Civil War Trust Battles in August-- Part 1 Battle of Mobile Bay, Battle of Camden

From the Civil War trust: Celebrating 30 Years 2017 Calendar.

AUGUST

5th--  1864:  Battle of Mobile Bay, Alabama

9th--  1862:  Battle of Cedar Mountain, Va.

10th--  1862:  Battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo.

16th--  1780:  Battle of Camden, S.C.

17th--  1863:  Federals begin the great bombardment of Fort Sumter

--Cooter

WW I Attack Base Hospital No. 5-- Part 5: New Air Raid Warnings Devised

The last and most fatal bomb resulted in the deaths of Privates Woods and Rubino and wounded Privates Mason, Sloane, Stanton and McLeod.  Five amputations were necessary for Aubrey S. McLeod, whose legs were shattered by the terrific force of the explosion.

After the attack, flags at No. 11 (Harvard U.S.A.) General Hospital were flown at half mast.  Plans were to have memorial services on Sunday evening, September 9, but they were terminated because of an air raid warning.

In addition, everyone was expected to dig a trench by their tent in which to take shelter in new air raids.  A new method of air warning was also developed.  Three one-minute blasts from the cement factory whistle served as the warning.  Five shorter ones  meant all clear.

For the remainder of September and well into October,  air raid warnings were often heard, but most often were false alarms.

--Cooter

Attack On Base Hospital 5-- Part 4: Wounded and Killed

Flying fragments of the bombs wounded Lieutenants Rae Whidden, Thaddeus Smith, Clarence McGuire and Private Hiram Brower.

Fragments from two bombs killed Private Oscar Tugo and several patients, while other patients were wounded.

Mrs. Eva Parmelee, nurse on duty in C-6 escaped wounding but her dress was penetrated by flying shrapnel.  She remained cool and collected. ministering to newly wounded and comforting others.  She received an honorable mention from General Pershing and had the honor of being the first American nurse awarded the Military Medal by King George V.

--Cooter

Attack on Base Hospital No. 5 in WW I That Resulted in 1st American Deaths in France-- Part 3

Lt. William T. Fitzsimons heard the explosions and summoned Private Hiram Brower to find out what was going on.  The private told him and then went on about his patrol.  Scarcely a minute had passed when there was another explosion.  An aerial torpedo had been dropped at General Hospital No. 18, but it landed in an athletic field and did no damage other than making a deep hole several yards wide.

The plane then went into a semicircular course and a similar bomb was dropped into the reception tent of General Hospital No. 4, followed almost immediately by two bombs dropped within about eighteen inches of each other in from of Lt. Fitzsimons' tent.

He was killed instantly by the first two bombs and then three others were dropped.

I have been unable to find out how these bombs were dropped.  I would say definitely not from bomb bays like in World War II.  I believe most likely by the pilot or another crew member if they had others, dropping them over the side of the plane.

The Attack on Base Hospital No. 5 in WW I-- Part 2

On the night of September 3, 1917 there was an air raid attempt on the coast of England which was turned back by coastal guns.  The next day, a German scouting plane came over Base Hospital No. 5 and it is believed that it might have taken a photograph of the huge U.S. flag by the headquarters and the Germans then decided to make an example of it, even though they knew it was a hospital.

And, this hospital was caring for 2,000 sick and wounded, when the attack came.

Another German raid on England on September 4.  was turned back.At 10:30 the hospital received warning about possible enemy planes.  Anti-aircraft guns at two places in the distance opened fire for a few minutes before the all-clear was sounded.

At 10:55 p.m., without any warning whatever and while all the hospital's lights were on at the 12,000 bed facility, an enemy aeroplane swooped down and started dropping bombs.

--Cooter

Concerning the Attack on Base Hospital No. 5-- Part 1

There is a book published on Base Hospital No. 5 in France during World War I.  It is titles "Concerning Base Hospital No. 5."

It is dedicated to members who made the supreme sacrifice:

Captain Charles R. Rund, Capt. Harry A. Bullock, Lt. William Fitzsimons, Lt. Rae Whidden, Sgt, Walter Sullivan, Pvt. Oscar C. Tugo, Pvt. Rudolph Rubino, Pvt. Colin Powell, bugler, Pvt. Leslie G. Woods and Private John Lydon.

Lt. Fitzsimons, and Privates Tugo, Rubino and Woods were killed in the September 4, 1917, bombing attack.

--DaCoot

Oscar C. Tugo, One of First Americans Killed in France in WW I

From the Harvard Collection, Harvard University.

OSCAR C. TUGO CIRCLE

Photo October 18, 1921.

Private Tugo (1893-1917) enlisted in the Army on May 7, 1917, and was killed as a night orderly during the September 4, 1917 attack on Base Hospital No. 5 which also resulted in the death of Lt. William Fitzsimons.  This hospital was under the auspices of Harvard University.

In October 1921, the public space adjoining the Harvard Medical School quadrangle was named in his honor.  He was one of the first enlisted men killed in France.

--Cooter

World War I Chronology, 100 Years Ago This Month

SEPTEMBER 5, 1917

FIRST AEF WIA ON FRONT

Two members of the 11th Engineers of teh American Expeditionary Force (AEF) are wounded in action (WIA) by German shellfire at Gouzeaucourt --  the first Americans wounded while serving with a United States on the front lines of battle.

--Cooter

Obituary of Lisa Grimm Oda: A True Child of the 60s

From the September 17, 2017, Chicago Tribune Death Notices.

Born August 4, 1949  Died September 11, 2017.

After reading her obituary, I'd have to say she really lived and fulfilled the life of what we might call a Hippy.

"Always the explorer and adventurer, during the turbulent 60's, Lisa spent time in a commune in Berkeley, CA..  This foretold a lifelong quest to seek truth and wisdom and question the status quo.

"After a few years working for Price Waterhouse in Chicago, she left to embark on her quest to enrich others with her compassion, creativity, ethics, selflessness, thoughtfulness, spirituality, and nurturing spirit and being.

"A very spiritual person, Lisa studied many religions and philosophies, endeavoring to live life in as good a way as possible.  She found aspects of Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism and Native American Spirituality that gave her clarity and truth."

She Must have been Quite An Interesting Person.  A Real Flower Child.

World War I Chronology, 100 Years Ago This Month

SEPTEMBER 7, 1917

Merchant transport Minnehaha is torpedoed and sunk off the coast of Ireland -- 48 men drown.

--DaCoot

First Americans Killed Overseas in World War I-- Part 7: Ex- President Theordore Roosevelt's Response to the Attack

Lt. Fitzsimons was not the only American soldier to lose his life that night.

Privates Oscar Tugo, Private Rudolph Rubino and Private Leslie Woods were also killed in the raid.

There is no doubt that the raid was deliberate.  The German fliers even dropped German coins to show the Americans who had bombed them.

On a page one editorial in the Kansas City Star on September 17, 1917, former President Theodore Roosevelt blasted Germany for Fitzsimons' death saying that they had demonstrated "calculated brutality" and "carried on a systematic campaign of murder against hospitals and hospital ships."

After the war, the U.S. government had a program to enable parents and family to visit the graves of their family overseas.  On July 5, 1930, Lt. Fitzsimons' mother, Catherine Fitzsimons, visited his grave at the Somme American Cemetery and Memorial in Picardie, France.

--Cooter

Death of Lt. William T. Fitzsimons-- Part 6: "Before the Lifeless Remains of Lt. Fitzsimons, I Stood Dazed"

The lieutenant had a calling card on him  reading "Dr. W. T. Fitzsimons, United States Army."  It was ripped by shrapnel from the bomb which is now on display at the memory Hall at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City.

Nurse Louise McCloskey described the aftermath of Fitzsimon's death:  "Words are futile to describe that night, the dead, dying, wounded lying on the floor.  With only a flickering candlelight, someone whispered, 'Lt. Fitzsimons has been killed.'  In the daylight before my misty eyes, coffins were lying side by side holding lifeless bodies of soldiers killed that night.  Before the lifeless remains of Lt. Fitzsimons, I stood dazed."

National World--DaCoot

Death of Lt. William T. Fitzsimons-- Part 5: Should Not Have Been a Target

William Fitzsimons was the hospital base adjutant and second in overall command. as well as commander of the headquarters company and inline for promotion to captain at the time of his death.

The hospital should not have been a German target that night.  Its lights were on, and they knew it was a hospital.

At 10:30 p.m., September 4, 1917, the hospital received warning that German planes were approaching along the coast.  At 10:50, Fitzsimons was in his tent and heard bomb explosions.  he came out and called to the sentry, Hiram Brower to ask if all was alright.  Brower started to answer when a second explosion occurred.  This one killed Fitzsimons instantly.

--Cooter

--

Death of Lt. William T. Fitzsimons-- Part 4: Valuable Target

Fitzsimons returned to Kansas City from Europe on March 27, 1917, and joined the Army Medical Corps and was commissioned a lieutenant.  On April 27, 1917, he entered active duty.

Because of the German Navy's unrestricted warfare against merchant ships, it took three weeks for his ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, reaching Liverpool on August 13, 1917.  Two weeks later, he was at Base Hospital No. 5 at Dennes-Camiers, south of Calais, France.

This was a 12,000 bed facility, but unfortunately it was located close to a munitions storage area and a cement factory, both targets of enemy bombers.

Colonel Robert Patterson, commander of the U.S. hospital, insisted that a large American flag be flown from a very tall flagpole to assert American presence to the Germans.

Quite the Ripe Target for a German Ariel Attack.  --Cooter

Something Fishy in Fox Lake on September 16

Tomorrow, at 9:30 a.m., the Fox Lake Grant Township Area Historical Society will be having a monthly meeting at the Grant Hall Museum at 411 Washington Street in Ingleside, Illinois.

Topic of the meeting will be Commercial Fishing and Seining for Carp.

2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the organization, same as the 20th anniversary of the McHenry County Civil War Round Table which I also am a member.

Always something interesting.

--Cooter

Death of Lt. William T. Fitzsimons-- Part 3: Served in Europe Before U.S. Entry Into the War

Historian James Heiman has written a book "Voices in Bronze and Stone: Kansas City's World War I Monuments and Memorials."  he has a whole chapter on Lt. Fitzsimons.

He was born April 18, 1889 in Burlington, Iowa, the oldest of six children.  Fitzsimons attended St. Mary's College in St. Mary's and then in 1908, transferred to the University of Kansas' School of Medicine, receiving his BA in 1910 and two years later his medical degree.

After a year of internship at St. Mary's Hospital, he spent 14 months studying surgery in New York City.

While still a civilian, he went to England as a Red Cross volunteer, arriving September 13, 1914, just a few weeks after the war started.  From there he went to Belgium to treat wounded civilians and soldiers, returning to the United States on December 10, 1915.

--DaCoot

Death of Lt. William T. Fitzsimons in the Hospital Attack-- Part 2: First American Officer Killed in World War I

I did some more research on yesterday's post.

From the September 3, 2017, Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal "100 years later:  First officer killed in WW I was a doctor in Kansas" by Steve Fry.

Lt. William T. Fitzsimons was a northeastern Kansas surgeon in the U.S. Army, who was killed just three weeks after he arrived in France in 1917.

On September 4, 1917 a German aircraft made a late-night raid over the massive military hospital he was assigned to.

He had stepped to the door of his tent when a bomb landed within a dew feet of him and blew up, killing him instantly.  He was 28 at the time and became the first U.S. officer killed in the war.

--Cooter

World War I Chronology, Sept. 1917-- Part 1: First Americans Killed

SEPTEMBER 4

First American killed in France

Germans bomb American  hospital units at Dannes Carriers.  Four were killed and wounding nine Doughboys.

One of the men was the first American officer killed in the conflict, Lt. William Fitzsimons of Kansas.  Also killed were Privates Oscar C. Tugo, Rudolph Rubino and Leslie G, Woods.

--Cooter

World War I Chronology, September 1917, 100 Years Ago: 1st U.S. Aero Squadron Arrives in France

SEPTEMBER 3--  1st U.S. Aero Squadron arrives in France.  U.S. planes to the rescue.

From Wikipedia.

The 1st U.S. Aero Squadron is the military's oldest flying unit, established 5 March 1913.  Today it still exists as the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron (1RS), USAF and is assigned to the 9th Operations Group based at Beale AFB, California.

It was organized originally for operations along the U.S.-Mexico border during the Pancho Villa days.  Pancho Villa crossed the border and attacked Columbus, New Mexico, on 9 March 1916 and the 1st Aero Squadron was sent to Columbus and took part in the Punitive Expedition.

They were still in Columbus, N.M. when the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917.  They were ordered to Fort Jay, New York, and accompanied the U.S. First Division to Europe by boat, departing 13 August 1917 and arriving in England 1 September.  They crossed the English Channel the next day.

Lafayette, We Are Here.  --Cooter

About That War 100 Years Ago-- Part 5: This Means War!!

Given a free hand by Germany, Austria was determined to punish Serbia, and Russia, similarly encouraged by France, mobilized for defense of their fellow Slavs.

Mobilization, in the eyes of Germany, was tantamount to war, and, when Russia refused to order demobilization, Germany declared war (August 1).  Two days later she declared war on France, and, when the German army invaded Belgium, Great Britain entered the war (August 4).

Before many months, all of Europe, with the exception of Spain, Holland, Switzerland, Denmark, and the Scandinavian Peninsula, was involved.

Forsaking the Triple Alliance, Italy remained neutral until 1915, when she joined the Allies, followed by Romania and Portugal (1916) and Greece (1917).  Turkey (1914) and Bulgaria (1915) were brought into the war on the side of the Central Powers.

This Means War.  --DaCoot

"Some Damned Foolish Thing In the Balkans"

German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, giving a speech at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, ably summed up what he thought would start a general war.

"Europe today is a powder keg and the leaders are like men smoking in an arsenal... a single spark will set off an explosion which will consume us all ...  I cannot tell you when that explosion will occur, but I can tell you where   Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans will set it off."

By Jove, I Think He Got It.  --Cooter

U.S. Flags Still Up Today and Tomorrow

I have six United States flags up here at the house in Spring Grove, Illinois.  Sad to see that so few people flew flags yesterday.  Kind of was a flag thing to do.

And, I will have them up today and tomorrow.

Never Forgetting.

Flag of Honor and Flag of Heroes

As I was looking around the internet for 9-11 material, I came across these two flags. Both are United States flags, but the stripes are not one block of color.

The Flag of Honor to honor the people who died on September 11, 2001.  Their names are written on the stripes of the flag.

The Flag of Heroes is to honor emergency personnel who died on that day.  Their names make up the stripes.

I am thinking about getting one, perhaps both, for the next commemoration.

9-11 Observances Across the United States: New York, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Pa.

From USA Today.

In New York City, the observance begins at 8:46 a.m., ET, when the first tower of the World Trade Center was struck.  The second plane hit the second tower at 9:03 a.m..

At 9:37  a.m., President Trump will lead the observance at the Pentagon Building outside Washington, D.C..  That was the moment the third plane hit.

The observance near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, will begin at 10:03 a.m. ET, when the fourth plane crashed.

The names of all victims will be read at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City.

About That War 100 Years Ago-- Part 4: "Some Damned Foolish Thing In the Balkans"

With Europe indulging in an orgy of militarism, imperialism, and nationalism, it was unlikely that this balance of power could be indefinitely maintained.

It was finally upset in the Balkans, where racial hatreds and nationalistic striving were complicated by the conflicting ambitions of Austria and Russia.

One of the Serbian intrigues against Austria, encouraged by Russia, came to a head on June 28, 1914, when Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, was assassinated while visiting the city of Sarajevo in the Austrian province of Bosnia.

Doggone Balkans.  --DaCoot

About That War 100 Years Ago-- Part 3: Forming Alliances

Italy, since her unification, would extend her boundaries to include Italian-speaking peoples to the north and east;  Austria-Hungary, cut off from expansion to the west, looked upon the Balkans as a normal region for expansion and thus came into conflict with Russia.

Obviously, there was enough tinder here for a dozen conflagrations, and it is amazing that, with the exception of the Balkans, Europe maintained peace over a long period.

For this period of peace, Germany was primarily responsible.  Wedged in between hostile nations and anxious to maintain the status quo in Europe, she constructed in 1882 the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy.

To protect herself, France achieved an alliance with Russia in the early nineties and a close understanding with Great Britain, while the later attempted to iron out her conflicting imperialistic rivalries with Russia and Japan.

Just Waiting for a Spark.  --CootWar

About That War 100 Years Ago-- Part 2: Nearly Everybody Wanted Something

"While smaller nations sought to pick up the crumbs of imperialism let fall from the feast of their more powerful neighbors.

"In this scramble for markets and territories Africa had been carved up into colonies and protectorates, and there was every indication that the same fate awaited Asia.

"While colonial rivalries kept the chancelleries of Europe on the qui vive and precipitated numerous diplomatic crises, serious European rivalries were a continuous menace to peace.

France had never been reconciled to the separation of Alsace-Lorraine, and the more warlike of her statesmen awaited only the right moment to regain her lost provinces;  Russia, without an outlet to the Mediterranean, had her eyes fixed on Constantinople and sought to dominate the Balkans.

Just Waiting for the Spark.  --Cooter

About That War 100 Years Ago-- Part 1: Doing That Imperialism Thing

From the Federal Point Historic Preservation Society January 2017 newsletter.

Text from "American Political and Social History" by Harold Underwood Faulkner, published May 1937 by F.S. crofts & Co., New York.

A WORLD POWER

"...As the nations of Western Europe became industrialized, they sought an outlet for manufactured goods in the less developed regions of the world.  Great Britain had obtained the lion's share, but the decade after 1870 other nations moved aggresively to obtain what was left.

"Behind this imperialistic rivalry was France seeking to restore her national spirit after her defeat in 1870 (the Franco-Prussian War);  Germany, with an amazing industrial development and with the most powerful army in the world, demanding "a place in the sun"; Russia in search of an ice-free port on the Pacific; and Japan looking for markets to support her teeming population."

--Cooter

Big Ben Goes Silent-- Part 2: Longest Period of Silence Ever

Steve Jaggs, keeper of the Great Clock, said that the clock mechanism will be dismantled piece by piece, and its four dials will be cleaned and repaired.  The 15.1-ton bell will be cleaned and checked for cracks.

Big Ben has been stopped several times since it first sounded in 1859, but the current restoration project marks the longest period of silence.

Parliamentary officials say, however, that they will ensure that the bell still sounds on major occasions like New years Eve and Remembrance Sunday.

--Cooter

Big Ben Goes Silent-- Part 1: No Bongs for Four Years

From the September 3, 2017, Chicago Tribune "Big Ben to fall silent for 4 years" by AP.

If you're going top visit London with the idea of hearing the massive bongs of Big Ben, you're too late.  At least for the next four years, Big Ben goes silent.

Big Ben, the huge clock bell of Britain's Parliament has fallen silent as a four-year restoration project gets underway.

The bongs of the iconic bell stopped chiming at noon on August 21 to protect workers during the $38 million repair job on the Queen Elizabeth Tower which house Big Ben and its clock.  (Most people think Big Ben is the name of the tower.)  It isn't due to resume service until 2021.

--Cooter

Claude R. Pfaff-- Part 7: Fishing and Active in the Community

In the 1960s, Claude and Atha retired from the dairy farm and spent from early spring to late fall at the cottage at Carolina Beach.  Daughter Gerri says her father practically lived on Fisherman Steel Pier at Carolina Beach, coming home only when his wife demanded he eat or sleep.

In those years he became a member of the Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church and an active member in the life of the local community, often sitting on the benches of the boardwalk and people-watching while Atha played bingo.  There used to be a lot of bingo parlors and at one time the boardwalk was right by the ocean in the days before the dunes were established.

They saw Carolina Beach go into decline in the 1950s, which continued through to around 1980, when it started coming back to being the tourist destination it is today.

Claude died in November 1983 and Atha in September 1986.

Gerri Cohen is their last surviving child and currently lives in Wilmington, but still uses the cottage in the summer, sharing it with her extended family.  She is a member of the Federal Point Historical Society and generously offered her father's World War I uniform for display during the war's centennial.

--DaCoot

Claude R. Pfaff-- Part 6: Carolina Beach During World War II

Often during World War II, the Pfaff family ended up sharing their small cottage at Carolina Beach, "The Lullaby" with a family of strangers.  because of the shortage of housing in Wilmington area, property owners were required to rent out their houses in order to provide the families of the enlisted men due to ship out soon a place to spend a week at the beach before they separated.

Only office space was exempt, so Atha designated one room as an office.

--Cooter

Claude R. Pfaff-- Part 5: Summers At Carolina Beach, N.C.

Gerri Cohen (their daughter) remembers that as soon as her school was out the family would get on US Highway 421 in Winston-Salem and take it to Carolina Beach where they would stay all summer until just before school began in September.

Now, that's the life.  Beach bum for the summer.  I'd only get to do that for about a week and definitely not every summer.  Perhaps if we had continued living in North Carolina and had Hurricane Hazel not destroyed my grandparents' cottage on Carolina Beach's Southern Extension, I might have been able to do that as well.

Us Highway 421 goes right through Carolina Beach and ends at the "Rocks" by Fort Fisher, about four miles away.  I have taken  US-421 from its northern terminus in Michigan City, Indiana, all the way to the "Rocks."  Before I-40, it was the way to go from Winston-Salem (which it passes through) to Carolina Beach.

Carolina Beach, One of My Favorite Places in the World.  --CootBum

Claude R. Pfaff-- Part 4: A Carolina Beach Connection

In the 1920s, when he was working for the Realty Bond Real Estate Company, the firm would send its salesmen on vacation to Carolina Beach so that they would come back and tell their customers how wonderful the beach was, and hopefully sell more lots at Carolina Beach.

Throughout his years of living in Winston-Salem, Mr. Pfaff most enjoyed going to Carolina Beach for the fall fishing season.  His friend Ellis Freeman taught him how to fish, and Ellis' wife Annie, taught him how to cook what he caught.

In 1927, the Carolina Beach Hotel stood across from where Claude and Atha were staying, and one evening, while they were sitting on the porch of their place, they watched waiters and employees carrying out linens, silverware and other valuables from the hotel.  The next night the hotel "mysteriously" burned to the ground.

In the early 1930s, Claude built a cottage near Carolina Beach Lake as a birthday present to Atha, who named it "The Lullaby" for the choruses of frogs that sang around it at night.

--Cooter