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

Veterans Memorial Hall and Museum in Rockford

Also from The Cabin fever Quarterly Magazine, 2024.

The Rock River Valley Civil War Round Table is just one of several regional military-related organizations to find a home at Veterans Memorial Hall.  At least eight other veterans groups have offices or hold meetings there, and the magnificent edifice is often used as a venue for many municipal events.

Designed in a Classical Greek Revival style, the Hall is one of only three such buildings to survive in Illinois to honor veterans.  It's also the only building in Rockford, maybe even the state, that was dedicated by a sitting U.S.  President Theodore Roosevelt did that in 1903, soon after construction was completed.

The top floor contains an auditorium with a raised stage and a curved balcony.  A wide wooden staircase leads down to the Great Hall where names of Civil War battles adorn the tops of walls.  Two tablet rooms contain bronze plaques which list the names all veterans from Winnebago County who served in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War and were buried by 1903.

--Old Secesh

Edward Bragg's Law Book-- Part 4: Diplomatic Career and the San Francisco Earthquake

In 1902, Bragg was appointed  Consul General  to Havana, but later that year was transferred to Hong Kong by President  Theodore Roosevelt because he  disliked living in Cuba.

When he returned to the United States from that posting in 1906, he was in San Francisco and had just retired to bed at a hotel and the chandelier above his wife and his bed started shaking and then crashed down on their bed.  They had returned just in time for the San Francisco Earthquake of April 18, 1906.

They were not hurt, but they lost all their possessions in the fire that took place afterwards.  They went and joined the many other city residents who slept outdoors at Knob Hill.

The book ends in December 1907, when Edward Bragg retired from his law practice.

He died June 20, 1912, at the age 85.  Beside his monument at Fond du Lac's Rienzi Cemetery stands a broken pillar for his only son, William Kohl Bragg, who died  at age 22.

Along with William Bragg and his wife Cordelia they had two daughters, Kate and Margaret.  Their children were known as Will, Kit and Daisy.

--Old Secesh

Edward S. Bragg-- Part 1: Of Wisconsin

From Wikipedia.

I'd never heard of this man until I saw that a Wisconsin senator had suggested that Fort Bragg in North Carolina, named after Confederate general Braxton Bragg had a cousin with the same last name who fought for the Union during the war.  He suggests saving money on the name change and just naming after Edward Bragg.

EDWARD STUYVESANT BRAGG

(February 20, 1827 to June 20, 1912)

American politician, lawyer, soldier, diplomat.  He was an accomplished  Union Army officer during the Civil War and served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Wisconsin.  He was later U.S. Minister to Mexico during the Presidency of Grover Cleveland and consul-general to the Republic of China and British Hong Kong under President Theodore Roosevelt.

He was born in New York and went to Wisconsin in 1850 where he settled in Fond du Lac and was a lawyer.

--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

Francis E. Warren's Legacy

Still from Wikipedia.

**  F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming,  is named after him.

**  His daughter, Helen Frances Warren, married Army Captain John J. Pershing in 1905.  he went on to achieve fame in World War I.

Several years later, President Theodore Roosevelt promoted him, with support from Francis Warren, from captain to brigadier general, despite many people in the Army having superiority over him.  The marriage definitely helped.

Sadly, Helen and three daughters were killed in a fire at the Presidio in San Francisco.

**  Warren was the first senator to hire a female staffer.

**  He and his wife Clara Barron  Morgan, bought the Nagle Warren Mansion in 1910 and it hosted many dignitaries including Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.

--Old Secesh

The Confederacy Under Attack-- Part 126: What Teddy Roosevelt Had to Say About Confederate Soldiers

I came across this while researching Irvine Bulloch in my Civil War Navy blog.  Irvine Bulloch served on the Confederate raiders Alabama and Shenandoah and was the brother of "Mittie" Bulloch, the mother of Theodore Roosevelt and paternal grandmother of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Irvine and "Mittie" were raised on a plantation in Roswell, Georgia and in 1905, Theodore Roosevelt visited the town and spoke.

"Men and women, don'y you think I have the ancestral right to claim a proud kinship with those who showed their devotion to duty as they saw the duty, whether they wore grey or whether they wore blue?

"All Americans who are worthy of the name feel an equal pride in the valor of those who fought on one side or the other, provided only that each did with all their strength and soul and mind his duty as it was given to him to see his duty."

Considering the current movement to completely dishonor all those who fought for and supported the Confederacy, these words from the past should be examined more closely.

--Old Secesh