Ohio Andersonville Monument

 

Ohio Andersonville Monument

Courtesy of National Park Service

The Ohio Andersonville Monument Commission was authorized by House Bill No. 586 on April 16, 1900, to erect a monument to the memory of Ohio  soldiers who died in Camp Sumpter, the Confederate military prison also known as Andersonville. With an appropriation of $5,000, the Commission selected the design offered by the Hughes Granite and Marble Company of Clyde, Ohio. The finished monument was unveiled December 18, 1901. The monument is the tallest on the site.  It is located on the prison grounds, on the north slope near the west side of the prison. The location is very close to the prison's original north wall before it was moved further north to provide 10 more acres of space. The four sides of the base bear the following images and inscriptions:

South: United States Coat of Arms
North: Ohio Coat of Arms
West: To her 1055 soldiers who died here in Camp Sumpter from March 1864 to April 1865 this monument is dedicated.
East: Death before Dishonor

President William McKinley Monument at Antietam

 

McKinley Monument at Antietam                            Courtesy of National Park Service

William McKinley Ohio, who later became the 25th President of the U.S., has a monument honoring his courage at the battle of Antietam. Hughes Granite and Marble Company of Clyde, Ohio produced the monument. The monument is located just south of the Burnside Bridge. It was dedicated October 13, 1903.

The inscription on the monument reads:

WILLIAM McKINLEY
January 29, 1843 - September 14, 1901
Fourteen Years Member of Congress
Twice Governor of Ohio 1892-3 and 1894-5
Twice President of United States
1897 - 1900 - 1901

Sergeant McKinley Co. E. 23rd Ohio Vol. Infantry, while in charge of the Commissary Department, on the afternoon of the day of the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, personally and without orders served "hot coffee" and "warm food" to every man in the Regiment, on this spot and in doing so had to pass under fire.

The Battle of Antietam took place in Maryland on September 17, 1862. It was Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North. It was the bloodiest single day battle in American history. The battle claimed 23,000 casualties, nine times greater than the number of American casualties on D-Day during World War II. Despite the battle's shocking carnage, Antietam provided President Abraham Lincoln with the victory he needed to announce the abolishment of slavery in the South.

President Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry who became the 19th President of the U.S. recollected the incident in these words, in an 1891 speech introducing McKinley:

That battle began at daylight. Before daylight men were in the ranks and preparing for it. Without breakfast, without coffee, they went into the fight, and it continued until after the sun had set. Early in the afternoon, naturally enough, with the exertion required of the men, they were famished and thirsty, and to some extent broken in spirit. The commissary department of that brigade was under Sergeant McKinley’s administration and personal supervision. From his hands every man in the regiment was served with hot coffee and warm meats.

General J.L. Botsford described it in his battle report:

It was nearly dark when we heard tremendous cheering from the left of our regiment. As we had been having heavy fighting right up to this time, our division commander, General Scammon, sent me to find out the cause, which I very soon found to be cheers for McKinley and his hot coffee. You can readily imagine the rousing welcome he received from both officers and men. When you consider the fact of his leaving his post of security, driving right into the middle of a bloody battle with a team of mules, it needs no words of mine to show the character and determination of McKinley, a boy at this time about twenty years of age. McKinley loaded up two wagons with supplies, but the mules of one wagon were disabled. He was ordered back time and again, but he pushed right on.

[Quoted in The Life of William McKinley: Soldier, Lawyer, Statesman, by Robert P. Porter. Cleveland, 1896]

McKinley was promoted to second lieutenant for his conduct.

Recollections of 1883 Flood at Fremont, Ohio

 

1883 Flood  Recollection

Lucy Elliot Keeler, a resident of Fremont, wrote about the 1883 flood:

"Before dawn on the Sunday morning of February 4, 1883, the Fremont fire bell aroused the citizens who found hundreds of their dwellings surrounded or already inundated by water. Heavy rains of two days, falling upon a frozen ground, with ice gorges formed below town, had caused a sudden rise of water in the river four or five feet above any previous high water mark. The water flowed through Front street, the principal business street of the city, with a mighty current which no boats could stem. The whole third ward between the river banks and the foot of the hills was several feet under water; huge ice blocks floated in, packed and froze solid. Two thousand persons were driven from their homes. There were many narrow escapes and several deaths from drowning and exposure. Several bridges along the river were carried away, and that of the L. S. & M. S. Railway collapsed under a freight train, thirty-seven cars being precipitated into the river. The damage to property in Fremont alone amounted to about $100,000. Loss in the upper towns of Tiffin, Bucyrus and Upper Sandusky was also large."

Excerpted from: Keeler, Lucy. "The Sandusky River: Its Geography, History, and Tradition." Columbus, Ohio, 1904.

                                       

Fremont, Ohio

 Rutherford B. Hayes Library and Museums

                   Excerpts from the Diary of Rutherford B. Hayes

February 4 -- The last two days will be long remembered. Yesterday for the destruction of trees, today for the greatest flood ever known at Fremont. The rain Saturday morning began to freeze as it fell.  The telegraph wires became so heavy with ice that the poles were broken or pulled over, and the whole telephone and telegraph system of this neighborhood broke down.  The small twigs were covered with ice until they were an inch in diameter.  All the weak-limbed trees suffered greatly. For two or three hours the crash of falling limbs was almost constant.  Even a small limb falling with its ice and the ice on other limbs which it broke would make a roaring noise. Lucy and the family watched the scene with the greatest interest. Many favorite trees were badly marred.  Old trees of all sorts lost large limbs.  Soft maples, cottonwood, and elms suffered particularly. Young white oaks and evergreens stood up best. The losses that grieved us most are the injury to the large elm northeast of the house; one half of the tall sassafras; the young hickory in the orchard; the damage to three of the large old oaks, [and] to the four street elms. 

Sunday was  given up to the flood and the rescue and relief of the sufferers.  No such flood was ever seen here before.  The water filled the valley from bluff to bluff. It ran two to four feet the whole length of Water Street, and drove from homes  perhaps one to three hundred families.  Men with skiffs were at work all day, rescuing people.  One woman was drowned--others perhaps.  The water reached on the pike (State Street) to the west of Arch Street, on Croghan Street south side to the--. On Birchard Avenue it ran in rear of the Ball House and within two inches of the lower side of the water table of the building. The anecdotes of escapes, losses, and experiences are without number and often very interesting,

Note: The following day Hayes asked for voluntary contributions since it was decided the need was immediate and asking the state legislature for funds would take too long. Hayes organized a committee of five men who would take charge of  finance, supplies, and distribution. Hayes contributed $100 of the $1000 raised. 

 

Finch Studio Fremont, Ohio

Finch Studio

Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums

 This building, located at 420 Croghan Street in Fremont, Ohio, was home to the  Finch Studio from about 1910 until the 1930s. Frank Finch was born in Fulton County, Ohio in 1880, the son of Sherman Finch. A professional photographer and printer, Finch was especially known for the 48-page booklet containing his photographs of the 1913 Fremont flood. Finch also took early aerial photographs of Fremont, Ohio in 1920. This image was taken circa 1915. Later, the building became home to Shetzer Insurance. 

Swartz Funeral Home, Fremont, Ohio

Swartz Funeral Home

Courtesy Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums

The above photograph was taken by Swartz employee Spencer Blue, showing a matched team of white horses and one of the Swartz Funeral Home coaches, waiting outside the funeral home located  at 817 Croghan Street in Fremont, Ohio. The photograph was taken  April 6, 1911.  The funeral, one of the largest in Fremont history, was for the well known Reverend Seraphim Bauer of St. Joseph's Catholic Church. 

This photo also appears on Historypin

President Who Banned the White House Christmas Tree

                             

Looking at all the Christmas tree lots in Northwest Ohio reminds me of the festive White House Christmas celebration, an annual occasion. The official White House tree is installed in the Blue Room and formally welcomed by the First Lady, a tradition that began in 1912.  Down through the years, First Ladies have developed their own personal holiday themes. Some first families even decorated every room in the White House with a Christmas tree.

But in 1902, President Teddy Roosevelt announced, “There would be no tree in the White House.” During the 19^th century, many homes did not celebrate Christmas with a decorated evergreen. Some believed it to be a pagan symbol, but eventually the German custom of a having a live tree during the holidays grew in popularity. But President Roosevelt, a devoted conservationist, was opposed to it. He said his family of six children would celebrate Christmas as “simply as possible.”

Teddy and Family

Courtesy of Wikimedia

Deeply concerned about America’s natural resources, Roosevelt created the Forestry Service and established 150 national forests, 51 bird reserves, five national parks, and four game preserves. The “Chicago Daily Tribune” agreed with the President. The paper dubbed it a “forestry fad.” Environmentalists harped against the “Christmas tree habit” that caused “immense destruction of young firs and spruce.”

But Archie and Quentin, Teddy Roosevelt’s two youngest sons, were having none of it.  They slipped outside and cut down a small evergreen right on the White House grounds. They sneaked it inside and hid it in a closet. With the help of one of the staff, they fitted it out with lights.  They decorated the tree with small presents for every family member. Archie even included gifts for Jack the dog, Tom Quartz the kitten, and his pony Algonquin.

Early Christmas morning, even before they opened their own gifts, Archie escorted his parents to the big closet. He swung open the door, revealing with delight his White House Christmas tree, laden with presents and lights. It was his gift to his parents. The President wrote later that it was Archie’s “surprise” and he was pleased with his son’s ingenuity.

Ladies Home Journal, 1902

One source tells that Teddy took his young son to visit Gifford Pinchot, head of the Forestry Service, to explain to Archie the damage to America’s forests that occurs when so many trees are chopped down for Christmas. But the President was taken aback when Pinchot explained that cutting down some of the larger trees was actually a good thing. The practice allowed sunlight to reach the smaller, young trees which could then flourish.

At Christmas in 1906, the President wrote to his sister that Archie was again at work. This time he was placing a tree in his bedroom. While Archie showed off his creation to his parents, the older children sneaked a fully-lit tree with two huge stockings into the bedroom of the President and First Lady. Eventually the controversy over using live trees to decorate for the holidays ended. It was just a few years later when President Calvin Coolidge hosted the first public Christmas tree lighting at the White House.

A version of this post appears in Lifestyles 2000

 

 

 

President James A Garfield, the First Leftie

 In a few days we will vote for our next president. I recall reading how President Hayes rushed back from the last leg of his Western Trip to reach Fremont in time to vote for James A. Garfield. He was the first president to serve as a professor, college president, and a minister before taking office. Born in poverty in 1831 in Mentor, Ohio, Garfield was the last president to have lived in a log cabin. He enlisted in the Civil War and rose to the rank of brigadier general by age 26, becoming the youngest ever promoted to that rank Following the war, Garfield returned to Ohio where he served nine-terms in the U. S. Congress.

At the deeply divided Republican National Convention, he was considered a dark horse candidate. But Garfield, in fact, received the GOP nomination on the 36^th ballot. In those years, presidential candidates did not hit the campaign trail like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. But according to one of Garfield’s biographers, more than 5,000 people converged on his farm in Mentor on a single day in October of 1880. Among them was a group of Germans. Garfield addressed them in their native tongue. It is believed to be the first time a presidential campaign speech was given in a language other than English.

Garfield Home, Mentor, Ohio

Courtesy of National Historic Sites

Taking office in March 1881, Garfield’s ability to write, read, and speak in several languages were skills that impressed many Americans. He was the first left-handed president. Only 10% of the population (myself included) are lefties. Living in a right-handed world makes some of us appear awkward, uncoordinated, and at times accident prone.  However, lefties seem to have the edge when it comes to the presidency. James Garfield was the first, but since World War II there have been 7 more leftie U. S. presidents!

Sadly, President James Garfield was shot only a few months into his presidency by Charles Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker. He lingered for three months. Today it is believed his death came about from infection and hemorrhaging brought on by endless probing of the wound with unsterile instruments. Dr. John B. Rice of Fremont, then a U.S. Congressman, was not one of those who searched for the bullet, but he did visit Garfield at the White House. Later he wrote a detailed letter regarding the President’s condition. More than 100,000 Americans traveled to Washington, D, C. to view Garfield as he lay in state. You can visit his beautiful home in Mentor, Ohio and the impressive  Garfield Monument in Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery. 

Some psychologists think lefties are more creative, artistic, have better communication skills, physically better fighters, and have greater divergent thinking skills. In case you are interested, here are the other southpaw presidents: Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan (probably a natural leftie but forced to be right-handed), George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.