Memorial Day

(LoC) In 1868, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order Number 11 designating May 30 as a memorial day "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land."
The first national celebration of the holiday took place May 30, 1868, at Arlington National Cemetery, where both Confederate and Union soldiers were buried. Originally known as Decoration Day, at the turn of the century it was designated as Memorial Day. In many American towns, the day is celebrated with a parade.
Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the Civil War's end. Records show that by 1865, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina all had precedents for Memorial Day. Songs in the Duke University collection Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920 include hymns published in the South such as these two from 1867: "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping," dedicated to "The Ladies of the South Who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead " and "Memorial Flowers," dedicated "To the Memory of Our Dead Heroes." Continued

Dashiell Hammett

... He had made up honor early in his life and stuck with his rules, fierce in the protection of them. In 1951 he went to jail because he and two other trustees of the bail bond fund of The Civil Rights Congress refused to reveal the names of the contributors to the fund. The truth was that Hammett had never been in the office of the Committee and did not know the name of a single contributor. The night before he was to appear in court, I said, "Why don't you say that you don't know the names?" "No," he said, "I can't say that." "Why?" "I don't know why." After we had a nervous silence he said, "I guess it has something to do with keeping my word, but I don't want to talk about that. Nothing much will happen, although I think we'll go to jail for a while, but you're not to worry because—" and then suddenly I couldn't understand him because the voice had dropped and the words were coming in a most untypical nervous rush. I said I couldn't hear him and he raised his voice and dropped his head. "I hate this damn kind of talk, but maybe I better tell you that if it were more than jail, if it were my life, I would give it for what I think democracy is and I don't let cops or judges tell me what I think democracy is." Then he went home to bed and the next day he went to jail. - Lillian Hellman

A Civil Engineer Smooths the Union Rails

(NYTimes) “That man Haupt has built a bridge across Potomac Creek, about 400 feet long and nearly 100 feet high, over which loaded trains are running every hour,” declared President Abraham Lincoln on May 23, 1862, “and, upon my word, gentlemen, there is nothing in it but beanpoles and cornstalks!”
Even more remarkable was the fact that Herman Haupt and his crew completed the work in only nine days: May 6-15, 1862; the original bridge took nine months to build. Who was “that man Haupt”? Continued

"What hath God wrought"

May 24, 1844 - Samuel F. B. Morse sent the message "What hath God wrought" (a Bible quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Text: Wikipedia Photo: Library of Congress

The ‘Siren of the Shenandoah’

(NYTimes) ... Was Belle Boyd a heroine or a clever charlatan? A thrill-seeking opportunist or a brave Confederate patriot? The Civil War’s most overrated spy, or, as Carl Sandburg wrote, someone who “could have been legally convicted, shot at sunrise, and heard of no more?” Such rhetorical musings, while contributing to her myth, also miss the point of why it has endured; Belle Boyd isn’t remembered today for the efficacy of her spying, but for the way she went about it. Continued

Reverdy Johnson

(LoC) On May 21, 1796, attorney and statesman Reverdy Johnson was born in Annapolis, Maryland. Johnson represented Maryland, a slaveholding state south of the Mason-Dixon line, as a Whig, in the U.S. Senate from 1845-49 and again following the Civil War as a Democrat from 1863-68. Under President Zachary Taylor, he served as attorney general from 1849 until Taylor's death in 1850. Johnson was considered a brilliant constitutional lawyer and won an 1854 Supreme Court decision in favor of a patent for the McCormick reaper. Continued

150 Years Of 'Taps'

(NPR) This Saturday, 200 buglers will assemble at Arlington National Cemetery to begin playing "Taps," a call written 150 years ago this year.
Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Jari Villanueva, a bugle player, says he started out as a Boy Scout bugler at about age 12. He went on to study trumpet at the Peabody Conservatory before being accepted into the United States Air Force Band — where one of his duties over the next 23 years was to sound that call at Arlington National Cemetery.
Villanueva says "Taps" has taken him on a wonderful journey. "During the Civil War," he says, "in late June and July of 1862, the Union Army is camped all along the James River, and especially at a place called Harrison's Landing. Within that big army is a brigade commanded by Gen. Daniel Butterfield. Butterfield doesn't like the regulation call for 'lights out' — that call, like most calls in the Army manual at that time, was derived from the French. Continued

As Coins Disappear During Civil War in Cecil County, Port Deposit and Elkton Issue "Shinplasters"

(WoCCP) As that bloody conflict, the Civil War, smoldered in 1862, a serious shortage of coins for everyday commerce had Cecil County merchants shuffling around trying to find ways to make change. You could blame penny pinchers, hoarders or simply the scarcity of the war, but whatever the cause there was a shortage of gold, silver, and cooper to make change.
With coins largely out of circulation, the hue and cry for small change was at its height as the nation faced the second year of the tragic struggle. If silver did not become more plentiful, one Elkton merchant told the Cecil Democrat he would be forced to issue shinplasters. Continued

Condo has waterfront view of history

(Baltimore Sun) In July, Joe Zuccaro will celebrate one year of living in a condo in a historic Fells Point tobacco warehouse that he refers to as "a Renaissance bachelor's pad with a million-dollar view."

"I have always wanted to live in Baltimore," said the Montgomery County native. "I wanted to be somewhere neat and right on the water." Continued 

America's Journey Stories on display at Abingdon library beginning Saturday

(Aegis) For the first time, Harford County will host an official Smithsonian exhibit when Journey Stories, a look at how and why Americans have traveled since the country's inception, opens at the Abingdon library Saturday.
The exhibit, which will be open though July 6, focuses on themes of immigration, migration and transportation and how these aspects shaped the nation.
The exhibit, which will open at 9:30 a.m., will be divided into different sections for each theme and include items such as panels, photographs and maps, Bethany Hacker, community relations specialist for Harford County Public Library, said. Continued

Baltimore's oldest black cemetery finally restored, with help of inmates

(Baltimore Sun) ... Founded in 1872, when blacks could not be interred next to whites, Mount Auburn was known as "The City of the Dead for Colored People." The cemetery, which overlooks the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, became the final resting place for many pioneers of Baltimore's black community.

They include Lillie May Carroll Jackson, who led the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP for 35 years; Carl J. Murphy, a leading voice of the civil rights movement, and his father, John Henry Murphy, the founder of the Afro-American newspaper; and Joseph Gans, the first lightweight boxing champion.

"Successive generations of colored people around the Baltimore area have been buried at this site," said the Rev. Douglas B. Sands Sr., an area pastor who was been involved with efforts to restore the cemetery. Continued 

Arlington National Cemetery

(LoC) - On May 13, 1864, a Confederate prisoner of war was buried on the grounds of Arlington House, now Arlington National Cemetery. The prisoner, who had died at a local hospital, was the first soldier buried at the cemetery, located on the Potomac River opposite Washington, D.C. It now contains the graves of soldiers from every war in which the United States has participated, including the American Revolution.
Arlington House was built in 1802 by George Washington Parke Custis, adopted son of George Washington. In 1831, Custis' daughter, Mary Anna, married Lieutenant Robert E. Lee in the main hall of the mansion. The couple resided there until 1861, when Lee took command of Confederate troops in the Civil War. After Lee's departure, the Union Army transformed Arlington House, also called the Custis-Lee Mansion, into a military headquarters and the grounds into a camp. In 1864, the estate was declared a military cemetery by order of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Continued

Photo: Theodor Horydczak (Library of Congress).

A marker for Norman Chaney

(Baltimore Sun) Only people who know where to look would be able to pay respects to Norman Chaney, who is buried in an unmarked grave in Baltimore. But if fans of the chubby "Our Gang" star have their way, he'll soon have the headstone he's done so long without.

Chaney, the son of a Baltimore electrical worker, won a national contest in 1929 to become "Chubby," the new "fat kid" in the popular film series, replacing the original Chubby, who had grown out of the role. 

But with his impossibly round face and impish charm, Chaney eclipsed his predecessor — becoming the fat kid people remembered. Continued

Pasch sells Camp Security land to Conservation Fund

(YDR) York, PA - Local developer Timothy Pasch sold his 47-acre property - where historians believe a Revolutionary War prison camp once stood - to the Conservation Fund this week, ending a more than decadelong fight over whether it would be preserved or become a housing development.

The total cost of the project - including the land's purchase price of just under $940,000 - comes to about $1.05 million, according to a news release.

The property is located off Locust Grove Road in Springettsbury Township and is adjacent to a 115-acre farm that the Conservation Fund helped to preserve last year. Continued

Stonewall in the Valley

(NYTimes) As far as Civil War engagements go, the Battle of McDowell, which took place on May 8, 1862, in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, was relatively small — a few hundred casualties on both sides, out of just under 13,000 combatants. But the Confederate victory marked the beginning of one of the war’s most important chapters: the Shenandoah Valley campaign, led by Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.
In the five-week campaign, Jackson and his 6,000 cavalry and infantry troops covered nearly 650 miles, repeatedly defeating much larger Union forces and convincing federal leaders that his movements posed a real threat to Washington. President Abraham Lincoln insisted that Gen. George B. McClellan station 40,000 troops under the command of Irvin McDowell, originally intended for service in the Peninsula Campaign, near Fredericksburg to “leave Washington entirely secure.” Continued 

Photo: "Charge of the First Maryland Regiment at the Death of Ashby" G.A. Muller, after a painting by William Ludwell Sheppard, A. Hoen & Company 

Walters donates artwork images to Wikipedia

(Baltimore Sun) The Walters Art Museum is donating more than 19,000 images of artworks from its collection to the organization running Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that is created and edited by users.
The images will be available for Wikipedia articles in any language, and can be downloaded free of charge. Continued

Shanthi, the National Zoo's Musical Elephant, Plays the Harmonica

Bible Documentation Day draws people with family histories written in their Good Books

(YDR) York, PA - Marsha Smyser is "the Bible keeper."

The East Manchester Township woman lugged a satchel filled with four Bibles to the York County Heritage Trust on Sunday for its second Bible Documentation Day.

Representatives from the heritage trust and the South Central Pennsylvania Genealogical Society documented information from the Bibles and answered questions during the three-hour event. Continued

Remember, Remember, the Fifth of May

(NYTimes) Most Americans would be hard pressed to recount the events surrounding Cinco de Mayo, a holiday better associated with margaritas and lime-necked Coronas than any historical event. Some wrongly believe that May 5th is Mexican Independence Day (that’s actually Sept. 16th); others believe it marks the glorious founding of the country’s alcohol industry.
In actuality, Cinco de Mayo celebrates a stunning Mexican victory against French intervention: On May 5, 1862, Ignacio Zaragoza, a bespectacled young man who looked more like a graduate student than a general, led the brave defenders of Puebla in repulsing the elite troops of an invading French Army.
The Battle of Puebla was not just a much needed jolt of confidence for a threatened Mexican Republic; it was an event with profound repercussions for the direction of the Civil War in the United States. Continued

A Country’s Attic, on Display: ‘House & Home’ Opens at the National Building Museum

(NYTimes) WHAT makes a house a home? The lives lived in it, of course. The relationship between people and their homes, sometimes passionate, sometimes indifferent, confounding or fraught, is the subject of “House & Home,” an exhibition that opened Saturday at the National Building Museum here. Continued

Developer floats idea of Dundalk commercial project, office at old distillery site

(Baltimore Sun) No one makes whiskey any longer on Sollers Point Road in Dundalk, where the old distillery stands empty, the weeds poke through the paving and graffiti marks the brick walls.
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons closed its bottling plant there in the late 1980s, and it's been empty for years, considered an eyesore by many neighbors and the scene of several recent fires. The latest owner of these desolate 14.5 acres is planning a redevelopment, and one of his ideas involves moving county-owned offices there, freeing up a nearby property for "big box" stores at one of the biggest crossroads in Dundalk. Continued

Good Housekeeping

(LoC) Good Housekeeping made its debut on May 2, 1885. One of several popular women's magazines founded in the 1880s and 1890s, Good Housekeeping provided information about running a home, a broad range of literary offerings, and opportunities for reader input.
... Well-known writers who have contributed to the magazine include Somerset Maugham, Edwin Markham, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Frances Parkinson Keyes, and Evelyn Waugh. Following the death of Calvin Coolidge his widow, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, memorialized him in its pages. In an effort to stay close to its audience, many Good Housekeeping articles have been contributed by readers. Continued

Benjamin Latrobe

(Wikipedia) Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 - September 3, 1820) was a British-born American architect best known for his design of the United States Capitol, as well as his design of Baltimore's cathedral.
Latrobe came to the United States in 1796, settling first in Virginia and then relocating to Philadelphia where he set up his practice. In 1803, he was hired as Surveyor of the Public Buildings of the United States, and spent much of the next fourteen years working on projects in Washington, D.C.
Later in his life, Latrobe worked on a waterworks project in New Orleans, where he ended up dying in 1820 from yellow fever. He has been called the "Father of American Architecture." Continued