A Yankee Hoax !

I found this interesting note on the sinking of the Steamer General Lyon,

I wonder if Brian Williams was on board ?

( from- --- http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.illinois.counties.hamilton/3023.2/mb.ashx)

This story has propagated all over the net in recent years, just as it was propagated though various newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic in 1875.

It was apparently all a hoax, per this article in the National Republican, July 7, 1875 (available on the Library of Congress newspaper archive site):

" A Hoax.
The Secretary of War some weeks ago received
letters from persons in Illinois, stating that Henson
G. Raines, a private in company K, 56th Illinois
volunteers, who was supposed to have been
lost at sea on March 31, 1865, by the burning of
the steamer General Lyon, was in Grey's hospital,
London, without means to reach home; that he
jumped into the sea when the General Lyon was
lost, and drifted four days upon a cabin-door, with
a man named Butler, when they were picked up
by a schooner and left on an island inhabited by
cannibals, where Butler died. Raines remained
there ten years until March last, when he escaped
aboard the British man-of-war Vengeance, and
taken to London.
General Schenck was instructed to inquire Into
the case and aid Raines, if necesary to retnrn to
his home and parents near Golconda, Ill. A letter
received at the War Department yesterday
morning, from Minister Schenck, reports that no
such man as Henson Raines has been in Gray's
hospital during the past ten years, and it is believed
the whole story is a hoax. Minister
Schenck also reports there is no such British
vessel as the Vengeance."

A rather cruel joke to perpetrate if Raines' family really was pulled into it, and actually seeking to get their 'castaway' home.

I dug around until I found the article above because I thought the whole story seemed very dubious. What deserted-but-habitable island exists near Cape Hatteras? And in looking into the "HMS Vengeance", I found there was no active warship with that name in the British Navy in 1875. Also, I could find no local account in 1875 London of Raines ending up in hospital there - this would have been quite a sensational "Robinson Crusoe" story, and certainly would have gotten coverage in the London papers.

Amazing how a 130+ year old hoax can take on a life of its own...

Cheers,

Neil S.

You can read more about the sinking HERE -

Correcting Bad History !

Just for Fun !

This was the original -

Old Mort did a nice job.

BUT !

Sometimes ideas just pop into my head.

I ain't a Pro at Photo Shop, in fact my version was made using 2 different

photo shop type programs.

ENJOY !

The Doctor is in !

I've been getting a lot of Flogger comments,

" I've been threatened"

" Your flags have no context "

" You won't print my comments."

" you posted my private comments "

To all you Floggers --

CASH ONLY !

But wait, There is MORE !!!

For a free session, correctly answer this -

Who said ?

"Prediction: There will be no Confederate flag on I-95 near Richmond."

Offer open to Floggers of the United States!

Kevin Levin's shortsightedness

Every once in a while I check out Flogger Blogs,

I did so today and found Kevin being shortsighted and misinformed 

on Lee / Jackson day in Virginia.

Kevin states -

" I can say with confidence that very few people formally acknowledged the holiday. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find any formal recognition of the holiday throughout the state beyond the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other heritage groups. "

Wow !! I guess Kevin doesn't remember that Lee / Jackson Day

is a State Holiday in Virginia.

VA State Holidays for 2015

State Holidays January 1

 New Year’s Day January 2 8 hours additional holiday time

  January 16 Lee-Jackson Day

 January 19 Martin Luther King, Jr.

 Day February 16 George Washington Day

 May 25 Memorial Day

 July 3 Independence Day

 September 7 Labor Day

 October 12 Columbus Day 

November 11 Veterans Day 

November 25 4 hours additional holiday time

 November 26 Thanksgiving November 27 Day After Thanksgiving

 December 24 8 hours additional holiday time December 25 Christmas 

All state employees get the day off WITH PAY !

Now then that sure seems like "Formal Recognition" to me !

I haven't heard of one state employee refusing the day off or returning the day's pay.

Atta Boy Kevin, call em like you see em.

UPDATE !

In true Levin style Kevin re-invents his definition of formal and tries to claim victory.

Now I gotta agree, Lee / Jackson Day ain't what it once was.

Yep it's still a State Holiday, but it ain't on any calenders I've seen.

The Left Wingers / PC crowd are trying to put it in the Memory Hole.

But it ain't dead by a long shot !

Lexington still gives a Presentation
see it Here

The Public still recognizes the Day - Here

 Holidays tend to change with time, Santa has replaced Jesus, so has the Easter Bunny .

But no one has yet replaced Lee / Jackson.

It may fade with time, but Shall Not  be forgotten.

It's Black History Month !

February is Black History Month.

I'm gonna post a few items that don't get mentioned much.

From Rappidian TO RICHMOND AND THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN

A Sketch in Personal Narrative of the Scenes a Soldier Saw

By WILLIAM MEADE DAME, D. D.

Private, First Company Richmond Howitzers

“When rations got short and were getting shorter, it became necessary to dismiss the darkey servants. Some, however, became company servants, instead of private institutions, and held out faithfully to the end, cooking the rations away in the rear, and at the risk of life carrying them to the line of battle to their young massahs”

Heroic Henry Comer, standing, carried this wounded officer

5 miles to safety, to medical care and saved the officers life..


Union soldier James G. Bates wrote a letter to his father that was reprinted in an Indiana newspaper in May 1863. In the letter Bates assured his father that there were black Confederate soldiers:

I can assure you [his father,] of a certainty, that the rebels have Negro soldiers in their army. One of their best sharp shooters and the boldest of them all here is a Negro. He dug himself a rifle pit last night [16 April 1863] just across the river and has been annoying our pickets opposite him very much to-day. You can see him plain enough with the naked eye, occasionally, to make sure that he is a "wooly-head," and with a spy-glass there is no mistaking him. (Winchester Journal, May 1, 1863)

From

http://www.mtgriffith.com/web_documents/blackconfederates.htm

From

Reminiscences of the Richmond Howitzers

By Carlton McCarthy

“A few of our negro cooks, who were with our wagon train when it was captured by the enemy, escaped and returned to camp today. Certainly they were the happiest fellows I ever saw and were greeted with loud cheers by our men.

A chance at freedom they had, but they preferred life and slavery in Dixie to liberty in the North.”

Black cooks in Confederate camp near Charleston, S.C.

To all the Black Confederates who Loved DIXIE.

Be Careful what you wish for.

Someone had a problem with an S.C.V. sign.

"Y'all may remember a few weeks ago there was a news story about this sign being removed because it was in the DOT right of way. All I have to say is, to whoever raised a stink about it, THANK YOU...there is now a Battle Flag flying, too! Well done, gentlemen of the Old North State! HUZZAH!"

(Susan Hathaway)

The story about the signs removal is HERE

Billy Starnes‎Major Charles Q. Petty's Mechanized Cavalry SCVMCNC

The sign is now out of the DOT right of way. Although a little farther off the road, we decided to add a 52' x 52" Battle Flag so it is now more eye catching than ever.

_____________________________________________________________________

May I suggest
"Solar Flood Lights"

(DT)

SOUND FAMILIAR ?

My ancestor was fighting for Virginia.

He was a slave owner.

He was fighting for independence from an oppressive Government.

The Government he was fighting against offered Freedom to slaves who would join their cause.

He was considered a "REBEL" / "TRAITOR"

SOUND FAMILIAR ?

Pay Roll from

Henry Tatum - 1777.

Drawn By J.C. Tatum.

A Chain of events !

The Emancipation Proclamation

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on

January 1, 1863, 

Excerpt of Assembly bill introduced on February 4, 1863

“An Act to prevent the immigration of negroes and to define the standing of the negro race in the State of New Jersey .”
Provisions included: “(1) that a fine of twenty dollars a day for every day after the first four days be levied on any person harboring any negro who immigrated to New Jersey; (2) that it be a misdemeanor for any person to entice a negro to New Jersey; (3) that every Negro in the state, six months after the passage of the act, be required to procure from the surrogate in the county of his residence a certificate describing his person and his place of birth. Negroes who failed to comply would be deemed non-residents and could neither liver nor work in the state. The certificate would have to be renewed every five years; (4) that a mulatto with one-fourth negro blood would be judged a negro; (5) that marriage between a black and white in another state would bar the couple's entrance into New Jersey . Marriage between blacks and whites in New Jersey would be unlawful and a fine or imprisonment would be imposed on the white party.”
Source: Minutes, 88; Trenton Daily True American , February 5, 1863. Carl E. Hatch, Negro Migration and New Jersey – 1863 , New Jersey History , Volume LXXXVII, Number Four, Whole Number 339, Winter 1969.

Excerpt of Assembly bill passed on March 18, 1863

“. . . that if any negro, mulatto, or quadroon, male or female, who was not a resident of this state before the passage of this act, shall hereafter come into this state and remain therein for ten days or more . . . [he] shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be transported . . . to Liberia, or some island in the West Indies.”
Source: Newark Daily Advertiser , March 20, 1863; Carl E. Hatch, Negro Migration and New Jersey – 1863 , New Jersey History , Volume LXXXVII, Number Four, Whole Number 339, Winter 969.http://sites.bergen.org/ourstory/resources/civilwar/CW_assembly.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comparison !

This says it all.

I'm getting some good comments / but if you sign them anonymous ,

They will not be posted.

Small Treasures II

More Small Treasures I have Obtained. 

I don't know if this "Patch Knife" is real, counterfeit or a reproduction.

I use it for everything, coffee stirrer, letter opener, and as a knife when I eat food at my computer. An old friend gave it to me, he got it at a gun show.

Another Gun Show Special --

A confederate Throwing Bowie --

This is a new knife.

And you got a better chance of being struck by lightning,

than you do of me throwing this knife and sticking it in the tree.

And a 1925 Stone Mountain Half Dollar -

To find out about this coin click - HERE

Others may not agree, but to me they are all treasure.

Practice, practice, practice ---

 OFFICER GUNFIGHT DEATHS BY DISTANCE YEARS 1854 TO 1979
(NYC)

 DISTANCE OF ENCOUNTER OFFICERS
CONTACT TO 3 FEET 86
3-6 FEET 119
6-15 FEET 24
15-25 FEET 12
AT 125 FEET (SNIPER) 1 
(205) of the officers slain (250) were slain within 6’ of their assailants.

Target shooting is relaxing. (and frustrating)

 I wanna hit the red dot "Every Time"

A Small Treasure.

Over the Years of being involved with Confederate history

I've collected a number of items.

This one is a Confederate "Brown Egg" telegraph insulator.

Confederate Egg - CD 701.6 and U-970 - Virginia Glass Manufacturing Co., Richmond, Virginia

The site of this glass company at the corner of Main and Tyler Streets in Rocketts, Richmond, Virginia, was in earlier years (mid-1850s) referred to as the "Richmond Glass Works". The incorporation of the Virginia Glass Manufacturing Co. took place on February 19, 1858. Jacob Atlee, the proprietor of the works, was very active in the production of various types of bottles and jars. 

( From http://www.cjow.com/archive/article.php?month=9&a=09Insulators%20of%20the%20Confederacy.htm&year=2001)

This one was found just outside Richmond VA.

Who knows what information passed across it ?

I find small items like this to be wonderful treasures.

To find out more about "Brown Egg" insulators go 

HERE or HERE

Both sites have good information.

I'd like to thank my Buddy Eddie Booth, for giving me this treasure.

I'm Lucky to be here !

I've posted this one before, but I found a better copy.

It shows that I'm lucky to be here !

Yep, Great Grand Dad digging up cannon balls during a battle.

Not so silent !

My friend Susan Hathaway went to Charlottsville the other day and spoke to the city council.

you can see her presentation - 

HERE

Great Job Susan !