|
News in Brief
Play portrays war’s African American contributions
African Americans contribution to the Civil War was celebrated April 4 at Fort Donelson (Tenn.) National Battlefield with a production of “Stories from the Dirt,” a play written by Dr. Nancy Dawson, Western Kentucky University (WKU) professor of African American Studies.
The play, which also featured WKU student performers, was based upon original documentation about U.S. Colored Troops and families recruited at Forts Donelson, Henry and Heiman during the Civil War.
Dr. Dawson’s Soldiers of Sankofa Theater Company shared stories of runaway slaves and their families at the forts. Broadway performer Charles Holt starred as Hiram Kendall, a body servant, and Dawson played Nancy McGee, an elderly ancestor who was a story narrator.
The project was funded by Fort Donelson’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program.
‘How about the turkey?’ – Ben Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was a major dissenter when the Bald Eagle was chosen as America’s national bird. Franklin’s choice was the turkey.
The Philadelphia statesman, scientist and inventor cited the turkey as a much more respectable bird and an original native of America. He described the turkey as a “bird of courage” who would not hesitate to attack “a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard.”
Franklin wrote that the eagle was of “bad moral character who steals from fishing – hawks,” is a rank coward in that smaller birds drive him away and is “by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest of America.”
‘Secret’ message found in Lincoln’s watch
President Abraham Lincoln’s gold pocket watch bore an inscription of which the 16th president was not aware.
The National Museum of American History was asked recently to open the watch and see a “secret” inscription inside.
Watchmaker Jonathan Dillon was repairing Lincoln’s watch when he heard that the first shots of the Civil War had been fired. Dillon unscrewed the dial of the watch and engraved, in part, the following message: “Fort Sumter was attacked by rebels….thank God we have a government.” He dated the message April 13, 1861.
Dillon told The New York Times 45 years later that, as far as he knew, no one had ever seen the inscription.
Movie star was Anderson’s great-grandson
Montgomery Clift
 |
File this under Kentucky Civil War trivia.
Motion picture actor Montgomery Clift was the great-grandson of Major Robert Anderson of Fort Sumer acclaim.
Anderson, a Louisville native, also had some additional notable credits. His mother, Sarah Marshall, was first cousin to Chief Justice John Marshall, and his brother, Charles Anderson, was governor of Ohio from 1865-66. Another brother, William Marshall Anderson, was a Western explorer and Ohio attorney.
Where William Clark and George Rogers Clark are concerned, Robert Anderson was their first cousin twice removed.
‘Paper Trail’ tells story of Civil War in Kentucky
For a detailed report on the Civil War in the Commonwealth, Google “The Paper Trail of the Civil War in Kentucky 1861-1865.”
Retired Army colonel Armando (Al) Alfaro, now deceased, pulled the information together as a 2002 publication. Now out of print, the book is a compilation of what happened in the Civil War in each of the 120 counties of Kentucky. Nearly every entry is referenced to the specific item from sources where it was obtained.
Col. Alfaro was a resident of Frankfort.
BORA programs draw great response
Approximately 600 students and another 100 Civil War enthusiasts attended a Battle of Richmond (BORA) Living History program and the dedication of a battlefield monument May 21-23.
The students, fourth- and fifth-graders from schools in Madison and surrounding counties, experienced what Civil War life was like at the eighth annual Living History program. Some 12 stations of activities and demonstrations were conducted on Thursday and Friday (May 21-22) at BORA’s Battlefield Park.
The dedication of a Texas monument followed on Saturday honoring members of the Texas dismounted cavalry who fought in the 1862 Battle of Richmond. The eight-foot monument lists the Texas unit involved in the Richmond conflict and their flanking maneuver that led to an overwhelming Confederate victory.
Hafendorfer to discuss ‘Battle of Muddy Creek’
Louisville physician and author Kenneth Hafendorfer will speak at the Madison County Civil War Roundtable on July 17 on the topic “Aug. 29,1862: The Battle of Muddy Creek, Ky.”
Others scheduled for the balance of the year are author Bracelen Flood, Sept. 18, “1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History,” and Madison County Historic Properties Director Phillip Seyfrit, Nov.20, “The Assassination of Major Gen. William (Bull) Nelson.”
The group meets at 6 p.m. Friday evening at the Dinner Bell Restaurant in Berea. For reservations, contact Phillip Seyfrit at 859/624-0013.
|
|
|
