Recap of Perryville trip

Well, I have been home from my trip for a couple of weeks but have not yet typed up my thoughts on my recent trip, so here goes.

Let me start by saying I did enjoy it very much. It was a pleasant,not too warm nor too cool, day for a walk, slightly overcast and just about as good a day as I could have hoped it would be.

I started in the museum and though I chose not to watch the movie, I was still impressed. The have changed some of the exhibits and displays, and did a fine job. I especially enjoyed the display of some items of Dr. Robert McMeens and the conditions he faced after the battle.

The "mystery" tombstone on display for a year tells a great story and I hope someone finds out if the soldier ever got a replacement stone. (I admittedly forget the sold it's name since I did not take notes during my trip. Hopefully I have learned my lesson in this regard. )

I also picked up a DVD about the battle, a CD of a drum and fife corps, and a couple of magnets and patches from the gift shop to display at home and work, and hopefully that financial contribution will help the park out in some way.

Walking the battlefield was also quite enjoyable, though in hindsight I wish I had stayed a while longer and done more hiking after I stopped for lunch. I had made the effort to drive there and it was a fine day, I was not overly exhausted, yet I kind of rushed home. Oh well.

While there, I walked into areas I had either barely seen or not seen at all, concentrating in the area around Doctor's Creek, the valley where the 42nd Indiana came under attack while gathering water and the land around the Bottom House. I had always viewed the other side of the field (Maney's and Donaldson's attack, Open Knob, Starkweather's Hill, etc.) in previous trips and was very happy to tramp around this area, seeing a new perspective on the fight.

Here are a few of photos I took of the park. Again, I did not take good notes of what the pictures are, but I tried to get some of the hills around the creek, though the pictures do not show them as well as actually being there does.

The last few picture are from around the park (including some of the split-rail fence and cannon pictures I like so much :) ) and there are a couple of just "nature" shots that I thought looked nice. 

Some of 42 IN had to look up this hill when the attack came

From near the creek looking uphill

"Rolling Hills"

Bird landed on left wheel instead of wire on the pole at right as park had hoped

Memorial Day

Here are a few post-card images of Decoration Day/Memorial Day from the early 1900s. The only one of these that has a date on it ("to my comrades") shows 1910 as the date, but I believe the others are from the same time frame, the 1910s or 1920s.

These represent what this holiday was intended to note (I think this is another case where "celebrate" may be inappropriate and perhaps "commemorate" is used too often though perhaps that is because it is the word that best fits the intention of this day.)

Looking at these and others I've seen, it's remarkable how different post cards then were from now. Of course, modern photography makes current cards more reliant on it than on artwork and the imagination that went into these scenes, but the artwork and the scenes so many cards from back then depict are remarkable. The pictures themselves get their powerful messages across, even when the artist decided to add some descriptive wording.

Though I, of course, focus on Civil War veterans, Memorial Day as we now know it is to honor all deceased Veterans of the United States Military and I hope everyone reading this will remember that, even if briefly, on this national holiday.

Back at Perryville

Here I am posting from near the museum at Perryville, one of my absolute favorite spots in the world ( admittedly I'm no great traveler.)

I just hiked for about 2 hours seeing a couple of places on the battlefield that I had not viewed before. I am very happy to have accomplished the goal of seeing these new scenes. 

As I type this ( on my tablet, so apologies beforehand for typos or auto- correct errors :) ) I'm eating a quick lunch and resting wondering if there is more i want to see today, if I should try to drive through the town or maybe should head on home.

I will post more about my visit soon, with some pictures I took, but, honestly, I just wanted to post an entry from the actual park. I do see a group of young children listening to a re- enactor talking about soldiering and his hobby. That is good to see. Hopefully they will grow up to appreciate this place and others like it and help protect this truly hallowed ground and I must give a shout out to the groundskeepers who I hear mowing the grass right now. They do a terrific job keeping this place so beautiful.

I w ill have a Memorial Day post published Monday and will come back with more my thoughts from today soon (though I expect them to be similar to what I have posted in the past. I still love this place)

Now reading: Uncle Tom's Cabin

I read this famous novel in college, 20+ years ago (yikes!) and finally picked it up again recently. My reading is going rather slowly, I admit, mostly at lunch while at work and on the bus to and from work, but, wow! What a disgusting story, even at the start. I know "disgusting" is not a great word but as I started reading it, that was the first thought that came to mind.

I knew what the story was about and why it was so controversial, but I guess I had forgotten the specifics. On one hand, I can understand why I would forget such details due to time mainly, but I'm kind of sad that I had not remembered more of it. I guess reading it in college, with many other such assignments and a less mature than now (hopefully :) ) mind probably provides a reasonable explanation, but I do wish I had remembered more about this story.

It is very good reading, even when I struggle through the dialects in which Mrs. Stowe wrote many of the conversations and I am happy to have started reading it again. It is a powerful story of slavery and many of the different types of characters involved in it. That it is based in Kentucky and obviously concerns the northern Kentucky and Cincinnati areas does make it a bit more personal to me, especially as I ride a bus across the Taylor-Southgate Bridge that spans the Ohio River, one of the major boundaries between potential freedom and slavery in the mid 1800s and in this story.

I hope I can convince myself to read it more frequently and focus on this story, but I also want to think about what I'm reading and not just glance over words on a page. I know it is a novel and is fiction, but slavery was a real part of this country, this state, this region and even my family.

Families were split up, people were hurt and millions of African-Americans were treated like cattle or pieces of furniture or other such property. This story is re-opening my eyes to one period view of that institution and its affects on so many people no matter how young, old or innocent. I imagine I'll have at least one or two more entries about this book as I get deeper into it and ponder the issues it raises and the stories it tells.

courtesy http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org

I Need Help in Identifying a Soldier

I recently obtained this CDV because on the back it has "Newport, Kentucky" written on it and since I live near that city, it quickly got my attention and interest. (The fact that the photographer was located just across the Ohio River in Cincinnati also adds to my intrigue.)

I need help in two areas (but I realize that my scanning and image manipulation skills are not perfect. If a better or more detailed scan will help, please let me know)

1. What type of information does the uniform coat give? I am not a re-enactor nor an expert in period uniforms or equipment. It appears to be a frock coat perhaps, and there seems to be some striping on the sleeve. Does this indicate a rank or is it likely to have been for his branch of service (yellow for cavalry, blue for infantry, red for artillery from what I understand.)

2. Can anyone read the name on the back and find anything for him in the Soldiers and Sailors System or any other records? I thought it might be something like "G.W. Fly or Ply" but could not find any soldiers from Kentucky to match that.

I did find a "Gilbert Ely" in the Soldiers and Sailors System and he was in the 1st Kentucky Infantry. This seems to make sense because the first few Kentucky regiments were mustered in in Ohio as Kentucky attempted to be neutral, and Newport is located along the Ohio River, so the commute to enlist would be quick and easy for a soldier from that town. (Of course, I am not 100% sure the first letter is a "G." Most of the time I look and think it may be "F" or "T" or anything but a "G.")

That index shows that Mr. Ely enlisted as a sergeant and mustered out as a lieutenant. That is why I am hoping that the uniform picture may somehow provide some sort of clue.

Of course, he may not have been in Newport or even Kentucky when he enlisted. Maybe he moved and lived there only when the picture was taken. Maybe there is another explanation for that writing that does not help answer my questions, but, at the very least, this is a fascinating clue and one that I hope can help lead me to figuring out who this man was and more information about his life.

Thanks in advance for any help, either on my questions above or suggestions on where else to look.

How (and whom) does volunteering help?

Referring to my previous post when I mentioned (hopefully without coming off as whining or complaining) about how busy I have been with various volunteer work I have been doing, I thought I would take some time to "think out loud" a bit about volunteer work in general, and this blog seemed a good place to do that.

I do think my work helps those organizations where I volunteer - actually, I [i] know[/i] it does - and also the local communities. I am sure several thousand additional people have visited Fort Wright ( the city that owns the Ramage Museum) over the years and even if they don't spend tons of money, they do spend some and they do get to see what the city has to offer.

My work with the Campbell County Historical Society does not generate as many visitors, but those that come have access to a tremendous amount of local genealogical information. Our family files books of local photographs, veterans's records (over 12,000 individual entries as of now) and the database that has more than 250,000 names in it all provide a great deal of information and has helped countless people over the years.

I think my newly found involvement with the Freedom Corridor group and the committee for our annual local History Day will prove to help and inform local citizens in similar fashions.

With that said, I think I get more benefit from these groups than they get from me. That implies no lack of work or effort on my part, but, rather, just describes how many opportunities I get for personal growth, through meeting new people and contacts, to having new experiences (especially in public speaking or presenting, tasks I have not done or enjoyed much in the past) and to gaining new confidence when ideas I suggest are appreciated or work well.

Accomplishments and tasks like those and perhaps others I am forgetting right now make me feel more at ease around others and more confident in my own abilities. Even writing this blog, though not so much recently, lets me know I can contribute my own thoughts and ideas to the world at large instead of always just being alone or quiet or "reserved" and minding my own business all the time.

I know that nobody reads this blog for my psychoanalysis of myself, so I will stop now, but part of this blog's goal is to help me explore my Civil War Obsession and the how's and whys of it, and I think my ventures into the world of volunteering connects with that goal quite nicely.

I appreciate my readers' understanding of an occasional post such as this and I will make more efforts to post on more war-related subjects and not just on myself.

Here I Am

I apologize for the lack of activity this year and do hope to begin posting more often though I realize I said that previously and that some things are easier said than done.

I have been very busy with e Ramage Museum since we reopened, serving as President as well as taking over many of the treasurer's duties. That has been quite an experience. I think it is good for me and my personal development, but, obviously, not so good for my blogging or even my reading.

The museum has had a good year so far. Our Blue/Gray Dinner and Silent Auction just took place this week. We had a great crowd and a lot of good auction items, and bidding was quite impressive. We should end up netting around $3,000, which will cover a good portion of our annual budget. (Yes, we are a small museum.)

Our visitor count has been good, and we were very pleased with the turnout for the Civil War Trust's Park Day earlier this month. Our friends and neighbors helped us accomplish quite a bit of work on the museum grounds, cleaning up leaves and other debris, along with reprinting the garage area that we use for storage.

We have made some new contacts with other local groups and have made plans to be represented at a couple neat local events in June.

It looks to be a promising year for us, and one sure to keep me occupied, thou that is no excuse for me to write so little.

I'm also involved with the Campbell County Historical and Genealogical Society and a group currently being formed as an association of local sites and groups associated with the Underground Railroad or other aspects of people seeking freedom along the Ohio River. Right now, our name is the Freedom Corridor or possibly the National Freedom Corridor, but it has potential to be a good resource in this area.

I do wonder how many other bloggers are involved as volunteers at such groups. Obviously, I have not contributed much to the Civil War blogosphere lately, but I do think my efforts with see other groups still provide a positive contribution to the study of the War and increasing interest and knowledge of it. I've met quite a few people in these roles and think that will only help me going forward.

Hopefully the time between this entry and my next one will not be so long. I ask for your forgiveness for my lack of activity, online at least.