Professor Walter's History Lessons

Ghostly footprints in the Capital Rotunda

The Capitol Building of the United States is rife with ghost stories.  Many are of Civil War soldiers who died under the rotunda when it was used as a makeshift hospital.  One of the most prevalent is that of the Demon Cat who was first sighted right before Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.  The cat has reappeared before other tragedies, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, as well as before presidential elections.  Tour guides will point out the Demon Cat's foot prints in the floor near the entrance to the old Supreme Court offices.  

The truth is that the foot prints were left after an accidental explosion occured when workers were installing natural gas.  When fresh concrete was laid for a new floor, a cat walked across the wet cement.  As for the other signs of the Demon Cat, who can tell what really happened there?

-Professor Walter

Carry Me Back to Old Virginia

Yesterday we took a look at the state song of Maryland, "Maryland My Maryland" and its Civil War origins.  Another state song whose origins are tied to the conflict is that of Virginia, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia".  The song was written in 1878 by James A. Bland, who was an African American song writer who penned over 750 in his lifetime.  The song is sung from the perspective of a former slave at a time where many former slaves were struggling to find work.  The original version was "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" but Virginny was replaced with Virginia in 1940 when it became the state song.

Within the past two decades the song has been re-examined and criticized for what many perceive as a nostalgic view of slavery.  Defenders of the song often claim that it is a statement on the hardships African Americans faced in the years after the war.  Others believe that the song is emphasizing how bad it was after the war by suggesting that slavery was better.  The matter was brought to the Virginia Senate and on January 28, 1997, the measure was passed to move Carry Me Back to Old Virginny to State Song Emeritus while a search for a new song could be conducted.  At this time a new one has not yet been selected.

Carry Me back to Old Virginny 
Written by James Bland

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tatoes grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where the old darkey's heart am long'd to go,
There's where I labored so hard for old massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn,
No place on earth do I love more sincerely
Than old Virginny, the state where I was born.

CHORUS

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There's where the cotton and the corn and tatoes grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.

Carry me back to old Virginny,
There let me live 'till I wither and decay,
Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wandered,
There's where this old darke'ys life will pass away.
Massa and missis have long gone before me,
Soon we will meet on that bright and golden shore,
There we'll be happy and free from all sorrow,
There's where we'll meet and we'll never part no more.

-Professor Walter

Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum! Maryland My Maryland

The Civil War left lasting legacies throughout the country that persist to this day.  One of the more interesting ones is the state song of Maryland, "Maryland My Maryland."  The song was originally penned in 1861 by James Ryder Randall as a poem and sung to the tune of "O Tannenbaum".  The song is laced with references to famous Marylanders, references to the Mexican-American war and directly mentions President Lincoln.

        I
The despot's heel is on thy shore,
        Maryland!
His torch is at thy temple door,
        Maryland!
Avenge the patriotic gore
        That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
And be the battle queen of yore,
        Maryland! My Maryland

        II
Hark to an exiled son's appeal,
        Maryland!
My mother State! to thee I kneel,
        Maryland!
For life and death, for woe and weal,
        Thy peerless chivalry reveal,
And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel,
        Maryland! My Maryland!

        III
Thou wilt not cower in the dust,
        Maryland!
Thy beaming sword shall never rust,
        Maryland!
Remember Carroll's sacred trust,
        Remember Howard's warlike thrust,-
And all thy slumberers with the just,
        Maryland! My Maryland!

        IV
Come! 'tis the red dawn of the day,
        Maryland!
Come with thy panoplied array,
        Maryland!
With Ringgold's spirit for the fray,
        With Watson's blood at Monterey,
With fearless Lowe and dashing May,
        Maryland! My Maryland!

        V
Come! for thy shield is bright and strong,
        Maryland!
Come! for thy dalliance does thee wrong,
        Maryland!
Come to thine own anointed throng,
        Stalking with Liberty along,
And chaunt thy dauntless slogan song,
        Maryland! My Maryland!

        VI
Dear Mother! burst the tyrant's chain,
        Maryland!
Virginia should not call in vain,
        Maryland!
She meets her sisters on the plain-
        "Sic semper!" 'tis the proud refrain
That baffles minions back again,
        Maryland!
Arise in majesty again,
        Maryland! My Maryland!

        VII
I see the blush upon thy cheek,
        Maryland!
For thou wast ever bravely meek,
        Maryland!
But lo! there surges forth a shriek,
        From hill to hill, from creek to creek-
Potomac calls to Chesapeake,
        Maryland! My Maryland!

        VIII
Thou wilt not yield the Vandal toll,
        Maryland!
Thou wilt not crook to his control,
        Maryland!
Better the fire upon thee roll, Better the blade, the shot, the bowl,
        Than crucifixion of the soul,
Maryland! My Maryland!

        IX
I hear the distant thunder-hum,
        Maryland!
The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum,
        Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
        Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
        Maryland! My Maryland!

The phrase "avenge the patriotic gore that flecked streets of Baltimore" is a direct reference to the riots that occurred in Baltimore as Union soldiers passed through to get to the war front.  Baltimore was pro-confederacy, and Maryland as a whole was on the fence in the decision as to where its loyalties laid.  The poem was written to stir anti-union sentiment and steer the state toward the Confederacy.  In the song President Lincoln is called a tyrant, despot and vandal while the Union is clearly called "northern scum".  The song, first published in the New Orleans Sunday Delta on April 26, 1861, quickly became a hit in the south and throughout Maryland.  It was played in 1862 as Confederate troops marched across the border from Virginia into Maryland.

Despite the best efforts of the song and those of many pro-confederate supporters, Maryland remained in the Union.  But in 1939, as enacted by Chapter 451, Acts of 1939; Code State Government Article, sec. 13-307, Maryland My Maryland became the state song of Maryland and remains so to this day.  The pro-Confederacy leanings of the song have brought it into question in the past.  Currently 2009 Maryland House Bill 1241 calls for changing the state song to another song with the same title that speaks to Maryland's beauty

-Professor Walter

1846 - Future Confederate General Lee's Early Brush With Death

In 1846 Captain Robert E. Lee was en-route to Fort Hamilton to report for service in Mexico.  This was an anxious time for Lee, as it was his first anticipated real live action.  The relations between Mexico and the United States had reached a boiling point and a conflict had begun, the Mexican-American War.  Lee's life and legacy were nearly ended when he came to a bush along the path and encountered a US soldier who uttered, "Who goes there?"  Captain Lee replied, "Friend" and the solider, certain he was facing a Mexican, leveled his pistol at Lee and fired.  The ball passed between Lee's left arm and his body, singeing his coat as it flew by.  Lee would go on to be a great contributor in the Mexican-American war, and then to serve the Confederates during the Civil War.  But on that one day in 1846, it was nearly ended because of one jumpy soldier who fired too casually.

-Professor Walter

Napoleon, the Civil War, Mexico, and Military Intelligence

In late 1861 Napoleon sent a large force of soldiers to Mexico, supposedly to compel Mexico to pay large debts owed to France.  In 1863 the true purpose of the soldiers was leaked to the press, which was to limit the growth and prestige of the United States at a time when it appeared that the U.S. was falling apart.  In June of 1863 the French troops removed President Benito Juarez from Mexico City and in the summer of 1864 Napoleon installed Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, brother of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, as the new ruler of Mexico.  

The increased troops and the overthrow of the Mexican government caused the people of the United States to call for action against France.  However such an action brought the risk that the French would join with the Confederacy, potentially tipping the scale against the U.S.  The political skills of Federal Secretary of State William H. Seward kept the U.S. away from a conflict with France as the war raged on.  But once the Confederacy surrendered, things changed.  Seward believed that Napoleon had become disenchanted with the Mexican government he had put in place, and wrote, in a letter to Napoleon, that sooner or later the will of the people of Mexico would prevail and the archduke would be deposed.  In September 1865, before Seward's note could reach Napoleon, the Unites States Minister in France, John Bigelow (who had mirrored Seward's firm response) obtained a tentative statement that the French intended to withdraw from Mexico.  Meanwhile a sizable force of U.S. troops was placed along the U.S./Mexico border.  General Grant sent Philip Sheridan to evaluate the situation.  Sheridan's skill was in intelligence, and his skills, which were honed during the Civil War against the Confederacy, were quite effective.

Sheridan dispatched men to important points in northern Mexico to report on movements of the Imperial forces, as well as those of ex-Confederates who had joined the French ranks when the Confederacy fell.  The impact was immediate, with the former Confederates aborting their actions when they realized they were under observation of the U.S.  In April of 1866 Bigelow had obtained an understanding that the 28,000 French solders in Mexico would return to France in three detachments between November of 1866 and November of 1867.  Additionally he successfully argued that the Austrian government should abandon an effort to send reinforcements to Maximilian's army.

When Maximilian learned that he would soon loose his support, he wavered on abdicating the throne.  For a period of four months he swayed from abdication to holding on to his seat.  As his debate waged, the French did not begin leaving at the expected time.  Seward was so concerned about anti-French sentiment in the U.S. that he did not divulge this information immediately.  Once Seward had confirmed that the delay was due to reasons regarding the safety of the French troops, he relayed the news to Washington.  But anti-French sentiment was very strong in Congress, and trust in Napoleon had been lost.  An intercepted telegram added to the tale.

New Orleans, 9 Dec 1866

To His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon at Paris. 
Mexico, 3rd December.

Emperor Maximilian appears to wish to remain in Mexico, but we must not count on it. Since the evacuation is to be completed in March, it is urgent that the transports arrive. We think that the foreign regiment must also be embarked. As for the French officers and soldiers attached to the Mexican Corps, can they be allowed the option of returning?

The country is restless. The Campbell and Sherman mission, which arrived off Vera Cruz on November 29 and left December 3, seems disposed to a peaceful solution. Nevertheless it gives moral support to the Juarists through the statement of the Federal government.

Marshal Bazaine and General Castelnau

Congress was upset with Napoleon over the delay of troop removal and did not belive his word that it would occur.  It was not until they recieved an intercept of Napoleon's response that they felt comfortable that the French would withdraw.

Paris Jan 10th

French Consul New Orleans
for General Cast[elnau] at Mexico.

Received your dispatch of the ninth December. Do not compel the Emperor to abdicate, but do not delay the departure of the troops; bring back all those who will not remain there. Most of the fleet has left.
NAPOLEON.

The intercepts confirmed Napoleon's word that he would withdraw, diffusing the critical situation in Congress.  Soon after Napoleon's troops left, Maximilian was captured and executed in 1867.  President Juarez was reinstated. 

-Professor Walter

A pervasive myth about dog tags

Military personnel of the world were forced to deal with the issue of identification of the dead, simply as the nature of their profession.  During the Civil War paper tags were sometimes made by soldiers and pinned to the backs of their coats.  In 1862, John Kennedy proposed a more effective marker, but it was dismissed without explanation.  Finally the U.S. Army authorized official identification tags on December 20, 1906 with the following details.

"An aluminum identification tag, the size of a silver half dollar and of suitable thickness, stamped with the name, rank, company, regiment, or corps of the wearer, will be worn by each officer and enlisted man of the Army whenever the field kit is worn, the tag to be suspended from the neck, underneath the clothing, by a cord or thong passed through a small hole in the tab. It is prescribed as a part of the uniform and when not worn as directed herein will be habitually kept in the possession of the owner. The tag will be issued by the Quartermaster's Department gratuitously to enlisted men and at cost price to officers..."

During WWII the tags included a small V shaped notch on the end.  Many believe that the notch exists so that the tag may prop open the mouth of the deceased, fitting between the teeth.  There are various explanations as to why this would be necessary, from a way to quickly recognize known bodies for transport to holding the mouth open to allow gases to escape during decomposition.  These notched dog tags were used through WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.  Current tags do not have this feature.  

The truth is, of course, more mundane than the story.  The device used to make the tags was the Model 70 "Addressograph" which was a hand held stamping tool.  On the tool was a mark which used the V cut to align the tag for a clean stamping.

 Snopes.com contacted Mortuary Affairs to confirm the truth and received the following statement.

One of the more common myths involves the reason for the notch on the tag issued between 1941 and the early 1970's. Battlefield rumor held that the notched end of the tag was placed between the front teeth of battlefield casualties to hold the jaws in place. No official record of American soldiers being issued these instructions exists; the only purpose of "the notch" was to hold the blank tag in place on the embossing machine. The machine used at this time doesn't require a notch to hold the blank in place, hence, today's tags are smooth on all sides.

-Professor Walter

The Geneva Award

During the Civil War, the Confederate Navy was struggling to assemble a fleet of warships.  Coming to their aid was the British shipbuilder, John Laird Sons & Company, who had constructed the CSS Alabama.  The Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war that served as a commerce raider.  For the duration of the war the Alabama, as well as other British made ships, tormented United States Vessels causing millions of dollars in damage.  The interaction between England and the Confederate States was questionable because England was officially neutral in the conflict.  After the war the newly reunified United States sought reparations from Great Britain for their actions.

Initially Senator Charles Sumner the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wanted to ask for two billion dollars.  Or Canada.  However as reconstruction took front stage, interest in expansionism dwindled.  The final settlement, known as the Geneva Award for the fact it was negotiated in Geneva, Switzerland, was for fifteen million, two hundred fifty thousand dollars paid in gold.  The settlement was reached on September 14, 1872 with full payment delivered a year later.  Great Britain apologized for the damage caused by the ships, but admitted no guilt.  The Geneva Award was part of the Treaty of Washington which finalized borders with Canada and established the rules for neutrality during wartime.

1. That due diligence "ought to be exercised by neutral governments in exact proportion to the risks to which either of the belligerents may be exposed, from a failure to fulfill the obligations of neutrality on their part."
2. "The effects of a violation of neutrality committed by means of the construction, equipment, and armament of a vessel are not done away with by any commission which the government of the belligerent power benefited by the violation of neutrality may afterward have granted to that vessel; and the ultimate step by which the offense is completed cannot be admissible as a ground for the absolution of the, nor can the consummation of his fraud become the means of establishing his innocence."
3. "The principle of extraterritoriality has been admitted into the laws of nations, not as an absolute right, but solely as a proceeding founded on the principle of courtesy and mutual deference between different nations, and therefore can never be appealed to for the protection of acts done in violation of neutrality."

-Professor Walter

Yankees and Slaves Need Not Apply

On November 9th, 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as president of the United States of America.  In the US Patent office Rufus Rhodes, an employee from Mississippi, wrote to the governor of his state to express his dismay at the election.

"I cannot with my views hold office under a republican President a single instance of time without a total sacrifice of my self-respect. To do it would involve not only a loss of my own self-respect, but brand me as a disgraced and dishonored man in the estimation of all for whose good opinion I am anxious – namely the southern people. I regard the election of Lincoln as a verdict against the equality of the southern states on the part of the sectional majority of the north...."

Rhodes left Washington D.C., probably before Lincoln was sworn into office and went into the newly formed Confederate States of America.  On March 4, 1861 the provisional Congress of the Confederate States authorized the filing of patents utilizing the same language as the United States Constitution.  The Confederate Patent Office was created and Rufus Rhodes was appointed it commissioner.  Quickly Rhodes created the Rules of Practice and Procedure following the standards set forth by the United States with only a few changes.  First, the Confederate Patent office would allow the revival of US Patents in the Confederate office.  Second aliens were permitted to apply for and receive patents provided their government had recognized the Confederate States of America and was on good relations with them.  With this provision Yankees were barred from receiving patents.  Finally, if the invention was made by a slave, their master would receive the patent instead.

The new office became busy quickly as inventors were proud to patent their new creations to speed the success of the war effort.  The first patent was for a breech loading gun, another famous one was for the CSS Virginia, the Confederate Ironclad.  Throughout the short life of the Confederate Patent Office Rhodes would be a force to maintain order.  When it was proposed in 1863 that the patent office simply record all patents and not verify their authenticity Rhodes wrote against the change successfully.

"By making the Patent Office an office of record merely, patents would be granted to all applicants indiscriminately, and endless confusion, conflict and litigation, would inevitably result."

As the war reached its conclusion the patent office ceased operations just as most Confederate offices did.  When Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled Richmond he took the government's records including some of the patents.  Those left behind were burned by US General Grants troops when they site fire the the building that housed them.  The remaining records that traveled with Davis were used as made-do newspaper material since paper was in short supply in the south.  Unfortunately those documents are now lost to history, the only surviving copies were those held by the patent owners.

-Professor Walter

Read more about the Confederate Patent Office here

 

 

The Quaker Cannon's defeat of General George B. McClellan

Between March and July of 1862 the Peninsula Campaign was launched by the Union against the Confederates in southeastern Virginia.  The operation, which was commanded by General George B. McClellan, was the first large-scale offensive of the eastern theater.  The final goal was the capture of the Confederate capital, Richmond.  Early success helped the cautious McClellan's popularity, and the number of troops under his command increased.  Believing his troops did not have a significant advantage he held the line and developed the Urbanna plan which involved outflanking the Confederate forces by transporting the Army of the Potomac by ship to Urbanna, Virginia. on the Rappahannock River.

Before McClellan was aware General Joseph E. Johnston withdrew the Confederate forces from to new positions below the Rappahannock which immediately nullified McClellan's plan.  Much to McClellan's surprise, not only had Johnston's troops escaped without notice, but he had been held at bay, in part, because of quaker cannons which were logs painted to look like real cannons.  The Union forces had been fooled for months,  McClellan overestimated the strength of the Confederate forces and missed an opportunity.  The press pounced on McClellan and on March 11, 1862 President Lincoln removed McClellan as general-in-chief, leaving him in charge of the Army of the Potomac.  

-Professor Walter

No president should die in poverty

General Grant became president of the United States in 1869.  When accepting office he forfeited his military pension.  Eight years later he failed in an attempt to win a third term and embarked on a two-year tour which was successful with many royal receptions, but not financially profitable.  In 1881 he purchased a home in New York City and put nearly all of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership.  Ferdinand Ward, who ran the partnership, bankrupted the company, took and money and fled.  Grant had to repay a $150,000 loan to William H. Vanderbilt with his Civil War mementos, and was left with very limited funds.  

Grant started writing articles for The Century Magazine to raise funds for his family.  Mark Twain stepped in and offered Grant a contract for the publication of his memoirs which would allow Grant to receive 75% of the sales as royalties.  After starting he discovered he had terminal cancer.  As Grant worked on the book Congress passed legislation that restored Grant to General of the Army with full retirement pay.  

With death approaching Grant completed his memoirs a few days before his death.  Over 300,000 copies were sold earning the Grant family nearly a half a million dollars.  The book has been considered one of the best autobiographies ever written.  The totality of Twain's involvement in the final product is not known, but many theorize he ghost wrote it with Grant at his side.  Twain never took credit for any involvement in its creation.

"MAN proposes and God disposes." There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice.

Although frequently urged by friends to write my memoirs, I had determined never to do so, nor to write anything for publication. At the age of nearly sixty-two I received an injury from a fall, which confined me closely to the house while it did not apparently affect my general health. This made study a pleasant pastime. Shortly after, the rascality of a business partner developed itself by the announcement of a failure. This was followed soon after by universal depression of all securities, which seemed to threaten the extinction of a good part of the income still retained, and for which I am indebted to the kindly act of friends. At this juncture the editor of the " Century Magazine" asked me to write a few articles for him. I consented for the money it gave me; for at that moment I was living upon borrowed money. The work I found congenial, and I determined to continue it. The event is an important one for me, for good or evil; I hope for the former.

In preparing these volumes for the public, I have entered upon the task with the sincere desire to avoid doing injustice to any one, whether on the National or Confederate side, other than the unavoidable injustice of not making mention often where special mention is due. There must be many errors of omission in this work, because the subject is too large to be treated of in two volumes in such way as to do justice to all the officers and men engaged. There were thousands of instances, during the rebellion, of individual, company, regimental, and brigade deeds of heroism which deserve special mention and are not here alluded to. The troops engaged in them will have to look to the detailed reports of their individual commanders for the full history of those deeds." - The full text of Volume One can be read here.

In 1958 Congress passed the Former Presidents Act which guaranteed a pension for the life of the president and his wife.  The legislation was prompted by President Truman's limited financial resources which impacted his ability to support an office staff.  Eisenhower was the first president to benefit from the act.

(a) Each former President shall be entitled for the remainder of his life to receive from the United States a monetary allowance at a rate per annum, payable monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury, which is equal to the annual rate of basic pay, as in effect from time to time, of the head of an executive department, as defined in section 101 of title 5, United States Code [section 101 of Title 5]. However, such allowance shall not be paid for any period during which such former President holds an appointive or elective office or position in or under the Federal Government or the government of the District of Columbia to which is attached a rate of pay other than a nominal rate.

(b) The Administrator of General Services shall, without regard to the civil-service and classification laws, provide for each former President an office staff. Persons employed under this subsection shall be selected by the former President and shall be responsible only to him for the performance of their duties. Each former President shall fix basic rates of compensation for persons employed for him under this paragraph which in the aggregate shall not exceed $96,000 per annum, except that for the first 30-month period during which a former President is entitled to staff assistance under this subsection, such rates of compensation in the aggregate shall not exceed $150,000 per annum. The annual rate of compensation payable to any such person shall not exceed the highest annual rate of basic pay now or hereafter provided by law for positions at level II of the Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5. United States Code [section 5313 of Title 5. Government Organization and Employees]. Amounts provided for “Allowances and Office Staff for Former Presidents” may be used to pay fees of an independent contractor who is not a member of the staff of the office of a former President for the review of Presidential records of a former President in connection with the transfer of such records to the National Archives and Records Administration or a Presidential Library without regard to the limitation on staff compensation set forth herein.

(c) The Administrator of General Services shall furnish for each former President suitable office space appropriately furnished and equipped, as determined by the Administrator, at such place within the United States as the former President shall specify.

(d) [Repealed. Pub. L. 86-682, § 12(c), Sept. 2, 1960, 74 Stat. 730. See sections 3214 and 3216 of Title 39.]

(e) The widow of each former President shall be entitled to receive from the United States a monetary allowance at a rate of $20,000 per annum, payable monthly by the Secretary of the Treasury, if such widow shall waive the right to each other annuity or pension to which she is entitled under any other Act of Congress. The monetary allowance of such widow--

(1) commences on the day after the former President dies;

(2) terminates on the last day of the month before such widow--

(A) dies; or

(B) remarries before becoming 60 years of age; and

(3) is not payable for any period during which such widow holds an appointive or elective office or position in or under the Federal Government or the government of the District of Columbia to which is attached a rate of pay other than a nominal rate.

(f) As used in this section, the term “former President” means a person--

(1) who shall have held the office of President of the United States of America;

(2) whose service in such office shall have terminated other than by removal pursuant to section 4 of article II of the Constitution of the United States of America; and

(3) who does not then currently hold such office.

(g) There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator of General Services up to $1,000,000 for each former President and up to $500,000 for the spouse of each former President each fiscal year for security and travel related expenses: Provided, That under the provisions set forth in section 3056, paragraph (a), subparagraph (3) of title 18, United States Code [section 3056(a)(3) of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure], the former President and/or spouse was not receiving protection for a lifetime provided by the United States Secret Service under section 3056 paragraph (a) subparagraph (3) of title 18, United States Code; the protection provided by the United States Secret Service expired at its designated time; or the protection provided by the United States Secret Service was declined prior to authorized expiration in lieu of these funds.

-Professor Walter