THE “OLD LINER” NEWSLETTER

Gettysburg 150th Brings pedestal on West Confederate Evergreen Cemetery statue of her Avenue and lifting the 72nd great-grandmother, Elizabeth Thorn. Thousands To Regiment bronze Angeli spent a night in Thorn’s bed Programs, Battlefield, soldier off the monument’s granite and bedroom at the cemetery base at The Angle. gatehouse. Reenactments The statue of the Zouave swinging When Thorn, whose husband was By Kathryn Jorgensen, (August 2013 his rifle two-handed like a club was away with the 138th Pennsylvania Civil War News) put back in place the next day to Infantry, returned to her gatehouse GETTYSBURG, Pa. — By almost any await repairs after the 150th. home after the battle to find the area standard the No serious incidents or accidents strewn with dead. Though pregnant, 150th anniversary commemoration were reported at the park despite she buried 91 bodies. from June 28 to July 7 was a thousands of people attending - The Gettysburg Anniversary success. lectures, tours and living history Committee (GAC), host of the July 4- Gettysburg National Military Park programs. 7 150th Gettysburg Anniversary spokesman Katie Lawhon said the People who stayed home could watch National Civil War Battle commemoration was “really satisfying 12 hours of live coverage on CPAN- Reenactment, presented $50,000 and really rewarding.” She added, 3’s American History TV, see a from reenactor registration fees to “We feel we met our goal of trying to webcast of the July 7 Pickett’s five local preservation and service engage visitors with the meaning of Charge, watch videos on Breitbart groups. Gettysburg and why places like TV, follow social media and read, - The borough’s July 3 evening Gettysburg are important to save for hear and see coverage in USA Today Independence Day parade was future generations.” and other newspapers and on NPR cancelled on short notice after a Gettysburg Convention & Visitors and TV across the country. stolen car crashed into a house on Bureau Norris Flowers said, “The Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) Highland Avenue. Not knowing what 150th anniversary was a great ran live coverage of the June 30 they were dealing with, and needing success. We saw visitors from around ceremony and three days of live manpower for the scene, the police the world, both as spectators and as coverage with battle walks, historian chief cancelled the parade, but the participants in the many events that and author interviews. fireworks show went on. took place during this Miscellaneous notes - More than 50 volunteers from the commemoration.” - Gettysburg photography historian Volunteers did site The National Park Service had some and author William Frassanito was preparation for the Blue-Gray extra stress shortly before featured in a Washington Post story Alliance’s June 28-30 Battle of anniversary programs began. The in which Frassanito talked about his Gettysburg 150th Commemoration most upsetting was the unexpected study of the battlefield’s photography and Reenactment. They used 80 tons death of Supervisory Ranger Clyde and topography. of stone and 1,400 feet of fencing to Bell (see obituary this issue). He Thanks to him we know that make an exact replica of the July 3 oversaw the park’s museum and photographer Alexander Gardner Union defensive positions against the visitor center operations and staged the dead Confederate Confederate assault. interpretive staff operations. sharpshooter at Devil’s Den. By The horizontal 400-foot front wall and In announcing his death to the park searching the battlefield for a split rear stone wall were connected by a community Lawhon wrote, “This news rock, Frassanito determined that a third wall making the “angle.” Rail comes as a huge blow to park and series of Gardner photos were of the fencing and a copse of trees Foundation staff and LBGs [Guides] same dead taken from different recreated the original scene. who have worked with Clyde for angles. - has a free app many years.” - Ruth Angeli, 90, of St. Petersburg, titled “The Gettysburg College: Then on the evening of June 25 a Fla., who had attended the 1938 Witness to History,” a 1.2-mile storm tore through parts of the Eternal Light Peace Memorial historical walking tour through the battlefield, taking down trees and dedication, visited in June. She posed campus and town. The college’s branches, ripping the bronze for the Gettysburg Times with the Majestic Theater is showing Mahone’s Brigade tablet off its

BALTIMORE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE

THE “OLD LINER” NEWSLETTER

“Addressing Gettysburg,” a 15-minute The Civil War Trust, America’s the National Park Service’s American film about the Gettysburg Address, largest nonprofit battlefield Battlefield Protection Program and every half hour from 12 to 6 p.m. this preservation group, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Civil summer. today announced that it has War Sites Preservation Fund has - The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a successfully completed a $3.6 million meant the difference between dream Gettysburg site updated daily with national and reality. Without the vital matching video, contemporary and historical fundraising campaign to preserve 56 grants supplied by these two stories and front page reprints. acres of historic Fleetwood Hill on the programs, an undertaking of this Viewers learned that on July 3, 1863, Brandy Station Battlefield in Culpeper scale would have been all but copies of The Philadelphia Inquirer County, Va., site of the largest insurmountable. with the first day’s battle account cavalry battle ever fought on the “I also offer my heartfelt thanks to were sold on the battlefield by a North American continent. In each individual who contributed to newsboy who brought the papers on celebrating the success of this this effort. The outpouring of support horseback from Westminster, Md. project, one of five most ambitious in that the Trust received toward this The story was written by Uriah Hunt the project, illustrating the number of Painter. He arrived in Gettysburg the organization’s history, Civil War Trust Americans who firmly believe in the night of July 1, wrote the story, president James Lighthizer issued the respect and protection of our shared returned to Baltimore July 2 and following statement: history, has been inspirational. Much received War Department approval to “This is a day that those of us in the work remains on this tract, as we lay telegraph it to his newspaper. preservation community have long the groundwork to remove modern The Inquirer launched the story of the dreamt of, the day we can finally say structures and restore the land to its dead Union soldier found clutching an that Fleetwood Hill is protected wartime appearance, but I know that image of his three children. forever. all of our members and allies join me Publications across the country were Prior to this, the Trust and its partners today in celebrating this tremendous asked to help identify him and copies had protected some 1,800 acres at achievement.” of the ambrotype image were sold to Brandy Station, but without those The Battle of Brandy Station is raise funds. Sgt. Amos Humiston of crowning heights set aside for future considered by historians as the Portville, N.Y., Co. C, 154th New generations, no visitor could gain a beginning of the momentous York, is remembered with a full and definitive understanding of Gettysburg Campaign. Union monument on Stratton Street near this cavalry, long considered inferior to where he died. critical action. Now that we have their Confederate counter parts, - Reenactors from 22 countries raised the full purchase price and launched a bold crossing of the including Bahamas, Brazil, Denmark, closed on Rappahannock River in the early Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, this property, the heart and soul of hours of June 9, 1863. They initially Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, the Brandy Station Battlefield, we surprised the Southern horsemen, Switzerland and Wales attended the have with charge and countercharge raging GAC event. turned a preservation success story across the landscape for much of the CIVIL WAR TRUST into a triumph. day before the Federals retired back “This achievement simply would not across the river. All told, more than SUCCESSFULLY have been possible without the 20,000 cavalrymen fought at Brandy COMPLETES cooperation Station. The epicenter of the fighting of the entire battlefield preservation was Fleetwood Hill, which overlooked CAMPAIGN TO community — particularly the Central much of the battlefield and served as SAVE FLEETWOOD Virginia Battlefields Trust, the headquarters for Confederate HILL AT BRANDY Journey Through Hallowed Ground chieftain, General James Ewell and the Brandy Station Foundation, Brown “J.E.B.” Stuart. Historian and STATION whose assistance, both advisory and preservation advocate Clark “Bud” BATTLEFIELD financial, has been indispensable. Hall calls Fleetwood Hill “without CWi, August 20th, 2013 Moreover, the enthusiastic support of question the most fought over,

BALTIMORE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE

THE “OLD LINER” NEWSLETTER camped upon and marched over real "He passed without any indication of business traded a Civil War estate in the entire United States. there being any issues," Supenski recruitment poster for various items Cumulatively, the Civil War Trust has said. from Holliday, the affidavit states. protected more than 1,850 acres at Police said the stolen items included Small told police he recalled Holliday Brandy Station and maintains a public firearms, photographs, clothing, really wanting the poster because it interpretive trail across the battlefield. medals and other Civil War collector's was from the same town as his Gettysburg man charged items taken from The Union Drummer father. Some of the items he received Boy's two locations - 34 York St. in from Holliday had already been sold, with theft was an Gettysburg and 1863 Gettysburg Small told police, but some were still Adams County Village in the shop and he could retrieve The affidavit noted a Confederate others. sheriff's deputy Griswold & Gunnison revolver and State police said the investigation is Suspect faces charges that he stole accompanying holster, an O W&J ongoing and they and Synnamon are more than $82,000 worth of antique Rigby pistol and a belt buckle with "S. attempting to recover more of the military merchandise from The Union Burbank" engraved on it were among stolen property. They are asking Drummer Boy. items missing from Synnamon's anyone who may have bought or By MARK WALTERS , The Hanover store, as well as some things from his traded items with Holliday within the Evening Sun, August 15, 2013 personal collection displayed there. last year to contact Trooper Douglas A Gettysburg man charged with the Some of the merchandise was seized Kelley at the state police's Gettysburg theft of thousands of dollars worth of from Holliday's residence after state barracks. military merchandise was formerly a police executed a search warrant. U.S. Army Transfers 312 sheriff's deputy with the Adams In the affidavit, Synnamon said that County Sheriff's Department, the cash register and cash sales were Acres At Fort Monroe; 70 according to Len Supenski, chief found to be inconsistent at the store Acres In Dispute deputy of the department. in Gettysburg when Holliday worked Richard James Holliday, 36, was By Scott C. Boyd, (August 2013 Civil there. At that point, the affidavit War News) employed with the department from reads, Synnamon reviewed sales June until this week, Supenski said. FORT MONROE, Va. – Virginia Gov. records and videotapes of shifts Bob McDonnell signed a quitclaim "When we were notified of the worked by Holliday and realized the investigation, he asked to resign," deed on June 4 that transferred store's surveillance system was being ownership of 312 of Fort Monroe’s Supenski said. "If he didn't resign, we intentionally unplugged during would have terminated him." 565 acres from the U.S. Army back to Holliday's shifts. the Commonwealth of Virginia. Holliday, who lives at 138 W. Middle Synnamon began keeping a sales log St., faces charges that he stole more He also authorized execution of the of Holliday's shifts, which Holliday Memorandum of Understanding for than $82,000 worth of antique military eventually discovered, the affidavit merchandise from The Union the transition plan and the Right-of- states. From that point on, the Entry agreement for the maintenance Drummer Boy, where he used to affidavit continues, sales logs began work. That is the the value of the and operation of the utility systems at to be accurate. Fort Monroe. allegedly stolen property that has so On Friday, Synnamon's wife told him far been recovered. “We are pleased that a portion of Fort that Civil War items were for sale on Monroe is being reunified with the The store's owner, Brendan a Facebook page made by Holliday, Synnamon, said all the merchandise Commonwealth,” McDonnell said in a the affidavit states. Synnamon also press release. that was stolen, much of which is still saw an item displayed at the Horse being tracked down, is worth at least “The acceptance of the 312 acres is Soldier, 219 Steinwehr Ave., the first step in receiving all of the $100,000. Gettysburg, that was for sale and was Supenski said Holliday passed the property back into the ownership of missing from The Union Drummer the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said department's lengthy and thorough Boy, according to police documents. hiring process, which includes a drug Glenn Oder, Executive Director of the Maurice "Sam" Small, the owner of Fort Monroe Authority (FMA), in a test, background check and criminal the Horse Soldier, told police his history check. press release. The FMA is the state’s

BALTIMORE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE

THE “OLD LINER” NEWSLETTER political subdivision that operates and The moat will not be handed over maintains the property. immediately because the Army is still The Army is disputing the ownership dealing with hazardous materials of approximately 70 acres, claiming disposal there, Fort Monroe National they were not included with the Monument Superintendent Kirsten original land given by Virginia and Talken-Spaulding said. thus should not revert following the Asked whether she wished the NPS base closure. unit had more acreage, Talken- The Army wants to transfer the 70 Spaulding said, “We don’t define our acres it says should not be part of the park boundaries, we manage the Gettysburg National Military Park preservation 565-acre package, but “they believe boundaries we’re given.” staffers Brian Griffin, left, and Lucas Flickinger that there’s [financial] compensation Since there are some activities that guide the bronze figure as it is lifted by a crane. The involved,” Oder said. “Both parties may not be done in a national park, figure was toppled from its pedestal during a storm are working hard to not have it go to the public will benefit from some of in late June. (THE EVENING SUN -- CLARE court. I would like to think we can the 565 acres belonging to the NPS BECKER) come to agreement by the end of the and some to the Commonwealth, Park preservation supervisor Lucas year.” according to Talken-Spaulding. Flickinger said the storm bent the McDonnell’s press release said, “We “There’s real strength in diversity of bronze figure's rifle and also look forward to continuing the work ownership.” necessitated repairs in the shoulder with the Secretary of the Army to For information about what the park is socket area. The monument was secure the remaining portions of Fort doing visit www.nps.gov/fomr brought onto the battlefield Thursday Monroe, as well as the transfer to the Iconic Gettysburg morning on flatbed truck and lifted by National Park Service.” crane onto its original base, a Virginia gave the land to the Army in monument back on process that took approximately 10 the early 19th century for coastal the battlefield minutes. defense, with the understanding that The monument to the 72nd The monument is considered a it would revert to the Commonwealth Pennsylvania, topped by a storm in battlefield icon and was chosen for if the Army left. The fort was built June, has been repaired and the back of the Gettysburg quarter. between 1819 and 1834. replaced. A series of post-Cold War U.S. The Hanover Evening Sun, August Toni Dufficy Joins military base closures resulted in the 08, 2013 Gettysburg Staff as closing of Fort Monroe on Sept. 15, The monument to the 72nd Chief of 2011. Pennsylvania is back on its battlefield President Barack Obama created the pedestal, standing guard over the Interpretation Fort Monroe National Monument on area where the Union line at CWi, August 15th, 2013 Nov. 1, 2011, by invoking the Gettysburg was attacked during Toni Dufficy has been selected as the Antiquities Act. The National Park Pickett's Charge. new Chief of Interpretation at Service unit includes the historic The bronze figure atop the monument Gettysburg National Military Park and moated fort as well as most of the to the regiment, which played a key Eisenhower National Historic Site. open space to the north of the fort role in the battle, was toppled by wind Dufficy has served as the Chief of (see December 2011 CWN). June 25 as Gettysburg was gearing Interpretive Planning at the National Fort Monroe’s 565 acres are a up for its commemorations of the Park Service’s Harpers Ferry Center patchwork of seven parcels from a 150th anniversary of the battle. The since April 2005. She will begin her series of property transfers over the figure, representing a soldier duties on September 9. past 200 years, according to Oder. “It swinging his rifle like a club, was The park’s new Chief of Interpretation is a ‘multi-layered cake.’” temporarily replaced for the position oversees the interpretive, The approximately 244 acres for the anniversary, but later removed for educational and visitor service NPS unit “overlap tremendously” with repair. activities at both Gettysburg and the 312 acres transferred, he said. Eisenhower parks, including planning,

BALTIMORE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE

THE “OLD LINER” NEWSLETTER operations, and evaluation, selection served in the US Army at Gettysburg A teenage Lizzie Compton, whom and training of personnel and and her grandfather’s World War II fellow soldiers knew as Jack or coordinates with park partner US Army service in Europe. Johnny, was discovered to be a organizations in providing Forgotten chapter of woman only after the battle when Interpretation and Visitor Services to military doctors peeled her blue the public. Civil War: They were uniform away to treat a shrapnel Prior to Harpers Ferry Center, Dufficy soldiers – and wound to her side. Discharged - it served in interpretation and education was illegal to serve in the military as positions at a variety of parks for the women, too a woman - Compton would go on to past 28 years including Jean Lafitte Women sometimes fought alongside reenlist in and be discovered by six National Historical Park, Women’s men in the Civil War, but their more regiments and serve in the Rights National Historical Park, stories are not well-known. a total of 18 months. Theodore Roosevelt National Park By BRIGID SCHULTE The In January, the Pentagon agreed to (North Unit), Everglades National Washington Post, April 12, 2013 allow women to fight in combat. But Park, Biscayne National Park, Cape Under a deadly barrage of artillery what was ignored in that controversial Hatteras National Seashore, Fort fire, wave after wave of Union troops debate was the long-forgotten history Raleigh National Historic Site and hurled themselves across an open of hundreds of American women who Wright Brothers National Memorial. field outside of Fredericksburg, Va., had fought bravely in the nation's Toni also was the first space ranger on a bitterly cold mid-December day wars, won battlefield citations for assigned to work with NASA at the and charged up a steep hill in a futile valor and died on the front lines. Goddard Space Flight Center. attempt to dislodge Confederates dug Their ranks include Deborah “I am very excited to begin work as in atop Marye's Heights. Sampson, who served for 17 months the Chief of Interpretation at By nightfall, nearly 13,000 Union in the Continental Army during the Gettysburg and Eisenhower Farm,” troops lay dead or wounded - double Revolutionary War as Robert Shurtliff, Dufficy said. “My family has visited the number of fallen Confederates - and Lucy Brewer, who served with here many times since I was a young and a "young and good-looking" the Marines aboard Old Ironsides as child, and I am now delighted to have corporal from New Jersey that a George Baker during the War of the opportunity to work with partners comrade described as "a real 1812. And historians have found that and staff to help others discover the soldierly, thoroughly military fellow," an estimated 400 to 1,000 women, powerful stories within these two very was promoted to sergeant for perhaps more, disguised themselves special places.” bravery. as men and took up arms in the Civil “Toni Dufficy is great choice for this One month later, the sergeant, a War. newly redefined position,” said park veteran of the Seven Days Battle and "We just lifted the ban on women in superintendent Bob Kirby. “She has Antietam, gave birth to a baby boy. combat as if it were a new the depth and breadth of experience "What use have we for women, if phenomenon. It's not. said Elizabeth necessary to handle the scope and soldiers in the army can give birth to Leonard, a historian at Colby College complexity of this very important job. children?" an astonished Col. Elijah in Maine who has studied women Dufficy is a native Marylander and H.C. Cavins, of the 14th Indiana, soldiers of the Civil War. "It's that we holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Outdoor wrote to his wife. let these stories disappear." Recreation and Interpretation from The New Jersey sergeant, whose DeAnne Blanton, a military historian the University of Maryland and a name and fate have been lost to at the National Archives, and Lauren Master’s Degree in Earth Science history, was not the only woman Cook Wike have spent more than a Education from Mississippi State disguised as a man fighting at decade meticulously combing diaries, University. Living with her husband Fredericksburg that day. Sarah letters, burial records, military reports and pets on the family farm near Emma Edmonds, using the alias Pvt. and newspapers documenting the Brunswick, Maryland, Dufficy Franklin Thompson, spent 12 hours service of women soldiers. currently enjoys traveling, Irish set on her horse, often under enemy fire, In their book, "They Fought Like dancing, and researching her family delivering dispatches as the orderly to Demons," they found evidence that at history including a great uncle who Union Gen. Orlando Poe. least 250 women dressed as men

BALTIMORE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE

THE “OLD LINER” NEWSLETTER and fought for the North and the Although Army regulations required and Velazquez penned popular South in virtually every major battle of all recruits to have a physical, the memoirs. the bloody Civil War. examinations became cursory as "No editor can turn over a morning's At least eight women combatants each side became desperate for fresh 'exchange papers' without fought at Antietam. Catherine troops. "Often, they'd just have encountering authentic anecdotes of Davidson's right arm was amputated. recruits walk by," Blanton said. "And if some fair and fast Polly or Lucy who, Mary Galloway was shot in the neck. they weren't lame or blind and if their led by the spirit of patriotism, love, or A woman fighting for the trigger finger worked, they were in." fun, has donned the blue breeches Confederates died in the Cornfield at (The Army became serious about and follows the drum," wrote the Antietam. Five women fought at entrance physicals in 1872, Blanton United States Service magazine. Gettysburg. One Confederate woman said: "The Civil War was really the But over time, the stories of these was shot in the leg, and two were cut last time women could sneak into the outed women soldiers were forgotten. down in Pickett's Charge. Army and pass herself off as a man.") And once the war was over, Women soldiers fought in the First Because so many soldiers were hundreds more who'd made it Battle of Bull Run. "There were a teenaged boys who had yet to shave, through undetected, learning to spit, great many fanatic women in the a woman's beardless face went smoke, chew tobacco, swear, play Yankee army," a Georgia unnoticed. The ill-fitting uniforms hid cards and swagger like a man, Confederate wrote home, "some of their shape, most soldiers rarely slipped out of their uniforms and into whom were killed." In fighting near bathed and everyone slept in their obscurity. Dallas in May 1864, several clothes. For nearly 50 years, the Adjutant Confederate women soldiers were When armies were camped out in the General's Office denied women killed in an assault on Union lines. field, it would have been easy for soldiers existed. "They fought like demons," Sgt. these women to slip away into the For more than a century, only the Robert Ardry of the 11th Illinois woods to take care of bodily family of Pvt. Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Infantry wrote to his father, "and we functions, Blanton surmised, and Regiment, State cut them down like dogs." months of marching, poor nutrition Volunteers, knew that the body buried Confederate Loreta Janeta and the stress of combat most likely in Chalmette National Cemetery near Velazquez, disguised as Lt. Harry interrupted many menstrual cycles. New Orleans was that of a woman, Buford, fought along with five other Sometimes, just the fact that the Rosetta Wakeman. women soldiers in the Battle of women wore pants and acted in a She'd died of dysentery, as many Shiloh. Maria Lewis, an African- way wholly unexpected in the prim, soldiers did, after a long, hot march American passing as a white male Victorian era of hoop skirts and from Alexandria, Va., to Louisiana. soldier, served in the 8th New York fainting couches gave them cover. "I Wakeman, who grew up on a farm, Cavalry and "skirmished and fought readily recall many things which was working as a man on the canal like the rest," a fellow soldier wrote. ought to have betrayed her," Poe, boats before she enlisted. She was Four Confederate women were Sarah Edmonds' commanding officer, like many of the women soldiers promoted to the rank of captain. At later confessed, "except that no one Blanton has found - working-class city least one was a major. thought of finding a woman in girls who toiled in factories or as "We know that because these women soldier's dress." seamstresses in the North for about were hiding the fact that they were Their service became an open secret. $4 a month or semi-literate farm girls women, they were fully expected to Fellow soldiers wrote home about from both North and South. do everything that any other soldier in them and chronicled their exploits, if "If you were being paid starvation the company was expected to do," not their names, in their diaries. wages as a woman, $13 a month, Blanton said. Stories romanticizing their which was the Union Army pay for a "They didn't get a pass because of adventurous spirits and extolling their private, sounded pretty good," their gender. They were hiding their patriotism appeared in the New York Blanton said. gender." Times, the Richmond Examiner and Some women followed husbands or It was easy for women to infiltrate the the Chicago Daily Tribune. Edmonds sweethearts into battle. Others, like Union and Confederate ranks. Kentucky Confederate Mary Ann

BALTIMORE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE

THE “OLD LINER” NEWSLETTER

Clark, whose husband abandoned following the rear of Lee's army to hearts of the gallant beaux in our her and their two children, then took Gettysburg," according to the "History comp, and may furnish a romance or up with a new wife, left her kids with of Franklin County," published in a reality for the future novelist. They her mother and became Henry Clark 1887. no doubt pity the noble fellows; but to escape her sorrows. The next day, 150 Franklin County they should remember the poet says "The fact that women were willing to men formed Chambers Artillery unit 'pity is akin to love.'" risk injury, illness, maiming and even and became the first Civil War unit This near innocence and unwavering death to escape the kind of lives that formed in Franklin County. The men optimism would soon be challenged were available to them at the time, boarded a rail car on the Cumberland as the war hit close to home. tells you something about just how Valley Railroad and headed to Camp limited their choices were," said Curtin in Harrisburg. Leonard of Colby College. "I'm as One soldier wrote a letter to the independent as a hog on ice," Pennsylvania Daily Telegraph in Rosetta Wakeman wrote gleefully to Chambersburg on April 30, 1861. He her family. "I will dress as I am a mind noted that, "This usually quiet town to for all anyone else [cares], and if now presents a very animated and they don't let me alone they will be soldier like appearance, as the sound sorry for it." of the drum, the running to and fro of soldiers, and all the pomp and circumstance of glorius (sic) war, are LOOKING BACK 1861: the distinguishing features of our Chambersburg takes streets." This early photograph shows As the country got onto its war Chambersburg as it looked during the sides in the Civil War footing, Marylanders headed north. By JAMES RADA JR. Civil War. (Courtesy Gratz Historical "It has been but three weeks since Society) For PublicOpiniononline.com the stars and stripes, as everywhere Though Chambersburg is better in the North, came up like a rash all known for being burned by over the town. Two weeks ago these Confederate troops in 1864, it was a stars and stripes were almost the first hub of activity from the beginning of to gladden the eyes of loyal fugitives, the war. seeking safety in the North," the New Fort Sumter in South Carolina York World reported on May 14, surrendered to Confederate forces on 1861, from Chambersburg. April 14, 1861, marking the start of Despite the loss at Fort Sumter, the Civil War. A few days later, on optimism and support remained high April 18, residents of Chambersburg in the Union. The same was also true held a ceremony to erect a 120-foot- in Chambersburg. The Union soldier tall flag pole on the Diamond and a writing to the newspaper said, "The large flag fluttered from it. citizens of Chambersburg have been "The occasion was made memorable generous in their contributions, and by the singing of 'The Star Spangled profuse in their kindness to the Banner' by a band of patriotic ladies soldiers and officers; while the ladies, in front of the Franklin Hotel, and the God bless them, smile upon us so delivery of soul-thrilling speeches by sweetly as almost to captivate us all. Messrs. McClure, Stumbaugh, Reilly, Their kindness will be a theme of Brewer, Everett, Stenger and Welsh. praise among the soldiers now in This pole stood as a witness of the Camp Curtin in future years. Although patriotic impulses of the people of the not in secret, I fear some of the fair community until Gen. Imboden's rebel damsels have 'laid siege' to the cavalry cut it down as they were

BALTIMORE CIVIL WAR ROUNDTABLE