Ottawa County Museum Continues to Honor Purple Heart Veterans

 On August 7, 1782, in the waning days of the Revolutionary War, General George Washington established the Badge of Military Merit. Prevented by the Continental Congress from granting commissions and promotions in rank to his soldiers, Washington hoped to encourage and honor meritorious service with this special award. The honored soldier was to wear “over his left breast, the figure of a heart in purple cloth or silk edged with narrow lace and binding.”

After the war, the award of merit was nearly forgotten until the 20^th century when it was revived at the bicentennial of Washington’s birth. In 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the award for all armed services and also to be given posthumously. Congress chartered the Purple Heart Medal in 1958. Presently, more than 1.7 million Purple Hearts have been awarded to our armed forces.

David Barth, a member of the board of directors of the Ottawa County [Ohio]Museum is researching and collecting information and photographs of Purple Heart recipients with connections to Ottawa County. He is asking those who have received the award and the family members of deceased recipients to fill out a Purple Heart Registry form. Those forms will be included in a book that is updated twice each year – August and February.

Mr. Barth can be reached at drb360@gmail.com or by phone at 419-357-2057.

The Ottawa County [Ohio] Museum held its first Purple Heart Day ceremony earlier this year. Thirty-five recipients and families were honored. Their information was compiled in a book titled “Ottawa County’s Heroes: The Stories of the Life and Service of Those with Ties to Ottawa County who were Recipients of the Purple Heart Medal.” This resource book is available for viewing at each county library, Ottawa County Veteran Services Department, and the Ottawa County Museum (126 W. Third St., Port Clinton, Ohio) 

                    

The Purple Heart Medal criteria has gone through many changes over the years. Presently it is awarded to members of the armed forces wounded in combat with an enemy force, posthumously to next of kin of those killed in combat, and those wounded or who died while a prisoner of war (2008).

The Ottawa County Museum has the distinction of of being one of only 15 museums across the nation designated as a Purple Heart Trail Museum. The trail begins at Mount Vernon near the grave site of George Washington. Each trail museum maintains a database of Purple Heart recipients and creates a museum display. Each trail museum honors those who have received the medal at a ceremony held each August 7, the National Purple Heart Day.

John H. Martin: Buffalo Soldier

In July 1866, the United States Congress authorized the formation of the first peacetime all-black regiments in the U.S. Army. The regiments, composed of the 9^th and 10^th Cavalry and the 24^th Infantry (reorganized from the 39^th and 40^th) and the 25^th  Infantry (reorganized from the 38^th and 41^st).

According to the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston, Texas, the nickname derived from the Cheyenne warriors during the winter of 1877, who thought the soldiers fought like “wild buffalo.” However, Colonel Benjamin Grierson, who commanded the 10^th Cavalry, recalled the name much earlier, during the 1871 campaign against the Comanches. They thought the soldiers’ curly hair like that of the bison. Another source comes from the Plains tribes. They gave them the name because of the bison coats worn by the troops in winter. Eventually, all four regiments proudly became known as the Buffalo Soldiers.       

                                                       

Buffalo Soldier Statue at Leavenworth, Kansas

John H. Martin was born in 1848 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Robert and Emily (Hall) Martin. He had served with the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. His regiment, the 25^th Infantry, had disbanded along with other USCT in the fall of 1865. But Martin, like many USCT veterans chose to re-enlist with the newly formed black  regiments. According to his obituary, John Martin served as a musician in the 25^th Infantry for fifteen years.                     

The regiments were stationed at Army posts in the Southwest and on the Great Plains They fought during the Indian Wars, built wagon roads, constructed telegraph lines, protected settlements, served as scouts, and escorted the U.S. mail. Portions of the Buffalo Soldier regiments fought the Apache in New Mexico and pursued Victorio in Mexico. Despite their courageous service, many experienced racial prejudice from settlers as well as members of the U.S. Army. The first black commissioned officer to lead the Buffalo Soldiers was Henry O. Flipper, the first African American graduate of West Point in 1877. At least 18 Buffalo Soldiers received the Medal of Honor during the Indian Wars.   

                 

Lt. Henry O. Flipper
Courtesy of West Point

                                  

Following his service, Martin returned to Ohio. On November 4, 1885, he married Mary Ann Davison at Oberlin, Ohio, the daughter of James and Lucy Bell (Roberson) Davison, originally from West Virginia. The couple settled in Fremont, Ohio on Sandusky Avenue and then Whittlesey Street. Martin was employed for many years as a silver polisher at Claus Shear Works. They were the parents of five children. Mary Ann passed away in 1922. John Martin spent his final days at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in Sandusky, Ohio. He died there March 26, 1926 at the age of seventy-seven. Both he and Mary Ann are buried in Fremont’s Oakwood Cemetery. The image below is courtesy of Find A Grave.

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The Grim Reaper

 “Mr. Leezen has the ague and the fever, Eliza the headache. Mr. Thomas Gallagher had the intermittent fever and his son the remitting fever. Many sick at the river at Green Creek. Mr. Rogers is yet hearty, but his housekeeper has another visit from the fever and ague.” These were just a few of the quotes from Josiah Atkins’ letters to his brother back in Ashtabula, Ohio.

In 1824, Josiah, a personable young man, had come to Lower Sandusky [Fremont, Ohio] to manage the sale of lands through the 20 miles of Black Swamp to Perrysburg, Ohio. The tracts were the last federal lands for sale in Ohio. Settlers ditched, grubbed, dug, chopped, and burned their way through a 120- foot right- of-way in the massive quagmire that would become the Maumee and Western Reserve Road.

Like the settlers, Atkins soon became sick himself. He wrote that he was at last freed from the shaking and fever. Yet, he told his brother, “I am not well – there is something hanging or clinging about my springs of life that tells me I am not well. My head is dizzy, my knees are weak, my breath is short. I am anything less than half such a man as I was when I came to this good and great city of Lower (than hell) Sandusky.”

Woodland Mosquito

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Some thought it was the foul air and the swamp's gases that was making nearly everyone sick. In reality, it was the ever present mosquitoes that thrived in the pools of stagnant waters. They were the culprits that spread malaria among these early pioneers. Many became so ill, they lay shaking in the cabins, unable to work or care for their families. More than a third who came gave up and moved on. No one really knows the exact death toll.

Mosquitoes carrying malaria not only brought death and misery to the settlers of the Black Swamp, but as far back as the Bronze Age, they contributed to the collapse of the Greek and Egyptian civilizations. For centuries mosquitoes harboring malaria had sapped the strength of armies. At the surrender of Yorktown, nearly half of Cornwallis’ soldiers were unfit for battle due to malaria. According to historian Amanda Foreman, the Panama Canal was only completed because of quinine and better mosquito control. In World War II, General MacArthur believed that for every one of his Pacific Theater divisions, two were unfit to fight because of malaria.

Today, the Grim Reaper continues to take its toll. Each year, more than 400,000 die from malaria throughout the world. Two thirds are children under the age of five. Welcome news has finally come! This year for the first time, the World Health Organization has approved a childhood vaccine against malaria!

Remembering the Great Black Swamp

The Rev. Joseph Badger described the area as "generally low and interspersed with gentle swells of excellent land, well-timbered, but between the ridges lie streams and hideous swamps of two, three, four miles in width. Stretches of mud and water from knee to belly deep to our horses extend from 8 to 10 miles."

The pioneer missionary was describing the Great Black Swamp, that immense low-lying tract of land that dominated the thirty-mile expanse between Ohio's Sandusky and Maumee Rivers.  In total, the swamp covered 1500 square miles and affected a portion of ten of Ohio's counties. So daunting was the swamp that northwest Ohio was the last place settled in all of the state.

Great Black Swamp Map

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Beech, oak, hickory, and elm trees reached more than 100 feet above the swamp's jungle-like vegetation, choked streams, and marshes.  The canopy blotted out the sunlight, making the Black Swamp a dark, depressing, and lonely place for many of those first settlers.  It was such a forbidding landscape that even the Native Americans left it to the wolves, snakes, horseflies, and the massive swarms of mosquitoes. 

More than one-third of the pioneers who settled in the Black Swamp gave up and moved on.  It took determination and endurance to remain. The Goll Woods is one place that some remnants of the swamp remain and can be experienced today. Lying a mile and one-half north of Archbold, Ohio, in German Twp., Fulton County is a 321-acre preserve that is believed to be the least disturbed woodland area in this part of the state. 

Immigrants from France, the Peter Goll family purchased 32 acres in Fulton County in 1834. Eventually, the Goll land grew to nearly 600 acres. It remained in the family for generations. The state of Ohio acquired the land from Peter Goll's great granddaughter in 1966 and dedicated it to a nature preserve in 1975. 

Goll Woods

Courtesy of ODNR

The old growth forest has some of the largest trees remaining in the state of Ohio and is truly reminiscent of the Great Black Swamp. Selective cutting only took place once - during World War I. Eighty acres of the preserve is virgin forest that the Goll family called the "Big Woods." You will see 200-to-400-year old trees; some of which have trunks four feet in diameter. There are cottonwood; sycamore; pin, bur, and white oak; pine; ash; and tulip trees. Their canopy is so dense, it still presents the eerie gloom of the Black Swamp that our ancestors felt. To learn more about the Goll Woods, go online to Goll Woods State Nature Preserve. 

Lightning and windstorms have felled come of these majestic trees just as they have for thousands of years. They lay on the swamp's floor, decomposing in the dark shade amid the native wildflowers and wood plants of ferns, lilies, violets, elderberry and raspberry bushes, and Solomon's seal. Look ever so closely and you will see  salamanders, toads, woodpeckers, an occasional wild turkey or a whitetail deer. And, always, always there are the mosquitoes.  For our ancestors, it was a hostile landscape that took everything they had.... and for many - it took their very lives.  For us, it is a natural treasure that gives us an appreciation for what our ancestors experienced in the Great Black Swamp.

  

Lower Sandusky and the U.S. Indian Factory System

Initiated in 1795 by President George Washington and later supported by Thomas Jefferson, a non-profit fur factory system was set up to undercut the influence of British traders with Indian tribes. Washington also believed America would develop better relations with the Indians and in turn reduce Army expenses necessary to protect the frontier. Washington insisted there be no fraud and goods were to be supplied to the Indians at fair prices.  

Government factories were established mostly at forts where soldiers could handle transporting goods and protect against theft and violence. In all 17 factories were created. Lower Sandusky (now Fremont) was the sole Ohio fur factory. It was located at the site of Ft. Stephenson (now the site of Birchard Public Library). It fell under the direction of the older Ft. Wayne agency whose factor was John Johnston, federal Indian Agent. (The restored Johnston Farm and Indian Agency can be visited near Piqua, Ohio). Benjamin Tupper became Lower Sandusky’s first factor, receiving $750 a year. Factors also received $200 for furnishings and $20 each year for upkeep, indicating that houses were also provided for the factors.

Hides of deer, beaver, muskrat, wildcat, bear, otter, fox, mink, and rabbit were traded for the “white man’s goods” all supplied with government funds. Deer hides far outweighed all others.

The private Hudson’s Bay Company and the American Fur Company deeply resented these government, non-profit agencies who paid higher than market prices. In fact, when there was no market at all for deer hides, agencies continued to buy them. Losses escalated with hides suffering from worm and moth damage and transportation problems from Ft. Wayne down the Maumee River. Lack of clerks caused poor baling of hides that needed to be wrapped in smoked elk or deer hides to keep out moths and worms

 

In exchange, Indians traded for beads, bullet molds, fabric, jugs, cups. mugs, tallow, beeswax, traps, muskrat spears, moccasins, drinking glasses, silver arm bands, soap, coffee, blankets, sleigh bells, guns and gun powder, lead, needles, combs and even eye glasses (requested at Lower Sandusky for “old” Indians). Nearly $10,000 of merchandise was sent to Lower Sandusky in the years between 1808 and 1811. Nearby is an 1822 Detroit broadside from the closed Chicago and Green Bay factories, listing goods typically traded.                                                                                     

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

During the War of 1812, the British and their Indian allies burned Ft. Wayne and massacred Chicago while nearly $4,000 worth of goods were seized at Lower Sandusky. As war descended, then Factor Jacob Varnum fled with others to Delaware, Ohio. The factory did survive and was eventually “restockaded.”

The arrival of Major George Croghan and his victory at Fort Stephenson during the War of 1812 ended the importance of the factory system at Lower Sandusky.

Many thought the system a success because some tribes remained loyal to America during the War of 1812. However, these were mainly philanthropists, religious reformers, and government officials. But like the Chicago agency, the bulk of sales eventually went to white settlers. Much of the trade goods were of poor quality.  Additionally, Washington officials knew little of tribal needs on the frontier. When the losses became exorbitant, the system was declared “useless.” With continued pressure from private trading companies, Congress took steps to abolish the entire program.   

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More about the U.S. Indian Factory System appears in an article by Royal V. Way  in the "Mississippi Valley Historical Review" and in History of the United States Indian Factory System, 1795-1822 by Ora B. Peake.

The Troubles of Charley Loo

Americans of today often struggle with the acceptance of the millions of migrants entering the United States. But native born Americans of the 19th century were no less threatened by the boatloads of immigrants who came by the millions and poured into the United States from around the world. 

They were particularly intolerant of those whose customs and rituals  were far different from their own. They responded by exerting not-so-subtle pressures on newcomers who failed to conform with what they believed was the traditional "American way of life." Those who persisted in what was  termed strange customs found themselves, at the very least, harassed, ostracized, or the but of jokes by neighbors and the local press.

And so it was in May of 1896 when a Fremont (Ohio) Daily News reporter arrived at "Chinatown," then known locally as 313 Garrison Street, the site of the Chinese laundry. He was there to investigate a disturbance that had awakened the neighborhood, and filled the "air with flying pig tails, flat irons, and Chinese swear words."

After much "pig-tail talk," the reporter learned that Charley Loo and his brother were arguing over money. To resolve the matter, the Loos sent for One Lung of Toledo. But it seems One Lung was more interested in Mrs. Loo than in settling the dispute. A "free-for-all" between One Lung and the jealous "washee-washee proprietor" broke out. The police finally gained control and "once more peace reigned supreme in Chinatown"...but not for long.

By noon the following day, the News reporter was rushing back to 313 Garrison, where the drama continued. He and Dr. Thomas found Charley with "barely a pulse and eyes protruding from the sockets." So distressed over his wife's infidelity, Charley decide to end it all by taking "enough opium to kill several ordinary  men." Despite Dr. Thomas' efforts, Charley passed away within hours. 

Struggling to understand the "Chinese chatter," the reporter and undertaker Tschumy attempted to carry out the Loo family instruction as best they could. In fact the customs they found so strange were traditional Tao burial rituals. After the widow washed the body with "buying water," she dressed Charley in his finest clothes, hat, and best sandals. She placed a coin in his mouth, a fan in one hand, a handkerchief in the other. Coins and colored paper surrounded Charley's body as it lay in Tschumy's plain, black coffin with feet toward the door.   

Arriving at Oakwood Cemetery, the Loos prepared to burn Charley's possessions. All was about to go up in smoke when Charley's brother pulled an item belonging to One Lung from the "bonfire." Nothing of the man who had destroyed the Loo marriage must be allowed to enter the "spirit land" with Charley. Ridicule began to give way to respect as the reporter attempted to help Tschumy and the Loos  make Charley's "transition" to the "spirit land."

But it seems the drama would not end! Rumors soon flew around the city that Charley's corpse had been stolen from Oakwood Cemetery. Finally, Loo's brother insisted the body be exhumed. Charley was still there. But he would not remain there forever. Thirteen years later, Loo's brother ordered Charley exhumed once more. This time his remains were bound for China on a ship commissioned by relatives to return him for burial in his homeland...May you always rest in peace Charley Loo!

                                                                                                                                  

General James B. McPherson's 17th Corps Medal

After a siege of more than six weeks, the city of Vicksburg fell on the 4^th of July 1863 to Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant’s Union forces. The honor of leading the victorious troops into the captured stronghold fell to General James B. McPherson’s 17^th Corps of the Army of the Tennessee. As commander of the Union's occupation forces at Vicksburg, McPherson, on the 2^nd of October 1863, authorized a medal to be awarded to officers and enlisted men of the 17^th Corps who displayed “gallant and distinguished service in the field.” Sometimes called the “medal of gold,” it remains among the rarest of Civil War memorabilia.

17th Corps Medal

                

Exactly how many and to whom the medal (pictured above) was awarded is unknown. One who received it was Major L. S. Willard, McPherson’s senior aide-de-camp. He and others of McPherson’s staff accompanied his body to Clyde, Ohio after he was killed during the opening rounds of the Battle of Atlanta. Three weeks later, Willard wrote his friend and comrade Lt. Augustus. C. Blizzard, also a recipient of the medal. 

Lt. A.C. Blizzard
Courtesy of
Harry Blizzard

On August 15^th, Willard wrote from Peoria, Illinois, “I am now at home waiting to see what will be done with me after accompanying the remains of our beloved commander to their last resting place…It was a very sad duty Capt. Gile, Steele, and myself had to perform. It must have been a sad and lonely Head Qtrs. the night of the 22^nd of July with the tent of our beloved General vacant and vacant forever. That Army felt that night as though a loss unrepairable had befallen them; to me the thought was fearful it seemed as though with the death of the General the Army of the Tennessee almost became extinct. His relatives in Ohio felt the loss as only Mothers and Sisters can, everyone paid the greatest respect to the remains.”

After leaving Clyde, Major Willard resigned his commission at Cincinnati and left the military. He had been with the 17^th Corps since the Battle of Shiloh, Today, other war date letters written by Willard are preserved and online at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

General McPherson's 17th Corps Army of the Tennessee
Balfour House, Vicksburg
(Lt. Blizzard standing at far right)
Courtesy of the Old Courthouse Museum

Lt. Blizzard was proud of his appointment to General McPherson's 17th Corps staff. Like Willard, he too resigned shortly after McPherson's death. He returned to Iowa where he lived a long and useful life before his death in Malcome, Iowa in 1909. His obituary mentions his being awarded "the "Medal of Gold" for gallant and distinguished service in the field. Engraved on same, Battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hills, and Vicksburg July 4th, 1863"