The Cannons That Came To Spiegel Grove

 For many years, I wondered what had become of the cannons that flanked the Spiegel Grove entrances featured in old postcards. Not long ago, Curator of Manuscripts Julie Mayle discovered when and why they disappeared. Her research appears in an article in the Hayes Presidential “Statesman,” The cannons were Rodman guns, named after their inventor Thomas Jackson Rodman.  At the time of the Civil War, they were the largest guns in the U.S. arsenal.

Preceding the White House gates, the cannon at the Harrison Gateway were the 15-inch style, while those at the McPherson-Thompson Gateway were 10-inch. Atop each gun was a 20-inch cannonball. Julie learned that it was Admiral Webb Hayes II, grandson of the president, who believed they should be donated to Sandusky County’s scrap drive in support of World War II.

Undated Spiegel Grove Post Card

                                                       

It took great effort to bring the 7-ton cannons down. The job was completed in November 1942 and the guns were transported by rail to a rolling mill in Mansfield. Eventually, more than $230 was raised and donated to the U.S.O.

Now my question was how did these giant Civil War cannons come to be at Spiegel Grove? There was little doubt that this was the work of Colonel Webb C. Hayes, Rutherford and Lucy’s second son and founder of the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums. The colonel acquired two for the Harrison Gateway in time for the dedication of the Harrison Trail.

But the two 10-inch Rodmans came later through the colonel’s contact with Major General Frederick Grant, the son of President Ulysses S. Grant. After a storied career in the military, General Grant became the Commander of the East, headquartered at Governor’s Island in New York. He wrote in 1911 that he considered the colonel’s desire to place the Civil War cannons at the McPherson-Thompson Gateway was a “worthy purpose.” No doubt he had known General James McPherson.  As a 10-year-old boy, he was with his father, General Ulysses S. Grant, during the Siege of Vicksburg. General McPherson had served on his father's staff.

General Frederick Grant ordered two Rodmans located at Fort Caswell in North Carolina be sent to Spiegel Grove. The Union forces had placed the guns there to defend Wilmington in early 1865 after the Confederates surrendered the fort. They arrived in Fremont, Ohio in November of 1911. According to a Fremnont “New-Messenger” article, it took a massive effort by the city engineer, superintendent of streets, and a number of men under direction of the colonel to erect the two cannons weighing 35,000 pounds. 

For more than 30 years, they marked the gateway honoring Civil War General James McPherson and Samuel Thompson who fought in both the War of 1812 and the War with Mexico.

 

Our Sacred Honor

                                                                

Painting by John Trumbull
Courtesy of Wikipedia

                                                                 

 The 4^th of July of 2022 is long gone for another year. But a look back at this past Independence Day is somewhat different. One poll showed only 41% of respondents were proud to be Americans. Indeed, the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence were flawed. More than half were slave holders. Unlike Lewis Morris of New York, who said, “Damn the consequences, give me the pen,” Lyman Hall of Georgia signed reluctantly. John Hancock, whose name and signature we all know had a bounty on his head. Yet he signed boldly, giving others the confidence in the right of their actions. One of those grievances was that England had forbidden colonists to settle in the Ohio Country or any other English territory west of the Appalachians.  They signed “with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, mutually pledged to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” They did so knowing full well they were committing treason. If captured, torture and death awaited them.

                                                                  

Courtesy of Mount Vernon.org

                                                 

There were 14 farmers, 18 merchants, 22 lawyers, four doctors, nine judges, and one minister. The oldest was the beloved Benjamin Franklin at 70. The youngest was Thomas Lynch, Jr. of South Carolina. He was only 27. All were well educated with much to lose.

And so it was that 17 fought in the American Revolution. Two lost sons serving in the Revolutionary Army. Five of the signers were captured including Thomas Rutledge, Thomas Heyward and Arthur Middleton. George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. The British dragged Richard Stockton of New Jersey from his bed, stripped him of his home and property, and threw him into prison where he nearly starved to death.

Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote John Adams that he was “hunted like a fox by the enemy.” He was forced to move his family continuously. The property and home of Francis Lewis of New York was destroyed. The British captured Elizabeth Lewis at the Battle of Brooklyn. She was jailed as the wife of a traitor. The conditions were so inhumane that she died within months after release.

The British looted the property and home of John Hart of New Jersey. Hart hid out for more than a year. But still, he offered George Washington his fields as an encampment for his 12,000 soldiers. Hart died of exhaustion in 1779, one of the 14 signers who did not survive to see America’s victory.

Cornwallis confiscated Thomas Nelson, Jr.’s Yorktown home to use for his headquarters. When American forces laid siege to Yorktown, Brigadier General Nelson ordered artillerists to fire on his own home. The structure survived. If you visit you can still see some of the damage. 

Thomas Nelson, Jr. Home, Yorktown
fully restored 1976 
 Courtesty of National Park Service

                                                            

Though imperfect, the 56 sacrificed much.  We know many did not live up to the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence. But they fought, suffered, and some died to give us a document that set us on the path of liberty and freedom previously unknown in the history of the world.

 

For the Love of Maps

 Recently I lost a map of the state of Ohio that I purchased several years ago. It was expensive, printed on fine paper, and beautiful. It was one of my favorites because like others I own, it connected me to places that brought back fond memories. I have a drawer full of maps that I picked up over the years – mostly as a child at gas stations where they were always free. Some show streets, counties, towns, rivers, the Great Lakes, and most of all - places I could only imagine visiting.

Today, maps, like the one I bought in Ohio are scarce and few are free. Why? Because nearly everyone uses GPS. We no longer need a map to find our way. The lady tells us just how to get there, but she doesn’t help us visualize where we are in relation to our surroundings.

At no time in our history was this more important than in the Civil War. It was the Union forces who were in desperate need of accurate maps as they plunged blindly into the southern states to fight the Confederacy (who had the advantage of knowing every stream, road, and pass).

As armies have done for centuries, both Union and Confederate, they lived largely off the land. Therefore, it was essential for the Union to have detailed maps that identified crops, orchards, fording sites, parallel roads, woods, and landmarks. Without this knowledge, Union armies, made up of thousands of men and horses, could be stalled in an area without sufficient water and resources. Within days they would be starving.

I had the good fortune to see some of the Civil War maps at the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums. One in particular (shown nearby), made in 1863 for General William S. Rosecrans details the area around Cleveland, Tennessee, some 30 miles from Chattanooga. Using an existing map, engineer William E. Merrill traveled the area, adding critical details, including swampy areas, “good farming country” “broken country,” springs. creeks, woods, mills, bridges and even residents’ names. These maps were printed on cloth and could be washed, dried and stuffed into saddlebags.

                                                                    

Cleveland, Tennessee, 1863, by William E. Merrill
Hayes Presidential Library and Museums

Another map, boring to the eye, was actually vital to General William T. Sherman. It shows Cobb County Georgia divided into numbered lots, 6/10^th of a mile on each side originally surveyed in 1840. From this map, Sherman was able to tell his army commander General James McPherson that his headquarters was located in a house “not far from the northwest corner of lot #273”.

                                                            

Cobb County Georgia
Developed from the Land Office Map, 1864
Hayes Presidential Library and Museums

In contrast, General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia marched into Gettysburg’s unfamiliar and unfriendly territory. As General James Longstreet described it, Lee was like a man walking “over strange ground with his eyes shut.” This was the situation Union armies faced throughout the war.

While no longer as important as they once were, maps still remain interesting documents that connect us to the wider world. They are also like time capsules that bring back memories of trips taken and roads traveled. 

Much of what I learned of Civil War maps and those who made them came from discussions with Earl McElfresh during his visit to the Hayes Presidential Library and Museums when he was seeking unique Civil War maps in repositories around the country. It was he who explained to me the significance of these maps to Union commanders. 

McElfresh published many of these maps in a book titled Maps and Mapmakers of the Civil War. Some were exquisitely drawn while others were quick pencil sketches. Many are not only beautiful, but colorful. His work appears on the Internet Archive where Mr. McElfresh provides an explanation of each maps importance. McElfresh Map Company reproduces significant maps of the Civil War. You can also view maps of WWII, the Underground Railroad, Little Big Horn Battlefield, and even Antarctica in  his online gallery. To learn about the process of creating maps, see Mr. McElfresh's Blog.

The Inspiration for Mickey!

 One of America’s most iconic images is that of Mickey Mouse, the beloved cartoon character that became the Disney mascot. For generations, Mickey and his adventures have symbolized fun, childhood, laughter, happiness, and joy. The inspiration for Mickey began with Clifton Meek born in Fremont in 1888. Clifton was the son of George and Harriet (Mourer) Meek. At the age of 17, Clifton was working for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad as a telegrapher. Hoping for a better career, Meek attended Cleveland School of Art. He soon found work as a cartoonist for the Scripps-McRae Syndicate in San Francisco.

                                                               

Johnny Mouse by Clifton Meek

Johnny Gruelle, Meek’s friend and creator of “Raggedy Ann"  books, convinced Meek to join him in Norwalk, Connecticut. Meek and his family headed east, settling in nearby Silvermine. It was here that Meek created the 4-panel strip titled “The Adventures of Johnny Mouse” as a pantomime comic. Johnny Mouse eventually  wore pants, shoes, sported large ears, and took part in all sorts of antics. Meek’s “Johnny Mouse” was syndicated from 1913 to 1915. He also created “George Grindstone” and “Nobody” for the “New York Evening Journal” and the “New York World.” By the 1920s, Meek had become a freelance artist producing “funny animal” comics that appeared in “Puck,” “Judge,” and “Life” magazines.

                                                               

Raggedy Ann by Johnny Gruelle

Meek grew tired of cartoons and knew it was time for a change. He wrote, “I felt like I was in a factory. I began to see George Grindstone in my dreams.” Clifton bought a forge and began a successful career creating ironwork that he sold throughout the region, becoming part of the Silvermine Artists Guild.

 

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse

                                                  

In 1944, Meek got the surprise of his life when he read a Walt Disney interview. Walt told that between the ages of five and ten, he had lived on a Missouri farm where he learned what farm animals looked like…  “It was those early childhood days that the first faint glimmering of mouse fascination dawned on Disney.” Then Walt Disney is quoted as saying “there was a man named Clifton Meek who used to draw cute little mice and I grew up with those drawings…. They were different from ours, but they had cute ears.”

 

Clifton was delighted to learn that he had ignited the spark of inspiration for Mickey. After writing Disney a note of thanks, Meek received an autograph picture signed in appreciation. In a 1950s interview, Ub Iwerks, a partner of Disney in the early days, also confirmed that Meek’s mouse cartoons were their inspiration. The animated short film “Steamboat Willie,” drawn exclusively by Iwerks, debuted in 1928. Mickey Mouse became an instant hit. And, as they say, “the rest is history!”

Ironically, Clifton Meek’s granddaughter came to Ohio to attend Heidelberg University and made Tiffin her home where she lives today.