October 2011 Newsletter
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Old Baldy Civil War Round Table of Philadelphia October 13, 2011, The One Hundred and Fiftieth Year of the Civil War Camp Letterman : 8o Acres for 121 Days When the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Notes from the President... Virginia left the Gettysburg environs on July 4 and fol- lowing, they left behind almost 21,000 wounded soldiers. Welcome to Fall and another World Series run. Hard to These men were distributed over the countryside in roughly believe three quarters of the year is complete and we are 160 locations. Casualties of this magnitude overtaxed the moving toward the end of the fi rst year of the war. Spe- available resources immediately. Camp Letterman, the first cial thanks to Craig Schoeller for fi lling in last month of its kind, a large General Tent Hospital was constructed. when Tom Moran had to cancel at the last minute. Craig’s It occupied 80 acres presentation on the Battle of the Bulge and his im- on the site of the prisonment was super. Everyone one present was George Wolf Farm, on greatly appreciative to him and astonished at his a hillside just one mile recall of events from almost 70 years ago. Thank out of town on the you to all who came out to hear Craig as we had York Pike, and existed a good sized crowd for our fi rst meeting in our for a period of 121 new location. Our new location in the Sando days. Room in the front of the building worked out well. We enter in the main door up the front Using period stairs but can exit out the door just outside accounts, original the Sando Room on to Broad Street. photographs, and cur- rent maps LBG Phil This month Licensed Battlefi eld Guide Phil Lechak will attempt Lechak will enlighten our group on Camp Letter- to bring this often overlooked and under appreciated site to man. It should be a great presentation. I will not life. Although today this location contains only two historic be in attendance this month as I will be heading to Peoria markers, a hotel and a shopping center, complete with gas the night of the meeting for a dedication ceremony. Come station and fast food restaurant; we will take an imaginary out and support Phil. I will be back with you next month 'walking tour' around the grounds and experience where for Herb Kaufman’s presentation on the Gettysburg Ad- soldiers healed from the ravages of war. dress. A shout out to Kerry Bryan for the great job she has done lining up some fi ne programs for our unit despite Phil Lechak became a Licensed Battlefield Guide at the her medical challenges this Spring. Gettysburg National Military Park in November of 2005. At his retirement from the U S Postal Service in January of The sessions at Camden County College have been well 2007, following an almost 37 year career, Phil and Donna, attended and very good. If you are in the area they are his wife of 33 years, moved to Gettysburg. Now a Full having an encampment on October 22nd. Keep current on Time LBG, Phil has led multiple tours across these historic 150th events and share them with the newsletter so we all Hospital grounds for many groups and was a presenter at can learn. Will have details on the “Gone for the Soldier” the 2010 13th GNMP Biennial Seminar - The Aftermath exhibit in Macculloch Hall in the next newsletter. For those and the End of the Campaign. not going to central Pennsylvania next month the New Jersey Historical Commission is having a Conference at Join us at our next Old Baldy Civil War Round Table meet- Princeton University with Eric Foner and other scholars. ing as Phil Lechak presents Camp Letterman. That’s Look for the details in the newsletter. Thursday, October 13th starting at 7:30PM in the Sando Room of the Union League at Broad & Sansom Streets. As always, you are welcome to join us at 6:00 at Applebee’s for a bite to eat before the meeting. It’s just a block south of the Union League on 15th Street. Rich Jankowski, President The Old Baldy CWRT will meet at the Union League of Philadelphia at 7:30 PM, the second Thursday of the month. Members go out to a local restaurant for dinner at 6:00 PM, Applebees on 15th Street between Walnut and Locust. You’re Welcome to Join Us! 1 of an import- Notice: Attire for Men at the Union League export com- Jacket and tie would be preferred; otherwise collared shirts, long pants and jacket are recommended. For men and pany located women, the following attire is never acceptable on the first at the base or second floors of the League: jeans, denim wear, tee shirts, of Chestnut athletic wear, tank, halter, or jogging tops, shorts, baseball Street. Evi- caps, sneakers, extremely casual or beach footwear. Current dently a man or historical military uniforms are appropriate. of indepen- dent wealth (the 1860 census lists his profession as “gentleman”), Fales retired from commercial enterprise in 1835, after Homefront Heroes... which he turned his attention to the fi ne arts. He studied “Samuel B. Fales” art for several years, became an avid private collector, and served as a director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Article, Photos Arts from 1857 until 1860. by Kerry Bryan Then came the War. An ardent Unionist, Fales soon found Faithful readers of the OBCWRT newsletter may recall last a venue wherein he could demonstrate his patriotism: month’s article regarding Philadelphia’s Civil War volunteer he devoted himself to the mission of the Union Volunteer refreshment saloons. The Cooper Shop and the Union Refreshment Saloon from its 1861 inception to the day Volunteer Refreshment Saloons were both located near the its doors closed (December 1, 1865); in the interim, he base of Washington Avenue, proximal to the Delaware Riv- served not only as Corresponding Secretary, but also was a er wharves where ferries unloaded train cars being shuttled member of numerous Union Saloon committees, chairing between the Perth Amboy and Camden Railroad and the several of them, e.g. the Hospitals and Military Reception. Philadelphia, Wilming- Indeed, Fales continued to serve the Union Volunteer Re- ton, and Baltimore Rail- freshment Saloon long after the War, for this collector of art road. In the spring of had become an inveterate archivist: Fales diligently com- 1861, as the fi rst fl ood piled and preserved Union Volunteer Saloon records and of Union soldiers en ephemera, including letters, accounting ledgers, stationery, route to the front were brochures, broadsides and tickets for fund raising events, funneled through the sketches, and much more. Today the Historical Society Southwark neighbor- of Pennsylvania holds the Samuel B Fales Collection, 22 hood, local citizens be- boxes of primary source materials invaluable to those inter- gan to provide free food ested in researching Philadelphia’s Civil War homefront. and drink (coffee was the most potent potable After the War, Fales again turned his attention to his private served) to the tired, art gallery, but he also remained an avid amateur histo- hungry “boys in blue.” rian; he actively corresponded with Frank Moore, author of By May 27, 1861, both Women of the War (1866), as well as Dr. Linus P. Brockett, the Cooper Shop and co-author of Women’s Work in the Civil War: A Record the Union had been offi - of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience (1867). In 1867 he cially organized, on that carefully prepared a document outlining the history of the date providing hot meals to 780 men of the 8th New York Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon. Regiment as it passed through Philadelphia. By the end of In the fall of 1868 he was able to galvanize the members 1865, the saloons together would supply some four million of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon for a mighty meals – at no charge. Funded completely by private dona- reprise: October 1-3, they provided 27,000 meals to former tions, the refreshment saloons relied upon its volunteer “boys in blue” who had converged upon Philadelphia to workers, men and women willing to rush to the saloons to celebrate the Presidential nomination of General Ulysses S. welcome arriving troops at any hour of day or night. Grant. One of the most dedicated of these volunteers was Samuel MOLLUS honored Samuel B. Fales in August, 1867, when B. Fales. Born in Boston in 1808 to a prominent New they elected him to be a “Companion” of that elite order; England family, he could trace he served on its Penn- his ancestry to William Bradford, sylvania Council of one of the “Pilgrim Fathers” who the Commandery for arrived on the Mayfl ower in 1620; several years. Also an Bradford then served as governor enthusiastic member of Massachusetts for some thirty of the Union League, years. Young Fales attended Fales continued to be Harvard from 1821 to 1825, active in Philadelphia after which he studied medicine cultural and patriotic in Boston for a few years before spheres until shortly discontinuing that career path. before his death in Fales then moved to Philadelphia 1880. Samuel B. in 1832, where for the following Fales was indeed a three years he was co-proprietor homefront hero. 2 Tuesday October 13, 1863 Manassas Mirage Making Meade Meander Today in Civil War History It would have been a case of “déjà vu all over again” if such a phrase existed at this time, because Robert E.