Category: Historic America

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Historic America

Who was Isabelle Scott?

Isabelle Scott lived in Mattoon, Illinois from 1902 until her death in 1907. She died of tuberculosis at the young age of 30-32. In those short years, Isabelle was the notorious madam of a brothel on what was then called Railroad Street/Cottage Avenue. She rubbed elbows with notorious figures in Mattoon’s underworld, even a city alderman.

But who was she, really?

I came across this fascinating figure while researching Mattoon’s history for my book, Tales of Coles County, and later developed it into an essay for a nonfiction writing class at George Mason University.

Unfortunately, I don’t live in Illinois anymore and am only able to visit once a year, if that, so my time to visit Mattoon to conduct research is severely limited.

Continue reading “Who was Isabelle Scott?”
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Historic America Photography

The Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery

The Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery. Photo by M.A. Kleen

Slated for removal before the New Year, you may soon only be able to see this memorial in photographs.

Dedicated in 1914, the 32-foot Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery was designed and sculpted by Moses J. Ezekiel (1844-1917), the first Jewish graduate of the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. Ezekiel fought alongside his fellow cadets at the Battle of New Market, which is depicted in the film Field of Lost Shoes (2014). Until recently, nearly every U.S. president since Woodrow Wilson has sent a funeral wreath to be laid at the memorial, as a gesture of reconciliation and respect for the Confederate veterans buried there. After 109 years, it is slated to be removed. There are 32 bronze figures, including soldiers and civilians and two black slaves, one wearing a uniform accompanying his master to war. It is topped with a female statue representing the South. An inscription on the north face reads:

“Not for fame or reward, not for place or for rank, not lured by ambition, or goaded by necessity, but in simple obedience to duty as they understood it, these men suffered all, sacrificed all, dared all–and died.”

Randolph Harrison

Moses Ezekiel is buried nearby, as well as 264 other Confederate veterans. The memorial is supposed to be removed before the New Year. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin offered to move it to the New Market Battlefield, but its ultimate fate is unclear.

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Historic America

Gettysburg Campaign – Manassas Gap, July 23, 1863

Twenty days after the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s exhausted Army of Northern Virginia was marching up the Shenandoah Valley, trying to find a safe route into central Virginia. Union Maj. Gen. George G. Meade pursued with the remainder of his Army of the Potomac. The Blue Ridge Mountains separated both armies. Sensing an opportunity, Meade ordered the III Corps, now commanded by William. H. French, to cross the Manassas Gap towards Front Royal. There he hoped to cut off Lee’s escape. Light skirmishing occurred July 21-22, and then on July 23, 1863, French assailed a ridge called Wapping Heights with his entire corps. The ridge was defended by a single brigade of Georgia infantry.

The Georgians fought tenaciously, but they were outnumbered. French’s men captured the ridge and pressed on. Growing darkness, and Confederate reinforcements, checked his advance, however, and the opportunity slipped away. Lee’s army eventually crossed into central Virginia farther south, and the Gettysburg Campaign was officially over. It’s estimated that the belligerents suffered a combined total of over 60,000 casualties, and finished roughly in the same position where it all began. On August 8th, Lee wrote a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis offering to resign as commander of the army, but Davis refused to accept.

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Historic America

Gettysburg Campaign – Falling Waters, July 14, 1863

Though the Union Army of the Potomac’s senior officers voted against taking the offensive against Robert E. Lee’s beleaguered army entrenched around Williamsport, Maryland, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade ordered a reconnaissance in force. Lee was trapped by the Potomac River’s high waters, but by July 13, 1863, those waters had begun to recede, allowing his engineers to built a pontoon bridge to Virginia. By the time Meade’s scouts investigated the Confederate works the following day, they found them empty. The Confederate army was already crossing the river. Union cavalry commander Brig. Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick seized the opportunity and headed for the crossing at Falling Waters, where Confederate Maj. Gen. Henry Heth’s Division was acting as a rearguard. In the fog, Heth mistakenly believed Kilpatrick’s troopers were Confederates until it was too late. Hand to hand fighting swirled around the Daniel Donnelly House, and one of Heth’s brigade commanders, James J. Pettigrew, was mortally wounded. Somewhere between 500 and 1,500 Confederates were captured, but most of Lee’s army had made it safely to the Virginia side of the river.

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Historic America

Gettysburg Campaign – Council of War, July 12, 1863

As Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia dug in around Williamsport, Maryland, Union Maj. Gen. George G. Meade weighed his options. Pressure from Washington, DC to attack Lee’s army while it was trapped in Maryland was enormous. Confederate engineers had erected an impressive network of earthworks, however, and the Union Army of the Potomac was still in bad shape after the Battle of Gettysburg. On the evening of July 12, 1863, Meade gathered his senior commanders at his headquarters at Antietam Bridge northwest of Boonsboro (today Devil’s Backbone County Park) for a council of war. By a firm majority, they rejected an outright attack and settled instead for a reconnaissance in force. This gave Robert E. Lee time to slip away.

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Historic America

Gettysburg Campaign – Hagerstown, July 12, 1863

By July 12, 1863, the Union Army of the Potomac had settled into a position opposite the Confederate trenches and fortifications around Williamsport, Maryland, but Confederate cavalry still threatened its right flank at Hagerstown. Acting on intelligence that 6,000 gray troopers occupied the town, Brig. Gen. Hugh Judson Kilpatrick’s division returned to Hagerstown, spearheaded by Brig. Gen. George A. Custer’s brigade. When Custer arrived, however, he found most of the Confederates had already withdrawn, leaving behind a skeletal force. It didn’t take long for Custer’s troopers to clear the town at a cost of only four wounded.

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Historic America

Gettysburg Campaign – Funkstown, July 10, 1863

On July 10, 1863, the Union Army of the Potomac was located just west of Boonsboro, Maryland, with Hagerstown and Funkstown on its right flank. The army could not advance with Confederate cavalry threatening its flank, so Brig. Gen. John Buford’s cavalry division rode north along the Old National Pike to attack J.E.B. Stuart’s crescent-shaped defensive line around Funkstown north of Antietam Creek. Buford hoped to drive them off, but Stuart’s troopers put up a spirited defense. Col. William White, temporarily commanding George T. Anderson’s Georgia brigade (Anderson had been wounded at Gettysburg), rushed to reinforce Stuart’s line. Union infantry, commanded by Col. Lewis Grant, also arrived on the scene, and for a moment it looked like another bloodbath was brewing. The Union army did not want to bring on another major engagement, however, and broke off the attack before nightfall. Union forces lost an estimated 16 killed and 90 wounded to the Confederates’ 29 killed and 115 wounded.