Mrs. Morrison's Medical Band (of Spirits) - Part I - Healing the Sick

"Mrs. C. M. Morrison, of Oswego, New York, a lady who is totally blind, has within the last year (or her spirit guides have for her) diagnosed over twelve hundred cases of disease from locks of hair, sent to her by letter, the result of the prescription in many cases being a permanent cure." - Common Sense, 1874

I love it when my interests "collide" and collide they did in this wonderful business card I recently added to my collection that represents an intersection of my interests in 19th-century medicine and the Spiritualist movements of the 1800s!

The card is for "Mrs. C. M. Morrison" - the "Wonderful Healer and Clairvoyant" - who will diagnose any disaese for $1.00 and a lock of your hair(!).  As a medium, she received the advice of the "invisibles" in her "Medical Band." 

Mrs. Morrison Business Card - c. 1875 - Collection of James M. Schmidt

Mrs. Morrison Business Card - c. 1875 - Collection of James M. Schmidt

I'm still strying to round up biographical information on Mrs C. M. Morrison herself, but advertisements for her services and articles about her talents do appear in late 19th-century Spiritualist periodicals.

For example, in the August 8, 1874, issue of Common Sense, in an article entitled "Healing the Sick," the writer states:

The changes produced by Spiritualism in breaking up old modes of thought and established practices, are in no department more noticeable than in that of medicine...People are using less and less of drugs, depending more and more on good nursing, bathing, diet, magnetism and the action of nature itself as a curative agent.  Our magnetic and clairvoyant physicians, although still sneered at by the old schoolpractiotioners, are by far more successful than the regular faculty...There is something wonderful about the curative power of some of these "healers," and the subject is certainly worthy the attention of scientifc men.  For instance, Mrs. C. M. Morrison, of Oswego, New York, a lady who is totally blind, has within the last year (or her spirit guides have for her) diagnosed over twelve hundred cases of disease from locks of hair, sent to her by letter, the result of the prescription in many cases being a permanent cure.  She does not pretend to have any power herself, except as an instrument for the spirit physicians.  Now why is this not a case for the scientists?

There were also regular advertisements for Mrs. Morrison in Common Sense, similar to what is printed on her calling card:

Notice, though, that she has relocated to Boston.  Another article (October 10, 1874) explained the move:

Mrs. C. M. Morrison, clairvoyant and healing mdium of Oswego, N. Y., has moved to Boston, Mass., in consequence of an act passed by the New York Legislature forbiding the practice of medicine by any other than the regular faculty.

My further research shows that the "C" in "C. M. Morrison" is for "Catherine," and her abilities as "the well-known blind trance and clairvoyant medium, of Oswego," were detailed in the story, Eleven Days at Moravia (1872), by Thomas Robinson Hazard, an avowed believer in Spiritualism. (The 45-page book Eleven Days can be read here).

Notice in her card and in the advertisment she offers bottles of medicines for sale, as prescribed by the "Medical Band." They were "magnetized medicines."  Here's some more great information on "magnetic medicines" of the 1800s.

The Attraction of Magnetic Medicines (by the late, great, bottle expert John O'Dell)

Clairvoyant Remedies (by Matthew Knapp at his excellent Antique Medicines blog)

Mrs. Morrison was by no means the only "Clairvoyant Healer" in the 1800s and early 1900s.  Indeed, I've written about them myself here (1927 letter in my collection from a "Clairvoyant and Magnetic Physician").  Other great examples can be found at the great History of Spiritualism blog run by Marc Demarest, such as this one.

Stay Tuned:

I think Part II is going to be even more interesting for readers than Part I of this series! I found some letters from Mrs. Morrison and her Medical Band to a very famous patient: Clara Barton!

Galveston and Slavery #2 - 39 Lashes

Slave Auction Notice - Galveston Weekly News - September 27, 1859

NEGROES – Have now 25 on hand and a portion choice No. 1 negroes.  Field hands and house servants…The negroes are all sent out of town every night and exhibited next day before our door.  We sell at auction or private sale as may be for the interest of our friends. – J. S. & J. B. SYDNOR - Galveston News, November 20, 1860

As a follow-up to my previous post on the use of hundreds of slaves to build Confederate fortifications on Galveston during the Civil War, I offer below another excerpt from my book, Galveston and the Civil War: An Island City in the Maelstrom (The History Press, 2012).  In this post I describe the importance of slavery to Galveston and its antebellum economy.

I will have at least one other post in this series, describding the presence and treatment of abolitionists in Galveston.

Many general Galveston histories either do not give much attention to slavery, or worse, they minimize its importance and the treatment of slaves.

Typical are statements such as:

“Slaves had never been a major factor in Galveston’s economy so the issue of slavery was more emotional than real” - Gary Cartwright, Galveston: A History of the Island (New York: MacMillan, 1998), p. 90

"[Slaves] loved the Island life and were always loathe to leave it” - Earl W. Fornell, The Galveston Era: The Texas Crescent on the Eve of Secession (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1961), p. 115

These statements are misleading and bely the facts:

Galveston was a busy center of the illicit foreign slave trade, had a slave population whose growth outpaced that of its free population, was home to the largest slave market west of New Orleans, and was witness to all the cruelties that attended the institution.  It was also the single most important reason that Galvestonians would vote overwhelmingly to leave the Union.

To me, the implication that somehow conditions for slaves on the island were different (and better) than slave life on plantations in the Deep South, for example, is the most disturbing; the logical extension is that there is "good" slavery and "bad" slavery.  No. There is only slavery; and it is bad.

"Thirty-Nine Lashes"

An excerpt from
Galveston and the Civil War: An Island City in the Maelstrom (The History Press, 2012)

As Galveston grew quickly from its start of a handful of homes and residents after the Texas Revolution, so too did slavery grow on the island.  A state census in 1847 showed Galveston with a population of 4,758; by the first full federal census in 1850, Galveston’s population stood at 4,177 but grew to 7,307 in 1860.  Of those numbers, the slave population grew from 283 in 1847 to 678 in 1850 and to 1,178 in 1860, a four-fold increase compared to a two-fold increase in Galveston’s free population.  Only two “free” African Americans were recorded in Galveston in 1860 (down from 30 in 1850), almost certainly owing to an 1858 state law that required freed blacks to leave Texas, select a master, or be arrested and sold into slavery. (1)

Many – if not most – of the slaves in Galveston came with their owners when they moved to the island, but there was no shortage of slaves available through the legal domestic slave trade and Galveston would become home to the largest slave market west of New Orleans.  A number of merchants regularly bought and sold slaves on the streets and in the auction houses of Galveston, including J. Castanie & Co., T. H. McMahan & Gilbert, John O. & H.M. Trueheart, and Col. John S. Sydnor (who operated the city’s largest slave market).  The firms advertised in Galveston newspapers offering slaves for sale; typical was an ad by the firm of McMurry & Winstead:

30 more choice Carolina and Virginia Negroes just arrived and for sale at our Slave Depot, Leonard Building, Church Street.  Persons coming to this market to buy Negroes, will always find a good assortment at our house, as we are receiving fresh lots every month. (2)

Slave Manifest - Port of Galveston - SS Texas - 1860 (National Archives)

Once sold or hired out in Galveston, slaves could find themselves in a number of situations.  Galveston was unique in that it encompassed domestic and trade labor in the city, plantation labor on outlying areas of the island, and maritime labor in the port.  Male slaves could be found in factories, foundries, and cotton presses; they were blacksmiths, barbers, and carpenters; they shelled streets, built railroads, and harvested crops.  Female slaves generally worked in homes; they were also employed as prostitutes in the city’s “houses of ill fame.”

Of special interest is the intersection of slavery with Galveston’s maritime economy.  In addition to the domestic, factory, and plantation labor mentioned above, Galveston slaves also performed a variety of jobs on the waterfront: as crew on barges carrying cargo and passengers to and from the wharves and ships off the bar; driving wagons from the wharf to warehouses in the city; and loading and unloading the holds of ships.  Masters sometimes hired out their slaves as crew on the steamers that plied the coast or traveled inland on the bayous.  The bustling seaport also posed risks for slave owners as the ships offered a tempting means for the slaves to escape.  To that end, Galveston employed a permanent inspector to “thoroughly search for any slave or slaves who may be secreted” aboard outgoing ships. (3)

Of the slaves in Galveston, one antebellum visitor declared that he feared their “leisure moments are few and his lashes frequent.”  One needs to look no further than state law and municipal ordinances to see that this was so.  Slaves were proscribed from hiring their own time; slaves found “beyond and away from the premises of their owner…without written permission” were subject to whipping; slaves were prohibited from owning firearms; a slave found gambling could be fined or given “thirty-nine lashes on his…bare back”; disorderly conduct and “efforts to strike any white person” also carried the penalty of thirty-nine lashes. (4)

References

(1) Robert S. Shelton, “Slavery in a Texas Seaport: The Peculiar Institution in Galveston,” Slavery and Abolition, Vol. 28, No. 2, August 2007, 156; Susan W. Hardwick, Mythic Galveston: Reinventing America’s Third Coast (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 46.

(2) Barbara J. Rozek, “Galveston Slavery,” The Houston Review, Vol. XV, No. 2, 1993, 82.

(3) British and Foreign State Papers, 1851-1852, Vol. XLL (London: William Ridgway, 1864), 575.

(4) Hardwick, Mythic Galveston, 47; Rozek, “Galveston Slavery,” 91-96

Galveston and Slavery #1 - Slave Labor for Fortifications

Philles Thomas, born a slave in Texas

"I can’t ‘member my daddy, but mammy told me him am sent to de ‘Federate Army an am kilt in Galveston.  She say dey puttin’ up breastwork..." - Philles Thomas, Texas Slave Narratives 

I had the great honor of having a short article published in the Galveston County Daily News this past weekend (Saturday, 20 April 2013), about how hundreds of slaves were used to build fortifications on the island, especially after the Confederate army recaptured Galveston on January 1, 1863.  The article actually appeared as an editorial, as I made a plea at the end of the piece for a historical marker to commeorate and honor the slaves who built - and died while doing so - fortifications to protect an army that was determined to keep them in chains.

I can't link directly to the editorial due to a paywall, but you will see the clipping below, at the end of the post.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE!!!!

1) The article was necessaily short (~500 words) and is actually part of a longer section that appears in my book Galveston and the Civil War: An Island City in the Maelstrom (The History Press, 2012).  I've happily included that longer section, with references, and other illustration material.

2) Over the next week or so, I'll post some other excerpts about slavery in Galveston; it's a story for which most published histories of Galveston give little or no attention or - (perhaps) worse - mischaracterize, by making the slaves' lives seem easier than they actually were. 

"Puttin’ Up Breastworks"

An excerpt from

Galveston and the Civil War: An Island City in the Maelstrom (The History Press, 2012)

A week after the January 1, 1863, Battle of Galveston – and after the disastrous loss of the USS Hatteras – James Black wrote his wife that he expected that his unit would be permanently located in Galveston, and added with just confidence, “unless the Federals whip us out, which they are not likely to do.”  His work was now devoted to securing the recaptured island, and he added “In a few days we will have this place well-fortified.  There are several hundred negroes here at work building new fortifications and repairing those already built.” (1)



 

Detail of wartime map prepared by Confederate engineers showing fortifications on the Gulf approach to Galveston

 

Impressed slaves building fortifications at James Island, South Carolina. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library h/t to Andy Hall - Dead Confederates

That enslaved African-Americans did the lion’s share of the work in constructing the Galveston fortifications was nothing new: slaves had actually built fortifications in the early days of Galveston during the Texas Revolution.  Soldiers of the United States Colored Troops were often detailed to dig, build, and fortify throughout the war, rather than fight.  Union troops apparently employed slave labor in Galveston; shortly after Cmdr. William B. Renshaw captured the island in mid-October 1862, a local newspaper declared “the Yankees are said to have arrested several negroes, and put them at Work at Pelican Spit, where they are fortifying and converting our batteries to their own use.” (2)

The first call for slave labor on behalf of the Confederate forces in Galveston may have been as early as April 1862, when General W. R. Scurry declared that “it is absolutely necessary that every preparation for defense should be made to protect Texas from invasion.  Galveston is comparatively defenceless.  In a short time, with negroes to work on the fortifications, the Island can be made impregnable, and the State saved from the pol[l]uting tread of armed abolitionists.”  To that end he called on planters in twenty counties to “send at once one-fourth of their male negro population…with spades and shovels…to report to Galveston.”  Likewise, in November 1861, Gen. Paul Hebert authorized an aide on his staff to “proceed without delay into the interior of [Texas] for the purpose of inducing the planters and citizens generally to assist in the erection of fortifications for the defense of the coast, in loaning their negroes for that purpose.” (3)

In this April 1863 letter, a Texas planter describes slaves being requisitioned to work on the Galveston fortifications

After the Confederate victory on New Year’s Day 1863, Confederate engineers Col. Valery Sulakowski and Maj. Julius G. Kellersberger supervised the construction of a series of works that protected both the Gulf approaches to Galveston as well as the harbor.  Gen. Magruder called on area planters to provide one-half of their male slaves (soon reduced to one-quarter) to work on the fortifications.  In an April 1863 report detailing his progress on constructing forts and placing barricades in the ship channel, Sulakowski detailed the effort of the slave labor:

The force of negroes on the island consists of 481 effective men. Of these 40 are at the saw-mills, 100 cutting and carrying sod (as all the works are of sand, consequently the sodding must be done all over the works), 40 carrying timber and iron, which leaves 301 on the works, including [harbor] obstructions. The whole force of negroes consists, as above, of 481 effective, 42 cooks, 78 sick; total, 601. (4)

 

This is a report of deaths at the "Negro Hospital" in Galveston in January and February 1863; only each slave's first name is recorded; along with the name of their owner and the (purported?) cause of death

Col. Sulakowski complained that “the work of soldiers amounts to very little, as the officers seem to have no control whatever over their men. The number of soldiers at work is about 100 men, whose work amount to 10 negroes’ work.”  He also mentioned “in order to complete the defenses of Galveston it will require the labor of 1,000 negroes during three weeks, or eight weeks with the present force.” Yet getting more slave labor would be no easy task: as far back as 1862, Texas slaveholders had volunteered insufficient numbers of their slaves to the periodic calls, yielding equally insufficient coastal defenses and leading to the Union victories on the Texas coast in late 1862.  It’s no wonder they were reluctant: hospital records show that dozens of slaves died from disease, exhaustion, or injuries suffered in constructing the Galveston works.  Philles Thomas, born into slavery in Texas, explained:

I can’t ‘member my daddy, but mammy told me him am sent to de ‘Federate Army an am kilt in Galveston.  She say dey puttin’ up breastworks and de Yanks am shootin’ from the de ships.  Well, daddy am watchin’ de balls comin’ from dem guns, fallin’ round dere, and a car come down de track loaded with rocks and hit him.  Dat car kilt him. (5)

References:

(1) Galveston Daily News, December 27, 1936.
(2) Galveston Weekly News, October 22, 1862.
(3) Andrew Hall, “The work of soldiers amounts to very little,” Dead Confederates blog, http://deadconfederates.com/2011/08/16/the-work-of-soldiers-amounts-to-very-little; OR, Ser. 1, Vol. 4, 140.
(4) OR, Ser. 1. Vol. 15, 1064.
(5) Ibid; Philles Thomas Narrative, Slave Narrative Project, Texas Narratives, Volume 16, Part 4, Federal Writer's Project, United States Work Projects Administration, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

You can learn more about Galveston's Civil War history in Galveston and the Civil War: An Island City in the Maelstrom (The History Press, 2012).

Knights of the Golden Circle - Interview with Author David C. Keehn

If you have looked for titles on the "Knights of the Golden Circle," you'll generally find two choices: reprints of period pamphlets by or about the KGC or multiple titles about "lost Confederate treasure."

Until now.  David C. Keehn's recently published Knights of the Golden Circle: Secret Empire, Southern Secession, Civil War (April 2013, LSU Press) is a serious, comprehensive, and thoroughly researched treatment of the KGC, including details on its founder, George Bickley, the KGCs initial filibustering plans and failed exploits, its influence in the push for secession, the transformation of its various "castles" into companies and regiments ready for service to the Confederacy, and its possible involvement in assassination plots against President Abraham Lincoln, either planned, failed, or - ultimately  successful.

My full review appears at the end of this post.

I am so pleased that author David C. Keehn agreed to answer some interview questions about his interesting book, which you will find below.

From the publisher:

Based on years of exhaustive and meticulous research, David C. Keehn’s study provides the first comprehensive analysis of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret southern society that initially sought to establish a slave-holding empire in the “Golden Circle” region of Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. Keehn reveals the origins, rituals, structure, and complex history of this mysterious group, including its later involvement in the secession movement. Members supported southern governors in precipitating disunion, filled the ranks of the nascent Confederate Army, and organized rearguard actions during the Civil War.

The Knights of the Golden Circle emerged in 1858 when a secret society formed by a Cincinnati businessman merged with the pro-expansionist Order of the Lone Star, which already had 15,000 members. The following year, the Knights began publishing their own newspaper and established their headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1860, during their first attempt to create the Golden Circle, several thousand Knights assembled in southern Texas to “colonize” northern Mexico. Due to insufficient resources and organizational shortfalls, however, that filibuster failed.

Later, the Knights shifted their focus and began pushing for disunion, spearheading prosecession rallies, and intimidating Unionists in the South. They appointed regional military commanders from the ranks of the South’s major political and military figures, including men such as Elkanah Greer of Texas, Paul J. Semmes of Georgia, Robert C. Tyler of Maryland, and Virginius D. Groner of Virginia. Followers also established allies with the South’s rabidly prosecession “fire-eaters,” which included individuals such as Barnwell Rhett, Louis Wigfall, Henry Wise, and William Yancey.

According to Keehn, the Knights likely carried out a variety of other clandestine actions before the Civil War, including attempts by insurgents to take over federal forts in Virginia and North Carolina, the activation of prosouthern militia around Washington, D.C., and a planned assassination of Abraham Lincoln as he passed through Baltimore in early 1861 on the way to his inauguration. Once the fighting began, the Knights helped build the emerging Confederate Army and assisted with the pro-Confederate Copperhead movement in northern states. With the war all but lost, various Knights supported one of their members, John Wilkes Booth, in his plot to abduct and assassinate President Lincoln.

Keehn’s fast-paced, engaging narrative demonstrates that the Knights' influence proved more substantial than historians have traditionally assumed and provides a new perspective on southern secession and the outbreak of the Civil War.


And...our interview!


Jim Schmidt (JS): Please tell us a little about yourself and your training/career.

David Keehn (DK): After graduating from Gettysburg College as a History Major in 1969, I decided to pursue a legal career and went to the University of Pennsylvania Law School. I then practiced law (mostly regulatory) for nearly forty years with the federal government, a Fortune 200 corporation, and a private law firm. I nevertheless continued my interest in history and decided to take early retirement to write an historically-related book. My wife Sally is a noted author of historical fiction for young people (her best seller is I Am Regina) and we had previously written a local travel book together titled Hexcursions: Daytripping in Pennsylvania's Dutch County. I wanted to see what I could do on my own and, after seven years of research and writing, I am proud of my book on the Knights.

JS: What inspired you to begin your research on the KGC?

DK: I began writing about Lincoln's struggle to try to keep Kentucky in the Union in early 1861. Both the Union and the Confederacy were vying for Kentucky given its substantial manpower and agricultural and industrial resources. I went to stay with relatives in Georgetown, KY and spent time reviewing the University of Kentucky's 1861 newspapers. There I discovered a fascinating interplay between George Prentice, the pro- Union editor of the Lousiville Journal, and George Bickley, the titular head of the Knights who wrote a May 30 letter to the pro-South Louisville Courier. Prentice said the KGC was "the central arm of the secession party in Kentucky" (and later exposed Kentucky's Knight leaders and secret rituals) while Bickley said "the work will be pushed with the utmost vigor until the tri-colored flag of the Confederate States floats in triumph over the dome of the capitol in Frankfort."

I showed several chapters I had written to my neighbor, a history professor at Muhlenberg College - he said he had never seen this material on the Knights before and recommended that I concentrate on them. I took his advice and published a 2008 article on the Knights as the strong-arm of secession in North&South magazine. I was then contacted by Dr. Michael Parrish of Baylor University and sponsor of LSU Press's Conflicting World series. Dr. Parrish also said a book is sorely needed on the Knights and he helped and encouraged me along the way.

JS: Why have scholar avoided the Knights until now?

DK: As you indicate, prior material on the Knights have been reprints of period pamphlets and modern books about lost treasure. Scholars had avoided it because digging out the true history of the Knights was a very time consuming and laborious process. It took me seven years to unravel the true story of the Knights (and there's likely further undiscovered material still out there).

There were several excellent Master's theses in Texas that showed the Knights had 8000 members in the Lone Star State and were a very powerful organization. I decided to find out whether they were equally powerful in the other Southern and Border States. I found hundreds of articles by searching contemporaneous newspapers. I also searched libraries and dusty archives to put together the true story of the Knights.  Much material was destroyed when the Knights were labeled treasonous by Union authorities during the Civil War, but fortunately, enough still exists to put the true story together.

A key breakthrough was the discovery of a secret circular letter written by Bickley in late April 1860 in which he identifies the Knights' state regimental commanders and the size of the Knights Army in each Southern and Border state. I discovered that the identified regimental commanders were substantial  leaders - men like Elkanah Greer in Texas, Virginius Groner in the Old Dominion, Paul J. Semmes in Georgia, and Robert Charles Tyler in Maryland. In most cases, they were tied in with the fire-eaters trying to push the South towards secession and they subsequently became Brigadier-Generals or Colonels,helping to form the nascent Confederate Army which went from nothing in Feb. 1861 to 200,000 men by Sept 1861.

JS: Did America have a tradition of secret societies, fraternal or otherwise, before the Civil War?

DK: Yes, a plethora of secret societies flourished before the Civil War. There was no TV and such societies served as a social outlet, especially for men. The things that made the Knights unique was that they were a militant society concentrating on military drill and training. They also were hierarchical.  Their super-secret top degree (the Knights of the Columbian Star) who weren't even identified to lower degree members, could pass down orders in secrecy that the lower degree members, including the Knights Army, were bound by oath to obey.

Interrogatory from Lincoln Assassination Trials - National Archives

JS: I appreciate that in the book you did not pursue a psychological analysis of Bickley; however, do you think he exhibited signs of megalomania?

DK: Bickley is a fascinating character. He was shunted off by his galavanting mother after his father died, ran away from home at age 14, and lived by his wits. He accordingly became a convincing prevaricator and somehow picked up enough knowledge along the way to bluff his way into a professorship at an upstart medical school in Cincinnati and convince Southern leaders to merge his Knights with their pre-existing Order of the Lone Star that had 50 chapters and 15,000 members. They described Bickley as a brilliant speaker and writer which is why they kept him around as the KGC's front-man. Bickley certainly had a high opinion of  himself but he was successful in recruiting men for the Knights particularly in Texas. He didn't really go off the deep end until after he was arrested in mid-1863 by Union authorities and sent to Fort Warren in Boston's harbor. Here he engaged in flights of fantasy reconstructing the history of the Knights and issuing orders to nonexistent followers even as the Civil War was winding down.

JS:  What were some of the challenges you faced in doing your research? What were some of the rewards/joys?

DK: In-depth historical research is not easy. Sometimes you look through tens of articles or manuscripts but find nothing of relevance. Much of the key material is on microfiche so I sometimes felt like my eyeballs were going to fall out. Also, my book covers the Knights across the country so each chapter was in essence a new story requiring its own in-depth historical research.

On the other hand, when you find a key historical discovery such as the Knights' circular letter noted above, it's quite exciting. Each piece of relevant information helps you put the story together and often leads to another discovery. I enjoy investigating things and putting the puzzle together - I call it "unraveling the secrets of the KGC". I also owe a debt of gratitude to those who helped out such as Chris Lyons from Texas who went all over the Lone Star State searching out primary sources or my boyhood friend Glenn Rambo who accompanied me on many of my trips and pitched in to help research.

JS: Why do you think it took so long for civil or military authorities to take the KGC seriously and/or infiltrate their operation?

DK: Before the Civl War broke out, many, including Democrats in the North, were sympathetic to the Knights' goal of expansion into the Southern hemisphere (although they were probably not privy to the Knights' secret objective of establishing a slave empire there to rival the grandeur of ancient Rome). Several key members of the Buchanan administration, including Vice-President John Breckenridge and Secretary of War John Floyd, were alleged to be leaders in the Knights so they wouldn't want to investigate themselves.

U. S. Army spies in Texas did infiltrate a Knights' Council of War in Texas around Nov. 1860 and found they had a secret program to take over federal forts in the South, seize the Capital at Washington, and prevent President-elect Lincoln from taking office (Knights led the cabal that planned to assassinate Lincoln when he passed through Baltimore in Feb. 1861).  Once the Civil War started, Union spies were active in infiltrating the Knights which led to many of their castles switching over to the more secure Order of American Knights and then Sons of Liberty in 1864.After that,the diminishing KGC order became a bogeyman used by the Republicans to foster Unionist sentiment and the 1864 re-election of Lincoln.

JS: Why is the popular legacy of the KGC a romantic tale of hidden CSA treasure and not treason?

DK: That's Hollywood for you - producers need something sensational to do a program. I'm frankly getting tired of programs showing parties going out to look for the gold that the Knights were rumored to have buried so the South could rise again (except of course the Disney movie National Treasure 2 which was a romp). I think the true story of the Knights is even more interesting. For example, at least six Knights (in addition to Booth) were involved in the abduction plot and assassination of Lincoln and they likely were behind it.

JS: What other sources would you recommend for people to learn more about the KGC and the book?

DK: Since my book is the only one that tells the Knights' true story based on meticulous and exhausting research, I can only refer folks back to the primary sources, some of which are noted above. I have a website www.davidkeehn.com which notes my upcoming appearances where I'll be presenting my 45 minute slideshow and lecture on "Unraveling the Secrets of the KGC" (I have an alternative slideshow that I presented to the Surratt Society in Maryland on John Wilkes Booth's role as a Knights' leader).

[I have embedded a couple of classic texts below: Narrative of Edmund Wright; His Adventures with and Escape from the Knights of the Golden Circle (1864) and An Authentic Exposition of the "K.G.C." (1861)





JS: Do you have any other special historical interests? Are you working on another book?

DK: I'm a big advocate for preservation of our historical sites that tell the story of our forebears and America. For example, except where there's involved citizen groups, many of our heritage sited in Pennsylvania -which demonstrate how William Penn founded our state on the principal of religious tolerance -  are closing. The government no longer can afford to keep them open so we've all got to pitch in and contribute or otherwise our heritage will pass away for our kids and their progeny. I am working on another book about Civil War secret societies but to make the research easier, it's concentrated on one place.

Thank you, David - and best wishes for success and inspiration in your research and writing!

My review:

When megalomania meets treason...

This is a serious, comprehensive, and thoroughly researched treatment of the KGC, including details on its founder, George Bickley, the KGCs initial filibustering plans and failed exploits, its influence in the push for secession, the transformation of its various "castles" into companies and regiments ready for service to the Confederacy, and its involvement in assassination plots against President Abraham Lincoln, either planned, failed, or - ultimately  successful. 

The author wisely avoids his own psychological analysis in the book but one can't help but get the feeling that KGC founder Bickley exhibited some signs of megalomania - especially in his waning days; even in the founding and early days of the KGC Bickley promised the support of large numbers of men and arms that simply didn't exist.

There are some heroes in the book, especially - in my mind - Unionists (but, alas, not abolitionists) such as Texan George W. Paschal who called Bickley and the KGC for what they were: a treasonous band of schemers who also usurped civil liberties by means of a secret police force.

Indeed, the book is good reading for Texas history as it explores how the KGC pressed for a secessionist convention and then suppressed the Unionist vote.  It made good supplemental reading to an absolute favorite of mine: Texas Terror by Donald Reynolds.

Likewise, Keehn devotes an entire chapter to similar KGC influence in Kentucky and another to interesting operations in Arkansas, the Indian Territory, and even California.

One is also struck by the paranoia of Southern fire-eaters over an imagined abolitionist conspiracy of arson, poisoning, and slave uprisings, while at the same time they were engaged in the all-to-real organized and secret plot against the government.  

The book is not without some faults: given the secret nature of the KGC, not all its members were explicitly named; the author is cautious in declaring whether a particular politician was, wasn't, or may have been  member of the KGC, but the doubt does become a bit wearing at times.  The author also tends to drift into a standard description of the move towards secession such that the KGC is not mentioned for paragraphs on end or only tangentially.  The biggest complaint, though, is that this book needed a much more careful eye in terms of editing: content and copyediting.  Numerous typos abound: names of people and places are often spelled two different ways in th every same paragraph; one , especially, reads more like the minutes from a KGC meeting rather than a narrative; and there are numerous instances of mixed tenses.  The missteps are never so much as to distract the reader or detract from the overall quality of the book, but given the generally long production schedules at university presses, this seems like it should have been fixed in advance of publication to better serve the author and the reader.

That said, as the first serious book on the KGC - and a well-researched one at that - Mr. Keehn has done readers a considerable favor and has made an excellent case for the organization's influence in the antebellum era owing to its filibustering dreams, its instigation of secession, its supply of "knights" to the Confederate army, and its involvement in plots to kill the president, from before his entry to office in 1861 to his assassination in 1865.

4 out of 5 stars.

I want to thank LSU Press for providing a review copy of the book.

Medical Department #44 - Letters from a Pennsylvania Soldier

“I had a little bottle of catfish fat in my knapsack and put that on and it did more god than all the dokters in the armey.” - Letter, October 4, 1862, Pvt Edward R. Willis, 82nd Pennsylvania

It's been about a year-and-a-half since I last wrote a "Medical Department" column for Civil War News, but I'm happy to report I am "back in the writing saddle" and my latest article has been published in the April 2013 issue and is republished below.

Readers of the blog actually got a preview of this column a month or so ago when I introduced Mr. Jay Willis and his great-great-grandfather, Pvt. Edward R. Willis, 82nd Pennsylvania (here)

The column features more information on Mr. Willis and his Civil War ancestor, especially some wonderful medical content from his wartime letters.

The content features mention of a patent medicine, Wright's Indian Vegetable Pills, by name and a wonderful story about a balm of catfish fat he used to help cure a wound suffered at the Battle of Antietam!

Enjoy!

Pvt. Willis’ Catfish Balm

by James M. Schmidt

"Medical Department" - April 2013 - Civil War News

One of the great joys of writing this column, my blog, or my books, is that I often hear from people who share wonderful stories about their Civil War ancestors.  It happened again recently when I received a kind e-mail from Mr. Jay Willis, who shared some letters and photographs associated with his great-great-grandfather, Pvt. Edward Robinson Willis, Sr., 82nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. The letters were interesting on several counts, especially in the way he is sharing them and because they have some great medical content.

Detail of an October 4, 1862 letter in which Pvt. Willis describes his catfish fat treatment for his gunshot wound suffered at the Battle of Antietam. Courtesy of Mr. Jay Willis

“Pvt. Willis, Sr., was a widower who enlisted in August 1861 and was discharged in July 1865. He sent letters to his daughter, Mary, three to four per month on average,” Mr. Willis told me.  On the 150th anniversary of each letter, he sends a scan of the letter and a typed transcript from the 1960s (which Pvt. Willis’ great-granddaughter had compiled) to more than twenty of Pvt. Willis’ direct descendants.  Mr. Willis adds a cover e-mail, with links and images from the internet, to help his relatives understand better what their Civil War ancestor was writing about.  What a wonderful way to commemorate the Civil War Sesquicentennial!

[I’ve had the great privilege of being dubbed an “honorary” Willis descendant, and I get the e-mails on each anniversary! It’s an honor I appreciate so much!]

Mr. Willis lives near Reading, Pennsylvania, and spend his winters as a “snow bird” just outside of Aiken, South Carolina.  “I have always had an interest in Civil War and family history," he wrote me, adding, “Edward’s daughter, Mary, passed the letters to my great aunt, M. Emma Willis, who taught for 42 years in the Haverford school system. When I was growing up, we lived just under a mile from her house. She instilled in me a love of genealogy and history. She gave me the letters, Edwards enlistment and discharge papers, canteen, etc.. when I was about 11 years old.  I, my brothers, and even my daughter used them for school projects, etc., but for the most part they remained in a lock box.” Mr. Willis also said that his great aunt used the letters in her classrooms for 42 years and – recently - his niece has also started to use the letters with her history students

Mr. Willis retired after 35 years of working with people with developmental disabilities on behalf of the state of Pennsylvania.  He finally had the time and resources to give more attention to Pvt. Willis’ letters and, in August 2011, he began more in-depth research, which he now happily shares with his relatives.  “What amazes me is the number of people the letters are forwarded to; I think most recipients do forward them to at least one person: in laws, friends etc.”

It’s no wonder: the life story of Pvt. Willis is very interesting and the letters make for terrific reading.



Pvt. Edward R. Willis, 82^nd Pennsylvania Infantry, 1861.  Courtesy Mr. Jay Willis

 In the 1840s and early 1850s, Edward R. Willis was a farmer in Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, renting the farm from his aunt, Mary (Willis) Pierce Flounders. By 1860, he was a widower with three small children and the farm he rented had been sold upon the death of his aunt.  In addition to the loss of his farm and wife, he lost two children, his parents, and brother.  He was working as a day or seasonal laborer on several farms in Haverford Township. His three surviving children were cared for by others.

At slightly less than 45 years of age, Willis enlisted in the Union army on August 12, 1861, in Company A, "Wetherill Blues,” 31st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers (re-designated the 82nd Pennsylvania).  The regiment was present at numerous battles including Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg.  Pvt. Willis was wounded, but not severely, at Antietam and had a horse shot from under him at Petersburg.

That some of the letters have medical content - which is of special interest to me and readers of this column – is not terribly surprising; it’s the rare letter, indeed – soldier or civilian – from the mid-1800s that doesn’t have some mention of the health of the writer or the writer’s family.  Still, Pvt. Willis’ letters have some especially unique content.

One of my research interests is 19th-century patent (quack, proprietary, snake oil, etc.) medicines, and I love to see mentions of specific brands in soldier correspondence.  On January 28, 1863, Pvt. Willis wrote his “deare daughter” to “send me a box of rights inden vegtble pills.”   He was referring to “Wright’s Indian Vegetable Pills,” one of the first truly American patent medicines, which promised to cure a dizzying array of ailments, from “acidity of the stomach” to “night sweats” to yellow fever.  In his letter of February 9, 1863, he thanked her for the pills and a week later, Pvt. Willis wrote that he “tooke a good doce of them pills you sent me and I feele like a new man.” (Most of the “vegetable pill” patent medicines of the era – and there were many - contained natural laxatives, which almost certainly explains his improved health).

19th-century Wright's Indian Vegetable Pills - Collection of James M. Schmidt

[Learn more about Wright's Indian Vegetable Pills and the Civil War in my previous posts here and here]

So far (I still have two years of letters to receive!), my favorite tale has been of a home remedy.  On September 24, 1862, Pvt. Willis wrote his daughter a dramatic account of the regiment’s fight at Antietam and described his wound: “I had three balls throug my leg just above the nee but did not injer the bone though it pains me bade enough without braken any bones.”

On October 4, 1862, he confessed that “I suffered a greadele [great deal] for several days with pain,” but adds, “I had a little bottle of catfish fat in my knapsack and put that on and it did more god than all the dokters in the armey.” [Mr. Willis told me that Pvt. Willis had written about catching the fish a month earlier while the regiment was on the James River! Imagine the smell!].
What a GREAT story and a unique remedy!  As it turns out, Pvt. Willis had history and medicine on his side: fish fat was mentioned as a balm for wounds in the days of the Romans and is still used among some Amazonian tribes today!

Edward was discharged with his Regiment on July 13, 1865 at Hall's Hill, Virginia.  He returned from the war suffering from chronic diarrhea from which he never recovered; he died on September 18, 1865, not quite 49 years old.

As mentioned earlier, when Edward’s wife died in 1857, he placed his children with nearby friends or neighbors: Mary at 15 with the Bond family; Edward at 12 with the Dickinson family, and Eliza at 6 with Priscilla Davis and then the Bartrum family.  In the 1870's the family spent time gathering affidavits for Eliza (the only one who was a minor when he died) to acquire a pension, which she did receive. Mary never married and Edward R Willis, Jr. had two children. M. Emma and Albert, Mr. Willis’ grandfather.

I am indebted to Mr. Willis for sharing these wonderful stories with me.

You can learn more about Pvt. Edward R. Willis – and see photographs of him and his accoutrements and documents - by visiting Mr. Willis’ excellent page at:

http://trees.ancestry.com/view/Military.aspx?tid=21508408&pid=1094634435

"Notre Dame and the Civil War" - St. Patrick's Day Rafflecopter Giveaway!

[Congratulations to Tarah and Carol for winning signed copies! Keep your eye on the blog for other giveaways!]

Let's celebrate St. Patrick's Day and the "Fighting Irish" with a Rafflecopter giveaway of TWO signed copies of Notre Dame and the Civil War: Marching Onward to Victory (The History Press)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Murdered by a Maniac" - Guest Post at "Murder by Gaslight"

In Memory of
Ichabod Umberfield
who was murdered by a maniac
Jan’y 1, 1856

Ichabod Umberfield Headstone (FindAGrave)

A few months ago I happily posted a guest article by Robert Wilhelm, an author and local historian in Massachusetts, who hosts two great websites - Murder by Gaslight and The National Night Stick.

His post (here), "Private Calhoun's Confession," was an excellent story about a Civil War soldier who was hung for the murder of a local farmer, who confessed to "an entire life of crime and dozens of murders."

In the few months since it appeared, Robert's article has already become the fifth most visited post on this blog, with nearly 900 hits!  And it's still movin' up the chart!  Well done, Robert!

In the past few days, Robert kindly hosted my own guest post at his excellent Murder by Gaslight blog.

You can see the post - "Murdered by a Maniac" - here.

The story is about three murders that took place between Christmas Eve 1855 and New Year's Day 1856, perpetrated by members of a bizarre cult in New Haven, Connecticut - the "Wakemanites" - led by their "Prophetess," Mrs. Rhoda Wakeman.

It's a grisly, but fascinating story, with connections to cults, Spiritualism, mental illness, journalism, court proceedings, incarceration, class distinctions, and much more.

Do me a favor and visit my post at Robert's blog and while you are there check out some of the great history he has shared about 19th-century crime!

Palmetto State Druggist - G. W. Aimar - BONUS Part IV - AMAZING Collection!

 

G. W. Aimar & Co. Bottles - Gregory Brownlee Collection

 One of the great joys of writing this blog is hearing from people who I would never have met before and who share wonderful stories about their ancestors, collections, or other interests.

So it was with my recent 3-part series on G. W. Aimar & Co., the longtime (1852-1978) druggist in Charleston, South Carolina: a day or so after the last of the series was posted, I received an e-mail from a reader who has an absolutely amazing G. W. Aimar & Co. collection and he was kind enough to share images for all of us to enjoy! Many - if not most - of the items are rare or one of-a-kind.  I am so indebted to Greg for sharing all of this!

And so we have this unforeseen BONUS Part IV to the series thanks to Greg Brownlee, a professional pharmacist and avid collector in Charleston, SC, home to Aimar & Co.

Meet Greg:

I began collecting pharmacy antiques while I was in pharmacy school at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. I have always been interested in the Civil War in particular and "antique" type items or sometimes anything that seemed interesting to me. Being in Charleston will feed any history buffs addiction, no matter what the subject matter.

But I took a history of pharmacy class, and had the pleasure of being introduced to pharmacy antiques from several of my professors who have some magnificent collections. But in that class I was also introduced to some old Charleston pharmacies, Aimar's being one of them. And since it was open for so long and he was a soldier himself during the war, I just took it and ran with it.

Once out of school, I began to collect lots of pharmacy antiques, but as I acquired more and more, I have had to become more selective, picky if you will, about the stuff I collected. But while in school I acquired some Charleston area apothecary/druggist bottles in local antique shops or eBay etc. and started with that. So I concentrate my collection on any Charleston area bottles/items, with a preference toward Aimar items.

I probably have bottles representing 20 or more different pharmacies from the Charleston area, including wartime druggists CH Panknin and his son CF Panknin.  Also there may be an AC Phin, who coincidentally GW Aimar apprenticed under before he opened up shop in 1852.  Some others during that time - PM Cohen, Dawson & Blackman, Kenifick & Skrin.

Greg - Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful collection with us!

From Gregory Brownlee Collection: "What is believed to be a ship's chest or a traveling medicine chest.  It contained all Aimar labeled bottles, tins etc, some still with contents, but also contained 3 other bottles from port cities. This is probably one of my best finds about 2 years ago."

From Gregory Brownlee Collection: "GW Aimar's original "recipe" book, which has all the original recipes, including the Sarracenia bitters, Queens Delight and much more"

Aimar Florida Water - Gregory Brownlee Collection

Gregory Brownlee Collection

Gregory Brownlee Collection

Gregory Brownlee Collection

Gregory Brownlee Collection

Gregory Brownlee Collection

Decorative Apothecary Show Globes - Gregory Brownlee Collection

Palmetto State Druggist - G.W. Aimar & Co. - Part III - Bottle Gallery

Aimar's Sarracenia Bitters - Ferdinand Meyer

In this third and final part of my series on G. W. Aimar & Co., Charleston, SC, I share a gallery of photos of Aimar bottles - one from my collection, an absolutely beautiful Aimar's Sarracenia Bitters bottle from premier bitters collector Ferdinand Meyer V at Peachridge Glass, other Aimar proprietary medicines from Matthew Knapp's excellent Antique Medicines website, and a few others gathered from the web.

G. W. Aimar was a full service druggist offering raw medicinals (minerals, herbs, and synthesized medicines), as well as several of its own proprietary medicines carrying the Aimar name.

One example was his "Aimar's Sarracenia Bitters," which he began advertising as early as the Civil War era.  Sarraecenia is one of the North American Pitcher plants, or "trumpet pitcher," a carnivorous "fly trap." It ha slong been thought to have medicinal properties, including as a tonic for digestive problems (indeed, Aimar's bitters were marketed specifically for dyspepsia), kidney problems, and astringent.  There are numerous reports in the medical literature of the mid-1800s of its efficacy in treating smallpox.  Aimar's was by no means the only Sarracenia-based bitters or medicine.  Ferdinand Meyer has a beautiful example of an Alabama Sarracenia bitters here. 

Aimar's Neurotic Oil - Matthew Knapp

Other named medicines include "Aimar's Neurotic Oil," "Aimar's Sarsaparilla & Queen's Delight," "Aimar's Infallible Gonorrhea Injection," "Aimar's Golden Fluid" (for the hair), and others.

As mentioned above, Aimar also sold traditional remedies and chemicals, and examples are shown of these as well.

Aimar's Queen's Delight - Matthew Knapp

College of Charleston Digital Library

Aimar's Sarracenia Bitters - Ferdinand Meyer Collection

Aimar's Sarracenia Bitters - Ferdinand Meyer Collection

 

 

G. W. Aimar Druggist Bottle - James M. Schmidt Collection

Hair Raising Stories Website

Ebay Listing (2012)

Ebay Listing (2013)

Ebay Listing (2013)

LiveAuctioneers.com Listing (2008)

Palmetto State Druggist - G.W. Aimar & Co. - Part II - The Firm

G. W. Aimar & Co. - Red Cross Messenger - 1916

In this second of three parts on the G. W. Aimar & Co. drug firm of Charleston, SC, I provide some additional details on the company.

The company is interesting on several accounts:

Continuity - it was in business, and in the family, from 1852 to 1978!

Building - it remained at the same location in Charleston that entire time!

Documentation - for persons wanting to dig deeper, more than a century's worth of the firm's papers are now at the Smithsonian Institution

Products - the firm offered a wide range of products, including standard apothecary items as well as its own proprietary medicines.

Civil War advertisement for G. W. Aimar

The firm was founded by George Washington Aimar (1827-1877) in 1852; his brother, Charles, operated the store until 1903; Charles' son, Arthur P. Aimar, then took over; it remained in Arthur's son's hands until 1978, when - in their 70s - they finally decided to close the business.

Of the store, a newspaper article in 1983 (Charleston News and Courier) declared:

Theirs was an old-fashioned, yet extraordinary drugstore, where customers came not only for medicines, but for "dragon's blood," brimstone, frankincense, and lodestone. Latin-labeled old apothecary jars and tincture bottles, antique cabinets and display cases filled rooms that also contained mounted birds in cases, framed awards, and bottles of spring water. Their business thrived on supplying holiday spices, aphrodisiacs, spices for cooking, special toothpaste, sewing thread, and their own "Aimar's Premium Cologne Water," with an "oil of neroli" base that was concocted from orange blossom petals and musk.

Not surprisingly, Aimar also had a connection with the Civil War.  The same article declared:

G. W. Aimar served as a lieutenant in the Lafayette Artillery during the Civil War and was wounded, captured, an imprisoned before escaping and returning to Charleston. He could not re-enlist but helped the Confederate effort when his drugstore became the Confederate dispensary.  Three floors of the building served as a hospital.

If the story of his capture and escape seems too good to be true, that's because it probably is.  He did in fact serve with the Lafayette Artillery, but it appears he resigned his commission an received an honorable discharge so he could return to his business as a chemist in Charleston:

G. W. Aimar 1863 Letter of Resignation - Fold3.com

 Aimar certainly supplied the Confederate army and medical department with chemicals and drugs; the receipts below are from 1861 and 1864.  Note that in the early months of 1861 the Confederate medical department didn't even have its own stationery/letterheads/billheads: they were re-using United States government forms!

G. W. Aimar Supplies to Confederate States, 1861 - Fold3.com

G. W. Aimar Supplies to Confederate States, 1864 - Fold3.com

Another remarkable thing about the Aimar drug firm is that the building they did business in for 125 years still survives and has an even longer history!

Photo: Joan Perry - Charleston Daily Photo

From the Charleston County Public Library:

409 King Street

This substantial, four and one-half story building was built c.1808 by Lucretia Radcliffe, widow of Thomas Radcliffe and the developer of Radcliffeborough. Subsequently it was the Rev. Ferdinand Jacobs' Seminary for Girls. G.W. Aimar & Co., druggist, occupied the building from 1852 to 1978. The business was founded by George W. Aimar, who during the Civil War was a lieutenant in the Lafayette Artillery. During the war the building housed a Confederate dispensary and hospital. Later, a hotel known as the Aimar House was located on the upper levels. 

[You have to visit the website of award-winning photographer Joan Perry at Charleston Daily Photo; she bills herself as a "Sidewalk Curator."  Her photographs are astounding!]

For those wanting to learn more about the Aimar drug firm, the Smithsonian Institution holds more than 350 cubic feet (!) of Aimar records donated by the company, covering the years 1864-1972, documenting the day-to-day business: day books, ledger books, cash books, prescription books, invoices, letterpress copybooks, and formula books.

Part III will feature some Aimar bottles from my collection, kindly shared by other collectors, or found via my scavenging of the "interwebs."!