Jay Cooke and the Yellowstone

 

The recent popularity of “Yellowstone” and Kevin Costner’s appearance on Fox Nation brings to mind the first efforts to make Yellowstone a tourist attraction. It all began with Jay Cooke, born in Sandusky, Ohio and known as the financier of the Civil War. Following the war, the wealthy Cooke invested his fortune in building the Northern Pacific Railway. With Duluth as its hub, Jay hoped to push the railroad ever westward. Transporting products to and from the West was not the only thing on Cooke’s mind. He believed he could develop tourist destinations along the Northern Pacific route.

 He learned that in March 1871the government had allocated $40,000 to geologist Ferdinand Hayden to survey northwestern Wyoming. Joining Hayden would be photographer William Henry Jackson and painter Henry Wood Elliott. It was their job to visually document the area.

                                                            

Tower Falls and Sulphur Mountain
Courtesy of the Library of Congress

                                                               

Thomas Moran, a painter of the Hudson River School and illustrator for Scribner’s Monthly magazine, had heard about the expedition, but was disappointed to learn that an artist had already been chosen. Jay Cooke knew Moran’s artwork could prove invaluable for future advertisements for the Northern Pacific. Using his political connections, Cooke was able to get Moran assigned to the expedition. He and Scribner’s covered the expedition costs for Moran.

                                                                     

Thomas Moran
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art

 Although neither Jackson nor Moran knew each other, they quickly struck up a friendship that became a professional partnership. Together, through Jackson’s photographs (developed in the field) and Moran’s sketches and his onsite watercolors, they documented some of Yellowstone’s most iconic landscapes. When the expedition ended, Moran produced 30 paintings that created a sensation in the East.

                                                        

Grand Canyon of the Yesllowstone
Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Many were skeptical of the stories trappers told of the area’s beauty. Jackson’s images proved they were not wrong! Their enduring images helped Americans realize Yellowstone was a treasure to be preserved and shared with future generations. The following year, when Congress debated establishing Yellowstone as the world’s first national park, the work of Jackson and Moran played a critical role. Moran’s 9 ½ foot by 14 ½ foot “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” hung in the Capitol for many years. Today it is on long term loan to the Smithsonian. All of Moran’s paintings can be viewed on the Library of Congress website.

 The Jackson/Moran friendship did not end there. They teamed up on two additional expeditions. Jay Cooke’s investments in the Northern Pacific Railway drove him into bankruptcy, setting off the Panic of 1873. By making it possible for Thomas Moran to join the Hayden Expedition, Cooke accomplished something of lasting value. A record attendance of more than 4,800,000 tourists visited Yellowstone in 2021

A version of this article appears in Lifestyles 2000

 

 

Letitia Frazer's Plea for Parole for Her Husband, C. W. Frazer, Prisoner on Johnson's Island

The Hayes Presidential Library and Museums Manuscripts Division holds one of the largest collections of the Civil War's Confederate Officers' Prison located on Lake Erie's Johnson's Island. The most important of these collections is that donated by the late Charles E. Frohman, who wrote "Rebels on Lake Erie."

During a recent visit, Andrews Martin of Sandusky, Ohio donated this 2-cent "Black Jack" orange cover (above) addressed to Mrs. L. S. Frazer  Sandusky O. and postmarked Mar. 8 '65 with a double circle postmark beside it. It also contains  a partial strike of the examiner's oval (initials G. F. M.)  in the corner.

As we discussed the rare cover, we believed that it was probably addressed to a relative of Confederate "Brigadier General" John W. Frazer. Frazer was the commanding officer who surrendered Cumberland Gap to General Burnside without firing a single shot. Frazer acted as a brigadier general, but after his surrender of the Cumberland Gap, his nomination was rejected by the Senate of the Confederate States. He did spend time at Johnson's Island, but was also imprisoned at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor.  

A quick check online turned up a letter in the Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. It was written by Letitia Frazer who traveled to Washington, D. C. to present her letter to President Abraham Lincoln asking for a parole for her husband, Captain C. W. Frazer, who was imprisoned on Johnson's Island. The letter is not dated, but ironically it was delivered to President Lincoln in an envelope marked "From Jay Cooke and Co., Washington, D. C."

 A transcription of this letter follows. 

To His Excellency Abraham Lincoln
President of the United States

Mr. President:

My husband Capt. C. W. Frazer has been a Prisoner of War on Johnson's Island since Sept. 1863. I have followed him all through the war and when he was captured I went to Sandusky, Ohio and remained there still to be near him though I could not see him felt comforted to know that he was safe. Now the Exchange has commenced and I am almost crazy to get him out of that Army, I know of but one way I earnestly entreat the President to allow me to try it. His interests are all in the Union, his family are all loyal citizens of Memphis. They need him sorely and desire him to come home. I pray the President to give him a limited time to report at his place of exchange on his parole of honor so that I may have the opportunity to convince him that his duty is at home and to leave the Rebel Army. I know he must be exchanged when his time comes then he will be lost to me so this is my last opportunity to convert him and save my husband. I do not ask this great favor for him, but on behalf of his suffering family. 

Respectfully
Letitia Frazer

http://lincolnpapers2.dataformat.com/images/1865/02/228004.pdf

From this letter, it appears that Mrs. L. S. Frazer, was the wife of Capt. C. W. Frazer and, as she writes, followed him to Sandusky, where she was living to be near her husband, who was imprisoned on Johnson's Island.

President Lincoln gave his permission immediately. Below is a scan of a photocopy of a document found in the Roger Long Papers. Letitia Frazer was allowed an "interview" with her husband after taking the oath of allegiance. Letitia was allowed to visit once every ten days until her husband was released.

The Roger Long Papers contain much more about Frazer's service and post-war life, including this photograph of Frazer's military coat.. Frazer served as adjutant in the 5th Confederate Infantry.

Anna Pittenger McMeens: Civil War Nurse

Anna McMeens (with purse) and Cooke Family Members

Anna Pittenger McMeens may have been one of the first nurses to serve in a military hospital during the Civil War. When her husband, Dr. Robert R. McMeens enlisted as the surgeon of the Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Anna assisted her husband at the military hospital at Camp Dennison.

She traveled with him to Nashville, Tennessee, where he served as Acting Medical Director of the Tenth Division. He oversaw the Union’s 800-bed military hospital. Anna returned to Sandusky when her husband left Nashville with his regiment. She immediately began working with the Sanitary Commission to provide medical supplies for soldiers in the field.

Cooke Castle on Lake Erie's Gibraltar Island, 1901

She never remarried after the death of her husband in 1862. She traveled to Washington, D. C., where she worked in military hospitals for more than a year. Following the war, Anna McMeens managed the summer home of Jay Cooke, financier of the Civil War. Cooke Castle is located on Lake Erie’s Gibraltar Island.

A sketch of Anna McMeens in Woman's Work in the Civil War (published 1867) highlights her contributions during the conflict. It states that after the Civil War, and while at Gibraltar Island, she took part in missionary work among the sailors of Lake Erie.

If anyone can identify the organization or the Lake Erie's sailors missionary work in which Anna McMeens participated as early as 1867, I would appreciate hearing from you.