War Stories

Back in the 80s, as a favor for a co-worker, I retyped a bunch of excerpts from the diary of an ancestor of his, who had been a private in a Pennsylvania regiment during the Civil War. I wasn't working from the original, but from some old typed transcriptions. These were fragile and falling apart, and he was worried about preserving the accounts. (Ironically, I retyped them onto 8-inch floppies, which would soon become more useless than the yellowed typescripts.)

It was fascinating, more fun than work. A grunt's-eye rather than a historian's-eye view of the war. One thing he was greatly concerned with was fortifications; apparently everywhere they stopped, even if only for a night, they spent hours putting up “breastworks." Julius Caesar would have been proud. Another big thing was water. Many, many entries about water. The water at So-And-So Creek was bad, and nine of the boys took sick. We're to bivouac at So-And-So Town tomorrow; they say the water there is good. And so on. A military maxim says: amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics. Lower-ranked professionals, apparently, talked a lot about digging, and good water.

Anyway, two stories from the diary amused me so much that I still remember them.

WKRLEM: Didn't y'all ride with the James Boys?

The way the politically correct mob is acting is turning many of us into good old rebels.

From the best Jesse James movie I ever saw "The Long Riders."

With the great Pamela Reed as Belle Starr and famous onanist David Carradine in his best role ever as Cole Younger.

Highly reccomended.

I am reminded of several things...

...one, I used to work with a Chinese woman named Dora, like Chip's coworker, Dora was a bit off, but I liked her and she had a great sense of humor. She used to say "They make movie about me 'Dora, Dora, Dora' - but I not Japanese." She was great fun but then they hauled her away. Very sad.

Another story - my brother was in a Civil War museum the other day and there was a device in a glass case labeled "Cake Decorator". It was a Kliester, derived from the German word "Kliesterspritzen". Don't ask. And definitely don't use that to decorate your cake. How did my brother know that? We were raised in a house full of Civil War era medical equipment. My first handsaw was a repurposed bone saw. Once again, don't ask.

Cherry blossoms are just about over here, but I saw these in my backyard this evening:

In life you have to roll with it.

The Last Confederate Widow Tells Nothing

I signed up for the free version of Ancestry.com, well, it will be free if I remember to cancel, but you know how that goes. I started out with known knowns, and have found a bit of new information in just a couple of hours. For instance, I now know the name of the woman holding onto my grandfather's arm in this picture - she is Lydia Lavenia Touchstone, widow of Amos Carson Hilton, late of the Mississippi 19th.

As near as I can tell, this picture was taken in 1942 as the country was gearing up for WWII. On the right side of the photo, in the back row, are my father's side of the family. They gathered at my maternal grandfather's house in Jackson, as people were concerned that life as they knew it was about to be altered drastically. They were correct. My mother's father, in the center of the front row, died in 1944. His mother lived to be 97 - I had no idea that anyone in our family ever lived so long. The things you learn along the way, eh? She outlived her husband and her son. Both of my older brothers got to meet her. What a long, interesting life she had.

Anyway, I met or knew 9 people in that picture, and as far as I know, only my cousin, the young girl in the front row, is still with us, if you consider living in Australia still with us.

I got to stay in that house a couple of times, but after my uncle pissed away his inheritance the house was lost to our family and was picked up and moved to a park in Jackson. The land around it was developed into a housing tract, no doubt with the word "Plantation" in its name. So it goes.

I wish I had met that dog - what a good looking animal.

Did someone say Jackson?

As did AllenS, his Great-Grandfather served with honor

AllenS sent me a picture of his great-grandfather John O. French. He wrote:

"My great-grandfather John O. French served with the 1st Minnesota Volunteers (or something close to that).  After the battle of Gettysburg, he had 3 bullet holes through his clothes.  His famous quote was:  "I never missed a battle or a meal."  There's quite a lot of information about him in a book about the history of Becker County, MN.  He was a constable in Detroit Lakes MN.  He lived with my great grandmother Mary Ann Vizenor and they had 2 children together before they married, and went on to father 6 more children."

It looks like valor is hereditary in AllenS' family, that's for sure. Thanks for sending along that picture - once again, those 19th century guys had a style all their own - it has become clear to me that I need to find a better source for hats.

A Wolff of a Different Color, or the Original Brand X

Trooper mentioned the old tv show Yancy Derringer, or maybe he didn't. And if not, he should have. I watched it when it was first broadcast and now I am watching it again. Ain't technology wonderful?

Yancy returns home after the Civil War and goes to his old home place. His plantation is played by Tara from GWTW -- it is unmistakable. I guess even Desilu liked to pinch pennies.

Ol' Yance has a Pawnee sidekick named Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wa, and they communicate using sign language. Funny, but everything they say to each other looks exactly like every other thing they say to each other. Not very inventive signing.

This is Pahoo:

His character's name allegedly means Wolf Who Stands in Water. This show was made so long ago that they could hire a German and cover him with redface. Try that today, Hollywood!

This show was made so long ago that both Sally Field's mother and Candice Bergen's mother are in the series - they play Yancy's girlfriends. Yep, it was that long ago.

Yancy, of course, went on to play Tarzan, and he has several rope swinging stunts in this show. Perhaps they took "Hollywood and Vine" literally. The usual cast of '50s character actors stop by for a paycheck -- Nick Adams, Charles Bronson, Lee Van Cleef, heck, even Louise Fletcher has a part. Talk about some Ratched acting!

Wikipedia says that post-war New Orleans was like post-war Berlin. I am not seeing it in this series, but I suppose an occupied city is an occupied city. Damned carpetbaggers!

For those keeping score, it was 71 degrees yesterday, it will be 22 tonight, 17 tomorrow night, and while none of those are a problem, individually, having the temperature riding a roller coaster like that is tough to work around.

This music collided with western music in New Orleans. For that I am grateful.

Plus, it looks warm over there.

California Bans Official Travel To Several States

"Texas, three more states on California’s banned travel list" (read story)

How about a little reciprocity from the other states towards California?  Goose, Gander

There are literally billions of reasons why every other state in the union should cast wary eyes on Sacramento shenanigans. Start here: There's a $368-billion reason why California depends on the federal government.

Starve the beast.

“Their flag is out of context...”

CHESTER, Va. — Hundreds gathered Saturday in freshly cleared woods along Interstate 95 to celebrate the raising of a Confederate battle flag, an event that stirred strong opposition from those who view the flag as a symbol of division.

Those who attended the raising of the 15-by-15-foot flag from the Army of Northern Virginia said the ceremony was not intended to offend, but to honor the South’s war dead in the Civil War.

“The reason why we’re here is to honor the soldier,” said James Thompson, 50, a North Carolinian now living in Richmond. “We don’t see it as a slavery issue.”

Like many who attended, Thompson said his ancestors fought for the South. A Civil War re-enactor, he wore a slouch hat and a rough wool uniform and carried an Enfield rifle.

Washington Post