A "Dutchman" for Dixie

Joseph Blenker was born January 19, 1836 in Germany.  His father was also named Joseph Blenker.  Young Joe Blenker came to America some time before the start of the Civil War.  He was living in St. Louis when the war began.  Unlike many of his fellow German immigrants, who chose the Union side in the conflict, Blenker decided to throw in with the South.  He left St. Louis and enlisted in John Bowen's 1st Missouri Infantry Regiment in August 1861 as a private in Captain Robert Duffy's Company B. 

Blenker fought in the Battle of Shiloh and was wounded.  Afterwards he appears to have been transferred to the Trans-Mississippi for is records relate that he participated in the battles of Helena, Arkansas and Mansfield, Louisiana.  According to his Missouri Confederate Home application he was on a special mission to St. Louis on behalf of the Confederate government when the war ended and he received no parole or discharge from the army.

Dining Room of Mississippi Steamboat

Blenker remained in St. Louis after the war.  He became a riverman and was a cook on a steamboat for many years.  He was admitted to the Confederate Home in October 1899.  He was in reasonably good health at the time and was quite popular at the Home.  The old private soldier was affectionately known as "Colonel Joe".  He made several trips back to St. Louis over the years to visit with his many friends and relatives living there.  His favorite beverage was a scotch highball.  He was one of several Confederate Home residents who attended the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.  He received the Southern Cross of Honor in 1901.

Joe Blenker passed away at the Confederate Home from heart failure on August 7, 1914.  He had suffered from heart disease for quite a while.  He had recently fallen and fractured his hip.  The resulting confinement from the injury contributed to his ultimate demise. He was 78 years old and single at the time of his death.

Three Brothers from Scotland

William Leslie Bremner ca. 1900

(Confederate Memorial State Historic Site)

William Leslie Bremner was born in Scotland on March 2, 1839.  He was the son of Robert and Madeline Bremner.  He came to Missouri with his family before the Civil War.  In September 1861 he and his brothers George Bremner and A. L. Bremner were sworn into the7th Division of the Missouri State Guard at Camp McGee, Missouri, under Colonel Freeman and Lt. Colonel Woods.  The Bremner brothers were assigned to Company D and were sent to Jacks Fork in Dent County, here they saw their first action in a minor skirmish.  On December 3, 1861, George Bremner was killed at Salem, Missouri in an engagement that also took the life of their captain. 

The surviving brothers accompanied their command to West Plains in Howell County, Missouri. Here the local ladies presented them with their first flag. Afterwards they were detailed to the Ordnance Department and put to work at the foundry in Springfield making shot and shell.  Forced to evacuate Springfield by the Federal advance in February 1862, William and his brother accompanied the retreating Missouri State Guard into Arkansas.  They fought in the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elk Horn Tavern) on March 7-8, 1862, after which they received their discharge from state service at Des Arc, Arkansas. 

William took sick at Des Arc and remained there with his brother acting as nurse until he was well enough to travel.  The brother made a skiff and went to Vicksburg.  Entering the Confederate service the brothers, who were skilled industrial workers, were sent to Columbus, Mississippi to make shot and shell, then to the ordnance works at Selma, Alabama to make cannon.  William Bremner was captured at Red Mountain Furnace in 1865 and paroled at Louisville, Kentucky on April 11 of that year.

Following the war William Bremner returned to Missouri where he managed to make his own living until 1910, when sickness and old age finally caught up with him. He entered the Missouri Confederate Home in December 1910 and spent the last ten years of his life there.  He passed away from the flu on July 10, 1920 at the age of 81.  He was a widower at the time of his death. 

   

James and Molly Pew

James Pew was born on August 20, 1839 in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. At the age of 14 he drove an oxcart in a caravan of family and neighbors from Kentucky, who settled near Fillmore in Andrew County, Missouri. Eight years later, on December 7, 1861 he enlisted at Liberty, Missouri as a private in Company D of the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Battalion. The 3rd Missouri Cavalry Battalion actually served as infantry during most of the Civil War. It was consolidated with the 1st Missouri Cavalry Regiment in 1863, after the Vicksburg campaign. The 1st Missouri Cavalry also served as a dismounted unit.

James Pew participated in many battles during the war: Pea Ridge, Iuka, Corinth, Port Gibson, Baker’s Creek, Big Black River, and Vicksburg. He also took part in the fighting in northern Georgia in the spring of 1864. On June 25 of that year he was wounded at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

James was paroled s a private at Jackson, Mississippi in June 1865. He did not return to Missouri but remained in Mississippi, having found work not far from Jackson. Here he met Mary Jane Taylor, who always went by the name of Molly or Maggie. She was living with the Quarles family who had taken her in during the war. Renegades or deserters had burned down her family’s house and murdered her parents. James and Molly were married on September 2, 1866. He was 27 and she was just 15 years old.

Not long after their marriage the Pews moved to northwest Missouri, settling near Barnard. James later served as town marshal at Barnard and at Guilford. The couple had two daughters, Kitty and Lula and eight grandchildren. Three of their grandsons served in the U.S. armed forces during both world wars.

The Pews lived at 1711 Benton Boulevard in Kansas City. Before they came to the Confederate Home in Higginsville, Missouri in May 1913 the then 74 year old James was earning a meagre income working as a janitor. Despite being in tough financial conditions, the elderly couple were in relatively good health and were able to keep house on their own. They were assigned the last cottage on the north side of cottage row by the Home management. This cottage stood about where the Home chapel is now located; net to the cemetery. It was of a somewhat unusual design, having two stories, the typical cottage at the Home usually having just one story. 

James and Molly Pew on porch of their cottage ca. 1920

(Confederate Memorial State Historic Site) 

The Pew’s grandson, Max McNulty, came to live with them shortly after they moved in. He lived on the second floor of the cottage while working odd jobs around the Home. One of these jobs was acting as chauffeur for Confederate Home Superintendent George Gross. Taking care of the sick in the “pest house”, where residents thought to have communicable diseases were taken, was another. Max served in the army in World War I. He returned to the Confederate Home and helped build the ponds that are now part of the memorial park.

The Pew’s daughter, Lula, who was Max’s mother, was in charge of the Women’s Building for a number of years. Her second husband was David Case. He managed the Men’s Hospital and pharmacy. Lula’s first husband, Max’s father, was the son of Union veteran. Max liked to joke about how his grandpas had fought each other.

Every year the Confederate Home designated the Sunday closest to Jefferson Davis’ birthday (June 3) as Decoration Day. Normally the main buildings of the Home were surprisingly devoid of Confederate symbols, but on Decoration Day the old flags were brought out and buildings were decorated with Confederate colors - red and white ribbons. As part of the Decoration Day celebration in 1926, a guest vocalist sang the tune, “When You and I Were Young, Maggie”, with his arms around the Pews. It brought the house to tears. At that time Mrs. Pew acquired the nickname of “Molly Darling” and it remained with her for the rest of her days.

By 1927 James Pew’s health was failing. He was confined to the men’s hospital where he confided one day that, “I am ready to go to heaven and meet my daughter there”. His daughter Kitty had passed away not long before. James Pew died quietly in his hospital bed on February 27, 1929. He was in his 90th year. His last words were, “Molly Darling”.

After her husband’s death, Mollie Pew moved into the Women’s building, where her own daughter, Lula, had once been manager. In 1931 Molly participated in the dedication of the Confederate Memorial Park Gateway.

Molly Pew died suddenly on February 16, 1934 at the age of 82. She had been a resident of the Confederate Home for over 20 years.      

The Fiddler of Tabo

 Stainer Violin

John Armstrong Dudgeon came from a Missouri Southern family.  He was born in Howard County, Missouri on July 5, 1846 to Alexander and Matilda Dudgeon.  As a boy he attended the country schools near Fayette. At the age of 16 he wrote and presented a speech entitled, "The Past, The Present, and the Future".  He was very proud of this speech all of his life.  He could still recite it, verbatim, when he was 78.

Dudgeon was too young to join the army when the Civil War began in 1861.  But, when Confederate General Sterling Price made his raid through Missouri in 1864, the now 18 year old enlisted in his army as a private in Company E of Perkins Missouri Cavalry Battalion.   He joined Perkins' command at Glasgow, Missouri in October 1864 and served with it until the end of the war. He received his parole at Shreveport, Louisiana in June 1865 and returned to Missouri.

Upon his return home Dudgeon went to work on his father's farm, where he became a student of nature and an avid hunter and fisherman.  He also loved music and became an accomplished fiddler.  He owned an original violin that was made the famous Austrian violin maker Jacob Stainer in 1676. Stainer violins were very popular during the chamber music era when they were made.  Original Stainers in good condition are considered very valuable instruments today by collectors.

Dudgeon was a member of the Salt Creek String Band.  The band played at all the big social events in Howard County.  The young man was very popular with the ladies, yet he never married.  According to one story, he'd had a sweetheart at one time but she married another man.  So Dudgeon remained a bachelor all the days of his life. 

John Dudgeon was admitted to the Confederate Home in Higginsville, Missouri in February 1912 from Fayette and received the Southern Cross of Honor the following year.  He was known for two things at the Home - his fiddling and a strong work ethic.  He played the fiddle at all of the Home entertainments and was renowned for his musical talents throughout the local area.  He played at the Higginsville celebrations and was soon being referred to as, "The Fiddler of Tabo", after a nearby creek.  "The Arkansas Traveler" was a favorite tune of the old veteran. He also enjoyed playing "Fisherman's Hornpipe" and "Turkey in the Straw".  On many occasions some of the other old veterans would accompany him to events and dance a little jig while he played.  He was considered talented enough that the town of Higginsville wanted to enter him in the state's old man fiddling contest.

Dudgeon remained active almost up to very end of his life.  He continued to enjoy hunting and fishing.  He took "vacations".  In 1922 he went to Kansas City with two other veterans to see a parade and to visit with friends. He also insisted on keeping up with the farm work and frequently volunteered for farming work around the Home and on neighboring farms.  He was so involved with this work that it was said that no corn crop in the vicinity had been planted without his help.  He also lent a helping hand in the Home's kitchen.  He took an active role in politics as well.  In 1922 he was selected by his comrades to deliver the Confederate Home's election returns to the county seat at Lexington.  At this time the Home contained enough members that it formed an entire voting precinct of its own.  Despite the fact that virtually everyone at the Home was a loyal Democrat, on this occasion, by a two-to-one margin, the Home had cast its vote for two Republicans, Dr. William Porter and Frank Fulkerson.  Porter was the Confederate Home surgeon and Fulkerson, who owned a farm adjacent to the Home, had always supported the institution and its old veterans and widows.

Time finally caught up with John Dudgeon.  A long going battle with heart disease took its toll.  On August 22, 1925 "The Fiddler of Tabo passed away from kidney failure.  He was 79 years old.  The Reverend C. A. McEntire conducted the funeral service.  The Stainer violin, along with the rest of Dudgeon's otherwise meagre possessions, was given to a nephew, W. D. Settle of Fayette. 

     

   

The Powder Monkey

The centennial of the Civil War happened when I was a young boy growing up in New Orleans.  All of my friends were Southern patriots.  They would dress up in little Confederate soldier uniforms.  Maybe it was because of my contrarian nature, I don't know, but for some reason I decided to take the other side.  So there I was wearing a blue uniform, a little pretend Yankee soldier surrounded by little rebels.  Even my own family didn't understand my stance.  I was told that I was just like my great-grandpa, who'd been in the Union navy during the Civil War and had fought in the Battle of Mobile Bay.  Later I discovered that great-grandpa was only 16 years old at the time he supposedly took part in the war.  Surely he couldn't have fought in the Civil War. He was too young. Many years later I was checking some Civil War service records at a National Archives regional office.  While I was waiting for my colleague to finish I decided, what the heck, I'd do a search for great-grandpa and there he was on an index card.  The card said that he'd served on the USS Albatross and the USS Seminole. When I got home I did a little more research and discovered that the Seminole had been in the Battle of Mobile Bay when my great-grandpa was part of her crew. The old family story was true after all!  After receiving a copy of his pension records and doing a little additional research I was able to flesh out his story a bit.  I'd like to share it with you today.

A powder monkey on board USS New Hampshire 1864

Charles Henry William Ankesheiln was born in New Orleans in 1848. His parents had immigrated from the Kingdom of Hanover, now called Lower Saxony, not long before.  He went by the name of Henry.  He joined the crew of the USS Albatross, a small gunboat, at New Orleans in August 1863 as a 2nd Class Boy. He was just 15 years old, 3 years under the minimum age for regular enlistment, but the Navy would accept boys as young as 14 with the permission of a parent or adult guardian.  The Navy used them on board warships to fetch powder charges from the magazines. Because of this and their small size, Henry was 4 feet 7 inches tall, they were called "Powder Monkeys".

USS Albatross

In September 1863 the Albatross was sent to patrol station off Mobile Bay.  She spent her time there on station keeping watch for blockade runners coming in and out of Mobile.  When she wasn't doing that she was used as a dispatch vessel between New Orleans, where Admiral Farragut maintained his headquarters, and the blockade squadron off Mobile. In May 1864 the Albatross was sent North for a major overhaul and Henry was transferred to the USS Seminole.  Henry had progressed to earn a Landsman's rating on the Albatross.  On the Seminole, a slightly larger vessel, he was reduced to the rating of 1st Class Boy.

From May the Seminole cruised up and down outside Mobile Bay on blockade duty.  On occasion she chased blockade runners, shelled some of them and exchanged fire with the Confederate gunners of Fort Morgan, which was located at the entrance to Mobile Bay.  Henry's battle station for these encounters was with a gun crew and he would have been assigned to bring the powder charges up from the ship's magazine.  When not at his battle station Henry would have been dong whatever odd jobs were assigned him.

On August 5, 1864 Farragut led a fleet of 4 ironclads and 14 wooden ships, including the Seminole, pass Fort Morgan and into Mobile Bay.  The ironclad Tecumseh struck a torpedo (mine) and was sunk, leading to the famous quote attributed to Farragut, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"  I haven't been able to find out exactly what Henry did during the battle.  The official records state that the Seminole passed Fort Morgan lashed to the port side of the Lackawanna, which was a larger wooden warship. Since the Lackawanna was between the Seminole and the fort, the smaller ship was protected by the larger vessel from the guns of Fort Morgan.  But the gun crews of the Seminole worked some of the guns of the Lackawanna during the passage. So far I haven't been able to determine if Henry was with them, on the Lackawanna, or remained on the Seminole. But after passing the forts (and the mine field) the Seminole broke away from the Lackawanna.  The fleet was then attacked by the Confederate ironclad ram Tennessee. The Tennessee made a brief run at the Seminole.  The Seminole fired two broadsides at the Tennessee and she turned away. 

After the battle the Seminole joined the rest of the fleet in supporting the Federal infantry operations against Fort Morgan.  This involved occasionally shelling the fort and on August 25 she took part in the intense bombardment of the fort that resulted in its final surrender.

The Battle of Mobile Bay is largely ignored today.  In terms of numbers involved compared to the large land battles of the Civil War it doesn't match up but it was an intense fight, exemplified by the 93 medals of honor awarded to the Union sailors and marines involved in it.  On the other side the Confederate, outnumbered and outgunned put up atypical strong fight as well.  The Seminole suffered no casualties during the fighting but afterward lost several men while trying to clear the torpedoes from the entrance to the bay.

Henry left the Seminole in September 1864, his one year enlistment being up. He returned to New Orleans and was honorably discharged from the navy at the age of 16.  After the war he married and tried farming for a while.  Then he moved back to New Orleans.  He became a cooper.  He had 17 children but only 8 survived to maturity.  My grandfather was his second to youngest son.  In 1912 Henry Ankesheiln received a pension of 72 dollars a month for his service in the Civil War.  This amount was almost as much as the pay he had earned for his entire 13 months of service in the war.

Missouri's Last Rebel

John Graves

(Confederate Memorial State Historic Site)

John Thomas Graves was born on New Year's Day 1842 in Pike County, Missouri.  His father was superintendent of the Clark Tobacco Plantation.  One of his uncles served in the war with Mexico and other ancestors of his fought in the Revolutionary War.

Graves joined Captain Clark's Company A, Burbridge's Regiment in Harris' (2nd) Division of the Missouri State Guard, as a private, in the early summer of 1861.  Because of the advance of Federal forces under General Nathaniel Lyon, Graves found himself cut off with his command from the rest of the Missouri State Guard under General Sterling Price. While Price moved south towards the Arkansas border, Graves and his compatriots remained trapped north of the Missouri river, their way blocked by Federal garrisons watching the main river crossings.  Meanwhile, Price's men combined with Confederate forces under General McCulloch to defeat Lyon at Wilson's Creek.  Price then brought his army northwards, telling the men trapped north of the Missouri to meet him at Lexington. Volunteers flocked to Lexington to join Price's army.  Many years later John Graves referred to this occasion, when the whole army was present together, the bands were playing, the men were marching and the flags were flying, as his greatest experience in the war.  The small Federal garrison under Colonel Mulligan put up a fight but was eventually forced to surrender.  

It turned out that Lexington was John Graves' only major engagement of the Civil War.  He participated in a few minor skirmishes afterward but was discharged, for medical reasons, in January of 1862.  He was just 20 years old. Because of his health issues he did not join the Confederate army. He apparently returned to his home in northern Missouri.  

The next time we hear about John Graves is not long after the end of the war. when he purchased a farm in Lafayette County, Missouri, not far from the site of the future Confederate Home. He also ran a store in nearby Corder.  In 1867 he moved to a farm in Howard County, eventually settling at Fayette, where he became a building contractor and very successful businessman.  He built the new Fayette County Courthouse and became part owner of gold mines in Colorado and California.  He also got married and raised two sons.

After his wife's death in 1929, Graves applied to the Confederate Home but was rejected because his financial assets were above the admission limits.  He applied again in 1933 and this time he was admitted to the Home.  Although already old, he was 91, Graves was not the oldest man then in residence at the Home.  That honor belonged to 105 year old Ben Sparlin!  

Graves received the Southern Cross of Honor not long after entering the Confederate Home.  He was actually quite young for his age and remained in pretty good health until just days before his death.  He was very active with the United Confederate Veterans while at the Home.  In 1938 he was elected commander of the eastern brigade of the Missouri Division of the UCV.  He was one of four men rescued from a fire at the Home's main building in 1940.

After the death of Oscar Cheaney in March 1943, Graves became the last veteran living at the Home.  By now he was called "Uncle Johnny" by the Home's employees and visitors. He was assigned a room in the second story of the building used to house the Home's handful of remaining widows.  He would spend the last seven years of his life there.  Each New Year's Day, which was also his birthday, he would celebrate with ice cream and cake, and "six to eight" highballs, along with copious amounts of chewing tobacco.  During the World War II years he could be found avidly following the progress of the war on the radio.  He still considered himself a ladies man.  Visiting females were warned that he would try to kiss them, if they got too close.  At the age of 102 he was caught sneaking around one of the widow's rooms. But, on the occasion of his 108th birthday, he admitted to a local reporter that his interest in women had declined.

In December 1949 Graves became Missouri's last living ex-rebel.  In March of 1950 he became the nation's oldest living "Boy in Gray".  He didn't hold this honor for long, however.  In the early morning hours of May 9, 1950, "Uncle Johnny" passed away following a brief illness, at the age of 108.  His funeral was held the next day followed by interment in the Confederate Home Cemetery.  The funeral service was attended by a large crowd, including SCV, UDC members, state officials and many friends and family. His six pallbearers were all grandsons of Confederate veterans.             

     

 

Some Forgotten Stories

Board of Managers of the Missouri Confederate Home 1925

(Confederate Memorial State Historic Site)

I had the privilege of working as a historic interpreter for over a decade at Confederate Memorial State Historic Site in Higginsville, Missouri.  The facility is located on the site of the former Missouri Confederate Soldiers Home. It consists of a 90 acre park and adjoining 35 acre historic site.  The historic site includes the four remaining original Confederate Home buildings; the hospital, farm house, residence cottage and chapel. Only the chapel is open to the public. The most interesting area, at least to me, is the 3 1/2 acre cemetery containing the graves of about 800 Confederate veterans, wives, widows and one infant child; each one with a story. 

Part of my job, the fun part, as an historic interpreter was learning and sharing the stories of the former residents of the Confederate Home. I got to know a lot about them. Each applicant to the Confederate Home had to fill out a form containing biographical and service information.  In addition, those admitted were frequently mentioned in local newspapers, and occasionally in county and local histories. Personal memoirs and information provided by relatives who stopped by the office, or via emails also helped.  I was soon able to flesh out their stories.  Some of these stories were quite extensive, covering not only what they did during the war, but also what they did before and after it.  On the other hand, at the other end of the scale, some of the stories were barely much more than what the person gave in their application.  (Okay crass commercial warning here!)  If any one's interested, I've put all of these stories in a book, "Eight Hundred Voices", which should be available soon at Burnt District Press.  In the meantime, I want to share some of those stories with you in this blog.

We Civil War enthusiasts often get caught up in the battles and leaders and forget that for most people of that time the Civil War was a personal event that affected their lives.  They were ordinary people like you and I, who were caught up in an extraordinary event. Their stories, which are often both moving and fascinating, should not be forgotten.  

Although because of my long association with a "Confederate" site, most of my stories are about Southern soldiers, I want to welcome stories from both sides.  If you have any stories or photos to share please contact me.  I'm not just talking to you "Rebs" out there.  I want to here from any "Yanks", as well.  Also not just "the white folks". If you have stories/pictures about US Colored Troops or CS "body servants" I'd like to hear from you all as well. 

I've heard it said that over 200 million Americans have at least one Civil War ancestor.  Some have more than that, including many with ancestors on both sides.  My great-grandfather served in the Union navy.  He was only 15 years old when he signed on to the USS Albatross. He served for just one year but did see action in a major battle, Mobile Bay, while serving as a 1st Class Boy on board the USS Seminole.  A relative of my ex-wife won the Medal of Honor at Bristoe Station, VA in 1863.  Check back for more details on these and other vets. And, again, I'd like to hear some stories that I know you all have, about your ancestors or other Civil War vets.