CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS’ STORIES

JOINS THE

UNION ARMY

SEPTEMBER PRESENTATION

REVIEW

DISCUSSION GROUP AT

CRYSTAL LAKE, ILLINOIS

SATURDAY

OCTOBER 27, 2018

“Brother against brother” is a term that not

only described the North and South citizens

divided in the Civil War, but also is a deeper

symbolic phrase that represented families at

odds with each other – brother against

brother, father against son, siblings and in-

laws against each other, and even wives

against husbands. As the nation divided, so

did many families, as they grappled with

divided loyalties and conflicting ideologies on

the home front. Many families fought a war

on two fronts

THE ORIGIN OF THE

AMERICAN FAMILY UNIT

The model family evolved from the American

Revolution, with aspects of Republican

motherhood and raising ideal citizens for the

nation complementing the model.

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 3)

PRESENTATION/ MEETING AT THE

WOODSTOCK, ILLINOIS

TUESDAY OCTOBER 9, 2018

PRESENTER:

GENERAL PRESENTATION

MEETINGS

ARE HELD EVERY SECOND TUESDAY

OF THE MONTH

a

THE

CONFEDERATE

FLYING MACHINE LISTVERSE

You have probably never heard of Dr. Finley

Hunt, but if his invention had worked he’d

probably be as famous as any of history’s

great inventors. Halfway through the war, Dr.

Hunt wrote a letter to Confederate president

Jefferson Davis. He had a very special

suggestion: He could turn the tide of the war

with a steam-powered military flying machine

that could bomb the enemy from above—a

truly groundbreaking idea at a time when the

height of aerial technology was the hot air

balloon. Hunt was a dentist by trade, and the

Wright Brothers’ first successful flight was still

some time away, but Davis became excited

about the idea and introduced Hunt to General

Robert E. Lee, who put him in contact with the

Chief of the Engineer Bureau for the

Confederacy. They immediately started

researching the idea. At least on paper, Hunt’s

idea was a fairly good one. Sadly, his lack of

engineering background proved to be a

hindrance to the project, and the Engineer

Bureau soon reported that the machine could

not be built. Its whole concept might have

been lost in the annals of history if its

blueprints hadn’t accidentally been found in a

bookstore in 2011.

But what if someone built Hunt’s flying

machine after all? UFO sightings were

commonplace in the later parts of 19th

Century, and some have speculated that at

least some of these sightings could be

because some other aeronautically minded

inventor—perhaps one with more engineering

talent than Hunt—ironed out the problems in

his plans and made their own functional flying

machine.

Also, there’s this: While the Bureau dismissed

Hunt’s invention as impossible, they absolutely

loved his idea of using steam machines for

military purposes, and promised to start

discussing the idea ”in great measure.” History

tells us they never got around to actually

building any of these steam weapons, but who

knows what war monsters they were secretly

working on? If the war had lasted for a few

more years, there’s no telling what sort of

steampunk machines the South would have

unleashed on their unsuspecting opponents.

www.justapinch.com

THE

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE

USS KEYSTONE STATE

On November 9, 1861, a steamer named USS

Keystone State disappeared. What made this

strange were the circumstances: The Civil War–

era ship was nowhere near the battlefronts

—the vessel had been unassumingly hauling

passengers and iron goods from Detroit to

Milwaukee on the Great Lakes of Michigan.

What’s more, the USS Keystone State was one

of the largest, sturdiest steamers in existence, so

its complete disappearance (and presumed

sinking) was a surprise.

For over 150 years, the ship’s final fate remained

a mystery. Finally, in 2013, a veteran shipwreck

hunter found the mighty vessel at the bottom of

Lake Huron, where it had lain all those years. It

was determined that the USS Keystone State

had sunk in a particularly nasty storm.

But why was it attempting to make its voyage

during such a terrible storm? Its finder has a

possible explanation: It may be that the ship was

involved in the war after all, and was actually

carrying a large amount of military equipment for

a special militia forming in Wisconsin.

CIVIL WAR AND

RECONSTRUCTION

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

In 1861, the United States faced its greatest

crisis to that time.

The northern and southern states had become

less and less alike--socially, economically,

politically. The North had become increasingly

industrial and commercial while the South had

remained largely agricultural.

More important than these differences, however,

was African-American slavery. The "peculiar

institution," more than any other single thing,

separated the South from the North. Northerners

generally wanted to limit the spread of slavery

and some wanted to abolish it altogether.

Southerners generally wanted to maintain and

even expand the institution. Thus, slavery

became the focal point of a political crisis.

Following the 1860 election to the presidency of

Republican Abraham Lincoln, 11 southern states

eventually seceded from the Federal Union in

1861. They sought to establish an independent

Confederacy of states in which slavery would be

protected. Northern Unionists, on the other

hand, insisted that secession was not only

unconstitutional but unthinkable as well. They

were willing to use military force to keep the

South in the Union. Even Southerners who

owned no slaves opposed threatened Federal

coercion.

The result was a costly and bloody civil war.

Almost as many Americans were killed in the

American Civil War as in all the nation's other

wars combined.

After four years of fighting, the Union was

restored through the force of arms.

The problems of reconstructing the Union were

just as difficult as fighting the war had been.

Because most of the war was fought in the

South, the region was devastated physically and

economically. Helping freedmen (ex-slaves) and

creating state governments loyal to the Union

also presented difficult problems that would take

years to resolve.

It is virtually impossible to measure the human

costs of the Civil War, the hardships and

suffering it caused. What we do know is that

millions of people grieved for the loss of loved

ones. In all, around 360,000 Union soldiers died

as a direct result of the war. The Confederacy

lost 260,000 dead. Many more soldiers were

wounded; some wounds maimed their victims for

life. The overall number of dead that resulted

from the Civil War nearly equals the number of

American soldiers killed in every other military

action up to the present.

In the following excerpt from an interview

conducted during the 1930s, where Lewis

McBride tells stories about several interesting

experiences he had while he was a young man.

What does McBride say about his meeting

Abraham Lincoln?

What do you think about Lewis's joining the

Union Army at such an extremely young age?

And, How common do you think that practice

might have been?

‘We lived in South Bend, Indiana from 1855

to the end of the Civil War. It was there in

about 1859 that I got a chance to hear

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas make

speeches in a sort of debate. They spoke of

LaPorte, Indiana and the railroad ran an

excursion, 50 for the round trip from South

Bend.”

"At that time my father was a Democrat and

of course, I was too, although only a boy. Mr.

Lincoln appeared in a shiny black suit and

rusty plug hat. Douglas was a regular dandy

in tailor-made well fitting clothes and an

elegant plug hat.”

"I was seated with four other boys on the first

row of seats and when the speaking was

finished, Mr. Lincoln stepped down from the

platform and stopped by us. He said 'I want

to shake hands with these boys, they are the

ones who will soon take up this great work’

“That made us feel pretty good to be there to

see and be seen. I came very near turning

Republican that day.”

"In December 1862 when I was fifteen years

old, I enlisted in the Union Army and was in

service until August of 1865. We went with

Sherman on his march to the sea and I got

as far as Atlanta, Ga. Rebel General Hood

had crossed the Tennessee river into

Tennessee and our division was ordered

back to clean them up. In the battle, which

followed at Franklin, Tennessee, I was struck

in the knee cap by a Minnie ball and for 5

months I lay in a hospital 25 miles south of

Nashville. At a Murphysboro hospital the

gangrene had set in and they had wanted to

amputate my leg but I said I was going where

my leg went so they left it on. It finally healed

though it has always bothered me. When I

laid in that hospital I wished I was home with

mother.'

"In the army we were used to a menu of 'sow

belly' salt meat and coffee, but while in the

hospital, we got hard biscuits and tea.’

"There were four Rebels in there and they

used to roast me something fierce. 'What did

you'uns come down here to fit wouns for? I

can hear them saying it yet. I had always

been a Democrat but after that I turned

Republican and have been so ever since.

These Rebels are Democrats.

"I voted for Abraham Lincoln’.

“On August 15, 1865, I was discharged and

mustered out of service from the army and

went out to Marenge, Iowa, to follow where

my father had moved. “

Generals had their own operators. These were

“cypher operators” – they could decipher as well

as copy. A.H. Caldwell served Generals

McClellan, Hooker, Meade, and Grant. Good

operators could send 15 to 20 words per minute.

Jack said that operators actually go by sound,

much as a musical sound. The North developed

a very secure cypher system. Lincoln both

monitored the battles, and directed his generals

through use of the telegraph.

According to Jack, the telegraph served the

following purposes: 1) logistics, 2) relaying

orders, 3) disseminating intelligence, 4) helping

to direct a battle, 5) allowing the generals to

“discuss” information, 6) sending information

back to command posts, and 7) sending

“personnel” information.

Finally, what was the overall impact of the

telegraph? Mr. Hudson maintains that by the

time of the Civil War it was omnipresent in the

north. It may have changed the pace of the war,

but not the outcome. In other words, the South

was not going to win a protracted conflict even if

they had made greater use of this new

technology. After 1865, the telegraph

companies regained control of the system; it

was as if they had “loaned” it to the military for

the duration.

Bob Frenz

______________________________________

DIVIDED LOYALTIES BROTHER VS BROTHER

THE ORIGIN OF THE

AMERICAN FAMILY UNIT (FROM PAGE 1)

These cohesive, honorable, and loyal units were

not meant to divide; but then again, the country

was not meant to divide either. With the family

unit held in such high societal esteem, it is little

wonder that the Civil War rent asunder not only

the United States, but also the foundation of its

society: the family unit.

Issues Faced By Divided Families

Despite countless accounts of bitter

protestations of disownment, fierce and angry

accusations, and highly contentious situations

that tore rifts in many families, they never simply

abandoned each other, even at the beginning of

the war, regardless of the existence of their

conflicting ideologies within the home front.

This was particularly true of the border state

families, where much of the most gruesome and

grueling battles occurred, driving home the

devastation and tragedy of war. Regardless of

political and ideological chasms, the knowledge

alone of the possibility that their relatives were

being maimed and killed helped outweigh even

The September meeting of the McHenry County

Civil War Round Table heard Jack Hudson

present a very interesting program on the military

use of the telegraph. The main book on the

subject is The Military Telegraph by William Plum

which was published in 1871. Jack also relied

on Bruce Catton’s works and information

provided by the Signal Corps Association. There

is not very much recorded about the Confederate

use of the telegraph.

Work on the telegraph actually began in the

1750’s. Joseph Henry invented the

electromagnet which made this technology

possible. Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrated his

system in 1842. The technology didn’t change

much between 1842 and 1860. Jack mentioned

that the early telegraph was actually quite

unreliable. The last telegraph message sent in

the U.S. was in 1976.

People didn’t really understand the science

behind the telegraph until the 1880’s. A

message could be sent up to 300 miles by the

use of a single battery. These wet cell batteries

used two metals and liquid acid. Connecting

batteries together produced more voltage.

Telegraph lines used iron, rather than the more

conductive copper wire. Insulation for the lines

was also very poor. Nevertheless, there was a

highly developed railroad and commercial

telegraph system in place by 1860.

The Military Telegraph Corps (MTC) was

established early in the war. This body was not

directly a part of the military; its directors and

operators were mostly civilian. They had the

expertise. Andrew Carnegie was originally put in

charge. Edwin Stanton had been a telegraph

executive. The government took over the

railroads and telegraph companies for the

duration of the conflict. Anson Steger managed

the MTC until the end of the war. He oversaw

1,500 operators and another 150 men who built

lines.

There was also a separate group, the Field

Telegraph Corps, which was a part of the Signal

Corps. The Confederates also had a Signal

Corps, but they used flags and relied on

“intercepts” of Union transmissions.

The Union set up temporary telegraph lines as

the army moved. Battery wagons followed the

army: the telegraph tent was set up next to the

wagon. Mules carried the wire on spools. Two

to three miles of telegraph wire could be laid per

hour. The Union placed 2 ½ miles of wire at

Gettysburg alone. And, by the end of the war

the MTC had laid 15,000 miles of telegraph line.

the strongest of divided loyalties in the

Civil War.

Common Dividing Loyalties

In the Civil War

It is difficult to ascertain a predictable

pattern in the families whose loyalties

were divided. Studies and surveys have

truly attempted to collect the facts of

certain demographical information in

antebellum America to determine patterns

and statistics, such as birthplace and

longevity of residence. However, the best

that can be garnered from this information

is common patterns, but never being

predictable. In divisions between father

and son, the predominant pattern was the

Unionist father and the Rebel son.

Brother against brother, literally, was

more common than some Civil War

material might imply. Countless families,

even notable or prominent ones, were

afflicted with some degree of division.

Mary Todd Lincoln had four brothers and

three brothers-in-law (one a general) in

the Confederate army. Of the Todd

family sons, only one served in the Union.

Of the Todd family daughters, five were

loyal to the Union and four supported the

Confederacy.

Aside from brother against brother, and

father against son, were other similar

situations, although usually less

contentious than the household males

pitted against each other. There are

many accounts of wives opposed to

husbands, sisters turning around or

removing pictures of their brothers viewed

as fighting on the “wrong” side, a

husband who had his wife committed to

an insane asylum because of her

opposing views, and many who sent

relatives off to great distances. This latter

situation was common as spouses and

relatives were sent to distant places or

relatives’ homes, even overseas,

sometimes not just for safety but also

because of the embarrassment of divided

loyalties in the household.

Reconciliation

of the

Divided Families

In the Reconstruction era, as the nation

began healing, so did divided families, as

they forgave, compromised, and healed the many wounds. Many families proved

to be remarkably resilient, as the nation

also proved to be.

Some families had attempted to keep some

peace during the war, and some began during

the war to attempt to mend fences, some would

be unable to make peace after the war, and still

others would never reconcile. The numerous

families affected by these divided loyalties in the

Civil War would endure and often reconcile,

albeit be forever changed, as was the nation.

AmericanHistory.com

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MCHENRY COUNTY

CIVIL WAR

ROUND TABLE

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CIVIL WAR

ROUND TABLE

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NEWSPAPER

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FOUNDED

JUNE 10, 1997 BY

DR. EDWARD F. WILT JR.

McHENRY COUNTY,

ILLINOIS