Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on December 29, 2011

During this year,  a series of posts was unveiled entitled Gratz During the Civil War.  The opening post in the series is featured below followed by links to the remaining posts that found their way into the blog in 2011.  The series will continue into 2012 until all the Civil War building still in existence are described.  The posts can also be accessed via the tag “Walking Tour.”

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Today we begin a series of posts to try to determine what Gratz looked like during the Civil War, 1861-1865.  One of the purposes of this series will be to determine what buildings remain from the period.

We begin with some of the available maps.

The first map is of the “Lot Plan” of Simon Gratz which was recorded in Dauphin County deeds of 1829.  It is used to show the original Simon Gratz lot numbers. The map was reproduced in A Comprehensive History of the Town of Gratz, page 77.  These original lot numbers are referenced to property histories that are found in the book.  The orientation of the map is north at the top and south at the bottom.

According to A Comprehensive History of the Town of Gratz Pennsylvania:

Simon Gratz laid out a town, called and forever hereafter to be called the town of Gratz. A draft was made consisting of ninety-six lots, and numbered one to ninety-six inclusive… with the following streets and alleys and of the widths as represented by the above plan viz… Market Square one hundred feet wide, Market Street to be eight feet, East Street and West Street each sixty feet, centre Street fifty feet, Pine and Chestnut Street each forty feet, and East, West, North and South Alley each twenty feet.  Each of the ninety-six lots containing in breadth fifty feet.  Those fronting Market Square 190 feet in length and those fronting Market Street being in length 200.

The second map is of Dauphin County in 1858 and was originally published by William J. Barker of Philadelphia.  The “inset” map of Gratz is shown below.  Names of property owners are indicated.  Note that the orientation of this map is south at the top and north at the bottom; therefore the map is intentionally shown upside down so that its orientation matches the other maps.  Unfortunately, the map the Pennsylvania Archives has provided on its web site is split and a portion of Gratz is found in two different sections.  For the purpose of this post, the two sections were joined and some of the names in the seam may not be readable.

The third map is from 1862 and is by A. Pomeroy, Publisher, of Minor Street, Philadelphia.  The orientation is north at top and south at bottom.  This is the only known map of Gratz from the Civil War years.

The final map is of unknown origin and is probably from the mid-1870s.  Its orientation is north at top and south at bottom and it contains the original Simon Gratz lot numbers.

In addition to the maps, there is also census information from 1860 as well as other resources from the book A Comprehensive History of the Town of Gratz Pennsylvania – including a list of property owners from 1865, taken from Dauphin County tax records and keyed with the original lot numbers. The book contains detailed information on each property in Gratz listing all property owners and genealogies of every family that lived on the property.  There are pictures of the buildings from various eras and the people who lived in those building.  Most important for this series of posts, the book will be used to determine what buildings or portions of building still exist from the Civil War years.

Finally, a word about the original lot numbers and the current street addresses in Gratz.  Lot numbers were only used on deeds and were never used as street addresses.  Mail sent to Gratz was sent to the Post Office and picked up by addressees and Gratz was small enough that the postmaster knew everyone.  When street addresses were finally assigned and home delivery became common in rural areas, the numbering system was designed so that houses on the west side of Center Street had “West Market Street” addresses and on the east side, had “East Market Street” addresses.  During the Civil War, there was no home mail delivery.  Today, many residents choose to have post office boxes in the Gratz Post Office and do not use their street addresses.

Tomorrow, Lot #11 will be examined in part 2 of this series.  Additional properties will be presented during the months ahead.

The 1858 map and the 1862 map are from the Pennsylvania Archives:  1858.  1862.

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Click on links below to access the other posts in this series:

Gratz During the Civil War – First Public School

Gratz During the Civil War – Post Office

Gratz During the Civil War – Jeremiah Crabb, Blacksmith

Gratz During the Civil War – Theodore Gratz House

Gratz During the Civil War – Dr. Andrew Maurer House

Gratz During the Civil War – George Moyer House

Gratz During the Civil War – Rudolph H. Dornheim, Cabinetmaker

Gratz During the Civil War – Elias Zerfing, Carpenter

Gratz During the Civil War – Rebecca Alspach Buffington House

Gratz During the Civil War – Kissinger House

Gratz During the Civil War – Leonard Reedy House

Gratz During the Civil War – Henry Kauderman, Boot and Shoe Maker

Gratz During the Civil War – Henry M. Witmer, Saddle & Harness Maker

Gratz During the Civil War – Rudolph Dornheim Properties

Gratz During the Civil War – George Ossman, Boot and Shoe Maker

Gratz During the Civil War – William Scheib House

Gratz During the Civil War – Solomon Wolf House

Gratz During the Civil War – Zacharias Laudenslager House

Gratz During the Civil War – Hartman & Keiter Property

Gratz During the Civil War – Charles Gerhard Property

Gratz During the Civil War – Leopold Loeb House

Gratz During the Civil War – Jonas Faust, Coach Maker

Gratz During the Civil War – Fort Jackson

Gratz During the Civil War – Samuel’s Church

Gratz During the Civil War – Franklin Fidler House

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Posted By Norman Gasbarro on December 28, 2011

The most popular individual posts during the year were of the individual tablets on the Pennsylvania Memorial at Gettysburg.  These posts also generated a number of questions from readers who were confused as to why their ancestor’s name was not on the tablet, when in fact, they knew their ancestor was a part of the particular regiment and actually fought at Gettysburg.  The first post describing the monument and its history is reproduced below.  To locate a post that presents the tablet of a particular regiment, either type the regiment number and name in the search box at the top of the middle column on the blog or scroll through the list of tablets by clicking here.  Another way to locate the correct tablet is to use your search engine.  In any case a standard form of entry is needed for a search.  Use the number of the regiment, the word “Pennsylvania” and either “Infantry”, “Cavalry” or “Artillery.”  Thus, an entry for the “26th Pennsylvania Infantry Emergency Force of 1863” would be searched for by simply entering “26th Pennsylvania Infantry.”

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(Part 5 of an ongoing series on the Battle of Gettysburg).

On 27 September 1910, Pennsylvanians who had fought at Gettysburg returned for the dedication of this memorial in their honor.  Built of Mt. Airy granite, it stands 110 feet high, weighs 3,840 tons, and can be seen from many parts of the battlefield.  It is Gettysburg’s largest monument.

Listed on 90 bronze tablets along the base are the names of each of the 34,530 Pennsylvania soldiers who participated in the battle.

Pennsylvania also erected 123 regimental monuments at other locations on the battlefield.  The Southern states did not provide monuments for each regiment, but honored their sons with statewide memorials, many of which may be seen along West Confederate Avenue.

At the 50th Anniversary Reunion at Gettysburg in 1913, a Pennsylvania veteran points out his name to a friend from New York.

Atop the monument is a statue of the Goddess of Victory and Peace by Philadelphia Sculptor Samuel Murray.  This colossal bronze figure holds a sword of victory and a palm branch of peace.

Above the triumphial arches are bas-reliefs by Samuel Murray depicting the infantry, the the artillery, and the signal corps.  Inscribed on the cornice are the names of the distinguished Pennsylvania generals who commanded an army, a corps, or a division at Gettysburg.  Inside the arches are inscribed the names of the brigade commanders.  Between the Ionic columns are eight bronze statues of President Abraham Lincoln, Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, and Pennsylvania generals Meade, Reynolds, Hancock, Pleasonton, Birney, and Gregg.  Finally, bronze tablets around the base and on some interior walls record the name of every Pennsylvania soldier who participated in the Battle of Gettysburg.  Tablets are in numberical order by regiment with about 400 names on each tablet.  The names of soldiers who were killed in the battle are marked with a star preceding the name.

All the bronze tablets on which are inscribed the names of the men who fought in Pennsylvania regiments at the battle of Gettysburg will be featured in future posts.  In addition, the known names of Lykens Valley area residents who were members of those regiments at any time will be noted in the posts.

Additional photos of the memorial follow:

View of the battlefield from atop the memorial:

Previous posts on the Battle of Gettysburg:  Part 1:  Pennsylvania Regiments at Gettysburg – The Makeup of an Army.  Part 2: Pennsylvania Regiments at Gettysburg – Corps and Generals.  Part 3:  Gen. George G. Meade – Hero of Gettysburg.  Part 4: Two Years of Grim War.

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Posted By Norman Gasbarro on December 27, 2011

A twelve part series on The Photographic History of the Civil War was featured during the year.  For each of the ten volumes in the set, a free “pdf” download was provided.  Publication of this series of blog posts also resulted in the contribution of a first-edition set of the Photographic History to the Gratz Historical Society.  The first part of the series is re-posted below followed by links to each of the other parts and the post on the donation.

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(Part 1 of 12).  The year 1911 was the 50^th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.  As a memorial to the war, a ten volume set of books was published entitled The Photographic History of the Civil War. This series attempted to do what no other books had previously done – to bring the war close and personal through previously unpublished and unavailable photographs.  The series was edited by Francis Trevelyan Miller.  From his Wikipedia biography:

Francis Trevelyan Miller (1877—1959) was an American writer and filmmaker. He is known for his books about exploration, travel and photography. Notable works from him including several books about the American Civil War, such as The Photographic History of the Civil War, in Ten Volumes (New York: The Review of Reviews Co., 1912). He has also made several feature films and wrote the screenplay for the 1919 film Deliverance about Helen Keller.

The series was reviewed in Paul Taylor’s blog on rare and collectible books on the American Civil War (ACW):

Miller’s work is widely considered as the preeminent collection of Civil War photographs. ACW book collectors and students of Civil War photographs should be aware that the quality and clarity of the Miller’s 1912 [sic] first edition far surpasses all other modern reprints. As I understand it, most or all of the original plates and negatives were destroyed following publication of the original work. All modern reprints are simply copied from the original photographs, resulting in a lower quality image.

The dedication in the first volume  made it clear that the books were about all the men who fought – not just those from the North:

Dedicated 50 years after Fort Sumter to the men in blue and gray whose valor and devotion have become the priceless heritage of a united nation.

In his preface, Miller states the following:

These volumes are dedicated to the American people in tribute to the courage and the valor with which they met one of the greatest crises that a nation has ever known – a crisis that changed the course of civilization….

The decades have shrouded the first American Revolution in romance, at the turning point of its first half century, is to become an American epic in which nearly three and a half million men gathered on the battle-line to offer their lives for principles that were dear to them….

That these pages are opened on this anniversary so that the eyes of the generations may look upon the actual scenes… upon the warriors themselves standing on the firing line in  the heroic struggle… on the battle-grounds of a nation’s ideals, with the destiny of a continent hanging in the balance.  And what a tribute it is to American character to be able to gather about these pages in peace and brotherhood, without malice and without dissention, within a generation from the greatest fratricidal tragedy in the annals of mankind.  The vision is no longer blinded by heart wounds, but as Americans we can see only the heroic self-sacrifice of these men who battled for the decision of one of the world’s greatest problems.

The Photographic History… comes on this anniversary to witness a people’s valor….

This is the American epic that is told in these time-stained photographs… brother against brother, father against son, men speaking the same language, living under the same flag, offering their lives for that which they believed to be right….

To feel the impulse of both the North and the South is the desire of these volumes….

In full recognition of the masterly works of military authorities that now exist as invaluable historical evidence, these volumes present the American Civil War from an entirely original viewpoint.  The collection of photographs is in itself a sufficient contribution to military and historical record, and the text is designed to present the mental pictures of the inspiring pageantry…. its human impulses, and the ideals that it represents in the heart of humanity….

These photographs appeal to peace; they are the most convincing evidence of the tragedy of war. … Their mission is more than to record history; it is to make history – to mould the thought of the generations as everlasting witnesses of the price of war….

I can close these introductory words with no nobler tribute than those of the mighty warriors who led the great armies to battle.  It was General Robert E. Lee, who, after the war, gave this advice to a Virginia mother, “Abandon all these animosities and make your sons Americans,” and General Ulysses S. Grant, whose appeal to his countrymen must always be an admonition against war:  “Let us have peace.”

The Photographic History of the Civil War – 5 volumes available at the Gratz Historical Society

The Gratz Historical Society is fortunate to have five of the original ten volumes in its library, those five being Volumes V, VI, VII, VIII and X.  Donations of the missing volumes are welcome!  However, all ten volumes are available in digital form through Google Books.  As each volume is described in upcoming posts (parts 2 through 11), relevant material to the Civil War Research Project will be noted and the web location for the free download will be given.  The final post (part 12) will give some volume and page references for topics that are pertinent to this Civil War Research Project.

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Links to the descriptions of the ten volumes, and index to Pennsylvania regiments represented in the volumes, and information about the donation of the first-edition set:

The Opening Battles

Two Years of Grim War

The Decisive Battles

The Cavalry

Forts and Artillery

The Navies

Prisons and Hospitals

Soldier Life and the Secret Service

Poetry and Eloquence of Blue and Gray

Armies and Leaders

Photographic History – Index to Pennsylvania Regiments

Photographic History Donation to Gratz Historical Society

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Posted By Norman Gasbarro on December 26, 2011

This is the second in a series of re-posts on the best and most popular blog entries on this Civil War Blog.  Today’s re-post is actually a series of posts on the Pennsylvania Dutch that began at the end of the year 2010 and continued into continued into 2011.  The first post in the series is re-posted here followed by links to the remaining five posts.

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In the early 18^th century, large numbers of Germans from the Palatinate region in Germany emigrated to American and settled in the fertile valleys of Pennsylvania.  Within a short time these early pioneers found their way to the area around the Susquehanna River that is now called the Lykens Valley.  The Pennsylvania Deutsch, as they referred to themselves, were soon called the Pennsylvania Dutch by their fellow settlers – mistaking the German accented-pronunciation of the German word for “German” for a word representing a people of a quite different background and culture.

For generations following the initial migration, the Pennsylvania Dutch retained much of their heritage and ways, adapting to the new land, and creating an original dialect of German that was spoken as the primary language of the home and workplace well into the early 20th century.  Despite the efforts of universal public education (which was most always in English), the language survived and is still spoken today by some “old folks” who grew up with it and pride themselves in being bi-lingual.  But, in another generation or two, Pennsylvania Dutch will most likely completely disappear with few left who can speak it and its only “study” being in universities committed to the memorializing of dead languages.

In the Civil War period, it can be assumed that many of the American-born descendants of the early German immigrants learned Pennsylvania Dutch before they learned English.  Their mothers and grandmothers spoke “Dutch” fluently and in many cases knew very little English.  Women rarely went to school or learned how to read and write.  Some boys went to school, but not all.  Those who did go to school, learned how to speak, read, and write in English – but they retained their Pennsylvania Dutch because it was necessary for family, religion and commerce.  It must be believed that every Civil War veteran with a surname of German origin was bilingual – and many knew Pennsylvania Dutch better than English.

Fortunately, there are dictionaries available so we can look at some of the words and terms that may have been used in the Civil War period.  One of my personal favorites is The English Pennsylvania Dutch Dictionary and the Pennsylvania Dutch People which includes English “equivalents” by Howard Snader.  The “equivalents” are Snader’s suggested ways of pronouncing the words – but, to do it right, a German accent must be used – applied with with a brightness that only a true Pennsylvania Dutchman can muster!

Over a series of posts, I will attempt to set out some of these words – in groups – as they relate to various aspects of Pennsylvania Dutch life.   The first group of words are those that describe family, people and relationships.  They are the important words that the genealogist needs to know.

Ancestors (FOR gong es leit); bad blood (schlecht BLUDT); birthday (ge BUDS dog); boy (boo); brother (BROOD er); brother-in-law (SCHWAYG er); brothers (BREE der); child (kindt); children (KINN er); companion (KOOM rawd); courting (SCHPAR ig a); daughter (DOCHT er); daughter-in-law (SCHWARR docht er); daughters (DECHT er); family (fa MIL ia); father (FODD er); father-in-law (SCHWARR dawd y); first born (AIRSCHT ge bo ra); flesh and blood (flaysch un bludt); foreigner (OWS lonn er); girl (MAYD el); grandchild (KINS kindt); granddaughter (GROSS docht er); grandfather (gross FADD er); grandmother (gross MUTT er); grandson (GROSS sooh); great aunt (GROWS ant i); half brother (HOLB brooder); half sister (holb SCHWESCHT er); husband (mon); illegitimate (kindt LEDD ich a wise); infant (BUBB el); kith and kin (freynd un FREYND schaft); lady (frau); maiden name (LEDD ich er naw ma); mamma (MOMM ie); man (MONS karl); marriage (HOCH tzich); matron (frau); men (MONS leit); mistress (HOWS frau); mother (MUTT er); mother-in-law (SCHWARR mutt er); nephew (g’SCHWISCHD er soo); niece (g’SCHWISCHD); old (alt); old age (ALT a yahr a); older (ELD er); oldest (eldscht); parents (ELD ra); people (MENSCH a); pregnant (MITT kint, UFF ga BINDL’D); relatives (FREYND schaft); school boy (SCHULE boo); school girl (SCHULE MAYD el); sister (SCHWESCHT er); step brother (SCHTIEF BROOD er); step child (SCHTIEF kindt); step daughter ( SCHTIEF DOCHT er); step father (SCHTIEF DAW dy); step mother (SCHTIEF MOMM ie); step parent (SCHTIEF ELD er); step son (SCHTIEF soohn); twins (TZWILL ing); widow (WID frau); widower (WID mon); wife (frau); wives (WI wer); woman (WEIBS mensch); the young (de YUNG a); youngster (YUNG es, SCHPRING er).

A few words are noticeably missing, They did not appear in the above-mentioned dictionary:  cousin, uncle, great uncle.  Perhaps someone can supply the Pennsylvania Dutch words or “equivalents.”.

For those who wish to study the language further, an excellent dictionary of Pennsylvania German to English, Common Sense Pennsylvania German Dictionary, published by James C. Lins in Reading, Pennylvania, in 1895.   It’s a free download and a great resource.  Note though that there is no pronunciation guide and the German word must be looked up to find its English meaning.

Future posts will discuss Pennsylvania Dutch words used to describe 19^th century occupations and vocations; religion, life and death, and the afterlife; illnesses, maladies, diseases, and medicines; and the vocabulary of war.

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Links to the remaining posts in this series:

Pennsylvania Dutch & the Civil War – Occupations

Pennsylvania Dutch & the Civil War – Religion

Pennsylvania Dutch & the Civil War – Medicine

Pennsylvania Dutch & the Civil War – War Vocabulary

Pennsylvania Dutch Foods of the Civil War Period

Pennsylvania Dutch Meals of the Civil War Period

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Posted By Norman Gasbarro on December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas to all from Gratz, Pennsylvania!

Many Christmas traditions celebrated today originated during the Civil War era, including that of Santa Claus. The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia held a special program 2010 on how those traditions started and evolved over time.  Catherine Wright, Collections Manager of the Museum of the Confederacy, explains the Santa Claus origin.  Click here.

Thomas Nast’s 1863 picture of Santa Claus is from the Son of the South web site.

A later Nast version, from 1881, was featured on the website of Bill Casselman in a study of Thomas Nast: The Man Who Drew Santa Claus.  For the complete article by Casselman, click here.

The Coca Cola version of Santa Claus was an evolution from the Nast version.  The Coca Cola Company helped to mold the image of Santa Claus that we have today.

Finally, Kevin Rawlings of Sharpsburg, Maryland, dons a Nast-like, Civil War Santa Claus outfit for a Shippen Manor, Warren County, New Jersey Christmas tour program.

Merry Christmas to all from Gratz, Pennsylvania.

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