The Texas Union Herald Colonel E
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The Texas Union Herald Colonel E. E. Ellsworth Camp #18 Department of Texas Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Volume ii Number 9 September 2017 My wife, of 52-years, has certain activities that Rattling Sabres comprise her “schedule”. Two of these activities are eating by out on late Saturday afternoon and again on Monday. She Glen E. Zook also has a routine of eating at only specific restaurants with different groups of restaurants for Saturday and Monday. Past Commander in Chief, Donald E. Darby, has For the Saturday group, the Red Robin, that is taken pity on me and has submitted several articles for located on North Garland Avenue just south of the George publication in The Texas Union Herald. At least 2 of these Bush Turnpike, is probably her favorite restaurant and we articles are very lengthy and will be serialized with portions eat there at least twice per month and sometimes more in several editions of this newsletter. Now, if members of often. In the restaurant, there is a wall decoration of a Camp #18 would do the same. That is, furnish articles, United States flag made from red, white, and blue news bulletins, announcements, and so forth in a timely baseballs. However, instead of having 50 “stars” (really period so that the information is in the hands of camp white baseballs), there are only 35. Of course, the 35-star members before the activity takes place. flag came about in 1863 when West Virginia separated from I am ashamed that the anti-Confederate memorial Virginia and became an official state. frenzy has come to the Dallas / Fort Worth area. Although I Kansas was the 34th state to join the Union on 29 can find only 1 ancestor who fought for the Confederacy January 1861 and came into the Union as a free state and (Captain George Washington Stump, commander Company not a slave state. Of course, there had been numerous B 18th Virginia Cavalry an ancestral uncle), and I would conflicts, actually battles, between those wanting the have fought for the Union (like a number of ancestors did), I territory becoming a free state and those wanting Kansas to still do not agree with this anti-Confederate movement. be a slave state. In fact, the territory was often referred to Removal of Confederate monuments and statues, as “bloody Kansas”. renaming streets and schools named for various Since adding a star to the flag is officially done on Confederate figures, and other things that have anything to the July 4 following the admittance to the Union, many flags, do with the Confederate States of America, does not carried by Union forces, had only 33-stars at least at the change history. There was a Civil War fought in this start of the war. The Battle of Manassas (as called by the country, there was slavery, and there were indentured Confederates) / The Battle of Bull Run (as called by the servants. This was actual history and, no matter how hard Union forces), which became, eventually, the first battle of some do try to make this the “cause” of the Civil War, it is a both names, happened on 21 July 1861. As such, virtually practical impossibility to ignore the “real” reasons for the all, if not all, of the flags carried by Union forces had 33- war. stars and not the “official” 34-stars. There are other reasons for trying to eliminate the With the admittance of Kansas, an additional star real situation in the antebellum and actual Civil War was eventually added to new flags made, often by groups of including certain political forces who try to use certain facets local women, for individual state regiments. However, flags to their immediate advantage. Many “facts” of the for the regular army were all made by Annin Flagmakers antebellum and Civil War period are distorted to emphasize located on Fulton Street in New York City. That company is a certain political viewpoint. This is just plain wrong! still in business! I found that information while doing a Certain things are “glossed over” in history books search on the Internet! and certain things are emphasized in both a positive and / The “official” military “Stars and Stripes” was almost or negative manner to “prove” to the reader that “bad things” square being 6.0-feet high and 6.5-feet long. Flags made were a part of everyday life in the South. Problems in the by others were often on a 3 x 5 ratio but the official flags North, like the New York City riots, are often not even were the almost square type. I do have a reproduction flag mentioned in modern history books because such that is 6.0-feet by 6.5-feet and 35-stars that I need to start happenings detract from the pristine example that the Union bringing to the Camp #18 meetings for accuracy. I did bring side is supposed to represent. it to one meeting over a year ago. Anyway, enough of my rambling on the subject of When Nevada was admitted to the Union officially removing Confederate memorials and so forth! on 31 October 1864 (when Abraham Lincoln finally signed I do appreciate the condolences that a number of the act that was passed by Congress on 21 March 1864) a SUVCW members have given me concerning the death of 36th star would be officially added to the flag on 4 July 1865. my much younger brother David. He was exactly 1-month, However, flag makers started adding the 36th star almost to the day, short of being 22-years younger than I. immediately. Therefore, there were a relatively few 36-star flags used during the war. The Texas Union Herald Even small (1 or 2 paragraphs) material, or photographs, can be used. That makes editing and The Texas Union Herald is published monthly by publishing the newsletter easier since "fill" material is the Colonel E.E. Ellsworth Camp #18, Sons of Union available for those little areas that seem to happen Veterans of the Civil War. For official business, including whenever an article is included in the publication. editorial and article submission, the mailing address is as follows: Mailing Address: Glen E. Zook Editor The Texas Union Herald Texas Union Herald 410 Lawndale Drive 410 Lawndale Drive Richardson, Texas 75080 Richardson, Texas 75080 E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] ____________________ Telephone: (972) 231-3987 (972) 231-5011 Colonel E. E. Ellsworth Camp #18 Articles, news items, features, and the like are welcomed for publication in The Texas Union Herald. Camp Officers Deadline is normally the 1st of the month of the cover date of publication. Submissions may be handwritten, Commander John Schneider typewritten, or submitted in any of the popular computer [email protected] formats (Microsoft Word, Open Office, Word Perfect, and ASCII). Please contact the editor for details. SVC Rick Erder All material herein is copyrighted by either the [email protected] original author or the Ellsworth Camp #18, Department of Texas, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. However, JVC Paul Ridenour it may be reproduced by any non-profit organization unless [email protected] the article specifically indicates that it is not to be reproduced or that permission must be given in writing Secretary Don Gates by the original author provided that the following is [email protected] complied with: No changes are to be made in any manner to the original article or news item (this includes any editing, Treasurer Don Gates etc.); full credit is given to the original author and The [email protected] Texas Union Herald; and a copy of any publication incorporating such excerpts is immediately provided to both Chaplain Larry Johnson the original author and the editor of The Texas Union Herald. Patriotic Instructor Drake Peddie [email protected] _________________________________ Graves Registration Open Articles Needed! Historian Don Gates If the members of the Colonel E.E. Ellsworth [email protected] Camp #18 do not want to be inundated with articles that were chosen by the editor (what he wants to see in the Civil War Memorials Open newsletter) then they need to start inputting items for inclusion in The Texas Union Herald. Tidbits about the Eagle Scout Coordinator John Schneider Civil War, stories, articles, current news items, photographs, [email protected] even commentaries are most welcome. Don't worry if you are not an accomplished author. Editor Glen E. Zook Get the idea onto paper (computer, etc.) and get it to the [email protected] editor. He really can edit (rewrite, etc.) and you'll be [email protected] surprised at just how well you can write! _________________________ If you have E-Mail capabilities, you can either include the information in the body of the message or put it in either Word format or ACSII ("txt") format. If, for some reason, you cannot do either, contact the editor to see if your particular word processor format can be handled. If "hard" copy, make sure the copy is legible (can be read by someone else!). Typewritten, computer printed, even in Crayon on "Big Chief" tablet is acceptable. Just get the information in! About eight o’clock while I was taking a message The Loss of the Monitor from the captain to the engineer, I saw water pouring Contributed by through the coal-bunkers in sudden volumes as it swept Donald E. Darby over the deck. About that time the engineer reported that Past Commander in Chief SUVCW the coal was too wet to keep up steam, which had run down from its usual pressure of eighty pounds to twenty.