Experimental Balloon Flight from Cincinnati Ends Badly During Civil War

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by Sandra Merville Hart

Before the Civil War started, Thaddeus S.C. Lowe dreamed of flying his hot air balloon on a transatlantic flight. A successful test flight from Philadelphia to New Jersey was made on June 28, 1860. Three months later on September 7th, wind ripped open his balloon, the Great Western, when Lowe attempted a transatlantic flight.

Joseph Henry, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, suggested a second test over land.

Lowe planned a night flight from Cincinnati, Ohio, to the Chesapeake Bay area on Enterprise, a new balloon. He left Cincinnati the night of April 19-20, 1861. Fort Sumter had been fired on a week earlier, marking the beginning of the Civil War.

Winds unfortunately carried him South. Lowe tried to land near the border between North Carolina and South Carolina. Armed men ordered him to take off again, which he did.

His second landing was even worse. Folks in South Carolina didn’t trust him. They placed his deflated balloon in a wagon and escorted both to Unionville, SC. A local newspaper editor knew of the aeronaut. He wrote a letter of introduction for Lowe to take to leaders in Columbia.

The letter didn’t help. Lowe was arrested. He stayed in jail until government officials released him.

On April 26, 1861, Lowe rode a train back to Cincinnati with his balloon. He reflected on troop movements he’d observed from his flight. It sparked a new idea.

He put his transatlantic flight dream to rest. Serving his country by observing the Confederate army from the air became his goal.

Sources

Fanton, Ben. “Gas Balloons: View From Above the Civil War Battlefield,” History.net, 2021/02/05 https://www.historynet.com/gas-balloons-view-from-above-the-civil-war-battlefield.htm.

Gould, Kevin. “Balloon Corps,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2021/02/05 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Balloon-Corps.

“Thaddeus S.C. Lowe,” Wikipedia, 2021/02/05  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaddeus_S._C._Lowe.

 

Brigid of Ireland by Cindy Thomson

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Brigid was born as the daughter of a slave woman in 5th century Ireland. A druid foretold that she would be a blessing or a curse to Ireland. Her father took her from her mother at the age of five and she grew up missing her mother.

Patrick, a Christian, had been in the area spreading the news about the One God and Jesus, His Son, who had died to save the people from their sins. Brigid met Patrick and became a Christian.

But there’s something unique about Brigid. She has a gift that makes her a target and puts her in danger.

My interest was snagged right away and I didn’t want to put the book down. Many of Brigid’s fellow citizens trusted whatever the druids said and the customs of that day were very different from modern times. There were many surprising twists and turns … and danger, too.

It was a treat to read a novel set during the days of St. Patrick. I enjoyed this story. Recommended for readers of historical fiction and Irish history.

I will look for more books by this author.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

Love You, Truly by Susan Tuttle

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Harlow Tucker isn’t interested in dating Blake Carlton as part of a reality show where he dates several other women. No matter how handsome and famous he is, Harlow has more important things on her mind—like starting her sister’s charity and her nursing career. She already has little time to pursue photography. Yet Mae was the one who suggested she participate in the show … and she’d do anything for her sister.

Blake only agrees to the show to help his mother’s career. He’d do anything in his power to save her from his dad’s fate.

Harlow fights her attraction for him, knowing he is dating a dozen others at the beginning of the show. On the other hand, taking photos in exotic locations fulfills her longing to travel.

The novel gives an inside look at “reality” shows where so much is planned to give the reaction the producer desires. It also demonstrates how hard the competition is on the emotions of the contestants.

Believable characters plunged in the middle of unreal television scenes may be an eye-opener for some readers. Harlow’s strong faith and Blake’s search for authentic love is a strong theme in the story, strengthening the appeal for me.

This contemporary romance kept me interested from beginning to end.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas

Pizzini Confectioners in Civil War Richmond

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by Sandra Merville Hart

Pizzini’s Confectionery Palace, located at 807 Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia, was known as the “Napoleon of Confectioners” by 1852. Famous among city residents for delicious ice creams, Pizzini’s also sold cakes, candy, and fruit.

Advertisements in Richmond’s Daily Dispatch from November 15, 1873 show that Pizzini’s sold Havana oranges, Lisbon grapes, figs, and wine jelly. Malaga grapes were 50 cents a pound. Dates were 25 cents for 2 pounds. Pizzini’s advertised “cocoanut” (coconut) cream candy and “cocoanut” caramels.

The same edition showed they did have competition. Wood & Son’s mineral water depot seemed to specialize in hot soda water. Apparently, the ladies’ favorite was hot soda water with chocolate and cream. It was available with coffee, tea, cream, or chocolate. Healthy, delicious hot soda and chocolate—advertised as recommended by physicians—was only 10 cents a glass.

There were several confectioners, restaurants, and bakeries in Richmond during the Civil War (1861-65.) Some are listed simply under the owner’s name. You may notice a number of female owners in the group.

Here are a few of the confectioners: Mrs. Kate Taylor, confectionary; A. Pizzini, confectionery; Antoni & Catogni, confectioners; Jas Lombardi, confectioner; and Mary Kumpner, confectioner.

Besides the dining rooms of the hotels, there were several restaurants: Tom Griffin, restaurant; John Macpherson, restaurant; “Brandy Station” Restaurant; Phillip White, restaurant; John A. Worsham, restaurant; Manassas Hall, restaurant; Planters’ Eating House; and “Star Saloon,” restaurant.

There were a few bakers: Jefferson Powers, baker; R. Adam, baker; _____ McNaughter, baker; and Ragland & Co., bakers, among others.

Pizzini’s was one of the businesses damaged by fire when the Confederate government evacuated Richmond on April 2, 1865. As the 1873 newspaper ads show, they recovered to thrive once again.

boulevard-of-confusion-coming-soon-meme

Sources

“Daily Dispatch, Volume 45, Number 120, 15 November 1873,” Virginia Chronicle, 2021/02/03 https://virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=DD18731115.1.1&e=——-en-20–1–txt-txIN——–.

“Details of the Evacuation, April 8, 1865,” The New York Times, 2021/02/03 https://www.nytimes.com/1865/04/08/archives/details-of-the-evacuation-the-evacuation-of-richmond-by-the.html.

“From the Richmond Examiner, 2/22/1866,” Civil War Richmond, 2021/02/03 https://civilwarrichmond.com/culture/food-supply/6118-1866-02-22-richmond-examiner-notice-that-pizzini-s-confectionery-palace-on-broad-street-does-immense-business-and-he-is-known-as-the-napoleon-of-confectioners.

“From the Richmond Whig, 4/15/1865,” Civil War Richmond, 2021/02/03 http://www.mdgorman.com/Written_Accounts/Whig/1865/richmond_whig_4151865d.htm.

Mortimer, Gavin. Double Death: The True Story of Pryce Lewis, the Civil War’s Most Daring Spy, Walker & Company, 2010.

“Pizzini Celebration at Slash Cottage,” Newspapers.com, 2021/02/03 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37349473/pizzini-celebration-at-slash-cottage/.

Civil War Women: Rebecca Littlepage Thwarts a General

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by Sandra Merville Hart

Confederate General Henry Wise replaced Colonel Christopher Tompkins as commander of the Kanawha forces. Marching from Richmond, he arrived in Kanawha County on June 26, 1861. Wise soon stayed in Kanawha House Hotel’s best room.

Fort Sumter had been fired upon two and half months earlier.

The small Virginia town of Charleston was of strategic importance to Wise. He decided to claim a stone mansion surrounded by a thousand acres of farmland as his headquarters.

He should have run the idea by the lady of the house, Mrs. Rebecca Littlepage.

Confederate troops camped near a farm owned by the Littlepage family. Soldiers used the farm’s grain, sugar, bacon, molasses, and horses.

Wise strode to the home and told Mrs. Littlepage he intended to take her mansion as his headquarters. The spunky woman refused to release her home. The general threatened to blow the house down.

He returned with artillery. A crowd followed. Rebecca stood on the front step with her children around her. Wise told her to leave. She refused.

The general ordered his soldiers-some of them family friends—to fire upon the house. The men refused his command. Wise left that day.

Instead of taking over the home, his soldiers camped on the family’s property. Fort Fife, a one-hundred-square foot fort, was built on a hill overlooking the stone mansion. The location gave wonderful views of the Kanawha Turnpike, its junction with the road to Parkersburg, and the James River.

Adam Littlepage, Rebecca’s husband, became the quartermaster officer of the 21st Virginia. He died in a duel and never returned to the stone mansion home that his wife fought so bravely to preserve.

Sources

Egnatoff, Daniel et. al. “Littlepage Mansion-Charleston Civil War Trail.” Clio: Your Guide to History. September 19, 2019. Accessed February 1, 2021. https://theclio.com/entry/4901.

Mortimer, Gavin. Double Death: The True Story of Pryce Lewis, the Civil War’s Most Daring Spy, Walker & Company, 2010.

 

The Spy of the Rebellion by Allan Pinkerton

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by Sandra Merville Hart

Being A True History of the Spy System of the United States Army During the Late Rebellion

Allan Pinkerton had established the Pinkerton National Detective Agency before the Civil War. General George McClellan hired Pinkerton, who used his detectives to spy on the Confederates.

This book reads like a fiction novel. The book was published in 1883, and Pinkerton’s formal ties to the United States Secret Service ended in 1862. Pinkerton also admits that most of his records were burned in the Great Chicago Fire and he wrote the book from memory. The passage of 21 years since the events as well as the loss of precious written records led to some inconsistencies.

I read this to research Pinkerton’s agency for a novel I’m writing. Subsequent research from nonfiction sources have referenced Pinkerton’s The Spy of the Rebellion as part fiction. I’ve learned from other sources which provide specific names and dates not to trust all the details in this book.

Either way, I must say that this is a fascinating story that I couldn’t put down. The author tells an enthralling story. It’s true to the language, customs, and beliefs of the period and is well worth the read.

On Cue by Bettie Boswell

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Elementary school teacher Ginny Cline has written a musical set in her city and hopes to raise money for the local historical museum.

Professor Scott Hallmark’s experience in the theater makes him the perfect person to help Ginny with this massive undertaking, but she can’t trust him. James, her college sweetheart, had broken her heart by betraying her and she’d learned she can’t trust men. She won’t give Scott a chance to repeat the past.

In this light-hearted novel, the two of them overcome their differences for the good of the play … and the romance that’s growing.

The characters were likeable. The action sometimes dragged a bit, but I still enjoyed this inspirational story.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

Mom’s Yellow Cake

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by Sandra Merville Hart

My mom has been gone for several years. I always miss her but I find myself thinking of my parents more often during the holidays.

After I got married, I loved being invited to dinner at their house—especially when there was no specific reason. “Come to supper on Thursday,” she’d call me to say. “No need to bring anything since you’ll be working all day. I’ll make a cake.”

What a precious invitation! No need to worry about supper. My mom was cooking. And she’d make dessert. She often made yellow cake because the ingredients were readily available. I got nostalgic for that cake and recently made it.

Here’s her recipe:

(Makes 2 9-inch layers)

2 ½ cups sifted cake flour

1 tsp. salt

3 ½ tsp. double-acting baking powder

1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup shortening (I use butter)

¾ cup milk

Blend all these ingredients thoroughly by hand or mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add:

½ cup milk

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Blend by hand or mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Spray cake pans with cooking spray and pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees about 35 minutes or until lightly browned. If using self-rising flour omit baking powder and salt. Cool and frost.

Just reading the recipe took me back in time to my mom’s kitchen where she blended everything together in her stand mixer. We’d get a spoon of leftover batter from the bowl. Yum!

Hint: I didn’t have cake flour but this is easily remedied. Remove 2 tablespoons of flour per cup of all-purpose flour and replace with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.

This makes a nice, creamy batter. Remember to sift the flour—it removes any clumps and lightens the batter.

We usually ate unfrosted cakes because we didn’t have confectioners powdered sugar to make the icing. When my mom did make icing, it was either vanilla or chocolate. I no longer have her icing recipe. I made chocolate buttercream frosting.

Delicious! It’s a basic yellow cake yet the flavor took me back to my childhood when desserts were a rare treat. It was my mom’s “go-to” cake when guests arrived unexpectedly.

I hope you enjoy the cake!

Sources

“Chocolate Buttercream Frosting,” Live Well Bake Often, 2020/12/13

https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/chocolate-buttercream-frosting/.

Euphemia Goldsborough, Confederate Nurse at Gettysburg

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Ambulance outside Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg.

by Sandra Merville Hart

Euphemia Goldsborough learned of the terrible battle at Gettysburg that took place July 1-3, 1863, and wanted to help nurse the wounded.

She lived in Baltimore, Maryland, and it wasn’t an easy place for a Southern sympathizer to live in 1863. Citizens leaving the city were required to take an oath of allegiance to the Union before a pass would be issued.

General Robert E. Schenck, who commanded the Middle Department and VIII Corps in Baltimore, declared martial law in Baltimore on June 29, 1863. The next day he made it mandatory for anyone leaving the city to have a pass signed by the provost marshal.

Union and Confederate wounded were brought to Baltimore after the battle. Anyone visiting the hospitals had to be completely loyal to the Union. Another order, passed on July 10th, stated that no Confederate soldiers could be entertained in homes or any place other than his assigned hospital.

Under those circumstances, Euphemia’s devotion to the South didn’t allow her to nurse wounded soldiers in Baltimore. She decided to go to Gettysburg.

It’s unclear how she and dozens of other women accomplished leaving Baltimore because the railroads had suspended travel. She also needed a pass—after taking an oath of allegiance—to leave by boat on the Patuxent, Potomac, or West River. Perhaps she disguised herself or hid with the supply wagons headed to the battlefield.

Valley where Pickett led a charge, Gettysburg Battlefield

Regardless of how she got there, she was a nurse at the temporary hospital at Pennsylvania College Hospital by July 18th. Wounded soldiers, some missing limbs, lay on bare floors without pillows.

Colonel Waller T. Patton, 7th Virginia, was one of the wounded there. An artillery shell ripped part of his jaw away during Pickett’s Charge on July 3rd. To aid his breathing, the unconscious man had to be propped up to have any chance to live. Unfortunately, there was no way to prop him.

Euphemia volunteered. She sat on the floor with her legs stretched out in front of her. Surgeons placed his back against hers. Fearing her slightest movement might cause the officer to suffocate, she fought the numbness that soon set in. All through the long night, she sat motionless in the candlelight.

Despite heroic efforts to save him, Colonel Waller T. Patton died on July 21st. His obituary in Richmond’s Daily Enquirer mentioned that he’d been tenderly nursed by a Baltimore woman. Perhaps the article was speaking of Euphemia. When she met the officer’s family in Richmond a few months later, they offered her the hospitality of their home while she was in their city. She thanked them but refused the gracious offer.

Civil War nurses made many sacrifices for their heroic patients. Gettysburg wounded were soon moved to Camp Letterman, a large tent hospital outside town where Euphemia had one hundred patients—fifty Union and fifty Confederate soldiers. She kept hospital books that were autographed by some of her patients. She also had letters and poems from them.

WWII General George S. Patton is a name many recognize. Colonel Waller T. Patton was his great-uncle.

Sources

Conklin, E.F. Exile to Sweet Dixie: The Story of Euphemia Goldsborough Confederate Nurse and Smuggler, Thomas Publications, 1998.

“Waller T. Patton,” Wikipedia, 2021/01/28 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waller_T._Patton.

Wilson, Laurel. “A Gun with a Story: Waller Patton’s Civil War Pistol,” Gettysburg Compiler, 2021/01/28 https://gettysburgcompiler.org/2017/05/10/a-gun-with-a-story-waller-pattons-civil-war-pistol/.

 

Widow’s Weeds and Weeping Veils, Revised, by Bernadette Loeffel-Atkins

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An interesting book!

The author has included fascinating traditions about mourning the death of loved ones during the nineteenth century.

For instance, locks of hair from the deceased family member were often woven into pictures and paintings or used in needlework samplers. Birds, angels, flowers, and weeping willows were some of the symbolic images portrayed.

The book also shows that the traditional period of time to wear mourning clothes or “widow’s weeds” depended on one’s relationship to the deceased.

I also was fascinated to learn that images depicted on gravestones hold symbolic meaning. An image of dog meant courage, vigilance, and loyalty. Calla lilies were symbolic of marriage.

Definitely recommend for lovers of history and authors of historical novels!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon