Road Trippin' Through History: Civil War Notables Buried at Philadelphia's West Laurel Hill Cemetery

Here are four other Civil War folk:

OLIVER CHRISTIAN BOSBYSHELL  (1839-1921)-- Claims he was the first Union soldier wounded by enemy activity in the war after receiving a bruise on his head after being hit with an object thrown by a Confederate sympathizer as his regiment marched through Baltimore to relieve Washington, D.C. on April 17, 1861.

CLARISA F. DOYLE  (1832-1921)--Army nurse during Civil War.  President of National Association of Army Nurses of the Civil War.

JOHN TROUT GREBLE  (1834-1861)--  First USMA graduate killed at Battle of Big Bethel.

HERMAN HAUPT  (1817-1905)--  Union general and engineer.  Revolutionized U.S. military transportation, particularly with the railroads.

--Old Seceh

A Beautiful Day Out At Hainesville's Civil War Encampment-- Part 3: Surgery and Embalming in the Civil War

Like I said, it was an absolute beautiful day for this late in the season.  But, it wasn't so great for a Union zouave who had been wounded.  As a matter of fact, it turned out to be his last day on earth, as he died on the operating table.

The 17th Corps Hospital unit put on a demonstration of battlefield surgery.  And, the current, sterile operations of today it wasn't. A U.S. Army surgeon performed the operation on the zouave's leg, with assistance from a contract surgeon, orderly and nurse.  Surgeons were paid very well for their services, contract surgeons well, but not as much.

Contract surgeons were essentially part-timers, hired on for a certain length of time as needed.

The zouave begged for the surgeon not to take his leg as he was a farmer and needed it for that purpose.  If the surgeon found the knee cap had been fractured, this would lead to amputation.

The soldier was laid out on a stretcher and a nurse administered the anesthetic with a can.  She also used a funny-looking hearing devise to find his heartbeat.

 The surgeon began probing the wound with his finger and forceps.  No sterilization.  This man was found to have what the surgeon referred to as an aerial wound.  That would be one made by a shell exploding in the air by a tree and blowing pieces of wood on soldiers on the ground.

--Old Secesh

Hainesville Civil War Days-- Part 2

Hainesville, Illinois, will be trying to upset all the Civil War Days setbacks we've been having this summer in the Illinois area.  First, the annual Civil War Days at Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda, Illinois, was cancelled because of the black man who is president of the Lake County Forest Preserve District because he didn't like the sight of Confederate soldiers with the Confederate flag.

Then, the big re-enactment in Naperville, Illinois, was cancelled because of declining attendance, or at least that is what they said, but I kind of doubt it.

Anyway, here is the schedule of events for tomorrow, Saturday, October 19.

10 a.m.--  Public entry
10:15-10:45--    Military drill
10:50-11:20--  Elijah Haines, Hainesville founder speaks

11:25-11:55--  Mary Todd Lincoln--  A day at the Lincolns' White House
11:30-1:00 p.m.--  Guided cooking tour of the Union and Confederate camps
12:00-12:30--  William Irving Kirk--  Southern abolitionist minister

12:40-1:20--  General Grant--  Rise of a general
1:15-2:00--  President Lincoln:  1864 Year of Destiny
2:10-2:40--  Clara Barton, Civil War nurse and founder of the Red Cross

2:10-2:40--  Officers call
2:45-3:15--  Battlefield surgery
3:15-3:30--  Assembly

3:30-4:00--  Narrated Battle  Prelude to Atlanta

4:00--  Event closes

Sunday, October 20 is essentially the same thing, only everything is an hour earlier.

Maybe See You There.  --Old Secesh

Satterlee General Hospital-- Part 4: By the Numbers

By the Numbers

40--  Number of physicians who worked at the hospital during the war.

91--  Number of nuns (Sisters of Charity) who volunteered as  nurses at the hospital during its existence

2--  Number of hours the hospital band performed every afternoon, weather permitting, from the observatory.

3--  Miles distant the band might be heard in favorable winds.

14--  Height in feet of the fence that surrounded the hospital

25--  The number of sentries posted in and around the hospital

177--  Number of men comprising the hospital guard

By the Numbers.  --Old Secesh

Satterlee General Hospital-- Part 2: Only a 2% Mortality Rate

The hospital occupied roughly 16 acres of high ground, which, according to one of its staff, contributed to it possessing "all that could be desired as to pure air, and other natural helps to the procurement of round health."

During its nearly three years of operation (the hospital closed in August 1865) Satterlee buzzed with activity, its well equipped and trained doctors, nurses and other workers catering to the needs of a rotating array of sick and wounded Union soldiers.

Their effort proved remarkably successful, resulting in a patient mortality rate of approximately two percent.

Coming up next is a number of figures about Satterlee and its operations.

By the Numbers.  --Old Secesh

The Black Experience, Ann Stokes-- Part 2: A Very Dedicated Woman

She was on active duty on the hospital ship USS Red Rover until October 1864 when she resigned, citing total exhaustion.

She married Gilbert Stokes after leaving the Red Rover.  he was also working on the Red Rover.  They moved to Illinois where he died in 1866.  She remarried to George Bowman in 1867.

In the 1880s, she tried unsuccessfully to get a pension based on her marriage to Gilbert Stokes.  her big problem in this was that she was unable to read or write.

She reapplied in 1890 stating that she had piles (hemorroids) and heart disease after she had learned to read and write.  She asserted that she had served 18 months on the Red Rover and this time she was approved and received $12 a month.

She lived in Belknap, Illinois.  I was unable to find out where she is buried, but it was likely in or around Belknap.  Now, here is a woman whose grave needs to be located and a marker erected as she was an original.

Here's Hoping.  --Old Secesh

The Black Experience: Ann Stokes, Union Nurse-- Part 1

From the July 27, 2017, Southern Illinoisan by Marlene Rivero.

Ann Stokes was a slave and a volunteer nurse on the first U.S. Navy hospital ship, the Red Rover, stationed at Mound City, Illinois.

She was paid regular wages and rated as a first class boy.  She also became the first black woman to receive a military pension of her own accord.

She came aboard a Union ship in 1863 as a contraband who could not read or write.  She worked under the direction of the Holy Cross nuns.

She was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee i  1930 and enlisted in the U.S. navy along with several young black women.

--Old Secesh

Amanda Matilda Colburn Felch-- Part 2: Went to War With Her brother

From the Vermont Civil War Org.

Growing up on a farm as she did made her a very strong woman, one who could endure all the deprivations of military life as well as long marches.  She married at age 23 and became Mrs. Farnham and after the war married M.P. Felch.  But her honors serving as a nurse came under the name Colburn.

When her brother Henry enlisted in the 3rd Vermont she left her child at her parents and followed him into service.  She enrolled with the the regiment July 5, 1861 and was appointed hospital matron.  In the winter 1861-1862, there was much sickness in the Army of the Potomac.

From that winter to the Battle of the Wilderness she went from regiment to regiment as she was needed.

--Old Secesh

Amanda Matilda Colburn Felch-- Part 1: Served As Nurse

From Find-A-Grave.

12 November 1833 to 31 December 1893.

Buried at Greenwood Pioneer Cemetery in Canon City, Colorado.

From July 1861 to May 1865 was a nurse with the 3rd Vermont Volunteers with her brother Henry Colburn.

She was present and served at the Battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg and other engagements. Later served with Dorothea Dix.

Received a pension from the government 13 March 1891, by Special Act of Congress.

--Old Secesh

Greenwood Pioneer Cemetery, Col.-- Part 2: The GAR Monuments and Amanda Farnham Felch

Both Union and Confederate veterans are buried in the cemetery.  Of interest, the Confederates are buried in the north part and Union in the south.

A large pile of stones is all that remains of the GAR monument to Union soldiers, but an impressive monument to the Confederates remains.  This was paid for by the local GAR.  An example of the joining of the former Confederacy with the United States after the war.

Also, Amanda Farnham Felch and her husband Marshall are buried in the cemetery.  Both were Civil War veterans.  She was an Army nurse who served from July 1861 to May 1865 with the 3rd Vermont Volunteer Infantry and the 6th Corps of the Army of the Potomac.  She was at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and many other battles.  Later, she served under Dorothea Dix.

--Old Secesh

Mort Kunstler 2017 Civil War Calendar, November: Clara Barton at Fredericksburg

THE ANGEL OF THE BATTLEFIELD

Clara Barton and Walt Whitman at Chatham, December 1862.  The Lacy House, known as "Chatham", was a stately mansion that overlooked the Rappahannock River and Fredericksburg.  It became a field hospital for untold numbers of Union and a number of Confederate casualties from the nearby battle at Fredericksburg.

"No fewer than 1,200  wounded men were packed into the rooms and hallways of the mansion.  Late arrivals from the battlefield lay on the cold, muddy ground.

Moving among the wounded was a volunteer nurse named Clara Barton.  She seemed to be everywhere:  distributing food, applying bandages, showing kindness to what she called the "hundreds of the worst wounded men I have ever seen."

Another nurse at the Lacy house was Walt Whitman.  The bearded poet was stunned by the crowded and chaotic situation he beheld.

--Old Secesh

Nancy Harts Militia-- Part 2: Named After American Revolution Hero

The group of women militia called themselves the Nancy Harts, or sometimes Nancies, and were named in honor of Nancy Hart, a Patriot spy who outwitted and killed a group of Tories during the American Revolution.

Two women, Nancy Hill Morgan and Mary Alford Heard organized the first meeting and 40 women attended.

Though they were organized as a military  unit, they primarily served as nurses.  Later in the war, LaGrange became a medical and refugee center because of its close proximity to battlefields and an intact rail line.  There were four hospitals in LaGrange.

An Interesting Group That I'd never Heard of Before.  Thanks, Mort.  --Old Secesh

Restored Female Confederate Captain's Coat To Be Unveiled

From the July 18, 2016, Washington Times.  AP.

Again, this is what I definitely would prefer to be doing than the Confederacy Under Attack.  If those other people ever stop their attacks and bad-mouthing, perhaps I can get back to what I'd rather be doing.

Matthews, Virginia.  The Civil war coat owned by the only woman believed to have been commissioned by the Confederacy has recently been restored.

Sally Louise Tompkins' uniform coat was unveiled Saturday at Tompkins College in Matthews, Virginia.  She was born in 1833 and was a nurse commissioned by Confederate President Jefferson Davis.  She had already opened Robertson Hospital at the start of the war to aid the many wounded.

She was called the "Angel of the Confederacy" and her hospital had reportedly the lowest death rate of any hospital be it Confederate or Union.

She died in 1916.

--Old Secesh

Clara Gunby, Confederate Spy-- Part 2

Clara Gunby was found guilty of treason for refusing to walk  under a Union flag and refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance and sentenced to prison at Fortress Monroe.  While she was there, she became a Confederate spy.  While at Fortress Monroe, she obtained intelligence and passed it on to authorities.

She is also said to have served as a nurse for Confederate troops after her release and spent the duration of the war with friends in Richmond.

She didn't return to Salisbury until shortly before her death in 1879 and is buried at Parsons Cemetery.

--Old Secesh

Aunt Becky, First Union Nurse?

From the October 28th Des Moines (Iowa) Register.

Sarah Palmer was known to the soldiers she cared for as Aunt Becky and is believed to have been the first Union nurse. She was a New York native who joined because of her brothers' service and stayed with the Army for three years.

In 1867, friends urged her to write a book, and she did with "The Story of Aunt Becky's Army Life." After the war, she married David Young, and moved to Iowa where she lived until 1906 and is buried in Woodland cemetery.

At a recent service, she was honored by the Sons of Union veterans of the Civil War.

I see that her book is available at Amazon for $14,

Quite a Woman. Great Story. --Old B-Runner