The Tallahassee Genealogist Volume XXX Number 4 OCTOBER 2011 In This Issue: * Ministering Angels on Civil War Battlefields * The Battle of Mariana - 1864 * Julia Miller Birch, Early Kentucky Schoolteacher * The Family of Laura Richardson Reece ** And much more !! Tallahassee Genealogical Society, Inc. Post Office Box 4371 – Tallahassee, FL 32315-4371 www.talgen.org 2011-2012 BOARD MEMBERS MEETINGS: President: Jay P. Collins (850)566-8479 Meetings are held the fourth Sunday of each [email protected] month except in December. 1:30pm – Sharing time Vice President Amy Hutson (850)562-2323 2:00pm – Program & TGS business Membership: [email protected] There is no charge and visitors are always welcome. Meetings will be held in the Leon County Library, 200 West Park Ave., Tall, FL. Recording Betty Jane (B.J.)Free Secretary: (850)385-4895 MEMBERSHIP [email protected] Annual dues: $20/year individual $25/year household Treasurer: Robert (Bob) Henderson Membership is open to anyone interested in genealogy and family history. All membership (850)575-6610 dues are payable on July 1. A subscription to [email protected] The Tallahassee Genealogist (published quarterly) is included in your annual dues. Publications Allen DeGraw Coordinator: (850)893-6181 SUBMISSIONS: Articles on genealogical research, records of [email protected] Leon County and the surrounding area, and other features of interest to genealogists and Librarian: Donna Heald (850)224-3940 historians will be considered for publication. [email protected] TGS reserves the right to edit for grammar, clarity and length. Copyrighted material must be accompanied by a signed release from the Archivist: Mary LePoer (850)521-7212 author. [email protected] Submit articles for consideration on paper or CD to the address above, or email attachment to APPOINTED POSITIONS: [email protected]. Please put “TGS Quarterly” in the subject line. Electronic Quarterly Mary LePoer (850)521-7212 submissions must be formatted in MS Word. Editor: [email protected] Queries up to 100 words are free. Web Site Deanna Ramsey Next Submission Deadline, Manager: (850)668-1418 December 1, 2011 [email protected] Logo designed by John Lane Mins Table of Contents Vol XXX, Number 4 OCTOBER 2011 Ministering Angels in Civil War Battlefields………………. 3 Civil War Medical Terms…………………………………………. 10 Statistics on Ethnic Diversity of Civil War Soldiers……… 12 Diet of the Civil War Soldier……………………………………… 13 Battle of Marianna, Fl, September 1864……………………… 14 Julia Miller Birch, early Kentucky schoolteacher…………. 16 Tax Your Brain – Genealogy Puzzle…………………………….. 15 Laura Richardson Reece and Her Family……………………… 18 Read All About It……………………………………………………… 23 New TGS Members…………………………………………………… 27 Genealogy Meetings to Note………………………………………. 28 Surname Index…………………………………………………………. 30 Tallahassee Genealogical Society Publication for Sale…….. THE CIVIL WAR – 150 YEARS AGO 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the first shots fired in the long war that caused so much loss and heartache in this embattled nation. In commemoration of this event, the following article was first published in the Winter 2005 edition of the Quarterly, and it is reprinted again with permission of TGS member Diane Dittgen. (Continued from the April 2011 TGS Quarterly) Ministering Angels on Civil War Battlefields Reprinted from the Washington Post, April 21, 1912 In Charge at Fredericksburg After the battle of the Wilderness, Mrs. Jane Grey Swisshelm went to Fredericksburg, where most of the wounded had been taken. There she found deplorable conditions, no adequate preparations for the care of the wounded having been made. Churches were filled with the wrecks of men brought from the fields of strife, and an old theater was used for those most desperately injured. The floor of the old theater was covered with mud, and there hundreds of men were lying, with little attention being paid to them. Her activity in the Washington hospitals had won her the favor of Secretary (Edwin M.) Stanton, and to him she reported the condition of affairs. The result was an emphatic order that she be placed in charge of all the improvised hospitals in Fredericksburg. She was a frail little woman, weighing not more than 100 pounds, but of boundless energy. Backed by the support of the great Secretary of War, she soon placed the hospitals in better condition, and hundreds of lives were saved through her efforts. She found the wounded without beds, lying on the hard floors, and in some cases, especially at the old theater, on the ground, with little or no covering; there were no stoves on which to cook or vessels in which to carry the food to the patients. She organized a small force of men, and went to barns in the neighborhood and seized straw and hay. The provost marshal undertook to stop her, threatening to put her under arrest. She defied him, took the hay and straw where it was needed, and improvised beds. In Fredericksburg, (Virginia) were a number of abandoned houses. She entered some of them and carried to the hospital stoves and cooking utensils. In all this she was aided and abetted by Mrs. (Arabella Griffith) Barlow. She communicated her energy and zeal to others, and in a practically short time had all things in __________________________________________________________________________________ Tallahassee Genealogist -2- Volume XXX Number 4 better condition. Complaints were sent into Washington of her seizing the hay and straw, but President Lincoln returned word that she was not to be interfered with. The wounded came in by the hundreds and thousands from the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, and but for the energy of Mrs. Swisshelm and the other women who were assisting her the suffering would have been terrible. The women seemed to be tireless, working night and day, frequently compelled to snatch what sleep they could in damp, ill-ventilated rooms, and wading through rain and mud to and from the various hospitals. It was a horrible time; hundreds of the wounded died and hundreds of the others would have died had it not been for this band of noble workers. No less effective than their careful nursing were the words of cheer they had for those who were downcast and actually dying from homesickness. A Belle on a Battlefield (Georgiana) “Georgie” Willetts was one of the belles of Jersey City, where her family occupied a high social position. She was as beautiful as a dream. Leaving her home she took her place in the hospitals of Washington, where she gave her time in comforting the sick and wounded, soothing the dying and writing loving messages to the dear ones the soldier had left behind him. No fatigue could overtax her strength. At any time day or night, she was ready for a call to lend her aid. She was one of the most efficient allies of Mrs. Barlow and Mrs. Swisshelm. When occasion demanded she threw aside her natural timidity and assisted in dressing wounds, in bathing the fevered hands and faces of the patients. She stood on more than one battlefield unterrified by bursting shells and hurtling Minnie balls. She was with Mrs. Swisshelm in that awful time after the battle of the Wilderness (Virginia). Exposed night after night to drenching rains she contracted a cold that soon developed into tuberculosis, and the beautiful Georgie Willets was carried to the tomb from which she had so materially aided in snatching many a soldier. One day in the summer of 1862 at the hour in which visitors were admitted to the Washington hospitals, appeared a tall, stately lady of not more than 22 or 23 years of age. She was wonderfully beautiful. She asked permission to go through the wards, which was granted. As she entered one of the wards where a large number of badly wounded men were lying, she ___________________________________________________________________________ Tallahassee Genealogist -3- Volume XXX Number 4 paused as if uncertain what to do. Mrs. (Arabella) Barlow and one or two other ladies were talking together in low tones when the stranger approached them, her great eyes filled with tears, and she asked if there was anything she could do for him. “Sing, oh sing to me,” he whispered in a broken voice. She quickly turned to Mrs. Barlow, who was watching her, and told of the request. “Can you sing?” “Yes if they will permit me and my heart does not break”, was the reply. “Sing,” said Mrs. Barlow, “and I will see that it is all right. Sing him something of heaven, for he is very near that eternal home.” The Singing Angel Returning to the side of the dying man, on a voice of wonderful sweetness and pathos, she sang: “I will sing you a song of that beautiful land, That faraway home of the soul; Where no storms ever beat on the glittering strand, While the years of eternity roll.” When she ceased, surgeons, nurses, wounded and sick were all weeping. From every part of the ward came anxious requests for her to sing again. She sang one song after another. As she turned away after her last song Mrs. Barlow impulsively threw her arms around her saying: “What a darling you are. I would give the world if I could sing as you do.” At the earnest request of the surgeon in charge she promised to return the next day, which she did, and for many days thereafter, until she became known as the “Singing Angel”. On one of her visits, she asked a young soldier if there was anything she could get for him. He was burning up with fever and expressed a desire for a drink of ice water. She was astonished on inquiry to find no ice was provided. Going to the surgeon in charge, she asked if she might be permitted to furnish ice, and was told the hospital authorities would be glad to have it in abundance if they could get it.