

Even when a member of the NY 100th offers to carry the flagfor him, Carney keeps going, refusing to give up the flag to any but a memberof the 54th (“America’s Civil War” Hammond, March, 2007).

“The old flag never touched the ground,” says Carney right before he collapses.

William Carney with the Union flag

In 1900, 37 years after his act of bravery and 38 yearsafter the medal’s inception, William Carney is awarded the Congressional Medalof Honor “to be presented in the name ofCongress, to such officers and non-commissioned privates as shall mostdistinguish themselves by their gallantry in action.”

William Harvey Carney is the medal's first African Americanrecipient.

"I only did my duty,” says Carney upon receiving it.

Here is the full roster of soldiers who served in the Massachusetts 54th. A link to the Congressional Medal of Honor website and Carney's citation is here. A memorial to the Massachusetts 54th stands on the Beacon Street side of Boston Commons, across from the State House. Designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, you can see the memorial at this link.

Let if fly!

Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the men of the Massachusetts 54th (litho)

partial source listing:

Duncan, Russell, ed.: Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Col. Robert Gould Shaw

www.54th-mass.org

www.historynet.com

www.medalofhonor.com/WilliamCarney.htm

www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/pow.htm

www.cmohs.org/medal_history.htm

The Baltimore Plot: Red Dots, Lady Detectives and That Man, Lincoln!

2012-02-12T14:47:00.000-08:00

The splinter effect

It begins on Tuesday, November 6, 1860 when Abraham Lincoln is elected president. Weekslater, just a nod before Christmas, SouthCarolina secedes in response.

Lincoln, c. 1858 (LoC). Look at those eagle eyes!

The new year is a miserable one for outgoing President Buchanan and the nation atlarge as three more slave states leave the nation within days of each other.During the second week of January, Mississippileaves on the 9th, Florida on the10th, and Alabama on the 11th.

Come January 19, Georgiadeparts.

One week later to the day, Louisiana follows.

On February 1, Texassecedes – and the new president isn't even in office yet.

Of the 7 Confederate states that secede before Lincoln takesoffice, 2 are original to the 13 colonies: Georgiaand South Carolina. Of the 11 statesthat eventually make up the Confederacy, 2 more are from the original 13: Virginia and North Carolina. When Virginia, home to so many founding fathers, leavesthe Union in April, 1861, that split births an entirely new state, West Virginia, and West Virginia becomesa Union state. Two more of the original 13 colonies, Maryland and Delaware, stayin the Union but keep their slaves, and Maryland is put under martial law. Kentucky, while not part of theoriginal 13 colonies, was the birthplace of President Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd (she was considered the "real" abolitionist in the family – if you didn't worry she secretly was a secessionist spying on her husband); Kentucky stayed in the Union.But take note, every single one of the four slave-holding border states (Maryland,Delaware, Kentucky, and the new state of Missouri), supported factions andsponsored regiments for both sides.

Union Civil War flag: Lincoln kept every state's star

But we get ahead of ourselves. The point being, that wellbefore the first shots of the Civil War were fired, this new nation, less than100 years old, was shredding. When leaving the White House, President Buchanan is said to havespoken these sardonic words to President Lincoln:

"If you are ashappy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland,you are a happy man indeed." (New York Times)

Capitol steps, Lincoln's inauguration March 3, 1861 (LoC)

And so it went, which is why, when President-Elect Lincoln startedmaking his way by train from Springfield, IL to Washington, DC in February, 1861,he inspired enormous crowds – of all opinions. Lincoln's presidentialsecretary, John Nicolay, made thisobservation:

"There is a powerof fine discrimination in the eyes and ears of an intelligent Americanmultitude that does not often fail to rightly interpret the personal relationof the official to the constituent. ... If such a current of electricalcommunion from the people to Mr. Lincoln be denied or disproven, those whostood near him throughout his memorable journey can give earnest testimony toits presence from Lincoln to the people." (An Oral History of Abraham Lincoln 110)

You can get an understanding of this connection from Lincolnas he stopped and greeted the citizens who gathered to see him. They came frommiles and they stood in snowstorms to see him, to see the face that was tosplit or seam the country.

In Rochester, NY, at 8 a.m. on a snowy day before a crowd ofover 8,000, Lincoln was unable to leave the train. Henry Villard, a reporterwho followed Lincoln on the campaign trail, recorded this brief statement thePresident-Elect made to the people from the train's observation area:

Lincoln in Rochester (cartoon, c. 1861, Lincoln Inst.)

"I am not vainenough to believe that you are here from any wish to see me as an individual,but because I am, for the time being, the representative of the Americanpeople. ... I appear merely to see you, and to let you see me..." (Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, v.4 222)

Follow the red dot

In addition to the crowds that Lincoln's eastbound journey inspired,the journey is thought to have inspired one purported assassination attempt:the Baltimore Plot. The plot was planned for February, 23, the day Lincoln'strain was due in Baltimore, the last big stop before reaching Washington thenext day.

Barnum City Hotel, Baltimore (c. 1860)

If you lived in Baltimore in the mid-to-late 19th centuryand you favor the buzz of politics and society, chances are you are more thanfamiliar with Barnum's City Hotel, a large and luxurious establishment next toMonument Square in downtown Baltimore. One of the hotel's amenities is that patrons,like John Wilkes-Booth, could go down to the basement and get their hair trimmedby a well-known, Corsican barber, CiprianoFerrandini.

Ferrandini, however, was not just a barber, just likeWilkes-Booth was not just an actor. Ferrandini, like many a Baltimore resident,was a passionate anti-abolitionist who considered Lincoln to be nothing lessthan Devil spawn. Unlike many pro-Southern sympathizers, however, Ferrandinihad spent several months in Mexico, in 1860, training with a pro-secessionistmilitia. He returned with the rank of Captain (www.msa.md.gov).

As Lincoln's train, the Presidential Special, wend its wayacross country, Ferrandini was at the heart of a group of rabidanti-abolitionists who were planning to murder the new president when hestopped in Baltimore.

Meanwhile, undercover detective, Allen Pinkerton (Pinkerton used to work security for the railroads,one of Lincoln's law clients), had gone undercover in Baltimore, a known hotbedof political intrigue. In his biography, Pinkerton says he was able toinfiltrate Ferrandini's group of would-be assassins by posing. This group also issupposed to have included, among other notables, the Mayor of Baltimore, George Brown (www.msa.md.gov) and the Chief of Police, George P. Kane(Harper's 1868).

Members of the Baltimore Plot (msa.md.gov)

The plan was simple: Lincoln's train would stop inBaltimore. Crowds would surge forward. Members of the local police were tocreate a block so that those involved in the conspiracy could move forward,surround Lincoln, and knife him to death. The actual assassin was to be unknownto the group, although obviously a part of it: Each conspirator was to draw apiece of paper out of a hat. The person who chose the paper with a red dot onit would be the one to do the deed (Harper'sNew Monthly Magazine June, 1868). This way, all were involved while theactual assassin's identity was protected.

That was plan, according to Pinkerton. While Lincoln was inPhiladelphia on February 21, Pinkerton, and others, were eventually able topersuade Lincoln to take the plot seriously.

The counter-plot was equally simple: The PresidentialSpecial would move forward as planned but without Mr. Lincoln. Instead, Lincolnand an undercover detective would be in disguise aboard a different train andtaking an earlier route that would not stop in Baltimore. The undercoverdetective was a woman, Kate Warne.She is considered to be America's first woman detective and the first woman toguard a president-elect.

Cipriano Ferrandini (Baltimore Sun)

Warne also is credited with being part of the undercoversurveillance of Baltimore to confirm the assassination attempt. She played awealthy Southern charmer who stayed, of course, at Barnum's City Hotel.

Through the night of February 21 and the morning hours ofFebruary 22, Warne, armed and in disguise, guarded the president. They traveledtogether as a woman caring for her sickly brother, Warne having made advance arrangementsfor a sleeper car at the end of the train for herself and her "brother"(www.pimall.com/nais/pivintage/katewarne). Also on board the train wasPinkerton and another operative, George Gangs (Kate Warne, First Female Detective Niderost).

The next morning, Lincoln arrived in Washington with a beardand dressed in "a soft cap" and long coat. Though a peaceful arrival,it was not uneventful. When word of the possible assassination attempt got out,he was depicted as a coward in much of the national press.

Lincoln enters Washington (LoC)

For an interview about the validity of the Baltimore Plot,see this C-Span video: The Baltimore Plot: Fact of Fiction?In it, historians Thomas Craughwelland Michael Kline, review theevidence. The program was part of the LincolnForum Symposium, November 17, 2011 in Gettysburg, PA.

Let it fly!

February Soul Food: Words and music to change a world

2012-02-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

February 7 is a seemingly unremarkable day – except that it is the day that gave us a birthday and a revolutionto change the culture of this nation.

Frederick Douglass (wikicommons)

It is the birthday of FrederickDouglass, a former slave and leader in the abolitionist movement, and it is thedate the Beatles arrived in the US for the first time. While Douglass gave uswords to help fight slavery, The Beatles gave us a new kind of music.

The Beatles (Richard Avedon)

Both helped feed our souls. Hereare the highlights:

Born in 1817 in Maryland toa slave and an unknown white man, Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey wouldhelp change the course of history for his country and his people.

Better known as Frederick Douglass, he only saw his mother ahandful of times before she died when he was 7. At the age of 8, he was sent toa shipbuilder in Baltimore. It was in this city, a buffer zone between theslaveholding South and the free North, that Douglass learned two things thatwould shape his life: It was in Baltimore that he learned how to read and thathe learned of an idea, a movement, a belief that no man should be a slave. Itwas called abolition. When Douglass died (February 20, 1895), his obituary was published in the NewYork Times. Here is the full text.

A writer, editor and public speaker against slavery,Douglass once gave a speech about freedom on the 4th of July. The contents ofthe speech, oft cited as one of his best, was not what was expected. He gavestrong words to that crowd, words that try to catch the sharp edge of the lashand of a nation only half free.

Frederick Douglass by Elisha Hammond (Yale.edu)

What he spoke about that summer's day was "The Meaning of July 4 ..."

A copy of the full text of the speech is here, courtesy of PBS.org.

Excerpts from Douglass' speech:

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of thisrepublic.

The signers of theDeclaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, greatenough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation toraise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I amcompelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannotcontemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen,patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles theycontended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory....

I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary!

Your high independenceonly reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you,this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice,liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared byyou, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has broughtstripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice,I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty,and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery andsacrilegious irony....

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?

I answer; a day thatreveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice andcruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham;your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swellingvanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation oftyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollowmockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all yourreligious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception,impiety, and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace anation of savages....

Here is a short video of actor Danny Glover reciting Douglass' July 4 speech. This event was sponsored by Voices of a People's History of the United States, a series of readings based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

A musical revolution about 100 years later:

"And he-e-re they are – The Beatles!"

In 1964, the Beatles come to theUnited States for the very first time and the rest, as they say, is history. Theirvery first appearance was in Washington, DC. They sang two songs you mightknow: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "From Me to You".

Here is a link to that 1stperformance in DC at the Washington Colliseum.

The Beatles in DC, 1964 (pophistorydig.com)

On Febrary 9, 1964, The Beatlesmade the appearance that introduced them to the nation at large. Many of us sawthem here for the first time. It is, of course, the 1960s version of AmericanIdol, better know an The Ed Sullivan Show.

They sang four songs on the showand the crowd went wild. (Anybody remember? I do!) They sang: "All MyLovin'", "Till There Was You", "I Saw Her StandingThere", "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

Here is the video of that first performance of a "really big shew" [sic] The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9, 1964. Enjoy!

Let it fly!

Kansas: To the Stars Through Difficulty

2012-01-29T16:30:00.000-08:00

"Ad astra per astera" is the mottoof the 34th state to join the Union, Kansas. It joined the Union on January 29,1861.

Icarus by Henri Matisse, c. 1947

Translatedfrom the Latin, "ad astra per astera"literally means, "to the stars through difficulty." Morecolloquially, it translates into the familiar adage, "nothing worth doing isever accomplished without effort." Though heady stuff in the Latin, making one look upward to considerdreams and goals, it ultimately is practical advice – mid-western advice.

The state flag of Kansas: Ad astra per astera

The mottois placed at the heart of the Kansas state flag just the way Kansas is settled at the heart of the country. It is found at the top of the Kansas state seal (c. 1911), a circular picture enclosing a star-studdedblue sky, a golden horizon, and rolling hills of farmland with a farmer and ateam of horses plowing in the foreground. The seal is central upon a bluefield. Below it, in bold, golden yellow, is "Kansas", a detail addedin 1961.

Above the sealis the Kansas state crest, apretty but odd, little device created by the US War Department in 1923. Thecrest consists of two parts: a very pretty sunflower above a baton with yellowand blue stripes. The baton looks a lot like the bars of a military medal andis supposed to symbolize the Louisiana Purchase (1803) from which much ofKansas is carved (www.KSHS.org).


The official State Banner of Kansas, c. 1925-1927

Kansas didnot have a state flag until 1927. For two years, from 1925-1927, Kansas had an official state banner in lieu ofa state flag. It is the only state to do so, a situation owing to the continuingdebate of the flag's design.

Thediscussion begins in 1915 with a request for a state flag by formernewspaperman, then governor, and eventual five-term US Senator, Arthur Capper. Thedesire for state flags must have been part of a national discussion at the timefor in 1916, the Daughters of the American Revolution hold a flag contest for aKansas state flag. The Kansas DAR contest is just one of many hosted across thecountry that will be responsible for a plethora of state flags – but not thisone.

Esther Estelle Northrup of Lawrence, Kansas wins the contest. The Northrup designincludes three wide, horizontal stripes. From top to bottom, they are in red,white and blue. On the bottom stripe, the blue stripe, there is no additionalornament. On the central, white stripe, is the state seal. On the red stripe,at the top, is the state flower, the sunflower. [Unfortunately, an image of theNorthrup design is not available.]

Arthur Capper, journalist, governor, US senator

Accordingto state histories, the state flower, in itself, was a topic of debate as someliked the ubiquitous Kansas sunflower and others considered it a"noxious" weed (kshs.org). Despite the debate on the merits of thesunflower, at the time of the 1916 DAR contest, the sunflower had been theofficial state flower of Kansas for five years. At the end of the debate,however, the Northrup flag was considered to be too similar to the Stars andStripes for the state's officials' tastes, so the search continued.

By 1925, aCivil War veterans group of Union soldiers, the Grand Army of the Republic(GAR), steps in and successfully lobbies for an official state banner. This design depicts a blue field witha large, golden sunflower in the middle. "Kansas" is below thesunflower. Gold fringe decorates the bottom. To make it clear that this is abanner and not a flag, the banner is required to be hung between two poles orto be carried in a similar manner, a requirement that makes carrying the bannertwice as difficult as carrying a flag. The National Guard is not happy aboutthis. Separate from that complaint is the obvious irritation of the DAR withthe GAR. And so it went.

Albert Reid riffs on JP Morgan and monopolies

The imageon the banner, however, is a pretty one. The Kansas State Historical Society'sdescription makes it sound as if the image is the same one submitted by the rather famous Kansas illustrator Albert Reid.Reid, who aspired to being a painter, is best known for his wry political cartoons and those depicting social commentary. Other sources credit thebanner's design to Adjutant General Joe Nickell.

In eitherevent, this state of affairs lasted for two years before a state flag wasfinally chosen. Adjutant General Milton R. McLean managed to successfullysponsor the Kansas Flag Act. It was passed on March 21, 1927 and describes theflag as a blue field with the state seal in the center and the state crestcentered above that. With the single exception of the 1961 modification, itremains unchanged.

Ad astra per astera is both the Kansas state motto aswell as the story behind her flag.

Sunflowers by Yovko Lambrev

Let it fly!

A wonderfully detailed andillustrated timeline of Kansas history can be found at Kansas History Online.

sources:

KansasHistory Online (kshs.org)

KansasState Historical Society

StateLibrary of Kansas (kslib.info)

Wikipedia

The Flag of Michigan and the Michigan 24th

2012-01-26T00:04:00.000-08:00

The State Flag of Michigan, first seen at Gettysburg

Onthe 26th day of January in 1837, Michigan became the 26th state.

Lessthan 25 years later...

In the Spring of 1861, Fort Sumter falls.
PresidentLincoln responds with a call to arms. Michigan replies with an initialenlistment of 10 companies.

President Lincoln's response was succinct: "ThankGod for Michigan!" (michigan.gov/dmva)

Battlefield memorial to the Michigan 24th

Bythe following December, Michigan had sent an additional 16,000 men into battle.By war's end, the number of Michigan soldiers totaled 97,729. This was nearly aquarter of Michigan's entire male population. Of all these men, 1 in 6 woulddie: Their numbers are the 6th highest of Union Army war dead (www.michigan.gov/dmva).

Michigan soldiers were at some of the worst fighting of the Civil War: Antietam. Gettysburg. Chancellorsville. The list goes on.

AtGettysburg, the 24th Michigan, part of the Iron Brigade of cavalry from thewestern states, lost 56% of its company. The Iron Brigade took some of theheaviest losses during the war, including some of the fiercest fighting duringthe three days of Gettysburg.

Evenbefore the war was over, Gettysburg was made into a soldier's cemetery to honorthe war dead from both sides. (This picture of the battlefield memorial to the Michigan 24th is from Gettysburg.) It was here, at The Soldiers Cemetery atGettysburg in 1863, that President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. And itwas here, July 4, 1865, that the Michigan state flag was "unfurled" for the veryfirst time (www.michigan.gov).

The Michigan flag is inspired by the state seal and includes an adaptation of the seal against a blue field. The state seal was designed in 1835 by Lewis Cass, a territorial governor, but takes its inspiration from the Hudson Bay Company's seal which features two rampant moose beside a shield with a red cross and a beaver in each quadrant. A fox atop a crown rests above the shield. The moose are standing on a banner with the rather wry Latin motto proclaiming "skin for skin" (Manitoba Historical Society).

Original Hudson Bay Company shield

The flag is a proud blending of national symbolism as well as state identity. At the top is a red banner. Below this is an American eagle holding three arrows and an olive branch. The olive branch has 13 olives or "fruits" symbolizing the original 13 colonies.

Under the eagle is a shield with a rampant elk and a moose on either side. Below the shield is a patch of green and below that, two white banners. The shield depicts Michigan's land and great waterways. It also includes a man with one hand raised in peace and the other hand holding a gun.

The Michigan flag contains 3 Latin mottoes: Inside the red banner it reads, "E Pluribus Unum." Sound familiar? Translation: Out of many, one. The prominent second motto reads: "Tuebor." Translation: I will defend. Together, they state there is one nation out of many states and I will defend it. It is clear that Michigan did so unstintingly.

The third Latin motto is the official state motto and reads: "Si Quæris Peninsulam Amœnam Circumspice." Translation: If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you. This refers to Michigan's amazing inland relationship to water: It is the only state to touch four out of the five Great Lakes and has 36,000 miles of rivers and streams. With over 56,000 square miles, one is always "within 85 miles of a Great Lake anywhere in the state" (michigan.gov/kids).

Artist's version of Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address
November19, 1863

When Lincoln arrived by train the evening before, the station platform was lined with coffins of soldiers who had not yet been re-interred in the memorial cemetery (www.encyclopedia.com).

The crowds that gathered the next day, had not come to hear the president speak. The had come to listen to the great orator, Edward Everett who spoke for over two hours. Lincoln's speech, which took less than five minutes to give, remains one of the world's great speeches. If you have never had the opportunity to read the entire speech, here it is in all of its oratorical brilliance:

"Fourscoreand seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are createdequal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation orany nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.


The Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg, PA

"Weare met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portionof that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives thatthat nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should dothis.

"Butin a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallowthis ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here, have consecratedit far above our poor power to add or detract. Theworld will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can neverforget what they did here.

"Itis for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work whichthey, who fought here, have thus far so nobly advanced.

Battle flag of the 4th Michigan

"It is rather for us to behere dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honoreddead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last fullmeasure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not havedied in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, andthat government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perishfrom the earth."

To view the original Gettysburg Address and for more information about the Battle of Gettysburg, check out this link @ ourdocuments.gov.

Did you know...

It was a Michigan unit, the 4th Michigan Cavalry under Col. Benjamin Pritchard,that captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

The State Flag of Michigan is unchanged since 1911.

Let it fly!

sources:

avalon.law.yale.edu
civilwarwiki
4thmichigan.com
firstpeoplesofcanada.com
www.encyclopedia.com
mhs.mb.ca
michigan.gov

michigan.gov/dmva

ourdocuments.gov
wikipedia

Connecticut: "Older than the nation"

2012-01-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

theConnecticut's state flag

Surviving in new soil ...

Connecticut, the Constitution state, was made the fifth state of the new nation. The fifth of the original 13 colonies, it was granted statehood in 1788. While Connecticut's state flag was not adopted until some 90 years later in 1879, the flag's thematic roots rest in the fertile soil of this earliest founding.

The Connecticut state flag has a classical design based on traditional heraldic forms and a motif of grapevines that are staked vines, not wild vines. Its shield, in the rococo style, dates to the 1600s, at a time when England's "second sons" journeyed far to make their fortune and their mark. This is, at its heart, the story of Connecticut's grapevine flag, a story about new roots and new harvests that extend far beyond the journey of a "second son."

The grapevines on the Connecticut flag represent the first "transplants" to Connecticut in the 1600s. These early "transplants" arrived from England as well as Massachusetts Bay Colony. The imagery of the grapevine, however, an image that has been chosen to represent this state for centuries now, can be traced directly to one of Connecticut's first territorial governors. This idea of being transplanted and thriving in a new environment also is present in the state motto, "Qui transtulit sustinet," which translates to "He who transplants, still sustains" (ct.gov).

Both the transplanted grapevine motif and the motto date to Colonel George Fenwick and a signet ring that he possessed, the Saybrook seal (saybrookhistory.org).

A parting gift...

The Fenwick seal (colonialwarsct.org)

Fenwick, the son of a Northumberland country squire, arrived from England in 1639 with his wife and his two sisters (oldsaybrookhistory.org). He arrived as one of the partners in the Warwick Patent, an unusual patent in that it had 15 partners and these partners also were tiered.

The first partners were titled. The second tier included "gentlemen": landowners, sons of squires, lawyers, and so forth. Col. Fenwick was part of this second tier of ownership. A member of Parliament (ancestry.com), solicitor, landowner, and former soldier, he was the second governor of these new lands until 1644.

Common to the time, Fenwick was known to use a signet ring for validating documents. The seal was decorated with grapevines and the Latin motto, "Sustinet qui transtulit," an appropriate legend for a group of Puritans and land owners who had come to establish a new society amidst new land.

The state motto, that same motto as found on the Saybrook signet ring, has been interpreted by Charles J. Hoadly, a former Connecticut State Librarian and scholar (c. 1889) as having biblical roots taken from Psalm 80: 8-9 (SOTS.ct.gov). It reads:

8 Thou has brought a vine out of Egypt: Thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it.

9 Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.

Connecticut's 1711 colonial seal

In 1644, Fenwick sold the Saybrook land to the newly forming Colony of Connecticut. The price for the land, by the way, was £1800 of which Fenwick collected £1600. He then returned to England in 1645 (fenwicksregiment.org) after his wife's death.

The signet ring accompanied the sale and continued to be used by the Connecticut General Assembly and the Secretary of the Colony until its disappearance in 1687. A new stamp was not made until 1711.

Other sources claim that the three vines on the state seal and the state flag symbolize the first three towns or settlements in Connecticut. These towns/ settlements are variously identified as Hartford (1636), Wethersfield (1634) and Windsor (1633); or Hartford, New Haven (1638) and Fenwick's plantation of Saybrook (1635), or some version thereof.

Looking at the dates of their founding (colonialwarsct.org), it is clear that the oldest settlements are Windsor, Wethersfield and Saybrook. Hartford, however, created from settlements merging into the Colony of Connecticut, was the site of an early Dutch fort that was built in 1633, the House of Hope.

Connecticut's state seal

Either way, these early settlements became the Colony of Connecticut, founded on the notion of "new shoots" transplanted from the old country and strong enough to not just survive but to flourish.

Older than the nation...
After the Revolution, a new state seal was reworked from Fenwick's original Saybrook seal with its Latin motto and symbolism of transplanted vines. This 18th century seal remains the official state seal of Connecticut.

The "seal" that is on the Connecticut state flag actually is the state's official coat-of-arms. The coat-of-arms was designed in 1931 and is designated by the state to be not just a formal heraldic shield but "an armorial shield of rococo design."

While much of Connecticut's history is "older than the nation," this particular phrase is identified with one particular Connecticut institution, the Hartford Courant.

Front page of The Courant Courant, Oct. 29, 1764

The Courant is the nation's oldest newspaper still in existence. Founded in 1764, the Hartford Courant was originally known as the Connecticut Courant so it really is "older than the nation." To read about George Washington's advertisement in the Courant and Thomas Jefferson's libel suit against the Courant, go to http://cour.at/34lRGk.

Let it fly!

sources:
ct.gov
fenwicksregiment.org
jud.ct.gov
oldsaybrookhistory.org Society of Colonial Wars in CT
SOTS.CT.gov
wikipedia

The Christmas Eve Truce: 12.24.1914

2011-12-30T21:31:00.000-08:00

The lines of the infamous Western Front of WWI

Five months after the start of World War I, a spontaneous truce crept into the enemy trenches along the Western Front. It was a brief cease fire that lasted about 24 hours and was filled with the singing of Christmas carols. This was Christmas Eve, 1914.

The Western Front stretched across parts of Belgium, France and Germany and included soldiers from those countries as well as England. In the first year of the war, over 1 million soldiers would die along the Western Front.

To see a truce break out amidst this death land, a truce that was not created by any government but one that was created by the soldiers in those trenches, is a truly extraordinary thing.

Photo: Lt. Cyril Drummond (Imperial War Museums, London)

The photo (right) was taken on Christmas Day, 1914 in the "no man's land" between the two lines of enemy trenches. It includes English soldiers (from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers) and German soldiers near St. Yvon in the Ypres Salient.

In the trenches (LLT.org)

The Christmas Eve truce is not the only time such a cease-fire has been called, but it is the most famous. A part of what sometimes is referred to as the "live and let live" system, such informal truces can emerge from the heat of war (http://www.iwm.org.uk).

One book that discusses such circumstances during World War I is Trench Warfare, 1914-1918: The Live and Let Live System (Ashworth).

Another good resource about the Christmas Truce is Long, Long Trail (LLT.org) which presents a detailed chronology of the truce and the events that lead up to it (starting from Dec. 5, 1918) as well as after (through December 31). This resource also can tell you which British regiments were there and the names of the soldiers.

Here is a video documenting the Christmas Eve Truce (video by PBS.org):