Welsh Society dragon speak of Oregon the newsletter of the Welsh Society of Oregon image 1: en.wikipedia.org Mai (May) 2016 image 2 adapted from: en.wikipedia.org Life Come to our May 7th meeting! John Evans in will talk about castle design, love, fashion, families, war, and a year in castle life a Power point slides with great images, old and new Medieval Castle "SAVE THE DATES!! The Gymanfu Ganu will be held on JUNE 26th at Bryn Seion church. The previous evening, JUNE 25th, will be our Noson Lawen. This will be a fun social event with some singing, storytelling and jokes topped off with pizza, salad and beverages. We have a private room at the Lucky Lab pub in Multnomah Village. More details next month but be thinking about a contribution you might like to make to the image 3: en.wikipedia.org program." How do they say ‘WALES FOREVER’ in these languages???: Some Welsh inspiration for you… Welsh Cymru am byth French Pays de Galles pour toujour Remember St. Russian Уэльс навсегдаУэльс (Ouels navsegda) Perran of Wales, German Wales für immer who built his Italian Galles per sempre oratory every day Greek Ουαλία για πάντα (Oualía gia pánta) anew on the soft (wylz ‘iilaa al’abad) وﻳﻠﺰ إﻟﻰ اﻷﺑﺪ Arabic tidal sand, so that Spanish Gales per siempre each day his hut Chinese ࿞ᬱጱশਫ਼ॊ (Yongyuan de wei’ershi) would be Hungarian Wales örökre Latin Wallia in aeternum destroyed by the Polish Walia na zawsze tide, reminding Swedish Wales för evigt him of Man’s Cornish Kembra bys vykken impermanence in and then…. how do the ENGLISH say it? the world. to get the general idea, elongate your face below your nose, as if your nose itched and you were about to sneeze. Then say, “Come-rih am bith" MAI (May) 2015 2 Welsh Americans and the American Civil War By the eve of the American Civil War, Americans of Welsh birth and ancestry were to be found in every state. The greatest numbers of Welsh immigrants came to the coal mining regions, especially Pennsylvania. In other northern industrial centers, seasoned Welsh engineers, miners and ironworkers were in high demand and Welsh Quakers settled farms in the Ohio Valley and elsewhere. A Welsh-American Union Because these groups of immigrants were largely trade unionists, working class and members of religious groups that were opposed to slavery, Welsh immigrants to the United States were overwhelmingly anti-slavery and pro- Union. The Welsh-American newspaper, Y Drych, began publication in 1851 with an article condemning fugitive slave laws passed by Congress, and all three of the largest Welsh language papers in the country were strongly abolitionist. Many Welsh churches and their ministers supported the Union, viewing the war as punishment for the sin of slavery and encouraging their congregations to volunteer for the Union army. Welsh-American bards writing and performing at eisteddfodau around the country condemned slavery and secession, and encouraged support of the Union. During the war, more than ten thousand pages of letters, journals, diaries, poetry and other writings were produced in Welsh by soldiers, writing from the battlefields in prose: “o’er diwedd daeth eu Infantry ymlaen am danom, rhuthrasom arnynt, syrthiasom yn ol, a’r ailwaith yn mlaen a ni a gwnaethom hwynt i Skeddadlio, eu lladd, a chymeryd eu Colors, a channnaedd yn gharcharorion” “At last their Infantry came on towards us, we charge them, we fell back, and, for the second time, we went and we made them skidaddle, killed them, and took their Colours, and hundreds as prisoners.1 The work is of great worth, Mae’r gwaith yn fawr ei werth, And it contains great honor: Ac ynddo anferth fri: God desires that it be undertaken mightily Myn Duw ei wneyd mewn nerth, By somebody - Why not us? Gan ryw rai - Onid ni? Let us see your light over there Gadewch i’n wel’d eich goleu draw Saying that there is help for us at hand. The Union was well served by a Welsh Pinkerton Detective Agency employee who worked as a spy: Pryce Lewis. At twenty-five, Lewis had emigrated to the United States from Newton, in North Wales. Lewis helped in the capture of Confederate spies and, masquerading as an English gentlemen, travelled throughout the Confederacy, was well received by its military leaders and able to provide vital information. Lewis and a fellow Pinkerton spy were eventually MAI (May) 2016 3 captured and thrown into a Confederate prison. The other man was executed but Lewis survived to be released. Cymru in the Confederate States Although a smaller percentage than English, French, Scottish and Irish immigrants to the South, Southern census records, including records of slave-holding plantations, include many Welsh family names. Of course, the most famous American of Welsh ancestry in the American Civil War was Jefferson Davis, first and only President of the Confederate States of America. Davis’ paternal grandparents emigrated separately from Snowdonia, and later met and married in Georgia. Their son, Davis’ father, Samuel, served in the Continental army during the Revolutionary War.2 After Jefferson Davis, the person connected to Wales who probably did more for the Confederacy than anyone else, although inadvertently, was a Welsh engineer from Tredegar named Rhys Davies. Davies designed and built what was to become the Tredegar Iron Works, named in his honor, which fueled the Confederate States’ needs for guns and ammunition3 and supplied the plates to furnish its ironclad warships, including the CSS Virginia for the battle of Hampton Roads4. At the height of a storied career which included building foundries in the United Kingdom, post-Napoleonic France, New York and Virginia, Davies was killed by an employee in 1838, well before Lincoln’s election and the start of the war. He didn’t live to see later management replace skilled workers at the Tredegar Ironworks with slaves, the strikes that followed, the war and the vital role the foundry and mill he created played in the Reconstruction following the war. The CSS Virginia was captained by a Confederate of Welsh ancestry, Catesby Ap Roger Jones. Jones was a lieutenant in the US Navy, from a family that produced many distinguished military figures.5 When the Virginia’s captain was injured during the battle of Hampton Roads, Catesby Jones took command, leading the crew against the USS Monitor.6 1 John H. Williams, of the 14th Regiment, Vermont Volunteer Infantry, quoted in Welsh Writing from the American Civil War: Sons of Arthur, Children of Lincoln, Jerry Hunter, University of Wales Press (2007) 2 Jefferson Davis, American, William Cooper (Knopf 2000); “Jefferson Davis.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 April 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis 3 Heaney, P. BBC News. “Plaque for Tredegar ironworks engineer Rhys Davies.” 14 July 2013, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-23287414 4 Tredegar Iron Works National Historic Landmark nomination" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved 21 April 2016. http:// www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Cities/Richmond/127-0186_TredegarIronWorks_1976_Nomination_NHL.pdf 5 Captain Roger Jones, of London and Virginia: Some of his Antecedents and Descendants. New York City: Joel Munsell's Sons. pp. 72–73 6 “Catesby ap Roger Jones.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 21 March 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Catesby_ap_Roger_Jones Further reading Hunter, J. (2007) Welsh writing from the american civil war: sons of arthur, children of lincoln, University of Wales Press. Hunter, J. (2003) Llwch cenhedloedd: y rymry a rhyfel cartref america (Dust of Nations: The Welsh and the American Civil War). Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. Mortimer, G. (2010) Double death: the true story of pryce lewis, the civil war's most daring spy. Walker Books. Van Vugt, W. (1999) Britain to america: mid-nineteenth century immigrants to the united states. University of Illinois Press. article by Gabriel Becket, who will be writing a series on Welsh Americans in the Civil War on the website Americymru MAI(May) 2016 4 Great castles of Wales Dinefwr Castle image 4:commons.wikipedia.com Dinefwr is truly a Welsh castle - built by the Welsh, and held by many chieftains. The castle lies on a majestic hilltop location overlooking the River Tywi - the nearby town of Llandeilo is in Carmarthenshire. The site is forever associated with the princes of Deheubarth, the kingdom in south-west Wales. There may have been earlier fortifications at the site, but in the early 12th century, Dinefwr became the seat of power of Rhodri the Great’s grandson, Hywel Dda, first ruler of Deheubarth and image 5: en.wikipedia.org later king of most of Wales. Rhys ap Gruffdd, ruler of Deheubarth from 1155 to 1197, is thought to have built this castle. There is a great story about a plan by King Henry II of England to assault the castle during a campaign against Rhys. One of Henry’s most trusted followers was sent on reconnaissance, guided by a local cleric, who was asked to lead him to the castle by the easiest route, but instead took the most difficult route he could find, ending the performance by stopping to eat grass with the explanation that this was the diet of the local people in times of hardship. The planned attack was duly abandoned. Over time, the castle changed hands between the princes of Deheubarth and gradually evolved into a formidable fortress. It eventually fell to the English Crown in 1287, serving as centers of royal administration and authority Towards the end of the 15th century, the castle was held by Sir Rhys ap Thomas, who carried out extensive rebuilding.