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Still more remembering... part 5

4/24/2016

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Last week I brought you the 4th in the series about a fellow who claimed US citizenship, when in fact he was born in Quebec. He kept up the facade while serving on almost a dozen US warships, and over as many years and more. Even to the very end when his death certificate claimed a New York State birth.

Sam began his service in a stock control sort of occupation, and whilst in that capacity on-board the USS San Jacinta, was involved with the capture of two slave trading vessels loaded with more than 1,200 colored men, women and children destined to US auctions during 1860. The following year he would find himself in the midst of the famous Trent Affair where his vessel captured two former US Senators, then on the Confederate side, and heading off to Britain and France to perform duties for the Southern cause.

In recent blogs I mentioned Sam's duties as storesman and ultimately a Captain of The Hold whilst his vessel was supplying the schooners and Mortar flotilla sent to capture or silence the 177 powerful guns of Fort Jackson  and St Philips at the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana.

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Here you can see the mighty Mississippi River flowing down from the Vicksburg and beyond to the Gulf of Mexico, at #1 above. It flows past Fort ST. Philips at #2 and Fort Jackson at Number 3. Thousands of shells were dropped on the forts over several days, over 3,000 the first day alone. And some of them may have had Sam's finger prints on them!

One of the forts saw her troops mutiny and ultimately surrender and the 2nd soon fell to the union's mortar flotilla. Thus, the water route up to New Orleans lay open for attack.

While the city was the largest in the Confederacy, it's defenses by water lay with the 2 defeated forts. Most other defenses were based on the assumption than the attacks would come from land routes. So when the forts were taken  it had a massive problem.

It lay some 75 miles north of these forts and would soon meet the warships. A later historian would write that this was not a happy meeting. In  is words the Confederates "made a sorry showing. Self destruction, lack of co-operation, cowardice of untrained officers and the murderous fire of the federal gunboats reduced the Confederate ships on site to  demolished shambles."

Worse yet, because of the location of the city, and its levees, compounded with the high tides, nature was also its enemy. Ships riding higher than usual only had to place themselves right to be able to fire down into the city streets. Had they chosen to blow the levees, they could have simply flooded it. But they chose to take it... not destroy it. By the beginning of May the 3,000 troops were taken by Union land forces about 5,000 strong under General Butler. The largest Confederate city was no more in Confederate hands.


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As you can see from this 1860's sketch of the city, a few direct volley's of cannon shells would soon turn the streets into rubble.

When the army entered the city, it  soon gave in without any serious resistance.

Sam's vessel was soon dispatched to the area of Mobile Bay but upon arrival is was sent back to the Mississippi River to help with the fleet supplies as it moved north past New Orleans with a new target. 

It was a burg like so many in the US. A burg being a  small town or place. And this one was named after a minister who established a mission there in the early 1800's. His name was Newitt. Newitt VICKS and the area would soon be called Vicksburg.

That target lay some 220 miles up river from New Orleans. But before the Union could get there it has to deal with powerful hidden gun emplacements in a battery about  250 and 300 ft. above sea level at the bluffs known as Ellis' Cliffs.

Probably guessed it, but they were named after Ellis. Richard Ellis, again a large land owner from the 1780's. 


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In the above map, you will see Natchez, some 70 miles south of Vicksburg. And below this about a dozen miles is where Ellis' Cliffs are located. Since they were so high up, most Union ships could not elevate their guns high enough to deal with the batteries 300 ft. above sea level. But that's when Porter's Mortar ships would do their part.

Again Sam's men would be responsible for handling all the stores supplies, ammunition, weaponry etc to feed the 19 mortar boats and dozens of other vessels heading for Vicksburg.

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Looking at the cliffs you can quickly see how most vessels cannons could not be raised to a height to deal with the batteries on top unless they were far to sea, and thus, less of a threat to the enemy.

Next week will conclude this little min-series on Sam.

But in the mean time please pay close attention to the national news on Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday. Watch for the coverage regarding the new marker unveiling at Washington DC at 11 a.m. on Friday.

This included considerable pomp and ceremony, the presenting of flags, the unveiling, activity with re-enactors, speechs and the attendance of many dignitaries from both the Canadian and US governments, and the  military. And of most importance, several descendants of Nova Scotia born sailor, and Medal of Honor recipient Joseph Noil, who on Friday will finally get the honors he has deserved for well over 134 years.

My personal thanks to all who have helped to make that day, the success that I know it will be. My only regret is in not being able to be at the very foot, once again, of this hero's grave and participate in person with the events of the day. 

Please do me a favor and send me info on any news coverage you see or hear regarding this service.

Cheers till next Sunday,

Bart

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Taking Time to Remember... Part 4

4/17/2016

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The last few blogs have brought you some of the story of a Quebec fellow named Sam.

He served in the United States navy with slight broken service between enlistments, for upwards of 13 years if not more. During that time he would sail on no less than 12 war ships. In every one of his enlistments he declared being born in the US, mostly within the state of New York. Even his death certificate many years later would declare birth in the US. But it had been suspected for years that he was in fact born in Quebec. Baptismal papers shown on this site have now put an end to the  nationality debate. He was clearly a Canadian, though it is possible he may have later taken out US citizenship.

There is an old saying that an army fellow is a soldier first and a tradesman, in whatever specialty, second. So too in the navy I guess, where Sam was a seaman and an ordinary seaman in the earlier days,  but by trade he quickly became a storesman man and worked his way up to the Captain of the Hold. The hold being the place were supplies are stored. The captain being the enlisted man who's job it was to run that operation of receiving,storing,maintaining and keeping at the ready for the ultimate issue of the supplies when needed.


The earlier blogs told of Sam's service on the USS San Jacinto ship when two American bound vessels loaded with over 1200 colored men, women and children were destined for the slave market. The crews were arrested and the cargo of humans landed and freed.

Sam was also on the spot, as noted in a previous blog, and played a critical role when the famous Trent affair of early Civil War days took place.

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It would be just 5 months later, in April of 1862 that Sam was serving on the 4th ship in his career. And therein he was tasked with probably one of his most important jobs to date.  That of Captain of the Hold for the  USS Horace Beals, shown here.

This 292 ton 121 ft. long sailing barkentine (3 or more masts) had just been acquired by the US Navy in September of 1861. Commissioned by early Feb 1862 she was outfitted as a cargo ship and sailed off to Florida for duties in the Gulf of Mexico later that month. Here,  duties would be as a cargo carrier for Commander (later famous Admiral) David D Porter 's fleet of 19 mortar schooners.


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This was one of the mortar ships. One would think you would not want to make these men angry.

Its massive 13" mortar could hurl a shell 2.5 miles in 30 seconds. And when the shell weighing over 200 pounds landed it hurt people. The mortar itself weighed over 17,000 lbs., and that is before you add in the weight of its 4,500 lb carrying platform.  It was designed to take out Confederate forts and it was about to prove its worth.

Entering the Mississippi River the Union knew it had to take out the forts known as St Philip and Jackson. Getting past them would gain access to a short sail away and the ultimate prize... New Orleans, the largest city in the entire Confederacy.

After a six day siege on the forts, said to have dropped over 1000 shells, both were conquered. 

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This image of Fort Jackson is said to show the damages inflicted after 6 days of the constant bombarding. Look closely at all of the dots spread throughout the fort. These indicate where some of the shells landed. Similar results no doubt also occurred  on the other side of the river at Fort St Philip.
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Fort Jackson is shown on the left and Fort St Philip just north and on right side. The flotilla of mortar boats and 20 other war ships can be see all along the river.

Sam's ship would have been down at the bottom away from the actual battle zone. And at a safe distance to still be close enough to dispense supplies as needed and perhaps also operate in its 2nd  function, that of a  temporary hospital ship.

Once these forts were silenced the Union fleet could move on to their primary target... New Orleans, some 80 miles up the river.

One of the participants in the battle would leave for history quite a description of the terror caused by the massive mortars.

He noted that...  "the ground is torn up by the shells as if a thousand antediluvian hogs had routed it up. The holes are  3 to 8 ft. deep and very close together, some within a couple of feet. All that was wood is completely destroyed by fire, the brickwork is knocked down, guns are dismounted, gun carriages broken and the whole presents a dreadful scene of destruction."

At one of the forts the men actually mutinied at the end and forced the fort's surrender.

Throughout all of this it was Sam's ,job to ensure that the correct  supplies were sent off as needed under no doubt very trying circumstances.

Still more on Sam next Sunday.

But before I leave I want to let you all know that there has been a major development in the Joseph Noil unveiling story.

Family have been found and we anticipate that they will be able to come to DC for the service on 29 April.

The US Veterans Affairs produced a blog about the event, a reader saw the notice and posted a comment that it was hoped relatives could be invited. Another viewer saw this, and did some immediate magic work with his wand and found family, and we now learn that the family knew of the relationship...but not that Joseph Noil was a Medal of Honor recipient. That blog is at...   http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/26976/honoring-a-forgotten-medal-of-honor-recipient/

And I am pleased to note that the US Dept of Veterans Affairs gives this site credit for the work it has done on the Noil story and shares that credit with two other members of the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the US as well for their important contributions as well.  (Our President Gayle Alvarez and Don Morfe whom you have read about many times in this space.)

Kudo's to Will for his waving his magic wand for the cause.

And that folks, is what all of these blogs are about. To spread these stories far and wide and keep them very much alive.

You can do your part by contacting the press in your hometowns and steering them to this website.

cheers till next week.

Bart





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Taking time to remember... Part 3

4/10/2016

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Being on a supply ship does not seem very exciting...and probably not very dangerous. That is until you really think of it!

But you'd be wrong when thinking this way. These vessels carried all sorts of ships supplies, food and clothing, medical, carpentry, weaponry, ammunition and much more. They would have to supply other ships that did not have time to return  to a home port for same. Thus said these vessels were critical to the very existence of the ships of the squadron. Quite literally their life lines.

Any time the Squadron  was on the attack... the supply vessel would probably tag along, though obvious in the rear. But never the less they were there. And because of the very nature of their cargo, they would be a very important target for the enemy to destroy Thus, service on board could arguably be said to be as dangerous as the front line vessels.

Quebec Sam and his shipmates were in quite a few hot spots, that I will get to soon, but he'd also enjoy some interesting stops along the way. 


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Sam's service as a supply man would see him on-board the San Jacinto in 1860. Shown here from a NY newspaper of the day, the vessel was attached to the African Squadron. One of its duties was to do its part to suppress the trade of slaves coming to the United States.

In about a 3 month period this vessel and her crew captured a slave trading vessel called the Storm King and another called the Bonito. Both were trading in slaves and each carried over 600 coloured men, women and children.


The San Jacinto crew captured one off the Congo River and the other off East Africa, seized the crews, and took the "black Ivory"  to Munrovia were they were all set free. The trader crews were brought back to the US as POW's and thrown into jail.  No mention if they were clothed!

A US sailor would later say that on approaching one of the slave traders  there were 130 women, 160 men, 68 female girls and over 260 boys. He added in disgust that when the ship was approached all the slaves were naked..."It was a brutal site...it was impossible to look on and not have our feelings touched... as soon as we came on board they were filled with joy, they had lifted all of their hands to us."


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Here is an interesting document I found on the net. It shows that the crew, Sam included, were to be paid bounties for capturing the ship. In the document above the engineer serving on board was to receive $118.46 for the capture of the Storm King. There was probably another document covering the 2nd slave trader.
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Here is another payment for capture of same trader. But this fellow was of lower rank, possible a seaman and he would of course get less. In this case his PRIZE was $27.50. Sam probably got a similar prize as well.

In the Fall of 1861 Sam would also play a role in the famous Trent Incident of Civil War days.

Still on the San Jacinto but now in England, it learned of the hostilities leading up to the start of the US Civil War. On being order back to the US to join in fighting at Charleston, It was enroute when it learned that the Southern vessel... the CSS Sumter had seized 3 US merchant ships near Cuban waters. So enroute back to the US the San Jacinto thought it would stop in Cuba to see if there was any news about where the southern vessel was... It of course wanted to attack the ship if found.

Not finding it, the ship still got some interesting news. Two of the former US Senators who joined with the Southern's cause, were outbound from Cuba enroute to England to act as agents for the Confederacy both in England and France.

So the San Jacinto, including Sam, gave chase, caught up with the vessel, east of Havana, fired a few shots across her bow and boarded here. They seized the two men, their secretaries and  possibly a few others and then brought them back to the States and put into jail at Boston. They were later released after quite a fuss was created between the US and Britain over the matter.

Sam's next adventure would have him almost jumping out of the pit and into the fire. But that comes next week.

Bart



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Taking time to remember... Part ll

4/8/2016

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A few days back I brought you the story of the Medal of Honor Host Program held on Gainesville Texas annually. Early reports said that it was the ninth annual when in fact the program of hosting actual Medal of Honor recipients for various activities over several days began back in 2001, making the event now 15 years old.

At several events open to the public the recipients tell of their stories. They also tell of the importance of remembering those who fought and those who gave their lives after they accepted the call of duty.

The blog also gave notice that we need to reflect on our own history here in Canada tomorrow on the 100th anniversary of the brave boys and men that climbed out of their trenches at Ridge at Vimy. The famous battle has been noted in this space many times over the past few years.

Both above stories were supposed to be a lead into a third..but ended up being the stories themselves.

So today I want to introduce you to Sam. You probably have never heard of Sam. In literally thousands of internet searches over the years, I too had never heard of him till a fellow member of the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the US wrote to tell me that while doing a specific search he came across Sam. And he knew that I and my audience needed to hear about him. So a big thanks to Ray.

Had I actually had Sam's name a search would have been quite productive. But using other key words in my list does nothing on this case. And you don't just type in Bob Dick and Harry and hope to get a hit.

So who is Sam?  Well, according to several different enlistment documents and many sites, he was born in one of several places.He also enjoyed two different birthdays to boot.

But then these two issues were immediately sorted out by Melanie, a fellow member and friend at the Victoria Genealogy Society. When she sets her sites on a search, lookout, and get ready to take notes... lots of them.

Within very short order she got the proof I failed to find to prove that Sam was not born in the United States despite repeated claims over many years that he was. And in all of these normal resources, his birth was simply limited to the year 1834. Then I found one buried in about 50 pages of files that he claimed  birth on July 21st.

In several places of the net you can find lists of Canadian Medal of Honor men. I have yet to find one that is accurate. Most miss quite a few. Many include misinformation in the listing of individuals. Some who ought not to be on the list unless some justification is given. And this week Sam was entered into my list of over 100, double what it was when I started this project over 15 years ago.

But back to Sam... here is one of many...many pages of info Melanie tracked down for me... and you.


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While baptized in December of 1834, the above document from the church clearly shows Sam was born on 23 July, not the 21st as he disclosed in a document in his pension application files many years later. Note also that he was born at  Rawdon. This is a small municipality of about 10,000 and some 60 km north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Yet Sam declared on numerous enlistment docs, pension docs and elsewhere that he was born in the United States at or near the Buffalo area of New York.

During Civil War days it was illegal for a non American to enlist. While he joined before the war started, it may have been illegal even then,  and thus he probably faked the papers to get in.

Sam's parents came over from Ireland as a couple, but had not married back home possibly because of family complications. Soon a family started to grow and the couple took their vows and had yet more children in Quebec. There were at least 6 kids, Sam being the youngest of the boys. They lived on a farm that boasted over 100 acres in 1831, with about 20 under cultivation with oats, rye, and of course potatoes and a few farm animals. They were about a mile away from a school. Sam's father married a 2nd time  in the early 1840's and soon 2 more children joined the den. 

As the kids got older they moved along, some went into the state of New York, others in and around Montreal were Sam was living in the early 1850's.

By 1856 Sam had grown sea legs that would see him serve at least five separate enlistments with the United States Navy, with some minor broken  service a few times, but the enlistments spreading across some 27 years. And if that was not enough, he'd then find another job for a decade at the water's edge after his sailing days were over.

It appears that in the mid 1850's Sam 's navy job was in the supply trade. Some say he was at it as early as 1856, others say 1858. More work is needed on this. But one of the vessels mention was a supply ship with a name, if you can imagine this... "USS Supply."  How creative!

There is some interesting writings found on the net about it being involved in the middle east and in the transport of camels.

The Secretary of War of the day was a fellow named Jeff Davis who you might recall played a lead role in the Civil War a few years later. His commander on the ship was a fellow named Dave Dixon, David D of course, one of the famous Admirals of the 1860's, but a lonely Lieutenant in the late 1850's.

Davis was interested in seeing if camels had a role to play with the military and so he sent the ship off to the Mediterranean to bring a handful home and use on lands gained after the Mexican-American war came to an end.  Porter made two such ventures and Sam may well have been involved in this venture.

He was probably still on-board when the USS Supply was sent off to Paraguay on a diplomatic mission to settle some differences the US had with that country.
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Here you see the USS Supply at New York after the end of the Civil War.

It is interesting to note that while Sam is believed to have served on the Paraguay mission, another Quebecor also did so. It could have been about 6 or 7 years later though. His name was Martin Thomas McMahon and he came from a place about 75 km away from Rawdon to boot. McMahon served there as the Minister of State for the entire United States. Parts of his story have appeared often in these blogs.

Sam's camel riding days soon came to an end and his humanitarian ones where about to begin.

But more on this on Sunday!
Bart

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Taking time this week on both sides of the 49th parallel to  remember those still in uniform and those of days long since past.

4/6/2016

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In a few days the media will be full of stories about the heroism of tens of thousands at Vimy Ridge. The 9th marks the 100th anniversary. It was the day that many would later claim was the very day Canada came of age as a nation. The stories of many Victoria Cross men on that day and throughout the Great War have appeared before here in the past. More will come, as it should be.

South of the border men and women who have served, and in many cases gave their lives, is often noted in the press.
Today is one of those days. More will no doubt follow tomorrow.

It started with the roar of a few very loud engines. In fact more than a few. The powerful choppers of the Patriots Guard Riders would lead the line. Others would followed. Not just a few.

Early reports anticipated well over 550 emergency vehicles representing 14  different fire departments and over 20 different law enforcement agencies. No doubt other dignitaries tagged along. The parade would stretch upwards of EIGHT MILES... and would travel about 100 km north from Dallas area of Texas and would not shut down till they were in the center of no doubt a very large crowd at a city of some 16,000 called Gainesville.

On its founding back in 1850 the donated land was just a handful of acres donated and to be called "Liberty."  It took for awhile, but then they learned that  that name was already in use for another place about 300 miles away.

They should have Googled it!

It would be a dozen years later when folks were really thinking about liberties... the Civil War was about to break open.

And in that war we all know that the Medal of Honor came to life. And the folks at Liberty... ooops... Gainesville have recently not only I guess remember earlier days..but also the terrible cost that five year span of America paid.

It was these costs, the creation of the medal and the 100 mile parade were all this comes together.

The parade was for 19 Medal of Honor men who came to the city in days past. A city like most,  but with a difference. A city that proudly boasts to be the only one of its kind in the country. A city that hosts the Medal of Honor Program, a series of private and public get-to-gethers for MOH men to meet, and also greet the public in a variety of forums.

While not at all honouring wars, it and the men being escorted and entertained at Gainesville have a powerful message to the youth about the role of all citizens to live moral lives and to serve your community and state and country and the world... with honour.

Thousands of handshakes will be exchanged while these heroes are in Texas. And with just about every one of them, the recipient will tell his new friend that the blue ribbon he wears around his neck does not belong to him, but to his comrades who gave their all, and could not come home to carry the same message, and live long productive lives with family and friends.

As many pictures will be taken shaking the hands of a true hero, and memories will be instantly created that will last a life time. I still recall with considerable pride meeting almost 4 dozen of these heroes at Gettysburg in 2013.

In fact, in shaking the hands of one recipient I was then told that I just shook the hand of Abraham Lincoln. Google this site to get that story.

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Gainesville has created a Medal of Honor Park, shown at left with the city water tower at right.
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The park was opened a few years ago with the center piece being  a granite monument topped by a bronze eagle. Clutched in its talons are the ribbons supporting the latest version of the army (at left) the navy, marines and coast guard, (at center) and the air force Medals of Honor. Downtown streets continue to show the city's patriotism  with street banners like the one shown here.

More on Friday in a special edition to make up for the lateness of today's blog.

Bart

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    Author;
    Bart Armstrong, C.D.,
    Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers 

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