We Are Not Many: A Poem for Memorial Day

Forest Lawn Cemetery - Omaha, Nebraska

WE ARE NOT MANY.

We are not many, we who stand
Beside our comrades’ graves today,
But remnants of a patriot band —
Ere long we too shall pass away;
Yet while we live, with reverent hearts
We’ll honor those who went before;
While as each brother, called, departs,
Is re-enlisted one name more.

We’re growing old, who’re left behind,
With children ’round our knees;
While still our stories, to their mind,
Are finer than the history’s.
We are to them as heroes true,
And love of country thrills each heart,
For we can tell of what we know,
Of battles where we bore our part.

We strew bright flowers o’er our dead,
And smiles are mingling with them there;
No longer o’er them tears are shed —
We know the uniform they wear.
The flag still saves that o’er them waves;
But, as the pilgrim years go by,
How few are left to deck their graves,
And fewer — till we with them lie.

We stand upon the river’s verge,
And see the Golden City shine
Where all earth’s warring discords merge
Into sweet harmonies divine —
Dividing River, bright and cool,
O’er which we all must take our way,
When to that Harbor Beautiful
We all shall sail some day, some day.

— George Birdseye.

Carroll Herald (Carroll, Iowa) May 27, 1914

Origin of Memorial Day

Click for larger image. From the Carroll Sentinel – May 28, 1903

ORIGIN OF MEMORIAL DAY

Three Versions of the Genesis of Today’s Custom of Decorating Graves of Soldier Dead — Ceremony in Honor of Marines Past and Gone.

When, early in May, 1868, General John A. Logan, then Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued the order creating a Grand Army Memorial Day, — “and it was the proudest act of my life,” he wrote later, — he called into official being what had already had many a local habitation though no name. How had the custom grown up? What suggested his action to “Our Jack”?

General Chipman used to attribute it to a Cincinnati soldier, who wrote Logan a letter describing the decorating of the soldiers’ graves in Germany; and General John B. Murray has advanced the claim of a celebration held at Watertown, New York, in the May of 1866, as being the incentive for a national memorial day.

This latter story has it that the body of one of the soldier sons of the town had been brought up from the south for burial in the little churchyard at home. The grave had been dug beneath an apple tree, and just as the solemn rites were over and the last shovel of earth had been thrown upon the mound, from its low-hanging branches came floating down hundreds of the white petals of its blossoms, as if in honor of the boy who laid down his life for his country. Among the friends who had gathered there were several of those who had played their parts in that red flame of carnage that had swept Pickett’s Division from the field of Gettysburg, and one of these, according to General Murray, took the story to General Logan, who found in it the inspiration for his famous order.

A third story told of the origin of the day throws back the date to 1863, and whether by chance or design, to April 13, the anniversary of the fall of Fort Sumter. On that day it is declared, the two little daughters of Chaplain May, of the Second Michigan Infantry, then in camp near Mount Vernon, were gathering wild flowers, when in the course of their wanderings they came suddenly upon one of those rude and unmarked graves, which even in those early days of the great struggle were beginning to appear about Washington. Josephine, the elder of the two, at once suggested that they use their blossoms to cover the bare earth, and while little Ella, aged eight, pulled out the weeds that had begun to push up to the light through the fresh mound, violets and dandelions and daisies were laid here and there in grateful profusion.

Happy over their work, the children planned an excursion for the next day, when more flowers were to be found and more graves decorated, and that evening they told their mother of it. Mrs. May, moved by the significance of the act, as perhaps only a woman could have been moved, even then living in the very heart of the horror and suffering of war, joined them in their mission, a Mrs. Evans, a Red Cross nurse, forming a fourth, and within the week this little band had marked all the graves in walking distance of the camp.

When the next spring came ’round they repeated the custom begun at Mount Vernon, and so with each of the years which followed. And always they were noticed, always did others join in their labor of love, and going out into the world, spread the observance further, till at last, — so runs this version of the custom’s growth, — it had found followers all over the country, General Logan’s order merely giving official sanction to the observance.

But the “Decoration Day” of the northern states — May 30th — is not the day which is honored by the majority of the commonwealths which lie to the south of the old Mason and Dixon’s line. In Alabama and Florida and Georgia the earlier spring, with its earlier buds and blossoms, has caused the setting of April 26th for this ceremony of reminiscence and patriotism. In Tennessee it falls on May 8th and in the Carolinas two days later. On one date or another, however, every state in the now indivisible Union recalls the men who fell during “the great debate.”

Very recent years have added a new feature to Memorial Day — the honoring of the sailor dead, whose far-scattered graves must for all time remain unmarked. In 1900, at the suggestion of Mrs. A.S.C. Forbes, a California woman, the school children of Los Angeles gathered at Long Beach to throw upon the water laurel and flowers and tiny flags, while the burial service for those who had died at sea was read. Then the regulation salute of three volleys was fired, as the tribute was borne out to sea on the ebbing tide. — May Issue, American Boy.

The Carroll Times (Carroll, Iowa) May 28, 1908

SOUTHERN POEM DEDICATED TO FALLEN.

This poem is credited by an exchange to “Women’s Works,” a paper published at Atlanta, Ga. It expresses beautiful sentiments appropriate to Memorial Day anywhere:

Life’s battle o’er, the hero sleeps!
Upon another shore he wakes;
His guardianship still o’er us keeps,
And in our weal deep interest takes.

The master mind lives on today,
The giant will retains its power;
Genius that carved so rare a way
Was not the glory of an hour.

Invisibly he walks our streets
Counsels his nearness thus to prove;
In sympathy his great heart beats,
This idol of our pride and love.

His monument, a tablet stands
Enshrined within each noble heart;
A treasured gift fresh from the hands
That bore so well life’s nobler part.

Dear friend, we honor thee today,
We pledge anew our faith and trust;
That thy name shall live alway
Foremost among the true and just.

To thee we drink the sacred wine
From chalice fashioned by they hand;
The purity of its design
Forever, crystal-clear shall stand.

And on thy brow we set the seal
Of virtue, honor, truth and love;
While passing years their debt shall feel
And nobler gratitude approve.

The Carroll Times (Carroll, Iowa) May 28, 1908

Click for larger image.

The Drums of ’61: A Memorial Day Poem  – By Joe Lincoln

From the Carroll Herald (Carroll, Iowa) May 29, 1901

Here Lies George W. Pike

“And Departing Leave Behind Them –“
[Excerpt]

GEORGE W. PIKE

Underneath this stone in eternal rest
Sleeps the wildest one of the wayward west.
He was a gambler and sport and cowboy too
And he led the pace in an outlaw crew.
He was sure on the trigger and staid to the end
But he never was known to quit on a friend.
In the relations of death all mankind is alike
But in life there was only one George W. Pike.

This image of George W. Pike is from a one-page biography which can be read at the Find-A-Grave website, where I also found the tombstone picture.

Perhaps it’s just as well that “there was only one George W. Pike” for Malcolm Campbell, a famous old time sheriff of Wyoming, is authority for the statement that Pike’s “remarkable record for horse-stealing extended over a period of 15 years during which time there were few terms of court that he was not down for at least two counts …but he was never convicted of a crime in his life.”!

(by Western Newspaper Union.)

Pinedale Roundup (Pinedale, Wyoming) Dec 8, 1932

More Just Among Us Girls

The Road To Happiness

*****

Old Flames

*****

The Family Budget

*****

Charity Begins At Home

*****

More comics by Paul Robinson, the creator of Etta Kett.

Letters Home: The 332nd Infantry

Camp Sherman (Image from http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org)

More Young Men Go To Camp Today

Nineteen Of Registered Men Leave For Training At Chillicothe.

LESLIE S. MOORE IN CHARGE OF MEN

Capt. A. Martin Graham Goes Part Way With Group On Trip.

New Castle’s latest contribution to Camp Sherman left this morning as scheduled. The nineteen young men accepted for service were on hand promptly this morning at the city building. They left that building shortly after 8:15 a.m. escorted by the Croton school drum corps directed by Prof. Hoffmuster, members of the G.A.R., the Lawerence Rifles, Mayor Newell and Councilmen Burns and Whaley and other citizens of the community.

They were taken to the P.& L.E. station, where a good sized crowd was on hand to bid them farewell. Their train left at 8:48 p.m.

The men were in charged of Leslie S. Moore, who had as his aides Edgar Thompson and John McNulty. Attorney A.M. Graham accompanied the boys a part of the way to see that they got the proper start.

The Croton drum corps had fifteen members out, the younger boys having been ordered to stay at home by the leader, owing to the expectation that the extreme cold weather of yesterday would still continue this morning.

The boys leaving this morning were:

Edward Anderson
Harold S. Johnston
Andrew J. Quinn
John Schrader
Howard Kirkwood
Leslie S. Moore
John P.G. Hirschinger
Pietro Scalero
J. Allen McNulty
Joseph Dawson
Harry Penrose
George Slack
Edgar Thompson
Wm. Joseph Heinrich
Joseph Embleton
Bernard Rosenblum
Russell W. Hiles
Walter Gunter
Simeon Cumberledge.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Feb 6, 1918

Soldiers Send Notes Of Thanks
Comfort Packet Committee Receives Responses From the Various Recipients Daily
[Excerpt]

Dear Madam:

Through your kindness I received a Comfort Packet before leaving home, and not until I arrived in camp did I realize what a valuable gift I had received.
Every article is of use to a soldier, and is certainly appreciated by all. Conditions here are very good (in my opinion) and the training received here will be of great benefit both at present and in the future.

Thanking you and your co-workers for your kindness, I remain,

Yours truly,
Walter Gunter,
Med. Detachment,
332nd Infantry,
Camp Sherman.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Mar 8, 1918

From Enoch Gunter.
Enoch Gunter of Mill street, received this from his son, Walter:
Italy, July 30, 1918.

Dear Dad:

In the land of song! And it is really the most beautiful place one could imagine. Had a fine trip through the Alps and saw some of the most famous resorts in the world. The scenery is so wonderful that one would have to see it to really know how beautiful it is. At the base of the mountains they farm and raise fine garden products and fruit and farther up the mountainside wheat is the principal crop; then there is space where there is no vegetation, till finally the mountain peaks disappear into the clouds.

The railroad through the mountains runs through more than thirty tunnels, one of them seven miles long. We saw two of the largest cities of Italy and the reception the Italians gave up was fine.

Sunday night I slept in an old palace and it is surely a fine place. Last night I spent in a school house; it is a fine building and we are quartered here for the time being.

Yesterday I visited a monument where there are three thousand skulls and bones of all the men killed in the last battle of 1876. The battle was fought within a mile of this place and these bones were placed in this monument and it is interesting to see them. There are many old castles around here and if possible I intend to visit them. Will write again soon.

Your loving son, WALTER.

Walter Gunter,
Med. Dept. 332nd Inf.,
American E.F. in Italy.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Aug 29, 1918

FROM JAY McNULTY.

Mr. and Mrs. J.W. McNulty of Volant have received the following letter from their son, Jay A. McNulty:

Back in Austria,
Jan. 26, 1919.

Dear Father and Mother:

I am out of Montenegro again, but most of the fellows are still there. I was taken sick on an outpost and laid around for a week or more, then I was taken down where the climate is more mild.

The lack of food and exposure finally got to me, although it was a long time coming. We have been getting all we can eat for a week or more. I am beginning to feel a lot better, or else I would not be writing to you that I have not been well. Will be O.K. soon, especially if I continue to eat good. We are getting more and better food now than we have had for seven months. In one of your letters you asked me what we had for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Well, for Thanksgiving breakfast I had colored water and one-half slice of black bread with brown bugs in it, and for dinner about four tablespoonsful of macaroni cooked in water, and a little piece of black bread, and no supper at all. Christmas was just a repetition of Thanksgiving, only we had three meals instead of two. But I just want to tell you what we had for dinner today: Potatoes and gravy, brown bread without any bugs, bacon, coffee, and all of it that we could eat. Now, isn’t that fine? My, how we did enjoy it.

I received your letters of December 20 and 26. Am sorry that you are not getting my letters. I write to you quite often. Hope you are getting my letters by now. I will be glad to get back to the good old States again. Since coming across seas I have seen soldiers of every creed and color. Men from every part of the world. This was has certainly been a ponderous affair. Well, by-by for this time.

Your loving son,

JAY.
Jay A. McNulty, 332nd Inf., A.E.F.,
Italy, 901 C.A.P.O.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Mar 8, 1919

Make Exceptionally Fine Record In Austrian Defeat And In Diplomatic Campaign.
Losses Small In Battle — Best Trained Regiment In War — What Colonel Says.

The 332nd Infantry of which so many New Castle boys, who trained at Camp Sherman, O., are members, accomplished everything that it was called upon to do in the Italian offensive that put Austria out of the world war, as may be seen by the laudatory letter addressed to the members of its regiment by its colonel William Wallace.

A copy of this letter of commendation, which tells the history of the work of the regiment, the only Americans in Italy was received by Mrs. Ben McCann, whose husband, a well known employee of the New Castle post office, is a member of the regiment. The letter of commendation follows:

Colonel William Wallace - Italy

Above picture and others can be found at this Italian website.

Headquarters 332nd Infantry,
Treviso, Italy,
Dec. 6, 1918.

From Col. William Wallace, 332nd Infantry.
To the officers and enlisted men of the 332nd Infantry:
Subject: The 332nd Infantry, U.S.A. in Italy.

The Italian campaign of the 332nd Infantry has been exceedingly creditable. The government, state and friends of the regiment have reason to be greatly pleased and the soldiers composing it to be rather proud of themselves and of each other for the rather excellent manner in which they have adjusted themselves to unaccustomed conditions and borne themselves through many trying experiences.

The regiment had two missions. One of fight if occasion arose. The other, to act as a propagandist or diplomatic agent.

As to the fighting. Some regretted not being thrown into battle immediately on arrival. This could not be. There was no fighting taking place, the activity on the Italian front consisting solely in the exchange of occasional artillery compliments. Moreover, we were not sufficiently trained. So the time that might have been wasted in boresome guard duty in unhealthy trenches was spent in better fitting us to fight. The result was that no other regiment ever underwent so thorough a course of battle tactics as did this under the tutelage of Major Allegretti’s 23rd Assault Battalion of Ardittles. It was as near the real thing as training can be made. And for those who still cherish regret for lost time, it may be said that there seemed to be more warlike activity around the training camps of the 332nd Infantry than at any other place on the Italian front. The instruction was ideal and marred only by the deplorable accident which killed six and injured 50.

Owing to the time, the place and the occasion, these comrades of ours are, and should be, held as reverently in our memories as though their death and wounding had occurred in combat with the enemy.

In order to hold a place for the regiment when the advance should take place and actual fighting begin, one battalion was sent to take over a section of the Piave trenches. It received high praise from all superiors for its conduct there. Three weeks later the rest of the regiment was moved to Treviso, to be put in readiness for the expected offensive. Ten days’ hard marching followed. No doubt it hurt, but if it had not been exacted, the regiment, despite its previous training, would never have reached the Tagliamento with any integrity left. As it was, when the order to move against the Austrians came, and crossing the Piave, the hard marches that ensued were accomplished in a manner that would have been creditable to veterans. We were honored by being made, during the advance, the advance guard of the 31st Italian division (Major Gen. DeAngells) of the Tenth Italian army (Gen. Cav??). This is, we were an American regiment in the Italian division of a British army, and in a position showing utmost confidence by both our allies. That the regiment did not fail this confidence, the attached letters of approval by our generals fully show.

During the advance, Austrian rear guard action by means of machine gun patrols and nests were momentarily expected, and in all probability, heavier and more determined stands at river crossings. But the Austrians seemed bent only on getting away and paused only to break all bridges to delay our march. Not until the Tagliamento was reached, on November 3, was it possible to catch up. Here (at Ponte della Delizia) the enemy made a slight opposition to our crossing. The second battalion was ordered to clear the way. During the night it fled across a single plank foot bridge and deployed in position to the gravel bed of the river. About four platoons of other battalions had forded the river during the day and were in position farther to the right. Sixteen machine guns were in place in the line. The third battalion awaited on the bank up the river and the first battalion stood in readiness as reserve, both to be called upon to re-enforce the attack if by any chance it should be checked. At 5 a.m. the attacking line advanced. The Austrian machine guns and riflemen fired upon our advancing line. The line, however, moved steadily forward and in about 20 minutes charged, going over the top in a line as perfect as at drill, and with a cheer that could have been heard a mile, took the position and started the pursuit.

Only one man was killed and six wounded. The Austrain fire had swept the ground only a short distance to the rear of the advancing single line. The second battalion was halted at Codroipo, four miles to the front, and the only engagement of the campaign was completed. Small as it was it showed your metal and it proved pure gold.

Corp. Charles A. Kell, the American killed, was probably the last man of any allied nation to lay down his life for our just cause on the Italian front.

At 11:19 a.m. the armistice was signed and the war, one of whose great purposes was the restoration of Italy’s integrity, was won. Italy’s ancient foe was humbled beyond possibility of recovery, her lost provinces reconquered, and, let up hope, her people again cemented together in bonds of lasting loyalty to her good king and government.

To have had your part in all this and played that part well is great credit to yourselves and a good heritage of honor for your children.

As for the diplomatic part of the mission. That was of deepest concern. In a land where the language was unspoken by us, where many ideas, customs and manners differed radically from our own, where the people were sensitive and likely to be jarred by our American brusqueness, for 4,000 of us to live and march among them for four months without a note of friction, is simply marvelous. What praise you may get for having “the fighting spirit” is as nothing in comparison to the credit due all for the self-restraint that imposed upon yourselves a more tempered conduct than we are likely to employ even at home.

In the reorganization of the regiment back in France when it was ordered to Italy, it was asked that it might be made up not only of soldiers but gentlemen, without any of the latter’s bad habits, such as late rising and certain prejudices against work. This was a joke — a dream — then, but a realty now.

You have more than fulfilled expectations.

Thank you,

WILLIAM WALLACE,
Colonel 332nd Infantry,
Commanding.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Jan 27, 1919

Plans For Demonstration Are About Complete — Big Dinner At Armory — Decorations To Be Presented To Regiment By Italian Government —

Harry Penrose Is Last To Arrive Of Local Contingent — News Of Local Boys Who Arrived On Canopic

BY ORVILLE J. BROWN,
News Correspondent.

NEW YORK, April 16. — Plans for the parade of the 332nd regiment in this city are about completed. The parade will move at 10 o’clock on Monday morning, from Washington Square, proceeding up Fifth avenue to 102nd street, a distance of about 94 blocks or nearly five miles.

At this point the regiment will swing into Central Park, where General Emilio Guglielmotti, respresenting the Italian government will carry out the program of decorating the regiment. The program here will be quite formal.

From Central Park the 332nd boys will go to the Sixty-ninth regiment armory on Lexington avenue, as guests of the mayor’s committee at dinner. Governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, along with Mayor Hylan of New York, the Italian ambassador, Italian and other foreign consuls and notables will review the parade.

The Italian societies will occupy a reviewing grandstand at 92nd street, and will fall in line at this point, going to Central Park to take part in the ceremonies.

The parade and ceremonies are being arranged by the members of the mayor’s welcoming committee. Italian organizations of New York are taking great interest in the program.

New Castle and Lawrence County boys are rather eager to have the New York parade over with, as they are anxious to get back to Pennsylvania and New Castle.

The third ship which sailed from Italy, which carries some of the regiment, the Dante Alighieri, is expected to arrive in port Thursday. No message had been received until 11 o’clock this morning as to its time of making port.

Penrose Comes on Third Ship.

Among those who arrived on the Canopic and who were very evident among the returned vets were Bernard Rosenblum, Joe Dawson, John Hershinger, Walter Gunter, Jerry McNulty, William Robison, former New Castle boy, Joh Hares, Pvt. Hanselman and Arthur Flack.

Harry Penrose, prominent New Castle boy did not get in on either of the first two ships. He is due to arrive on the Dante Alighieri which docks today or tomorrow. His father, H.S. Penrose will be at the pier in time to greet him.

Rosenblum is still up to his old tricks. While waiting in the messline on the pier, he tossed a roll of tinfoil at the News man and hit his commanding officer in the eye.

“We’ll shoot you at sunrise for that, Rosenblum” said his C.O. “Bunny” is the pep of his company and carried his mandolin all through the campaign. Besides that he bought another in Genoa which he brought back with him. He says the local boys had it easy compared to what the boys in France went through, but it was pretty rough in spots.

“Bunny” is tired of parading and want to get home as soon as possible.

Hares Had Tonsillitis.

Job Hares had a slight touch of the tonsillitis on the trip home but is alright now. He says he is coming straight home to New Castle.

William Robison is a former New Castle boy who says he has a warm spot in his heart for New Castle and would like to come back and see the old town again.

Walter Gunter, who was with the medical detachment of his regiment saw about all of Italy there was to see. He was detached from the regiment and stationed at Dalmatia for three months. Besides, he was on a trip for supplies which took 44[?] days.

Arthur Flack says he is anxious to get back to the quietness of Volant again. He is one of a family of 5 sons serving in the army. One gave his life for his country.

Joe Dawson is very popular with his outfit. He says is glad he is on his last lap home now. He claims that the boys never saw white bread while they were in Italy and although the food was coarse, the boys got fat on it.

McNulty and Hershinger are two others who are glad to be back in their native heath again, and aren’t crying about hard luck.

The officers of the 332nd claim that the men received good food while they were in Italy with the exception of the time they were at the front, and then they were after the Austrians so hard that the field kitchens did not have time to catch up to them.

Hard Trip Home.

The Canopic had a hard time weathering the trip back. She was forced to spend five days at Gibralter for coaling and were unable to get attention at first, as there was a strike on. The ship listed [?] all the way over and it was with difficulty that she was tied up to the deck.

Major Gen. Emilioy[?], Guglielmotti, Italian military attache at Washington and Lieut. Camillo de Carlo, were the first to board the Canopic and greet Lieut. Col. Elverson, who was in command of the detachment.

Col. Elverson denied the stories that had circulated about the boys receiving poor food and complimented the men of the regiment for their splendid morale in teh face of the hardships which they had to face.

Major Gen. Guglielmotti will go to Camp Sherman when the regiment is mustered out to do them the honors for the Italian Government.

Lieut. Floyd Miller of Springfield, O., who is in command of F. company in which most of the New Castle boys who arrived yesterday belong, complimented the local boys in his outfit and said they were there at all times.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Apr 16, 1919

*****

Read more about the 332nd Infantry:

Title: In Italy with the 332nd Infantry
Author: Joseph L. Lettau
Publisher: J.L. Lettau, 1921 (Google book LINK)

The Radical Colonel Jennison

Charles R. Jennison (Image from http://www.legendsofkansas.com)

A “RADICAL” SPEECH FROM KANSAS.

According to the Leavenworth Conservative, Col. Jennison delivered at Paola, Kansas, on the 8th September, the following speech:

I am here to-night to speak to soldiers and men capable of making soldiers. I am after men who want to be soldiers in the Army of the Lord — or any other army. I’ll take off this coat of mine right here, because it belongs to a man over in Missouri. And I will say further that the man who owned that coat will never put in any claim for it. This county has done its full duty in this war. You will find the true men of Kansas buried on every battle-field, and you will never find that a single one has disgraced himself or the State. If a private soldier has retreated it has been because his officers were cowards. I challenge any State to produce a record as glorious and gallant as that of Kansas. I am ashamed to ask this county to send forth a single other man. But we must fight again or leave our homes exposed to the enemies of Kansas and of freedom. We will not sacrifice our homes or our principles.

I tell you it is a shame and a disgrace for us to allow a man even to think of treason on the soil of Kansas. If you have such men among you, hang them for thinking it. I am here to ask Abe Lincoln to remove from power every General who is not an unconditional and radical Union man. I pray that he will never hereafter appoint any conservative man. And if he does, I pray to God that he will strike them dead. That’s my constitutional prayer. I am a conservative man to-night, but if I ever get a show at these rebels again I will make up for it. The men of Kansas enlist from principle and not from policy. Our people, old and young, must be in the service or they will not be protected. Your present border army is powerless to exterminate the guerrillas. I can take five hundred men and set it at defiance. The people of Kansas are at the mercy of this conservative policy. Abe Lincoln has been deceived and misguided by Old Gumble and his pimps. That’s where Old Abe and I differ. If he had taken my proclamation, this war would have been ended two years ago.

Do you suppose I will march into Missouri and ask them to take the oath? No — not by a damned sight. If they have protection papers, I will hang them, for real Union men need no written proof of their loyalty. In my next proclamation I will say to every physically able man in the State of Missouri, “You must fight for your homes or you will be put to death.” And the head of the column will make the road so clear that no Copperhead shall ever see the tail end of the command. We will bury the Dred Scott decision bottom side up, and tell them that Copperheads have no rights which loyal men are bound to respect. I put the negro on top and the traitor underneath. Every disloyalist, from a Shang-hai chicken to a Durham cow, must be cleaned out. Adopt this policy and there will be no more Copperheads in Kansas.

You did not fear any invasion from Missouri when Jennison’s regiment was on the border. The officers of that regiment were not closeted up in parlors or sleeping on beds of down when Quantrell and Hayes were on their trail. They were in the saddle, killing traitors, and thus guarding your homes and mine. I don’t denounce any General or any officer, but somebody is responsible for the blood of these innocent children, murdered through their neglect. The motto of my regiment shall be “Death to traitors and freedom to all men.” I will never cease to exterminate rebels until the people of Kansas cry, “Hold, enough!” I say to the colored men, go fight for your country. Fight for yourselves and we will fight for you. To white men I say, enlist in some regiment, but enlist. The 14th is as gallant a regiment as ever was raised, and you will not hurt my feelings by joining it. But enlist somewhere, and thus protect your homes. The 15th will be filled within three weeks from to-day. Its whole duty will be to kill rebels.

A Voice — Have you got the horses?

Jennison — I never had any trouble in the old 7th in getting all the horses I wanted. All the trouble I ever had was in preventing the boys (and particularly old Pardee, over there) from leading off six or seven! But my men must not take anything that will not further the interests of his own regiment. Every man must, of course, be his own judge. This regiment will march with the revolver in one hand and the torch in the other. It will be organized on a military and patriotic, and not on a political basis. We carry the flag, kill with the sabre, and hang with the gallows.

Morning Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) Oct 21, 1863

*****

Read more about Jennison (and other Jayhawkers,)  from the Southern perspective HERE. Scroll about halfway down to : B. Terror in Missouri, The Jayhawkers, Red Legs, Lane, and Jennison.

The Traitorous Copperheads (aka “Peace” Democrats)

Image from http://www.sonofthesouth.net

THE COPPERHEAD’S DREAM.

A Copperhead one evening lay,
After the labors of the day,
And mused on chances of success,
And of the future strove to guess.
He’d envied every office holder,
and now, perhaps, grown somewhat bolder,
Thought that without some dire mishap
He’d get a share of public pap,
And with his golden hopes elated,
He ever pro and con debated;
He thought o’er every plot and scheme,
Then slept, and dreamt a pleasing dream.

He dreamt to office — when elected —
No more he loyalty affected,
But in his sinecure secure,
He had the loaves and fishes sure,
He in his office stretched at ease,
Had nought to do but pocket fees.
He dressed up in the height of fashion,
(For finery he had a passion),
Then tired of lounging, strutted ’round
As Fortunatus’ purse he’d found.
His quondam friends, when e’er he met,
(He quickly learned how to forget),
Especially the Union party,
(To whom his greeting once was hearty),
He gave a very frigid shoulder,
As well became an office holder;
And — tho’ for this his cronies praised him —
Kicked down the ladder that had raised him.

The noise it made was such a smasher,
That, like the basket of Alnaschar*,
It woke him up. Alas! ’twas day,
His dream of spoils had passed away,
Black night had raised its sable curtain,
And brought him back his state uncertain.
He rose, and girded up his loins,
And feeling no ways gay or frisky,
Went and bummed a little whisky.

—Klamath Facts and Figures.

The Golden Era – Sep 10, 1865

Title: The Stanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words and Phrases
Editors: Charles Augustus Maude Fennell, John Frederick Stanford
Publisher: University press, 1892

Image from http://www.sonofthesouth.net

COPPERHEAD SNAKES

Hide your mean heads from the light of the sun,
Smite your base hearts with conscience’s lashes,
Blush if you can for the deeds you have done.
Weep for the aid you have given to traitors,
Do let repentance illumine your souls;
Souls? if you had them your crimes would be greater,
Snakes of humanity crawl to your holes.
Brazen-faced Copperheads,
White-livered Copperheads,
Crawl to your holes!

You that incited rebellion and treason;
You that have aided it all that you can;
You that have fought against conscience and reason,
And all of the rights that are sacred to man,
Hark! — through the land, from each tower and steeple,
The knell of rebellion most solemnly tolls!
Flee from the scorn of intelligent people;
Noisome serpents — bah! crawl to your holes.
Crimson-faced Copperheads,
Rum-sucking Copperheads,
Traitorous Copperheads,
Crawl to your holes.

Now when the moon of rebellion is setting,
Why do you struggle and fight against fate?
Can you not cease your complaining and fretting?
Try to be men ere you find it too late.
The tide running northward in haste is retiring,
The wave urged by freemen triumphantly rolls,
The time has gone by for your plots and conspiring —
Reptiles and renegrades return to your holes.
Venomous Copperheads,
Low, sneaking Copperheads,
Vile, hissing Copperheads,
Crawl to your holes!

Village Record (Franklin Co., PA) Sep 16, 1864

NOTE: I ran across a couple of versions of the above poem.

Felix Grundy

Old Description of a Copperhead

In one of the speeches made during the last war with Great Britain, by Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, occurs the following description of a thorough-going Copperhead, as seen at the present day:

“An individual goes over, joins the ranks of the enemy, and raises his arms against his country; he is clearly guilty of treason under the Constitution, the act being consummated. Suppose the same individual not to go over to the enemy, but to remain in his own neighborhood, and, by means of his influence, to dissuade ten men from enlisting; I ask in which case has he benefited the enemy and injured the country most!”

Again, he says, in answering the question, whom, then, do I accuse?

“I accuse him, sir, who professes to be the friend of his country, and enjoys its protection, yet proves himself by his actions to be the friend of its enemy. I accuse him who sets himself to work systematically to weaken the arm of the Government, by destroying its credit and dampening the ardor of its citizens; I accuse him who has used his exertions to defeat the loan and prevent the young men of the country from going forth to fight their country’s battles; I accuse him who announces with joy the disasters of our arms, and sinks into melancholy when he hears of our success. Such men I cannot consider friends to this nation.”

Mr. Grundy was a model Democrat, in his day, we believe. Copperheadism does not seem to have been “Democracy” then. But “the fathers” were in darkness. The gospel of the new church had not opened its light upon them. Oulds and Vallandigham were not.

The Tioga County Agitator (Wellsborough, PA) May 4, 1864

Image from http://www.harpweek.com

DIALOGUE. — UNCLE SAM — SECESH — COPPERHEAD.

Secesh — Stoop down here, Uncle!

Uncle Sam — What for, Secesh?

Secesh — I want to cut your throat!

Uncle Sam — Guess not. It don’t want cutting.

Copperhead — Yes, stoop down, Uncle!

Uncle Sam — What! do you, too, want to cut my throat?

Copperhead — O, no — never! I wouldn’t do such a thing for the world! I only want to hold your arms pinioned behind your back while Secesh cuts it. That’s very different, you see!

Uncle Sam — No, I don’t see it.

—N.Y. Tribune.

Morning Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) Sep 16, 1863

Image from http://www.historycooperative.org

CURIOUS WILL —

A will found at Port Royal, recently, by some Union soldiers there, presents a fact not often set forth out of DIXIE. The testator, John Cooper, of Caroline county, Va., gives his property to his wife and daughter, but to do this he is compelled to emancipate his wife, who was his slave, and thereby — according to aristocratic Virginia practice — legitimatize his bastard daughter, born of the aforesaid slave. Will some of our Copperhead Democrats please favor us with a lecture on amalgamation?

Morning Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) Jul 24, 1863

Anna Etheridge: A Civil War Heroine

Anna Etheridge (Image from http://civilwarlogowear.com)

A Heroine.

There is in the 3d Michigan Infantry a real heroine of the war, Anna Etheridge by name. Her father was formerly a man of wealth and influence in Detroit, and Anna in early youth was reared in the lap of luxury, but misfortune overtook him, and broken down in fortune and spirit, he removed to Wisconsin, where he died, leaving our heroine, at the age of 12 years, penniless and almost friendless. At the outbreak of the rebellion she was in Detroit on a visit, and with nineteen other girls volunteered to accompany the 2d and 3rd Michigan Regiments to the seat of war, as nurses. All the others have long since abandoned the field, but she manifests her determination to remain with her regiment until it returns home. She has been with it in nearly every fight — not to the rear, but to the front, under fire, where she assists the wounded as they fall, and has doubtless been the means of saving many valuable lives.

She is provided with a horse, and when the battle commences, gallops to the front, and there remains until it is ended. when the regiment or brigade to which she is attached moves, she rides with the surgeons, or ambulance train, and at the bivouac takes her blanket and sleeps on the ground like a true soldier. So far she has made several narrow escapes — at one time while engaged dressing a man’s wounds on the field, a shell striking him and tearing his body to atoms.

At Bull Run, unaided, she removed a number of our wounded, under a cross fire, to a place of safety, staying by them until after our rear guard of cavalry had left, when she made her way on foot to Centreville, walking in the night, and evading the enemy, who were all around her. General Birney, at one time her commander, mentions her for distinguished bravery in general orders, and cause her to be decorated with the Cross of Honor, which she prominently wears. Gen. Berry, at on time commanding a brigade to which she was attached, spoke of her as having been under as hot a fire from the enemy as himself. She is scarcely ever absent from the command, where she is in camp, usually superintending the cooking, &c., at brigade or division headquarters.

From her association of the last three years it would be natural to suppose she would lose much of her femininity of character, which she has not. She is quiet, modest, and unreproachable in deportment, and exemplary in character — no vulgar word passes her lips. She is 24 years of age, 5 feet 3 inches in height, complexion fair, though now much bronzed, hair light and cut short, and altogether decidedly good looking. She has numerous tokens and letters of acknowledgment from those she has assisted at perilous times, one of which, just shown to me, is a letter from a dying private of an Ohio regiment, containing expression of the most heartfelt gratitude for her efforts to save his life at a time when surgeons and others passed him by, refusing him assistance. It contained a pressed flower, which, he remarked, was all he had to give, “precious to him as the gift of a sainted mother.”

The Adams Centinel (Gettysburg, PA)- Aug 23, 1864

NOTE: In the above 1963 article, it states Anna received a clerkship in Washington D.C.,  to help care for her aged father, while in the first article, it states he was dead. I located her in the 1870 and 1880 censuses, which show her living with Charles Hooks, her husband, and listed as a housewife. She did receive a pension for her work during the war. I suppose she could have had the clerkship before she married,  while taking care of her father, as oftentimes some of the details in articles turn out to be incorrect.

A NOTE FROM MRS. F.T. HAZEN.

After one of the numerous skirmishes Annie was missed. The boys who loved her so well, immediately reported to Sheridan that Annie must have been taken prisoner. Sheridan answered “No, I do not think so, she must be attending to our wounded;” but immediately mounted his horse and rode as near the enemy’s lines as possible; using his field-glass he discovered Annie in their camp.

He rode back to the boys, and, pointing in the direction from which he had come, said, “Boys, Annie is there.” Without further command or order there was a general rush to the rescue. A triumphant rescue it was, for they returned not only with Annie, but the boys who had been taken prisoners with her.

Title: Our Army Nurses
Author: Mary Gardner Holland
Publisher: B. Wilkins & Co., 1895
pages 596-600 (Google book LINK)

TO MISS ANNA ETHERIDGE,
THE HEROINE OF THE WAR.

Hail, heroine of the battle-field!
Sweet angel of a zeal divine!
Hail, maiden, whose device and shield,
Sculptured in tears and prayers, will shine,
On Love’s eternal column reared
In memory of the martyred dead,
To be, through coming time, revered,
And sacred to the pilgrim’s tread!

Hail, dauntless maid! whose shadowy form,
Borne like a sunbeam on the air,
Swept by amid the battle-storm,
Cheering the helpless sufferers there,
Amid the cannon’s smoke and flame,
The earthquake roar of shot and shell,
Winning, by deeds of love, a name
Immortal as the brave who fell.

Hail, angel! whose diviner spell
Charmed dying heroes with her prayer,
Stanching their wounds amid the knell
Of death, destruction, and despair.
Thy name by memory shall be wreathed
Round many desolate hearts in prayer;
By orphan lips it shall be breathed,
And float in songs upon the air.

And History’s pages shall embalm
The heroine’s deeds in lines of fire;
Her life shall prove a hallowed charm,
And every loyal heart inspire.
Press on, press on! in glory move!
Unfading laurels shall be thine
To gem the victor-crown of Love,
And sparkle in the realms divine!

Also from the same book:

Many and many a soldier owes his life to “gentle Anna’s” intrepidity. More than once, when the troops showed signs of retreating, she rushed to the front, seized the colors, and rallied them to a charge, shaming many into doing their duty.

Title: WOMEN OF THE WAR THEIR HEROISM AND SELF-SACRIFICE
Author: FRANK MOORE
Published: 1866
pages 513-518 (Google book LINK)

Title: Session laws
Author: United States
Publisher: G.P.O., 1887 (Google book LINK)

Newspaper “Found Poetry” Found in the Newspaper

Image from http://www.boomtownwebworks.com

The Gladsome Tidings.

How gladly do I read the paper every blessed day!
It shows me that this world of ours is always blithe and gay.
It tells me in the headlines:”Slayer Sentenced Fifteen Years.”
“The Father of Terrazas, Fils, is Leaking Tons of Tears;”
“Beneath a Bridge a Body’s Found All Mangled — Son Suspected;”
“Big Scandal Over Funds With Which Town Hall Should Be Erected;”
“Two Autos Crash and Kill Some Folks Who Joyfully Were Speeding;”
“Professor Says Eugenics Don’t Improve the Plan of Breeding;”
“Train Robbed and Mail Clerks Shot to Death Down in the Sunny South;”
“Policeman Beats a Prisoner Across the Nose and Mouth;”
“Two Burglars Shoot Two Ladies Who Their Treasure Were Defending;”
“Child Weeps Above Its Mother’s Form — a Picture Bosom-Rending;”
“Two Brutes Assault a Woman — Mob in Search of Miscreants;”
“A Dainty Girl From Vassar Runs Away in Father’s Pants;”
“Many Paralyzed By Torture Near the Town of San Berdoo;”
“Two Witnesses Were Perjured, Though the Court Had Thought Them True;”
“A White Slave Case Develops As Result of Late Arrests;”
“A Boarding House Proprietress Steals Jewels From Her Guests.”
Oh, I can scarcely wait at morn till from my peaceful bed
I rise and seek the paper whence these cheerful notes are read.
It keeps me optimistic all the songful daytime through,
And fortifies my spirits ‘against those little devils blue.

— Strickland Gillilan.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) May 12, 1914

Prophet Mohammed and the King of Tramps

Prophet Mohammed - Glasgow, Scotland

MOHAMMED IN COURT.

It was in a court of law, and a witness was being cross examined.

Counsel — Why do you assert that the plaintiff is insane?

Witness — Because he goes about declaring he is the Prophet Mohammed.

Counsel — And do you consider that clear proof of his insanity?

Witness — I do.

Counsel — Why?

“Because,” answered the witness, with a complacent smile, “I am the Prophet Mohammed myself.”

— Exchange.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Jun 2, 1922

THE “KING OF TRAMPS.”

The Continent Wheelbarrow Trotter, “Mohammed,” Arrives in Reno — He Will Hold a Levee on the Plaza this Evening.

“Mohammed, the King of Tramps,” called at the GAZETTE office this forenoon. He is on his return trip to Cincinnatti, from which city he started with his wheelbarrow February 1st of this year, arriving in San Francisco on the 12th of July. He left San Francisco for the east July 20th, but has lost twenty days on the road owing to a fall from a railroad trestle which laid him up for that length of time. His accident also caused the loss of the records of his trip and a cigarette holder presented to him by late Vice President Hendricks.

According to the terms of his wager, as he related them, he must travel with his barrow 10,000 miles in 450 days. He must put up only at the best class of hotels on his road. He was to start with only one cent in his pocket and was not to beg or accept anything in charity, nor steal anything while on his trip. Last but not least he must, before the termination of his trip, marry some woman with whom he became acquainted while on his travels.

The last condition he says he will fulfill when he arrives at Ogden. “Mohammed” refused to give the name of the expectant bride, but said she was from Sacramento and that she would pass here in a few days in a Pullman for Ogden. He showed her picture to a GAZETTE scribe, or one at least whom he said was the future Mrs. Mohammed, who by her royal marital connection will acquire the title of “Queen of Tramps.” The photo represents a rather buxom damsel, tolerably good looking, but with a cast of countenance which indicates that when she gets her dander up her peregrinating spouse would do well to make a wheelbarrow trip to his native Turkey rather than endure her righteous wrath.

The wheel of the barrow is flanged so that it can be trundled on a railroad track, and it has upon it a small locker in which he stores his light baggage. He will give an exhibition of slight-of-hand, paper manipulating, etc., on the Plaza this evening. He says he is a Turk, and 32 years of age.

Reno Evening Gazette (Reno, Nevada) Aug 18, 1892

Grand Opera House - Ogden, Utah

THE KING OF TRAMPS.

He Gets Married at Ogden Last Week.

A novel ceremony, which united in marriage for better or worse Hassan Mohammed, the self-styled King of Tramps, and Miss Emily S. Campbell of Sacramento, was performed last week in the Grand Opera House at Ogden, Utah, before a good-sized audience. Mohammed is walking under the terms of a wager from Cincinnati to San Francisco and back, and reached Ogden on the home stretch last week pushing his wheelbarrow. Miss Campbell arrived at Ogden on Tuesday of last week in a Pullman over the Southern Pacific. One of the conditions of Mohammed’s wager is that on his journey of 10,000 miles he must marry a woman he never met before.

Miss Campbell was born in Canada and emigrated with her family to California ten years ago. She is 28 years of age, and became acquainted with Mohammed by answering an advertisement in a newspaper. She is a telegraph operator by profession and her father is in the livery business in Sacramento. Mohammed selected her out of 1,500 applications received to marry him. She says she marries him because she thinks he is a true man and not for money, and even if he fails to win the wager she will stay with him should they be compelled to exist on potatoes and salt. From Ogden the couple go to Salt Lake and then east to Omaha.

Reno Evening Gazette (Reno, Nevada) Sep 30, 1892