01January 2010

January 2010 Program: Historic Book Preservation 101

On Wednesday January 20, 2010 at 7:30 pm the SDCWRT will hold its 281st meeting at Palisades Presbyterian Church, 6301 Birchwood St., San Diego, CA 92120.

Our speaker for this meeting will be our President and Leader, Dave Tooley. Dave in his past life has been a respected Bookbinder and will speak on both how those old books that we all have were bound and with what materials they used when first published. He will also explain how he restores antique books in need of help. Last but not least how to care for these treasured volumes, so future generations will be able to enjoy and learn from them. This will be a very informative presentation, so please don’t miss it.

PUT ON YOUR THINKING CAPS.

I have had several requests to have a program where we have a debate on a battle, political decision, Man against Man or anything that will make for interesting evening. Maybe even change some minds or at the least make walk away with something you didn’t know when you arrived at the meeting.

If you have an idea of something you would like to see or be a part of the debate please e-mail me at trolley@cox.net or see me at our meeting.

Bill Cooper, Program Chairman

December 2009 Meeting by Travis Fuqua

The San Diego Civil War Round Table would like to welcome its newest member, Sally Down of San Diego

This month’s presentation was a show and tell and various members of the Civil War Round Table brought their Civil War artifacts, books, and stories relating to Christmas. Below is a list and description of those who presented.

1. Sharon Tooley: a book entitled “Music and Musket: Bands and Bandsmen of the American Civil War” by Kenneth Olson. The book contained many stories about music in the war, but there was no mention of Christmas. There was, however, a very interesting story about a drummer boy in the war by the name of Johnny Clem. Clem was only ten when the war began and tried unsuccessfully to enlist as a drummer boy until he was accepted in the 22^nd Michigan in 1862. There exists a story where he was at the Battle of Shiloh and he was nearly killed and his drum destroyed. He also showed bravery during the Battle of Chickamauga and after the war, he continued with the Army. He advanced in rank until he retired in 1916, the last active duty officer to have served in the Civil War. He died in 1937 at the age of 85. Another interesting story was the one of Henry J. White who was a drum major in the early part of the war. His story was exceptional in the fact that he was 89 years old and was still as vigorous as the 20-year-old men around him!
2. Al Haun: an answer to the question about shipping containers for goods during the Civil War. As a re-enactor, Mr. Haun has the advantage of not only knowing the history but living it out as well. One might ask what was used to package Christmas packages being sent to the soldiers in the Civil War. At first one might think wooden crates would be the answer, and they would, but wood is heavy and since freight is charged by weight, it would be prohibitively expensive to mail goods in this manner, especially when the goods being sent are lighter than the packaging. The answer was cardboard, which is much lighter than wood. It is true that cardboard boxes were used during the Civil War, but not the corrugated kind we are used to today, but heavy card paper layered and cemented together which looks similar to the cardboard used in old book covers. This worked well as long as the package did not get wet. To illustrate his example, Mr. Haun had a cardboard box from the Second World War, but such was the same as those during the Civil War. Shipping in the 1860s was done by railroad and could take between a week and two months depending upon the destination.
3. Curtis Dryer: two poems from the Civil War relating to Christmas. The first poem was by Confederate soldier named William Gordon McCabe (Aug. 4, 1841-Jun. 1, 1920) and was about the recollection of the joys of being home for Christmas. He fondly illustrates how joyous it would be to go home instead of fighting in the war and how the halls would be decorated and his mother would be very glad to see him. He added that his friends also long to go home, but there is no home for him as he only has the bivouac (his army encampment). The second poem was by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and was entitled “Christmas Bells” and was written in 1864. This poem was about the misfortune of the joyous the sounds of peaceful church bells being drowned out by cannon fire. Longfellow then called for peace on Earth and an end to conflict and hatred. He ended with the fact that good will prevail.
4. Kathleen Bell: a Christmas poem by the Poet Laureate of the Confederacy, Henry Timrod (Dec. 8, 1828-Oct. 7, 1867). In the beginning of the war, Timrod had been an avid patriot whose patriotic poems roused the emotions of young men in the Confederacy to join the Confederate Army. He himself could not fight for long due to an illness, but he seems to have done his part with his inspirational patriotic poems. As the war wore on, his son died and later his youthful vigor gave way to depression. He wrote a poem entitled “Christmas” during this time and the theme is peace. Owing to his depression, the poem is depressed and written in a more formal English of older times.
5. Dave Tooley: an account of slaves during Christmas in the war after Lincoln’s Proclamation from a book, “The Civil War Song and Story” (1892) by Frank Moore. The account began early in the day with the slaves rising and gathering with one wearing a red coat. They then sang songs about salvation and manage to give correct lyrics despite the fact they were illiterate. Their quotations of scripture are also strikingly accurate and when asked how they could accomplish such without reading, they said they heard it once and repeated it over again until the learned the verse. In the end, they all looked forward to their pending freedom.
6. Bill Cooper: a story set in modern times that could easily apply to all soldiers in all wars. The story began with Santa Claus descending the chimney to find the house empty except for a young man sleeping on the floor. Santa was perplexed by such a situation and later found out that the soldier had served in the current Iraq War and he slept in such an austere manner for it was his wish and an honor to those still overseas. Santa then realized that today—as much as in the 1860s—we owe the fact that we can have a Merry Christmas to those who are fighting wars to maintain peace, democracy, &c.