Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on April 23, 2013

What was the role of Freemasonry during the Civil War?  Were members of Masonic lodges more loyal to Freemasonry than to the nation?  In a prior post entitled, A Civil War Masonic Story, Most likely Fiction, a story was presented that was told by the historian of a Masonic Lodge in Virginia which presented the Masons of Danville, Virginia [the Confederacy] in a humanitarian role toward Northern Masons who were wounded in battle and found themselves at the mercy of their Confederate captors.  The likelihood of that story being true was placed in great doubt after an analysis of the facts surrounding the characters who were identified in the story – two U.S. Congressmen from New York.

The story below is also from the History of Roman Eagle Lodge No. 122, A. F. and M., Danville, Virginia, 1820-1895, a copy of which was presented by a member of that lodge to a resident of Gratz, who donated the book to the Gratz Historical Society.

In the many petty and foolish complaints of the negro [sic], to Federal officials against his former master, the W. M. through his position in an institution of which so many of their prominent men were members, caused the officers to send for him to give information as to the characters of those presented, and thus saved many from arrest and prosecution.  One case is well remembered.  One of our citizens was arrested for having shot a Federal soldier.  Through the General of Artillery, whom the W. M. had known before he went ot West Point, from this county, he found out the seven members who were to compose the court martial.  These he saw personally and explained the case more fully than could have been done on the trial.  No lawyer was willing to go before the court in behalf of the prisoner.  The W. M. had to appear as such.  When the court convened, he saw the seventh man was a narrow-faced partisan, whom no one could ever ask justice or mercy from.  The W. M. had witnesses to prove everything which he had stated to the members of the court.  When the case was over and the case was six for acquittal, and one – my sour-faced man – for the shooting of the prisoner.  The W. M. immediately sought Maj. Gen. Wright, with whom he had become acquainted, having been introduced by a lady of our city whom in earlier days at West Point he had loved and addressed.  The General told him that he would look into the matter as soon as he had the official report of the court, and by the new law of Congress in similar cases where one of the members of the court dissented the case would be in his hands, and he might return home satisfied that he he had done for his friend all that he could do.  On the next morning the W. M. received notice that the prisoner had been ordered released.

The Major General Wright who was named in the Roman Eagle Lodge history was probably Horatio G. Wright, who took part in the Petersburg and Richmond campaigns.

Horatio G. Wright (1820-1899)

One of the difficulties in assessing the validity of many of the claims of George W. Dame in his history of the Roman Eagle Lodge is the vagueness of the stories he tells.  In this case though, it is possible to place Horatio G. Wright at or near Danville, Virginia, if he is the Major General about who Dame is speaking – and it should not be too difficult for an enterprising researcher to find the alleged court martial in the military records – or one that comes close to the description.  It also should not be too difficult to research the background of Horatio G. Wright to see if he had Masonic ties.

George W. Dame’s history was published in 1895, four years before the death of Gen. Wright.  Wright’s obituary appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 1899, as follows:

CIVIL WAR HERO DEAD

General H. G. Wright, Who Made a Brilliant Record.  Passes Away.

WASHINGTON, 2 July 1899 – General Horatio G. Wright, who made a brilliant record in the late war, serving at Gettysburg and the campaign in the Wilderness and around Richmond, died here to-day after an illness of three months.  General Wright also achieved eminence as an engineer, serving as Chief of Unite States Army Engineers from 1879 until his retirement in 1884.

During the last days of the Civil War, Wright  commanded the Sixth Army Corps.  As an engineer, Wright is credited with supervising the completion of the Washington Monument, which when completed in 1884, was the tallest structure in the world.  The construction of the monument had been halted while in progress due to the Civil War.

But, did Gen. Wright release a man who was charged with killing a federal soldier – one who had been tried in a court martial with a majority determining that the the man was guilty and should be put to death – and was that release done at the request of the W. M. of the Roman Eagle Lodge?  And, who was the Federal officer who was killed?  At this time, those questions cannot be answered.  Perhaps a blog reader can provide the story.

For further information on Gen. Wright, see the Findagrave article and the Wikipedia article.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | 1 Comment »
Tags:

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on April 22, 2013

While working as track foreman on the Rattlling Run Division of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, Leonard Craig was stabbed by another employee when he tried to stop a work-place quarrel.  The following article appeared in the Harrisburg Patriot, 18 June 1889:

Stabbed in the Abdomen

Dauphin, Pennsylvania – 17 June 1889 – [Special] – Leonard Craig (colored) was stabbed in the abdomen today by Andrew Parker (colored).  Craig is employed as track foreman on the Rattling Run Division of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, nine miles above this place, and Parker was employed by Craig.  It appears that Parker had quarreled with some of the other men, and Craig interfered and wanted the matter stopped.  Parker attacked him and stabbed him.  Dr. A. C. Coble was sent for and found Craig bleeding from a cut in the abdomen about two inches long, done with a pocket knife.  Dr. Coble stopped the bleeding and ordered him send to the hospital at Harrisburg, which was done at once.

From the Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, pages 854-855, we learn the following about Leonard Craig:

L. P.Craig, section foreman, Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, was born in Middle Paxton Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 22 August 1844.  He is a son of Andrew Craig and Rachel [Enty] Craig.  Andrew Craig was born near Fort Hunter, Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, 21 September 1895.  He died 21 August 1861.  His wife, Rachel Enty, was a native of Schuylkill County.  She died 7 January 1887.  They had eleven children:  Esther Craig; John Craig; Cyrus Craig; Hannah Craig; L. P. Craig; Richard H. Craig; Mary R. Craig, wife of William R. Hopkins; and four who are deceased.

L. P. Craig attended the public schools during the winter.  From ten to twelve years of age he attended the public schools of Dauphin, and afterwards in Stony Creek Valley.  He left school at the age of sixteen and worked at farming in the summer; he also sawed wood with Elijah Stout for the Pennsylvania Railroad company.  He afterwards succeeded Mr. Stout and furnished the company with wood for locomotive use until 1865, when coal took the place of wood as fuel.

At Harrisburg, 19 February 1865, he enlisted for one year in Company M, Second United States Cavalry [2nd U.S. Colored Troops], Captain Edwin Hughes.  He was sent with his company to Camp William Penn, Philadelphia; thence to Norfolk, Virginia; thence to Brazos, Santiago, Texas; and thence to Clarksville.  He was returned to City Point, Virginia, where he was mustered out of service 11 February 1866.  He then returned home, and was for three employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in sawing wood, and afterwards as track repairer.  In 1872 he was sent from Dauphin to Rattling Run and placed in charge of a section of railroad, controlled by the Philadelphia and Reading Company, as foreman, which position he has held to the present time.

Mr. Craig was married 3 February 1876 to Amelia Surls, daughter of William Surls and Mary Ann [Care] Surls.  Of their two children one died in infancy, not yet named; the other, Andrew Edward L. Craig, was born 17 August 1879 and died 24 November 1891.  Mr. Craig is a Republican.  He belongs to G.A.R. Post No. 520, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Surls, Mrs. Craig’s father, was an iron worker.  Mrs. Surls died at the age of fifty-nine; eleven months later Mrs. Surls died aged sixty-two years.  Both were natives of Berks County, where they spent their lives, except the last twelve years during which they lived in Lebanon County.  They had sixteen children of whom five are living: Amelia Surls, Mrs. Craig; Jacob Surls; Susanna Surls, wife of James Underhill; Nelson Surls; and Marry Emma Surls, wife of William Jones.

Mrs. Jones has four children, two of whom are living with their uncle, Mr. Craig: Naomi Nora Jones, whom Mr. and Mrs. Craig have adopted, and Joshua Birch Jones.

The mother of Leonard Craig, was Rachel Enty – who was the granddaughter of Tobias Enty, previously discussed on this blog.  See:  Enty Family in the Civil War (4 parts).  Rachel died in 1887 and as a later census indicates, Leonard re-married.

Leonard Craig was located in the 1860 Census in the household of his parents in Middle Paxton Township, Dauphin County.  He, and his older brothers, as well as his father Andrew Craig, were working as day laborers.

Census of 1860. Click on document to enlarge.

In 1880, Leonard Craig was working as a repairer on the railroad and was living in East Hanover Township, Dauphin County.  A son, Andrew, was born in the year before the census was taken, and there was a boarder also in the household.

Census of 1880. Click on document to enlarge.

As the above Pension Index Card states, Leonard Craig applied for an invalid pension in 1890, and indicated that he sometimes used the alias Lewis Craig,  The card, from Fold3 notes that a widow survived him – but does not give the widow’s name.  The date of death of Leonard is noted at the bottom of the card – 7 September 1923, in Dauphin, Pennsylvania.

The census of 1910 gives the name of Leonard’s second wife as “Annie E.” and notes that they had been married for 5 years:

 In 1910, Leonard’s residence was East Hanover Township, Dauphin County, and his occupation was given as “section man on railroad.”

The Pension Index Card shown below is from Ancestry.com and gives the name of the surviving widow as Annie E. Craig:

Not much more is known about Leonard P. Craig at this time.  Research is on-going into this family (he was a descendant of Tobias Enty who lived in Schuylkill County, within the geographic area of study for the Civil War Research Project).  Readers are invited to contribute additional information, if available.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | 8 Comments »
Tags: African American, G.A.R.

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on April 21, 2013

William Irving was one of Lykens elderly and respected citizens.  He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1841 and came to Lykens Borough, Dauphin County, in 1874 and entered the bottling business in which he engaged until 1874 when he entered the hotel business.  He conducted the Valley House which was located at Main and Pine Streets.  He sold the business in 1908 and retired.

Mr. Irving was a member of the First Defenders, enlisting on 16 April 1861, and attached to the National Light Infantry.  He once said he delighted in having the occasion to shake the hand of President Lincoln.   Although he saw service in many battles of the war, he was fortunately not injured.  He was a member of the organization known as the First Defenders who met on 18 April each year.  While the organization originally numbered 535 members, Mr. Irving was fortunate to have survived until 1935 and was one of the last ones living just prior to his death.  Mr. Irving claimed to have attended every annual meeting of that group since its formation after the Civil War and conducted “mutual discussions” as well as having a social get together.

The 1922 Centennial History of the Lykens-Williams Valley said of him:

Mr. Irving is held in high esteem by all who know him.  He is known to nearly every person, man woman and child in the town and his kindly appearance and jolly disposition have won for him an enviable pedestal of local citizenship.  He has assisted and taken initiatives in many civil movements during his career here, and withstanding his age, is about every day with the alacrity of one many years his junior. (p. 241).

Mr. Irving’s military record is noted on his Pennsylvania Veterans’ Index Cards found at the Pennsylvania Archives:

There are some confusing aspects about the military record as noted on the cards shown above.  The card for the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry notes a different age than the 1861 card and a phenomenal height of 6′ 10″ (most likely an error) as well as a birthplace of England and an occupation of miner.  The third card notes that William Irving’s records are under the name of William Irvin.  And, while his Pension Index Card (below) notes service both his First Defender regiment and the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, he never received a pension.  This conflict need to be further researched to determine whether there has been a co-mingling of records, or whether there was a problem which prevented him from getting a pension.

The following article appeared in the New Castle News (PA), 17 April 1925:

Four Civil War Vets at Pottsville Reunion

Pottsville, 17 April 1925. — Those in charge of the reunion of the First Defenders here next Saturday found that only four out of the 530 veterans who left here 18 April 1861 are still alive.  This will undoubtedly be the last reunion.  Those living are Captain James McDonald of Washington, William Irving, Lykens: E. W. Eisenbise, Chester, and Thomas Severn, Chicago.

In passing through Baltimore, the First Defenders were assailed by a mob of Confederates and Nicholas Biddle, a colored attendant of one of the veterans, was severely wounded.  The defenders say Biddle was the first man wounded during the Civil War.

Nicholas Biddle ,who was from Pottsville, was featured in a prior post on this blog.  The First Defenders are honored on the Schuylkill County Civil War Monument which is located in Pottsville.

William Irving is honored on the Lykens G.A.R. Monument:

The portrait of William Irving is from the 1922 Lykens-Williams Valley Centennial History.  The news clipping about the First Defenders reunion is from the newspaper resources of Ancestry.com.

—————————-

The above post first appeared on this blog on 21 March 2012.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | Comments Off on William Irving, First Defender
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, African American, G.A.R., Lykens Borough

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on April 20, 2013

A question was asked by the Perry County Democrat in 1881 as to whether the Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens was from Pennsylvania.  Information known at the time was that Stephens had an uncle who had lived in Perry County, Pennsylvania, and it was believed that his father, Andrew B. Stevens was born in Perry County.   The Perry County Democrat decided to write to Mr. Stephens to get an answer.

Alexander H. Stephens responded through a Mr. C. P. Culver, since at the time of the request, he was unable to write a response himself.  Culver indicated that Alexander H. Stephens was born in Georgia, but that his grandfather Alexander Stephens, who was an Englishman by birth, and a Captain in the Colonial Army during the Revolution, had indeed lived in Perry County before moving to Georgia.  It was in Perry County, that the grandfather married the daughter of Andrew Baskins, who operated the ferry over the Susquehanna at the mouth of the Juniata River during the Revolutionary War  Thus, Alexander H. Stephens’ paternal grandmother’s roots through the Baskins were more deep in Perry County than were his paternal grandfathers’s.

Mr. Culver also indicated that Alexander H. Stephens was born near Crawfordville, Taliaferro County, Georgia, 11 February 1812.  And, that some time after the grandfather had moved to Georgia, one of the sons of Alexander Stephens and Catherine Baskins – James Stephens – moved back to Perry County.

If Alexander H. Stephens had roots in the area where the Juniata River meets the Susquehanna River – which is in the present location of the Clark’s Ferry Bridge- then the roots of the family of the Confederate Vice President are within the area of study of this Civil War Research Project.

The map shown above is of the general geographic area covered by the Civil War Research Project.  Clark’s Ferry is located within “Angle C”.  Harrisburg, the object of Lee’s invasion of Pennsylvania, is only a few miles to the south of Clark’s Ferry.

The cut of the historic map from 1858, shown above, shows the river islands and the location of the Clarks’s Ferry Bridge from the Dauphin County side.  The river islands were then and are now part of Reed Township, Dauphin County.

The two map cuts shown above are from a Perry County map from the Civil War period.  Duncan’s Island, part of Dauphin County is clearly shown as is the bridge crossing.  This was the area when the Baskins family operated their river ferry at the time of the Revolutionary War.  The operator of the ferry, Andrew Baskins, was the great-grandfather of Alexander H. Stephens.

James Stephens, the uncle of Alexander H. Stephens, raised his family in this area where the rivers meet. His grandchildren were still in that area at the time of the Civil War – and possibly fought in the war.  It is not known whether Alexander H. Stephens was in communication with his Pennsylvania cousins.

After the Civil War, Alexander H. Stephens was imprisoned at Fort Warren in the Boston Harbor for five months until October 1865.  He later served in the U.S. Congress as a Representative from Georgia from 1 December 1873 to his resignation on 4 November 1882, when he was elected Governor of Georgia.  He died while Governor of Georgia, 3 March 1883, and was first interred in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia, but later reinterred on his estate, “Liberty Hall,” near Crawfordville, Georgia.

It is not known whether Alexander H. Stephens ever visited Pennsylvania.

—————————–

The map cuts are from the Pennsylvania Archives. The story that first appeared in the Perry County Democrat in 1881 was reprinted in The Perry Review, Volume 25, 2004, pages 54-56.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | Comments Off on Was Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens from Pennsylvania?
Tags: Clarks Ferry, Reed Township

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on April 19, 2013

A set of three commemorative stamps was issued in 1959 in recognition of the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

The first stamp in the set, a one cent value, was issued 12 February 1959 at Hodgenville, Kentucky, the place of Lincoln’s birth.  It featured a portrait of Lincoln by George Healy.

George Healy (1813-1894)

Lincoln (1869), by George Healy.

George Healy was an American artist from Boston, Massachusetts.  The above painting of Abraham Lincoln was completed in 1869, and is a better-known Healy portrait of the president than the young Lincoln which is featured on the stamp.

On the first day of issue of the stamp, 379,862 First Day Covers were canceled at Hodgenville. Since the one cent stamp did not meet the first class letter rate, four stamps were affixed to covers and the First Day Covers are most often found with “blocks of 4” of this stamp.  Some of the stamps were also applied to post cards where only three stamps were needed.  The official number of canceled covers does not break down whether the first day cancel was applied to an envelope or a card.

—————————

The second stamp in the set was issued on 27 February 1959 at Cooper Union, New York City  where 437,737 first day cancels were applied to cards bearing at least one of the new 3 cent stamps or to envelopes bearing more than one of the new 3 cent stamps.  A popular combination First Day Cover had one each the new stamp and the previously issued 1 cent Lincoln stamp.

The stamp design features the “Cooper Union Bust of Lincoln” which was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum, a Danish-American artist.  Borglum was most famous for the monumental sculpture on Mount Rushmore of the four presidents, including Lincoln, and for Stone Mountain in Georgia, a monument to the Confederacy.  Borglum also had ties with the Masons and the Ku Klux Klan.  He is the most controversial of the artists who designed the Lincoln Sesquicentennial stamps.

Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941)

Mount Rushmore

Cooper Union Bust of Lincoln

——————————

The third and final stamp in the Lincoln Sesquicentennial stamp set of 1959 was issued on 30 May 1959 at Washington, D.C., where 894,887 First Day Covers were canceled.  Because this was the final stamp in the series, the First Day Covers are often found with a complete set of the three stamps – and sometimes also with the 1958 Lincoln-Douglas Debate stamp [Note: see also Abraham Lincoln on Stamps – Commemorative Issues, 1909-1958].  Most unusual would be a First Day Cover postmarked on 30 May 1959 will most previous Lincoln stamp designs.

The massive statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., (by Daniel Chester French) was the subject of the design, along with a facsimile of Lincoln’s signature, but the stamp designer was actually Fritze Busse, a German illustrator.

Daniel Chester French (1850-1931)

Lincoln Memorial

——————————

Other previous parts of this study can be found in the following posts:  Early Postage Stamps Honoring Abraham Lincoln, Postage Stamps Honoring Abraham Lincoln – Bureau of Engraving and Printing to 1909. and Abraham Lincoln on Stamps – Commemorative Issues, 1909-1958.

Much of the information for this post was taken from Abraham Lincoln on Postage Stamps, privately published in 2000 as a companion to a stamp collection and exhibit that was displayed at a county historical society in Pennsylvania in conjunction with the 135th Anniversary of the Lincoln Assassination.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | 4 Comments »
Tags: Abraham Lincoln