McHenry County CWRT Presentation June 11, 2024: John Brown: Hero or Terrorist, Martyr or Mad Man?

 The McHenry County Civil War Round Table met June 11, 2024, at the Woodstock Public Library in Woodstock, Illinois, and were treated to an presentation on none other than John Brown by Bob Pressman of the Rock River Valley CWRT.  I wrote about Bob Pressman and his Round Table earlier this month in this blog.

 At the end of his talk, he had us vote as to which of the four descriptions of him were most appropriate:  Hero or Terrorist, Martyr or Mad Man.  I voted all but hero.  I am Southern and there was no way he was a hero.  But I did agree on the other three cases.  He fit them all. And, yes, I can see why he is a hero to some, just not me.

Bob Pressman opened saying that John Brown was a "bundle of contradictions."  He was probably the single biggest solo reason why the Civil War was fought.  Some say the Civil War actually began at Harpers Ferry on October 16, 1859.

I agree.  

What John Brown was trying to do was the biggest Southern fear of them all.  The fear of a slave insurrection, armed and killing owners went to the deepest part of the Southern heart.  And, it would have been one thing for John Brown and a small band of followers doing what they did.

But what really got the Southerners was how the North regarded John Brown as a hero and/or martyr.

How can you live in a country where a lot of the people want you dead?

--Old Secesh

James Cantey, One of Those Confederate Generals Born in Kershaw County, S.C.

From Wikipedia.

In the last post I listed the names of six Confederate generals born in Kershaw County, S.C..  One of them was James Kershaw (so I wonder if he had something to do with the county's founding).  I was familiar with James Chesnut, Jr., but only because of his wife Mary's diary from the war.

I was not familiar at all with the other four.

Here's one of them.

JAMES CANTEY (December 30, 1818 - June 30, 1874)

He served as an officer in the Palmetto Regiment during the Mexican War.  In one battle he was severely wounded and left among the dead until his enslaved servant retrieved the body to be buried at home and found him still alive.  He saved James' life.  James offered him his freedom for that, but was refused.

After the war, he moved to  Alabama and bought land, becoming a  planter in Russell County.

--Old Secesh

Camp Nelson National Monument

From Wikipedia.

CAMP NELSON NATIONAL  MONUMENT

Formerly Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park, is located about 20 miles south of Lexington, Kentucky.  The camp was established in 1863 as a depot for the Union Army and it became a recruiting and training ground or new soldiers from eastern Tennessee and for former slaves.

On October 26, 2018, President Trump proclaimed the site as Camp Nelson National Monument, the 418th unit of the National Park Service.

It was established as a supply depot for Union efforts in the area and in Tennessee.  It was named for Union General William "Bull" Nelson who had recently been murdered by Union General Jefferson C. Davis (not the Confederate president) over an insult.  (Another interesting story in itself.)

It was placed near the Hickman Bridge, the only bridge over the Kentucky River upriver from the state capital (Frankfort, Kentucky).

Only he northern side of the camp needed protection as the other three sides  have almost verticle 400-500 foot cliffs.

--Old Secesh

President Zachary Taylor's Children-- Part 1

From Find-A-Grave.

ZACHARY TAYLOR

BIRTH:  24 November 1784  Orange, Virginia

DEATH:  9 July 1850 (age 65)

BURIAL: Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky

He was the last U.S. President to own slaves while in office.

His youngest child and only son, Richard Taylor, was a Confederate general during the Civil War and his second child, Sarah Knox  Taylor, married future Confederate President Jefferson Davis in 1835, but died of malaria shortly after their marriage.

--Old Secesh

MCCWRT: Sherman's March-- Part 2: Joseph Wheeler's Cavalry and the Howell Cobb Plantation

**  Macon, Georgia, was a major manufacturing center for the Confederacy.

**  Sherman did not burn Savannah.  He got cotton as tribute.

**  The cavalry of Joseph Wheeler were the only real resistance Sherman faced on his way to Savannah.

**  Confederates had placed torpedoes (artillery shells) on the roads into Savannah rigged to blow up is stepped upon.  Confederate prisoners were sent ahead of Union troops to explode them one way or another.

**  Sherman burned the Howell Cobb plantation near Milledgeville, Georgia.  On the night of November 22, 1864,  on his March to the Sea, Gen. Sherman camped there.  Upon learning it was owned by Howell Cobb, former U.S. cabinet member, Congressman and now an important man in the Confederacy, he ordered its total destruction except for the slave quarters.

**  Runaway slaves following Sherman's army were often used as pioneers in road construction.

**  There is a double-barreled cannon in Athens, Georgia.

--Old Secesh

Pres. Lincoln Speaks at Hainesville

I stayed for the next speaker who was Kevin Wood, portraying President Abraham Lincoln.  He sure looked the part, as did Wayne Issleb who portrayed General and President U.S. Grant.  Both were great speakers and really brought their persons across.  Both audiences were standing room only.

The lucky folks were seated on hay bales.  How's that for historical?

According to President Lincoln, what really brought about the Civil War was Stephen Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska Act.  This meant that slavery could not be contained in the state s where it already existed, but could spread to the incoming states.

Lincoln did not like slavery but could live with it as long as it stayed put where it was.

His Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in Confederate states where the Union had no control.  But he figured  that slaves were aiding the Confederates in their efforts, so if he could cause them to stop and head for Union lines that this would help the effort.

In my opinion, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was one of the greatest political moves ever made by a politician.  Lincoln truly was the politician's politician.  The only slaves freed were those outside of Union control, but that would cause them to runaway every chance they got and their labors could not help the Confederacy.

Since the ones in the divided border states weren't freed, it kept those states on the Union side.  And, most importantly, by making the war one of freeing the slaves, this would keep Britain and France from allying themselves with the Confederacy.

--Old Secesh

Gen. Grant Speaks at Hainesville-- Part 2: USMA, Military Career, Marriage, Resignation and 'Hardscrabble'

Presentation of Wayne Issleb, playing the role of General U.S. Grant.

But, he loved horses.  He trained them  By the time he was 12 he had quite a horse business going.

Grant went to West Point, even though he really didn't want to and graduated in 1843.  He was sent to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis.  While at the military academy he had become a friend with Frederick Dent from Missouri and James Longstreet from Georgia.

He started going to his friend's home and met his sister Julia and became enamored of her and they eventually married.  However, his father did not attend because the Dents owned slaves and he was a strict abolitionist.

However, soon afterward, he was transferred to Oregon Territory while his family remained elsewhere.  This is when he started drinking.  

It was soon after that that he resigned from the Army and returned home. That trip from the West to home, via New York, took seven months as he went around the tip of South America.  By the time he got to New York City, he had used up all his money.  He had to borrow $70 to get back home to St. Louis.

From 1855 to 1857, he built a small farm at a place he called "Hardscrabble" and had a series of failed jobs.  In 1860, he asked his father for help was turned down because he was living in a slave state.

His Father Hated Anything Slave.  --Old Secesh

Confederate Slave Payrolls Provide a Wealth of Information

From the September 25, 2021, Terre Haute (Indiana) Tribune Star  ""Genealogy:  Confederate Slave Payrolls provide a wealth of information" by Tamie Dehler.

The National Archives and Records Administration has a valuable online resource called Confederate Slave Payrolls, which can be of great value for persons doing research on their black past.  Not to mention the Civil War.

"During the Civil War, the Confederate Army required enslavers to loan their enslaved people to the military.  Throughout the Confederacy from Florida to Virginia, these enslaved people worked as cooks and laundresses, labored in deadly conditions to mine potassium nitrate to create  gunpowder, worked in ordnance factories, and dug the defensive  trench works that defended  cities such as Petersburg, Virginia.

"This series , comprising nearly 6,000 payrolls for enslaved labor,  sheds light  on the lives of enslaved people loaned to the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and may provide a wealth of genealogical  information relating to the names and home counties of African Americans.

"The payrolls show the time period covered, the Confederate officer under whom the enslaved people were employed, the place of service, names of the enslaver,  names and occupations of the hired enslaved person, number of days employed, daily rate of wages, amount paid, and the signature of the person receiving the payment."

You can view the full series of the "Confederate Slave Payrolls" in the  National Archives Catalog:  National Archives Identifier 719477.

So, It Is Now Enslaved People Instead of Slaves.  Enslavers Instead of Slaveowners.  --Old Secesh

USCT Monument Proposed for Natchez Memorial Park

From the April 7, 2021, Natchez, Miss.  Democrat by Sabrina Robertson.

It will be placed prominently in the Natchez Memorial Park outside of St. Mary Basilica.  This would honor those who risked their lives by joining the U.S. Army.

The story of Forks of the Road, one of the largest slave markets in the country will also be a part of the monument's design.   Some of the people in the Forks of the Road were about to be sold when they were freed by Union forces.

Parts of the Forks of the Road were used in the construction of Fort McPherson in Natchez.  Some Natchez residents are calling for the removal of the Confederate memorial at the Memorial Park, but it sounds like it will remain as it gives another aspect of Natchez's heritage and past.

I agree whole-heartedly with letting the Confederate monument remain and building the monument to the USCT as more than likely, USCT troops manned Fort McPherson.  However, I would want there to be a separate monument to the Forks in the Road slave market.

I believe history should give all aspects of a group or place.

Natchez has a slave and a Confederate past.  Both should be memorialized.

--Old Secesh

Henry Mack and the 57th USCT-- Part 3: Ran Away from Alabama Plantation

Steve Chicoine began doing extensive research on Henry Mack and the 57th USCT after seeing Mack's gravestone at the Fort Snelling National Cemetery.  He scoured old newspapers and interviewed north Minneapolis  residents who recalled him as the "Old Soldier."

According to Chicoine, Henry Mack was known only as Henry picking cotton at an Alabama plantation.  When the overseer threatened to whip his mother, Phoebe, for falling behind, Henry stepped in and took the beating himself.   That prompted their escape, a harrowing 300-mile trek across Mississippi to a Union camp in Helena, Arkansas.

No one gave Mack his freedom.  He seized it himself, despite dire consequences had he been captured.

He took the last name Mack and enlisted in the Union Army in early 1864.  When he boarded a ship on the Arkansas River, he waved goodbye to his mother, whom he'd never see again.

He and his regiment, the 57th USCT saw action in Arkansas and clashed with bushwhackers.  Gen. C.C. Andrews, a former Minnesota legislator, said later that they served with "a cheery appearance and willing spirit" and "proved good soldiers."

--Old Secesh

George W. Bell-- Part 2: Former Slave, 40th USCT and Waukegan Resident

From Find A Grave.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BELL

Birth   16 October 1816, Tennessee

Death:  6 December 1910, Waukegan, Illinois

Burial:  Oakwood Cemetery, Waukegan, Illinois

Has a Union veteran headstone.

George W. Bell was born a slave in Tennessee.  He was out with his master during the Civil War and both captured by Union troops.  Given a chance to fight for the North, he joined Company B of the 40th  United States Colored Troops.

--Old Secesh

George W. Bell (Former Slave, Served with Union Army and Settled in Waukegan)-- Part 1

One of the people buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Waukegan is George W. Bell and has been featured in the well-known annual Cemetery Walk.

He was born into slavery in Tennessee and captured by the Union Army during the Civil War and served with the army.  In the 1880s he and his family moved to Waukegan, becoming one of the first permanent black families to live there.

He is buried on Oakwood Cemetery.  Born 16 October 1816  Died 6 December 1910.

--Old Secesh

76 Iowans Joined the Confederacy

From the Oct. 28,2019, Iowa Public Radio  "New Research shoes that at least 76 Iowans joined the Confederacy during the Civil War" by Ben Kieffer, Rick Brewer and Julia Digiacomo.

Despite Iowa's status as a Union state during the war, at least 76 Iowans threw in their lot with the Confederacy.  This number is the result of research done by David Connon who has just written the book "Iowa Confederates in the Civil War."

He delves into the reasons why these men did what they did.  According to Cannon, they became active in all branches of the Confederate military, even the Confederate Navy.  Some even achieved honors for their service.

David Connon was on the Iowa NPR show "River to River" with a 44-minute talk on his book where he gives their stories and also delves into the political and historical trends in Iowa during this time.  The 1840 Iowa Territorial Census showed 17 slaves listed with their owners.

The only people to say they had slaves in Iowa in that census were from Dubuque County.

The article was accompanied by a photograph of one of the Iowa Confederates named Albert H. Newall who was captured and died at the Fort Delaware prison camp.  The town fathers of Danville, Iowa, didn't want him buried in the local cemetery.

--Old Secesh

'Beast' Butler Discussion-- Part 1: Lincoln's 'Right Hand' Man?

On Saturday August 22, 2020, the McHenry County (Illinois) Civil War Round Table (MCCWRT) discussion group had our second outdoor, social distanced and masked meeting since this virus thing hit. This was held outside at Panera Bread in Algonquin, Illinois.  We haven't had a regular meeting since early March as they are in the Woodstock Library and that has been closed and now closed to meetings.

But, it sure is good to get back with like-minded folk, so I have enjoyed these two meetings immensely.

Our topic on August 22 was Union General Benjamin Butler.  We had one guy there who had done a lot of research on the good (or was it bad) general and knew a whole lot of stuff.

These are some of the things we talked about to the best of my ability to write them down:

**  Butler (BB) was always under the direct command of Abraham Lincoln.

**  BB was a political general, not from West Point.

**  New Orleans had the U.S. mint there which made coins.  Lincoln wanted it which was why he sent BB there.

**  There were chamber pots and spittoons with BB's face at the bottom for folks who didn't like him.

**  Lincoln would try out things he wanted to do with BB before he himself would try it.

**  Lincoln was looking into sending freed slaves back to Africa.

**  Henry Clay was the founder of a movement to return freed slaves to Africa.

Enough Civil War Stuff for You?  --Old Secesh

MCCWRT Discussion Group Meeting Aug. 22 ,2020-- Part 1: How Much Do You Know About Benjamin Butler?

 This past Saturday, August 22, 2020, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table met outside at the Panera Bread Co. in Algonquin, Illinois, to discuss one of the more interesting characters to come out of the Civil War, Major General  Benjamin Butler.  Mr. "beast" Butler if you will.

As often, we kicked the session off with a quiz on the man.

1.  What was his middle name?

2.  He hailed from what state?

3.  What was is political party?

4.  What was his first military action.

5.  What was his first military battle.

6.  Then, he commanded an army at what North Carolina inlet?

7.  While commanding at Fortress Monroe, he declines to send fugitive slaves back to their owners, declaring them to be what?

8.  Then he commanded at what major Southern city?  (Where he got his reputation and hatred.)

Answers in next post.

--Old Secesh

Sure Was Nice to Get Together with Civil War Folk Again-- Part 3: Stephen A. Douglas Gets a Plantation

I was unable to find out how Stephen Douglas' wife's father living in North Carolina ended up with a large plantation in Mississippi.  Regardless, Douglas now was property manager of  a 2,500 acre plantation with 100 slaves in Mississippi.

As a senator from a free state with presidential aspirations, Douglas found that having this plantation posed a problem for him.  He created distance by hiring a manager to operate the plantation, while using his allocated 20% of the income from it to further his political career.

He only made one lengthy visit to the plantation in 1848 and  only brief emergency trips there afterwards.

In the summer of 1847, Douglas moved his family from Springfield, Illinois, to fast-growing Chicago and that is where he acquired a vast amount of land, some of which eventually became Camp Douglas, a training camp for Union soldiers initially and later a notorious prison camp for Confederate soldiers.

His wife, Martha died in 1853.

A Free State Senator With a Southern Plantation?  --Old Secesh

Johnston's River Line Defense, Atlanta-- Part 4: A Unique Design

Construction on what initially was called the  Chattahoochee River Line started on June 19 and took about two weeks using a labor force of soldiers well enough to work from local hospitals and over 1,000 impressed slaves.  I like to think this was when Scarlett O'Hara saw slaves from Tara going through the streets of Atlanta with picks and shovels in the movie "Gone With the Wind."

Some trenches already existed near the state railroad bridge but the vast amount of defenses had to be built from scratch.

THE SHOUPETTES

Francis A. Shoup's defensive design consisted of arrowhead-shaped infantry forts -- 36 were built -- spaced 175 yards apart and connected by trenches broken every  30 to 75 yards by artillery redans that each would house two cannons.

Each of the arrowhead forts, which came to be called Shoupades after the designer, consisted of an earthen foundation with log walls or parapets extending 14 to 20 feet high depending upon the terrain.  Interior earthen walls would stop short of the log exterior walls, forming a platform on which infantrymen could fire over the top of the fort.

And, There's More.  --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

Chester County and Chester (S.C.) At the End of the War.

In an earlier blog yesterday, I mentioned that the midshipman of the Confederate States Naval Academy, guarding the Confederate treasury in April 1865 as the government fled south (also with Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis) and they went to Chester (called Chesterville back then) before moving on to Abbeville, S.C..

I found a lot of good information about Chester at the Southern Fried Common Sense & Stuff blog.

As Sherman left the wreckage of Columbia, S.C., he decided on a feint toward Charlotte to the north, while his real destination was Fayetteville and then Goldsboro, North Carolina.  This took him toward Chesterville.  His main force went north to Winnsboro, 25 miles south of Chester before turning so he never actually entered Chester County, although scouting parties and his bummers did.

THE HANGING OF BURRELL HEMPHILL

In front of the  Hopewell Reformed Presbyterian Church in southern Chester County is a small stone monument  for Burrell Hemphill, a slave of Robert Hemphill who owned 2200 acres.  When Union forces passed through, the Hemphill family fled and left Burrell in charge of the estate.

Burrell buried the family silver in  the woods but was caught by Union bummers on his return.  He refused to tell them where he had buried the silver.  This angered them and they dragged Burrell to a spot near the church and hanged him and then lowered him several times, then rehanging him again but he continued to refuse to tell them.

He eventually died from the torture.  The Union soldiers then used his body for target practice.

--Old Secesh

Kentucky's Clay Family in the Civil War

I have been writing about Green Clay in my Not So Forgotten:  The War of 1812 blog last month and this month.  He was a veteran of the American Revolution and a Kentucky militia general during the War of 1812 as well as one of the richest men in the state.  He owned thousands of acres of land, many slaves and several distilleries.

In addition to other Clays, including the famous Henry Clay, who were involved in both the American Revolution and War of 1812, there were Clays playing roles in the Civil War.

I'll be writing about the Clays with a Civil War connection here in the next several posts.

--Old Secesh