Your Family and Friends Can Enjoy Their Gift of Membership Anywhere!

Membership I value the sustained connection that I have with benefits for Wisconsin and its history through a membership gift recipients with the Wisconsin Historical Society. Much of what makes Wisconsin such a great place is • 4-issue subscription bound up in its unique history. Supporting the to Wisconsin Magazine Wisconsin Historical Society ensures that this. of History, and one • unique past is not forgotten but passed on. bonus issue • Free admission Mike Ullmer, to the Wisconsin Wisconsin Historical Historical Museum Society member • Half-price or free admission to our 11 additional historic sites around the state of Wisconsin

• 10% off at shop. wisconsinhistory .org and at all museum and historic site gift shops, including Wisconsin Historical Society Press books

• Much more! For a full list of member benefits visit wisconsinhistory .org/membership

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Director, Wisconsin Historical Society Press Kathryn L. Borkowski Editor Jane M. de Broux Managing Editor Diane T. Drexler Image Researcher John H. Nondorf

Research and Editorial Assistants Jared Keul, John Zimm, Colleen Harryman, and Nichole Barnes Design Barry Roal Carlsen, University Marketing 2 Commanding a Movement THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY (ISSN 0043-6534), published quarterly, is a benefit of membership in the The Youth Council Commandos' Wisconsin Historical Society. Quest for Quality Housing Full membership levels start at $45 for individuals and $65 for by Erica Metcalfe institutions. To join or for more information, visit our website at wisconsinhistory.org/membership or contact the Membership Office at 888-748-7479 or e-mail [email protected]. 16 "Awful Calamity!" The Wisconsin Magazine of History has been published quarterly The Steamship Atlan tic since 1917 by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Copyright ©2014 by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Disaster of 1852

ISSN 0043-6534 (print) byjustin Wargo ISSN 1943-7366 (online)

For permission to reuse text from the Wisconsin Magazine of History, (ISSN 0043-6534), please access www.copyright.com or contact the 28 "An Eye Open for All That Is Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, Beautiful" MA, 01923,978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users. The Wisconsin Sketches of Franz Holzlhuber For permission to reuse photographs from the Wisconsin Magazine of History identified with WHi or WHS contact: Visual Materials by John Nondorf Archivist, 816 State Street, Madison, Wl, 53706 or [email protected].

Wisconsin Magazine of History welcomes the submission of articles 38 The Farm at Ten Chimneys and image essays. Contributor guidelines can be found on the Wisconsin Historical Society website at www.wisconsinhistory.org/ by Erika Laabs wmh/contribute.asp. The Wisconsin Historical Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. 50 BOOK EXCERPT Contact Us: Blue Men and River Monsters Editorial: 608-264-6549 [email protected] Folklore of the North Membership/Change of Address: 608-264-6543 [email protected] Edited by John Zimm Reference Desk/Archives: 608-264-6460 [email protected] 54 Hesseltine Announcement Mail: 816 State Street, Madison, Wl 53706 Periodicals postage paid at Madison, Wl 53706-1417. Back issues, if available, are $8.95 plus postage from the 56 Curio Wisconsin Historical Museum store. Call toll-free: 888-999-1669. Microfilmed copies are available through UMI Periodicals in Microfilm, part of National Archive Publishing, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106, www.napubco.com.

On the front cover: Alfred Luntand Lynne Fontanne, internationally known stars of the theater, vacationed and relaxed at Ten Chimneys, theirWisconsin home in Genesee Depot.The estate was also a working farm. Luntand Fontanne are pictured here in one of their gardens, 1935. WHI IMAGE ID 112228 VOLUME 98, NUMBER 2 / WINTER 2014-2015 Commanding a Movement

BY ERICA METCALFE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

he 1960s marked an era when indigenous leadership "We decided we should take it upon ourselves to defend these arose out of a group of working-class black youths in people," Youth Council member Dwight Benning explained. the urban landscape of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The "You know, we asked them to march; now we had to protect Milwaukee National Association for the Advance­ their lives against people that we feared were biased toward ment of Colored People (NAACP) Youth Council and us."7 Tits security subunit known as the Commandos came to domi­ The Commandos originally consisted of ten Youth Council nate the local civil rights movement. In 1967, the group joined members. On October 7, 1966, the Council unveiled an forces with Alderwoman Vel Phillips to rally for a strong city- exclusively male task force unit at Freedom House. Nineteen- wide open housing ordinance. During the course of the housing year-old Dwight Benning, captain of the group, announced campaign, the Commandos, a group membership qualifications. A Youth that provided stability and energy for Council member had to prove himself the Youth Council, positioned itself at by measuring up to a code based on the forefront of the movement. his ability to follow orders. He also had to be neatly dressed, available, 1966: The Founding of militant, and embrace fellow youth the Commando Unit council and Commando members in Ardie Clark Halyard, a longtime the spirit of brotherhood.8 member of the Milwaukee NAACP When a few female Youth Council branch, founded the Milwaukee members felt left out with the creation NAACP Youth Council in 1947.1 of the exclusively male Commando The Youth Council mostly consisted unit, Mary Arms came up with the of working-class black youths, but idea for a female counterpart of the by the 1960s, the group had a size­ unit called the "Commandoettes." able number of white members, and Before the Commando unit was by 1965, it also had a white adviser, founded, leadership and membership Father James Groppi of Saint Boni­ within the Youth Council had been face Church.2 During his summer evenly divided between both sexes. vacations, the young priest often Girls were empowered by the lead­ traveled south to participate in civil ership skills that membership within rights activities that included voter the Youth Council afforded them. registration and integrating public facilities.3 With Groppi as However, very rigid limits still existed in the roles they could adviser, the Youth Council accelerated its direct action activi­ and could not play. When voting time came around, nearly ties and, in early 1966, the group began its first major civil every male within the Youth Council voted down on the rights campaign against the Fraternal Order of Eagles, an proposal. The role of protector remained reserved for males.9 exclusively white club with a restrictive membership policy The Commandos served a dual purpose. Besides offering against minorities.4 security, the unit provided a way for the Youth Council to In August 1966, members of a local Ku Klux Klan chapter counter Groppi's leadership with the creation of a unit that bombed the building that housed the headquarters of the represented strong black male leadership. This was a major Milwaukee chapter of the NAACP5 Two days later, several priority among the Youth Council members and Father Groppi armed male members of the Youth Council began guarding himself10 The Commandos presented black males in a way Freedom House, their community headquarters. Groppi that brought newfound respect for them in Milwaukee. When claimed that this action had been prompted by hostile calls to the Milwaukee NAACP office was bombed in 1966, local news Saint Boniface Church following the bombing and said that stations ran footage of several Commandos standing guard the young men would serve as armed security in case of an outside Freedom House in their militant uniforms. After­ attack.6 The bombing, coupled with the hostile opposition the wards, young black men flocked in droves to Saint Boniface Youth Council had experienced during past protests, led the seeking membership in the unit. Early on, there was fluidity group to form a new security unit called the Commandos. between the Youth Council and the Commandos, as the first

Opposite page: Commandos protest along with other fair housing activists at a rally in front of Saint Boniface Church, 1967. Protests over fair housing were a focal point of the civil rights movement in Milwaukee. Above: The August 10,1966, issue of the Milwaukee Sentinel featured this photo of Milwaukee police chief Harold Breier inspecting the NAACP's Milwaukee office after it was bombed on August 9.

WINTER 2014-2015 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Commandos did not carry weapons and practiced nonvio­ lence according to NAACP rules, they also made it clear that they would defend themselves and marchers when necessary. The Commandos' combative appearance, which sometimes included army fatigues, black berets, and black boots, was designed to show they were a group to be taken seriously. They also believed that presenting a dignified, disciplined image of black manhood would help to counter the dehumanization young black males often experi­ enced in a society plagued with bigotry and discrimination.13 By forming the Commandos, the Youth Council attempted to instill a level of militancy into its image, while inadvertently also altering the image of the Milwaukee NAACP's adult branch, which had always had a reputation for conservatism. The establishment of the Commandos upset many blacks and whites alike. The group presented an image of black militancy that had never been witnessed before in Milwaukee. An editorial in an October 1966 issue of the local black news­ paper, the Milwaukee Courier. opined.

Father James Groppi performs a mass at Saint Boniface Church with two Commandos at his side for The COURIER and many protection, ca. 1966. members of the community have very deep and grave Commandos maintained membership in both units. However, concerns about the wisdom of a Commando unit. We are by 1967, the Commandos had evolved into a separate unit concerned first, about the welfare of these young men. We with many new and older members who had not been Youth [are] also concerned about the image of the Youth Council, Council members.11 and by reflection, the prestige and tradition of the NAACP. In the early 1960s, the NAACP's Youth and College Divi­ Uniforms have traditionally been associated with war and sion had revamped itself. At this time, Youth Director Laplois fighting, not peace and love. We would like Fr. Groppi and Ashford had encouraged youth councils to create special task the council members to take a long hard look at their goals forces. These task force members were to consist of disciplined and the methods which are being used to reach them.14 and dedicated people who could organize demonstrations and handle tense situations.12 Task forces like the Commandos The Courier's commentary conveys that much of the appre­ were forbidden to provoke violence, but even though the hension toward the unit revolved around not just its militant

wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Above: Alderwoman Vel Phillips at a Milwaukee Common Council Meeting, 1967. Phillips coordinated with the NAACP Youth Council to rally for citywide open housing. Right: The August 10,1966, edition of the Milwaukee Journal included a photo of 19-year-old Dennis McDowell showing his carbine to members of the NAACP Youth Council at Freedom House where he resided. He obtained the weapon to defend the house after the NAACP headquarters building was bombed on August 9. image but also how it reflected upon the image of the NAACP. Some state politicians described the Commandos as an extremist and "Hitler-like group" that posed a threat to the city's "business, labor and political establishment."15 The formation of the unit also thwarted negotiations with the Eagles Club over its whites-only policy. Following the Youth Council's picketing of the club and member's homes, University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor N. P. Feinsinger managed to arrange a meeting between the National Fraternal Order of Eagles president D. D. Bill­ ings and Roy Wilkins, the executive director of the NAACP's on the west, Holton Street on the east, and Keefe Avenue national office. However, Billings would only meet with on the north.17 Historically, the city's North Side had been Wilkins if the NAACP disowned the Commandos. Although inhabited by African Americans since they began arriving in local NAACP members offered little support to the group, the city in large numbers shortly after the onset of World War Wilkins and other members of the national branch praised II. In Milwaukee, as well as other urban cities of the North, the Youth Council for its work. And since the NAACP this migration helped intensify residential segregation and encouraged its youth councils to create task forces like the overcrowding. On the North Side, the process of ghettoiza- Commandos, Wilkins informed Billings that they had not tion progressed as housing covenants and discriminatory violated any NAACP programs, and therefore he would not federal housing policies restricted black home ownership. disown them. As a result, the mediation efforts between the Moreover, competition from poor and working-class whites Eagles and the Youth Council came to a standstill.16 seeking cheap housing left African Americans with the worst homes in the city18 Housing within the Inner Core The Sixteenth Street Viaduct, which connected the The Commandos resided in what was known as Milwaukee's city's North Side to the South Side, was often considered the inner core, a small area on the North Side of Milwaukee "Mason-Dixon line" that connected "Africa to Poland." Blacks bounded by Juneau Avenue on the south, Twentieth Street resided in dilapidated homes on the North Side while the city's

WINTER 2014-2015 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

South Side was overwhelmingly occupied by working- and middle- class whites. Socially, the two groups rarely interacted, as discrimination and segregation prevented African Americans from attending restau­ rants, theaters, or schools beyond the inner core. Economically employment discrimination kept African Americans unskilled and in the lowest paying jobs available. Only three percent owned their homes. In contrast, South Siders had a relatively high percentage of home ownership. By the 1960s, black Milwaukeeans were left with the oldest and most rundown housing in the city19

Journeys to the South Side Alderwoman Vel Phillips had been introducing fair housing ordinances The open housing marches and protests of 1967 often led to clashes with Milwaukee police. into the Common Council since 1962, but her colleagues defeated the proposals every time by a vote of 18—1. In May 1967, the Common Council gave Phillips's fair housing bill its fourth straight defeat.20 Over the summer months, the Youth Council joined Phillips in her quest for open housing and began plan­ ning a major event to dramatize the housing issue in Milwaukee. They decided to stage a march to the South Side of the city, where they would hold an open housing rally in a city park.21 The South Side consisted of working-class whites of German or Polish descent, many of whom were resistant to minorities moving into their neighborhoods. In 1964, residents had welcomed George Wallace, the notorious segrega­ tionist governor of Alabama, to the South Side during his campaign for presidency and delivered more than 30 percent of the area's vote to his campaign.22 Before transferring to Saint Boniface Parish in 1963, Groppi had also witnessed a great Commandos protest a Marquette University dance held at the whites-only Eagles Club, October 7,1966. deal of prejudice toward blacks

wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY while he served as priest at Saint Veronica's Parish on the South Side. On one particular occasion he witnessed South Side housing resistance in action when local resi­ dents held a meeting to protest the building of a public housing unit that would potentially bring blacks to their side of town. After listening to the laments of the locals, he came to a grim conclusion:

They did not want public housing on the south side because they were trying to keep blacks out. . . . I went to the meeting and listened to a lot of nonsense for three hours. . . . One honest racist got up and asked, "look, what is the possibility of Joe Brown from Walnut Street moving in here?" The Alderman answered, "pretty good."23

For the Youth Council, marching to the South Side did not neces­ sarily symbolize a desire to live there; instead, it was more a means of confronting the obdurate racism and resistance exemplified by the issue of open housing.24 On Monday, August 28, 1967, the Youth Council and Groppi, along with 250 marchers, met on the north end of the Sixteenth Street Viaduct for the trek south to Kosciuszko Park. Commandos NAACP Youth Council members march for open housing at Sixteenth Street and Greenfield Avenue, were stationed at the head of the September 25,1967. line and along each side of the column to shield marchers. The marchers could answer back shouted racial epithets and chants such as "we want a slave," to counterdemonstrators, but Commandos were to remain and "E-I-E-I-E-I-O, Father Groppi got-a-go."27 The march, disciplined during marches. Therefore, they were not allowed which lasted two hours and thirty minutes, ended with a total to address hecklers, police, or news reporters unless it was abso­ of forty-five arrests and twenty-two people injured.28 Groppi lutely necessary. The night ended with a total of twenty-two called the South Side scene "a white riot," and was so appalled injuries and nine arrests.25 The following day, upon crossing by the violence and hostility that he phoned the governor the bridge and reaching the South Side, marchers were and mayor to demand more protection for marchers. Both greeted by a mob of an estimated 13,000 angry South Siders. officials, however, refused to call for the National Guard.29 As police walked amongst the marchers, they restrained and Although their journey to the South Side was a frightening arrested many counterdemonstrators while also dispensing experience, Father Groppi and the Youth Council vowed to tear gas to disband the large violent crowd. When marchers continue "agitating" and "protesting" until a strong citywide left Kosciuszko Park to head back to the North Side, counter­ open housing law was passed.30 demonstrators threw "bottles, eggs, beer cans, bricks, stones, But as the open housing marches continued, the power cherry bombs and pieces of wood" at marchers.26 They also dynamic between the Commandos and the Youth Council

WINTER 2014-2015 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

ts'-i'*

began to shift visibly. Groppi and the Youth Council often held press conferences, which local news reporters attended. Although Groppi appears in much of the footage and does comment occasionally, the Commandos were noticeably more vocal. One Commando in particular, Prentice McKinney began acting as the spokesman for the group. McKinney was an outspoken, charismatic, and indignant teenager who was considered by many to be "the strongest personality in the Commandos."31 In footage from a rally in front of Freedom House, a news reporter, referencing the group's next march to the South Side, asked McKinney, "What if they let you march peacefully?" McKinney quickly snapped back, "We always march peacefully!"32 When the summer of 1967 ended, members of the Youth Council returned to school. The Commandos, many of whom This Los Angeles Times political cartoon, featured in the Appleton were considerably older, were left in charge of leading the Post Crescent on September 13,1967, satirized the open housing marches. Most were young men who varied in age from eigh- protests and the violence that occurred as a result.

wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Members of the Blackstone Rangers, ca. 1967-1969. The Rangers were a politically motivated Chicago street gang that clashed with the Commandos'approach to achieving equality in housing. They ridiculed marching and advocated for violence.

of power did not lead to any conflicts between the two units. The Youth Council was simply grateful that the Commandos were keeping the fight for open housing going even as local excitement and involvement around the issue dwindled.35

A Shift of Power Father Groppi reached the height of his popularity during the open housing campaign. As his national stature increased, he traveled frequently for speaking engagements. While he was away the Youth Council and Commandos assumed increasing respon­ sibility for directing civil rights activities in Milwaukee.36 Groppi understood well how important it was for these groups to develop their leadership abilities and become more independent from him. "It raises problems in the sense that I am white, and that we are trying to develop indigenous black leadership," he said. Commandos watch Milwaukee police chief Harold Breier's home in "Right now the Youth Council has developed to the point where response to police surveillance of the Freedom House headquarters I can play a more self-liquidating role . . . you can't give yourself and Saint Boniface Church, September 30,1967. to the point where you will overshadow and stifle the indigenous black leadership that is developing."37 The Commandos took teen to thirty and had more life experience than the Youth more independent action as they began to lead the open housing Council members. Some were married, some were veterans of marches during fall and winter, and they took on the responsi­ military service, and many had previously been in trouble with bility of planning march routes, as well as devising strategies to the law and had criminal records.33 The shift in leadership protect marchers. They became even more visible as they filled a was apparent in news reports. The media no longer described void left by Groppi's frequent absences and the Youth Council's the demonstrations as sponsored by the Youth Council; the preoccupation with school responsibilities.38 marches were now "Commando led."34 At the time, this passing

WINTER 2014-2015 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

The Commandos' marches unified the community and brought about a renewed vigor. Often the number of marchers would increase as people off the street joined the ranks. They would come out of taverns and bars to join the march. Those in vehicles would drive along­ side the marchers, blowing their horns and shouting encouragement. During one partic­ ular march, a young woman holding an infant joined and described the child as "the youngest Commando."39 The Youth Council and the Commandos supplemented the housing marches with campaigns aimed at placing economic pres­ sure on local business establishments. In September 1967, at the suggestion of come­ dian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, the Youth Council called for inner core residents and business establishments to boycott Schlitz, Milwaukee's largest and most widely distrib­ uted brewery. Commandos pressured business owners and operators to stop selling the brand by repeatedly chanting "No more Schlitz!" as they passed establishments that served liquor during marches. By October, business at

Above:The reception area outside Mayor Henry Maier's office was heavily damaged after police and protestors clashed during a sit-in on September 7,1967.

Right: Commandos examine campaign materials for presidential candidate George Wallace, 1968.

10 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY restaurants and night clubs had declined up to 35 percent due to the boycott.40 In the following months, the city's business would continue to drop as Commandos encour­ aged inner core residents to boycott stores for the "Black Christmas" campaign. Inner core residents were not to buy gifts, decorations, or any other holiday materials. At a Black Christmas community meeting, one Commando declared, "We are tired of paying first rate taxes and receiving the last rate citizenship."41

A Two-Front War The leadership role came easily to the Commandos mainly because they had been at the forefront of a two-front war since their founding. The first front was against rival black militant groups. The Commandos were often confronted by local and out-of-town revolutionary groups looking to overthrow their leadership and promote violent action in the city. One partic­ ular group that consistently antagonized the Commandos was a newly politicized Chicago street gang known as the Black- stone Rangers. In September 1967, a group of young men preached in front of Saint Boniface Church. They insisted that the Commandos' tactics were not extreme enough to garner the attention needed to force change from white city officials. An agitator at the scene stated, "From what we see, you Commandos are doing nothing. . . . The white man in Milwaukee has called your bluff. And what do you do? You keep on marching."42 The conflict with the Blackstone Rangers reveals the different levels of aggression that existed within the black freedom movement. In Milwaukee, the Youth Council and the Commandos' actions were considered quite radical for the times. However, since they didn't advocate violence, the Rangers regarded the group and their methods as ineffective. Also in 1967, while the Youth Council and its Commando NAACP Youth Council members protest presidential candidate unit were in Philadelphia for an NAACP convention, members George C.Wallace at a rally at the Milwaukee auditorium, undated. of the Blackstone Rangers were staying in the same hotel. At one point during the trip, a Commando was held involuntarily in a Blackstone Ranger's hotel room. He claimed they put a gun to there will be no violence on our part unless our women and his head demanding that the Youth Council and Commandos children are attacked."45 immediately have their white adviser removed and function The Commandos' second front was facing the Milwaukee instead as an all-black organization. Eventually, the Commando Police Department (MPD). The police usually provided was released from the room, and he warned Groppi and the protection for marchers during open housing marches, but others about his ordeal.43 the Commandos believed the protection was inadequate and Despite agitation from revolutionary groups, the reported that most police officers identified with the angry Commandos remained committed to an integrated move­ white mobs. In fact, some Youth Council members claimed ment that did not use violence to obtain its goals. On several that police officers made such crass racist remarks as "I hope occasions they defended their ideals to outside agitators you riot, then I can shoot off a few," or "I hope you go to who disagreed with their philosophy44 Commando Dwight Vietnam."46 Benning commented on the subversive groups to the Chicago The NAACP claimed that police frequently harassed Daily Defender: "To all of those persons that have been trying Groppi and Youth Council members. Police in parked to tell us to get violent we say that this is our movement, and squad cars kept constant surveillance on the Freedom we're going to continue to make the decisions. If outsiders House headquarters and Saint Boniface Church. Milwaukee want to join us, they're welcome to do so on our terms. But police chief Harold Breier claimed that the police merely

WINTER 2014-2015 11 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

The strategy was that when we tie up the traffic (at the inter­ section) we knew that the police (was) going to rush in. And when they rush in we opened up (the marching line) and let them into the square (center of the intersection) where we had blocked off traffic. The police started swinging fists and clubs when they saw they were trapped. The Commandos responded and the fighting was hard and bad.50

After the altercation with police, the Commandos achieved notoriety among the community. The battle with police did not represent a rejection of nonviolence nor a change in strategy. It was symbolic. The Commandos were the underdogs who had fought on the streets against a force that symbolized oppres­ sion, and they had survived. They had achieved a reputation, and with it, fear and respect.51 Afterward, Lewis noticed an immediate change, commenting that "after that night on 20th and North, we got quite a different cooperation from the police department. They saw that we weren't bullshitting what we were marching for."52 Essentially, by challenging the police, the Commandos were not only showing that they were not Father James Groppi leads a welfare demonstration alongside afraid of them, they were also conveying they were a force that Commandos in the Wisconsin Assembly chambers at the State Capitol would demand and, if need be, fight for their respect. After in Madison, 1969. the battle, eleven people were arrested and a total of six police officers were taken to local hospitals for injuries. One officer sought to protect protesters, but many considered him to received ten stitches after being struck in the head with a pipe. be a bigot with "little tolerance for civil rights activism."4' Many Commandos also received severe injuries.53 In a complaint filed against the MPD, the Youth Council The Youth Council and its Commando unit marched declared, "We, as American citizens, resent the fact that we for open housing a total of 200 consecutive days from August cannot go anywhere without being followed. We resent the 1967 to March 1968. Over the course of the 200 days, the attitude of the police department towards us, but further­ Commandos led marches in every corner of the city, as well more we protest the basic idea that an American citizen is as the downtown area.54 The marches brought thousands of not free to move anywhere without being observed, followed people, clergy and laypeople, into the city to support and and photographed by the police."48 After a number of meet­ march with the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council.55 ings with Breier convinced them that the chief planned to Because of their maturity, charisma, and discipline, the continue the surveillance, Youth Council members decided Commandos came to overshadow the Youth Council as the to thank Breier for his "protection" by doing surveillance on primary organizational focus for the civil rights movement in his house, and the Commandos were tasked with watching Milwaukee. In a short time, the unit had gone from an auxiliary Breier's home. Four Commandos would sit in a car outside security force to the central leadership within the Milwaukee his home for two-and-a-half hours each night.49 movement, but conflict soon began to develop within the The event that fully solidified the Commandos as leaders Commandos. A leadership struggle ensued, and those who was their physical confrontation with police. The group often wanted to continue direct action protests left, leaving leader­ lamented that during marches the police were a constant ship in the hands of those who wanted to expand and take nuisance to them. They would often harass and intimidate the unit in a different direction. One Commando stated at a marchers and interfere with the Commandos' attempts meeting, "We've got to keep the marches going. But I agree to maintain order. Several police officers had personally that we ought to be looking into other ways to extend the expressed a desire to battle the unit. Commando leaders protest. Open housing is just one of the issues. Negroes need decided that in order to maintain their credibility and end a lot more than that."56 Although the Commandos were an some of the police intimidation, there had to be a physical integral group to the Youth Council, they were still a subunit. confrontation. In October 1967, the unit staged an alterca­ They lacked critical resources, including a treasury and a tion in which they boxed in police by sealing off four corners separate facility. Any money raised by the Youth Council or of an intersection during a march. Commando Shakespeare received in donations went into the Youth Council treasury Lewis explained the plan: and was used for Youth Council expenses as a whole.5'

12 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

On April 4, 1968, the civil rights movement was dealt a major blow when Martin Luther Kng Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis. Days later, in an effort to honor the slain activist. President Lyndon B.Johnson signed the federal Open Housing Law of 1968. The following day, Mayor Henry Maier followed Johnson's lead and urged the Milwaukee Common Council to pass an open housing measure that would be "as broad as the federal law." On April 29, the Common Council finally passed a strong open housing ordinance. The council voted 15-4 in favor of a bill "outlawing discrimination in the sale or rental of all but two categories of Milwaukee housing." By July 1968, twenty-six suburban communities in and around the Milwaukee area had also passed open housing ordinances.58

The Move into the Social Service Arena Following the riots of the 1960s, the federal and state govern­ ments began allocating public funds for inner-city programs across the country to help prevent urban unrest. In 1968, the Wisconsin Legislature authorized one million dollars for inner core projects. The Commandos applied for funds and received the first allotment to develop a work project for 268 inner core youths during the summer of 1968. They were paid an hourly wage to sweep and pick up trash in local areas. North Side resi­ dents noticed that the summers had considerably less criminal activity among youth and credited the Commandos' project for the safer streets. Thereafter, the summer work program went on annually, with the number of youths employed increasing each year.59 Commando Jesse "Hook" Wade would eventually become executive director of the Commandos Project I and negotiate contracts with agencies such as the State Department of Public Instruction, the Division of Correction, the Division of Community Service, the Milwaukee County Department of Social Services, and the Social Development Commission.60 The Commandos' move into social service began while open housing marches were still being held. Commandos Hank Walters, Jimmie Pierce, and Johnnie Davis approached social worker Julius Modlinski at Marquette University about assisting them in finding employment. According to Modlinski, "During Delisa Moncree and Sulin Love prepare for graduation from the the course of discussion the idea of looking for employment Commandos'alternative high school, the Commando Academy, 1983. changed to developing a structure wherein they could do what they wanted most to do—work with and for needy youths in their Austin left the Commandos shortly after its leaders decided to community, especially those being released from the state youth change the direction of the group, yet he understood the reasons correctional facility at Wales."61 Subsequently, the Commandos for the change. "The marches were ending but they still wanted decided that it was time to break from the Youth Council. The to be helpful to the Community," he asserts.64 The departure, unit announced its plans during a meeting in the basement of however, represented more than just a desire to enter into the Saint Boniface Church. Youth Council member Shirley Butler- social service field; there was also an economic reason behind the Derge recalls that the meeting was "full of tension."62 She decision. Many of the Commandos were young men with familial continued, "Father Groppi was very angry. . . . He screamed and financial responsibilities. Many were unemployed, and this is a sell out!' He didn't want to receive government money although Commando membership brought respect, it failed to because he felt that once you did, you were at their mercy and provide a financial means of support; therefore, moving into the they could control you. Groppi pleaded with them not to do it, social service arena offered the opportunity to perform important but if they did, he didn't want anything to do with it."63 Squire community work while also earning a living.65

WINTER 2014-2015 13 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Above: Commandos Project I operated as a civil service orga­ nization after the Commandos separated from the NAACP Youth Council. This letter sent to the Wisconsin Department of Administration requested funding for a Commando program designed to aid offenders released from state prisons. Right: Boys who worked on the Commandos Summer Urban Improvement Program were rewarded with a week at Boy Scout Camp Indian Mound near Oconomowoc, ca. 1970. Commandos supervised their activities.

Following their parting from the Youth Council, the The improvement of housing within the inner core remained Commandos began to expand their work in the commu­ a top priority. In 1971, the organization took a single mother nity. The group splintered into two interconnected factions: and her five children out of a rundown North Side home after "Commandos Incorporated," which functioned as the body the unit condemned it. The Commandos then moved the family that focused on civil rights issues and direct action, such as into a newly furnished residence. The unit continued to do work marches and protests, and "Commandos Project I," which of this kind, and it made a habit of contacting housing inspectors focused on social service. Into the 1970s and early 1980s, the to demand that local dilapidated houses be condemned.69 Also, Commandos survived and thrived but allowed their direct throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, one of the Commandos' action efforts to take a back seat to social service projects. By major programs included paying juvenile parolees to paint and 1980, the Commandos had become a major inner-city social repair inner core houses. The parolees who were referred to the service agency, providing programs that included adult and Commandos worked fulltime preparing inner-city homes for youth counseling, full-time employment for ex-offenders, two the elderly and the disabled. They also winterized homes, built group foster homes/halfway houses, youth employment during ramps for wheelchair users, and provided pest control services. the school year and summer months, year-round recreation, By 1980, Commando Project parolees had made minor repairs an annual summer camp held in rural Wisconsin, and the on close to 300 homes.70 Commando Academy, an alternative high school.66 The Commandos went into decline after Republican Although members lacked formal education in social Ronald Reagan became president in 1981. That year, director work, the Commandos' programs were a success because they Jesse Wade confessed that the survival of the group was uncer­ used their experiences on the street to relate to young people, tain due to Reagan's proposed federal budget cuts, many of particularly young parolees. Commando Henry Walters, who which were aimed at social service programs for the urban was project coordinator, confessed, "We've all served time in poor.71 By 1982, Reagan Administration budget cuts had the joint. We know what it's like to come out and not have severely reduced the number of summer jobs available for anybody take any interest in you."67 Michael A. Shoenfield, teenagers in Milwaukee, and social service agencies like the assistant director of the Commandos Project I, attributed Commandos simply did not have the funds needed to provide the unit's success to its unique organizational strategy. He employment to a large numbers of youth as they had in the commented, "The Commandos learned to work with the past.72 By 1990, the Commando Academy was still helping bureaucrats, even though they don't necessarily accept the young people obtain high school diplomas.73 However, the bureaucratic method of delivery. When they get money for organization was merely a shadow of what it once had been. their programs, they like to run them their way"68 Ultimately, lacking the funding needed to continue operations, the Commando Project I soon thereafter became defunct.

14 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

The history of the Commandos is one imbued with 22. John T. McGreevy, Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth- Century Urban North (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 195; Aukofer, City, 110. conflict and struggle as well as triumph. The Commandos' 23. James Groppi Papers, 1964-1978, Box 14, Folder 7, UWM Archives. narrative conveys the distinctiveness of local civil rights move­ 24. Aukofer, City, 110; McGreevy, Parish Boundaries, 195;Jones, Selma of the North, 181. 25. NAACP Youth and College Division, March on Milwaukee: NAACP Mlwaukee Youth ments of the North, as well as the significant role that young Council Demonstrations for Fair Housing (New York: NAACP, 1968), 2; Washington, "Youths people often played in the movement for racial equality. In in Housing Thrust." 26. NAACP Youth and College Division, March on Milwaukee: NAACP Mlwaukee Youth Milwaukee, the Commandos managed to gain the respect of Council Demonstrations for Fair Housing (New York: NAACP, 1968), 2. 27. Ibid. local law enforcement and defend their movement against 28. Ibid. outside agitators, all while mobilizing a community for a 29. WTMJ TV-News Film Archive, 29 August-3 September 1967, Tape 34, Segment 8, UWM Archives; Groppi Papers, Box 15, Folder 5. sustained struggle. By combining their vehemence for inner- 30. WTMJ TV-News Film Archive, August 30, 1967, Tape 34, Clip 1, Segment 3; Groppi city issues with social service, the Commandos succeeded in Papers, Box 15, Folder 5. 31. David Llorens, "Miracle in Milwaukee," Ebony, November 1967, 31. carving out a niche their own. Ml 32. WTMJ-TV News Film Archive, August 29-September 3, 1967, Tape 34, Segment 1. 33. Washington, "Youths in Housing Thrust"; Aukofer, City, 124. Notes 34. Modlinski, "Commandos," 96. 35. Modlinski, "Commandos," 90. 1. NAACP Papers: Milwaukee Branch, Box 2, Folder 15, UW-Milwaukee Archives, 36. Jones, Selma of the North, 202. Milwaukee, Wl; Beth McKenty, Faces of Milwaukee: Arctic Halyard (Community Relations- 37. Groppi Papers, Box 15, Folder 5. Social Development Commission in Milwaukee County, 1978), 14. 38. Modlinski, "Commandos," 96. 2. Patrick D. Jones, The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee 39. "Dick Gregory Joins Rights Marchers," Mlwaukee Journal, September 3, 1967; "Father JCambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), 114. Groppi and Gregory Say Daily Marches Will Go On," Mlwaukee Journal, September 5, 3. Frank Aukofer, City with a Chance (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co., 1968), 91. 1967. 4. Aukofer, City, 97. 40. "Sale of Schlitz Beer Declines in Inner Core," Mlwaukee Journal, October 1, 1967. 5. "NAACP Office Shattered by Klan Type Bombing," Milwaukee Courier, August 13, 1966: 41. "Black Christmas," Milwaukee Star, November 18, 1967; Aukofer, City, 134. Aukofer, City, 99. 42. Betty Washington, "Milwaukee Commandos in 2-Front Battle," Chicago Daily Defender. 6. Aukofer, City, 99-100. September 20, 1967. 7. Jones, Selma of the North, 132; Quoted injulius Modlinski, "Commandos: A Study of a 43. March on Milwaukee Oral History Project: Shirley Butler-Derge Interview, UWM Black Organizations' Transformation from Militant Protest to Social Service" (PhD diss., Archives; Shirley Butler-Derge, interview by author, Milwaukee, Wl, February 24, 2010. University of Wisconsin, 1978), 75. 44. Washington, "Milwaukee Commandos in 2-Front Battle." 8. "NAACP Youth Council Forms Commandos," Milwaukee Courier, October 8, 1966; 45. Washington, "Youths in Housing Thrust." Frank Aukofer, "Youth Commandos Go All Out for Priest," Milwaukee Journal, September 46. "NAACP Youth Council Plans to Protect Chief Breier's Home," Milwaukee Sentinel, 18, 1967. September 30, 1966. 9. Shirley Butler-Derge, interview by author, Milwaukee, Wl, February 24, 2010; Jones, 47. Jones, Selma of the North, 148-151; Ronald Snyder, "Chief for Life: Harold Breier and his Selma of the North, 132. Era" (PhD diss., University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee, 2002), 4-5. 10.Jones, Selma of the North, 117. 48. NAACP Papers: Milwaukee Branch, Box 16, Folder 1. 11. Aukofer, City, 123-124; Jones, Selma of the North, 131,135-136. 49. "Rights Unit Gets Own Commandos;" "NAACP Youth Council Plans to Protect Chief 12. Tommy Bynum, "Our Fight Is for Right: NAACP Youth Councils and College Chapters Breier's Home." Fight for Civil Rghts" (PhD diss., Georgia State University, 2007), 150-151. 50. Quoted in Modlinski, "Commandos," 91. 13. Jones, Selma of the North, 131 — 132; Betty Washington, "Youths in Housing Thrust," 51. Modlinski, "Commandos," 94. Chicago Defender, September 30, 1967. 52. Quoted in Modlinski, "Commandos," 93; "Police and Marchers Clash at Intersection," 14. "The Commandos," Milwaukee Courier, October 15, 1966. Milwaukee Journal, October 10, 1967. 15. "Rghts Unit Gets Own Commandos," New York Times, October 9, 1966; Jones, Selma 53. Modlinski, "Commandos," 93—94, 110; "Police and Marchers Clash at Intersection." of the North, 140; Quoted in Modlinski, "Commandos," 74. 54. Modlinski, "Commandos," 90. 16. NAACP Papers: Milwaukee Branch, Box 11, Folder 5; Aukofer, City, 103-104. 55. NAACP, March on Milwaukee, 5-10; March on Milwaukee Oral History Project: Shirley 17. Charles O'Reilly, The Inner Core-North: A Study of Milwaukee's Negro Community Butler-Derge Interview. 'Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin, 1963), 1. 56. Aukofer, City, 124; Betty Washington, "Youths in Housing Thrust." 18. Joe William Trotter, Black Milwaukee: The Making of an Industrial Proletariat, 1915- 57. Modlinski, "Commandos," 78, 96. 1945 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007), 175, 180-182. 58. Aukofer, City, 143—144; "Opposition Fades to Open Housing Law," Milwaukee Sentinel, 19. Jones, Selma of the North, 1, 19-21, 172. April 13, 1968; "Youth Council Hails Housing Bill Passage," Milwaukee Courier, May 11, 1968. 20. "Negro History Makers," Milwaukee Star, February 19, 1966; Aukofer, City, 105; "New 59. Modlinski, "Commandos," 119; "Wisconsin Hails Dropout Aid Plan," New York Times, Fair Housing Bill to City Council," Milwaukee Star, March 5, 1966; "Fair Housing Defeat October 6, 1968. Nears," Milwaukee Star, May 27, 1967. 60. "Milwaukee Commandos Succeed in Social Service," New York Times, December 30, 1980. 21. Aukofer, City, 109. 61. Jones, Selma of the North, 240-241; Modlinski, "Commandos," 97. 62. Shirley Butler-Derge, interview by author. 63. Ibid. 64. Squire Austin, interview by author, Milwaukee, Wl, February 26, 2010. 65. Jones, Selma of the North, 241—242; Shirley Butler-Derge, interview by author. ABOUT THE AUTHOR 66. Modlinski, "Commandos," 99, 136; "Milwaukee Commandos Succeed in Social Service." r 67. "Wisconsin Hails Dropout Aid Plan." Erica Metcalfe was born and raised in Mil "il • • i I N,, I in s... i ,| s. i • |.. 69. Mack Alexander, "Commandos Give Her New 'Lease,'" Milwaukee Sentinel, July 14, 1971. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is a graduate Mil "il • • i I N,, I in s... i ,| s. i • |.. of the University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee, 71. "Milwaukee Had Commandos before New York Got Angels," The Afro-American, July 4. 1981; Douglas R. Imig, Poverty and Power: The Political Representations of Poor Americans where she received a bachelor's degree in 'Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1996), 17. Africology and a master's degree in his­ 72. Chester Sheard, "Officials Tackle Summer Job Shortage," Mlwaukee Sentinel, May 17, tory. Currently, she lives in Washington, 1982. 73. Anne Bothwell, "Forum for Black Males: Sheriff Shares His Own Story to Show Others DC, and is a fourth-year PhD student in Their Potential," Milwaukee Journal, June 17, 1990. Howard University's history department, where she also teaches United States history. Her research inter­ ests include African American urban history, particularly focusing on African Americans in Milwaukee. In her leisure time she enjoys traveling and spending time with friends and family.

WINTER 2014-2015 15 "AWFUL CALAMITY!"

THE STEAMSHIP ATLANTIC DISASTER OF 1852

BY JUSTIN WARGO

n the evening of August 12, 1852, Amund Eidsmoe and Erik Thorstad stood and waited at the port in Quebec, strangers in a strange land.' A Ofew months earlier, independent of one another, the two Norwegians had left their homeland, both bound for Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, where a colony of immigrants from Valdres, Norway, had previously settled.2 Eidsmoe was immigrating with his wife and two children due to poor wages in Norway; the younger Thorstad immigrated alone hoping to find employment in Wiscon­ sin's booming timbering industry. To reach their ultimate destination they and their fellow travelers, many of who were also European immigrants, would travel from Quebec down the Saint Lawrence River to Montreal, and from Montreal by ship or train to Buffalo; at Buffalo the travelers would begin what was known as the Lake Route, traversing Lakes Erie, Huron, and Mchigan, with scheduled stops at major port cities including Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Beyond personal reasons, there were also general trends complete. At approximately eight o'clock that evening, the that compelled a number of Europeans to undertake such two immigrants, as well as over five hundred additional trav­ a long journey. Initially, many early- to mid-nineteenth- elers, boarded the fine steamer Atlantic for her semiweekly century European immigrants came to the Old Northwest trip to Detroit.6 to escape the poor, cramped living conditions or unstable Three years earlier, in May 1849, Samuel Ward and political climates of their birth countries; then, others came Eber Brock Ward had launched the Atlantic from Newport, because of the hopeful letters sent back across the Atlantic Michigan (modern Marine City). By mid-century, the Wards by relatives extolling the region's virtues, largely encour­ were widely recognized throughout the Old Northwest as the aging their friends and family to join them in one of Wiscon­ kings of Great Lakes transport. Begun by Samuel in 1817 with sin's, Michigan's, or Illinois's developing enclaves. "We his schooner Salem Packet, the Ward name would garner knew there were acquaintances there [in Wisconsin] from regional prominence after Samuel became the first Westerner our neighborhood back home who had settled there several to skipper a boat through the Erie Canal in 1826—making years before," Eidsmoe acknowledged. Additionally, immi­ him a pioneer of direct trade.7 In 1835, Samuel brought on his grating to Wisconsin was becoming easier and easier by twenty-three-year-old nephew Eber as an equal partner in his 1850 due to the assistance of entrepreneurial men such as flourishing enterprise. Together the two men would construct Stephen Olsen and the encouragement of state leadership. and captain many of the Lakes' premier vessels beneath the Between 1848 and 1852, Norwegian-born Olsen purchased banner E. B. & S. Ward. At 1,155 tons and 267 feet in length, vast tracts of Wisconsin timberland and then brought over the Atlantic was the Wards' largest ship to date in 1849. others to work for him. Erik Thorstad, one who responded An impressive steamer that ran as a morning boat in the to Olsen's call for working men, stated, "Our good leader. Michigan Central Railroad Line, leaving Buffalo and Detroit Captain Olsen, contracted with a company to carry us and each alternate morning, the Atlantic was regarded as supe­ our baggage to Milwaukee for $7 for each adult and half rior to her contemporaries. "We think it far exceeds anything fare for the children." Moreover, by the early 1850s, 1852 upon the lakes, and affords good evidence of the perfection to to 1855 specifically, the Wisconsin Commission of Emigra­ which this brand of mechanical business has been brought in tion was enthusiastically promoting the settlement of immi­ our city," touted the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser upon the grants. Created by Madison promoter and governor Leonard Atlantic's debut. The Wards spared no expense on the ship's Farwell, the commission was established because immigrants details, adorning the cabins and parlor rooms with furniture were seen as fuel for Wisconsin's growth.3 Although the "of beautiful rosewood, of exquisite workmanship," making rise of antiforeign sentiment, or nativism, would lead to the certain their passengers felt they were truly aboard a palace conclusion of the commission in 1855, that eventuality was steamer.8 Shortly after her launch, the Atlantic proved she was of no concern to Amund Eidsmoe and Erik Thorstad as they not just aesthetically pleasing by making the Detroit to Buffalo stood in Quebec awaiting their Montreal-bound ship. trip in a then-record time of sixteen and one-half hours.9 The trip from Norway to Montreal was wrought with The Atlantic was still regarded as one of the Lakes' fastest harbingers of the perilous voyage that still lay ahead for the and finest boats on the evening of August 19, 1852, as more two men. "It was fortunate for us that we had no knowl­ than five hundred passengers, including "132 Norwegians, a edge of the danger and adversity that were to meet us on number of German, and the rest Americans," crowded onto our way," Eidsmoe noted, "otherwise we should hardly have the vessel.10 Most of the immigrants were confused and did started on the trip." The hardships up to Montreal included not know where their accommodations were or where to connecting ships that were sometimes weeks off schedule, place their possessions upon boarding, which led to the deck rough weather and extremely poor conditions, and even a becoming "crowded with every conceivable thing: baggage, few deadly accidents, like the drowning of Tostein Fulhja, new wagons, and much other stuff"11 The passengers even­ a passenger originally from Slidre, Norway4 Similarly, Erik tually settled in, and the Atlantic shoved off from Buffalo Thorstad witnessed another Norwegian, Thorsten Nilsen beneath a twilit summer sky. Her skipper, Captain J. Byron Majestad, fall overboard while bringing his baggage off the Pettey, guided the steamer with an experienced hand, and boat at Montreal. "It was right pitiful to see how he strug­ despite a light haze, Lake Erie was calm and the stars were gled. And no means were on hand whatsoever with which visible.12 As the Atlantic sailed west, coming into view of the to save him," Thorstad later recalled.5 Still, on the morning Long Point lighthouse around 1:00 a.m., the Ogdensburg. of August 19, Eidsmoe and Thorstad arrived safely in a 352-ton, two-deck, screw propeller-driven craft, was trav­ Buffalo, their long journey from Norway to Wisconsin nearly eling north toward the Canadian shore.13

Opposite Page: On September 11,1852, Gleason's Pictorial published this engraved depiction of the/tt/anf/'c'sand Ogdensburg's deadly collision on Lake Erie.The ships collided on August 20,1852.

WINTER 2014-2015 17 In order to fund their journey, Norwegian emigrants often auctioned their belongings before departing for the United States.

Shortly after 2:00 a.m. on the morning of August 20, ally crammed with human beings."17 From there, Amund the two vessels met near Long Point, Upper Canada. The Eidsmoe witnessed a gruesome scene shortly after the Atlantic ran across the bow (front) of the Ogdensburg, moment of impact, "[W]e were awakened by a loud crash striking her forward of her wheel on the port side (the left and saw a large beam fall down upon a Norwegian woman side if one is on the boat facing the bow).14 Prior to the colli­ of our company. It crushed several bones and completely sion, those in control of the Ogdensburg saw the blinking tore the head off a little baby that lay at her side."18 John red lights of the steamer and made efforts to avoid a crash: Blake of Connecticut experienced less dramatic difficulties the same, however, cannot be said of those commanding the from the main deck, relating to the New York Daily Times, Atlantic. "The propeller's engine had been reversed some "At the moment she struck us, and while the timbers were ten minutes before the collision," reported the Buffalo Daily still moving and crushing me down in my berth, I struggled Republic, but "the steamer continued on her course until and succeeded in extricating myself, and in a moment was she had run some 3 miles from the place of contact before upon the forward part of the hurricane deck, alongside of her engine was stopped."15 Initially, both vessels' crews had the pilot's wheel."19 After the opening shock dissipated, panic little concern for what just occurred, the shock reportedly began to set in. being "so little felt on board the steamer, that she continued The terrified Europeans down below desperately her course without any apprehension of danger; and, as the attempted to escape as water rapidly flooded the Atlantic's propeller had reversed her engine before the collision took steerage cabin. Yet, according to Eidsmoe, "The sailors place, the crew of it did not suppose that any serious mischief became absolutely raving and tried to get as many [immi­ had been done to the other."16 At first, there was no knowl­ grant passengers] killed as possible. When they saw that edge of the terrible fates that had befallen the travelers below. people crowded up, they struck them on the heads and shoul­ At the time of the accident most of tht Atlantic's, immi­ ders to drive them down again. When this did not help, they grant travelers were situated below the main deck in the took and raised the stairway up on end so the people fell steerage cabin, which was typical due to the section's reduced down backwards again. . . . All hopes were gone for those fare and poor conditions. According to one American that were underneath. Water filled the rooms and life was no passenger aboard the Atlantic, her steerage cabin was "liter­ more."20

18 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

While dread and confusion were overtaking many of the passengers and crew, Captain Pettey attempted to make his way for shore—believing the only way to avoid a complete loss of ship and life was to run the boat aground. However, the inward rushing water soon extinguished the fires that provided SSt^cottfttt. the steamer's propulsion, and the Atlantic's two engines ceased in the middle of Lake Erie. The vessel began sinking, bow first. Captain Pettey scrambled toward a lifeboat immediately after the steamer's engines failed, completely disregarding his mbufhjclfe fvmijolb passengers. In his rush to save himself, the captain fell from the hurricane deck from a height of eleven feet while trying to secure a raft, badly cutting open his head.21 Staten mkmm mmm 2>ei. With terror by then at a fevered pitch onboard the Atlantic, some travelers began leaping overboard. The scene was rendered -State Bistor

»9fart«f Stoics JntourtriVSbS^ I

.xfcWt.i/AS - r*tA*'Z&\ < /• \a/yjzM »• B. Sifdoji, getter v} S

e,S ,Pr m0fbe t N '" " "" ^»«"^-»™.i,o„Mr,ofrit M SlbrMfer: Secretary State Board of Im™^,^ | RMiielandei*, Wis.

Wobjfon, ©tS., 1896. - B)ui1f.t *^„to? ': "*"*" ^*" "* «^-S __ «uum * Clafefons XfflRetf. j

This pamphlet, published in Norwegian, was produced by the State Board of Immigration to encourage Norwegians to immigrate to Wisconsin. &

WINTER 2014-2015 19 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY to grab hold of a rope dangling from the Atlantic's side. His a few days the committee collected $432 dollars in cash and mobility, however, was limited by others franticly trying not to $396 in clothing and merchandise for $828 of relief in total, drown. Just before he reached relative safety, he felt the firm or approximately $25,000 today when adjusted for inflation.29 grips upon his legs loosen—four more victims claimed by the Both Amund Eidsmoe and Erik Thorstad acknowledged the lake. "The marks of the grasps of those poor wretched beings much-needed assistance provided by compassionate Milwau­ are still upon my ankles," Calkins remarked days later.24 keeans after they arrived on August 22. "When we arrived at For a moment, the 267-foot Atlantic was nearly perpen­ Milwaukee, the Germans were very kind to us and had taken dicular to the surface of the water, its bow touching the bottom up contributions so we were all supplied with money and of the 165-foot deep lake and its stern (rear) towering almost clothes," Eidsmoe gratefully recalled. Likewise, Thorstad ten stories above. Soon after realizing what a perilous state remarked, "Since the city had taken up a subscription for our the Atlantic was in, those commanding the Ogdensburg had support we lived free of charge, and in addition each person circled back and were able to rescue a number of victims, including Captain Pettey who, according to multiple sources, yelled to those aboard the propeller, "I am Captain Pettey of the Atlantic, save me first!" Not hiding their disapproval of the actions of the skipper and two of his crew, the New York Daily Times reported "Little did these men who were saved care for the fate of the others; on the contrary the first salutation that came to the ears of their deliverers was: 'For God's sake, don't go near the steamer; there are 600 passengers on board and they will sink you!'"25 In less than an hour the Atlantic was sunk, completely submerged beneath Lake Erie. The ship and its goods were a total loss.26 The sinking of the Atlantic became one of the deadliest disasters ever upon the Great Lakes, and newspapers all across the Old Northwest published numerous accounts of the incident and updated reports of the victims. Early estimates of the number lost ranged from 131 to four hundred, with the figure likely being closer to 250.27 In the weeks following the accident the Milwaukee Sentinel printed stories on the Atlantic on a daily basis, beneath headlines such as "The Disaster on Lake Erie," "The Wreck of the Atlantic," "Dead of the Atlantic," "List of Lives Lost On Board the Atlantic," and "Appeal to the Benevolent."28 It was of this last headline that Milwaukeeans should be particularly proud. Shortly after the disaster, a relief meeting at the Market Hall was called and attended by many citizens to assist the destitute immigrants who hadjust begun to arrive. With S. B. Grant chairing the committee and H. K. White and W. H. Watson acting as treasurers, the group made it their mission to tend to the victims, with a number of everyday Milwaukeeans Eber Brock Ward and his uncle, Samuel Ward, constructed and captained many of the eagerly providing any help they could. In just Great Lakes'premier vessels under the banner E. B. & S.Ward.

20 wisconsinhistory.org \

Artist's illustration of the Atlantic in the Detroit harbor. Regarded as superior to her contemporaries, she left Buffalo and Detroit each alternate morning.

jfe 3fitt|tgfln

Wws&m wt e--l :# .ifk ,11 ,'K.P. IV J=i ;Vk J. B. PETTEY, COMMANDER, LEAVES Bl FFALO, LEAVES UETHOIT, Every Monday & Thursday, Every Wednesday & Saturday, , At half pa*t 9 o'clock, P M. At 9 rVWk, A M. mitral Xmding, in conntdum 6Dit$ ft? pi, ®« & H« •THE QUICKEST AND BEST ROUTE TO CHICAGO. Advertisement •. j. ewt£frr, CM I> C WILCOX, mm***. for the Manf/c, 1852

WINTER 2014-2015 21 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Above: This engraving from 1851 illustrates conditions for passengers in a ship's steerage. Right: Cross section of a ship typical for immigrant travel. Immigrants stayed in the steerage deck where conditions where poor but fares were much lower. received eleven dollars in money." As one writer to the Milwaukee Sentinel declared, "It was indeed a 'praiseworthy' offering."30 Afterwards, blame for the collision was placed on, and partially accepted by, the crews of both vessels. The first mate of the Ogdensburg admitted that the accident might have been prevented if he had given the necessary orders a few moments sooner than he did; the second mate of the Atlantic made like admissions of delinquency.31 Although the crews of both ships were much criticized by the citizens of Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and also Norway, due to a belief that the collision was

22 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

and at the eamo 4J«,^ • : so

I IS Baicc- Lmuu | tte EBlfS^taSdiWOaniaUttM 8 CD MjCJaa, The Coma,ittee oonsisting of fiTe fo™ Ming $K 1 * «<* ward, appelated „* the jLfl?**" 692,000 I an- I the ?very lt»ht 4c, r tsose Bods "& aded sved, *rorri- ktfjd

' .pe "cash $432, a0d;n cloS ^ 1 pa- jro- coPP*i S7e *e; I?ng. i in $140 83 ••Be Tjc: lH- .. «£!•*"••.*

WINTER 2014-2015 23 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

verdict. The ultimate ruling was that the disaster was the result of mutual fault, and property costs should be divided equally. Damages sustained to the Ogdens­ burg were calculated at $3,000; the agreed value of the Atlantic at the time of her loss was $75,000. As a result, a decree was entered in favor of Ward et al. for the sum of $36,000, together with a portion of court costs. After one last failed appeal by Chamberlin et al., the case was settled in 1859, and the Wards were awarded a grand total of $41,200.35 At the same time the owners of the two vessels were battling over damages, a number of attempts to extract the treasures that went down with the Atlantic were undertaken. The chief reason for such efforts was the Atlantic's safe, which contained approximately $35,000 tin 1852 dollars) of gold belonging to the American Express Company; rumors managed to inflate the

-mm

The Great Collision Case.

E . B . WARD, E T. AL,

OWNERS OF TBE STEAMER ATLANTIC,

vs. THE PROPELLER (MiDENSBURGH,

AND CHAMBERLIN & CRAWFORD.

HER OWNERS.

I X A 1) iJ I JK A I- T V. Amund and Gertrude Eidsmoe, ca. 1884. After the Atlantic wreck, Eidsmoe went on to become an active member of his community in York, Wisconsin. toil mi betcrmhteb ;it to totes, in llrj giatriri »f ©bio, ;i

AT THE AIRIL Trail U. S. DISTRICT COERT, A. D. 1853. j

HOU. HUMPHREY H. LEAVITT, JUDGE. ! publicly on the incident. No one would take Ward up on his offer. REPORTED BY F. D. KIMBALL, ESQ.,. Though there were no criminal charges filed against FROM ORIGINAL MiXLTES .TAKEN ON THE TRIAL. anyone associated with either the Atlantic or Ogdensburg and no suits implying dereliction of duty against either ship's crew, the first of several court cases resulting from the catastrophe CLEVELAND: was initiated by the Wards on October 27, 1852. Counsel for rUINTED PT HAERI8 & FAIRBANKS, DERALD BPIIDING, BASE STREET. the Ogdensburg immediately countered that the Atlantic was 1853. wholly to blame.34 On April 26, 1853, Ward et al. (Atlantic) and Cham- berlin et al. (Ogdensburg) entered into an agreement that Report on the court case between the owners of the Atlantic both party's claims should be considered by the court when and the Ogdensburg, 1853 weighing the evidence and be adjudicated upon in the final

24 wisconsinhistory.org ILLINOIS

ErikThorstad traveled by ship from Montreal to Buffalo. Amund Eidsmoe and his family traveled the route by rail. From Buffalo, the immigrants boarded the ill-fated Atlantic. The yellow star marks the spot where the Atlantic sank.

amount held in the safe to hundreds of thousands of dollars. fire in New York's East River and led to the deaths of more As early as October 1852, a man named John Green set a than 1,000 people, that Congress made "easily accessible new depth record for diving 154 feet down to the wreck.36 lifeboats" mandatory, something that could have greatly The safe would finally be brought to the surface in 1856. reduced the number of victims of tht Atlantic disaster.39 an impressive feat since dives to such depths were believed For the Wards, the loss of tht Atlantic was not the only impossible prior to the sinking of the Atlantic. Yet, despite blow incurred during the 1852 season. Earlier, on July 1. numerous attempts, including serious tries on July 30, 1873, E. B. & S. Ward lost their steamer Caspian when a severe and August 26, 1910, the steamer itself was never raised. The gale broke the vessel from her moorings, throwing her Atlantic still rested at the bottom of Lake Erie to be rediscov­ "round against the adjacent piles, breaking her in two just ered by Canadian diver Michael Fletcher in 1984.3/ forward of the wheelhouse."40 Less than a year and a half Deaths resulting from accidents upon America's inland after these dual losses, on February 4, 1854, Samuel Ward seas dropped significantly after 1852. While the nation's first died at the age of sixty-nine. Even with a significant and Steamboat Act had been established in 1838, it was largely pioneering life upon the Lakes, the difficulties of that fateful considered little more than a weak and inadequate regula­ summer would make their way into his obituary. "Previously tory attempt. It would not be until the Steamboat Act of 1852 to 1852, for twenty years, neither S. Ward, nor the firm of when Congress truly moved toward addressing maritime E. B. & S. Ward, ever lost a vessel," reported the Chicago safety. In addition to providing for the licensing and inspec­ Tribune. "Another fact, equally remarkable, is, that though tion of steamships, the bill also delineated boiler-pressure for sixteen years they were the owners of steamers, and for standards which had been the chief cause of accidents during the last six years the most extensive on the lakes, not a single the mid-nineteenth century38 However, it would not be until life was lost by explosions or other accident on board of their 1904, after the excursion steamer General Slocum caught boats."41 That was, of course, until the Atlantic disaster.

WINTER 2014-2015 25 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

. . • •fe%- / Ninth and Tent,,. ' C"•* * G" ^^ M. s , Cass bet Above: A bird's-eye view of THORSTAD ERIK „ Thorstad's grocery store, 1887 , •%, r if;™68 - «**, KM „ Right: La Crosse City Directory p Fourtn w cor entry for ErikThorstad's Ur een tai, £ !! ' °>- G"'ma„ Bros, f',o9 s _. , grocery store, 1873 Thrum Ferdinand. 1.1, T„n. „ , ' '. y h Th'^-

Shortly after his uncle passed away, Eber Brock Ward and instead focus on iron and steel, Eber Brock Ward would "flung aside his prestige, sold most of his fleet, built furnaces come to be regarded as Detroit's first great industrialist and and rolling-mills, and became the first of the steel kings."42 He the wealthiest man in the Old Northwest prior to his death correctly presumed that rails, not steamships, would be the on January 2, 1875. future of American transportation, and he engaged in signifi­ Finally, after their arduous journey, Amund Eidsmoe and cant iron ore mining endeavors and erected rolling mills in Erik Thorstad made it to Milwaukee. Perhaps in part due to or near Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee. In 1865, Eber the kindness they were shown, both Eidsmoe and Thorstad Brock Ward would produce the first steel rails in America, would make Wisconsin their home. Amund Eidsmoe ended leading Henry Bessemer to acknowledge him as the earliest up in York, Green County, Wisconsin, where in addition manufacturer to appreciate the pneumatic process.43 Due to becoming a teacher and serving as justice of the peace, largely to his decision to pull away from the maritime field town treasurer, and town clerk, he acquired a large amount

26 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

of farmland. Erik Thorstad came to settle at La Crosse, 'mainly Buffalo) that required no train or horse and carriage for any part of it. 8. Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, May 26, 1849. Wisconsin, where he would spend the bulk of his adult life as 9. Ibid; Buffalo Daily Courier, May 26, 1849; Almon Ernest Parkins, The Historical a grocer. He died in January 1908 and is interred at the Oak Geography of Detroit (Chicago: The University of Chicago Libraries, 1918),172. 10. Larson, "The Sinking of the Atlantic' on Lake Erie." There is some confusion as to 44 Grove Cemetery the total number of passengers onboard the Atlantic, particularly since the ship's manifest Certainly, nothing can ever bring back the approximately was lost in the disaster. The day after the incident, the New York Daily Times reported that a Mr. Homan, of the Michigan Central Railroad office, had earlier issued 326 tickets 250 souls who were lost after the Atlantic and Ogdensburg for the journey in addition to the roughly 125 crew onboard, making a total of approxi­ mately 450. For some reason, Erik Thorstad stated the number of passengers at a very collided. The "Awful Calamity," as the Detroit Daily Free precise 576. Cummings Evening Bulletin, for August 24, 1852, states that there were 510 Press called it, currently ranks as Lake Erie's second dead­ passengers, of which 400 were immigrants, which is about the number given by most contemporary newspapers. The Atlantic's captain, J. Byron Pettey, is quoted as saying liest accident, and the fifth deadliest upon any of the Great I,- i- • i • ••••• |., - ii.- i . .ii I... ,i. I Lakes.45 Yet, perhaps the greatest tragedy surrounding the 11. "Amund O. Eidsmoe's Story of His Own Life." 12. Captain Pettey's name is sometimes misspelled "Petty" or "Petley" by contemporary disaster was that a number of the sufferers were immigrants publications. traveling alone—making the incident extra terrifying in and 13. Cleveland Herald, August 21, 1880. 14. New York Observer and Chronicle, August 26, 1852. of itself, but also leaving relatives back in Europe or awaiting 15. Buffalo Daily Republic, August 20, 1852; Detroit Daily Free Press, August 21, 1852. their arrival in Detroit, Milwaukee, or Chicago unaware of 16. James T. Lloyd, Lloyd's Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western Waters ^Cincinnati: James T. Lloyd & Co., 1856), 148-150. their ultimate fate, some for weeks afterwards. So many of 17. New York Daily Times, August 26, 1852. the victims likely boarded the Atlantic hopeful for the life 18. "Amund O. Eidsmoe's Story of His Own Life." 19. New York Daily Times, August 24, 1852. they were about to begin in the Old Northwest, only to meet 20. "Amund O. Eidsmoe's Story of His Own Life." 21. New York Daily Times, August 21, 1852. their untimely end beneath the waters of Lake Erie. kXfl 22. New York Daily Times, August 24, 1852. 23. Ibid; New York Daily Times, September 7, 1852. Notes 24. New York Daily Times, August 26, 1852. 25. New York Daily Times, August 30, 1852. 1. The first-hand accounts of the sinking of the Atlantic provided by Amund Eidsmoe and 26. German Reformed Messenger, September 1, 1852. Erik Thorstad make up a critical piece of this article's primary sources. Eidsmoe wrote his 27. An exact number of dead is impossible to determine since the passenger list was narrative in July 1901; it was later translated by his grandson Sever Barnhard Eidsmoe. lost. The figure of approximately 250 dead, which is likely on the low end, is used here Robert R. Eidsmoe, another of Amund's grandsons, granted permission for publication because contemporary sources generally agree that about 250 of the approximately 500 to norwayheritage.com. Thorstad's retelling comes from a letter he wrote to his parents total passengers and crew were saved by either the Ogdensburg or another vessel, the shortly after the incident, on November 9, 1852. First published in 1929 in the fourth Sultana. One hundred thirty-one dead were reported by John Brandt Mansfield, ed., volume of Studies and Records, a journal for the Norwegian-American Historical Asso­ Hstory of the Great Lakes (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1899), 665. Two hundred dead ciation which now goes by Norwegian-American Studies, Thorstad's account is almost were reported by Christian Advocate andjournal, August 26, 1852. Four hundred dead always cited in any work that references the Adantic. Despite the years between their were reported by Liberator, August 27, 1852; New York Daily Times, August 23, 1880. two accounts, Eidsmoe's and Thorstad's stories are remarkably similar. Furthermore, 28. Milwaukee Sentinel, August 24, 1852; August 25, 1852; August 27, 1852; September their narratives are buttressed by newspaper articles that appeared in New York, Buffalo, 25, 1852. Detroit, and Chicago papers. This is particularly significant since contemporary publica­ 29. Milwaukee Sentinel, August 28, 1852. tions such as the New York Daily Times, Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, Detroit Daily 30. Milwaukee Sentinel, August 31, 1852. Free Press, Chicago Tribune, and others were less apt to interview and cite European 31. New York Observer and Chronicle, August 26, 1852. immigrants for their stories, largely focusing on the narratives given to them from Amer­ 32. Lloyd, Lloyd's Steamboat Directory, 148—150; New York Daily Times, August 23, ican citizens. "Amund O. Eidsmoe's Story of His Own Life," Norway-Heritage, www, 1852. norwayheritage. com/articles/temp lates/norwegian_settl.asp?articleid=32&zoneid= 17: 33. Detroit Daily Free Press, September 2, 1852; Buffalo Daily Republic, September 3, Lars Larson, "The Sinking of the Atlantic' on Lake Erie: An Immigrant Journey from 1852. Quebec to Wisconsin in 1852, A Letter," Studies and Records 4 (1929): http://www.naha. 34. Buffalo Daily Republic, November 22, 1852. stolaf.edu/pubs/nas/volume04/vol4_07.htm. 35. EBER B. WARD AND STEPHEN CLEMENT, SURVIVORS OF SAMUEL 2. George Tobias Flom, A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States (Iowa WARD, DECEASED, APPELLANTS, v. PHILO CHAMBERLAIN AND JOHN H. City: Privately Printed, 1909), 376-381. CRAWFORD, CLAIMANTS OF THE PROPELLER OGDENSBURGH, 62 U.S. 572 3. Erika Janik, A Short History of Wisconsin (Madison: State Historical Society of [2\ How. 572, 21 L.Ed. 572), United States Supreme Court, December Term, 1858. Wisconsin, 2010), 38. 36. The previous record was 126 feet. Buffalo Daily Republic, September 21, 1852: 4. "Amund O. Eidsmoe's Story of His Own Life." "Atlantic," ScubaQj Home of Ontario Scuba Diving, www.scubaq.ca/?s=atlantic. 5. Larson, "The Sinking of the Atlantic' on Lake Erie." 37. Buffalo Daily Republic, September 13, 1852; Buffalo Daily Republic, September 21, 1852: 6. Cleveland Herald, August 21, 1880. Detroit Daily Free Press, August 11, 1910; "Disaster on Lake Erie in 1852," Norway-Heritage, 7. Direct trade was considered a route from the Great Lakes (the West) and the East www. norwayheritage. com/ articles/temp lates/great-disasters.asp?articleid=33&zoneid=l. 38. For the Steamboat Act of 1852, see "An Act to Amend an act entitled An Act to provide for the better Security of the lives of Passengers on Vessels propelled in whole or in part by Steam,' and for other purposes," George Minot, ed., Public Laws of the United ABOUT THE AUTHOR States of America Passed at the First Session of the Thirty-second Congress, 1851—1852 'Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1852), 61-75. Justin Wargo received his master's degree 39. "From Steamboat Inspection Service to U.S. Coast Guard: Marine Safety in the United States from 1838—1946," United States Coast Guard, www.uscg.mil/history/ in American history from Wayne State Uni­ marinesafetyindex.asp. versity in 2012. He has been published in 40. Kingston Daily News, July 3, 1852. "Border Crossings: The Detroit River Region 41. Chicago Tribune, February 6, 1854. 42. Herbert N. Casson, The Romance of Steel and Iron in America—The Story of a in the War of 1812" and the Michigan His­ Thousand Millionaires, and a Graphic History of the Billion-Dollar Steel Trust (New torical Review, and is currently working on a York: A. S. Barnes & Company, 1907), 17. 43. Henry Bessemer, Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S.: An Autobiography (London: 1905), biography of the Old Northwest's first great 338. industrialist, Eber BrockWard. When he is not praying for the Lions 44. "Amund O. Eidsmoe's Story of His Own Life"; Larson, "The Sinking of the Atlantic' on Lake Erie." to finally win at Lambeau, Justin enjoys spending time with his 45. Detroit Daily Free Press, August 21, 1852; Chad Fraser, Lake Erie Stories: Struggles wife, Devon, newborn daughter. Willow, and his goldendoodle, and Survival on a Freshwater Ocean (Chad Fraser, 2008), unnumbered. Leyland, at their home in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan.

WINTER 2014-2015 27 *l%.

* «*• 4 .'*• »<#•*»

\3* i '

lolzlhuber traveled by train to Lake Horicon and was welcomed by the ^ mall community living there. He was transported to an island where they lept in tents the settlers learned to make from Indians living in the area, i THE WISCONSIN SKETCHES OF FRANZ HOLZLHUBER

BY JOHN NONDORF

V \\

&**'*• WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

n May 5, 1856, Franz Holzlhuber made the voyage from his native Austria to the New World on the ship Tuisca, along with over three hundred OGerman emigrants who were also making their way to America. Unlike most of his shipmates, Holzlhuber had no intention of staying in the United States. Instead, he sought adventure and experiences that would enrich his life. He hoped his study of the people and the land overseas would provide a path to a more successful career than he had been able to achieve as a law clerk in Austria, where he had some training in the arts 1 ixxim and sold paintings to augment his meager salary In Austria, Holzlhuber originally took a job as a teaching assistant to avoid military service, and he later worked as a law clerk at Bad Hall and Leonstein. When the courts were nation­ alized, he became unemployed and had difficulty finding steady work. Friends who had immigrated to the United States urged him to follow, and he earned money for the trip with singing engagements.2 In his journal, he recorded his thoughts as he departed from his homeland, "Along with my modest talents as a musician, singer and draughtsman, I brought with me only my will to work, few demands, a cheerful nature and an eye open for all that is beautiful."3 HelandedinNew York City on June 14,1865, and soon trav­ eled to Milwaukee. He had secured a job through an agency as orchestra conductor for the German Theater. Upon his arrival, Franz Holzlhuber arrived in Milwaukee on June 20,1856. He rode he discovered his contract had never arrived and the position from the Lake Shore Rail Road depot in a two-wheeled cart pulled 4 had already been filled, so he busied himself with other work. by a driver known as Herrgott. He was traveling to the home of the In the four years he stayed in Milwaukee, Holzlhuber worked Vintschger family, whom he knew from teaching in Vienna.

Holzlhuber made several views of Milwaukee, his second home.This perspective is from the second floor of the Saint Francis Seminary.The seminary, or Salesianum, was built in 1856. It still 1 is known as Henni Hall today. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY in a variety of professions, including pastry chef, introducing the lattice-topped linzer torte to the United States; teacher at the German-American School in Milwaukee; choir director and organist for Saint John's Cathedral; and organist for B'ne Jeshurun Synagogue. He directed a concert club, taught dance, performed as an actor, wrote lyrics, painted houses and signs, and served as a correspondent for Harper's Weekly. Clearly, he was an energetic, talented, and outgoing person. A newspaper in Salzburg spoke highly of him after his return to Austria, "The one who has been to America has something to tell. However, there it depends, too, on the [individual]. A man watching the clock has the same rhythm just the same under which latitude or longitude he is traveling. However, the young man with temper applies himself to the country and people, takes part in every­ thing and helps if necessary and goes through life ten times. Such a man is our Mr. Holzlhuber . . ."5 Holzlhuber thought highly of his hosts as well. After returning to Austria he wrote, "the hinterlands in these German counties contain most everything. On a farm here one finds a '•*•=<* «*».. painter who is busy—he creates scenery for a theater, so they An undated portrait Franz Holzlhuber taken from a 1959 catalog can produce European productions; in another place a former printed for an exhibition of his works at the University of Kansas actor is hidden away who can still bring forth his Hamlet to Museum of Art charm audiences; at a third locale one finds a former prima donna who can still set an example for others with her bravura and good taste when not tending her chickens and calves... it is, as was stated, a remarkable state, this Wisconsin."6 Despite his busy schedule, Holzlhuber still found time to travel extensively. In addition to travel within Wisconsin, he is known to have visited Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina. O " 7 7 7 Tennessee, and Texas. He embarked on adventures, joining a party of hunters, trappers, and fur traders on a fourteen-day trip on foot from Lake Saint Clair to Ottawa City in Canada. As one would expect from his apparent gregarious nature, he mixed freely with everyone he encountered in his travels, from lumberjacks in the North Woods to slaves in the South. Most significantly, Holzlhuber documented what he saw on his travels with sketches and in accompanying journals. His artistic works may not show technical excellence, but they provide a valuable record of an evolving young nation. The sketches from Wisconsin show civilizations emerging from the wilderness through the eyes of an outsider. Farms and towns are carved from forests as new territory is settled. Rivers and rocky hills are transformed into transportation routes moving goods and people between new settlements. There are even glimpses of the intersection of cultures as settlers and Indians interact.

Right: The Martin Stein House was the sole Euro-American dwelling in Milwaukee until the 1840s. For Holzlhuber in the 1850s, it was the neighbors'house. He stayed opposite the Stein house with the Vintschger family during his four years in Wisconsin.

WINTER 2014-2015 31 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Ultimately, Holzlhuber accomplished the goal he set when he boarded the ship bound for the United States. Upon returning to Austria, he was able to progress beyond his law clerk posi­ tion. He worked as an exhibit arranger for the Austrian metal industry at several World's Fairs, for which he was awarded a Gold Cross of Merit by the emperor.7 He was able to build on his expe­ rience and was eventually appointed head of the National Railway Museum of Austria. The vibrant watercolors he made in America were likely intended as rough drawings for a large panoramic work that portrayed life in the New World. He completed the panorama of 144 paint­ ings and exhibited it in Europe to a public curious about life in America.8 His paintings of Wisconsin, a popular destination for German-speaking people, illustrated life there for those who stayed behind, and may have attracted future immigrants to the state as well. Holzlhuber did not achieve artistic fame in his own time, but today his surviving work is coveted by collectors and scholars alike. IKfl

Notes 1. "Sketches from Northwestern America and Canada," American Heri- tage,Junc 1965 in James P. Dyrud, ed., Franz Holzlhuber, (James P. Dyrud, D.O., Rawlins, WY 1994), p.50. 2. Barbara Boisits, "Old Austria Meets the New World," Ports of Call New York: Peter Lang, 2003), Susan Ingram, Markus Reinsenleitner, and Cornelia Szabo-Knotik, eds., p.5. 3. The American Sketchbooks of Franz Holzlhuber (Lawrence, KS : University of Kansas Museum of Art, 1959). 4. "Sketches from Northwestern America and Canada," in Dyrud, p.36. 5. Typed translation of Holzlhuber's image descrptions. Holzlhuber, Franz. 1826-1898 : Sketches and associated materials, 1856-1860, 1959. Wisconsin Historical Society. 6. Boisits, p. 7-8 (translated by Helmut Knies) 7. Boisits, p. 12. 8. "Sketches from Northwestern America and Canada," in Dyrud, p.36.

View the Holzlhuber Sketches Online Forty-two of the Holzlhuber sketches are preserved in the Visual Materials collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society archives, along with extensive descriptions of each image written by the artist. Forty-three Holzlhuber images in all are available for viewing on the Wisconsin Histor­ ical Images site: http://wihist.org/holzlhuber A translation of Holzlhuber's descriptions of his paintings is also available online at the Turning Points site: www.wisconsinhistory.org/ turningpoints/search.asp?id= 1485.

32 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Holzlhuber painted the Schultz farm near Stevens Point situated among the stumps of recently cleared trees. According to the artist, the beau­ tiful wood-frame home contrasted with the barely adequate farm structures. A highly profitable whiskey still was also located on the property.

WINTER 2014-2015 33 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Above: Holzlhuber documented small details of ordinary life, including mail delivery. When he rode aboard the steamer Plymouth on the Fox River, the ship stopped three times to retrieve mail from boxes affixed to trees along the river bank. Right: Holzlhuber's first exten­ sive excursion in Wisconsin was a walking tour from Madison to Prairie du Sac along the Wisconsin River. He lost his way along Lake Mendota very early in the excursion and built the makeshift shelter at center as protection from the rain.

34 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Left:The sidewheel steamer Lady Harris was one of the giants of the Mississippi River, with a paddle wheel that measured thirty-eight feet in diameter. On his first voyage on the Mississippi, which he called "the father of all streams," Holzlhuber traveled in luxury aboard the steamer from Saint Croix, Wisconsin, to Winona, Minnesota. Below: At Yellow Lake, Holzlhuber spent the night in a stable with Ojibwe Indians who had come to trade with a fur dealer. He danced with the group and bought a silk ribbon from the fur dealer for a young Ojibwe girl he befriended.

50

WINTER 2014-2015 35 Above:This painting depicts the farm of a man named Hofmann who came from the Rhine region with his three sons to settle on Lake Superior near Marquette, Michigan. Holzlhuber's journal describes Hofmann's difficul­ ties with wild animals in his remote location. However, he was also able to domesticate some of the local fauna to help with clearing the land. Right: In the mid- to late 1800s, it was customary for the interior of passenger cars to have paintings of scenery from the regions the train passed through on its route. Holzlhuber was commis­ sioned to paint scenes between Hamilton and Quebec on the Saint Lawrence River. For inspiration, he toured the region by handcar, an experience he called,"One of the most interesting expeditions which I have ever made in my life.

36 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

IJ II II

Holzlhuber made his return trip to Austria on May 4,1860, aboard the steamer Milwaukee. He said,"Setting forth from the harbour I viewed with sadness for the last time all the beautiful buildings and the friendly streets, for I was on my home voyage to Europe. As we passed the light­ house I invoked silently the city in which I had lived for four years, worked and won many dear friends, and with a deep sigh I sent out my last greeting:'May God preserve and protect you all.'"

Upon returning to Austria, Holzlhuber created large panoramic paintings from his sketches. The panoramas, titled "Holzlhuber's Travels to and in America" were exhibited in Europe.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Nondorf began working in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society in 2000 and has been the image researcher for the Wisconsin Historical Society Press since graduating from the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies in 2002. His article, >««£Sfo "The Story of Our Centennial Stamp," was published in the Winter 2005-2006 issue. A lifelong Wisconsinite, he Holzlhuber understood the tensions over slavery in his spent his first twenty-three years in Racine enjoying host country. On a visit to South Carolina, he sketched Kringle and Wells Brothers Pizza. He now lives in Madison where he enjoys this family at leisure on a Sunday singing religious songs. the City Bar, exploring nature, music, and laughing with his wife Bryn, son They had been held as slaves on a plantation for fifteen Rilo,and dog Sammy. years. The artist returned to Austria just six months before Abraham Lincoln was elected president, thus narrowly missing the Civil War.

WINTER 2014-2015 37 THE FARM TEN CHIMNEYS A Closer Look at the Home of Alfred hunt and Lynn Fontanne

BY ERIKA LAABS

Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt with farm manager and caretaker Ben Perkins at the tractor's steering wheel, 1942. Left of Lunt is farmhand Ed Carroll. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

ilwaukee native Alfred Lunt and his wife, Lynn the early part of the twentieth century to encourage people to Fontanne, were legends of the twentieth-century grow their own food. A small-scale parcel of land that provides American and British theaters, where they attained just enough for the owner's personal use is often referred to international reputations as Tony Award-winning as a gentleman's farm or a hobby farm.3 Typically small in actors. The couple received Emmy acreage (under 50 acres, though Ten Awards for their television perfor­ Chimneys is larger), these farms don't mances and Oscar nominations for their produce sufficient quantities of food film appearances. Lunt was also consid­ to sell in major markets or provide an ered to be one of the best directors in independent source of income. For the the United States.1 Much has been gentleman farmer, the focus is on the written about their home in Wisconsin, pleasure of spending time with animals known as Ten Chimneys. Both Lunt or working the land. The farming and Fontanne viewed Ten Chimneys as operation owned by Alfred Lunt at Ten their refuge and escape from the strain Chimneys was just such an endeavor. and pressures of theatrical work, and Lunt enjoyed working on his farm. He it was where they spent their summers regularly made butter when he was and later retired.2 home and loved to listen to his chickens Ten Chimneys is situated on a sixty- clucking, but he obviously wasn't in it as acre wooded lot approximately thirty a full-time occupation. miles west of Milwaukee, in the town During World War II, many celeb­ of Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. The fact rities aided in the war effort. Some made that it was a working farm is central to its speeches to inspire patriotism. Noel character and influenced how the Lunts Coward, Cary Grant, and Laurence and their guests experienced the estate Olivier were among those who served in in its heyday. The structures on the property were constructed the military. Others performed at special shows for the troops over a thirty-year period, the majority of which date from 1931 with the well-known United Service Organization or USO. to 1948, and they clearly reflect the Lunts's growing prosperity The Lunts used their celebrity status in a public way to support and interest in agriculture. the Allies as well. They toured extensively, served as air-raid Small farms similar to the one found at Ten Chimneys wardens, gave war bond speeches, worked at the Stage Door have roots in the back-to-the-land movement that began in Canteen, a New York club for deploying soldiers, and made

Top: A young Alfred Lunt dressed upas Rip Van Winkle at Keystone Farms near Genesee Depot, ca. 1904. Above: Keystone Farms near Genesee Depot. Lunt family vacations there when Alfred was a child instilled in him a love of farming and led him to purchase the first three acres of his farm in 1915.

WINTER 2014-2015 39 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY generous financial contributions. In addition, they supported the war effort in a more private way on their home front farm, where their contributions supported the local citizens of Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. Growing food was seen as doing one's patriotic duty. s x In that way, the Lunts were able to help those who were without. 5 While away from their home for long periods of time, performing and entertaining the troops and giving war bond speeches, the Lunts were able to keep their farm running through the efforts of their long­ time caretaker, Ben Perkins. In a relationship that spanned over five decades, Ben Perkins and the Lunts found a way to make this supposed "gentleman's farm" a productive reality4 The farm at Ten Chimneys was more than a pastime for a wealthy celebrity; it was responsive to the needs brought on by World War II, both local and abroad.

Genesee Depot Lunt's father passed away in 1894, when Alfred was two years old, and left behind a considerable fortune to his wife, young son, and relatives.5 This allowed Alfred's mother, Harriet (Hattie) Lunt, to furnish their mansion on Grand Avenue in Milwaukee beautifully and spend lavishly. When Alfred was seven years old, she remarried Swedish-born Dr. Carl Sederholm.6

Above Right: Ben Perkins corresponded frequently with Lunt and gave detailed updates on the business of the farm and the goings-on at Ten Chimneys. The letter is dated January 4,1949. Right: The farm at Ten Chimneys was more than a hobby farm—it became a profitable operation as well. Farmhands threshing at the barn, 1942.

tm. - WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

w^^WSV^^m

is

T77A

Above: Lunt and Fontanne picnicking in their grain field atTen Chimneys, July 28,1942. Right: Fontanne stands in the garden wearing a rhubarb leaf as a hat, undated. Although she was not as involved in the business of the farm as Lunt, she enjoyed hosting guests, working in the garden, strolling the grounds, and feeding the animals.

Alfred had his first experience with the theater at the age of three, when his mother took him to see The Golden Horse­ shoe at the Davidson Theatre in Milwaukee. Hattie loved attending the theatre and took Alfred to many performances throughout his childhood. As he grew, Lunt attended mati­ nees by himself and added the programs and playbills to his scrapbooks.7 In the fall of 1906, he began school at Carroll College Academy in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Sederholms also moved from Milwaukee to Genesee Depot at that time. But as their finances were depleted, they could not afford to stay in Genesee Depot, and they moved to Finland to live with the doctor's relatives in the Swedish colony. For the next several years, Lunt summered in Finland, where he developed an affinity for Swedish and Finnish culture that he main­ tained throughout his life.8 He attended Carroll Academy for four years, followed by two more years at Carroll College, where he acted in numerous plays under the direction of May Nickell Rankin. Lunt's talent was quickly recognized by fellow students, including his friend Ray Weaver, who recalled, "We who played with him knew he was already the leading actor in America; we knew that long before the Broadway critics."9

WINTER 2014-2015 41 m%

Ok

, \

Lunt and Fontanne performed the show Reunion in Vienna in 1931.

Although he was a city boy, as a child Lunt spent almost sought a summer job with the Lunts for the opportunities they every summer at his aunt's farm in Neenah, Wisconsin.10 He alone could provide within the small community16 Most young loved farm life and had fond memories of his family picnicking men began by working in the garden or on the grounds doing in Genesee Depot when he was a child.11 In 1915, after he had general maintenance. Later, some boys were asked to chauffer received his inheritance upon turning twenty-one, he purchased and some to serve at dinner parties. This is most likely how the first three acres of what would become Ten Chimneys. Perkins got his start. He was from Mukwonago, Wisconsin, Eventually, the estate would grow to more than one hundred which is located about eight miles from Genesee Depot. His acres. After the death of his stepfather, he began planning a family owned a farm, and it was there he acquired the skills he house for his mother and half-siblings, Louise, Karin, and Carl would later use as caretaker and farm manager for the Lunts.1' Jr., and, by 1917, Lunt was paying his sisters two dollars a week In addition to Perkins, former town chairman and Genesee to help their mother with housework, the garden, and the hens Depot resident Larry Bartell and local farmer Alex Roth were they kept.12 When he was away working, Lunt grew irritated employed as farmhands in the 1940s.18 Other local farmers when his brother failed to help with the chores on the property came to help as needed and sometimes made their farm equip­ although sole responsibility for the estate remained Lunt's.13 ment available for use before the Lunts purchased their own.19 Once he married Fontanne in 1922, they remodeled the house Whenever Lunt was away from Genesee Depot, Perkins sent extensively and converted the chicken house into a cottage him detailed reports of the farm, often including photographs where they could live when they weren't performing. As the to keep him abreast of what was happening. Eventually they Lunts continued to gain success in the theater, Alfred expanded purchased their own field equipment, and as Perkins's letters the farm and hired local residents to work on it. attest, most of it was purchased used. In 1942, they bought a The Lunts surrounded themselves with professionals who used silo filler for sixty-five dollars and a used corn binder for could handle the daily tasks involved in running the estate, the sixty-two dollars. That same year, Perkins mentioned finding a farm in particular. In 1929, Lunt hired a twenty-year-old local useful dirt scraper for only seventy-five cents and getting a deal man, Ben Perkins, as overseer at Ten Chimneys.14 Perkins was on a used grain binder for twelve dollars. He and Carroll would tall and handsome with curly brown hair, and he was loved by go to local auctions, and Perkins had a brother who ran an everyone.15 Like many local boys and girls back then, Perkins implement and feed store and who proved to be a useful connec-

42 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

**«»>

Above: Luntand Fontanne take a stroll with playwright Noel Coward at Ten Chimneys, ca. 1937.

Left:The Lunts enjoyed enter­ taining guests in the lavish formal dining room at Ten Chimneys.

WINTER 2014-2015 43 W

•E m: ^^^g

Above: Luntand Fontanne in the cottage kitchen, undated Right: A current view of the cottage kitchen at Ten Chimneys.The cottage was converted from the original chicken coop to a home for Lunt and Fontanne when they weren't on the road performing. Around 1932, they traded residences with Lunt's mother and sister and moved into the main house themselves.

44 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

tion. Incredibly, they even found a used buggy for the farm for only one dollar, while that same year they had spent seventy-five dollars for a horse with a saddle.20 Perkins's mention of these deals in detail to his employer showed how important it was to Lunt that he keep costs low while still purchasing the items that a real working farm needed.

From Farm to Table When at home on the farm, Lunt delighted in picking vegeta­ bles and berries, weeding, and planting. In 1944, while they were performing in England, he wrote George Bugbee (Lunt's brother-in-law) about visiting at the home of their close friends the Oliviers, "... I had a high old time as their garden was full of weeds & did I go to it... we long to be home but it cannot be, yet ... we ache for some sun & Genesee—Lynn gets so homesick."21 Many local people recalled Lunt as a man who was always busy outdoors and very down-to-earth. William Pronold, a longtime resident of Genesee Depot who worked briefly for the Lunts, shared his impression of them: "They were common, ordinary people when they were here, you know?"22 It was not uncommon to find Lunt picking up shingles as a construc­ The simple kitchen in the main house retains much of its original tion crew worked or weeding in the garden, and because he decor. was a hard worker, he expected others to be as well. Perkins's nephew, Richard Perkins, recalled working in the garden for Lunt as a young man and once, when taking a ten-minute soda break (with permission), Lunt wanted something done and upon seeing them resting yelled "Whaa!" and stormed up into the house.23 Although the farm likely began as a way to satisfy Alfred's love of the land, it was also an econom­ ical way to grow his own food. In 1957, during a trip to Paris, Lunt realized a lifelong dream when he attended Le Cordon Bleu School of Cooking. He took the six-week course along with Jules Johnson, his longtime valet. Both passed the course "with flying saucepans," in Fontanne's words. Lunt earned the Diplome de Cuisine Bourgeoise et de Patisserie Courante, which he felt was the best one could get in six weeks.24 As a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef, Lunt delighted in cooking for his guests, and the Lunt cores tomatoes in the kitchen in the main house, 1949. He was a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef bountiful produce of his garden who enjoyed creating elaborate meals with fresh produce from his farm. He often spent entire days made this possible. Lunt loved to in the kitchen making preparations.

WINTER 2014-2015 45 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Modern view of the barn and silo at Ten Chimneys plan meals and spend an entire day making preparations in the kitchen. As he served the food, he would watch the faces of his guests for their reactions. American playwright and screenwriter S. N. Behrman once said, "Eating one of Alfred's dishes in front of him is like writing a piece with an editor looking over your shoulder."25 In a letter to Lunt's step-sister Karin, his mother described how much the vegetables meant to Lunt: "During dinner if we fail to constantly exclaim over each infernal vegetable we are interrogated until our spirit is broken."26 For Fontanne, Ten Chimneys was an English manor, complete with a rural village just a few hundred yards away. Although not nearly as absorbed by the labor required by farm life as her husband, she played the gracious hostess, cutting flowers and arranging them, walking over the grounds, feeding squirrels and chipmunks on the patio (much to Alfred's annoyance—he shot them), and entertaining guests by the pool.27 While it no longer houses two hundred chickens, the coop at Ten Chimneys is still home to a small flock. Lunt often wrote about the farm and, in 1944, he told his mother how much he enjoyed her letters that spoke of its bounty: "on the contrary—the more details the better. Most of Kent; while seated next to her they discussed "everything under our conversations seem to be made up of Farm Products . . . the sun—food, the theater, farming, Genesee Depot... ,"29 this kind of talk goes very well, little like reading from some old During the Great Depression, when many Americans were novel but always interesting and it does give one and all a sort struggling, the Lunts were fortunate enough to have benefitted of vicarious pleasure."28 Lunt also enjoyed sharing his passion from their Broadway hits from before that time, especially The with others. He once described his meeting with the Duchess of Guardsman, Reunion in Vienna, and Design for Living. (The

46 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Guardsman was made into a movie in 1931, and was Lunt's these efforts combined helped the farm generate income that Oscar-nominated role.) As a result, they were able to begin agri­ helped offset its expenses. cultural production at Ten Chimneys, and they continued to increase the size of their estate with additional building projects. Running the Farm In 1939, they started a large vegetable garden, and they later Lunt relied on Perkins for his good judgment and manage­ added an orchard.30 They added livestock and eventually had ment, but he knew how he wanted his farm run, and wasn't shy up to seven cows, two pigs and their litters, one horse, and over in overruling him. Perkins deferred to Lunt for major decisions two hundred chickens, along with six acres of corn, four acres of and remained polite and professional. But he also enjoyed a alfalfa, seven acres of oats, one acre of clover, and three-quarters level of autonomy when it came to daily decisions and respon­ of an acre of wheat that contributed to their feed.31 sibility on the farm. In November 1941, when Perkins discussed Over time, the Lunts had the capacity to sell their excess preparing the farm for milking, he said they began working butter and cream in Genesee Depot, and eventually they in the barn before receiving the letter with Lunt's go ahead. mailed butter, cream, meat, and produce overseas as well. By "I knew it had to be that way" Perkins observed.35 In 1942, selling their foodstuffs during World War II, they were not he wrote Lunt to report advice on how to house the chickens only helping the local people supplement their restricted diets ". . . Yours is by far the most welcome. However, I'm afraid imposed by the rationing system, they also supported the local you'll be overruled." He went on to insist they continue to keep economy with their purchases of local livestock, equipment, and the chickens shut in.36 When Perkins considered purchasing supplies. Farmhand Alex Roth took two quarts of milk home a pigs he told Lunt, "I don't like buying things like this without month as part of his earnings—which in 1941 was equivalent your official permission, but from the hints I've had from you to a six-dollar-a-month raise.32 By 1943, the farm had several and your conversation with Mr. Bugbee by phone, I felt quite regular butter customers. The going price for butter was about safe in doing so. This was a case where we had to get busy or one dollar for a two-pound jar, and Ten Chimneys was selling perhaps wait months for another opportunity as good."3' about twenty-five jars each month.33 Perkins wrote Lunt that the Perkins consistently presented sound farming strategies for farm account had a balance of $65.38 and that there was a great Lunt to consider. He proposed ways to make the farm ready for demand for their butter, "can't make it fast enough . . ." which dairying, including wiring electricity into the barn to provide prompted Perkins to suggest they try selling cottage cheese too.34 light when they milked the cows. Over the next couple of years, They had regular customers for cream and eggs, and they would he suggested where to grow certain crops and how much to sometimes trade these items for other things they needed. All plant.38 Both Carroll and Perkins made suggestions concerning

Modern view of the corn crib and an outbuilding at Ten Chimneys

WINTER 2014-2015 47 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY livestock for the farm, and it appears that Lunt often took their time in the war, but because the Lunts were wealthy celeb­ suggestions. In 1943, Perkins hinted it would be nice to have a rities, they could afford to keep the farm running and have milk house. As a means of controlling costs, he also suggested produce shipped to them and their friends. they brood their own chicks.39 In 1943, as part of their response After over a decade of employment with the Lunts, Perkins to the war, Perkins asked Lunt if they should acquire animals felt comfortable including amusing anecdotes in his correspon­ for beef the next winter to help with the meat shortage.40 When dence. He always addressed his boss as "Mr. Lunt," but in one the Lunt family and staff decided to keep pigs, Perkins wrote letter he said that while he and Carroll were looking to purchase to Lunt, "I think you are to receive a letter from someone in the first two cows, "Ed is not only looking for good ones, but A the family voicing disapproval of your keeping pigs. But don't cow for Alfred' can't you just hear him say it? I think he thinks it worry, they just haven't realized as yet how important it is. For must have a certain kind of glamour."50 Lunt returned the good one thing, our public demands it. Jim Pronald for example. He humor. In May 1944, he wrote to George Bugbee, "Good letters was telling me how nice it was that you had cows and a horse from Hat & Ben yesterday with some snap shots of most of and chickens. But he said, 'Why the . . . don't you fellows do you—on the back of one Ben wrote 'I said smile to the Bugbees something for your country and raise some beef or pork?' "41 but I guess they thought I meant Franklin!!' "51 Perkins continued to propose innovations to improve the farm Perkins was with the Lunts for over fifty years. His wife, at Ten Chimneys through 1949, when he suggested putting Gertrude, or "Gert," ran a hair salon in Waukesha frequented by thermopane glass in the milk house.42 Fontanne. The Perkins lived off-site until the Lunts built a home The Lunts bought their first two cows in 1941 as Christmas for them on the property in 1947. Over time, Perkins developed gifts to each other.43 The idea was initially Lunt's, and in November an almost familial level of comfort with the Lunts. During Lunt's Perkins wrote to him, "I think it is a very good idea about having long periods of absence, he stepped into the role of household livestock and things about the place. When I received your first provider. He corresponded with Lunt's mother, and he once letter about the cow I didn't think you were very serious about recalled the two of them traveling on a beautiful train to Chicago it. I thought it was a hang-over from your visit to the circus. "with all those dressed up people listening in . . ." while they Now I believe you are serious." He offered his opinion on where discussed their horse, cows, chickens, and milking.52 He told Lunt they should purchase a cow and the modifications that would how she was doing and what she had been up to. He referred to be needed to make the barn more suited for dairying. Perkins Hattie's support of their farming, "Your mother is the best friend also asked "What would you think of having two cows . . . they we have in this. She is the only one who has taken the trouble to would do better than one, sort of company for each other."44 In see the improved barn and the cows so far."53 December, the Lunts added the electricity Perkins had proposed Although Perkins enjoyed a level of comfort with Lunt, he was in the barn (for a total of fifty dollars), and they began using a not above scrutiny. Lunt wrote to his brother-in-law and expressed DeLaval Cream Separator and a Sears butter churn.45 his concern about the expenses at Genesee from time to time. In In 1940-1941, the Lunts toured with There Shall Be No a letter dated August 3, 1944, he stated, "I just don't know what Night in the United States and Canada, and they donated to suggest—surely there must be something in the Farm Products revenues from the plays to war relief. Back on the farm, Perkins Account—though for some reason Ben never mentions it! Doesn't oversaw the addition of more innovations and improvements he sell the produce any more or don't people pay their bills? What including a hen house, a stone wall, and butter production goes on—I'd like to know—We would be sick if the farm wasn't and the separation of cream with the new machinery. After functioning when we return.... I shall write Ben & go into a few rationing began during World War II, the Lunts expanded the things . . ,"54 In response, Perkins would write to Renee Orsell, number of cows on the farm to four. They shared the farm the Lunt's secretary, to explain the bills he had incurred. In one with Franklin the horse, pigs, chickens, and even Modena instance he wrote, "I'm very glad Mr. Lunt doesn't just go ahead pigeons.46 Regarding Franklin, Perkins wrote, "There is a and pay bills he has any question about without first looking into difference between a riding horse, and a horse you can ride. it. . . . I'm sure when this is explained to Mr. Lunt he will think Ours is strickly [sic] a horse you can ride"47 these bills are very proper as do I, and I'm very bill conscious."55 While the Lunts were overseas, and later while performing After two calves were lost in March and December 1946, in the country, Perkins wrote Lunt to inquire about sending and Lily the heifer was lost that December as well, Lunt went dairy products to the Lunts by train.48 In 1942, Perkins shipped beyond asking Perkins to explain.56 From a letter local veteri­ about two pounds of butter along with some vegetables every narian Dr. J. H. Evans wrote to Lunt, one can infer that Lunt week or so. From 1946 through 1949, Perkins mentioned questioned the competency of his farm staff in relation to these sending about four pounds of butter (which sometimes the events. Dr. Evans stated, "Regarding livestock loses at your farm Lunts gave to friends in England), vegetables, dozens of eggs, I would say no one was negligent." He goes on to explain how capons, sausage, pork, and veal.49 These foods were a luxury common it was to lose cows, especially Jerseys, to milk fever, and that most people would not have dreamed of having at this how many herds had been affected in recent months.5'

48 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Due to a gap in letters from April 1943 to January 1946, residential facility for the elderly prior to his death. 5. Brown, 13. it is impossible to say for certain what happened on the farm 6. Ibid., 14. during that time. When the correspondence continued in 7. Ibid., 12-15. 8. Ibid., 19. 1946, much of the same type of work was discussed. They were 9. Ibid., 23. still raising chickens, planting, and using Franklin to cultivate 10. Ibid., 15. 11. Margot Peters, Design for Living: Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne; A Biography (New 58 in the garden. Lunt's desire to construct additional build­ York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003), 22. 12. Ten Chimneys, Historic Site Analysis, page 1-4; Peters, 36. ings in 1945 conflicted with material rationing by the Civilian 13. Peters, 22—23 notes how after losing two fathers, Alfred stepped into the role of the Production Administration (CPA), which did not allow resi­ provider for his mother, Hattie, and her children. It was because she squandered the family's money that he became tight with finances for the rest of his life, even after he could afford not dential construction until the end of the war. Despite this, to be. Secondary sources and interviews of people with firsthand knowledge have mentioned Lunt continued to plan and eventually construction began his "frugality" time and again. W.Peters, 116. without a permit from the CPA in June 1946. The chicken 15. Ibid. coop and the greenhouse were completed in 1947—at which 16. Oral Histories, volume 3, William Pronold interview, page 6, Ten Chimneys. Mr. Pronold 59 mentioned that almost every kid in town worked for the Lunts at one time or another during time the gatehouse and garage work started. Dairying at Ten the Depression when there weren't many other opportunities available to young people. Chimneys finally ended around 1953, when Lunt decided to 17. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, November 3, 1942, correspondence, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison, Wisconsin (WHS here­ sell off the remaining cows and claimed that farming was too after). expensive to continue. 18. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, April 18 and 24, 1941, WHS. Note: Ed Carroll earned $0.40 per hour in August 1941). Visiting Ten Chimneys today is like going back in time. It 19. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, November 8, 1941, WHS. Oral Histories, volume 1, Larry Bartell interview, page 1, Ten Chimneys. Mr. Bartell used to deliver manure from his farm feels as though Lunt and Fontanne have just stepped out and to Ten Chimneys for use on the vegetable garden, and he told of getting a yearly letter from may appear again at any moment. The estate has been lovingly Alfred thanking him for that "delicious manure . . ." 20. This was the cost of the first horse that didn't work out. Franklin cost slightly more, one restored with fine attention to detail, but until recently the hundred dollars. farming aspect has been ignored. Although not glamorous like 21. Letters to the Bugbees from Alfred, July 21, 1944, Ten Chimneys. 22. Oral Histories, volume 3, William Pronold interview, page 20, Ten Chimneys. the residential buildings, these buildings were central to the 23. Oral Histories, volume 3, Richard Perkins interview, page 18, Ten Chimneys. estate during the 1930s through the 1950s when it was a working 24. Brown, 402. 25. Ibid., 299. farm. Although visitors to Ten Chimneys hear about Lunt's love 26. Harriet Sederholm correspondence, undated (circa 1940s), Ten Chimneys. for gardening and Fontanne's love of flowers from her English 27. Peters, 177; Brown, 370. 28. Letters to Hattie from Alfred, February 12, 1944, Ten Chimneys. cutting garden, the agricultural buildings remain unnoticed. 29. Letters to Hattie from Alfred, March 12, 1945, Ten Chimneys. 30. Oral Histories, volume 3, William Pronold interview, page 12, Ten Chimneys. They stand as empty reminders of the once vital farm. kXfl 31. Ten Chimneys, Historic Site Analysis, page 1-5. 32. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, November 25, 1941, WHS. To learn more about visiting Ten Chimneys and associ­ 33. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, February 1, 1943, WHS. ated programs go to www.tenchimneys.org. 34. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, March 2, 1943, WHS. 35. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, November 17, 1941, WHS. 36. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, December 8, 1942, WHS. Notes 37. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, December 29, 1942, WHS. 1. Ten Chimneys, Historic Site Analysis and Preliminary Master Plan, Architects Four, Inc., 38. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, January 8, 1941, and December 4, 1941, WHS. February 3, 1997, page 1-1. 39. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, January 9, 1943, and January 28, 1943, WHS. 2. Ibid., page 1-4. 40. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, February 22, 1943, WHS. 3. Oral Histories, volume 1, Charlie Esser interview, page 15, Ten Chimneys Foundation 41. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, December 29, 1942, WHS. Archives, Genesee Depot (Ten Chimneys hereafter). Mr. Esser described the farm at Ten 42. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, February 1949, WHS. Chimneys as a "hobby farm." 43. Lynn Fontanne, December 1941, WHS. 4. Oral Histories, volume 3, Martha "Marty" Roland interview, page 20, Ten Chimneys. 44. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, November 1, 1941, WHS. Roland worked as a caregiver for Lynn Fontanne at Ten Chimneys from approximately 1980 45. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, December 1941, WHS. to 1983. She and the interviewer mentioned Ben Perkins working for the Lunts for about 46. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, December 12, 1942, WHS. It was long believed that the Lunts 50 years and that he remained in his home on the grounds until eventually he moved into a had named their horse after President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but actually the horse came with the name when they purchased him. It was Perkins who said, "His name is Franklin, and I say to you, if he can live up to it—let's leave him keep it." 47. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, December 12, 1942, WHS. It has long been told that the photo taken by Warren O'Brien of Fontanne seated atop a horse is Franklin, but since finding that ABOUT THE AUTHOR Franklin was a reddish bay with a white face, gray mane, and tail, whereas the horse in the Erika Laabs received a bachelor of arts photograph has a solid brown face, we now know this horse cannot be Franklin. 48. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, December 19, 1942, WHS. degree in history from the University of 49. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, August 1942 to January 1949, WHS. Wisconsin-Whitewater and began work­ 50. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, November 8, 1941, WHS. 51. Letters to the Bugbees from Alfred, May 12, 1944, Ten Chimneys. ing at Ten Chimneys Foundation in 2010, 52. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, December 14, 1942, correspondence, WHS. where she is now in Preservation. During a 53. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, November 25, 1941, WHS. Perkins noted that he and Hattie 2009 internship, her interest in World War II had been to Waukesha to get their haircut, "hers the usual way, mine was a little more off the top I noticed . . ." history evolved into research on the Lunts' 54. Letters to the Bugbees from Alfred Lunt, August 3, 1944, Ten Chimneys. farm. Her passion for history has been lifelong, and she developed 55. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, October 11, 1946, WHS. 56. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, March 12, 1947, WHS. Perkins explained many reasons why her interest in genealogy at an early age. She is proud to come the cows could have died, and that it is a common thing that happens on all farms from time from Czechoslovakian farming roots on her mother's side, and she to time. 57. Related material, reel 7, frame 757, Genesee Depot, Wl residence, March 23, 1947, Alfred traces her father's lineage back to the Mayflower. This passion has Lunt and Lynn Fontanne Papers, WHS. been passed down to her three children, whom she adores. 58. Ben Perkins to Alfred Lunt, March 26, 1949, WHS. 59. Ten Chimneys, Historic Site Analysis, page 1-6.

WINTER 2014-2015 49 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

I RIVER I

BLUE MEN 8C RIVER MONSTERS FOLKLORE i THE NORTH

EDITED BY JOHN ZIMM

The following is from Blue Men and River Monsters: Folklore from the North, edited by John Zimm. which will be published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press this fall.

n the midst of the Great Depression, the Works Prog­ Rebekka and the Blue Men ress Administration sought to employ writers, artists, and When I met Rebekka at Alvern [in Norway], in June 1909, she Iresearchers in preparing travel guides for each state that was about eighty years of age. She was still mentally and physi­ would capture the "native and folk backgrounds of rural local­ cally active. Forty-two years had passed since I parted with her ities." In Wisconsin, the writers' project evolved into a large- when I started for the U.S. I recalled that she was very super­ scale effort to find and record folklore from around the state, stitious when I used to meet her when I was a boy. Therefore, resulting in hundreds of pages of stories, customs, jokes, songs, when I visited at Alvern in 1909,1 took some pains to ascertain maxims, and games shared by residents. The people inter­ whether she and her neighbors still were superstitious. In answer viewed ranged from Swiss settlers in New Glarus to Ojibwe to my general questions, she told me that the "underground elders along Lake Superior. Some of the tales and customs people" were less plentiful than they used to be. And she added they shared were brought from Europe, while others recorded that she thought the reason was, they had better preachers now oral traditions of life in pioneer Wisconsin or narratives of the than formerly. "I remember," she said, "that those hills below state's American Indian peoples. your home were a great place for 'Huldrefolk'"—a general

50 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

Farm at Night," wood engraving by Frank Utpatel. A longtime resident of Mazomanie, Wisconsin, Utpatel was one of the state's most accom­ plished engravers and printmakers.

name for all kinds of fairies. As a sample of various experiences final covering was grass-covered turf. Every farm home had a she had had, she told me this story: cattle-barn outside of the fence where the cattle were stabled "When I was about fifteen years and preparing for Confir­ when evening came. It was on one of the barns or stables, as mation one day one of my friends and I were up in the woods Grandmother was watching that the cattle did not stray, she above our home herding sheep and goats. My friend was also saw one of the Bluemen. He was a fine-looking man, neatly preparing for Confirmation, so we both had our hymnbooks dressed in blue. Grandmother was not disturbed at all, for it and catechisms. As we were studying our books, suddenly a was well-known among all humans that fairies never harmed :Blauman'—Blueman—came directly towards my friend. I real­ anyone unless they had been mistreated by humans. Besides ized at once, he was after my friend, so I jumped up and began to fairies were fond of cattle and wanted even to look after cattle walk around my friend and repeated the Lord's Prayer. I repeated to keep them from getting sick. In fact fairies were, as the Irish it three times. This stopped him, but he kept near us. We gathered called them, "Good Folks." our sheep and goats and started for our home—but would you Of course Bluemen sometimes kidnapped pretty girls and believe it, he followed close to us till we got close to home." married them. Perhaps while on this subject I had better tell I heard many stories about "Bluemen." My grandmother— the story of the "Fairy Crown," which hundreds in our neigh­ mother's mother—was a very devoted woman—deeply reli­ borhood wore when they were first married. Among others. gious. One day she was sitting on the roof of the cow-barn just Mother wore this crown when she married my father. After at the edge of some woods. In those days all our buildings were Father died Mother married again while still in Norway. But covered with turf. First were boards, then birchbark, and the under a universal custom, brides were not allowed to wear

WINTER 2014-2015 51 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY any kind of crown except when they were brides the first time. to continue and lose that additional work too. A man came to The fairy crown belonged to some family in the community him and assured him that he could finish that castle for him by who loaned the crown to the expected bride or to her folks. the day it had to be done if he would give him his soul on the According to custom she wore the crown when she started for day it was completed. This was the devil. The man consented the church to be wedded and carried it until the wedding cele­ rather reluctantly. The work progressed by leaps and bounds brations were finished. This might be from a day up to a week and the castle fairly flew together. When they were almost in olden days. Rose, Mother, and I attended a wedding which done the contractor regretted his bargain for on the following lasted three days. But the bride did not have the fairy crown. day, at the completion of the castle, his soul would belong to the devil. He told his predicament to an old woman who was a And now to the story: friend of his. He told his story and said that the work had to be A young girl had been kidnapped and was not seen for some done by the crow of the first rooster, which was always about time. Perhaps she was too young or stubborn before she wedded three a.m. The woman said she thought she could fix it for her Blueman. At any rate, the day she was to be married, she him so the next morning she went out to the chicken coop and asked for the privilege to step out for a minute to see the outside— stirred up the chickens long before three. The rooster roused the "Christian world." Out from the cliff, hill, or mountain she himself and crowed. The devil had planned the work to be stepped with all her gay apparel including a golden crown. Just finished at three when the rooster usually crowed, and when then a hunter with his gun came along and saw the bride with he did crow before that hour the castle was incomplete. The all her adornments. And being a man with a quick wit, he at work was so nearly done though that the owners accepted and once took in the situation. She had evidently been captured and paid the man but the devil could not claim his soul. was now about to be married to a Blueman. He carried a loaded gun but realized at once that a leaden bullet shot over her head The Window of Wauchesah would not break the charm by which fairies held her. A hundred Little Hill or Little Mountain is a high mountain of solid rock years ago nearly all men carried silver buttons on the vests and on the Peshtigo River. Its Menomini Indian name is Wau-che- coats. So he cut off a silver button and put it in the barrel of his gun on top of the leaden bullet, then fired over her head and the spell was broken. He took the girl home to her folks with all her ornaments. But the crown is the only ornament now known. Mother was the only one who wore that crown that I have heard of. Undoubtedly many wore it, but I was a young boy when I left Norway in 1909. If my brain was not so muddled, I could no doubt find out about the Fairy Crown and make a good story of it.

The Devil Will Take Me There was a Swiss man in this country who was always swearing and his pet phrase was "the devil will take me." One day he was grubbing out some stumps and he got hot and mad as one simply could not be budged. A friend of his had approached unseen and unheard into a clump of bushes nearby. The Schweizer finally swore profusely ending with his pet phrase. The friend said in a low voice, "Now I will take you." The poor farmer thought for sure that it was the devil and shouted, "Oh no no no I meant take the stump," and away he ran. There is a story about an old castle which is now in ruins in Switzerland near the former home of Mr. Baumann. Many years ago a man had been given what we would call the contract for building the castle and according to the agreement it had to be done by a certain time or he would not be paid for any of the work or material he had put into it. As the day drew near on which it was to be completed the man realized that he "Wild Life—Bears," woodblock print by John Liskan.This print is from could not possibly get it done. It made him very sad to think of Superior Wisconsin in Woodblock, a book published by the Works what he was going to lose and he decided to quit then rather Project Administration in 1939.

52 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY sah. Surrounding it is a region of small forest openings and pearls. It was a miniature '49 rush. Men and women would barren plains. The Thunderers, coming from their homes wade into the streams with rakes and rake out the clams onto in the west, set fire to these plains by the flashes of lightning the banks. The dam at Brodhead was even opened once to which issued from their eyes. And they keep the region burned let the water out so the people could get the clams above over as they desire it to be. the dam. People would buy and gather loads of clams, take At the beginning of this hill and ledge there is a small lake, them home and carefully open each one. Some very good a deep fountain of clear cold water. specimens were found but there was no local market so a few This lake the Indians believe to be a window of the moun­ local men with some capital started buying pearls on their tain. In the lake there is the den of a great White Bear, the own. Mr. Benkert was one of these. He owned a merchandise king of all bears. Through this window the bear observes what store in Brodhead. The perfect pearls were sold according to is going on in the world and keeps an eye on his enemies, the weight. One grain bought $1, two grains $3, three grains $6 Thunderers. and 10 grains $20. Pearls are formed by a grain of sand or some small irritating particle getting inside the clam shell. The Terror of the Rock The clam gives out a secretion which covers the foreign The Winnebago Indians say that when their people and the substance. This is added on layer by layer, the pearl getting Prairie Indians (Potawatomi) encamped on the banks of the larger and more valuable with each additional one. One Rock River, there lived in that stream a huge and terrible pearl which Mr. Benkert bought weighed 32 grains, which is water monster. This water demon the old people describe as exactly a carat. Mr. Benkert bought up some pearls for which a long-tailed animal with horns on its head, great jaws and he paid $300 and sent them to New York to the man from claws, and a body like a big snake. It ranged over the whole whom he bought merchandise and men's goods and told him length of the stream from its mouth to the foot of Lake Kosh- to get what he could for the pearls and to let him know what konong. It preyed upon both animals and men, seeming to and how he should buy and give him some information on prefer one no more than the other. Hapless deer that went to pearls and he would keep him supplied. On the first group the banks of the river to drink or walked out into the water he bought he lost $75 but on the next he more than doubled were seized and swallowed by the monster, horns and all. At his money. He was told to buy for lustre, not color, for size the fording places of the river this demon especially hunted for and perfection. Pearls who were disfigured and uneven were victims. Indians crossing at these places were dragged down called slugs and sold for pearl buttons. So many clams were out of sight beneath the water and were never seen again. dragged out of the river that they were sold and shipped to Canoes in the river were sometimes overturned by its limbs or pearl button companies. a slap of its tail and their occupants submerged and lost. Only Mr. Benkert bought pearls in Argyle, Pearl City (named a few people ever saw this water monster, but its presence in after the rush on pearls and located northwest of Freeport). the river was known by the churning and boiling of the water. He had quite a few on hand when Mr. Upmeyer of Bundi In the springtime its movement in the river broke up & Upmeyer of Milwaukee came up and wanted to buy. He the ice and heaped it against the river banks. Its dens were showed them to him and he bought all, including slugs, for in the deep places. There it slept and devoured its victims. $5 a grain. Mr. Benkert had bought a carat pearl for $600 at Some Indians believed that there were several of these water Winslow and sold that to Upmeyer for $1500. This same pearl monsters in the Rock River. Offerings of tobacco and various he saw on exhibition at the first World's Fair in Chicago some articles were cast into the river to appease their wrath when years later when he visited there. kVl they were angry. These preserved the lives of many people. When the Indians ceased to camp in numbers along the Eneenneshunnuck (river of big stones) after the white men ABOUT THE AUTHOR came, these water demons also left the river. Some Indians John Zimm received a BA in history from thought that they established dens in the Mississippi River the University of Wisconsin-Madison and where they are today. has worked for the Wisconsin Historical Society Press since 2002. He is the editor of Brodhead Pearls Blue Men and River Monsters: Folklore of the North from the Wisconsin Historical Society One summer sometime in the late [18] 80s the people in and Press. His articles for Wisconsin Magazine of around Brodhead and Albany, where the Sugar and Peca- History include"'Nothing more than a tradi­ tonica Rivers are, found that the clams in those rivers had tion': John Nelligan in the Wisconsin Pinery,"and"PicturesqueWis- pearls in them. For three months practically every man. consin: A Collection of Engravings Based on the Sketches of A.R. woman, and child spent time getting the clams out of the Waud."John lives in Waunakee, Wisconsin, with his wife and son. streams, opening them, and praying that there would be

WINTER 2014-2015 53 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL S O C i E T Y Announcing the Winner of

Wisconsin Historical Society Walter S. Rugland,/App/efon Board of Curators Michael P. Schmudlach, Brooklyn the Hesseltine Award Samuel J. Scinta, Onalaska Officers Thomas L. Shriner Jr., Milwaukee President: Conrad G. Good kind, John W.Thompson, Madison Milwaukee Aharon Zorea, Richland Center Pres/'denf-E/ecf: Brian D. Rude, Coon Valley Governor's Appointees Treasurer: William P. O'Connor, David G. Anderson, Wausau Madison R. William Van Sant, Bayfield Secretary: Ellsworth H. Brown, The Ruth and Hartley Barker Legislative Appointees Director, Fitchburg Rep. Frederick P. Kessler, Milwaukee Past President: Ellen D. Langill, Rep. Steve G. Kestell, Elkhart Lake Waukesha Sen. Fred A. Risser, Madison Sen. Dale W. Schultz, Richland Center Term Members Jon D. Angeli, Lancaster Curators Ex-Officio Angela B. Bartell, Middleton Christopher S. Berry, President, Sidney H. Bremer, Green Bay Wisconsin Historical Foundation Norbert S. Hill Jr., Oneida Laura J. Cramer, President, FRIENDS John O. Holzhueter,/W<3zom<3n/'e of the Society Gregory B. Huber, Wausau Lane R. Earns, Provost & Vice Chancellor Joanne B. Huelsman, Waukesha for Academic Affairs, UW-Oshkosh Carol J. McChesney Johnson, Terry E.Thiessen, President, Wisconsin Black Earth Council for Local History ongratulations to Kimberly Aime, winner of the 47th William P. Jones, Madison Chloris A. Lowe Jr., New Lisbon Honorary Curators annual William Best Hesseltine Award for volume 97 of Lowell F. Peterson, Appleton Thomas H. Barland, Eau Claire C Wisconsin Magazine of History. Her article, "Heritage Jerald J. Phillips, Boyffe/d of the Harvest: Taming the Wild Cranberry" appeared in the Autumn 2013 issue and received the most votes from readers for the best article of the volume year. Wisconsin Historical Today Wisconsin leads the nation in cranberry produc­ FOUNDATION tion, an industry that provides over 3,400 jobs and contrib­ utes nearly $300 million to the state economy. Before the wild cranberry was domesticated, Native Americans and early Wisconsin Historical Foundation settlers used the berries for food and for preserving wild game, Officers Catherine C. Orton, Mauston President: Christopher S. Berry, Peter A. Ostlind, Madison as a dye for textiles, and as a treatment for blood poisoning. In Middleton Gregory W. Poplett, McFarland the early nineteenth century, the cranberry was recognized for Vice President: Michael L.Young man, Linda E. Prehn, Wausau its vitamin C content and ability to fend off scurvy. The berries Milwaukee Theresa H. Richards, Marshfield Treasurer: Stephen F. Brenton, Verona Rhona E.Vogel, Brookfield Secretary: Loren J. Anderson, Elkhorn Gregory M. Wesley, Milwaukee David A. Zweifel, Monona Board of Directors Renee S. Boldt, Appleton Directors Ex-Officio Robert C. Dohmen, Mequon Conrad G. Goodkind, Whitefish Bay, Dennis R. Dorn, Portage President, Wisconsin Historical John R. Evans, Verona Society Board of Curators C. Frederick Geilfuss, II, Milwaukee Brian D. Rude, Coon Valley, President- Chris Her-Xiong,/W//i/rau/cee Elect, Wisconsin Historical Society Jennifer Hill-Kelley, Green Bay Board of Curators James (Jay) R. Lang, Lake Mills Thomas J. Mohs, Madison

Wisconsin Historical Real Estate Foundation Board of Directors President: Bruce T. Block, Milwaukee Vice President and Treasurer: David G. Stoeffel, Whitefish Bay Secretary: Gary J. Gorman, Fitchburg

54 wisconsinhistory.org THANK YOU!

It is with deepest thanks that the Wisconsin Historical Society recognizes the following individuals and organizations who contributed $10,000 or more between September 1,2013, and September 30,2014. Anonymous Drs. Allan and Margaret Bogue Caxambas Foundation Robert C. Dohmen Pleasant and Jerry Frautschi Sally Mead Hands Foundation Robert and Patricia Kern Kohler Trust for Preservation Ruth DeYoung Kohler Estate of Edith J. Meerdink were easy to store and remained fresh for a year. Their popu­ Navistar larity soared, and settlers seeking "red gold" moved from the Old World Wisconsin Foundation East Coast to the Midwest where domesticated berries were Gordon V. & Helen C. Smith Foundation much less expensive to cultivate. Dawn and David Stucki "Heritage of the Harvest" chronicles Wisconsin's cran­ State of Wisconsin berry industry from the struggles of the first growers and evolution of harvesting technology to the development of Anonymous today's multimillion-dollar industry. American Family Insurance Estate of Ann Bardeen-Henschel ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tom and Renee Boldt Kimberly Aime is a Madison-based free­ Culver's lance writer, blogger, and cooking instruc­ Edward U. Demmer Foundation tor. She also teaches online courses for Ray and Kay Eckstein Charitable Trust the UW-Madison extension program on Estate of Richard A. Erney social media marketing and blogging for writers. Aime grew up around cranberry The Evjue Foundation, Inc. the charitable arm of The Capital Times farming and is excited to share its rich his­ Friends of the Wisconsin Historical Society tory. She earned her bachelor's degree in Herzfeld Foundation English and Theatre from UW-Madison Highlights Media, LLC and her master's degree from Ohio State Mrs. Peter D.Humleker, Jr. in Theatre History, Research, and Criticism. International Harvester Collectors Charitable Trust International Harvester Collectors Wisconsin Chapter #4, Inc. Claire and Marjorie Johnson Judd S. Alexander Foundation Ralph and Virginia Kurtzman WE WANT TO HEAR WHAT OUR READERS THINK! Robert and Dorothy Luening Tom and Nancy Mohs Email us at: [email protected] Northwestern Mutual Foundation •1 Comment on our facebook page: Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation www.facebook.com/Wisconsin.Magazine.of.History Plenco * Follow us on Twitter: @WI_Mag_History Racine Community Foundation Write to us at: Patty Sch mitt Wisconsin Magazine of History The George and Jane Shinners Charitable Fund 816 State Street Dave and Maggie Stoeffel Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Waukesha County Community Foundation Wisconsin Council for Local History

WINTER 2014-2015 55 ** Curio "*•

In the spring of 1863, during one of the pivotal campaigns of the Civil War, Union forces bombarded the crucial port city of Vicks- burg on the Mississippi River for forty-seven days. The city was cut off from supply lines, and frequent shelling drove many residents from their homes and into the shelter of caves they dug into hill­ sides. As a testament to the fortitude of the residents and troops defending Vicksburg, editor J. M. Swords continued publication of the Daily Citizen despite the lack of paper for printing. Instead, Swords printed his one-page paper on the reverse side of wallpaper. When Union troops entered the city on July 4, 1863, they found the July 2 edition of the paper still on the press with boastful edito­ rial content. The Union soldiers reset most of the final column and added a taunting note. For their historic value, originals of the newspaper are highly prized, and the paper has been frequently reprinted as a souvenir. The Wisconsin Historical Society library holds four original pressings of the paper, including one printed by Swords himself prior to the surrender of the city, as well as a number of reprint editions.

,< »«*•=:,.

„i Ohio by ii.

•

• mr Iroopf ••'• '•

w ur rftUiti

si

• • • » ^w (toes og of its«pit!i>a we ntiouid siy, "usa unmet !i»,,.n™, i[lv .J "K NUTM. ;hei (jjji^JlUfc liuK- JULY 4th, 1863. uhed Two days bring ab<»at great cbii>ii{e», TtM ^ palpal1" "'" • ul 1 hsau'tr of She D«Joa hocM* over Vioksburg, .,;,i,V ill I''" :k in ioy«. On Grant ha-< "eaiischt the rabbit;" he h»i zius- dined in Viokabirij. ami h« (I'd bring his cUa* ebel a«r with hiia The "CiriiiM)"' lives to see it. •l/l I al Fur the last tlnje it i»ppe>\ra O'l " WaU-paper." say I'ck N> mote -vill it HFII njiafi the luxury of mate" 4k/f^f art •neat and frio sowd kitten—urge Southern war* M Bide* -ior» t,o »'irh di»t never "nor* Thi1; is the la*S „ ,,,,, „,-,-, '.p..' tt a' t^att pap^r a-iition ftnfl fa. excepting this ncW •oted frrtm *h* !fp«"> *» top Fntinfl tb? M Mgft

.' i S> v^j^JOU m**** r ,r, v .li,/ <|J* .ii'i,,,,,!'^- .,k am Happy Holidays from Wisconsin

BUILDING TAUESIN FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S HOME OF LOVLOVE AND LOSLOS.S V?> " w Cuff i w bracelet / $40.9" Earrings "• ^.°»°" $26.95 \armeO.Mamminga

Return to Wake Robin Necklace Building Taliesin $35.00 $22.95 $42.95

Perimeter $29.95

THIS SUPERIOR

Stories of Bayfield PLACE and the Apostle Islands

Up North T-Shirt $18.95

Paul Seifert Irf ^^ 100-piece puzzle $13.95 This Superior Place $19.95

WISCONSIN Capitol Square at 30 N. Carroll St., Madison, Wl 53703 HISTORICAL Call 888-999-1669 to order or buy online at TO ORDER Please call: (888) 999-1669 Members of the Wisconsin Historical Society (608) 264-6565 (in Madison) receive a 10% discount! Shop online: shop.wisconsinhistory.org In 1856, Renaissance man Franz Holzlhuber arrived in Milwaukee from his home in Austria. Although he always intended to return home, he held many jobs during his time in Wisconsin, including pastry chef, sign painter, choir director, organist, and correspondent for Harper's Weekly. He traveled extensively, both in Wisconsin and out of state, including a tour of North America from New Orleans to Canada. Holzlhuber painted watercolor sketches to document many of the places he visited, and he exhibited panoramic paintings based on the watercolors once he returned to his homeland. He found an eager audience in Europe, where viewers were hungry for information about the New World. Forty-two of these sketch paintings are held by the Archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Read more about Franz Holzlhuber and the artworks he produced in John Nondorf's article, "An Eye Open for All That Is Beautiful."

WISCONSIN magazine of history

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL