August 2001 Weekly Firesides

August 2001 Weekly Firesides

Hear Ye .... Hear Ye
"The Weekly Fireside"
of the American Civil War History
Special Interest Group;
Distribution Coast to Coast
Week ending 05 August 2001

Our Mission: To serve all genealogists by providing an enjoyable online environment with as many helpful and reliable resources as possible.

Well this Thursday is our monthly special: Letters, Songs and Poems night. Come on out and join us. You'll indeed enjoy.

We wish to extend our sympathy to Jenny Moulton ([email protected]) and the family on the loss of her mother Edith Moulton known to us all as "EJMOULTON". I'll pass Jenny's note to all of you.
Mom passed away this afternoon. She fought a long, hard battle. Thank you and the others in the chat room for being such good friends -- she enjoyed chatting each and every one of you. You all helped to keep her connected to the outside world and to keep her so mentally active. Take care.
Jenny Moulton
We'll all miss Edith but have fond memories of the many evenings spent with her.
God Bless - Jenny!

Civil War History & Genealogy Forum Related Announcements
War Between the States (Tracing your Civil War Ancestors)
With HOST GFS Amy and HOST GFS Wolford on
Friday evenings at 9:00 PM EDT in the Golden Gates Chat Room
of the Genealogy Forum (ONLY ON AOL) at KEYWORD: ROOTS

* * * * *

Military Families Chat
With HOST GFS Beri, and HOST GFS Wolford
Wed, 8 PM ET in the Ancestral Digs Conference Room
of the Genealogy Forum (ONLY ON AOL) at KEYWORD: ROOTS

* * * * *

"Genealogy Forum's Military Resources" Website
devoted to Civil War History and the material presented in
the American Civil War History Special Interest Group
in the Genealogy Forum of America On-Line.
The address is:
http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/gfaol/resource/Military/

The Weekly Fireside Archives
http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/gfaol/resource/Military/Fireside.htm

Editor's Note: I sincerely encourage you to feel entirely free to post any Civil War Letters, Stories or articles that you have in our Civil War History Files through the new Military Resources Website. We are trying "beef up" our Library and now those of you who have patiently stuck with us who aren't AOL Members can now participate. There is also an area for you to upload photos, if you would desire to share those with the Civil War History community. On the Web Site, there are links to our Civil War Library (Files, Fireside's, and Photo's).

FOR ALL YOU 1ST TIMERS ON THURSDAY - "WE REALLY WELCOME YOU TO OUR MERRY BAND" WE ENJOYED HAVING YOU, TRADING QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS AND ESPECIALLY YOUR CAMARADERIE!!! :-)... COME AGAIN OFTEN, WE DO INDEED "RELISH" YOUR COMPANY..

Every first-timer to the American Civil War History SIG gets put on the newsletter distribution automatically, because we like to send you a "Thank You Card" for coming to visit and this is our way of doing so. We hope to give you an opportunity to jump right in with us. If you desire NOT to receive the newsletter, then just drop us an email saying UNSUBSCRIBE and we will quickly remove your screen name from distribution. We certainly don't want to clog your mailbox with unwanted material. Also many of you pass on the newsletter to others that don't subscribe to AOL. We really want to thank you for spreading the word. I would also like to let you know that we would be happy to add them to our list if they have email of any sort. We distribute everywhere to those that have requested it. AOL membership is not a requirement although we'd love to see you in the Chat Room :D

Did you know......................

Ellet, Ellet, Ellet, and Ellet sounds like a firm of barristers or solicitors out of a Charles Dickens novel. But no, these Ellets more accurately can be associated with operations on the Mississippi River during the Civil War.
All four Ellets, a father and son, a brother of the father, and a nephew, were associated, more precisely, with the Union's ram fleet on the Mississippi. Their tale begins with the birth of the first Ellet, Charles, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1810. Called Charles Ellet Jr., he grew up to be an engineer, railroader, inventor, and bridge builder. As one engineering feat, for instance, he built the first wire-suspension bridge in the United States -- across the Schuylkill River at Fairmont, Pennsylvania. He then spanned the Niagara River (below the famous falls), and at Wheeling, Ohio, in 1849, he erected a bridge of 1,010 feet over the Ohio River -- at that time the world's longest single-span bridge.
While helping to build a Virginia rail line across the Blue Ridge in the 1850's, he also had on his mind an odd naval vessel -- sort of an ironclad ram. No one in the United States seemed interested until the Confederacy produced the ironclad Virginia in 1862 (previously the Merrimac) along lines suggested in Ellet's published proposals.
Suddenly Washington and the Lincoln administration awoke to the possibilities of Ellet's design. In short time he was dispatched by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to the Mississippi River (where he had worked before on flood control projects) to establish a fleet of rams. This he did by fitting out nine steam vessels with armor and rams, then moving them down the Ohio River to join the Union Navy's Captain Charles H. Davis and his Mississippi Flotilla.
Ellet managed to skim safely by Fort Pillow on June 5, 1862. The next day he took on eight Confederate vessels guarding Memphis, Tennessee. Four of them were sunk by the Union rams, with Ellet's own Queen of the West ramming and sinking the enemy's General Lowell. The remaining Rebel vessels fled downriver with the Union craft in close pursuit. Ellet's ships managed to sink another of the Rebel vessels and capture two more, a total of seven Confederate ships eliminated in one fell swoop.
The Union that day suffered but one casualty -- a mortal wound inflicted upon the man behind the Union rams, Charles Ellet Jr. He died on June 21.
The Ellet name, however, did not die with him. Far from it!
The inventor's son, Charles Rivers Ellet, a medical student at Georgetown when the Civil War erupted, had just joined his father in time to bypass the Rebel batteries at Fort Pillow and was with him for the river battle at Memphis the next day. In fact, the elder Ellet had dispatched son Charles, officially a medical cadet, and two fellow Union men on the dangerous mission of going ashore in Memphis and demanding the city's surrender. They faced an angry mob (but no Confederate soldiers) and had to ignore hurled bricks and even stray shots, but they did it. They marched to the post office, took down the Confederate flag, and raised the U.S. flag in its place.
The younger Ellet would soon risk his life again by crossing disputed territory on foot outside besieged Vicksburg on his way to inform Admiral David G. Farragut that Memphis had fallen into Union hands. Soon, too, the younger Ellet had been raised to colonel's rank and placed in command of his late father's ram fleet.
As a riverboat commander, he didn't do so badly. Four times in the next four months he ran the Vicksburg batteries. On the fourth such excursion -- February 2, 1863 -- he attacked and rammed the Rebel Vicksburg at the city's south landing. The next day he and the redoubtable Queen captured three Confederate supply vessels at the mouth of the Red River.
It was another occasion at the Red River, however, that the younger Ellet ran into misfortune. Ascending the river, the Queen of the West ran aground and came under fire by a hidden shore battery, and he and the crew had to abandon their ram. Worse, he had gone ahead of his supporting gunboat, Indianola, which also became a casualty of the day's activities. Ellet had to escape on board the accompanying De Sota.
Although this young and relatively untried "sailor" had been promoted to the rank of colonel, he was not really a sailor (neither was his late father) but was an Army officer. Technically, he was commander of the Mississippi Marine Brigade. The Red River incident only inflamed Army-Navy rivalries over control of the small ram fleet and the Marines.
That odd situation also involved the younger Ellet's uncle. The brother of the late Charles J., Alfred Washington Ellet was a brigadier general of volunteers who had been second to his brother in command of the ram fleet. He had been present for the Memphis battle and had taken command after his brother was mortally wounded. he was briefly in command of the Marine Brigade itself, but after a time he was sent with brigade infantry elements to join Union General William Rosecrans on the Tennessee River.
Adding to the not-always-so-clear muddle was a fourth Ellet who served on the Mississippi, John A. Ellet, a nephew to both older Ellets and cousin to the younger Charles. This younger Ellet, often in conflict with the naval authorities, was also an Army officer. He served as second in command to Cousin Charles with the Marine Brigade. He had lost the ram Lancaster, and eventually he would command the Union Switzerland, which Cousin Charles had taken over for a time after the Queen had been lost.
Soon John Ellet ran afoul of Union Admiral David Porter. When Porter have him orders, Ellet would not obey them without first checking with his Army uncle, General Alfred Ellet. Young John avoided Porter's threats of arrest and court-martial by joining Farragut downriver and strictly obeying the latter officer's dictates.
Meanwhile, young Charles, replaced earlier by Cousin John in command of the Switzerland, went with the Marine Brigade's infantrymen to join Rosecrans. He then became ill, retired to his uncle Alfred's farm in Illinois, and died in the fall of 1863, at age twenty or twenty-one.

.........................and there you have it!

THE HELP DESK

This segment is to address specific questions that hit our plate on Thursday night that we didn't have a chance to answer or needed a bit of time to check it out. Hope these answer the mail :D

Editor's Note: The new Military Resouces Website (Website is listed above in the Fireside) has a myriad of options for you. Here are some the choices: US Military Records, Conscription/Draft Records, Civil War Battle Names, Secession of the Confederate States, Your Civil War Ancestors - Where to Begin, Military Resources on the Internet, links to the Stories, Files and Talks of the American Civil War History Chat on AOL, message boards and many, many others. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Additional Note from the Webmaster: Although we are thrilled to provide this area for you now, we want you to know that we are still building it and MORE files, Regimental Histories, etc., will be available in the near future. Stay Tuned!

MEMBERS HELPING MEMBERS!!..

Here's how it works... If you are trying to get photographs of a gravesite or battlefield, to collect for your Civil War ancestor research and records, then send us a request and we will post it here... Other members see your request, some being in the near vicinity, are willing to assist, and can email you directly (This protects your privacy) to work out the details. We HIGHLY recommend the "Requester" pay for all film costs and any postage involved for a helping member. This is intended to be a "Free" assistance between members (with the exception of defraying film and postage costs). Do unto others as.... you know :-) Keep us posted on how this is working, so we can share them in the "Fireside"!!
HOST GFS Jim

IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED ANSWER(S) TO YOUR QUESTIONS, PLEASE BE SURE TO LET US KNOW!!!!!
Thanks!! - The Editors

We have had some gracious members offer their assistance in this area. Their screen names and areas they have offered to help in are listed.... Please honor their "goodness" and don't abuse them :-).... We ask that you do follow the guidelines indicated above....

A BIT OF COMMUNITY...
Check out the following member inputs for comments and requests for information, Feedback's, Items of Interest and Plea's for HELP...

WHAT WE ARE ABOUT
OUR FOCUS: the "History of the American (United States) Civil War", with byproducts of laughter, and comraderie!

OUR GOAL: to enhance your Genealogy activity, knowledge, and "wisdom" by talking about the history surrounding their lives and actions; specifically the "Civil War" that our ancestors lived through and died because of.

Captain Oliver Wendell Holmes of the 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, said it so well.

"I think it is a noble and pious thing
To do whatever we may by written
Word or molded bronze and sculpted
Stone to keep our memories, our
Reverence and our love alive and
To hand them on to new generations
All too ready to forget."

OUR PROMISE: to provide an "online" environment that is NOT judgmental and to address ALL aspects of this "Pivotal Period" in our History, with honesty and truth (as we know it).

We do "Fireside Stories" about the battles, the people and the social happenings. In addition we dedicate one Thursday a month to the sharing of Songs, Poems and Letters from that era. So come back and visit; we'll save you a seat at the Fireside, and keep the Cider warm..... For a full listing of upcoming events, either look on the Schedule at the end of this Notice or in the Upcoming Events of the Genealogy Forum.

As we review the logs, and we find new visitors who show an interest or have entered into discussions on this topic in our Thursday sessions, we automatically add you to the distribution for this "Weekly Fireside."

AND Hey!, TO YOU "FIRST-TIMERS" THIS WEEK, "Welcome"... :)

We heartily enjoyed your visit and participation. We really "fire up" with what members bring to the discussions, and we hope to see more of you.... Note that for any reason, should you desire to be removed from distribution of this "Weekly Missif," just drop us a line and we will comply with your wishes "post-haste".

Schedule of Upcoming Topics/Events*****

Time: Every Thursday Night at 11pm ET in the Golden Gates Chat Room (On AOL Only) with hosts HOST GFS Amy, HOST GFS Jayne, HOST GFS TEG and HOST GFS Jim and our many faithful friends :)

8/9/01 - Letters, Songs and Poems night. Send in any material you want read in the room to HOST GFS Jim, HOST GFS Jayne, HOST GFS TEG or HOST GFS Amy and we'll be more than happy to do the reading for you :D

8/16/01 - OPEN CHAT

8/23/01 - The Coastal War - by Kathy Dahl. Kathy was co-hostess in the Civil War History SIG a number of years ago and she did such good stories I thought you might enjoy one of hers again.

8/30/01 - OPEN CHAT

We'll See You Thursday Night..!
Your Joyful, Intelligent and Fun-lovin' Host's & Hostess's :-)
HOST GFS Jim, HOST GFS Jayne, HOST GFS TEG and HOST GFS Amy

Hear Ye .... Hear Ye
"The Weekly Fireside"
of the American Civil War History
Special Interest Group;
Distribution Coast to Coast
Week ending 19 August 2001

Our Mission: To serve all genealogists by providing an enjoyable online environment with as many helpful and reliable resources as possible.

Well this Thursday's a story on The Coastal War developed by a friend Kathy Dahle. It's a hummer and I'm sure you'll enjoy....

You know a lot of you don't get to drop in on us as often as we'd like to see you for a number of reasons, and many of you have desired to see some of the poems and letters that we do monthly, so I thought I'd start an area in the newsletter to give you some examples of what we experience once a month in the Chat Room. So look down below and check out Our Weekly Reading! Let us know what you think. We're always looking for suggestions.....

Civil War History & Genealogy Forum Related Announcements

War Between the States (Tracing your Civil War Ancestors)
With HOST GFS Amy and HOST GFS Wolford on
Friday evenings at 9:00 PM EDT in the Golden Gates Chat Room
of the Genealogy Forum (ONLY ON AOL) at KEYWORD: ROOTS

* * * * *

Military Families Chat
With HOST GFS Beri, and HOST GFS Wolford
Wed, 8 PM ET in the Ancestral Digs Conference Room
of the Genealogy Forum (ONLY ON AOL) at KEYWORD: ROOTS

* * * * *

Did you know......................

In January, 1863, when my division had settled quietly down in its camp south of Murfreesboro, Colonel Joseph Conrad of the Fifteenth Missouri, informed me that ... he had been mortified greatly by the conduct of the two females belonging to the detachment and division train at my headquarters. These women, he said, had given much annoyance by getting drunk, and to some extent demoralizing his men. To say that I was astonished at his statement would be a mild way of putting it, and had I not known him to be a most upright man and of sound sense, I should have doubted not only his veracity, but his sanity. Inquiring who they were and for further details, I was informed that there certainly were in the command two females that, in some mysterious manner, had attached themselves to the service as soldiers; that one, an East Tennessee woman, was a teamster in the division wagon-train and the other, a private soldier in a cavalry company temporarily attached to my headquarters for escort duty. While out on the foraging expedition these Amazons had secured a supply of "apple-jack" by some means, got very drunk, and on the return had fallen into Stones River and been nearly drowned. After they had been fished from the water, in the process of resuscitation their sex was disclosed, though up to this time it appeared to be known only to each other.
The story was straight and the circumstance clear, so, convinced of Conrad's continued sanity, I directed the provost-marshal to bring in arrest to my headquarters the two disturbers of Conrad's peace of mind. After some little search the East Tennessee woman was found in camp, somewhat the worse for the experiences of the day before, but awaiting her fate contentedly smoking a cob-pipe. She was brought to me, and put in duress under charge of the division surgeon until her companion could be secured. To the doctor she related that the year before she had "refugeed" from East Tennessee, and on arriving in Louisville assumed men's apparel and sought and obtained employment as a teamster in the quartermaster's department. Her features were very large, and so coarse and masculine was her general appearance that she would readily have passed as a man, and in her case the deception was no doubt easily practiced. Next day the "she dragoon" was caught, and proved to be a rather prepossessing young woman, and though necessarily bronzed and hardened by exposure, I doubt if, even with these marks of campaigning, she could have deceived as readily as did her companion. How the two got acquainted I never learned, and though they had joined the army independently of each other, yet an intimacy had sprung up between them long before the mishaps of the foraging expedition. They both were forwarded to army headquarters, and, when provided with clothing suited to their sex, sent back to Nashville, and thence beyond our lines to Louisville.

-- General Philip H. Sheridan.

.........................and there you have it!

THE HELP DESK
This segment is to address specific questions that hit our plate on Thursday night that we didn't have a chance to answer or needed a bit of time to check it out. Hope these answer the mail :D

Editor's Note: The new Military Resouces Website (Website is listed above in the Fireside) has a myriad of options for you. Here are some the choices: US Military Records, Conscription/Draft Records, Civil War Battle Names, Secession of the Confederate States, Your Civil War Ancestors - Where to Begin, Military Resources on the Internet, links to the Stories, Files and Talks of the American Civil War History Chat on AOL, message boards and many, many others. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Additional Note from the Webmaster: Although we are thrilled to provide this area for you now, we want you to know that we are still building it and MORE files, Regimental Histories, etc., will be available in the near future. Stay Tuned!

WEEKLY WEBSITES WE'VE RECEIVED...

From: [email protected]:

Civil War Prison Camps
http://www.imagin.net/~tracers/civil_war_prison_camps.htm

Civil War Soldier Databases and FAQ
http://www.imagin.net/~tracers/civil_war_soldiers.htm

How to Order Civil War Records FAQ
http://www.imagin.net/~tracers/civil_war_records_faq.htm

MEMBERS HELPING MEMBERS!!..

Here's how it works... If you are trying to get photographs of a gravesite or battlefield, to collect for your Civil War ancestor research and records, then send us a request and we will post it here... Other members see your request, some being in the near vicinity, are willing to assist, and can email you directly (This protects your privacy) to work out the details. We HIGHLY recommend the "Requester" pay for all film costs and any postage involved for a helping member. This is intended to be a "Free" assistance between members (with the exception of defraying film and postage costs). Do unto others as.... you know
:-) Keep us posted on how this is working, so we can share them in the "Fireside"!!
HOST GFS Jim

IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED ANSWER(S) TO YOUR QUESTIONS, PLEASE BE SURE TO LET US KNOW!!!!!
Thanks!! - The Editors

We have had some gracious members offer their assistance in this area. Their screen names and areas they have offered to help in are listed.... Please honor their "goodness" and don't abuse them :-)....
We ask that you do follow the guidelines indicated above....

* * * * *

From: [email protected]:
I'm not sure this is where I reply but I thought I would give it a try. I noticed in the Weekly Fireside chat newsletter that we could ask for help in locating a picture of a gravesite of a Civil War ancestor. Well my 3rd Great-grandfathers both served, 1 in the south and 1 in the north. Their names were:

Asahel IVES buried bethel Cemetery, Bethel, Fayette Co. IA

Charles Dudley BOYETT AKA CD buried Union Hill Cemetery, Pensacola, Escambia Co. Florida.

If any live in the areas I would gladly pay whatever the cost.
Thank you
Joe

"Joe" thanks for send us your request. We have a number of readers in the Pensacola area that may be able to help out and we see what Iowa folks we may have reading this. Let us know how it goes.....

OUR WEEKLY READING...
This great letter was read in one of our recent sessions and I also was sent a copy from [email protected]. You'll love this one!

A Letter from a Veteran
There are 8 Redwoods in the US so it is hard, if not impossible to imagine where this letter originated. It was found some years ago in the National Archives in Washington D.C. The kind soul that sent this to me indicated that they didn't remember where it was located. The "Mr. Black" indicated in the letter, was the commissioner, John C Black who won the Medal Of Honor at Prairie Grove, Arkansas while a member of the 37th Illinois, He was, at the time, being considered as potential material to run for Vice President on the Republican ticket. Please note the original spelling from the letter is "unchanged".

"Redwood, April 23, 1888
Mr. Black, Commissioner:

Deer Sir - I've just got another one 'o your postal cards telling me to go before the doctors and be examined. I've been getting these cards bout every new moon since I plied for an increase of my pension two years ago. I've been examined, and punched in the ribs, and sounded in the lungs, and made to bend over the back of a chair and perform all sorts a monkey shines in my shirt tail, till I feel ez I orter hav a salery with an agent to go ahead and stick up bills.

To begin with, you sent a couple of doctors up to Skin Creek, an it took em have an hour to find out that the reason why they couldn't find any circulation into my left leg was because it was made of wood. The next time you sent me a little cuss with glasses down to Swampville, and after fumblin me over long enough, he put my trus on hind side afor and said the pad was intended to brase up my spinal kolum. Three or four times after that you sent me odds and ends of doctors who couldn't tell the difference between an epiletptic symtom and a biled clam, and the last time you sent me before a full board of surgeons down to the county seat. They came to this conclusion, night as i could catch on, that something was wrong with my bladder. Now I have my opinions of a doctor who don't know the difference between a man's bladder and his bollux. It reminds me of the girl who asked her doctor's advise about her sweetheart because one of his kidneys was a little bigger than the other one and it didn't hang down so fur. Perhaps this is all right.

It may be fun for the doctors. It was fun fur me fur a while, but now that you order me back again to the first two doctors up to Skin Creek, and probably expect me to start on the same old circus over again, I'm going to kick like a brindle steer.

Last summer, because of the friskyness of a pair of colts, my wooden leg got tangled and all chawed up to sinders in a mowing machine. I 'plied to the Surgeon General for a new leg, but he said that I'd only had the old one three years, and I'd have to wait two years more before the government could afford to make a hole in the "surplus" by getting me a new one. So I'm waiting and in all this interesting panarama of "examinations" I've been hobblin on one leg, and doin my best to prove that one of Uncle Sam's veterans, with one leg in the grave and the other damn near in, is better than a corpse by several percent. But honnlin' around in this way aint furst class fun fur a stiddy job. I've stood it fur a good while with out grumblin and i suppose, furnished a lot of fun fur the doctors, paying my own expenses. Meanwhile my natural leg, the one I brought away safe from the Wilderness, has took to the rheumatiz till I'm almost sorry I did not drop it where i did the other one.

And about the only hope my well leg can give me now, is to serve as a sort of rudder when I'm slidding downstairs on my arse.

Now, Mr Commissioner, about the matter of increasing my pension, you may do just as you dam please. If you think that loosing one leg and the wilderness in 1864, blotted out the bullet through the body at Antietam in 1862, and if you think that the pension I have been gettin is full pay fur a set of busted insides that haint been in runnin order in more'n twenty years and never will be on this side of New Jerusalem, all right. If the government says so I'm a silent partner. Vut I'm a goin to tell you just between us that when the minie ball went through me at Antietam, it played the mischief with some of the important parts, and "it played fur keeps." It cut something all to thunder. I don't know wether it was my liver, or my lungs, my gizzard or my guts, and your pet doctors den't seem to know as much about it as I do.

The plain fact is, and thats what I am driving at, I'm physically broke up and busted from my single heel to my chin whiskers and i gut busted up at Antietam before my leg was lost, and the record says so. They wanted to discharge me for the first whole through my body at Anteitam, and I wouldn't let them. I was bound to stick till we busted the Rebellion or till the Rebels busted me, with more bullet holes through my carcass, and I did. And now youve made me do as much marchin from piller to post in this hide-and-seek game with the doctors as would have took me from the Wilderness to the end of the war. If I wasn't good enough to march then, I'm damned if I'll do any more of it now, so you don't need to pay any more doctors charges fur me. You've been actually paying the doctors on the average about ninety six dollars a year for satvin off my claim, and thats more than you'd have to pay me if youd granted my increase at furst sight. You euchred me on my getting a cent of that ninety six dollars and now i am going to euchre the cussed doctors on getting any more of it. If i go before any more doctors for an examination you've got to do something more than send me a postal card. You'll have to haul me before 'em with a derrick.

Now I don't want to be sassy. I ain't built that way. But Mr Black, if you expect to blossom out as a Vice-President of the United States by buckin against the honest claim of an old veteran with one foot actually in the grave and the other dam near it, your gettin down more hay than you'll have time to cock up. You'll make about as much at that game as the Surgeon General will by veto'in wooden legs.

Respectfully with a dam good memory."

"Unsigned"

A BIT OF COMMUNITY...
Check out the following member inputs for comments and requests for information, Feedback's, Items of Interest and Plea's for HELP...

OUR PROMISE: to provide an "online" environment that is NOT judgmental and to address ALL aspects of this "Pivotal Period" in our History, with honesty and truth (as we know it).

We do "Fireside Stories" about the battles, the people and the social happenings. In addition we dedicate one Thursday a month to the sharing of Songs, Poems and Letters from that era. So come back and visit; we'll save you a seat at the Fireside, and keep the Cider warm..... For a full listing of upcoming events, either look on the Schedule at the end of this Notice or in the Upcoming Events of the Genealogy Forum.

As we review the logs, and we find new visitors who show an interest or have entered into discussions on this topic in our Thursday sessions, we automatically add you to the distribution for this "Weekly Fireside."

AND Hey!, TO YOU "FIRST-TIMERS" THIS WEEK, "Welcome"... :)

We heartily enjoyed your visit and participation. We really "fire up" with what members bring to the discussions, and we hope to see more of you.... Note that for any reason, should you desire to be removed from distribution of this "Weekly Missif," just drop us a line and we will comply with your wishes "post-haste".

Schedule of Upcoming Topics/Events*****

Time: Every Thursday Night at 11pm ET in the Golden Gates Chat Room (On AOL Only) with hosts HOST GFS AMY, HOST GFS Jayne, HOST GFS TEG and HOST GFS Jim and our many faithful friends :)

8/23/01 - The Coastal War - by Kathy Dahl. Kathy was co-hostess in the Civil War History SIG a number of years ago and she did such good stories I thought you might enjoy one of hers again.

8/30/01 - OPEN CHAT

9/6/01 - OPEN CHAT

9/13/01 - Letters, Songs and Poems night. Send in any material you want read in the room to HOST GFS Jim, HOST GFS Jayne, HOST GFS TEG or HOST GFS Amy and we'll be more than happy to do the reading for you :D

9/20/01 - OPEN CHAT

9/27/01 - The Vicksburg Campaign - by HOST GFS Jim

We'll See You Thursday Night..!
Your Joyful, Intelligent and Fun-lovin' Host's & Hostess's :-)
HOST GFS Jim, HOST GFS Jayne, HOST GFS TEG and HOST GFS Amy

Hear Ye .... Hear Ye
"The Weekly Fireside"
of the American Civil War History
Special Interest Group;
Distribution Coast to Coast
Week ending 26 August 2001

Our Mission: To serve all genealogists by providing an enjoyable online environment with as many helpful and reliable resources as possible.

This Thursday is just OPEN CHAT about all things of a Civil War nature. We hope you drop by and give us a hollar!

Heh Heh, Boy did I get a lot of feedback on the letter from the old Civil War Vet. Check in Our Community for the feedback. We have posted a new one this week, so look down below and check out Our Weekly Reading! Continue to let us know what you think....

* * * * *

Military Families Chat
With HOST GFS Beri, and HOST GFS Wolford
Wed, 8 PM ET in the Ancestral Digs Conference Room
of the Genealogy Forum (ONLY ON AOL) at KEYWORD: ROOTS

* * * * *

Did you know......................

At Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862, through one of the wide gaps made in the Confederate lines by McClellan's big guns as they sent their death-dealing missiles from hill and river, there ran a panic-stricken rabbit, flying in terror to the rear. A stalwart mountaineer noticed the speed and the direction which the rabbit took to escape from his disagreeable surroundings. He was impressed by the rabbit's prudence, and shouted, so that his voice was heard above the din of the battle: "Go it, Molly Cottontail! I wish I could go with you!"
One of his comrades near by caught up the refrain, and answered: "Yes, and 'y golly, Jim, I'd go with Molly, too, if it wasn't for my character."

--- General John B. Gordon

Also while Zebulon Vance's brigade of North Carolinians was lying down in line before the final advance (at Malvern Hill) a rabbit sprang from the bushes and, running along the ground in their front, caused yells and laughter, so light was the spirit of these men facing death. They called out, "Run, run, run!" A staff officer asked if he should shoot it.
Vance said [in recalling the incident], "I shook my head and called out myself: 'Run, little cottontail! I'd run too if I wasn't Governor of North Carolina!"

--- Major General A.W. Greeley

.........................and there you have it!

MEMBERS HELPING MEMBERS!!..

Here's how it works... If you are trying to get photographs of a gravesite or battlefield, to collect for your Civil War ancestor research and records, then send us a request and we will post it here... Other members see your request, some being in the near vicinity, are willing to assist, and can email you directly (This protects your privacy) to work out the details. We HIGHLY recommend the "Requester" pay for all film costs and any postage involved for a helping member. This is intended to be a "Free" assistance between members (with the exception of defraying film and postage costs). Do unto others as.... you know
:-) Keep us posted on how this is working, so we can share them in the "Fireside"!!
HOST GFS Jim

IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED ANSWER(S) TO YOUR QUESTIONS, PLEASE BE SURE TO LET US KNOW!!!!!
Thanks!! - The Editors

We have had some gracious members offer their assistance in this area. Their screen names and areas they have offered to help in are listed.... Please honor their "goodness" and don't abuse them :-)....
We ask that you do follow the guidelines indicated above....

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From: [email protected]:
In response to "Joe's" (Garbaby1959) query.....
Jim, There is an IA State newsletter as well as one for the various counties that can be located at :
state:
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/ia

county:
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/ia/fayette.html

There is either the daily or the digest version that can be subscribed to. I believe there may also be message boards for Fayette Co. located at:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.iowa.counties.fayette

Candy

{{{Candy}}} Bless your heart :D Thanks for the assist :D
"Joe" heads up on this one!

OUR WEEKLY READING...
From our good friend Teresa ([email protected]) from their family archives.

Dear Son: I have today received yours of the 16th. We are very glad to hear from you and to hear that it is even as well with you, but it is about as much as I can get on with to have my children scattered about and all in distress but I had as well make the best I can of it as I can't help it.

This leaves us all well only Henry is complaining a little. Ganny and the children are at Brother Spears. Aunt Lew has another son and Fanny is staying with her a while. I will send your letter to her this evening. Her and the children were well when they left here on last Monday evening. The children grow very fast and look well. It is certainly true about Vicksburg being surrendered up to the Yankees. I changed meetings with our Uncle James and went with Jany to see her married. I saw John King and James Mercer who was both at the surrender of the place they say they were compelled to give it up for the want of provisions, that they eat every thing that there was in the place to eat even to rats and mules. Port Hudson is also lost. Bragg's army is at Chattanooga; and it is feared he will be at Atlanta before much longer.

Every man in the state from the age of 18 to 45 that are able to bear arms are now ordered out. No exemption in the case now. And every able bodied man of any age is requested by the govenor to form themselves into companies for state defense, but in this county it is hard to make a company of any sort.

The result will be a draft next Tuesday, the 4th of August. The cry is that we will all have to go. Your crop is the best the place ever made except those wet slews, they are sorry. Your stock is healthy and doing very well. The hops have got fat in the wheat field. I think I could get $200 for Tib. She is going to make a fine mare. Your Uncle Joe sold his mule the other day to the government agent for $200 and bought a colt for $100. I had rather have it than the mule. The agent has bought a number just such and a number much worse. Fine extra mules are bringing 800 dollars.

Everything is going up instead of down but religion, that is at the lowest ebb now that I have ever seen yet the whole mind of the praying people seems to be directed to the Salvation of the soldiers and the country. This maryland trip has caused more anxiety and distress than the fall of Vicksburg through this section of the country. Your Uncle Finny don't enjoy camp very much. He is never able for duty, they make him stay there though and I expect there he is to die. Al Banskton is there sick, Jef Harris at home very low. I am sorry that no account can be got of Timothy. I want you to find out about him as soon as you can and let me know what has become of him. I think the speed everything is going that this war will terminate itself after awhile but how I can't tell. If the army that is in the field with these that are now being sent out can't whip the fight I don't know what we will do for there are no more men here to send after these are gone. I hope your prayer may be granted that you may be spared through and get home again in your church and family. He and your Uncle James was talking about you the other day he said that we had great need for such men now at our meeting. Trust in God and look to him in all your troubles a sense of his presents will help you to bear them and if you can realize his love in your soul together with a full assurance of faith that is the best of it all here.

Yours truly, John T. Kimbell.

A BIT OF COMMUNITY...
Check out the following member inputs for comments and requests for information, Feedback's, Items of Interest and Plea's for HELP...

From: [email protected]:
<<This great letter was read in one of our recent sessions and I also was sent a copy from Bulldogtjr. You'll love this one!>>

Dear Jim,
I did love it....and the government is still the same!
Lavonne

{{Lavonne}} Heh Heh you got that right :-)

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From: [email protected]:
What a great letter! Things haven't changed too much since then, have they? Alas.

{{{Kashathree}}} Nope, 'fraid not, but what an incredible rendering by that CW Vet! :-)

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From: [email protected]:
Your letter to Mr. Black can be true today! I enjoyed it very much.
Jackie

{{Jackie}} Many have shared your perceptions. Glad you enjoyed!

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From: [email protected]:
In reply to the letter from a Veteran. I think it is a shame that more than a century later we still give our Veterans, active duty and dependents substandard care. Instead of getting the best of the best when it comes to medical treatment the dependents and vets get shuffled off to Tri-care docs and get the run around when it comes to their health. Yes this is just my opinion but it is based in experience with my own family. Our vets deserve the best.........they gave us their all when our country required it and they should receive our all in return........but unfortunately that isn't the case. Of course this is my opinion/experience and not necessarily shared by others.

"Cousin" - a most excellent point, my friend! Thanks for sharing.....

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From: [email protected]:
Jim, haven't spent much time at this site but hope to tomorrow! I received this from a friend; please pass it along!

Dog Tags Found in Vietnam

On a recent "Today Show" there was a story about two men who went to Hanoi on a business trip. The men encountered a guy selling old GI dog tags from US servicemen who were killed during the Viet Nam War. Upon returning to the U.S., they decided to go back to Viet Nam and purchase ALL the dog tags. They did so, paying 19 cents per tag! They brought home several hundred tags, planning to return the tags to surviving family members. The process has already begun with one set being turned over to a grieving Mom on July 4th, (coincidentally, it was on her birthday)! These two men have set up a website, BELOW listing the names of all those whose tags they purchased. If you lost friends, family, or know of someone who lost a loved one in Viet Nam, I suggest you check out this website. If you recognize a name, contact these two men and to help in their efforts to return the dogtag to it's rightful survivor. I'm sure a family member would be eternally grateful to have such an important item returned. Please help by checking this website. And please send the website address to everyone you know. I leave you to your own thoughts on this one

http://www.founddogtags.com/
Spirit

"Glitz" You bet I will. Thanks for the info!

OUR PROMISE: to provide an "online" environment that is NOT judgmental and to address ALL aspects of this "Pivotal Period" in our History, with honesty and truth (as we know it).

We do "Fireside Stories" about the battles, the people and the social happenings. In addition we dedicate one Thursday a month to the sharing of Songs, Poems and Letters from that era. So come back and visit; we'll save you a seat at the Fireside, and keep the Cider warm..... For a full listing of upcoming events, either look on the Schedule at the end of this Notice or in the Upcoming Events of the Genealogy Forum.

As we review the logs, and we find new visitors who show an interest or have entered into discussions on this topic in our Thursday sessions, we automatically add you to the distribution for this "Weekly Fireside."

AND Hey!, TO YOU "FIRST-TIMERS" THIS WEEK, "Welcome"... :)

We heartily enjoyed your visit and participation. We really "fire up" with what members bring to the discussions, and we hope to see more of you.... Note that for any reason, should you desire to be removed from distribution of this "Weekly Missif," just drop us a line and we will comply with your wishes "post-haste".

Schedule of Upcoming Topics/Events*****

Time: Every Thursday Night at 11pm ET in the Golden Gates Chat Room (On AOL Only) with hosts HOST GFS Amy, HOST GFS Jayne, HOST GFS TEG and HOST GFS Jim and our many faithful friends :)

8/30/01 - OPEN CHAT

9/6/01 - OPEN CHAT

9/13/01 - Letters, Songs and Poems night. Send in any material you want read in the room to HOST GFS Jim, HOST GFS Jayne, HOST GFS TEG or HOST GFS Amy and we'll be more than happy to do the reading for you :D

9/20/01 - OPEN CHAT

9/27/01 - The Vicksburg Campaign - by HOST GFS Jim

We'll See You Thursday Night..!
Your Joyful, Intelligent and Fun-lovin' Host's & Hostess's :-)
HOST GFS Jim, HOST GFS Jayne, HOST GFS TEG and HOST GFS Amy

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