Interviews With First Responders Told 9/11 Story-- Part 2: Oral History

I stop my blogs every September 11 to remember.

"For those who survived that day it was luck, not skill," according to James Canham.

Why would anyone accept those odds in return for a first responder's modest paycheck?

Fortunately, survivors can speak for their for their lost comrades, and recount what happened, thanks to interviews made by the New York Fire Department shortly after 9/11.

Of course, the sooner you can get a person's recollections on paper, the more accurate they are.

40th New York Infantry Regiment and It's Connection to Mozart Hall

No, it wasn't a dedication to any sort of classical music.

I went to several sources of information on the 40th New York Volunteer Infantry and found out it was called the Mozart Regiment because of sponsorship by the Mozart Hall Committee of New York.

Mozart Hall was what Canterbury Hall in New York City was sometimes called.  This building was home of entertainment, but it was also  a gathering place for anti-Tammany Hall forces in the city.

The building was three stories high and m 40 feet by 125 feet deep.  The concerts there were described as a bit bawdy.  Newspapers in the city described the place as having the "prettiest waiter girls in town" and "a nightly disgrace to Broadway and the adjacent streets

A suspicious fire entirely burned the  building in the early morning hours of March 24, 1861.  It began among stage scenery.  A fire marshal had an investigation and determined it was caused by an incendiary device.

Go figure.

Who did it.  Upstanding citizens alarmed by the edifice's seedy reputation or, perhaps even Tammany Hall?

What Do You Think?  --Old Secesh

More Mascots-- Part 3: "The Barking Dog Regiment" from Ohio, Custer and Jack of the 102nd Pa.

The 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry became known as the "Barking Dog Regiment" because of its mascot named Harvey.  He was one of three dogs the regiment had, but served the longest.  He would bark at the enemy and was wounded at least twice.

The first time he was wounded, he was also captured, but returned the next day under a flag of truce.

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George Custer was rarely without a dog during and after the war.

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The 102nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry had Jack.  Many of the regiment came from Pittsburgh and one company had men from a local fire department who had Jack before the war.  When they enlisted, Jack went along with them in 1861 and served until 1864.

Jack was in many battles and skirmishes and would run to the front and along the lines.   He twice received wounds.  The first time was a serious one at the Battle of Malvern Hill, but medics were able to save him.  The other time was at Fredericksburg.  And, he was captured twice.  The first time he escaped six hours later.  The second time, he was exchanged for a Confederate prisoner.

--Old Secesh

Elmer Ellsworth-- Part 8: Raises a New York City Regiment, The Fire Zouaves

Continued from December 1.

Elmer Ellsworth went to New York City and raised what became the 11th New York Infantry.  Most of the men were firemen.  The men elected their captains, but Ellsworth appointed the lieutenants who were mostly men from his famous tour.  A popular name for them was the Fire Zouaves.

A REGIMENT OF MANY NAMES

According to Wikipedia, the 11th also was called many names:

Ellsworth Zouaves
First Fire Zouaves
First Regiment  New York Fire Zouaves
United States National Guard

By May, the regiment was in Washington, D.C., a very tense place with Virginia getting ready to secede as well as Maryland.  The city was surrounded.

--Old Secesh