A "Conference Above the Clouds" - SOCWS Conference - Part I

This Friday through Sunday (27-29 March), I will be in Chattanooga, TN, attending the 16th Annual Conference of the Society of Civil War Surgeons.

I'll be giving a talk on Saturday morning entitled "The Soldier's True Friend: Patent Medicines and the Civil War."

I attended - and spoke at - the 14th Annual Conference in 2007 in St. Louis and had a terrific time. I'm looking forward to some interesting lectures, seeing old friends, and meeting new ones. On Sunday we'll be taking a tour tracing Confederate General John Bell Hood's wounding and treatment at Chickamauga.

I'll post more when I return!

Lincoln, The Inventor - Part II - A Crisis for Scientific American Magazine!

As a follow-up to my previous post about Jason Emerson's terrific new book, Lincoln, The Inventor, I wanted to describe how Abraham Lincoln's invention caused something of a "secession crisis" - albeit a humorous one - for Scientific American magazine, way back in 1861!

Lincoln's invention first appeared in the June 2, 1849, issue of Scientific American as a short notice in its weekly list of patents issued in the previous week:

"To A. Lincoln, of Springfield, Ills., for improved method of lifting vessels over shoals."

Below are excerpts from my recent book, Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War (Edinborough Press), which includes an entire chapter about the important and interesting role that Scientific American magazine played in the Civil War:

In an early December 1860 issue - just weeks after the polls closed - Scientific American featured an engraving and detailed description of the President-elect’s 1849 invention, supposing “it would interest a vast number of our readers to see what sort of an invention emanated from the brain of so distinguished an official.”

They added: “The merits of this invention we are not disposed to discuss; but we hope the author of it will have better success in presiding as Chief Magistrate over the people of the entire Union than he has had as an inventor in introducing his invention upon the western waters, for which it was especially designed.”

The following April, the magazine reported with bemusement that a Northern subscriber accused them of “undertaking to cast a slur upon ‘Honest Old Abe,” and guessed that the irritated reader “jumped at the conclusion that we had trumped it [Lincoln’s invention] up for the purpose of casting ridicule upon his candidate.” The matter did not end there. Southern readers threatened to cancel their subscriptions (some actually did) and accused the Scientific American of rejoicing “over the election of a Black Republican rail-splitter.” One Southern wag wrote in feigned indignation that the “publication of His Excellency's invention would enable the Northerners to ride into Charleston at low water, and thus reinforce Fort Sumter.”

Just over four years later, in their April 22, 1865 issue, under the heading, “Our Calamity,” the magazine wrote briefly and solemnly of Lincoln’s assassination. In the May 28, 1865, issue, the magazine devoted space to a longer and more poignant eulogy to the President-inventor, recalling the December 1, 1860, engraving that precipitated the Scientific American’s own “secession troubles”; their gentle jibe in hoping that Lincoln would “have better success in presiding as Chief Magistrate over the people of the entire Union than he has had as an inventor...”; and the model of the boat Lincoln held under his arm in the office of patent attorney Z.C. Robbins:

“...a model of a different kind; carved as one might imagine a retired rail-splitter would whittle, strongly but not smoothly...The modest little model has reposed here [in the Patent Office] sixteen years - and since it found its resting place here on the shelf, the shrewd inventor has found it his task to guide the ship of state over shoals more perilous, and obstructions more obstinate than any prophet dreamed of when [he] wrote his bold autograph on the prow of this miniature steamer. The author’s skill in buoying the great vessel of state over dangerous breakers has made his name honored throughout the whole civilized world.”

Lincoln, The Inventor - Part I - A Terrific New Book!

“Be it known that I have invented a new and improved manner of combining adjustable buoyant air chambers with a steamboat or other vessel for the purpose of enabling their draught of water to be readily lessened to enable them to pass over bars, or through shallow water, without discharging their cargoes.”

So begins the text of United States Patent #6,469 awarded to Abraham Lincoln for a method of "Buoying Vessels Over Shoals."

Lincoln's invention, his penchant for things scientific and mechanical, and his lecture "Discoveries and Inventions" is the subject of a terrific new book - Lincoln, the Inventor - by Jason Emerson, author of The Madness of Mary Lincoln.

I purchased the book yesterday, stayed up last night to read it, and was not disappointed. Here are some hi-lights for me:

1) The book is short (about 50 pages of text with another 25 pages of Appendices). Jason Emerson makes no apologies for the shortness. In fact, he is disappointed that "the publication of short books and monographs has lessened extensively in recent years," adding, " The page count of a work should have no impact on its overall historical, literary, or pedagogical value." (p. xiii) Indeed! Mr. Emerson packs a lot of information into this short book and it is supported by a great amount of scholarship.

2) In the first part of the book, Mr. Emerson describes Lincoln's general interest in science and invention and how that played out in his personal life (he devoured books on astronomy, geometry, and mechanics), his legislative agenda (he supported infrastructure projects), and as an inventor himself (somewhat to the chagrin of his peers). I was familiar with some of the information and anecdotes from my own reading and research on Lincoln, but Mr. Emerson goes much farther. Of particular interest is his description of some of lawyer-Lincoln's patent cases.

3) In the second part of the book, Mr. Emerson concentrates on Lincoln's lecture, "Discoveries and Inventions." Of particular interest here are newspaper and first-person accounts of the reception of the lecture, and - more important - excerpts from newly discovered correspondence revealing a lost handwritten and bound copy of the lecture. It would wonderful if this became the next big find of Lincolnia.

The book includes appendices of the patent as well as the text of the lecture (such as we know it).

Mr. Emerson drew on an impressive array of archives, period newspapers, and secondary sources in telling a focused by terrific story. Highly recommended.

Later this week - in Part II - I will add to the "Lincoln as Inventor" story from my own research and reading.

The Constitution States Celebrates Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Medicine

Call it what you want: "The Constitution State," "The Nutmeg State," "The Provisions State," or the "Land of Steady Habits": Connecticut has a rich history, from the Mohegans who occupied the territory before the arrival of Eurpoean explorers in the early 1600s, to its rich American history, including the American Civil War.

Connecticut Medicine - the Journal of the Connecticut State Medical Society (CSMS) - saw fit to celebrate that heritage by devoting a recent issue (February 2009, Vol. 73. No. 2) with a special section "Commemorating the Bicentennial of the Birth of Abraham Lincoln."

The issue includes a number of interesting articles relating to Lincoln and the Civil War, such as:

• Lincoln in Connecticut
• Four Connecticut Physicians: Window to Civil War Medicine and Service
• Knight army Hospital: 1862-1865
• Abraham Lincoln: Medical Aspects of His Life
• Civil War Anesthesia: Gift of Connecticut Dentists
• Remembering Abe Lincoln
• and others

I'll be covering the articles - and their authors - in more detail in a future installment of my "Medical Department" for The Civil War News. Until then, copies of the issue are available to non-members of the CSMS for $10 (postpaid) by contacting:

Managing Editor, Connecticut Medicine
Connecticut State Medical Society
160 St. Ronan Street
New Haven, CT 06511-2312

Adding One to the Blogroll - The McGinty Chronicles

A few weeks ago I received a nice comment on one of my older posts - "Ambulance Chasing - Civil War Style":

"In researching the validity of a post-Civil War pension table, I came across your blog and found it most helpful, thank you. I will be posting my document on Monday, March 2, 2009, and thought you might find it interesting. My project, McGinty Chronicles, is the research of my family's history in America from the early 1800's and I present it from the viewpoint of my Great-grandfather, John L. Sigley who, among other occupations was a correspondent for several publications."

Interesting, indeed! The comment was from Brian Sigley, webmaster of the Chronicles. After receiving the comment, I spent a few minutes browsing the site...and the minutes turned to hours!

Brian started the blog just a few months ago (October 2008) so it's still easy to start at the beginning and look through the first posts, all told through the voice of "McGinty" - the pen name of Brian's ancestor, John L. Sigley. After going through the 2008 posts, visit the 2009 section.

Visitors to the site are treated to an amazing array of primary source documents (scanned and easily viewed), including many from the Civil War, associated with "McGinty" father - Thomas Wyatt Sigley, with Company H, 3rd Illinois Cavalry - and uncle - John Sigley, 13th New Jersey Infantry. They include the pension documents that Brian referred to in his comment above, as well as:

• Thomas and John Sigley's Civil War muster rolls, enlistment documents, and discharge papers
• Handwritten wartime diary pages
• Photographs of artifacts such as GAR uniform buttons
• Wartime tax assessments
• much more to come!

It turns out that Thomas Sigley employed the services of a pension attorney - John W. Morris - that was featured in a period newspaper advertisement I had on my blog, and thus the nice comment from Brian.

I encourage you to visit his site, keep up with the interesting family story, and drop him a line!