9/11 Commemoration at WVU

I was unable to post any blogs yesterday, so will do my annual commemoration to that day today.

From the Sptember 11, 2022, DA, West Virginia University's Independent Newspaper "WVU observes 21st anniversary of the 9/11  attacks with annual vigil" by Christina Rufo.

To commemorate the 21st anniversary  of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, West Virginia University held its annual wreath laying ceremony Sunday morning.

As part of the ceremony, cadets with the Army and Air Force ROTC will stand for a 24-hour vigil at the University's 9/11 memorial site, located at the University's 9/11 memorial site, located in front of the Downtown Campus Library.

Cadets played "Taps" and observed a moment of silence Sunday morning in recognition of the exact time that the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

The vigil will last until 8 a.m., Monday.

Interviews With First Responders Tells the Story-- Part 3: 'I Gave Everyone General Absolution, and I Kept Running' Toward the Burning Tower

Among the units arriving from outlying boroughs was a Staten Island battalion commanded by Chief Thomas Vallebuona.  "The thought in my mind is, we were going to end up like the people in Pompeii, totally buried in ash and dust," he recalled.

The Rev. John Delendick, a fire department chaplain, had just finished saying mass at St. Michael's Church in Brooklyn when he heard about the attack.  He arrived at the site as first responders and civilians were fleeing for their lives.

"We were running along, and a cop is running next to me," Delendick recalled.  "He says:  'Father, can I go to confession?' I looked and said:  'This is an act of war, isn't it?' He said:  'Yeah, I believe so.'  I said:  'Then I'm giving general absolution.'  I gave everyone general absolution, and I kept running."

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.

Interviews With First Responders Told the 9/11 Story

From the September 10, 2021, Chicago Tribune by Ron Grossman.

New York firefighter James Canham was supposed to have off on September 11, 2001.  His wife worked in Manhattan, not far from the World Trade Center, so he drove her to work and headed back to their home in Brooklyn.

Once home, finding an answering machine message about an airplane hitting the north tower of the World Trade, he grabbed gear from a nearby firehouse and got a lift back to Manhattan.  Working his way up to the 11thfloor, he rescued a woman and an exhausted cop and found an office with a working phone.

"This is real bad, I'm going to be here for awhile," he told his wife.  "Go home, get the kids, stay out of Manhattan."

Canhan got out of the tower just before it collapsed.

40th New York Infantry-- Part 1: 'The Mozart Regiment' A Regiment of Three States

From Wikipedia.

Also known as the  "Mozart Regiment" and "Constitution Guard."

During the war, this regiment had the second highest number of casualties in the Union Army, only behind the famed 69th New York Infantry out of the Irish Brigade.

They were mustered in  to service at Yonkers, New York, on June 27, 1861, sponsored by the Union Defense Committee of New York City by special  authority of the War Department.  Originally the regiment  was to be raised as the United States Constitution Guard by Col. John S. Cocks of the 2nd New York, but that organization was not completed.

With additional sponsorship by the Mozart Hall Committee, it adopted the name Mozart Regiment.  despite being a New York regiment, only the original Constitution Guard group were New Yorkers.

The regiment was completed by taking four Massachusetts companies and two from Pennsylvania.

On September  6, 1862, the 40th New York absorbed the enlisted men of the 87th New York Infantry Regiment.  Thomas Aumack was in the 87th New York.

--Old Secesh

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

87th New York Volunteer Infantry-- Part 2: From D.C. to the Peninsula

Detailed Service of the Unit:

DECEMBER 2, 1861:  Left New York for Washington, D.C.

DECEMBER-MARCH 1862:  Duty in the Department of Washington

MARCH 10-15, 1862:  Advance on Manassas, Virginia

MARCH 17:  Ordered to the Peninsula, Virginia

APRIL 5-MAY 4:   Siege of Yorktown

APRIL 11:  Skirmish at Yorktown

MAY 5:  Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia

MAY 32-JUNE 1:  Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks

--Old Secesh

87th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

I am still trying to find out some more about the death of Thomas Bailey Aumack.  What I have found is very confusing.  Was he wounded at the Battle of Antietam or wounded somewhere else?  Did he contract dysentery and was honorably discharged from service to die at home?

I'll first take a look at the 87th New York.  

I went through the list of Union regiments at Antietam and did not find the 87th New York among them.

The 87th  New York Volunteer Infantry was also referred to as the 13th Brooklyn or the  13th New York State Militia.

It was organized at Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1861, and mustered in for three years service on November 20 under the command of  Colonel Stephen A. Dodge.

The regiment became part of the Army of the Potomac and ceased to exist on September 6, 1862, when it was consolidated with the 40th New York Infantry.  Company B was transferred to  the 173rd New York Infantry on September 11, 1862.

--Old Secesh

More Comments on 'Beast Butler'-- Part 4: Hatteras Inlet, Cotton and Lincoln's Secret Visits

The ship Greyhound was owned by Benjamin Butler.  It was a captured blockade runner and very fast.  However, it was blown up in a mysterious explosion believed to be from a coat torpedo in an attempt to assassinate Butler.

**  Union Admiral David D. Porter and Benjamin Butler had worked together earlier in the war at Hatteras Inlet.  A hurricane had made Confederate gunpowder wet and ineffective.  

After the victory, Butler rushed to Washington, D.C. with the glorious news of victory and then went on to New York City to spread the news and take credit there as well.

**  Butler was definitely into getting as much cotton as he could, either legally or under questionable practice.

**  The Red River Campaign in 1864 was all about cotton acquisition for the Union.

**  While he was at Fortress Monroe, Butler reported to no one but Lincoln.  Not even the head of the Union Army, Winfield Scott.

**  Lincoln visited Fortress Monroe and Butler 12 times.  Butler kept those visits secret.

More.  --Old Secesh

Presidential Visits to Antietam Battlefield-- Part 5: William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt

Continued from June 3.

President McKinley returned to Antietam Battlefield  on May 30, 1900, Memorial Day, to deliver  an address at the unveiling of the Maryland State Monument.  Interestingly, among McKinley's guests of honor  were Mr. and Mrs James Longstreet.

The next president to visit was  McKinley's successor, the old Rough Rider himself, Theodore Roosevelt.  Born in 1858, he was obviously too young to serve in the Civil War, but he did vividly remember watching the Lincoln funeral procession making its way through the streets of New York from his parents' bedroom window in April 1865.

Roosevelt visited Antietam Battlefield on September 17, 1903, to deliver a speech at the dedication of New Jersey's state monument.

--Old Secesh

9-11 Disease Deaths Grow

From the September 11, 2018, Chicago Sun-Times "Deaths from 9/11 diseases will soon outnumber those lost on that day" by Nancy Cutler, USA Today Network.

In the 17 years since September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, nearly 10,000 First Responders and others who were at the World Trade Center in New York City have been diagnosed with cancer.  More than 2,000 deaths have been attributed to 9/11 illnesses.

And, this article was a year ago.

And, these figures will get worse.  By the end of 2018 some expect that more people will have died from their toxic exposure from 9/11 than from the attacks.

Robert Reeg of Stony Point, New York, is a retired New York City fireman who was seriously injured in the South Tower collapse.  In the past 17 years he's seen many fellow First Responders fall victim to those illnesses.

"You lose track, there's so many of them," he said.    As for his own health risks, he said he doesn't dwell on it.  "It's at the back of your mind.  But you can't let it control you."

Continued On My Running the Blockade Blog.  --Old Secesh

Fort Wood, N.Y. Harbor-- Part 2: Its Troops Used to Quell New York Draft Riots

In January 1861, the fort was regarrisoned as war loomed.  It continued to serve as an ordnance depot but took on added duty as a recruit center.  Fort Wood itself never fired a shot during the war, but troops stationed there were called upon to quell the New York City draft riots in 1863.

Following the war, Fort Wood was placed under caretaker status and in the 1880s was chosen as the site of the Statue of Liberty.

Several people who wrote to the Civil war Talk Forum said they had visited the Statue of Liberty but had no knowledge of the base having been a fort.

One person said Robert Anderson and Henry Halleck served there.

--Old Secesh

John Yates Beall-- Part 3: His Burial

Evidently, his body was returned to his family as he was buried at Charles Town, West Va..

Born 1 January 1835,  Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia)

Death Governor's Island, New York City  February 24, 1865  (The write up on him had his death on December 24, 1864.)  I believe the February date to be more accurate.

Burial:  Zion Episcopal Churchyard, Charles Town, West Virginia.

--Old Secesh

Freeman Conner-- Part 2: Another Ellsworth Man

Continued from December 29, 2017.

From the Antietam site.

Freeman Conner 1836-1906.

Moved to Chicago and was in the grain business.  Was a member of the Ellsworth Zouaves.  When Elmer Ellsworth organized the 11th New York from New York City's firemen, Conner joined as a lieutenant.

When the 11th disbanded in June 1862, its officers went to Albany, New York, and organized the 44th New York Infantry Regiment, known as the "Ellsworth Avengers."  Conner eventually became its colonel.

After the war, Freeman Conner went to Charleston, S.C., for business, then returned to Chicago and got into the grain business again.  He was also involved in politics and the GAR.  He died in 1908 (some confusion about the date of death).

--Old Secesh

Elmer Ellsworth-- Part 7: The Lincoln Connection

Ellsworth and his Zouave Cadets returned to Chicago on August 15, 1860 and were greatly welcomed.  The pride and joy of the city.

Elmer Ellsworth already knew Abraham Lincoln in Illinois.  He got Ellsworth to come to Springfield during the 1860 presidential election where he got a job as a clerk in Lincoln's law office and the favor was returned as the young man worked hard for Lincoln's election.

After winning, Lincoln asked Ellsworth to organize his security detail in his trip to Washuington, D.C..  Once there, Lincoln got him a clerkship in the War Office.  But, Ellsworth's days in the capital were short as he got a commission and left for New York City to raise a regiment of troops as the war approached.

A Chance to Lead Troops in Battle.  --Old Secesh

Dr. J. Marlon Sims, Controversial "Father of Modern Gynecology"

Yesterday, I wrote about critics in New York City wanting a statue to this man, J. Marlon Sims, removed from Central Park.  His work is indeed laudable, but the way in which he did it was shocking.

From 1845 to 1849, in Montgomery, Alabama, he operated on 12 black slave women with fistula.  They were brought to him by their owners.  And, he did it without using anesthetics.  This is where I find a serious problem with him.

Besides the statue in Central Park, there are also ones in the Alabama and South Carolina capitols as well as a marker at his birthplace in South Carolina.

If the memorials are allowed to remain, mention of the slave women and his not using anesthesia definitely need to be mentioned.  This puts him in the same situation as the Nazi doctors who experimented on people in the concentration camps.

Again, I Would Have No Problem With the Statue's Removal.  If It Stays, There Should Definitely Be Signage About the Slave Women He Used.  --Old Secesh

New York City's Defenses During the War-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

In my Not So Forgotten War of 1812 blog I have been writing about New York City's defensive fortifications during that war.  Two of them, however, have a Civil War connection.

These two fortifications were built to defend from an attack from the sea.

CASTLE WILLIAMS on Governors Island, called East Battery, was used as a center for new recruits in the early part of the war and then had a garrison for defense.  Later it was a a prison for captured Confederate enlisted soldiers.

FORT JAY (FORT COLUMBUS) was also located on Governors Island.  During the war, its armament was seriously upgraded to some of the largest caliber cannons in the North's arsenal, nearly 50 10-inch and 15-inch Rodman guns.

The North Barracks were used to house captured Confederate officers awaiting transfer to Camp Johnson in Ohio, Fort Delaware or Fort Warren in Boston Harbor.

--Old Secesh

Rodman's 20-Inch Cannon Cast at Fort Pitt Foundry-- Part 2

"This gun is said to be the largest in the world, and to Pittsburgh belongs the honor of adding such a heavy piece of ordnance to the science of war."

The gun will remain in the pit where it was cast for the cooling process which expected to last between 10 days to two weeks.

It is not known where it will be sent, possibly to the New York City defenses.

The day of casting was secret, but a large number of ladies, scientific and military were in attendance.  Also, there was a Captain Goodenough of the Royal Navy there.

We've Got a Bigger Gun.  --Old Secesh

Follow Up on Vietnam Veterans Trying to Save Civil War Cannon in New York

On Tuesday, I wrote about Kevin and Bill Farrell trying to raise money to preserve a 13-inch Union "Dictator" mortar located on the grounds of Bronx Community College in New York City.

The article made it sound like this cannon was a "forgotten" piece of ordnance.  I did some more research on it and saw a photo of it.

The Civil War Re-Enactors Forum says that the brothers have a letter from 1948 saying that the mortar was donated to New York University on March 25, 1925, and that the mortar had been on the USS Albany.    A number engraved on the barrel shows it to have been made at Fort Pitt Foundry, which was known to have made 13-inch mortars.

There are also two Krupp cannons at the school.  Krupp made cannons for Germany, so were probably captured during World War I

Bronx Community College  was established in 1957, on the grounds of what had been New York University.

--Old Secesh

Vietnam Veterans Trying to Save a Civil War Cannon

From the March 4, 2014, New York Daily News "Vietnam veterans trying to save school's damaged relics from WWI, Civil War" by Jennifer H. Cunningham.

Three historic cannons and a British naval deck gun are at the Bronx Community College in New York.

Brothers Kevin and Bill Farrell, both 61, are trying to secure the $200,000 needed to restore the World War I-era German cannons, a Civil War Dictator Mortar and another gun rusting away outside on the campus since 1920.

There is also a mast donated to the school by Sir Thomas Lipton to commemorate the site of Fort No. 8 (1776-1782)  The mast is an 89-year-old flagpole from the Shamrock IV which sailed in the America's Cup competition.

--Old Secesh