Download February, 2006 - 116th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry

The Irish
Volunteer
Official newsletter for the
116th Pennsylvania,
4th California and
th
54 Massachusetts Infantry
February, 2006
Published by Mary L. Miller
February
Drill &
Meetings
Our next event will be
Saturday February 11,
2006: Company meeting,
potluck and drill.
Location: 1945 Matthews
Loop S, Salem.
•10 A.M.-Noon: Drillsoldiers please be prompt.
We will drill in the park 1
block away.
•10 A.M.-Noon: Civilian
meeting in the home.
•Noon-1:30: Potluck
•1:30-3:00: Board meeting
Please bring your filled out
membership forms and
safety tests with you. You
can get all the forms off
our
website
at
www.116pvi.org
Forms
will also be available at the
event.
Potluck- The meat and
soft drinks will
be
provided. Last names A-L
please bring a salad and/or
side dish. M-W please
bring
bread/rolls
and
dessert.
Directions:
From I-5 take Kuebler
Blvd exit #252 turn west
and proceed 3.8 miles.
Turn right on Croisan
Scenic, go 1 block and turn
right on Justice Way.
Proceed about 4 blocks on
Justice Way and it
becomes 18th Place. Go
about 3 more blocks and at
the traffic circle turn uphill
onto Matthews Loop. The
home is the last one on the
right at the top of the hill.
From Polk County over
the Salem bridge: Turn
South on Commercial,
proceed about 2+ miles
and take Liberty road at
the "Y" for about 2+. Turn
right on Cunningham just
before the Sunnyslope
shopping center. Proceed
almost to the end and turn
left on Century, one block
then left on Connector, one
block then right on
Matthews Loop, proceed
one block until street turns
left downhill. Home is on
your left.
www.116pvi.org
Event Change
There has been a change
in the official NCWC
calendar for this season.
The
Deschutes
River
Campaign
in
Tenino,
Washington, scheduled for
July 29-30, 2006, has been
cancelled. The NCWC
hopes to replace it with a
different WCWA event.
“The Same
Canteen”
by Private Miles O'Reilly
The following poem was
written by Charles G.
Halpine
under
the
pseudonym Private Miles
O’Reilly. Halpine was an
Irish
immigrant
who
served briefly as a
lieutenant in the 69th New
York
Infantry,
Irish
Brigade, before gaining a
staff position with General
David Hunter in South
Carolina. While there he
drafted orders authorizing
the raising of the Army's
first
black
regiment.
2
“The Same Canteen”
There are bonds of all sorts in this world of ours,
Fetters of friendship and ties of flowers,
And true lover's knots, I ween;
The girl and the boy are bound by a kiss,
But there's never a bond, old friend, like this,
We have drank from the same Canteen!
It was sometimes water, and sometimes milk,
And sometimes apple-jack "fine as silk;"
But whatever the tipple has been
We shared it together in bane or bliss,
And I warm to you, friend, when I think of this,
We drank from the same Canteen!
The rich and great sit down to dine,
They quaff to each other in sparkling wine,
From glasses of crystal and green;
But I guess in their golden potations they miss
The warmth of regard to be found in this,
We drank from the same Canteen!
We have shared our blankets and tents together,
And have marched and fought in all kinds of
weather,
And hungry and full we have been;
Had days of battle and days of rest,
But this memory I cling to and love the best,
We drank from the same Canteen!
For when wounded I lay on the center slope,
With my blood flowing fast and so little hope
Upon which my faint spirit could lean;
Oh! then I remember you crawled to my side,
And bleeding so fast it seemed both must have
died,
We drank from the same Canteen!
Source: Poetry and Music of the War Between the
States. “The Same Canteen”.
http://civilwarpoetry.org/union/soldierlife/canteen.html
and accompanying links.
www.116pvi.org
“The Mother of
the Army”
One of the most interesting
things for me to do in my Civil
War reenactment endeavor is to
find unknown heroes and
heroines during the war era and
to
present
their
Biblical
perspective. In the previous
newsletter, we mentioned some
unknown heroes and heroines in
“A
Tribute
to
Irish
Abolitionists." In recognition of
African-American history month
this February, let us acknowledge
another unknown heroine of the
Civil War: Sister Lydia Penny,
who was known as “the Mother
of the Army”.
As Civil War reenactors, most of
us are aware of the 54th
Massachusetts Colored Infantry
and their heroic charge at Fort
Wagner. However, the 54th was
not the only unit of African
descent involved in the Civil
War. There were between 166
and 167 African-American units
in the Union forces and they
fought in over four hundred
battles. Thirty-nine of those
battles were major escalations.
One particular unit was the 5th
United States Colored Troops
and their matron of honor, Sister
Lydia Penny. Sister Penny is
known
for her
considerate
actions for soldiers at the battle
of Deep Bottom, Virginia on July
27, 1864.
In a letter written on December
21, 1864, Quartermaster Sergeant
James H. Payne of the 27th U.S.
Colored Infantry near Richmond,
Virginia wrote, "civilians often
accompanied army regiments as
3
servants, wagon drivers, sutlers, or cooks." This was true in both white and black regiments.
Sergeant Payne tells of "Sister Lydia Penny," a nurse who traveled with the 5th United States
Colored Infantry. "Permit me the privilege, through your worthy columns, to give your readers a
brief historical introduction to our very worthy and eminent sister and mother in the army, Sister
Lydia Penny. Sister Penny was born a slave in Blount County, East Tennessee, in the year of our
Lord 1814. At the time of the Indian war, when General [Winfield] Scott and General Wood
drove the Indians from their habitations in Tennessee, Sister Penny served two years as a cook.
She was, at the time, only a girl; but she informed me that she subsequently became the mother
of a family of children whose companionship she had long been deprived of through Slavery,
and that she was left a widow to suffer the torments of cruel oppression." (Her children were sold
away from her, she never saw them again, and she lost her husband.)
"She was finally sold to a Dutch butcher in Memphis,
Tennessee. By this time she had learn to trust in God, who had
promised to deliver the oppressed and to open the prison doors to them
that are bound. She said that she had a falling-out with her Dutch
mistress about something, and that she gave her master and mistress
both to understand distinctly that she intended to run away from them,
which threat she carried into effect about one week after it was made,
by which time they thought that she had become contented to remain
with them. Sister Penny says that she kept herself concealed among
friends in Memphis until the Union army had extended its lines near the
city, when she made her way within its lines, and again engaged herself
as a cook. Here, she said, being a lonely widow, and having no one in particular to befriend or
protect her, prudence dictated the propriety of making selection of a companion, which she did,
as soon as she found one who she thought would treat her as a wife and act the part of a faithful
husband by her. While in the army she formed the acquaintance with Mr. Penny, a native of
Pennsylvania, who had enlisted as a servant in the three months’ service. They finally came to
the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, where Thomas Penny, her husband, re-enlisted in the service, and
joined the 5th United States Colored Troops, at Camp Delaware, Ohio. Sister Penny said that she
felt it to be her duty to go along with her husband, not merely on account of the love she had for
him, but also for the love which she had for her country-that the cause which nerved the soldiers
to pour out their life-blood was her cause, and that of her race, and that she felt it to be her
Christian duty to do all she could for the liberty of her afflicted and down-trodden race. This
good woman is called by those who are acquainted with her, ‘the Mother of the Army.’ She well
deserved the name, for she has been in the service ever since this rebellion broke out, or very
nearly as long. Sister Penny says that she is not tired of the service, nor does she think of leaving
the field until the last gun is fired and peace is declared, and every slave is freed from captivity.
Many of our officers and men who were wounded at the battle of Deep Bottom [July 27, 1864]
will never forget the kind deeds of Sister Lydia Penny, who went among them and administered
to their wants as they lay weltering in their blood on the banks of the James, near Jones’
Landing. There she could be seen, the only woman present, like an angel from above, giving
words of cheer, and doing all in her power to relieve the suffering of the wounded and dying.
Yes, while others stood aloof, thinking themselves too good even to go near enough to give them
a drink of water to quench their burning thirst, Sister Penny was seen, like a ministering angel, or
one of the holy women who in primitive days administered to Christ and His apostles. She gave
them water to drink and bread to eat, and assisted the surgeons in dressing the wounds. When the
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4
wounded were placed on the boats to be taken to hospitals at Fortress Monroe, she left her tent
and all behind and went on board the boats to minister to their comfort. When they were
delivered into the hands of careful nurses, Sister Penny returned to her tent, where she ever waits
to administer to the wants of the afflicted soldier. Her husband seems to be much a gentlemen. I
hope that all Christians who shall be permitted to read this short statement of Sister Penny’s life
and character will pray for her; and I can assure them; they will pray for a worthy woman."
Notice that Quartermaster Sergeant James H. Payne quoted from the Holy Scriptures of
the Bible in reference to the character of Lydia Penny. He likened her to one of the women who
ministered unto the Lord Jesus, which is in Luke 8:2,3. He mentioned her as an angel ministering
spirits which is in Hebrews 1:14, and he mentioned her as one of the holy women in old times,
which is in 1st Peter 3:5. The Scripture says in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, and today, and forever. And Malachi 3:6 says “For I am the Lord, I change not.”
Therefore, the same Lord Jesus Christ that Lydia Penny believed in is the same Lord Jesus Christ
that we can believe in and trust in even today. Consequently, the personal Scriptural linkage
between those living in Sister Penny's day and those living today is in 1st Thessalonians 4:16,17,
which says "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:
and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
What great words of comfort and promises to "individual believers living in Sister
Penny's day and individual believers living today in the Lord Jesus Christ." One may ask why
were those words so great to believers than and are great for believers today? Because no matter
wherever one is, whether one is dead or alive, when the Lord returns, immediately they will be
with him. Therefore, the dead in Christ, which were Sister Lydia Penny, and million upon
million of believers throughout history and of various ethnicity shall rise first. Then we who are
alive in the Lord today and remain shall be "caught up" together with them in the clouds. We as
believers today do not know when the Lord will return and it could happen at any time in such an
hour we think not, which means one could be withdrawing money out of an ATM machine but if
the Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could be at their job but if the Lord returns, one will
be caught up. One could be attending a wedding or baby shower but if the Lord returns, one will
be caught up. One could be taking their car in for a tune up or purchasing gasoline but if the Lord
returns, one will be caught up. One could be taking their clothes to the dry cleaner or a
laundromat, but if the Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could be driving home from work
after a hectic day but if the Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could be stuck in the middle
of a traffic jam but if the Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could be grocery shopping but
if the Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could have just put their bills to mail off in the
mail box but if the Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could be on an airliner flying to
France or Mexico for vacation but if the Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could be
looking at a house to potentially buy it but if the Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could
be going to a restaurant for breakfast, lunch or dinner but if the Lord returns, one will be caught
up. One could be picking up a friend at the train station or the Greyhound bus station but if the
Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could be attending their fifteen year high school reunion
but if the Lord returns, one will be caught up. One could be going to visit their in-laws but if the
Lord returns, one will be caught up. Even if one does things that we take for granted in our
normal life (washing our face or brushing our teeth) if the Lord returns, one will be caught up.
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5
One may wonder or say, you started
off with the testimony of Lydia Penny and
ended with talking about the Lord's return,
so what is the point to all this? The point is
ultimately that there is the perspective of
eternal life and the realm of eternity. We
are all limited to a specific space of time to
live and then we die. However, fortunately
for us, the Lord Jesus Christ is the
common denominator between Sister Penny,
a person who attended a camp meeting
service on the frontier in 1801, a slave who
never learned to read or write, a Union or
Confederate soldier, or a person living in our
contemporary times. The realm of eternity
for us is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Take care and many Blessing from your
Comrade in Christ,
Chaplain Daniel E. Hayes Jr.
116th Pennsylvania/54th Massachusetts
Source on Sister Lydia Penny: Redkey,
Edwin S. A Grand Army of Black Men.
Forty-Ninth Letter, 123-125.
Book Review: Team of
Rivals
By Ken Morris, 10th New York Cavalry
Pulitzer Prize winning author Doris Kearns
Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political
Genius of Abraham Lincoln is a must-read
for all Civil War reenactors. Goodwin
analyzes the character of Abraham Lincoln
through the eyes of his key cabinet
members: Treasury Secretary Salmon P.
Chase, Secretary of State William Henry
Seward, Attorney General Edward Bates,
and War Secretary Edwin M. Stanton.
Lincoln’s cabinet must go down as one of
the most unusual in history. Rather than
appointing sycophants and yes-men to his
cabinet, Lincoln persuaded his political
rivals to serve – men of every stripe from
radical Republican abolitionist to moderate
Democrat. Some of them had even run
against him for the 1860 Republican
nomination and had been bitterly
disappointed when this “second-rate country
lawyer” had snatched victory from them.
But Lincoln recognized that potential
enemies were safer if kept close to him
rather than at arm’s length. The members of
his cabinet needed to demonstrate a
commitment to preserving the Union, but
Lincoln was open to listening to their
divergent views on how this might best be
accomplished. Ultimately, Lincoln took a
careful middle ground.
Goodwin’s work is also extremely helpful in
understanding Lincoln’s views regarding the
abolition of slavery, which were far more
nuanced and complex than is commonly
appreciated. Gradually, Goodwin makes it
clear that while Lincoln personally abhorred
slavery (he once likened the Government
allowing slavery to spread to new states to a
parent knowingly preparing a bed of
poisonous serpents for her children to sleep
in) he understood that pushing for
emancipation too quickly would undermine
support for the war. Goodwin also makes it
clear that first and foremost Lincoln’s goal
was to restore the Union. He viewed the
United States as a great experiment, where
the question of whether or not a government
“by the people and for the people” could
exist, would be decided.
Although perfect freedom and equality for
all Americans was far from being a reality,
Lincoln believed that the framers of the
Constitution intended an inexorable
movement towards this goal. Initially, he
believed that slavery would die a natural
death as long as it was not allowed to grow
into new states. Strengthening the Union
would provide the fertile ground where new
freemen could benefit fully from the fruits
of their own labor. But over time it became
clear that the South would not relinquish
slavery of its own accord. Although Lincoln
clearly went to war to preserve the Union,
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6
he also knew quite well that, as he asserted
in his Second Inaugural Address, "All knew
that this interest [slavery] was, somehow,
the cause of the war."
I have in the past found it difficult to
reconcile the image of Lincoln as the “Great
Emancipator” with his seeming slowness to
abolish slavery. Goodwin ably guides us
through the logic, which, at the time, made
Lincoln’s gradual approach a necessity. And
when the hour to strike finally came,
Lincoln had prepared the ground of public
opinion, and public sentiment generally
sided with him.
Team of Rivals shows, through the eyes of
Lincoln’s contemporaries, both his superb
sense of political timing and his skill at
dealing with people. More so than any
member of his Cabinet, Lincoln lived by the
two Biblical precepts of treating others as he
would hope to be treated, and turning the
other cheek. Countless examples are brought
forth demonstrating Lincoln’s sympathetic
nature, and his ability to forgive those who
slighted him. He rarely spoke in anger, and
always apologized for his lapses. He was a
highly intelligent man, but if anything, his
“E.Q.” exceeded his I.Q. Managing the
group of highly opinionated men in his
cabinet required an emotional intelligence of
the highest order.
Team of Rivals brings not only the members
of Lincoln’s Cabinet to life, but also their
wives and families. The men of Lincoln’s
administration attracted educated, politically
astute women. Indeed, the constant array of
social events engineered by the women
forged and cemented political alliances.
William Seward’s abolitionist wife Frances
acted as the Secretary of
State’s conscience when he strayed too far
from the noble cause. Mary Lincoln comes
off as sympathetic character, tormented by
the ghosts of two dead sons, but putting on a
brave face to meet her duties. After the
death of her son Willie she spent countless
hours visiting soldiers in hospitals, bringing
them fresh flowers, lemons, and oranges.
But unlike the other “society ladies”, she
refused to have the press follow her about
and report on her errands.
This book will be helpful to all reenactors in
understanding the political and cultural
milieu of the decades preceding the Civil
War. A wealth of detail on clothing,
furnishings, food and other aspects of
everyday life bring the era to life for the
reader. We learn what its like to ride on the
circuit court through the backwoods of
Illinois (where judges and young lawyers
had to sleep 2 or 3 to a bed at country inns,
out of necessity) and to attend high society
soirees in Washington. Goodwin makes
sense of the diverse elements that comprised
the fledgling Republican party-Whigs,
moderate Democrats, abolitionists, FreeSoilers, Wide-Awakes, and so on. The
reasons for sectional divisions, not only
between North and South, but New England,
the Western states, and the border states,
become clearer and invite further study. If
you want a book that will help you improve
your first person impression, at least from a
Northern perspective, Team of Rivals is it.
Cartridges!
Now is the best time of year to roll
cartridges for next season! If you roll them
now you can fly through the season without
the hassle of making them for each event.
This is also a great time to completely
disassemble your musket to remove rust and
oil the stock. If you need help,
Quartermaster Stevens is more than willing
to assist you. You may email him at
[email protected] or call 503-302-3030.
Submissions
Newsletter submissions are due at the first
of every month! Please send in your favorite
Civil War quotes, poems, book reviews,
reenactor tips, or other special article.
www.116pvi.org