Yesterday I introduced you to the National Archives and information I was finding on the Medal of Honor recipients being researched. This is the 2nd of an expected 3 on topic. And the third will bring some you two major discoveries buried within these files. Any serious followers of my work will not want to miss that blog.

First, with some humor, we can see that in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts you are apparently allowed to marry quite young. The document is from the pension file of John Harties Brown, a Canadian from possibly New Brunswick,  who earned a Medal of Honor at the Battle of Franklin in 1864. This document notes that about 50 years earlier John and Elizabeth were married. He was 22 at the time. She apparently was a little younger. The above says she was only 2 years old. Hmmmm!

On the right we see that Ovila Cayer from Quebec also had a sense of adventure... or perhaps humor. This document tells us that the MOH recipient, for actions at the Weldon Railroad also in 1864, was applying later in life for a pension. When asked if he was married he clearly stated that he ... "never was married & dont wants." To further this philosophy of life, he responded to the number of children he had with the note that he had... "no children living that I know of."    

In past blogs I have commented on the use of fake names when signing up for service. There are many, many stories of soldiers and sailors who signed up under one name, got a bounty, did a little service then absconded only to later return, collect another bounty and serve again under a different name. Some signed up when under age and did not want family to find them. Others did not want their wife or girlfriend finding them. Some did not even know their real names at birth as they had run away so long before the war came along and had always just used a nickname, like Frenchie in one Canadian MOH's case. Far fewer signed up to serve impersonating men and adopted phoney names, as noted in past blogs. 

On the left is a document from the files of Michael Charles Asten of Halifax Nova Scotia. He earned his MOH  in the navy in a battle along the Red River, yet again in 1864. The above document, written by his widow years after he died, discloses that he hated his first given name and thought the men would tease him if he used it. So he used his second name. Which became a problem when the widow tried to collect a pension years later.

On the right is a document out of the files of Stephen O'Neill (aka O'Neil) who was awarded for his bravery with the medal after action at Chancellorsville in 1863. His file evidences his being born in Quebec, though most sources state New Brunswick.  The above shows that, for yet to be discovered reasons, he also used the name Robert Neely.

Over the years the War Department or others obviously kept records, sparse as some were, of Medal of Honor recipients. As the amount of information was gathered, someone would decide from all the records available, who got a medal, for what and when. This would be listed in books like the one above and updated I assume periodically. 

The centre upper picture shows me searching for a few names in this book. One of these was Nova Scotia born Joseph Noil who served on the USS Powhattan and earned his medal, I believe the first to be awarded after the Civil War came to an end. His award was dated in December of 1872.

A curious entry is that of sailor Noon, who is listed above the Noil's entry.  It is claimed that there is a "GAP"  in the records and so there is no apparent evidence why he was awarded a MOH, but awarded he was, in 1873. Strange that it is listed in a book that had to be compiled in or after 1924. Strange because the medal was rescinded apparently in the illegal fiasco known as the Purge of 1916-17.  Illegal for reasons explained in past blogs.

If the medal was purged, presumably because of the gap and no evidence that the individual's activities met the new medal requirements that were forced to be retroactive for half a century, why is it listed with no supporting evidence of its legitimacy ????? Are all of the close to  900 purged, also listed???  Something to check on another visit. It would have already been done but the government shutdown prevented further access while I was in the DC area. 

Was I getting to close?  hehe

Here I am searching through the actual original Muster Rolls of the USS Agawam for part of the Civil War years. This massive log was many pages long and measured 19 inches by 24. It was carried on the ship 150 years ago and to have an opportunity to see the original was fantastic. Many no longer exist because they went down with the ships lost in war.

A volunteer assistant at the archives actually took the picture for me. He then gave me a lecture about having a pen in hand... a major no-no at the center. I just took it out of my pocket to pose with...and got caught. hehe..  You are only allowed to use pencils...that get dull very fast needing constant walks to other counters to get sharpened again. Lucky they had electric sharpeners.

Here's some irony. On return home I was contacted by an archivist doing some research for a display for next year on the veterans in a portion of Delaware. (More in a future blog.) He loved some writings of mine he had discovered on Leonard Chadwick, of which many of you have read in past blogs. And he sent me a great tidbit I did not then know and could have shared with archive staff while in DC. Back in 1907 Chadwick, a MOH recipient from cable cutting days in the Spanish American War, actually invented the electric pencil sharpener and held patents to prove it.  A few years later he even got another patent for improving it.

Across the top of each page are a series of headings and below each would be an entry of the sailor joining the ship.

Here are those headings and the entries for Newfoundland born John Neil who earned his Medal of Honor at Fort Fisher in December of 1864.

Neil is listed third down, but is most difficult to read. Basically it lists the fellow's name, the rank enlisted with, how long he signed up for, where he was born, and lived, a physical description and any appropriate additional remarks.

Under the heading of birth place it lists... "New-Found-Land" and under comments, though not noted above...much higher on the page it says he was enlisted from the army, and had arrived, like 13 others on that page, with no paperwork whatsoever. In the COMMENTS column there is an entry made later on mentioning that he came from a ship called the "Mary Mears."

While not known till I went to DC, these and other files show that Neil served in the army briefly before joining the navy and served on several ships, the last being the Mary Mears, before being assigned to the Agawam.

Much more on Friday and some most interesting disclosures.

Bart

Like so many buildings in downtown Washington DC, the archives, take up a whole block.. a big block. Just try entering from the wrong side and being redirected, as I was.

Here, like a few other places across the US, the very documentary history is stored. Here you will find original documents with original signatures. You will find major discoveries and some minor ones. You will read of horrors and humor. But most of all, if, after hours or research, you find what you are looking for you will come away with life time memories. And probably a desire to return.

The little black box at the bottom of the centre photo is actually the entrance for researchers. From there you will go through security, be processed for an identity card, which includes a brief explanation of the rules to be followed, and then given a pass for the day's entry. At the right you can see the research room where you will examine the files requested. It is a secure room with ARMED guards and others constantly patrolling to keep an eye on you and if you are following quite a few rules re the handling of these precious documents.

The archives provide many means of searching for documents. Many take lots of time. Then you complete a form with the appropriate details and submit it for staff to go off and "pull" the file sought. They only do "pulls" at a few specific times of the day. The document then is made available about an hour later. You can only have so many documents at a time, perhaps only one depending on its type. All this is done on the first floor. You then go to the research room shown above, and  on the second floor, to review your goodies.

And in these files  I found lots of goodies... information least expected and greatly adding to the stories of the Medal of Honor  recipients and others that I am researching.

Here is one of those gems. This is part of a document I found in the files of Lt. Edward Doherty, whom I hope you have read about in past blogs. He was the Toronto born Officer that was in charge of the cavalry troop that was sent off to capture John Wilkes Booth. The men caught him but a soldier shot him without authority. Booth later died in Doherty's arms.

This document is part of several in a file showing the incredible grief that his widow had in finally securing a pension from the US Pension authorities after Lt. Doherty died. That file had lots of surprises, and I will bring some of them to you on another day.

Today's gem lies in the fact that the author of the above document was a doctor who was in Ford's theatre the night that President Lincoln was shot. He stayed at his side providing aid till the President died. This document shows him now trying to aid Doherty's widow in securing the pension.

Still with the Doherty file, the top image is from a document that was sent to the authorities about how Doherty seemed to obtain a full year's salary when he retired, as did a handful of others. The author seemed upset about this and was trying to make his views known. He was known for doing this. Note his signature... an original at that. It is of course that of  John  Edgar Hoover, the founder and Director of the FBI for almost 40 years.

Another find of original signatures of famous Americans is also pictured above. This lower document comes from the pension files of Quebec born Stephen O'Neill who earned a Medal of Honor at Chancellorsville in 1863. In January of 1870 the Secretary of War ordered that he be promoted to the rank of an Ordinance Sergeant. This document is the bottom half of a most elaborate certificate noting the promotion and is signed, with original signatures, of  General Sherman at lower right and Edward Townsend at Lower left.

William Tecumseh Sherman was the Commanding General of the US Army at the time. Townsend was the United States Adjutant General at the time. Hopefully you have read in past blogs about the MAJOR role that Townsend played in the very creation of the Medal of Honor back in the early 1860's.

Gideon Welles also played a MAJOR role in the creation of the Medal of Honor in the early 1860's. His actions are also documented in a very early blog on this site. As the Secretary to the Navy he would answer directly to the Secretary of War and then to the President. The image on the right has his original signature as well.

This letter is sent off to a fellow who was just awarded the Medal of Honor. It basically tells of the award being made, the reasons why and often quotes the law making the award possible. It then states that the medal is enclosed and asks the recipient on receipt to please confirm he got the medal. In  the earliest days it was normal for these medals to be mailed off to either the individual or to a commander. If the later case, then there was probably some sort of a presentation parade  with his fellow soldiers, sailors, marines etc witnessing the presentation. But often not so. As above. This changed of course many years later.

While difficult to read, the date on the right document is April 28 1865.

The document of the left, was mailed to John Neil from Newfoundland telling of his being awarded the same medal. It is dated the same day as the one of the right and is the exactly same letter, with exception that one is typed and one is in original handwriting. This suggests that the handwritten may have been sent to all recipients with the typed copy kept for military files. 

The image of the left is wonderful history. It is a letter form the Secretary of the Navy asking the US Mint at Philadelphia to design the medal and suggesting some features the Secretary would like to see.

The letter on the right is directing the firm that is making the inscriptions... the William Wilson and Son firm of Philadelphia to inscribe medals for several recipients including Newfoundlander John Neil and William Garvin (from somewhere yet to be determined in Canada.)  These 11 men were all involved in the attacks at Fort Fisher in 1864.

The Wilson company were silversmiths of very long standing in Pa and continued to be in business for many years after the Civil War.  

Past images in this space have shown you Medals of Honor in their original presentation boxes with a lovely crest of the Wilson company on the inside lid of these boxes.  Note also that in both above letters, the Secretary does not call the medal the CONGRESSIONAL Medal of Honor... just the Medal of Honor, a message this blog has brought the reader on several occasions. 

There is much more to come, some of it tomorrow.

Bart

Please stay tuned. I think you will be glad you waited till Tuesday for the first of a two parter and a follow up blog to come on Wednesday!

While roaming through many acres of grave markers over a several day span I could not help but notice many important graves, some of which are the last resting place of men and one woman whom I have mentioned in past blogs. So I would like to show some of theses before I move on to talk about the National Archives, its challenges, successes... and failures starting with the next blog.

The name Selfridge has been recorded in history for at least two if not three US Rear Admirals. There was also a Captain and a Lt. that also left their names in the history books. Rear Admiral Thomas O Selfridge Snr of the US Navy had a son of the same name and rank. This son, as a junior officer, served on the USS Cumberland and almost drowned when it was blown out of the water in the Civil War by the Confederate ship... CSS Merrimack. You have hopefully read about that event and the more famous Monitor and Merrimack battle of the next day in past blogs. This same man was also serving on board the USS Kearsarge when it tackled and sank the dreaded CSS Alabama towards the end of the Civil War.

This Rear Admiral had a brother who fought in the Spanish American War, by the name of Edward Augustus Selfridge. Edward had a son Thomas Etholen Selfrige, who was the very T.E. that worked with Bell at Baddeck Nova Scotia and died in a plane crash piloted by Orville Wright within several hundred feet of the Arlington cemetery.

On the left and above is the marker that Captain Selfridge raised for his son T.E. The center crest, enlarged, notes that he died in an... "aerodrome accident." Today we call them planes. The plaque makes no mention of the fact that the accident was the first such accident recorded in US History.

On the far right is the grave marker for Abner Doubleday, a veteran of several wars and many of the major battles of the Civil War including at Gettysburg. At the beginning of the war he held the rank of captain and was the second in command at Sumter and sited the first cannon to respond from the union side in that battle,  the very one that began the CW. By the war's end he was a Major General and has also gone down in history, incorrectly, as the founder of baseball.

Edward Doherty was a Lieutenant in the Cavalry and stationed at Washington DC on the day that Abraham Lincoln was shot. Within short order he was detailed to report to the government offices were he was directed to take along a few detectives and some of his men and set off to capture John Wilkes Booth. When he caught Booth and surrounded the barn, it was set afire. One of his men, without authority, shot Booth with claims that it appeared Booth was about to shoot Doherty. Booth exited the barn and fell into Doherty's arms where he soon died. Doherty was a Canadian and born at Toronto Ontario. His marker is at left.

Daniel Sickles was a politician then Civil War General then diplomat with a very colourful and less than stellar career. Pre was days he was caught escorting a prostitute into a state capitol building, and running off to England with the same woman while his pregnant wife was left to fend for herself back home. He introduced her to Queen Victoria but with a slight change of names. He had her impersonate the wife of one of his political foes. Still later he would be charged with murder. He shot a fellow near the White House when he detected the man was having an affairs with his wife. (What goes around comes around, hehe.) The victim was the son of Francis Scott  Key, famed author of the lyrics we all know today for the Spar Spangled Banner. He got off with a plea... the first such use in US History, of temporary insanity. His lawyer would later become the Secretary of War in CW Days. A war in which Sickles raised at least 4 regiments, commanded one, ended up as  a Major General and caused considerable problems on the Gettysburg battlefield when he disobeyed orders of his superiors. His war came to an end when a canon ball blew off one of his legs. That's another story worthy of further reading. 

On the right is the marker from General George Mindil, whom has received some attention in past blogs. He was awarded two Medals of Honor though history continues to only credit him with one. His marker gives him no credit whatsoever for either award. 

Over the years I have seen several dozen graves of Medal of Honor recipients. This has to be the most creative. The third image is no doubt the exact image of the very medal awarded to Lt Col Rice, when a major and for actions in repelling Pickett's Charge on 3 July 1863. The bronze replica of the medal is 3 1'2 feet high and as you can see, is mounted on a very large rock. These mark the resting place of both the officer and his wife.

This monument is mounted in direct view of the Pentagon off in the distance. Here are buried the remains of almost 70 known, and five unknown victims, located behind the above images. The remaining 110 victims are at rest in various cemeteries across the United States. 

In January of 1986 seven brave astronauts lost their lives onboard the 10th mission of the Shuttle Challenger. The heroes were Francis R Scobee, Michael J Smith, Ellison S Onizuka,  Judith A Resnik, Ronald E McNar, Chirsta McCauliffe and Gregory B Jarvis. The commander is buried at Arlington and the memorial on the left is honour of all of these heroes, 6 of whom are buried elsewhere.

At the right is a memorial at Arlington for the men who were killed during the November 1979 hostage takeover of the US Embassy at Iran. A movie today, called Fargo, and with plenty of Hollywood flare, tells some of that dreadful story and the roll that Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor played in helping to produce fake passports, and a cover story to smuggle out 6 Americans through the Canadian network.

While visiting the Canadian Embassy a few weeks back, I was told that the very land that the building stands on, land worth millions in downtown DC and within only blocks of the US Capitol, was donated free to the Canadian government. This being a present for the heroism shown by Mr. Taylor and others to save those six lives.

Yet another 7 astronauts were lost, when their shuttle Columbia burst into flames as it tried to re-enter the earth's atmosphere in February of 2003.  It was the shuttle's 28th mission.  Rick Husband,  Mike Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, llan Ramon and Willie McCool all lost their lives in that disaster.

Virgil Grissom and Roger Chaffe were killed probably within seconds, on the Apollo  1 flight  of  January, 1967. They are also buried at Arlington and colleague Edward White, who also lost his life is buried elsewhere. 

Before leaving Arlington I also wanted to share these two markers with you.

While it is said that Jerry Cronan, a Canadian, from unknown parts, was the only Canadian serving with the southern Confederates buried at Arlington. This may not be accurate as there are many unknowns, and of course so are their home countries. That said, Cronan served with the 10th Louisiana Infantry and he joined over 400 others from that unit buried in this cemetery. He died after wounds received in 1864 at the battle of Spotsylvania. There were 8 other KNOWN Canadians in the unit and he is believed to be the only one from that unit that died in the war.

This being close to the end of Womens History Month in Canada I will remind readers to read some American history by scrolling backwards in this space for the blog done on Juliet Hopkins. She was the only woman who received a CONFEDERATE Medal of Honor for services in the Civil War. She is of course also buried at Arlington.

Enough on this grave subject... 

cheers,

Bart

On Monday I gave some ways to explore the cemetery by using one of the kiosk at the Welcome Center. This is of course designed to help you find an individual's grave. But it can be used for so much more... even from thousands of miles away in your own living-room. Today's blog introduces  some of these treats. 

As noted on Monday, the kiosk image of the cemetery is an air shot that allows you to zoom in or out. Zooming in allows you to enlarge the picture enough to see flags on the side of a building. It can give details so large that you can actually count how many graves in from an end you have to go to get to the grave sought.

Zoomed out allows you to see a much wider area of course. In the above picture, as in all in today's blog, the top of the page is North and the south is at bottom of page. In this picture, where you see the middle arrow pointing off to the right, or to the East, the image below the arrow is the downtown area of Washington DC. Over to the left of the page, and to the West is a yellow circle. Within that circle is of course the Arlington Cemetery.

If you were to draw an imaginary line about an inch outside of Arlington to the north, run that line southbound... on the left side of Arlington and then wrap it around the bottom..to about mid point.... you will have drawn out the basic boundaries of an army base next door to the cemetery. This base is called the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. 

Between the cemetery, which is actually located at Arlington Virginia, and the DC area runs the Potomac River.

When you go to the Cemetery website and go to the kiosk image, explore the picture. Put your cursur on the middle of the image and right click it. This will allow you to grab the picture and move it to the left or right, up or down. This will of course give you more real estate to look at.

I have enlarged the pictured slightly to let you have a look at a number of interesting spots and see where they are in relationship to each other. Instructions given by two different people said that after I drove across the Arlington Memorial Bridge I was to turn right.. according to one and left according to the other. Both were wrong... I was to keep going forward.

Hopefully you will recall my noting the frustration I had in actually finding the Cemetery and that I ended up at the Pentagon without realizing it at first. You can see from this map that major highways separate the two and getting off at the correct "off" ramp was critical.

Item number 9, given several times above shows the army base. It, the Selfridge (spelt wrong above) grave, and gate and the parade square are shown as they played an important role in history, and ought to be noted when looking at the over-all image above.

Thomas Selfridge is the very man who worked with Alexander Graham Bell in his air plane experiments at Badeck Nova Scotia, and then returned to the army base above to continue his work. He flew with Orville Wright and circled the parade ground... now called the Summerfall Field, and shown as #8 above, 4 times at a height of about 150 Feet. Then a piece of the propeller broke off, chipped off a piece of the back of the contraption and threw it into a dive into the earth at the parade ground. It was the first airplane accident on record in the United States. The accident totalled the plane, injured Orville, but not seriously, and killed Selfridge.

Selfridge's uncle... Thomas O. Selfridge, a later admiral, was a young officer, who served on the USS Cumberland in 1862 and almost lost his life when it was sunk by the Merrimack which went on to battle the Monitor in the world famous battle of the next day. For a brief period on that 2nd day, Selfridge was in command of the Monitor. Canadians were in both ships at the time and trying to kill each other. The first death for the Confederates in that battle was a fellow from New Brunswick. T.O. Selfridge later served on the Kearsarge in another famous battle a few years later in the CW and his enemy that day was the famous Alabama in another equally famous battle. And again in both, Canadians were fighting Canadians on each side, and yet again a Canadian died with the Confederates in that battle and today is at rest in a small grave on the waters edge at Cherbourg France. Selfridge also had a grandfather who held the rank of Rear Admiral.
 
Item Number 7 above is a gate named in honour of Selfridge and is not open to the public and guarded by security on both sides.

The United States Air Force has a very attractive memorial in the shape of a "Bomb Burst" image... three planes in the "One Man Missing" formation... mounted at item # 1 above. I will bring you images of this in the next blog. But look carefully at the end of the arrow and see its shadow.

The 9-11 memorial is in the block above and  numbered #2. I have brought you several images of this a past blog. If you enlarge the image of the Pentagon large enough from the Arlington site and study the roof. there are obvious signs that the roof has been repaired... and in the very spot where the disaster took place. Enlarge it and check it out. Most interesting!

The recent blockbuster movie Forest Gump, was loosely based on the some of the activities of still living Medal of Honor recipient Sammy Davis, a recipient from battles in Vietnam. If you remember the scene were Gump talking to the crowds gathered in front of him with the  large tower behind then, he was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial shown as # 2 above. The reflecting pool had some people in the water I believe in the movie. Number 4 above is mislabelled. It is actually the WW11 monument and #6 above is also incorrect... it points to the Washington Monument.  The Air Force monument is not in this image.

You can actually see in the image the few blocks that President Lincoln had to travelled from the White House to Ford's that dreaded night in 1865.

You can also see the streets I roamed travelling to and from the archives to the capitol,  Fords and other downtown interesting sites as well.  If you enlarge the image where the Canadian Embassy is shown, and do it enough times, you can actually make out the wonderful red from the several Canadian flags flying on the front of the building.

More on Friday.

Bart

Eight years ago Frank McKenna, the former Canadian Ambassador to the United States and former Rear Admiral Ian Mack of the Royal Canadain Navy conducted a ceremony at Arlington to honor the first nine men above mentioned.

The service was conducted on Canada Day in 2005 and several members of the military attaché at the embassy accompanied the above two dignitaries to help lay wreaths and show their respects that day. The event was performed at my request and after forwarding materials in support of the request to the embassy.

The embassy staff kindly forwarded several pictures to me of the service performed. At the left are seen members of the army, navy and air force with the Ambassador and Admiral about to present the wreath at the first grave. It is for Henry Peter Russell who earned his medal for actions at Cieufuegos Cuba on 11 May 1898 during the Cable Cutting incident in Spanish American War. His grave is pictured in all three images above. Early blogs brought you this story.

The grave marker of the left is for General Martin McMahon who was awarded his MOH for his bravery at White Oak Swamp back in 1862. Next is the marker for General John C Gilmore, awarded the MOH for actions in 1863 at Salem Heights Va. The third, difficult to read, is the marker for Cpl. Alexander Scott who was awarded his MOH for July 1864 actions at Monocacy Md. And at the right is John Harties Brown who's medal came for bravery at Franklyn Tn in November of 1864.

Regular readers know that all of the men I am researching were not Canadian born. Several had connections to Canada that, in many cases  have been explained in past blogs covering each hero. Some have yet to be told in this space. However, of these non-Canadians, seven are buried at Arlington and below are images  of their markers.

General Orlando B Wilcox was a well known CW soldier who earned his MOH for actions at the First Battle of Bull Run in July of 1861. Admiral Hobson, as a very young Naval Constructor earned a MOH, not presented till quite a few years later, for his heroism during the sinking of the Merrimac during the Spanish American War. Rules then did not allow a naval officer to be so awarded but these were changed later on. Third above, is that of Colonel Gaujot who's MOH came for bravery in 1911 in Mexico. His brother also was awarded a MOH. He and two other sets of brothers earning the medal all had Canadian connections. There were only about a dozen such sets of brother recipients throughout the entire history of the medal. (Miller, above and  from Nova Scotia, being have of one of these sets.) And at the right Robert Guy Robinson earned his medal for incredible bravery while flying a bomber over Belgium in 1918.

Floyd Bennett  and Adolphus Greeley were both awarded the Medal of Honor for their work exploring the North Pole, in 1926, and 1935 respectively.  And John C Morgan's MOH was awarded for action in bomb runs over Germany in  1943. His actions formed the character in the well known 1949 war movie... Twelve O' Clock High.

More on Wednesday.

Bart

For some strange reason the above images did not appear in my last blog.

On the left is a wonderful picture of Clara Barton, whom you learned in the last blog, was  the founder of the Red Cross in the US and had in earlier years nursed the wounded on the battlefields of the Civil War. She also started an organization that helped to identify the graves of over 20,000 of the 65,000 plus, missing from that war.

Last blog images of the Ford Theater should have included the centre picture of the very pistol that took the life of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Today it is found on display at the theater. It is a single shot flint lock gun that was made by the Philadelphia gunsmith Henry Derringer, and this the name of the weapon. It was only about 6" long and weighed 8 ounces and could easily be concealed in the hand.

After John Wilkes Booth assassinated the president, he jumped over the balcony and made his escape out a back door of the building. A horse was standing by to spirit him off into history. He raced it along the very alley behind the theater that I am standing in at the top right.  He was later captured by Toronto born Lt. Edward Doherty and others, was shot without authority by one of Doherty's men and actually died in Doherty's arms. This cavalry officer is buried at Arlington and I was stunned by some most interesting details in his Archives file which will be  shared in a future blog.

On another topic...  

Back on 21 August  I shared with you some information about a petition that has been started by Myrna Forster, a Victoria BC  researcher, editor, writer,   author and sought after public speaker. She recently authored... 100 Canadian Heroines, and then followed up with... 100 More Canadian Heroines. I'd bet there is a third book in the works.

Myrna is very involved in researching and preserving the history of Canadian women and has started a petition, as noted on the left, to see more women being depicted  on our Canadian dollar bills.

She has already collected some powerful followers and over 8,000 signatures.

This is a very worthwhile cause, and I congratulate Myrna on her advocacy for this and helping to set the record right on the incredible part that these women have played in Canada's history, a history mostly ignored for decades, if not centuries.

Since this is Women's History Month in Canada, this would be a wonderful time to contact men and women you know and ask them to also lend their support by signing this petition.  It can be found at...
https://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/bank-of-canada-add-women-from-canadian-history-to-canadian-bank-notes?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=37959&alert_id=AplSPUYjmO_nkfIzOJYif

This is a subject of much interest to me. If you have read my bio on this site you will see that my mother was the Honorary Patron of the very committee of three women who themselves fought for change in Canada. Their year long effort, if not longer, resulted in the Government of Canada proclaiming October to be Women's History Month in Canada back in 1992. Though a careful read of the  press this month seems to forget that these three women also should be remembered for their efforts. Their names are (the late) Cathryne Armstrong CM, Lynne Gough and Cathy Blazkow.

Good luck finding their names in the press!

Changing subjects again with some more housekeeping, Some of you who have been kind enough to send along your comments about the stories I am bringing you in these blogs, may have seen the above at the COMMENTS page.

This is new.

It has come about as a result of unscrupulous loans companies that have had to resort to stealing advertising space to flog their internet loan services.

Over the last month several have decided that my site was ripe for their exploitation. They would send comments to the site using the form provided. Their comments of course had nothing whatsoever to do with the focus of the site. The comments posted were motivation quotes, and of course each contained the name of the company flogging its loans. Soon several with different names, but the same motivation quotes started to follow suit. No doubt all are owned by the same business that chooses such unethical tactics to get its name... or numerous names... out.

I have therefore set up the above filter on my site that allows me to scrap their crap before it gets posted.

Be assured I am not trying to edit bonafide comments and wanted to explain this to those who have seen this new notice.

For the culprits involved, continued attempts will result in your business names being given wide circulation along with notification of the tactics you use.

Cheers, BA

And now to Arlington we shall go...

Arlington National Cemetery is probably the most famous cemetery in the United States. It is here that President's Kennedy and Taft and family members are buried as are the Tombs of the Unknown from several wars. There are many very well known people buried here from Audie Murphy to generals and admirals and private soldiers sailors and airmen, marines and coast guards to boot.  If you have travelled to the moon or the north or south pole, chances are you are here. 

The property is over 1,000 acres in size though possibly about 700 have ben used so far as burial grounds... with more arriving every day except Sundays. An average of about 25  are laid to rest daily and yesterday there were 39 burials to be added to about 300,00 to date. The above lower photo shows yet another soon to be laid to rest after an horse drawn escort moves the remains to their designated resting place. There are at least 15, if not more Canadians  buried here. Many are Medal of Honor recipients, and it was in honour to these men that I visited the cemetery several times whilst in the DC area. It is actually located just outside of DC and technically in Arlington County Virginia.  

The welcoming centre is the place to visit on first arrival where a few rules of common sense are explained to you and then you can either try on your own, not recommended, or ask for assistance in locating the grave your are interested in.  Within the center pictured above, are several kiosks that will help you locate the grave searched for.

The real estate once belonged to George Washington Parke Curtis, a grandson of Martha Washington. His daughter married a young an upcoming US officer by the name of Robert E Lee. Their mansion was built on the land now housing the cemetery. In 1864 the very first burial took place. It was a young soldier by the name of William Christman, who's marker is shown above. He did not see battle in the Civil War, thought he signed up for that very reason. He died shortly after enlistment from disease. The same fate that met more soldiers than any action from the enemy. His $300 bounty for enlisting was used by his parents to buy some land to start a farm in Pennsylvania. 

The cemetery is located within the yellow circle at the left. You can see the Potomac River separating DC from Virginia. As noted in past blogs,  and it was this very river that Lincoln and his cabinet kept staring at in 1862. They were all fearful that the Merrimack, after its destruction  of so much on the Union navy, would soon come sailing along this river in an attack against the White House and capitol buildings. (History found Canadians fighting on shore and in the vessels... for BOTH SIDES that day.) 

The area of the cemetery is monstrous and takes considerable time to wander about in... and thus the need for considerable direction before heading of on what might, and in my case often was, fruitless for several reasons.

This image is taken from one of the kiosks at the cemetery. It is the tool used to find the graves. You can see the massive grounds on the right. Using the tool on the left, the first step is to click on the upper left link to search burials.

After clicking as above noted, the first of 4 images above appear. Clicking on the USING KNOWN INFO button opens up the 2nd image. Here you can fill in as much info as you have. A spelling mistake will not get you the file you need...unless that misspelling is what the system was fed to begin with. It happens. Some MOH fellows used phony names, and thus that is what you search for.  As you can see from image three, I entered John Grady, a Canadian Medal of Honor recipient and did not add any more info. The 4th image opened up and, since I knew his birthdate, I clicked on the first option presented.

And we have a hit. The image on the left gives DOB and Death, internment date, section of grave and grave number. It also gives a picture of the grave. To get a better image...click on DETAILS and you get the two images on the right. Note also the neat function of printing. Hit the download button and it spits out a picture...FOR FREE. You can now carry this with you so as to have a great idea what you are looking for when you get out into the cemetery. Believe me, after awhile they all look alike. Having the picture is a great aid.

When finished with this page, you click on the DIRECTONS box on the left image and this is what you get...

On the left is a description on how to walk to the grave, the distance and expected time needed to get there. On the right is a map showing you the route from the Welcome Center to the grave.

The above photo on the right also has an option to enlarge the picture. You can keep enlarging till you actually see the marker. This is a great tool because it allows you to make notes of very large markers and obstacles, such as trees, that can serve as guides to the actual marker you are looking for.

And with some luck you might end up with this shot as a keepsake. But be warned.

You have to bring your own flag!

In the next blog I will bring you some of the MOH marker pictures I took and some other very interesting ones I discovered along the way.

In the mean time you can go to the Arlington site on your own from home and do these same searches. Pick a name and feed it into the kiosk and see what comes out.  

Type in John Kennedy or Audie Murphy or Glenn Miller or Lee Marvin and enjoy. The URL is  at... http://public.mapper.army.mil/ANC/ANCWeb/PublicWMV/ancWeb.html

Back on Monday,

Bart

A past blog noted that while in DC to do Medal of Honor research at the Archives and at Arlington, I travelled daily from the hotel I was staying at in Bethesda to downtown DC. From there it was just a handful of blocks away that I
treaded daily to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) building. 

On several of these trips I kept bumping into more fascinating US history. One of these was the Clara Barton
Museum. I walked past it several times before noticing it and then wandered in one morning. It was under construction but there was a lady at a front reception area, and while we both only had a  few minutes she gave me a very quick run down on Clara and her activities of which I was somewhat familiar.

From about 1900 to 1997 the building in the centre above sat idle and was about to be demolished when a curious workman decided to explore the upper floors. On the third he discovered evidence... a find of a lifetime. The building third floor office was none other than that of famed Clara Barton, internationally known as the very woman who brought the Red Cross to the United States.

Clara's  destiny began as a teen when she spent two years  learning about medicine the hard way... while applying it to very sick siblings... who survived. Then came  the start of the Civil War. When a regiment marched into town they were attacked and many were left horribly mangled. She took supplies from her home out to treat the men. It would become part of her calling throughout the war. By war's end she had expanded her volunteer work to helping to locate missing soldiers. After she took her idea to President Lincoln, and received his blessings... but no pay to begin with, she turned her offices on the third floor of this very building into what she called... The Office of Correspondence with Friends of the Missing Men of the United States Army.

From here she would marry up incoming info with that already gathered and broken down by state. Soon Clara would be visited by  a fellow who had survived the horrors of Andersonville and escaped with a smuggled out list of about 13,000 soldiers who were buried at the that horrid camp. She and this soldier would get financing and take 42 headstone carvers back to Andersonville and using the list and locating the graves they would then mark them accordingly. She would  later be  credited with finding graves of over 22,000 of the 67,000 that remained missing at war's end. In some cases her office would even reunite the soldiers with their families. Illness caused her to shut down the office in the late 1860's and travel to Europe where she met others involved in the Red Cross and would ultimately start a Red Cross, the first...  in North America... More on Clara will follow in a future blog.

What a story of Women's History Month in Canada !

On another day I decided to take another route to the archives and stumbled onto a very early morning line up as shown above. I wondered what it was till I read the sign...Ford Theatre. So I crossed the road and started to talk to some in the line and learned that this was the very spot were President Abraham  Lincoln was shot on 4 May 1865. He died the next morning.

I asked about tickets and costs and was told to check it out inside. Entering, I soon learned that whilst the very spot were the President was shot, had been rebuilt and is indeed open to the public, it was currently being set up for some sort of a performance that night, and was, obviously now a working theatre yet again, after being shut down for a time in the 1860's after the shooting.

I decided  to come back in a few days to take the tour but the government heard I was in town and decided to shut down and thus I never did get back to see the actual theatre itself. The centre image shows the theatre, the tall building in the centre, as it was in the 1860's and the third image shows it as it stands today.

On sill another day I was trying to follow my GPS and it was trying to give me wrong information. I was attempting to drive to the national Cemetery at Arlington. But the GPS decided it would take me along a road the travelled under a freeway through a rather unpleasant area and ended quite literal at a dead end. I had heard of the GPS doing this before but it was a first for me. Asking three different people I eventually found myself close... but not quite there. I ended  up in a very large parking lot and fit to scream. But seeing several policemen a few hundred feet off, I decide to ask them how to get to the grave yard.

While getting directions I noticed their shoulder flashes. It said something about being pentagon police.  I was right across the road from it, and it was such an incredible large building all I could see was one side and did not know that I was at the darn Pentagon... or at least across the road.

They responded to some off the cuff questions and then told me about the 911 memorial and off I went to see this incredible site.

But first... the pictures above.

I was clearly told that taking pictures of the building were not allowed. Those above are from the internet. The first shows the flight path that we are told was taken by American Airlines flight 77 at 9.37 am on September 11, 2001. The second shows the horrible disaster left after the explosion took place and the third shows a later image, during repair work. A careful study of the picture and many others on the net clearly show a BRIGHTER WHITE at the area later repaired.

One hundred and eighty four individuals lost their lives in this attack on the Pentagon on September 11th.  They ranged in age from three years old to 71. One hundred and twenty five of these victims were men and women who worked at the pentagon. The remaining 59 were passengers of the airline.

Some 20 million dollars were spent on the creation of this memorial. To the left you see US service personnel unveiling the memorial and a special unveiling event opened only that day to the families of the victims. To the far right there is a woman, possible a family member who sits in deep grief probably  at her loss, and sits at night when the memorials are illuminated. The entire memorial is open to the public at no charge, and remains open 24 hours a day 7 days a week all year round.

Each one of these memorials is actually arranged in a time line. There is a small ribbon of metal representing each year of birth that travels across the entire acre plus memorial. Each line travels along the very path of Flight 77. If you go to the head of the line you will see a date. This is the date of the year that the victims along that line were born in. Each individual memorial has a name on it of the victim and either faces towards the building or off in the other direction and looking into the sky. Those facing towards the building tell that the victim memorialized was working in the building that dreaded day. Those facing in the other direction, have you looking at the name plate of the victim and then up to the sky from which they drew their last breaths of life.

The very emotional memorial on the left with flowers is for the three year old child on the plane. Another was too moving to take a picture of. It had a little teddy bear on it. In the right image you can see memorials facing in both directions.

There are 85 trees clustered around the entire monument. They do not represent any one victim, but all. Each will grow to a height of 30 feet and will offer all below a cool shade.

The reverse of the memorial plaque at left, contains the names of the victims inscribed on its reverse, as shown in the center photo. At the right is a date marker showing that those along that date line were born just 21 years ago. 

On Friday we will visit Arlington, if my GPS is willing!

Bart

I too shall enjoy the day and will return on Wednesday with another blog.

Bart