2012 Marshall Hope Award For Most Outstanding Department Newsletter Department of Ohio - Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Volume 12, Issue 2 Autumn 2020 THE BUCKEYE BUGLE INSIDE THIS From the Commander’s Tent ISSUE: The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was widely known in its heyday 2 – Kelton House Museum for its political influence. In fact, it has been said that candidates could not 2 – New Veteran Headstones get a Republican presidential or congressional nomination without the endorsement of the GAR. 3 – Cardington Monument But times have changed and Brothers of the SUVCW are prohibited from 3 – Story of Jonny Clem lobbying or campaigning for political purposes as a member, e.g., writing on 4 – Updated C&R Published SUVCW letterhead, using an SUVCW email signature, wearing SUVCW- labeled clothing, etc. (Brothers may only act for political purposes if they do 4 – Perryville Battlefield Lands not identify themselves as members of the order.) For more information, 5 – Ohio Leads Registrations refer to Article 3 of the Department By-laws. 5 – Spotlight on Civil War Notwithstanding this prohibition, there are times when it is acceptable Memorials & Monuments for Brothers of the SUVCW to state a position on a matter of public interest. As you may know, at the 2020 Ohio Department Encampment the 6 – General Sill Monument Brothers voted to adopt a resolution that I should send letters on the 7 – Story of Chauncey Boys Department’s behalf to State Representative Jay Edwards and 8 – P. I. for September Congressional Representative Steve Stivers. The resolution concerned Milton Holland, a shoemaker from Albany, 9 – Monuments & Memorials Ohio. In 1863 at the Athens County Fairgrounds, Mr. Holland mustered 10 – North Fork Lake CW Fort 149 African-American men into what became Company C of the 5th 11 – P. I. for October Regiment, United States Colored Infantry. On Sept. 29, 1864, after all the officers had been killed or wounded, Sgt. Holland gallantly led the 5th 12 – Department Property U.S.C.I. at Chaffin’s Farm (New Market Heights, Virginia). 13 – Passing of Ed Bearss Sgt. Holland received the Medal of Honor for his bravery at Chaffin’s Farm, and Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, United States Army, ordered a 14 – Articles Continued battlefield promotion of Sgt. Holland to captain. But sadly the War 15 – Articles Continued Department rescinded Sgt. Holland’s commission because of his color. 17 – Ohio Award Recipients Several attempts over the years to get the commission restored have failed. The letters that I sent asked these sympathetic representatives to ask President Trump to posthumously restore Sgt. Holland’s battlefield Dates to Note: commission. February 28 – Deadline Another letter I sent recently concerned an effort to preserve the site of for submissions to the Camp Letterman General Hospital (the first General Hospital ever placed on Winter newsletter a battlefield) in Gettysburg from development. Over 4,000 wounded Union May 30 - Decoration Day and Confederate soldiers from the battle were treated at that hospital and 365 soldiers (11 from Ohio) died of their wounds in the 4 months that June 2021 – 139th Department of Ohio Camp Letterman was in operation. Encampment (TBA) The Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association is negotiating with August 4-9, 2021 – the owner of the site, a developer called S&A Homes, to save 17 acres out of 140th National 191 acres they own that contained tents with the wounded at Camp Encampment (St. Louis, Letterman. Missouri) (Continued on page 3) Preserving the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic and our ancestors who fought to save the Union 1861-1865. Page 2 THE BUCKEYE BUGLE Kelton House Museum and Gardens The Brothers from Governor Dennison Camp No. 1 shared a bit of local history on their Facebook page in October. Many citizens of Franklin County, Ohio are aware of the Kelton House, a Greek Revival and Italianate Mansion, which is now a museum and gardens. But did you know that the Kelton family had a son in the Civil War? The Kelton House was “built on Town Street in 1852. The Keltons were fervent abolitionists who used their home as a stop on Above: Image of Oscar Dwight Kelton. the Underground Railroad. Fernando Kelton was so respected for Below: First Lieutenant Oscar D. Kelton’s grave his abolitionist work that he was selected to be a pallbearer at the marker in Columbus’s funeral procession of Abraham Lincoln when Lincoln's remains were Green Lawn Cemetery. brought to Columbus on their way to Illinois for burial. The Keltons' eldest son Oscar joined the 95th Ohio Infantry, Company A in 1862 to fight against slavery. He rose to the rank of First Lieutenant before getting killed in the Battle of Brice's Crossroads on June 10, 1864. The same year, the Keltons took in Martha Hartway, a young runaway slave from Virginia. She was raised as part of the family until her marriage in 1874 to Thomas Lawrence, a carpenter whose work can still be seen in the Kelton House.” (Note: Information for this post compiled from Wikipedia.) Parrott Camp Installs Five CW Veteran Headstones On the morning of Saturday, October 24 roughly a dozen officers and Brothers from Jacob Parrott Camp #33 met at Grove Cemetery in Kenton, Ohio to offer support, advise, and assistance to Eagle Scout candidate and Brother Augustin Forrester (Troop 131, Mount Victory) as he led a group of eight Boy Scouts from Troop 157 (Kenton) to install new headstones for five Civil War veterans who were never Above: Brother Austin properly marked. The young men were assisted (as little as possible) Forrester’s Boy Scout by over a dozen of their parents in attendance as well as the Brothers. work detail is joined by parents as well as Brother Forrester worked closely with Camp Commander David Rish several Brothers from and Graves Registration Officer Ronald Marvin to fill out all the Jacob Parrot Camp as the pose beside Pvt. necessary paperwork to order the markers through the local Veterans Enos Brown’s newly Service Office (thank you to V.S.O. Steve Gossard) and the Veterans installed grave marker. Below: The Boy Scouts Administration as well as Brother Jim Litzenberg, the Grove Cemetery work together to install Superintendent, to arrange for the stones to be delivered and their the new marker for Sgt. John Gunn, who died burial locations marked prior to the installations. while in service in 1862. Markers were installed for Private James N. Hunter (Co. L, 1 Reg., Pennsylvania Provisional Cavalry), Private Abraham Highwarden (Co. E, 102 Reg., United States Colored Troops), Sergeant John Gunn (Co. I, 45 Reg., O.V.I.), Private Avillow J. Bolles (Co. K, 19 Reg., O.V.I.), and Private (Enos Brown (Co. E, 120 Reg., O.V.I.). A formal ceremony will be held in the spring to dedicate the new markers and they will be highlighted during Memorial/Decoration Day ceremonies in May. THE BUCKEYE BUGLE Page 3 (Commander’s Tent Continued from page 1) I wrote a personal letter to the CEO of S&A Homes on Department of Ohio letterhead in support of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association. These two recent examples show the types of advocacy that we in the SUVCW can perform without violating our by-laws. If you would like to send a letter (or even an email) in which you plan to identify yourself as Brother of the SUVCW in support of a cause, it is always best to review it with Department Counselor Don Darby prior to sending it (as I did in the case of the Camp Letterman letter.) He can be reached at [email protected]. In Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty, Department Commander Michael Spaulding Cardington CW Memorial Undergoing Renovation For the past several years the small town of Cardington in Morrow County has been raising funds, with the assistance of Brothers from McLaughlin Camp #12, to restore their Civil War monument in Glendale-Union Cemetery. After raising nearly half of their estimated $76,000 project, the Cemetery Board provided additional funds to start the repairs. On October 21, the white bronze (zinc) monument was moved for the first time in roughly 125 years to McKay Lodge of Oberlin which will perform the restoration work. The 6 foot tall Image of the Cardington Soldier at Parade Rest Soldier at Parade Rest statue standing on top of a 21 foot tall base was Statue and Monument on originally installed about 1887 and formally dedicated on July 4, 1889 a circa 1910 postcard. In May of 1861, 9 year old John Lincoln "Johnny" Clem ran away from his home in Newark, Ohio, to join the Union Army, but found the Army was not interested in signing on a 9 year old boy when the commander of the 3rd Ohio Regiment told him he "wasn't enlisting infants," and turned him down. Clem tried the 22nd Michigan Regiment next, and its commander told him the same. Determined, Clem tagged after the regiment, acted out the role of a drummer boy, and was allowed to remain. Though still not regularly enrolled, he performed camp duties and received a soldier's pay of $13 a month, a sum collected and donated by the regiment's officers. The next April, at Shiloh, Clem's drum was smashed by an artillery round and he became a minor news item as "Johnny Shiloh, The Smallest Drummer". A year later, at the Battle Of Chickamauga, he rode an artillery caisson to the front and wielded a musket trimmed to his size. In one of the Union retreats a Confederate officer ran after the cannon Clem rode with, and yelled, "Surrender you damned little Yankee!" Johnny shot him dead.