Executions at the Johnson's Island Civil War Military Prison

Blindfolded, bound, and shackled, Captain William F. Corbin and his comrade Thomas Jefferson McGraw sat on a pair of rough coffins at the shoreline not far from the prison stockade on Johnson’s Island located on Lake Erie. Seconds later the signal came and the firing squad took aim. Shots rang out and the two Confederate officers fell back into their coffins. Death came instantaneously.

                                                           

Captain William F. Corbin 
from:  A Short History of the Soldier-Life, Capture and Death of William Francis Corbin: Captain Fourth Kentucky Cavalry: CSA  
by J. C. DeMoss, 1897

The fate of Corbin and McGraw was dictated by unique circumstances. Of the thousands of Confederate prisoners incarcerated on Johnson’s Island during the course of the Civil War, they alone were executed under Order #38.

Johnson's Island on Lake Erie

A month earlier, Corbin, an officer in the 4^th Kentucky Cavalry, was recruiting for the Confederacy in his home state when he and his comrade were captured by Union soldiers in Pendleton County.  Acquaintances assured the men they would be treated as prisoners of war. But two weeks later, Corbin and McGraw found themselves before a hastily convened military tribunal in Cincinnati. They had been charged with recruiting for the Confederacy behind Union lines and carrying mail and information to persons in arms against the United States government.

Drawing  of the Military Prison at Johnson's Island
Hayes Presidential Library, Roger Long Collection

The charges originated with Order #38 issued four days after their capture by General Ambrose Burnside, Commander of the Ohio.  In short, the order stated, “persons found within our lines committing acts for the benefit of enemies of our country will be tried as spies or traitors and, if convicted, will suffer death.”

After taking testimony from the Union soldiers who captured the pair, a nine-member commission delivered a verdict of guilty. Corbin and McGraw were ordered to Johnson’s Island, where they were to be executed between the hours of noon and 3 o’clock P.M. on May 15, 1863.

When Melissa Corbin learned of her brother’s fate, she hurried to Cincinnati and met with old family friends. Despite their strong support for the Union, they sympathized with the well-respected Corbin family. They accompanied the desperate sister to Burnside’s headquarters. After listening to her pleas, Burnside replied that he was determined to make an example of her brother and McGraw. Only President Lincoln could commute the sentence.

 

Armed with letters from Union friends testifying to her brother’s Christian character, Melissa Corbin set out for Washington, D. C. Using every connection possible, Melissa finally reached the commander-in-chief by way of a letter delivered to him by one of Washington’s leading ministers. But President Lincoln already had reviewed the case and refused to open the letter. Referring to the testimony given during the trial, President Lincoln remarked, “Those men were bridge burners and bad men and should be punished.” He could not interfere with General Burnside’s order.

It was Melissa Corbin’s last hope. She returned to Kentucky, knowing that within a matter of days she and her family members would lay Captain Corbin to rest in the family cemetery at Carthage. Lt. McGraw was buried in the Flagg Spring Chapel Cemetery.
                                                             

Captain William F. Corbin
Courtesy of RootsWeb

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Note: Posted on the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums' website is the listing of the deaths and names of those buried in the Johnson's Island prison cemetery provided by the late Roger Long. Mentioned among them are Corbin and McGraw.

The Friends and Descendants of the Johnson's Island Civil War Prison are dedicated to the preservation of this National Historic Landmark

The Sinking of the Lusitania

RMS. Lusitania

On May 7, 1915, the RMS Lusitania, the British ocean liner, the largest in the world, was returning to Liverpool, England on her 101^st voyage across the Atlantic. A German U-boat torpedoed and sank her in 18 minutes. Nearly 1200 of some two thousand passengers and crew perished in the attack, including 120 Americans.

Charles Frohman

 Alfred Vanderbilt, one of the world’s richest men and a great sportsman, was aboard. He was headed to England to purchase horses and hunting dogs. Charles Frohman perhaps the greatest theater impresario to have ever lived, had also booked passage.  He was born in Sandusky, Ohio in 1860.  He and his two brothers, Gustave and Daniel, owned and managed a large number of theaters in London, Paris, and New York where their productions were featured. 

                                               

The Royal Navy had blockaded Germany at the start of WWI. Submarine warfare was intensifying by the spring of 1915. The German embassy in the United Sates had placed notices in New York newspapers, warning of dangers of sailing on the Lusitania. She was known as the “Greyhound of the Seas” because of her speed. The Lusitania’s crew and the Cunard Line felt secure in the belief that she could easily out sail any submarine.  However, some Americans did pay heed and the Lusitania left New York with less than half her usual number of passengers.

Alfred Vanderbilt

 Walther Schwieger, captain of U-boat 20 watched the tragedy unfold through his periscope. He wrote in his log that the “ship stops immediately and heals over to starboard quickly, immersing simultaneously at the bow… Great confusion reigns on board.” Indeed, passengers were panic stricken.  The few lifeboats that were loaded and lowered foundered in a matter of minutes, drowning those aboard.

And “Eyewitness to History” article states that Vanderbilt and Frohman went to the ship’s nursery. Hoping to save the babies, the two men tied life jackets to wicker “Moses baskets” that held the little ones.  The baskets were carried off the ship as the water rose, but none survived the wave action created as the enormous vessel sank. 

With Frohman at the end was actress and rising star Rita Jolivet, who survived the tragedy. Testifying at the Enquiry Board, she stated that she, Charles Frohman, and her brother-in-law held hands and went out on deck. "The water swept me away from my brother-in-law and Mr. Frohman."

RMS Lusitania

Americans were outraged when they learned of the sinking.  Germany justified the attack by stating the ship was secretly carrying munitions to help the British war effort. President Woodrow Wilson protested to the Germans.  Americans’ attitudes began to turn against Germany. When the United States entered WWI two years later, the tragedy of the Lusitania was a factor. It was not until 1982 that the British admitted therewas a “large amount of ammunition in the wreck.” It still remains a safety issue to those interested in salvage operations. Charles Frohman’s body was recovered and returned to the United States. He was buried in Queens, New York. 

You can see some of the Frohman theater playbills that are part of the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums’ Frohman Collection. 

   

William Flockens's 1904 Military Travel Guide

At the turn of the 20^th century, Americans were fascinated by other cultures, societies, and landscapes. While the country’s wealthy elite had long enjoyed world tours, average Americans learned about faraway places only by reading articles and looking at photographs in books and magazines.  But there was a small group who traveled to foreign lands and shared their adventures through letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs. They were the American military.

One who did so was Sgt. William Flocken, an Indiana boy, who eventually settled in Fremont, Ohio. Flocken joined the 13^th U.S. Infantry at the age of 20 in 1898.  His unit was one of those that charged up Cuba’s San Juan Hill with the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War. Following the conflict, Flocken enlisted with the 13^th two more times. 

It was during 1904 and 1905 that Sgt. Flocken created a 70-page handwritten memoir documenting his travels and the scenes of the Philippine Insurrection that had ended victoriously in 1902. He and two of his comrades photographed the sights and scenes as they journeyed from Denver to San Francisco by rail and then across the Pacific to Honolulu, Guam, Japan, and finally to Manila Bay in the Philippines. Flocken added nearly 120 of these photographs to his carefully written account.

Filipino Home at Manila Bay
Photograph by Sgt. William Flocken

Intelligent and well educated, Flocken, was obviously one of those eager to learn about other cultures and people. More a travel guide than a memoir, he seemed intent on including something of interest for everyone. There are pictures of historic sites, harbors, forts, barracks, prisons, ships, street scenes, churches, homes, as well as images of his comrades and native-born Hawaiians and Filipinos. Flocken photographed the big guns that General James B. McPherson mounted on Alcatraz before the Civil War; volcanoes; Filipinos bamboo homes;  a 17^th century monastery; and 15^th century churches.

Big Guns Mounted on Alcatraz by General James B. McPherson
Photograph by Sgt. William Flocken

In today’s world, with 24/7 information and images, Flocken’s travel guide may not seem special.  But in 1904, his memoir was a rare, personal account of war and adventure in faraway places that few Americans would ever experience. Carefully preserved, there is little doubt that Flocken’s family cherished this unique record of their soldier ancestor’s efforts to share the memories of all he had seen and done half a world away.

Descendants donated Flocken’s record to the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums in 1986.

Several bayonets owned by Flocken can be viewed in the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums' Objects Database.
  

Spanish Influenza's Cause Remained a Medical Mystery for Decades

Some years ago, when this article was researched and written regarding the impact of  the Spanish influenza of 1918 on Northwest Ohio, the cause of the pandemic was still unknown:


It was Christmas 1918. Only weeks before, the victory in Europe brought an end to years of horrible warfare. But rather than joy, Americans were in the full grip of grief. 

In the United States, a killer more deadly than the machines of war appeared earlier that year at Fort Riley, Kansas. Known as the Spanish influenza, the highly contagious virus spread like wildfire.  In Ohio, the organism first appeared at Camp Sherman near Chillicothe.  Housed in crowded, sometimes unsanitary conditions, hundreds of soldiers  began to rapidly develop high fevers, chills, headaches, and muscle pains. Within a month the "flu" had gone nationwide, sped on its way by troop transports and military supplies.

Courtesy of PBS American Experience

By fall, a deadlier strain emerged. Victims of the second "wave" experienced respiratory congestion and severe coughing. Most drowned in their own fluids that quickly filled their lungs. The deadly flu hit so rapidly that entire families were wiped out in a matter of days. Mysteriously, the disease seemed to take its greatest toll among the young and the most physically fit.

Some speculated the "killer" strain had begun on the Western Front where thousands of soldiers were bogged down in trench warfare. Hardest hit were the metropolitan areas and ports where troops departing for the war and returning home unknowingly infected the general population.

Nurses Caring for Flu Victims at Walter Reed
Courtesy of Library of Congress

The small towns of Northwest Ohio did not escape. The epidemic overwhelmed health officials. Schools, theaters, and churches were closed. Public funerals, gatherings, and even spitting were banned. Thousands wore gauze masks. Sandusky's Providence and Good Samaritan hospitals and the Sandusky Soldiers' and Sailors' Home were desperate for nurses. There was no recognition of the pandemic from President Woodrow Wilson, who was focused solely on the war and the outcome of its treaty. 

Ohio Memory 
Courtesy of the Sandusky Library

 As more and more Sanduskians fell ill, medical qualifications went by the wayside; anyone willing to care for victims was welcome. The Erie County Red Cross set up a hospital in the Elks Lodge on East Adams Street. Local restaurants cooked meals, volunteers shuttled supplies, and residents raised money for food and equipment. But two months later, with funds and caregivers exhausted, the emergency facility was forced to close.

Nurses at the Sandusky Soldiers and Sailors Home

Ernst Niebergall Collection, Hayes Presidential Library and Museums

Quarantines and medicines only slowed the flu. With no vaccine on the horizon or useful medicines, enterprising quacks found an opening. They soon filled the "Sandusky Register" and other small town papers with "for sure cures" like Dr. Sage's Catarrh Remedy, Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery, vegetable tablets, sugar-coated May apples, aloe, fig syrups, and "anuric" pills. 

When it was all over, some 675,000 Americans were dead; 26,000 were Ohioans, including 638 who died in Erie County, 400 in Toledo, 500 in Columbus, 1,000 in Cincinnati, and 2,000 in Cleveland. As the Spanish flu began to run its course, everyone wanted to put the tragedy behind them. Health officials had failed to find the cause. 

To keep abreast of Ohio's efforts to slow the COVID-19 virus go to:
https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/home

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Note: It was not until 2007, that a strain of the avian virus was discovered as the cause of the Spanish influenza of 1918. 

Dr. John Hultin, a forensic pathologist, knew of a small Alaskan village where 72 out of 80 Inuit residents had perished from the flu in 5 days. As a graduate student, he had visited the grave site. He remained haunted by the failure to find the cause of the flu that had killed tens of millions worldwide. When he learned that medical advances had made it possible for biologists to unlock the virus's genetic sequence, he traveled again to the village in 1997. 

With permission from Inuit villagers, he dug into the mass grave. He took samples from the lungs of one of the victims preserved in the permafrost.  

Hultin's tissue samples were used to unlock the mystery of the 1918 Spanish influenza. 

Cruisin' the Inland Seas

"North American" Loaded with Passengers
Charles E. Frohman Collection

Until only very  recently, the "cruise industry" has flourished. It was possible to book a cruise to any destination in the world - the Mediterranean, Chile, Panama Canal, or Iceland. Even here in the United States, cruising the Mississippi and the Great Lakes has once again become popular. 

But one hundred years ago, most vacationers dreamed of visiting Niagara Falls, Mackinac Island, and Montreal. Indeed, cruising the Great Lakes was a popular past time in the first half of the 20th century.  In 1913, the first ship built anywhere in the world exclusively for cruising was laid down in Ecorse, Michigan. The "North American" was steel hulled, more than 250 feet in length, and carried as many as 500 passengers.

Balcony on the interior of the "North American"
Charles E. Frohman Collection

Owned and operated by the Chicago Duluth Georgian Bay Transit Line, the "North American" offered vacationers week long trips between Detroit and Duluth and Detroit and Montreal. Sailing 2,200 miles, she made stops at Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinac Island, Buffalo, Sarnia and Niagara Falls. 

Much like today, passengers enjoyed fine dining, dancing, entertainment, and sight-seeing at scenic ports-of-call. She became known as the "Queen of the Great Lakes." So popular were these cruises. that the company was unable to accommodate the numbers of vacationers, honeymooners, and European tourists.  The following year, the company added a second vessel. For the next fifty years, the "North American" and her sister ship plied the waters of the Great Lakes. Even during the Depression, the demand remained strong.

"North American" Cruise Guide
Charles E. Frohman Collection

So - whatever happened to the "North American"? Although she had undergone a total upgrade that featured all of the modern conveniences, times began to change. Interest waned. With more discretionary income, vacationers sought new destinations. Heavy industrialization and pollution took their toll. The Great Lakes and her ports had lost much of their former luster.

"North American" on the Detroit River
Charles E. Frohman Collection

The "North American" was sold to the Canadian Holiday Company in 1963 for cross-lake service between Port Dover, Ontario and Erie, Pennsylvania. But even that run proved to be a losing proposition. The following year, the "Queen of the Great Lakes," the scene of  fun, relaxation, and so many good times for tens of thousands was finally retired. Sold and resold in several shaky deals, the "North American" finally found a new owner after four long years. The Seafarers International Union bought her hoping to give her a new life as a training ship.

"North American"  Heading into Port
Charles E. Frohman Collection

Under tow by the tug "Michael McAllister," the great, old cruise ship left her port in Erie, heading for Newport News for a total overhaul. A short time after entering the Atlantic, the "North American" faced the first swells of an approaching hurricane. While the seas were only moderate, they proved too much for the old Great Lakes queen.She  quickly sank from sight. 

"North American" at Georgian Bay
Charles E. Frohman Collection

But that was not the last she was ever heard from. During the summer of 2006, Quest Marine research team found her in 250 feet of water close to the continental shelf some 140 miles off Nantucket. The news of her discovery evoked fond memories for those who had sailed on the "Queen of the Great Lakes" in her heyday.  

You can see a selection Great lakes Cruise and Travel Guides that are part of the Hayes Presidential's Charles E. Frohman Collection 

A version of this post was published in Lifestyles 2000

Gold Fever of 1849 Takes Its Toll

When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, Robert Caldwell could think of little else. Intelligent, well educated, and dependable, he had worked long and hard for his half-interest in a blacksmith shop, a Lower Sandusky (Fremont), Ohio tavern, and land in Fulton County. But gold fever was everywhere and like thousands of others Caldwell was consumed by it. 

He planned to leave his wife Eleanor and head for the gold fields. With his brother William, Robert joined the Fort Stephenson  Mining Association, a group of nearly a dozen men who hoped to find riches in the "far west." 

By April 1849, Caldwell along with the other Sandusky Countians were in Independence, Missouri, outfitting for the 2,200-mile overland route to California. During an interview with a St. Louis reporter, the men declared they were ready for anything - starvation, drought, snows, Indians, and rugged terrain. They were not alone! That spring more than 25,000 Americans had set out across the plains. All were dreaming of the California gold fields and spectacular wealth!

In reading several of Robert's letters that are part of the Hayes Presidential's William Caldwell Collection. it is clear that nothing was as Robert Caldwell envisioned. Soon after filing claims on the north fork of the American River near Beals Bar, Caldwell was forced to give up his "diggings." because of heavy snows. Then came washouts, inflated prices,  robbery, riots, and always, hordes of gold seekers. Robert opened a blacksmith shop in Sacramento to renew his grubstake.

When Robert and Eleanor's adopted child died, Eleanor begged her husband to give up his dream and come home. Robert wrote, "Suppose that I do come home and not have any money - what will you say to me ...I will tell you what you would say to me - If you had always listened to me you would not have went to California. Are you not willing to sacrifice some of the happiness for me to make one more try?" 

Robert could not bear the humiliation of returning to Fremont a failure. He wrote that I am not about to "be a beggar." "No, I will die here unless things change..." Caldwell was certain he would soon strike it rich. 

Weeks became months and months became years. Finally, Robert admitted that he did not have even enough money to book passage for home. 

Just before Christmas in 1853, death made its claim on Robert Caldwell and his dreams. In late January 1854, Eleanor received a letter postmarked "Sacramento." It was a letter from a minister, sending his condolences and telling her that "while Robert Caldwell was buried among strangers, he had died among friends."  [To date, the location of Robert Caldwell's grave is unknown.]

Eleanor (Lary) Caldwell remained in Fremont, raising the couple's only child, Augustus. She died in 1868 at the age of 57 and is buried in Fremont's Old Whittlesey Cemetery  

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Ephraim Shay: A Man of Ideas and Innovation

Shay Engine No. 30
Ernst Niebergall Collection

Occasionally we all have one of those great ideas, but few have as many as Ephraim Shay. Born in Huron County in 1839, Shay was educated in New Jersey. By 1861, he was teaching in Bellevue, Ohio, and hoping to purchase farmland. He traveled to Michigan and Illinois, ending up in St. Louis where his plans changed. He enlisted in the 8th Missouri Infantry for three years. When discharged, Shay returned to Huron County and married Jane Henderson. The couple soon moved to Ionia County, Michigan, where he ran a sawmill. When the area was logged off, Shay moved north to the Manistee River area and set up his mill near Haring.

Logging in Michigan was dangerous, costly, and weather dependent. Once river tracts were logged off, men pushed into the forests, building roads and felling trees until the ground froze, snows came, and logs could be hauled out. 

Hoping to reduce costs, Shay built a temporary wooden tram over which horses pulled log cars to the mill. Shay's tram made year round logging a reality, but it was slow and Shay knew the dangers were great. On downgrades, horses were killed when overtaken by the cars they were pulling.

Even though everyone thought it was a "crazy idea," Shay worked for nearly two years on a geared steam locomotive. Its cylinders drove a flexible line shaft with universal couplings and slip joints through bevel gears. The flexibility allowed each log car to navigate the track independently, keeping the locomotive on the rails. His locomotive could climb steep grades, handle sharp turns, and operate on rickety wooden tracks. The Shay locomotive revolutionized not only logging in Michigan, but also the Lima  Machine Works, the Ohio company Shay hired for machining some parts. The company transformed its operation, changing its name to the Lima Locomotive Works. They built 2,768 Shay locomotives. Shay received $1,000 royalty on each one built. 

The above photograph from the Hayes Presidential's Ernst Niebergall Collection is one of eight Shay locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works for Kelleys Island Lime and Transport Company to use at its Kelleys Island quarries. Number 30, featured here, was a straight-boiler engine used until quarrying ended on the island. Connecting the island quarries by rail greatly facilitated the transporting of stone and flux to the lime kilns and then to the Kelleys Island docks for shipping.

By the late 1880s, Shay moved his operations to Harbor Springs, Michigan, where he constructed the Hemlock Central Railroad, a machine shop, sawmill, waterworks and his steel-clad home known as the "Hexagon" and now an historic landmark.

Rather than wealth and success, it was ideas and innovations that drove Ephraim Shay. He patented a universal joint, logging wheels, and a propeller shaft. 

In 1891, he began building  a steam-powered, 40-foot, steel-hulled boat that he dubbed the "AHA." After numerous rebuilds, the "AHA" could reach speeds of 15 knots rapidly, setting records on Little Traverse Bay. But her weight and narrow design made her top heavy and ride low in the water. Shay finally admitted the "AHA" was not practical for steam travel. 

His son removed her engine and installed it in his home as his central heating system. Her hull was towed over the ice to Sturgeon Bay where hunters and fishermen used her for both shelter and target practice. There the "AHA" sat rusting away until the state of Michigan put her in storage. Finally, in 2003 Harbor Springs residents brought the "AHA" home, where she represents a part of Shay's lifelong legacy of "creativity and sheer ability."