Hill of Sacrifice

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

Momma and I are now well rested enough to write about our whirlwind trip to Honolulu.

I shall start with a little background. Nineteen years ago Momma's aunt flew her extended family to Honolulu to be with her when she interred the ashes of her late husband at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. He was a World War II veteran and a survivor of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Feb. 19 - March 26, 1945).

Momma does not know too much about his wartime experiences as a Marine simply because he Did Not like to talk about it. She does know he was running up the beach at Iwo Jima when there was a blast or explosion which knocked him to the ground. When he looked up, his two best friends (who had been on each side of him) were dead. He was later shot through the wrist and received a Purple Heart. 

That service qualified him for burial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (informally known as Punchbowl Cemetery).

Momma's aunt enjoyed having her entire family with her so much she always said she wanted us to do the same when she died and made provisions for such a trip in her estate. So this trip was planned since her death in October. 

Few national cemeteries can compete with the dramatic natural setting of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The "Punchbowl" was formed about 75,000 to 100,000 years ago during the Honolulu period of secondary volcanic activity. A crater resulted from the ejection of hot lava through cracks in the old coral reefs which, at the time, extended to the foot of the Koolau Mountain Range.

Although there are various translations of the Punchbowl's Hawaiian name, "Puowaina," the most common is "Hill of Sacrifice." This translation closely relates to the history of the crater. The first known use was as an altar where Hawaiians offered human sacrifices to pagan gods and the killed violators of the many taboos. (During the late 1890s, a committee recommended that the Punchbowl become the site for a new cemetery to accommodate the growing population of Honolulu. The idea was rejected for fear of polluting the water supply and the emotional aversion to creating a city of the dead above a city of the living.)

The Punchbowl Cemetery is a national cemetery located at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawai'i. It serves as a memorial to honor those men and women who served in the United States Armed Forces, and those who have given their lives in doing so.

The view of Honolulu from the rim of the Punchbowl crater.

It is administered by the National Cemetery Administration of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Millions of visitors visit the cemetery each year, and it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Hawai'i.

In February 1948, Congress approved funding and construction began on the national cemetery. Prior to the opening of the cemetery for the recently deceased, the remains of soldiers from locations around the Pacific Theater—including Guam, Wake Island, and Japanese POW camps—were transported to Hawai'i for final interment. The first interment was made Jan. 4, 1949 - 10 years before Hawai'i became a state. The cemetery opened to the public on July 19, 1949, with services for five war dead: an unknown serviceman, two Marines, an Army lieutenant, and one noted civilian war correspondent, Ernie Pyle.

Since the cemetery was dedicated on Sept. 2, 1949, approximately 53,000 World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War veterans and their dependents have been interred. The cemetery now almost exclusively accepts cremated remains (cremains) for above-ground placement in columbaria.

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific contains a "Memorial Walk" that is lined with a variety of memorial markers from various organizations and governments that honor America's veterans. As of 2012, there were 60 memorial boulders (bearing bronze plaques) along the pathway. Additional memorials can be found throughout the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific—most commemorating soldiers of 20th Century wars, including those killed at Pearl Harbor.

Among the many memorials is the quote from Abraham Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby: 
 

The solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.

That costly sacrifice can take place with lives lost - or the emotional toll it later takes upon our veterans and their families.

The Main Street Across America

You can only imagine my geeky excitement when Momma's first cousin, once removed, came over Sunday with an old family photograph album.

The album contained photos from a paternal family trip with Momma's (from left) 18-year-old grandmomma, 42-year-old great-grandmomma, 15-year-old grand-aunt, 8-year-old grand-uncle (her cousin's father), and a hired driver. As far as we can tell, the cross-country trip took place in September or October of 1925 and roughly followed the Lincoln Highway, which became known as "The Main Street Across America."

The Lincoln Highway was America's first national memorial to President Abraham Lincoln, predating Washington, D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial by nine years. Formally dedicated Oct. 31, 1913, the Lincoln Highway spanned from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.

As the first transcontinental improved highway for automobiles across the United States, the Lincoln Highway originally went through 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California.

The officially recorded length of the entire Lincoln Highway in 1913 was 3,389 miles. Over the years, the road was improved and numerous realignments were made, and by 1924 the highway had been shortened to 3,142 miles. 

According to the notes made beneath each photo
the travelers visited:

• Mt. Vernon, Va.
• Frostburg, Md.
• Fort Necessity in Uniontown, Pa.
• Summit Inn in Farmington, Pa. 
• Rochester, N.Y.
• Niagra Falls, N.Y.
• USS Shenandoah in Ava, Ohio
• Bourbon, Ind.
• Springfield, Ill.
• Joliet, Ill.
• Hannibal, Mo.
• Clifton, Iowa
• Golden, Colo.
• Lookout Mt, Colo.
• Togwotee Pass, Wyo.
• Yellowstone, Wyo.
• Cheyenne, Wyo.
• Grand Tetons, Wyo.
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• Union Peak, Nev.
• Santa Barbara, Calif.

Don't worry, I shan't subject you to all of the approximately 180 photos, but I shall hit some of the highlights. The sites of two 1925 tragedies were among the trip's highlights: the June 29 Santa Barbara Earthquake and the Sept. 3 crash of the USS Shenandoah in Ava, Ohio.

  

The Civil War Chronicles of Capt. William H. Huls Part 3

Here is the third and final part of a handwritten account by Momma's great-great-grandfather about his Civil War experiences.

This is a personal account of Captain William Harrison Huls' Civil War service hand written in April of 1917 as part of his request for a pension for his war service. The reader is advised to keep several facts in mind to maintain historical perspective.

First, the matter of the request for the Medal of Honor. At the time, this was the only medal issued by the United States Government. (The Order of the Purple Heart had been discontinued and had not been reinstated.) As it was the only medal issued by the military it had been issued rather liberally by the services during the Civil War.

Second, please keep in mind that this was written by W.H. Huls 53 years after the events described occurred.

Third, bear in mind that a pension of $10 a month would keep a man in bread, butter and steak in 1917.

Fourth, in reading this account please understand W.H. Huls had a good education for his day, he had even been a school teacher before the war, but his opportunities were limited by the times. This is especially important as I have copied his words exactly as he put them down in pencil on a yellow sheet of tablet paper 96 years ago.

 ***

Third Army Service for Medal of Honor

Showing the risk of my life in being So willing to do my duty for my country and in obeying my superior officers.

On the third day of March 1864 I was detailed as officer of the guard to take rebel prisoners from Vicksburg, Miss to New Orleans. When the set time came for the steamboat to leave the wharf I went to the place but the steam boat had Left the wharf a moved two miles down the river on the other side loading on wood for steaming purposes. I took thought for a moment and believed I could cross the river on floating ice and reach the boat before it would push out. So I started on a run and was very successful until I almost reached the other shore when I found the ice was parted and I could not land. I waited a few moments and to my great surprise I saw a large cake of ice coming down filling up my much needed space. The very moment the space was closed, I rushed to the shore when may people at Vicksburg on the hill waived their hats and hankerchiefs (today nearly 53 yeas ago,) I at once went to a colored man who was hauling wood to the bank of the river I said to him what will you charge to take me horseback to that boat? (now about one mile and a half down the river) he said 50 Cents. I paid him the money got on his large mule behind his back and trotted lively and soon reached the boat thirty minutes before it pushed out. After that I had a very Successful voyage down and back to Vicksburg.

William H. Huls

The Civil War Chronicles of Capt. William H. Huls Part 2

Here is the second of three parts of a handwritten account by Momma's great-great-grandfather about his Civil War experiences.

This is a personal account of Captain William Harrison Huls' Civil War service hand written in April of 1917 as part of his request for a pension for his war service. The reader is advised to keep several facts in mind to maintain historical perspective.

First, the matter of the request for the Medal of Honor. At the time, this was the only medal issued by the United States Government. (The Order of the Purple Heart had been discontinued and had not been reinstated.) As it was the only medal issued by the military it had been issued rather liberally by the services during the Civil War.

Second, please keep in mind that this was written by W.H. Huls 53 years after the events described occurred.

Third, bear in mind that a pension of $10 a month would keep a man in bread, butter and steak in 1917.

Fourth, in reading this account please understand W.H. Huls had a good education for his day, he had even been a school teacher before the war, but his opportunities were limited by the times. This is especially important as I have copied his words exactly as he put them down in pencil on a yellow sheet of tablet paper 96 years ago.

 ***

Second Army Service for Medal of Honor

After the regiment met with a heavy loss at Fort Morgan, Miss. In a bayonet charge where many of soldiers, two corporals, orderly sergeant and our Capt of Co. H were killed.

General Grant  transferred our regiment on several gunboats to open up the Mississippi River. Company H was ordered on the Gunboat Pittsburgh. We ran the blockade at Vicksburg passing seventy or more heavy Siege Guns and water batteries on the night of April 16, 1863. and on the morning of April 29, 1863 at Grand Gulf Mississippi, Genl Grant with about 4000 were anchored the river waiting to take the fort, soon as the gunboats would silence the batteries. Here I believe I am entitled to sufficient honor to Secure the medal.

The Gunboats entered the fight at ten o'clock in the morning; fought continuous until near four o'clock in the afternoon, without silencing a gun. We piloted Grant's army across the river in the evening, when the rebels left the fort the next morning without firing a gun. I was ordered to scale or climb to the fort with my company and to our surprise there stood burning on it's carriage the Great gun called "Whistleing DICK" which had helped kill and wound more than thirty men on our boat "Pittsburgh" I will remember that four of my home Ohio boys just as good young healthy and Gallent Soldiers as our Government could enlist laying cold in death today. Who made this sacrifice for their country on the 29 day of April 1863 at Grand Gulf Mississippi.

I remember Gotlieb Slinger, a brave soldier was "Gun Swabber". In those days we had to swab the muzzle of the gun when run out the porthole; exposing the soldier's person while standing in the porthole swabbing everyload.

I had occasion to pass him when I saw he was shot by a Sharp Shooter from the hillside. He placed his eyes on me and fell in my arms and never took them off (of me) until I gently laid him down in the "dead room" when he closed his eyes a died without a struggle.

I will give another instant of a gallant Soldier by the name of Absolem E. Leffler. He was an excellent young man; everybody loved him. He was one of our home Ohio boys. A "Gunner" and while manning his gun a ball come in porthole striking him in the left Shoulder & Side, who fell on the deck with his shoulder and Side almost torn from his body. I remember clearly that his beating heart fell almost naked on the deck and leaped with life. I ran quickly and gathered it up with my hands and gently placed it in his wounded bleeding body and carried him back to the dead room - and here are other comrades Joseph A. Fartig, William H., Springer and others all young men of our boyhood days now all sleeping in death from the 29 of April 1863 while fighting for our country almost six dreadful hours on the Gunboat Pittsburgh. The same day we steamed up crossing over to the Louisiana Shore where we buried them with many others, now awaiting further orders.

To be continued...

The Civil War Chronicles of Capt. William H. Huls Part 1

Momma was quite excited to recently discover a handwritten account by her great-great-grandfather.

This is the first of three parts of the personal account of Captain William Harrison Huls' Civil War service hand written in April of 1917 as part of his request for a pension for his war service. The reader is advised to keep several facts in mind to maintain historical perspective.

First, the matter of the request for the Medal of Honor. At the time, this was the only medal issued by the United States Government. (The Order of the Purple Heart had been discontinued and had not been reinstated.) As it was the only medal issued by the military it had been issued rather liberally by the services during the Civil War. 

Second, please keep in mind that this was written by W.H. Huls 53 years after the events described occurred.

Third, bear in mind that a pension of $10 a month would keep a man in bread, butter and steak in 1917.

Fourth, in reading this account please understand W.H. Huls had a good education for his day, he had even been a school teacher before the war, but his opportunities were limited by the times. This is especially important as I have copied his words exactly as he put them down in pencil on a yellow sheet of tablet paper 96 years ago.

 ***

Rockbridge, Ohio April 11, 1917

To the Adjutant General United States
Washington, D.C.

I William H. Huls, Of Co. H, 58 Ohio vol, Inf. Do hereby submit for your consideration the following service. While a member of said company and regiment 3 years 3 months & 9 Days

For a Medal of honor and for a pension of ten dollars per month. I wille submit to you the following three different times of Army Service.

First Army Service for Medal of Honor

On the 10 of August 1862. While my regiment was camped in the hills of Helena, Ark. Seventy miles below Memphis, Tenn. We were ordered down the Mississippi River. To free the river from the Rebels, and Rebel transports passing up and down the river. We had skirmishes all along the river, at Millikins Bend, La, Haines Bluff, Greenville, and Bolivar Landing Miss. We were ordered to attack the 31 La (Rebel) regiment camped at Millikins Bend La at daybrake and capture it by surprise; which we did. After they saw us coming on a double quick, many left all they had and fled into the country. We followed them about three miles and returned to our boat with a few prisoners. So to add what we captured in the morning would be quite a number.

We took all their cooking vessels and provisions; and captured a steamboat called "Fairplay" Loaded with army provisions as said to have five thousand stand of arms on Board. We sent the prisoners up the river and went on down the river to the mouth of the Yazoo river four Miles above Vicksburg, Miss. We ascended the Yazoo River about four miles to where the Rebels had begun to fortify the river.

We captured four small guns and destroyed two large guns and set fire to the gun carriages.

Here is the place we attacked them again on Dec 27-28-29, 1862 Called Ft. Morgan, Miss.

The Regiment returned to Helena, Ark and Camped on the old camping ground. There were many regiments in Vicksburg while we were destroying and capturing their guns on the Yazoo River. Had we not taken them by surprise we would surely have been captured.

To be continued...

This week in the Civil War: June 2, 1863

Union offensive continues on the Mississippi River

Union forces 150 weeks ago during the Civil War continued raining cannon shot and rifle fire down Confederates ensconced behind defensive works at Port Hudson, La. For 48 days the siege of the enemy garrison at Port Hudson would go on even as Union forces sought to dislodge Confederates defending Vicksburg, Miss. In May and June of 1863, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant mounted the prolonged siege of Vicksburg, a city on bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. Grant knew that taking control of the Mississippi River's entire lower stretch was a major key to splitting the Confederacy and turning the momentum of war to the Union side. Ultimately Grant would succeed in that operation, eventually forcing the capitulation of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, and inducing the surrender of Port Hudson days later. His military achievements along the Mississippi also would serve to catapult Grant to the post of general-in-chief of the Union armies.

United we stand, divided we fall

It's funny how stories can change over time.

As previously mentioned, Momma's great-grandfather was a printer.

A.E. Huls was born in 1866 in Millville (later Rockbridge), Ohio. He became a teacher by the age of 16 and taught at the Millville one-room schoolhouse. It was in Millville that he started his printing shop in 1883 as a second source of income.

He was offered a teaching job in nearby Murray City with better pay - but he'd have to do his own janitorial work.

He took it.

There's where the story gets murky. Family lore said that he was offered the printing job for the formation of the United Mine Workers on Nov. 3, 1894.

However, the United Mine Workers formed in Columbus, Ohio in Jan. 22, 1890.

Oops.

We're wondering now if the 1894 meeting was for the formation of the UMW in Hocking County, Ohio.

The discovery of immense quantities of coal led to the flourishing mining industry in Hocking County. Towns appeared and vanished as quickly as mines opened and closed. The Panic of 1893 hit the coal mining industry particularly hard. Wage cuts in the industry began immediately, and wages were slashed again in early 1894. 

By the late spring of 1894, the UMW called a general strike in the coal mining industry. The demand was for wages to return to the level they were at on May 1, 1893.

Initially, the strike was a major success. However, as the depression deepened, the miners were unable to hold out. By late June, almost all the miners had returned to work. 

The strike shattered the UMW and it almost ceased to exist. It would be 25 years before it became a successful union again.

It's a good thing the family has me to investigate!

This week in the Civil War: April 14, 1863

Union gunboats run past Vicksburg

Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had for months sought in the winter of 1862-63 to find a way to clear Confederate forces defending Vicksburg on the seemingly indomitable bluffs lining the Mississippi River there. Clearing Vicksburg would be a key prize for the Union if it could seize control of that city and gain supremacy over the inland waterway, splitting the Confederacy in half. On the night of April 16, 1863, Union gunboats ran downriver past the batteries at Vicksburg, outwitting artillery fire from the heights as they moved below that city. Grant planned to have his armada meet up with thousands of troops marching overland. His audacious plan: to send his troops trekking down the river's west bank where they could be ferried by flee across to the Vicksburg side to mount an eventual attack. For now, Vicksburg bristled with heavy gun batteries along its riverfront and along the swamps and bayous on other sides. All of its approaches by land were guarded by gun batteries. In the coming month, Grant, however, would open a 47-day siege of Vicksburg that would gain the Union a much-needed victory and further burnish Grant's star as a general who fights to win - and one Lincoln would tap to lead the overall war effort.

It's beginning to smell a lot like fruitcake

Now that the holidays are approaching, I shall remind you that fruitcake jokes are not tolerated in my family.

Today was the Annual Making of The Fruitcake. The whole family gathered so Grandmomma could tell the history of The Family Fruitcake - and so my Uncle could stir the pot. Grandmomma says it has been in the family since the Civil War!

It's beginning to smell a lot like fruitcake
Ev'rywhere you go....

So for you fruitcake lovers, here's The Family Fruitcake. Make it approximately one month ahead.

Boil 1 lb. of raisins, 3 C. coffee, 3 T. shortening (heaping), 3 C. sugar, 1 C. currants, 1/2 lb. dates and/or white raisins. If your candied fruit is old you can boil it, too.)

When cool, add 1.5 t. salt, 1.5 t. baking powder, 1.5 t. allspice, 1 t. nutmeg, 1.5 t. cloves, 1.5 t. cinnamon, 1.5 t. baking soda (heaping).

Add 5 C. flour and 2 lbs. candied fruit and stir well.

Grease four large bread pans and line the bottoms with greased parchment paper. Bake at 325° for about one hour until an inserted toothpick comes out fairly clean. (It might have moist cake clinging to it but it shouldn't be raw batter.)

Remove the fruitcakes from the pans after cooling for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool on racks thoroughly then place in resealable plastic bags. Allow the fruitcakes to age at least a month before slicing and serving. Sprinkle with rum if so desired.

Hello dolly

I'm feeling sentimental today and want to reintroduce you to my very special Older Sister. Her name is Belinda and she is an Arranbee composition baby doll. I first wrote about her in June.

Although Belinda is American, her story begins in Nazi Germany on Kristallnacht.

The pretext for Kristallnacht was the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath on Nov. 9, 1938 by Herschel Grynszpan, a German-born Polish Jew in Paris, France.

Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, was a series of attacks against Jews on Nov. 9–10, 1938 carried out by stormtroopers and civilians throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria. The attacks left the streets covered with broken glass from the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues.

Kristallnacht is viewed by historians as part of Nazi Germany's broader racial policy, and the beginning of the Final Solution and The Holocaust. 

A Jewish friend of Momma's grandfather had family in Germany that suffered after Kristallnacht, so he asked Momma's grandfather if he would provide a job if they came to the United States.

At that time, the United States was only permitting Jewish refugees if they had a sponsor who would provide a job. 

Momma's grandfather agreed to sponsor his friend's family and called in a political favor from Ohio's U.S. Senator Robert Taft, but (without thinking) asked if the refugees would bring a doll for his daughter.

Momma's aunt, who was about 10 at the time, wasn't interested in baby dolls but had a formidable collection of international dolls.

But the Jewish refugees were fleeing for their lives and German authorities confiscated most of their belongings as they left the country, so when they arrived in New York City they bought Momma's aunt an Arranbee composition baby doll.

A doll's a doll, right?

The Arranbee (R&B) Doll Company was located in New York and made bisque, composition, rubber, hard plastic and vinyl dolls. Composition was made out of sawdust, glue, and other materials such as cornstarch, resin and wood flour.

Sadly, Momma's aunt was not too impressed with her composition baby doll and Belinda spent about 30 years languishing in an antique trunk in a damp basement where Momma eventually found her.

Belinda's composition is cracking and her voice box stopped working years ago, but she's still special in our eyes.

Kissin' cousins

Happy birthday, cousin Daniel Boone!

I discovered last week that Momma is (distantly) related to Daniel Boone!

Depending on which calendar you use, Daniel Boone was born on Oct. 22, 1734 (That's the date he used so I shall, too.). Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States.

Daniel Boone's aunt Sarah Boone married Jacob Stover at Christ Church (Episcopal) in Philadelphia, Pa. (This caused quite a scandal since the Boone family was Quaker.)

1. Their daughter (Boone's first cousin) Barbara Stover married Martin Kauffman;
2. Their daughter Anna Kauffman married Johann Brombach;
3. Their daughter Elizabeth Brombach married Abraham Miller;
4. Their daughter Elizabeth Miller married Christian Beery;
5. Their daughter Elizabeth Beery married John Wilson Weltner;
6. Their daughter Elizabeth Roberts Weltner married Captain William Harrison Huls;
7. Their son A.E. Huls married Anna Rebecca Troxell;
8. Their son Fred Huls married Alice Hamilton;
9. Their son Fritz Huls married Patricia Taylor;
10. Their daughter Greta had my Big Sister - and Me!

I knew I got that adventurous spirit somewhere!

Tea for two or more

As some of you might know, Momma and I are voracious drinkers of tea ("Tea. Oolong. Hot.") and of course the members of my Steam Team are also since they hail from New Britain.

Theodora spotted these cups and saucers in my cabinet and asked if she could use them.

Since they fit her, and are a bit small for me, I gladly gave my consent.

With Momma's approval, of course.

You see, this antique metal tea set originally belonged to Momma's great-grandmother who was born in 1868. Her tea set consists of a teapot, lidded sugar bowl, four cups and six saucers.

(Momma said she saw the same saucers in an antique shop about 25 years ago and they wanted $35 per saucer!)

I think they suit Theodora admirably, don't you?

When Addie comes marching home

Momma and I were so excited to spot this wonderful Sack Coat and Pants pattern by Thimbles and Acorns this morning.

During the Civil War it was not uncommon for boys as young as 12 years of age to enlist as drummer boys. Though they weren't technically soldiers, they were still close to the battle lines and often took up arms when battles became heated. This uniform is patterned after the standard pants and sack coat issued to enlisted men and is the same style worn by Johnny Clem, who at 9 years of age became the youngest soldier of the Civil War... actually, of any American war.

This pattern has been carefully researched with close attention to detailing. The pants have a fly front with a small working silver button and two front pockets. The jacket features a unique pocket in the front that is accessed through the front placket. The jacket is fully lined ... just like the original.

This Uniform was fit on an older, thicker bodied 18 inch American Girl doll body (woohoo!), but the design fits the newer, slimmer body sizes as well.

It looks amazingly like what Momma's great-great-grandfather wore during the civil war.

I don't need the pants, but I do want that coat!

And Shari say she hopes to make a pattern for a shirt and kepi cap in the near future!

The Siege of Vicksburg

Momma says it's kind of strange to know what an ancestor was doing and where 149 years after the fact.

Her great-great-grandfather, Capt. William H. Huls, is the bearded officer at the front left of this memorial photo.

The inscription reads:

History of Company "H," 58 Ohio Infantry Volunteers. 

The company was organized at Camp Medill, Ohio on the 26th of November, 1861, and non-veterans mustered out of service January 8, 1865. During the above time were in the following engagements and skirmishes. In the battle of Fort Donelson, Tenn., February 15th and 16, 1862; Shiloh, Tenn., April 7th, 1862; skirmishes at Milliken's Bend, La., Hayne's Bluff, Greenville and Bolivar Landing, Miss. Aug. 1862; in the battle of Fort Morgan, Miss., Dec. 27th, 28th, and 29th, 1862; Arkansas Post, on the Arkansas river, Jan 10th and 11th, 1863; detached on U.S. gunboat Pittsburg Feb. 7th, 1863; in action at Tolling Fork, Miss., Mar 19, 20, and 21, 1863; in action while running the blockade of Vicksburg, Miss., April 16, 1863; Fort Beauregard, La., May 10th and 11th, 1863; and inactions at Simsport, La., June 4th, '63. Rejoined the regiment at Vickburg, Miss., Oct. 12, 1863. 

Alterations of the Company Since Its Organization 

Enlisted as veterans, Jan 1863, 25; recruits from depots, 16; transferred, 2; discharged, 13; died of disease, 15; killed inaction, 10. Total number killed and wounded during the campaign ofthree years, four months, and three days, 27.

The Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Miss.

When two major assaults (May 19 and May 22, 1863) against the Confederate fortifications were repulsed with heavy casualties, Grant decided to besiege the city beginning on May 25. With no reinforcement, supplies nearly gone, and after holding out for more than 40 days, the garrison finally surrendered on July 4. This action (combined with the capitulation of Port Hudson on July 9) yielded command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces, who would hold it for the rest of the conflict.

The Confederate surrender following the siege at Vicksburg is sometimes considered, when combined with Gen. Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg the previous day, the turning point of the war. It also cut off communication with Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department for the remainder of the war.

The city of Vicksburg would not celebrate Independence Day for about 80 years as a result of the siege and surrender.

This Week in The Civil War: Sunday, April 8, 1862

Shiloh’s fallout, First year of war. Lincoln’s early emancipation move

Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant sends troops in pursuit of Confederate fighters retreating after the battle at Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Landing, in Tennessee. But a feisty Confederates rearguard led by Nathan Bedford Force thwarts the Union pursuit, allowing the secessionists to slip away. It is a difficult week for the Confederacy as word of their loss at Shiloh reaches Richmond. The news for the secessonists stands in glum contrast to celebrations one year ago this week in the South. The first shots of war were fired April 12, 1861, at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. That Confederate bombardment — and the subsequent Union surrender of that federal garrison at Fort Sumter — kicked off wild celebrations on April 14, 1861 in Charleston. A year later, euphoria has given way to the grim reality of the deadly grind of war. Shiloh’s two days of pitched fighting end with more than 23,000 men killed, wounded or missing on both sides — the bloodiest battle in U.S. history at the time and a portent of big battles to come. The Associated Press reports Shiloh’s outcome in an April 13 dispatch, reporting “the beginning of the fight on that day was a total surprise’’ for the Union as Confederates attacked — “many officers and soldiers being overtaken in their tents and slaughtered or taken prisoners.’’ The dispatch notes the Union attacked back the second day of Shiloh “and the rebels soon gave way.’’ It adds one captured Confederate prisoner told officers the Southern fighters were told a Confederate victory “was a sure thing’’ and that “they could not fail to capture Grant’s army.’’ On April 16, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act freeing thousands of slaves in the nation’s capital. It is an early step during the war that would lead to the formal end of slavery across the U.S. as a result of the conflict.

I'm a little devil

A.E. Huls about 1883 in Millville, Ohio.

I have yet another job description. I am now a printer's devil!

A printer's devil was an apprentice in a printing establishment who performed a number of menial tasks, such as mixing tubs of ink and fetching type.

You need proof?

Here's an old photo of Momma's great-grandfather, A.E. Huls, in the doorway of his first printshop in Millville (later Rockbridge), Ohio where he published the Millville Tomahawk. He eventually moved to Logan, Ohio where he published the Logan Republican and ran the Huls Printing Co.

According to the Nov. 10, 1911 edition of the Democrat Sentinel:

After 10 years of having a Democrat for mayor, a Republican was elected - Mr. Huls, Editor of The Logan Republican. It was said that the Logan federation of labor unions toward the end lined up for Huls, because he carried a card as a union printer, and some of the liberal element of the town who were opposed to the other candidate for other reasons, threatened the liberals that if the other candidate were reelected they would vote dry at the coming county election.

The Huls Building (51 E. Main, Logan, OH 43138) was constructed in 1923. It was the first fire-proof building in Logan. Publisher of the Logan Republican newspaper since 1908, Huls’ building also housed his commercial printing business.

Huls planned to operated his printing business as Huls and Sons with the help of his sons, Charlie and Fred. Sadly, Charlie died Jan. 31, 1925 from strychnine poison contained in medicine obtained at the Ohio State University dispensary while completing his final semester in journalism.

Tragedy continued to haunt Momma's family. In the Aug. 1, 1934 Circleville Herald:

FORMER PUBLISHER DIES OF INJURIES
A. E. Huls, Logan, Succumbs In Hospital While Son Is Hunted Through West 

Alpheus E. Huls, 68, former publisher of the Logan Republican and a personal friend of J. W. Johnson, N. Court St., died in Grant hospital injuries he received a week ago in an automobile wreck near Athens.

Mrs. Huls, who was injured at the same time, is reported in serious condition. She has a fractured skull and a broken shoulder.

Frantic efforts are being made to find their son, Fred, who, with his wife and daughter, is touring the west. He does not know of his parents tragedy. He is the present publisher of the newspaper.

Mr. Huls succumbed of a blood clot in the heart artery. He served as inspector of the Division of Workshops and Factories under the late Governor Frank B. Willis and was a former post master and mayor of Logan for two terms.

Mrs. Huls also died from her injuries. Their son Fred continued to publish the paper until the 1940s, closing when he joined the Navy in World War II, and ran the printing business a number of years after that with the help of his son Fritz.

Although no longer in Ohio, Momma is the fourth generation of printers in the Huls family. So I get to be her devil at the new Huls Printing Co.

Hey, that's how Mark Twain got his start!

This Week in the Civil War: Sunday, Feb. 12, 1862

The Battle of Fort Donelson 

The Battle of Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River near Dover, Tenn., marks the first major Union battlefield victory of the Civil War, 150 years ago this week in 1862. Federal gunboats on Feb. 14, 1862, began exchanging heavy fire with big Confederate artillery guns set high up the river bluff. But the gunboats suffered such damage that their decks ran with blood and they were soon forced to withdraw, denying Union Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant the speedy victory he had hoped to achieve. The next day, Grant sent in ground troops, fighting a pitched battle with the fort's Confederate defenders before his soldiers are forced to retreat. Confederate defenders mistakenly believed they had won the confrontation. But then Grant surprised them with a counterattack that took back lost ground and set the stage for a Union victory. Some 2,000 Confederate fighters slipped away before Grant captured those defenders still remaining. Asked for his terms of surrender, Grant bluntly and famously replied: "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted." The remaining Confederates gave up the fight as Fort Donelson became the first sizable land victory for the North in the Civil War. At Fort Donelson, "Unconditional Surrender" Grant would gain hero status. The victory would help secure Grant a promotion to major general and begin forging a destiny that would take him on to become eventual commander of all the Union armies.

For those in peril on the sea

Momma and I share a love of family genealogy and I try to help her as much as possible being a time traveler.

Today she is thinking of a great uncle who died of injuries sustained in an explosion on a ship on Nov. 1, 1931.

Her grandmother didn't like to talk about the death of her only sibling so details are sketchy. Ken Wendorff of Lorain, Ohio was serving on a ship or freighter, possibly carrying ore, on the Great Lakes when an unprotected light-bulb swung and shattered against the hull. That triggered an explosion. He was transported to a hospital where he soon died of his injuries.

Zanesville (OH) Signal

(Edit: I have found the same Kenneth Cowles Wendorff. He was born April 20, 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio and died Nov. 1, 1931 in Joliet, Ill. Joliet is near Lake Michigan.) 

Momma's grandmother was considered next-of-kin (not their parents!) so she sued, requiring ships to use protected light-bulbs so disasters like this could be averted.

So why is Momma thinking of all that today?

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was a Great Lakes freighter that made headlines after sinking in Lake Superior in a massive storm on Nov. 10, 1975. Her crew of 29 perished without sending any distress signals, and no bodies were recovered.

Many theories, books, studies and expeditions have examined the cause of the sinking. Her sinking is one of the most well-known disasters in the history of Great Lakes shipping and is the subject of Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 hit song, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

RIP, Uncle Ken, the crew of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, and all sailers "in peril on the sea."