Some More on Rockford's Veterans Memorial Hall

From Wikipedia.

Official name Veterans Memorial Hall and Museum.  Formerly the Soldiers and Sailors memorial Hall.

Construction on the hall began in 1901 and was finished in 1902.  But it wasn't formally dedicated until June 3, 1903, when President Theodore Roosevelt visited Rockford for the opening and dedication.  (That's pretty good to have a sitting U.S. president do the dedication.)

It originally was built to honor Winnebago County veterans of the Mexican War, Civil War and Spanish-American War but it was decided that it should honor Winnebago Count vets of all decades.

The architecture of it is classical Greek revival.

On the same day that Roosevelt dedicated the building, the local Civil War veterans held  the first meeting in it.  Over its existence, the hall has hosted some sixty different veterans and veterans-associated groups.

--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

Lee and His Generals-- Part 4: About Robert E. Lee

From the July McHenry County Civil War Round Table.

ROBERT E. LEE

His father was famed American Revolution officer "Light Horse" Harry Lee.  He was the one who said of General Washington that he was:  "First in War, First in Peace and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen."

He graduated #2 in his class at West Point.  (Didn't say who was #1.)

He was an engineer and the best West Point grads were appointed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  However, it was pointed ut that he made the statement that Fort Pulaski, guarding Savannah, could never be taken.  Of course that was before rifled cannons.

Lee had no demerits when he graduated from West Point.  The same can not be said for George Armstrong Custer.

During the Mexican War, Lee was in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry and served under Gerneral Winfield Scott.  Scott admired him and was sure Lee was destined for glory.

--Old Secesh

Earl Van Dorn-- Part 1

From the American Battlefield Trust.

Van Dorn led the Confederates on the successful raid on Holly Springs.

He graduated number 52 out of 56 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on 1842.  He served several posts in the southern United States before fighting in the Mexican War where he saw combat at  the battles of Monterrey and  Vera Cruz and received brevet  promotions to major for his participation in  in the battles of Cerro Gordo,  Mexico City, Contreras and  Churubusco.

After the war, he saw action against the Seminoles  from 1849-1850 and the Comanches from 1858 to 1859.

He was made a brigadier general in the regular Confederate Army on June 5, 1861, and major general  September 19, 1861.

His first major action of the war came when his force was defeated at the Battle of Pea Ridge.  After the defeat, he was transferred to the Army of the Mississippi and commanded troops at the Battle of Corinth where he did well in the initial phase, but misjudged the Union position and was forced to retreat.

--Old Secesh

Roadtrippin' Through History-- Part 1: Well, Who Was Charles Champion Gilbert?

In the last post,I mentioned this man's name.  Even though he was a West Point graduate and Union general, not many people know of him.  I didn't.  That why it was our "Frank" question.  I like to Roadtrip Thru History where I start with one thing and see where it takes me, much like finding a road and seeing where you end up.

So, we're going to Roadtrip Charles Gilbert.

And, what better place to start in the unknown than with good ol' Wikipedia?

CHARLES CHAMPION GILBERT

(March 1, 1822 to January 17, 1903)

United States  Army officer during the Mexican War and Civil War.

Born in Zanesville, Ohio,  and graduated from West Point in the famed Class of 1846, finishing 21st of 59 students.

His classmates included twenty future Civil War generals, including  George B. McClellan,  Stonewall Jackson,  George Stoneman,  and George Pickett.

During the Mexican War he served in the  3rd U.S. Infantry and 1st U.S. Infantry and fought at Veracruz and Mexico City.

Do You Know Me Now?--  Old Secesh

Why Do We Commemorate Memorial Day?-- Part 4: Why is Memorial Day in May?

Veterans Day (originally called Armistice Day) is observed on November 11 to signify the armistice ending World War I  After World War II,   Armistice Day's purpose was expanded and in 1954,  changed to recognize all who have served in America's wars.

WHY IS MEMORIAL DAY IN MAY?

The days that we  celebrate Memorial Day is believed to have been influenced by Illinois U.S. Representative (and Civil War general) John A. Logan, who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1858, and had served also as an officer in the Mexican War.

It is said that he was a staunch defender of the Union and wanted Memorial Day to happen when flowers were in full bloom across the country.

Congress passed an act making May 30 a holiday in the District of Columbia in  1888.

Now, Memorial Day is observed the last Monday in May.

In 2000, the National Moment of Remembrance was signed and encourages all to pause at 3 pm local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence-- was signed into law by Congress and the President.

I Didn't Know About the Moment of Silence.  --Old Secesh

Artillery-- Part 8: USS Princeton Explosion and Santa Anna's Wooden Leg

**  Before the war, there was an explosion of a cannon on the USS Princeton in  1844 that almost killed President Tyler.

**  The Secession Cannon was a field piece  from Charleston, South Carolina.

**  Leeds cannons were produced in New Orleans.

**  There is a Blakely cannon at Grant Park in Galena, Illinois.   It fired on Fort Sumter April 12, 1861, and was captured in 1865.

**  One reason the Confederacy was able to capture so many U.S. cannons at the start of the war was because U.S. Secretary of War John B. Floyd (1857-1860) had started stockpiling U.A. armaments in arsenals throughout the South.  (He later became a Confederate general.  Makes you wonder.)

**  Someone said there was a Benjamin Butler play in Rockford, Illinois.

Santa Anna's wooden leg from the Mexican War is at the Illinois Military Museum in Springfield, Illinois.  Someone said that Mexico wants it back.

Not That We Ever Go Off Topic at Discussion Group.  --Old Secesh

Captain Harley Wayne-- Part 2: Co. D, 15th Illinois Infantry, Killed at Shiloh

Originally from New York, he lived well by pre-Civil War  standards.  He built the spacious Wayne House  in Union in 1857, owned 640 acres and ran a successful business.  He was also one of the first people to join the new Republican Party.

A strident abolitionist, he left it all, against his wife's wishes, and joined the Union Army when the Civil War broke out.  He joined the 15th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in Freeport, Illinois,  where the men of Company D elected him their captain.

The unit was in the first line of battle at Shiloh on April 6, 1862, and held its part of the line as the Ohio unit guarding its flanks broke and ran.  Wayne was one of the many officers of the 15th cut down in the fighting that ensued.

The battle cost  almost 24,000 casualties on both sides, or, in other words, more than the American Revolution,  War of 1812 and Mexican War combined.

Yet, there would be eight more Civil War battles with higher casualties.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Generals-- Part 5: Better Know Your French at the Point

The first ten major generals appointed in the Union had six politicians among them.  Also John A. Dix, George McClellan and David Hunter.

Those not on the list included three who would rise to stature in the war:  Grant, Sherman and Sheridan.

As far as experience for general officers in commanding large groups, there wasn't much.  Before the war (and after the Mexican War) the U.S. Army was involved primarily in fighting Indians and commands were small groups and companies.  Much of the time was spent building forts.

Graduating classes from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were placed according to what part of the class they graduated in.  The top third became army engineers, Middle third went to the infantry and bottom third to the cavalry.  A lot of your class standing at the Point came from your knowledge and speaking ability of French, which was THE language at the place.  If you couldn't speak it, your chances of rising was not likely.

Duty on the frontier was boring and many officers out there took up drinking to pass the time.

Robert Toombs, Georgia politician and Confederate officer once said:  "The Confederacy died of West Point."

--Old Secesh

Poltroons, Patriots & Buffoons: Oh Those Generals-- Part 4: Military Experience and Civilian Inexperience

Continuing with Bruce Allardice's statistical look at Civil War generals:

Again, the first number is Union, second Confederate.

Officers in Foreign Armies:  20  //  3

Mexican War/Other War Experience;  62  //  58

TOTAL WITH EXPERINCE 

395  (66%)  //  272  (64%)*

INEXPERIENCED CIVILIANS

188  //  153

TOTAL   

583  //  425

*  Modern research shows that Warner missed the prewar state militia service and military school attendance of a number of Southern generals.

--Old Secesh

Fort Wool in Chesapeake Bay-- Part 4: Name Change and the Sawyer Gun

The fort was originally named after John C. Calhoun, President Monroe's Secretary of War, who was a southern secessionist.  That wouldn't do once the Civil War started and the North renamed it Fort Wool in 1862, after Major General John  Ellis Wool, a War of 1812 , Mexican War hero and now Civil War officer as commander of Fort Monroe.

The fort received its first guns now.  Initially there were 10 guns mounted.  These guns were fired at Confederate positions across Chesapeake Bay and at Confederate ships.

A long-range experimental  cannon, the Sawyer gun, was installed at Fort Calhoun in mid-1861.  The weapon was rifled and had much longer range and accuracy.  An illustration in an August 1861 newspaper  shows it mounted on a high-angle carriage.

--Old B-Runner

Fort Wool in Chesapeake Bay-- Part 1: Because of the War of 1812

I wrote about this fort in my November 14 and 16 Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog entries.  This fort was constructed to keep an enemy fleet out of the Chesapeake Bay after the experience with the British in that war.  It and Fort Monroe to the north would provide a crossfire to stop an enemy.

From Wikipedia.

Fort Wool is a decommissioned  island fortification now known as Rip Raps Island.  originally it was named Castle Calhoun of Fort Calhoun after  Secretary of War John C. Calhoun and later renamed for  Major General John Ellis Wool (1784-1869).

The general was a veteran of three wars:  War of 1812, Mexican War and the Civil War.  He was the oldest general on either side during the Civil War.

Fort Wool was one of 40 forts constructed after the War of 1812.  This was known as the Third System of U.S. forts.  It was constructed on a shoal of  ballast stones dumped by ships entering the Chesapeake Bay and was originally constructed to have three tiers of gun chambers as well as a barbette tier at the top, altogether mounting  216 cannons.

--Old Secesh

William Loring's Life-- Part 2: Fought in the Mexican War

**   Loring became captain of the U.S. Army's Regiment of Mountain Riflemen in 1846 where he  initially protected Oregon during the California  Gold Rush.  He then fought in the Mexican War, rising in rank several times from major to lieutenant colonel and then to colonel.

**  Loring had his army amputated after a bullet shattered it storming the Chapuletepec Castle during that war.

**  After the war in 1859, Loring spent  time in Europe and then came back to  command the Department of New Mexico in 1861.

**  Upon the beginning of the Civil War, Loring cast his lot with the new Confederacy and resigned from the U.S. Army.  

**  He later accepted the position of brigadier general in the Confederate Army on May 20, 1861.

--Old Secesh

Robert Byington Mitchel-- Part 1: Born in Ohio, Fought in Mexican War, Wounded at Wilson's Creek

From Wikipedia.

Two posts ago, I mentioned that this general organized a group to pursue the Indians after the Battle of Julesburg.  I'd never heard of him, so Wiki me.

April 4, 1823- January 26, 1882.  Brigadier general in Union Army.  Born in Mansfield, Ohio.  Practiced law in Mansfield  Was a second lieutenant in the Mexican War with the 2nd Ohio Volunteers.

Moved to Kansas Territory where he was a legislator and treasurer.  Delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, S.C., in 1860.

After the Civil War started, he was adjutant general of Kansas from May 2, 1861 to June 20, 1861.   Later commanded the 2nd Kansas Infantry.  He was badly wounded at the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10, 186, when he was shot from his horse while leading his regiment.

--Old Secesh

Richard Sherwood Satterlee

From Wikipedia.

I have been writing about the hospital that was named after him.

(December 6, 1798 to November 10, 1880)

Union Army medical officer.  Obtained his medical license in 1818 and practiced in Seneca County, New York.  Joined the Army in 1822 and stationed at Fort Niagara, Fort Porter and Fort Mackinac.  In  1831 he transferred to Fort Winnebago in Portage County, Wisconsin.  While there he took part in the Black Hawk War.

After that, he was sent to Florida and campaigned against the Seminoles.

After that it was a tour of duty at Fort  Adams in Rhode Island and then participation in the Mexican War and took part in the battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec.  After that, he returned to Fort Adams in 1848 and survived the sinking of a steamship carrying  an artillery regiment in 1853.

He served throughout the Civil War and was brevetted to brigadier general and was a candidate for the command of the Medical Corps after the dismissal of Clement Finley.  That command went to William Alexander Hammond.  Satterlee retired in 1869 after a long career and Satterlee General Hospital was named after him.

--Old Secesh

Theophilus Lyle Dickey-- Part 1: Lawyer and Mexican War Captain

This man was quite involved with the lives of all four of the Wallace boys who I have been writing about this month.  He also commanded the 4th Illinois Cavalry for awhile and three of the Wallace's were in that outfit.

From Wikipedia.

THEOPHILUS LYLE DICKEY  (October 4, 1811-July 22, 1885)

Illinois jurist and military leader.

Born in Paris,, Kentucky,  moved to Macomb, Illinois, to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1835.  The next year he moved to Rushville, Illinois, and worked on his law practice and was editor of a newspaper and worked in real estate.  In 1839, he moved to Ottawa, Illinois, where he continued his legal career.

During the Mexican War, he raised a company of soldiers (which included William H.L. Wallace) and received a captain's commission.

After the war, he returned to Ottawa, continued his legal career and  was elected judge of Illinois'  Ninth Judicial District in 1848.  He resigned in 1851 and continued with his legal career.  He was a big supporter of Stephen A. Douglas and made many speeches for him in 1858 and 1860.

--Old Secesh

Charles Stuart Tripler, U.S. Surgeon-- Part 2: Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac

During the Mexico City Campaign, Tripler  was assigned as medical director of General David E. Twiggs division and afterwards was ordered to organize and command the army's  general hospital in that city.  After the war, he continued serving in New York, Michigan, Kentucky and California.

On an expedition to  to Panama, the soldiers began to get sick from a variety of ailments which alerted Tripler to the inadequate medical procedures being used.

In the Civil War, he was appointed  Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac in August 1861.  He came under fire by the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 and was replaced by Jonathan Letterman.

He was allowed to chose his next post and he chose Chief Surgeon of the Department of the Lakes and stayed at that position for the rest of the war.

Death came to him in 1866.

--Old Secesh

Charles Stuart Tripler, Union Surgeon-- Part 1

As long as I am on the subject of Union surgeons, I will write about this man.  In the last post, I mentioned that he preceded Jonathan Letterman as chief surgeon of the Army of the Potomac.  Another man whom I had never heard of before this month.

From Wikipedia.

CHARLES STUART TRIPLER

(January 19, 1806 - October 20, 1866)

United States brigadier general and surgeon.

Posthumously appointed brigadier general by President Johnson in 1867.  The Tripler Army Medical Center in Oahu, Hawaii, is named for him.

Graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City in 1827, served as a resident at Bellevue Hospital and then became an assistant to the West Point post surgeon and was commissioned an army assistant surgeon in 1830.

He served all over and then in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican War.

--Old Secesh

Jonathan Letterman-- Part 3: Advancements in Medicine

Continuing with the presentation of Gordon Dammann at the March 12 meeting of the McHenry County Civil War Round Table.

The first recorded use of anesthesia was 1847.  Chloroform and ether were used during the war.

During the Mexican War, rank was given to surgeons.

Bull Run was a complete mess for casualties.  Some remained on the field of battle for as many as two weeks.  There was no ambulance system at the time.

In 1862, Letterman joined the Army of the Potomac.  He immediately set out on reforms, including triage, evacuation and field hospitals.

During the Seven Days Battles there were 17,000 casualties.  Hospital ships were used and they had them all out in two weeks.

Ambulances got springs and ambulance crews had training.

Improving Chances of Survival--Old Secesh

Clays of Ky.-- Part 5: Green Clay Smith Became Union General

His maternal grandfather was Green Clay.  His uncles on his mother's side were also politicians and had involvement in the Civil War, Brutus J. Clay and Cassius M. Clay.   I'll be writing about them next.

As a young man he was a second lieutenant in the First Regiment of Kentucky Volunteer Infantry in the Mexican War.

Was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1861 to 1863.    On April 4, 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the Fourth Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry and then was appointed brigadier general of volunteers on June 12, 1862.

Like his uncles, Brutus and Cassius Clay, he joined Kentucky's Unionist Party.

--Old Secesh