Camp History
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History of the General William Lytle Camp # 10 Department of Ohio Cincinnati, Ohio Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Page 1 of 32 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War General William Lytle, Camp # 10 Camp History Table of Contents General William Haines Lytle Biography .......................................................................... 3 William Haines Lytle .... The Man ................................................................................. 4 William Haines Lytle - The Civil War Years ................................................................. 8 Camp Charter Members .................................................................................................... 10 Camp Activities ................................................................................................................ 11 Memorial Day ............................................................................................................... 11 General William Lytle Observance .............................................................................. 12 Last Soldier Project ....................................................................................................... 13 Adams County .......................................................................................................... 13 Brown County ........................................................................................................... 13 Clermont County ....................................................................................................... 14 Clinton County .......................................................................................................... 14 Hamilton County ....................................................................................................... 15 Warren County .......................................................................................................... 15 Annual Activities Listing .............................................................................................. 16 1999........................................................................................................................... 16 2000........................................................................................................................... 16 2001........................................................................................................................... 17 2002........................................................................................................................... 18 2003........................................................................................................................... 19 2004........................................................................................................................... 21 2005........................................................................................................................... 22 2006........................................................................................................................... 23 2007........................................................................................................................... 24 2008........................................................................................................................... 25 2009........................................................................................................................... 27 2010........................................................................................................................... 28 2011........................................................................................................................... 29 2013........................................................................................................................... 31 Page 2 of 32 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War General William Lytle, Camp # 10 Camp History General William Haines Lytle Biography WILLIAM HAINES LYTLE THE MAN 24 SEPTEMBER 2006 SPRING GROVE CEMETERY KENNETH WILSON PCC SUVCW Page 3 of 32 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War General William Lytle, Camp # 10 Camp History William Haines Lytle .... The Man Presented by Kenneth Wilson, PCC 24 September 2006 Sources: "Death of a Warrior Poet ", 1863 - High Tide of the Civil War "William Haines Lytle, Cincinnati's Gentleman General" by D. Reid Ross, OCWGJ VII -121 "William Haines Lytle" by Dr. and C. Kemper 1883, a paper read before the Loyal Legion "Poems of William Haines Lytle" by William H Venable 1894 "For Honor Glory and Union" The Mexican & Civil War Letters of Brig. Gen. William Haines Lytle edited by Ruth C. Carter 1999 William Haines Lytle was precocious, a prodigy, a poet, a politician and a patriot. On the title page of Poems of William Haines Lytle there is a verse by Thomas Caryle, which reads: "The poet could not sing the Heroic Warrior, unless he himself were at least a Heroic Warrior too. I fancy there is in him the Politician, the Thinker, Legislator, Philosopher;--in one or the other degree he could have been, he is all these" The Lytle family came from Ireland in the early 1700's. G Grandfather William Lytle was commissioned as a captain in the French and Indian War and came to Kentucky from Pennsylvania around 1797. Grandfather William Lytle was the founder of Williamsburg in Clermont County, Ohio, a major general in the Ohio militia, served in the Indian wars and was surveyor-general of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. At age 15 he had been in charge of a war party under the direction of Daniel Boone. He was involved in the establishment ofthe Cincinnati College. Father Robert Todd Lytle was a representative in the Ohio legislature, a major general in the Ohio militia, Representative in the 23rd Congress ofthe U.S and surveyor-general of public lands in Ohio. The Lytle family moved from Williamsburg in 1810 and built the mansion on Page 4 of 32 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War General William Lytle, Camp # 10 Camp History Lawrence St., midway between 3rd and 4th Sts and is now the site of Lytle Park. Robert was educated in the Cincinnati College, then studied and practiced law. He was described as a person of fine presence, a courteous gentleman, and an accomplished scholar. Robert married his stepsister Elizabeth Haines, a lady ofrare culture and beauty. They had four children: William Haines 1826, Margarrita 1828, Josephine Roberta 1830 and Elizabeth Haines 1835. Margarrita died in 1832. Theirs was a family of the highest social and economic standing in the developing city of Cincinnati. The emphasis on education constituted one aspect ofthe intellectual and cultural life of the Queen City claiming the title of"Athens ofthe West". The Lytles took active roles in establishing and promoting the arts and intellectual life. Grandfather William Lytle commissioned John James Audubon to paint portraits of himself and his first wife, Eliza. William Haines Lytle inherited the martial spirit of his ancestors and the gift of eloquence. Very early he demonstrated a natural tendency to express himself in oratorical prose and romantic verse, which he inherited from his mother. From the time of his birth, he was groomed to fulfill a special destiny. Hebegari school at the age of four and his teachers were amazed by his gift for words. Academic success was matched by social success. His formal education was at the Cincinnati College, which his grandfather helped to start and where his father was educated. His father, Robert Todd, had died the year before he started and his mother, Elizabeth Haines, died shortly after he had started college. Young Lytle studied English, Latin, Greek, German and French, finishing the prescribed course before he was sixteen and graduated first in his class. His oration at graduation was on "Law and the Legal Professions" and was noted in the local newspaper as the "gem of the evening". His earliest surviving poem was written in his college years and was called "the Soldier's Death". After graduation, he wanted to go to West Point but his family persuaded him to study law. Lytle's grandmother took over the raising of the three children and his mother's brother, E. S. Haines, began training him for the law profession. Lytle found time to continue his education in science and literature with emphasis on French and German. Even though he was still a minor, he enlisted in the Ohio volunteers for the Mexican war. Page 5 of 32 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War General William Lytle, Camp # 10 Camp History Returning to Cincinnati after the war Lytle devoted himself to an active social life. As one of the towns leading bachelors, he courted a long line of local beauties and was particularly interested in his cousin. Elizabeth Macalester. Her father opposed the romance largely on the grounds of being first cousins in a family with a history of consumption and he didn't like Lytle's habits. Lytle had the gentleman's weakness for drinking and apparently drank to excess on several occasions. His next romance was with a distant cousin, Sed Doremus, and it seems he proposed marriage. Sed said no but expected that Lytle would ask her a second time. But being stubborn and not accepted on the initial offer he instead he broke off the romance. She vowed that she would never marry until Lytle did. At his death she was spent an all night vigil by Lytle's casket the evening before the funeral and remained single for the rest of her life. After returning