THE GILMOR BLADE Those Who Allow the Surrender of Their History, Also Surrender Their Future! Official Newsletter of the COL

THE GILMOR BLADE Those who allow the surrender of their history, also surrender their future! Official Newsletter of THE COL. H.W.GILMOR CAMP, No. 1388, SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS

March , 201 6 March meeting to feature Dave Booz as speaker The Col. Harry W. Gilmor Camp Booz, a long-time friend of the #1388 will hold its next meeting Camp is currently an instructor in “The Charge” March 9th, at 7:30 PM at the Balti- the Civil War Era Studies at Get- more County Historical Society, tysburg College. He will be pre- "To you, Sons of 9811 Van Buren Lane, Cockeys- senting on “Marylanders in the Confederate Veterans, we ville, MD 21030. The swearing in Confederacy” and he will present a of most of the Camp officers for slate of famous and maybe not so submit the vindication of the 2016 was held, with Commander famous, Marylander’s who served in Cause for which we fought; Williams swearing in 1 st Lieutenant the Confederate military. He will to your strength will be Commander Leasure, followed by tell you about their stories and of given the defense of the st 1 Lieutenant Commander Leasure their service in defense of the South. Confederate soldier's good swearing in 2 nd Lieutenant Com- mander Williams, Historian Jeremy Speaking of Election of Maryland name, the guardianship of Cook, Chaplain John Ross, Adjutant Division Officers, the Maryland his history, the emulation of Elliott Cummings and Judge Ad- Division Convention will be held his virtues, the perpetuation vocate Carroll Holzer. Hopefully April 23 rd , 2016 at the American of those principles he loved the rest of the officers for 2016 will Legion Post in Ridge, MD, near and which made him be sworn in at this meeting. We will Point Lookout. All are welcomed to discuss the upcoming Election of attend, you do not need to be a glorious and which you also Maryland Division Officers for the Camp officer. Hopefully everyone cherish. Remember, it is next two years. had a chance to see the convention your duty to see that the Our guest speaker this month, Dave flyer at the February meeting. true history of the South is presented to future Minutes: Camp meeting February 1 0, 201 6 generations." The meeting was opened at 7:32 Michael Williams – 2nd Lt Com- p.m. by Commander Michael K. mander Inside this issue: Williams. Commander Williams John Ross - Chaplain offered the Invocation and led us in Elliott Cummings - Adjutant The Davis’ Irish 2 the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Carroll Holzer - Judge Advocate housekeeper flag and the Salute to the Confed- erate Flag. Commander Williams Our guest speaker, Dan Toomey, Irish regimental 2 read The Charge of Gen. Stephen gave a very good talk on the "Civil flags Dill Lee. Fourteen members and War on the Eastern Shore.” guests were in attendance. Com- Lee, American 3 mander Williams welcomed several BREAK icon guests. Adjutant Elliott Cummings sum- CW prison train 4 Commander Williams swore in marized the Minutes of the January wreck Compatriot Gene Leasure as 1st Lt 13, 2016 meeting.

Commander. 1st Lt Commander Leasure swore in other Camp MOTION: To wave the Treasurers Rare MD WBTS 7 officers: Report. PASSED artifacts Jeremy Cook - Historian See “Camp Minutes,” p. 6

March, 2016

Photo found of Irish housekeeper of Confederate White House

From O’Melia, whose name has been http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/h spelled a variety of ways throughout istory/Photo-found-of-Irish- the years—O’Melia, O’Malley and housekeeper-of-Confederate-White- O’Malla, left little by way of a writ- House -.html ten account of her years in Rich- By Jane Walsh mond.

A photograph has been found of the O’Melia eventually returned to Irish woman who was hired as the Baltimore, where she operated housekeeper for Jefferson Davis at boarding houses. In 1889, O’Melia the White House of the Confed- Image of Mary O’Melia now at The attended a memorial ceremony in eracy in Richmond, VA during the American Civil W ar Museum. Photo the city for Jefferson Davis after his Civil War. by: American Civl War Museum passing. A reporter said she “attract-

ed considerable attention” and Mary O’Melia, who left Ireland for Although details are unknown, she described her as “a well-preserved America as a young widow with settled in Baltimore with her child- old lady.” three children, has always been a ren around 1850. In 1861, she left mystery. But earlier this year, a her children with relatives while she She died in 1907. woman with an "Irish lilt to her went to visit friends in Rich-mond. voice" called the American Civil She was stranded in Virginia when War Museum and said O’Melia was the state left the Union. related to her late husband, and that she had a necklace Confederate Friends told her that the First Lady Flags show Irish pride First Lady Varina Davis had given could help her return home and she the housekeeper, reports the appealed to the Roman Catholic Numerous regiments fighting for Washington Post. bishop to help her. the Confederacy created and displayed flags reflecting their Irish “What really took my breath away Varina Davis persuaded O’Melia to heritage. Here are two examples: is she said she had a photograph of take the position of housekeeper at Mary,” said Cathy Wright, curator the White House, where she was at the Civil War Museum, formerly among a staff of 20 and served as a the Museum of the Confederacy, confidante to the first lady. located next door to the White House. O’Melia remained behind to over- see the mansion when the South's “Considering that it’s been almost first family left Richmond in April 150 years since she left the White 1865 and may have been in the Georgia Irish Regiment flag House that anyone has been able to White House when President Abra- look at her face is just remarkable,” ham Lincoln visited that same Wright said. month.

“One of the more elusive figures “Mrs. Omelia behaved just as you was Mary O’Melia.” Mary Larkin described her, but seemed anxious was born on April 7, 1822 in Gal- to serve and promised to take care way and educated in a convent. She of everything which may mean wed Matthias O’Melia, a ship cap- some things,” President Jefferson 10 th Tennessee Irish Regiment, tain, but was widowed at age 25 Davis wrote to his wife from Dan- “Sons of Erin” when he was lost at sea. ville days after his departure.

March, 2016

The son of Virginia defended the South and rejoiced in abolition… Robert E. Lee, American icon

By Phillip McMath loudest against the South. New said [that] slavery is all we are Washington Times, Monday, England had convened a secession fighting for, and to give it up is to January 18, 2016 convention about the War of 1812, give up all. Even if true, which we mooted only by the end of that deny, [the abolition of] slavery is Robert E. Lee rode south on a war. not all our enemies are fighting morning in April 1861, crossing for. It is merely a pretense to the Potomac to his estate in Still, Lee, who was born on this establish sectional superiority and Arlington. He had turned down day 209 years ago, could see the a more centralized form of gov- President Lincoln’s offer of every folly of secession, but there it was. ernment, and to deprive us of our soldier’s dream — command of He could not “raise my hand rights and liberties.” the army of the United States, a against my relatives, my children, position he had longed for, and my home.” In a word, Virginia. Slaves who fled plantations in the now he rode toward a position and late months of the war were often a destiny he had neve r dreamed of. Slavery had caused the schism. forced back to the plantations by He could not know what lay But secession was far more comp- Union soldiers, or interned in ahead, but he could see a storm licated than some in later genera- camps where they died by the gathering. tions would surmise. Gen. George thousands. The historian C. Vann B. McClellan, like many Northern Woodward, a professor of history Lee had hoped Virginia would not Democrats, was for the Union but at Yale, wrote that the handling of secede, indeed, hoped that none of against abolition. Ulysses S. Grant the freed slaves by the Union army the states would. The man who has owned five slaves, four through “wrote some of the darkest pages been called America’s greatest his wife and one that he bought of war history.” soldier hardly resembles the mean himself. caricature drawn by the politically Slavery as an issue gradually correct in the strife and tumult of Confederate Gen. Patrick Cle- became less important to the South the present day. He had opposed burne of Arkansas, a native of than independence, and Cle- secession, and he had opposed Ireland who was called “the burne’s petition pushed the South slavery, writing in 1856 that “Sla- Stonewall Jackson of the West,” to within a step of abolition. In very as an institution is a moral died in defense of Southern March 1865, with the war lost and and political evil.” He would free independence, but worked against Cleburne dead at the Battle of his own slaves and declare, “I am slavery. In January 1864, he wrote Franklin in Tennessee, the petition rejoiced that slavery is abolished.” a letter to Jefferson Davis, presi- became moot. dent of the Confederacy, urging But wasn’t the Constitution a that all slaves sho uld be freed who But upon what meat did the North contract of consent and not coer- swore allegiance to the South. The feed to have grown so pious? The cion? “A Union that can only be letter, alas, was not forwarded to South had bought only those maintained by swords and bay- Richmond by his superiors. slaves the North had sold to her. onets, and in which strife and civil By 1800 over half of Northern war are to take the place of broth- When Nathan Bedford Forrest, exports were sullied by it. One erly love and kindness,” Lee who sold slaves in Memphis historian said that “it was the wrote, “has no charm for me.” before the war, heard that, he wealth accumulated by the West protested, “If we do that, what are Indian slave trade which more Moreover, a precedent had been we fighting for?” In his petition, than anything else underlay the set by those who now shouted the Gen. Cleburne answered: “It is See,”Lee, American icon,” p. 4

March, 2016 Civil War prison train wreck enroute to Elmira materiel in huge quantities. More By SARAH FLEISCHMAN trains carried heavier loads, and

did so more quickly than at any "The two locomotives were raised time in the very short history of high in the air, face-to-face against the technology… each other, like giants grappling."

- Frank Evans, Union guard who …The Pennsylvania Railroad ser- was uninjured in the wreck viced a strategic corridor that In the 1800s, Americans loved their extended from the iron and muni- new railroads. By taking a train, tions works at Pittsburgh east to riders could avoid bad weather, Philadelphia, New York, Balti- escape the bumpy stagecoach ride, more, and Washington. In 1862 and make some reasonable plans on and again in 1863, Confederate when they might arrive. But the Gen. Robert E. Lee dispatched technology, and the operating saboteurs to destroy the wooden culture of railroads was still rela- 3,680-foot-long Rockville Bridge tively primitive, and preventive By the summer of 1864, while over the Susquehanna River near safety measures were virtually Union troops under Gen. William Harrisburg in order to hamper the unknown. Before the late 1800s, Tecumseh Sherman were advan- re-supply of Union troops. On most railroad managers viewed cing deepl y into Georgia, Northern neither occasion did the rebels even serious accidents as a regret- prisons were overflowing with succeed. table, but acceptable, cost of doing See “Prison train wreck,”p. 5 business. Lee, American icon Continued from p.3 One of the earliest passenger-train disasters in American history took prosperity and civilization of New Southern whites seeing one thing place near Fort Washington, Pa., on England and the Middle and blacks another. America’s the North Pennsylvania Railroad. Colonies.” enemies would get the Marshall On July 17, 1856, a trainload of Plan after World War II. The

1,600 Sunday school picnickers At war’s end, the South’s econo- South got Reconstruction after the from the St. Michael's Roman my was ruined. Many of her cities Civil War, and traces of its poison

Catholic Church in Philadelphia lay in ashes. One in five white fruit survive still. smashed head-on into a local pas- Southern men had been killed or senger train, killing sixty and crippled. The slaves had been Against the backdrop of Recon- injuring sixty others. The twenty- liberated but “the Negro” aban- struction, Lee crossed his own nine-year-old conductor of the doned, totally unprovided for, as Rubicon, pleading with the South local, having disregarded rules and Frederick Douglass said, “turned to avoid the anger and bitterness ordered his engineer to proceed loose, naked and hungry to the of a lost cause, and become good rather than wait at a siding for the open sky.” With the poor whites and loyal Americans. He became delayed picnic train to pass, was so marginalized, the impoverished of the beloved of his people, the gre at distraught that he took his life the both races were pushed into the de icon, and deserves the honor the same day. facto slavery of the sharecropping South pays him still.

system and the reign of Jim Crow, Phillip McMath, the son of a

During the Civil War, both North- to be set against each other by former Democratic governor of ern and Southern railroads hauled demagogues. The Confederate flag Arkansas, is a lawyer in Little passengers, troops, freight, and Rock. developed a tragic binocularity,

March, 2016

Prison train wreck Continued from p. 4

Confederate prisoners. That July, Jervis, N.Y., on the Pennsylvania the Union Army opened Camp border, four hours behind its lead Chemung, a new military prison at train. Twenty-three miles ahead, a Elmira, N.Y. Union officers trans- fifty-car coal train was steaming ferred large convoys of prisoners east on the same tracks. When the of war from other prisons to the coal train, pulled by a thirty-eight- new facility. By the end of the ton engine built in 1863 by the month, the camp held 4,424 pris- New Jersey Locomotive and oners. During August, 5,195 more Machine Works, arrived at Lacka- arrived. waxen, Pennsylvania about 2:30 p.m., conductor John Martin To move Confederate prisoners checked with the depot telegraph- Photo of Elmira prison from Point Lookout, Md. to er, Douglas Kent, to make sure Elmira, the army first transported that the track ahead was clear to them by steamer up the Atlantic Shohola, Pennsylvania, just four Both the Confederate and Union Coast to Jersey City, N.J. There miles to the east. Kent gave him dead were buried on the site. A they boarded the Erie Railroad for clearance, and the coal train subsequent investigation fo und the an all-day - or all-night - 273-mile continued on. telegrapher, who had fled the trip that twice veered from north- scene, to be negligent - and per- ern New Jersey and New York Steaming east at about twenty-five haps drunk. into Pennsylvania along the upper miles an hour, the coal train Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. passed Shohola at 2:45 p.m. In the The prison camp at Elmira closed A first group of 399 prisoners middle of a blind curve, in a deep one year later, soon after the Civil arrived at Elmira on July 6, 1864. rocky ravine known as King and War ended. In 1911, the bodies of Fuller's Cut, the two trains ran the men buried at Shohola were Another group of unknown size headlong into each other. The exhumed and removed to Elmira, followed on July 11, and a third sudden impact of the collision where they were placed in a com- propelled the fuel wood stacked in group of 502 men arrived on the mon grave at Woodlawn National 12th. Early in the morning of July each engine's tender forward into Cemetery, marked by a monument 15th, a "second section" train the locomotive cabs, immediately with two bronze plaques mounted carrying 833 prisoners and 128 killing both engineers and firemen. on its opposite sides. The names of Union guards pulled out of Jersey On the prisoner train, the impact the Union soldiers faced north; City…The engine of the lead train telescoped the wooden cars into those of the Confederate soldiers carried distinctive flags that sig- each other, killing thirty-seven faced south. nified to all railroaders along the men in the first car behind way that a "second section" was Engine171. As many as fifty-one Only with the coming of air following, and warned them not to prisoners and nineteen Union brakes, automatic couplers, auto- use or block the tracks until that guards died as a result of the matic block signals, and steel- second train had safely passed. crash. bodied, telescoping-resistant

railroad cars, did travel for civilian Soon, however, the second west- When word reached Port Jervis, and military passengers become bound prison train, pulled by No. New York, the nearest railroad truly safe. As railroads gained 171, a thirty-three-ton American division town, the Erie Railroad experience, and laws mandating Standard 4-4-0 type built in 1854 rushed two relief trains with aid safety devices came into effect, by Seth Wilmarth of Boston, fell workers and doctors to the crash railroads became safer for both far behind. Delayed by a hunt for site. Scores of injured men were passengers and employees… escaped rebels and then by an taken back to Shohola and treated open drawbridge, it arrived at Port at the Erie station or in a hotel.

March, 2016

Rare artifacts from Confederate Maryland soldiers

By Civil War Times A brass plate with the Maryland War Trophy From state seal adorns a cartridge box http://www.historynet.com/rare- made in Massachusetts before the artifacts-from-confederate- war. The seal features a farmer maryland- and a fisherman flanking the The throat of this sword’s scab- soldiers.htm?utm_source=historyn state’s crest and the Latin words bard is engraved: “Captured at et&utm_medium=related crescite et multiplicamini , which, Battle of Winchester from 1st translated, is the heading for this Lieutenant, 5th Rhode Island Bat- caption. Some Confederates from tery by John C. Carroll 1st Mary- Marylanders For Dixie! Maryland went to war wearing land Cav. C.S.A.” similar cartridge boxes. See “Maryland artifacts,”p.7

THE BORDER STATE of Mary- land sent men to both the Union and the Confederate armies. Camp meeting minutes Continued from p. 1 Southern sympathies were strong- est in Baltimore and the Eastern Shore regions of the Old Line Commander Williams and Adjut- April 16, 2016 - Maryland State, but hundreds of men from ant Cummings reported on the Division, SCV Annual Con- February 6, 2016 Maryland Div- vention sponsored by the Captain the western counties cast their lot with the Confederacy as well. ision SCV Semi Annual Meeting Vincent Camalier Camp, Ameri- Though incomplete records make including: can Legion Post 255, Ridge, it impossible to determine how --The contributions to place a Maryland. 9:00 a. m. marker at the grave of 2nd Lt . Fant, April 25, 2016 - Display of four many Marylanders fought in gray, th about 5,000 soldiers made up the a Marylander of the 6 Virginia Confederate Flags at the Hall of Infantry. It was later determined Records / State Archives, Anna- two infantry regiments, four artillery batteries and two cavalry that after the contri-butions were polis, Maryland, 10:00 a.m. troops that were Maryland- received Lt. Fant had been designated units, and thousands disinterred and moved to another The meeting was adjourned with a more joined units from other cemetery with an appro-priate prayer at 9:20 p.m. marker. Confederate states. The rare artifacts pictured here are all from -- A discussion on the Mayor's Respectfully submitted, Daniel D. Hartzler’s unique Special Commission to Review G. Elliott Cummings collection of items that belonged Public Confederate Monuments in Adjutant to the Maryland “Band of Baltimore and the related Mary- Brothers” who fought for the land Historic Trust Easements. Below: Commander Michael K. --Possible new designs for Williams swears in Gene Leasure South. (All photos by Sarah J. Mock) Maryland Division, SCV license as 1st Lt Commander of the Col. tags. The red and white Maryland Harry W. Gilmor Camp SCV , Bottony Cross was considered. Feb. 10, 2016. “Increase and Multiply”

Announcements: March 5, 2016 - Capt. Waddell Camp ceremony and Maryland Division, SCV Flag Rally, 11:00 a.m. St Anne's Cemetery, Anna- polis, Md.

March, 2016

Maryland artifacts Continued from p. 6

Cross the River This engraved watch, with a Buckle up rosette from a horse’s halter used as a fob, came from the Black- istone family, which lived near St. Mary’s. Six Blackistone men served in the Confederate Army, but it’s not possible to determine if this watch belonged to George, Thomas, Wellington, Samuel, John Eager Howard wore this William or Henry. beautiful Maryland state seal belt buckle. Howard enlisted in the 1st Maryland (CSA) in 1861, and later Bonnie Blue became a captain and the quarter- Not every Marylander served in a master of the 2nd Maryland unit from his home state. The 1st Infantry. Virginia Cavalry was raised in Winchester, but in 1861 Company The Gilmor family of Baltimore K of that regiment was composed County sent eight brothers and primarily of troopers who had cousins into the Confederate crossed the Potomac River to join Army. Harry, the most famous of in the Confederacy’s fight. the lot, served in several Virginia Confederate Cross cavalry units before being given command of a partisan troop, the 1st Maryland Battalion, later known as the 2nd Maryland Cavalry. Gilmor’s men caused a great deal of trouble in the Shen- andoah Valley and along the Potomac River, and Union Maj.

Some Marylanders wore secession Gen. Philip Sheridan authorized a mission to capture him in Moore- cockades to show their allegiance. This silk cockade is set off with a field, W. Va., after which he was Maryland state button. imprisoned in Boston. He chron- “Maryland Cross” pins, adapted icled his exploits in Four Years in from the crosses on the state seal, Charm City defender the Saddle (1866). were worn by many Old Line State troops as the unofficial Daring Raider symbol of Confederate Mary- land—and more practically as ID tags. Private Gresham Hough of the 1st Maryland Cavalry wore this example.

Whose timepiece?

A Baltimore militiaman wears two secession cockades similar to the one pictured above. See “Maryland artifacts,” p. 8

March, 2016 Maryland a rtifacts Continued from p. 7

Harry Gilmor made a number of Shoot Straight ton’s frame to install the sight. The daring raids into his native small hole in the top of the sight state. On July 11, 1864, his men Graham Gilmor, Harry’s brother, let in a bit of light. wrecked a railroad bridge north- modified his .44-caliber Reming-

ton revolver with a loop at the east of the city of Baltimore Made in France base of the grip for a lanyard, and and captured a train carrying more uniquely, with a custom rear Union Maj. Gen. William Buel sight. Franklin.

Colonel Harry Gilmor carried this The large round sight would make pistol made by the Southern firm it much easier to focus on a target The French officer’s calvary saber of Leech & Rigdon. The revolver while riding a horse. The cross- belonged to Harry Gilmor. The top was a copy of the Model 1858 hairs appear to be made of a suspension ring has been replaced Colt Navy Revolver. natural fiber—perhaps silk or even with the brass chin strap from a horsehair? horse’s halter. The chin strap This portfolio was originally A gunsmith had to mill a groove hooks into a hole in the quillon of published in the April 2014 issue into the flat top of the Reming- the sword hilt. of Civil War Times .

TTTHETHE GGGILMORGILMOR BLADE Bruce and Nancy Null 2600 Masseth Avenue Baltimore, MD 21219

The Gilmor Blade is the monthly publication of the Col. Harry W. Gilmor Camp #1388, Sons of Confederate Veterans. SAVE THE DATE: March Camp meeting 3/9/2016 Speaker: Dave Booz on “Marylanders in the Confederacy”