Results tagged “Abraham Lincoln” from Cannonball

Adams County author and historian Timothy H. Smith will be the featured speaker at the November 18, 2009 meeting of the York Civil War Round Table. On the eve of the 146th Anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Tim's program "Abraham Lincoln : Twenty-five Hours at Gettysburg" will focus on the time that the President spent while a visitor in this historic town. Tim will also present a sampling of the largely untapped reminiscences of area residents and how the President interacted with the local population on his visit to Gettysburg in November of 1863 for the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery on November 19th.

Tim Smith has authored or co-authored eight books on the Battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War; his best selling book recounts the history of Devil's Den. His most recent work is Farms at Gettysburg: The Fields of Battle, which looks at the farms involved in the Battle of Gettysburg. Tim has been working on an extensive book detailing the civilian experience during the Battle of Gettysburg which he expects will take another five years to complete.

Tim Smith is a research assistant for the Adams County Historical Society, Licensed Battlefield Guide, Gettysburg Elderhostel Instructor, Harrisburg Area Community College history lecturer and operates his own historical consulting business. Despite all of his jobs, Tim's main emphasis is to get people to understand that the people who lived in the area in 1863 are also a part of the story of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Tim's presentation will be at 7:00 PM on Wednesday 18, 2009 in the auditorium of the York County Heritage Trust, 250 E. Market Street, York PA.

Gettysburg National Military Park contains much of the ground where opposing armies from the Union and the Confederacy struggled for the first few days of July 1863 during the Battle of Gettysburg. The Pennsylvania Monument memorializes the soldiers and officers from the Keystone State who fought here. On November 19, 2009, the Gettysburg Address will be remembered in the annual Dedication Day ceremonies.

This November 19th, the 146th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address will be honored with numerous events in Gettysburg. The day will begin with a 9:30 a.m. wreath laying ceremony at the Soldiers' National Monument, featuring the Gettysburg High School Ceremonial Brass Band. Wreaths will be laid by Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell, Richard Dreyfuss, Brion FitzGerald, the Acting Superintendent of Gettysburg National Military Park, and Frederick E. Clark, Commander of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Gettysburg Camp #112. Following a brief procession of Civil War reenactors along the upper drive, ceremonies will continue at 10:00 a.m. at the Rostrum, where Rendell and Dreyfuss will deliver remarks.

The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln stunned the residents of York County, Pennsylvania, despite the fact that most voters had twice cast their ballots for the Democratic opposition candidate in the elections of 1860 and 1864. Political differences were set aside in the national outpouring of grief and shock that swept through the county in the wake of the death of the controversial Chief Executive.

Lumberman and businessman John Stoner Beidler of Wrightsville was among those who expressed their opinions in their diaries and journals. A dedicated Republican, the 27-year-old father of two had twice previously voted for Lincoln, as well as for Governor Andrew G. Curtin.

Saturday, April 15, 1865

News came early this morning that Lincoln was shot last night, Seward badly stabbed. I have still some hope it is not so. 9½ P.M. It is only too true that Lincoln was shot. As soon as the news was confirmed, all the stores in town were closed and business suspended. All or nearly all business places throughout U.S. are closed and many a downcast countenance can be seen and even tears. Seward is reported still alive but his son is dead. Copperheads are as silent as the grave. They dare not open their mouth.

Beidler would later be in York on April 21, the day that Lincoln's funeral train passed through town, but for some reason, he decided to head home before it arrived shortly after 6:30 PM. His diary entry would show his regret at missing the historic passage of the steam train carrying the Railsplitter back to Springfield, Illinois for burial.

Here is a detailed newspaper account of the passage of the funeral train through York County.

"How Lincoln Came to Be 'Under God' at Gettysburg" is the topic for the November 20 meeting of the Harrisburg Civil War Round Table. Charles Teague, a seasonal Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park, will explore how the President, who as younger man was an avowed atheist, inserted the words "under God" into his Gettysburg Address.

During this sesquicentennial of his birth, Lincoln's profound thoughts continue to intrigue Americans. At various points in his life, he espoused almost every possible point of view on religion. Few people have ever gone through such a dramatic transformation in matters of philosophy and faith as did he. In his mature years Lincoln was circumspect about his deepest thoughts, but intimate acquaintances who closely observed him and listened to him during his presidency witnessed this change. When the evidence is viewed chronologically, a distinct pattern of growing conviction appears.

During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln frequently was a guest in this house, which served as the headquarters for Admiral John A. Dahlgren, the commandant of the Washington Navy Yard. Lincoln spent a fair amount of time at the Navy Yard awaiting telegraphed reports from the battlefield, which came in to the Navy's telegraph station. The commandant's house is still in use and is among the oldest continuously occupied buildings on any U.S. Navy installation.

One of my sons recently took me on a day trip to Washington D.C. for my birthday. We spent a rain-soaked afternoon touring the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard, which features FREE admission to the very nice Navy Museum as well as to the USS Barry, a Vietnam-era U.S. Navy destroyer that has been preserved as a floating museum. The Navy Yard's attractions are open until 5 PM most days and are well worth a lengthy visit. After the game, Tom and I took in the Washington Nationals - Milwaukee Brewers baseball game before hitting the Metro for the trip back to the Greenbelt parking lot and the subsequent drive back to our home in north-central York County, Pennsylvania.

The Navy Museum and grounds of the Washington Navy Yard are filled with relics and artifacts of interest to the Civil War buff, including naval artillery pieces from both the Union and Confederate navies, personal property of famed sailors such as Admiral David G. Farragut of Mobile Bay fame, models of Civil War ships, dioramas, ship's bells, paintings, and other interesting things to see, view, or read.

Obviously the Civil War is only one small part of the Navy's collection. There are displays from nearly every major war (and some minor ones such as Tripoli). The original mast and sniper's nest from the USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") is a major highlight of the museum's displays.

Here are a few more photos of Civil War-related material from the collection of the U.S. Navy Museum.

This old photograph is courtesy of theunfinishedwork.com, a website for a recent fictional book on the Gettysburg Campaign by Hanover native Frank Meredith. His well crafted novel includes the Battle of Hanover on June 30, 1863, and other York and Adams county venues.

The picture from the Hanover Historical Society shows an old, deteriorating rail car of the long defunct Hanover Branch Railroad, which was operational through the latter half of the 19th century into the early part of the 20th. Tradition suggests this is the exact car that Hanover Branch Railroad president A. W. Eichelberger deployed as the private car for President Abraham Lincoln and his traveling party during their trip to and from Baltimore to Gettysburg for the dedication ceremony of the National Cemetery in mid-November 1863. The director's car was eventually scrapped, according to some local sources.

Lincoln's party included his friend from his Illinois days, Ward Hill Lamon, who was serving as his personal bodyguard and advisor. Also in the party were members of his staff, including his private secretary John G. Nicolay, adviser John Hay, and a bevy of reporters and politicians, including Secretary of War Edwin McM. Stanton and Secretary of State William H. Seward.

Background post: Wounded Ohio soldier boards the governor's special train at Hanover Junction.

Today we pick up Captain Nickerson's narrative of his excursion to see the dedication ceremony. It's just one of dozens of eyewitness accounts of Lincoln's speech, but it's one of the best commentaries.

Early in the Civil War, regiments were all-volunteer, including the 7th New York, shown here in this old woodcut marching off to the South in front of cheering citizens.

As the Civil War progressed and the need for manpower increased, the U. S. government resorted to conscription in 1863 to raise additional troops with the passage of the Enrollment Act on March 3. It was not a new practice in military circles, with many European countries having widely used forcible means to ensure compliance with orders to join the army or navy. However, the draft was new to America, and many citizens resented the concept. It had been tried earlier in the war to fill the ranks of drafted militia regiments, including here in York County, Pennsylvania, in 1862 by the state government.

The controversial 1863 act required the enrollment of every male citizen and those immigrants who had filed for citizenship between ages twenty and forty-five. The War Department did provide a way out. If a man was drafted and ordered to report to the service, he could legally avoid the order by providing a willing substitute who would serve in his place.

The catch?

The draftee had to pay a bounty to the "volunteer" replacement. If you were relatively wealthy, you could afford to hire a sub and stay home. If you were poor, welcome to the Union Army. Even President Abraham Lincoln hired a substitute, John Summerfield Staples from rural Monroe County, Pennsylvania, as a gesture of support for the measure. Staples received a bounty of $500 and served in various rear lines posts until the end of the war.

Pulitzer Prize winning historian Dr. James McPherson will speak at the gala 50th anniversary meeting of the Harrisburg Civil War Round Table on Friday, May 15. His topic will be "Lincoln, Slavery and the West."

Jim Lewin of the York Emporium will be the featured speaker at the February 18 meeting of the York Civil War Round Table (7:00 PM, 250 E. Market Street, free admission, free parking). Jim will be speaking on Abraham Lincoln as seen by the media of the Civil War period, adapted from his popular book Lines of Contention.

February 12, 2009, marks the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. I attended the dedication ceremonies this afternoon at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, where Lincoln changed trains en route to deliver the Gettysburg Address (and again as he was returning to Washington, D.C.). Sculptor Joe Kelly created an impressive bust of Honest Abe, and it was formally dedicated today in a brief ceremony that included local politicians, York County Parks officials, local preservationists, and Lincoln / Civil War buffs.

Codorus Valley historian and preservationist Ray Kinard reads the Gettysburg Address to the crowd who braved some very windy conditions, with gusts over 40 miles an hour at times. Ray and I have frequently exchanged notes about the Hanover Junction and Jefferson area during the Gettysburg Campaign.

My battlefield tramping partner admires the bust of President Abraham Lincoln in the memorial garden at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania. This monument will be formally dedicated on February 12, 2009.

Linda from the Hanover Junction preservation group (and the Red Lion historical association) mentioned to me during the recent York CWRT meeting that the Lincoln monument at Hanover Junction will be dedicated at 1:30 PM on February 12, which marks the 200th anniversary of the birth in rural Kentucky of Honest Abe. The Hanover Junction museum / old train depot will be open from 1:00 PM until 7:00 PM for visitation and refreshments. A birthday cake will be served after the dedication. Lincoln changed trains at Hanover Junction before and after his dedication remarks at the Gettysburg National Cemetery - remarks that became immortal as the Gettysburg Address.

The event is free and open to the public.

See you there?

Cannonball reader Bob Resig sent in a series of photographs tracing Elijah V. White's route from what later became Valley Junction in southern York County, Pennsylvania, to Hanover Junction. This historic trace was once the Hanover Branch Railroad's right of way, and President Abraham Lincoln rode through here twice before and after his Gettysburg Address.

Bob's photo shows the old roadbed as it bends through the Civil War-era Miller farm. Some of White's Comanches may have followed the tracks northeasterly to a nearby bridge, while others took what is today's Park Road south down to Sinsheim road before turning toward Jefferson.

Let's retrace the historic route of the HBRR, nestled in scenery little changed from when Honest Abe rode these rails. I have intermixed Bob Resig's photos with some aerial photos from Yahoo.com, as these satellite photographs still show much of the original trace of the Hanover Branch Railroad.

All aboard!

October 15, 1863 public notice by Gettysburg attorney David Wills seeking proposals for the removal of the dead on the Gettysburg Battlefield.

"After the battle, Gettysburg became a vast hospital and morgue: dead and wounded soldiers outnumbered civilians eleven to one," - so begins the Battle's Aftermath exhibit at the David Wills House, opening February 12, 2009, in downtown Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as part of Gettysburg National Military Park.

Here is the text of today's press release:

One of the classroom assignments I recall as a child growing up in southeastern Ohio was a task to write a brief letter to the President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson. I penned a few lines, but I honestly don't recall what I said -- probably something along the lines of "have a nice day, Mr. President," and "greetings from Ohio." I have no clue if our teacher even mailed the letters, as we never heard anything back from the White House.

Back in the spring of 1863, a group of patients and staff members at the U.S. Army Hospital in York, Pennsylvania, got together and passed a series of resolutions avowing their support for the war effort. The cover letter was signed by the three-man executive committee. However, due to military protocol, it could not be mailed until endorsed by the senior post commander and sent up the command chain.

Here is the text of that letter from York sent so long ago to a man who at the time was embroiled in controversy as the "Copperhead" movement gained momentum, threatening to forever split the Union.

Happy Thanksgiving, Cannonball readers!

I thought it would be appropriate to recycle one of last year's Cannonball blog entries, given the approaching holiday. Here again is the famous proclamation that President Abraham Lincoln penned on October 3, 1863, declaring the last Thursday of November as a formal "day of thanksgiving" for America. He traveled to Gettysburg on November 18, 1863, for the dedication of the National Cemetery and delivered his "few remarks," before returning to Washington via Hanover Junction. A few days later, he joined his fellow countrymen in prayer and thanksgiving for what blessings could be celebrated in the midst of the worst year of strife to that point in American history.

Take time this Thanksgiving to carefully read Lincoln's words - very carefully and thoughtfully. While we are not fighting a civil war, we still have conflicts and personal pains, and can reflect on Lincoln's words of encouragement. There is a lot to be thankful for, despite all that may be going on around us.

Here are the timeless words of the 16th President of the United States, penned seven score and five years ago this month...

I used to work for a couple of decades for office products and self-adhesive labelstock giant Avery Dennison when I lived in the greater Cleveland area. One of their largest factories was in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a town I frequented on many business trips to run trials there or to meet with paper suppliers. Fort Wayne is also the home of the Lincoln Life Insurance Company, which for many years has managed an excellent museum on the life of the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.

Recently, the insurance company announced plans to close the Lincoln Museum on June 30 and they are trying to give away the collection. It's a great little museum and an outstanding collection of documents and artifacts, and, to me, it's the passing of an era for Fort Wayne. The curators are trying to find a suitable institution or group that will exhibit the collection in a larger and better venue, hopefully in time for the Lincoln celebrations that are coming up in a couple of years.