Front Page News

We made the front page of the State Journal-Register yesterday! Well, at least Albert D. Cashier (aka Jennie Hodgers) did. She was a Civil War soldier from Illinois who was a woman but posed as a man to join the Union Army and lived as a man for the rest of her life until her true identity was discovered when she was in a car accident in 1910. It is quite the interesting story, and the journalist from the Journal-Register who interviewed (and filmed) me the other day was so intrigued with her/him. I was very surprised to see that our interview turned into the front page feature story! Hopefully the publicity will draw a good crowd for my programs tomorrow and Saturday.

On a random note, as I was driving home yesterday, I saw an undercover police man in a mini van!! That is really sneaky. He had pulled someone over, and there were the blue and red lights flashing in the front and back windows of the very inconspicuous mini van. It looked more like a family car than a police car.

Lincoln Home park ranger Tiffany Bowles

Home Improvement

Now that Greg is done with school for the summer, we've decided to get to work on some things we've been wanting to do at the condo. The first change was quite simple, but it makes a big difference! We have Mom and Ikea to thank for this idea--changing the cabinet door handles in the kitchen. Mom saw an Ikea add that featured dark kitchen cabinets with neat brushed silver handles. When she and I were at Ikea, we checked out the cabinet handles, and it gave me some really good ideas. So, I removed the 1980s decorative metal things behind the original white knobs on the cabinet doors, replaced them with some stylo brushed silver handles, and bam--new kitchen, just like that! The cabinet doors were nasty where the metal stuff had been, with years of gunk built up in there, but Greg and I cleaned, polished, and stained those areas so the doors look better than new.

Project #2 was a storage shed. The one problem with the condo was that it didn't have any outdoor storage for bikes, etc. So, we found this cool little mini house and spent last Saturday assembling it. It is really nice, and perfect for the things we needed to store outside (including our new grill that we got for summer cookouts).

We have also been cultivating some tomatoes--my favorite fresh vegetable. We had two of these "Topsy Turvy" upside down tomato growing apparati hanging outside, and they were both doing so great. But, unfortunately one of them had its trunk snapped by one of the storms, so we'll have to re-plant that one. But the other one is going gangbusters, and I think we'll have some tomatoes very soon. Our problem with a garden last year was that the bunnies ate everything--but when it's above the ground, we're good to go. Now we just need to finish the main floor bathroom . . .

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, started around the time of the Civil War when people wanted to pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who had given their lives for their country. So Greg and I decided that it would be appropriate to visit "my" Civil War soldiers at Camp Butler National Cemetery here in Springfield for Memorial Day this year. I call them "my" soldiers because I have researched their lives for the Civil War presentation I give at the Lincoln Home, and I almost feel like I know them.

Camp Butler was originally established in 1861 as a recruiting and training camp for Illinois soldiers. After the Union victory at Fort Donelson, Tennessee in 1862, they decided to transform the camp into a prison for captured Confederate soldiers. A portion of the prison camp soon had to be set aside as a cemetery to accommodate the casualties of illness or the harsh weather. Throughout the course of the war, 866 Confederate soldiers and 766 Union soldiers (who had been stationed there to guard the prisoners) were buried at Camp Butler. It is still a functioning National Cemetery, and it is quite an overwhelming feeling to stand there and look out over rows and rows of white headstones--especially with an American flag by each grave for Memorial Day.

So here is a Memorial Day tribute to some of my Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate:












Isaac Hiner was an 18-year-old farmer from Knox County, Illinois, when he joined the Union Army. He stood 5' 6" tall and had brown hair and hazel eyes. His regiment was stationed at Camp Butler to guard Confederate prisoners, and Isaac contracted smallpox from the prisoners. He died on February 13, 1865, just weeks before the end of the war.












Then we have the Empson brothers, part of the 30th Tennessee Infantry. Thomas D. Empson (left) was born on January 2, 1838, and his brother James R. Empson (right) was born on November 2, 1841. Thomas was married and had a son who was two-months-old when Thomas and James enlisted in the Confederate Army. The brothers were both captured at Fort Donelson and sent as prisoners to Camp Butler.

It is interesting to note that the headstone at Camp Butler says "J. R. Empson," but family letters and other documents indicate that it was actually Thomas who died at Camp Butler on April 30, 1862. There is record of James R. taking an oath of allegiance to the United States at Camp Butler in September 1862. There must be some story as to why the headstone says "J. R." instead of "Thomas," but I have yet to solve the mystery.










Next we have Isaiah Burkett who was born on December 30, 1825, in Missouri. He married, had a family, and later moved to Texas where he left his wife, three daughters, and unborn son to join the Confederate Army. He was also captured at Fort Donelson and sent to Camp Butler as a prisoner. He would die of pneumonia on February 19, 1863.

These are just a few faces from the 1,642 Civil War soldiers buried at Camp Butler. When looking at all of those graves, it's kind of hard to remember that each headstone marks an actual person's entire life. When we got to the cemetery today and saw all of the flags that the Boy Scouts had put by the graves, I wondered what they would have done at the Confederate graves. I was happy to see that in addition to an American flag, each Confederate grave had a small "stars and bars" flag--the first national flag of the Confederacy. Even though I don't agree with all of the principles upon which the Confederate States of America were founded, I think it is important that we remember the C.S.A. as an actual entity for which people fought and died. The bottom line is that all of the soldiers who fought in the Civil War, both Union and Confederate, were Americans. As Abraham Lincoln pointed out in his second inaugural address, both the North and South "read the same Bible and pray to the same God." The America that emerged from the Civil War was a stronger country, ready to overcome any challenge--because compared to the loss of life and devastation of the Civil War, no challenge seemed too great. The Civil War was really when America decided that it was going stick together for the long haul, and I think it is important to remember both sides of the conflict. So as we celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow, let's try to remember the reason for this wonderful holiday--the sacrifices of all American soldiers from the Revolutionary War to today.

Flooding

Soooooo, this is the road I usually take home in the evenings. Needless to say, I did not take my usual route this evening! I did make it to the top of the hill by the underpass shown here, but when I saw the water (and Police), I turned onto a side street. At about 3:15 this afternoon it started to rain . . . and rain . . . and pour. Then at 3:30 we got hit with a severe thunderstorm which brought golf ball sized hail, more rain, thunder, and lightning. It was literally raining buckets. I was in my office at the Lincoln Home Conference Center, and I couldn't even see across the street. My friend Melissa was in one of the other houses in the Lincoln neighborhood, and she called to ask me a question. As we were talking, she said, "Oh wait, I have to go. The Beedle House is flooding!" Turns out a window wasn't sealed properly, so they got about an eighth of an inch of water on the floor. One of the other homes started leaking (thankfully not the Lincoln Home), and then a tree got hit by lightning and fell across the road right by the Lincoln Home. Luckily they stopped tours at this point. It was absolutely crazy. Then on my way home, I saw cars that literally had water up to their windows! A bunch of streets were closed, and my drive that usually takes 10 minutes took closer to an hour.

When I finally made it home, I was looking at some of the pictures people had posted online of the flooding. I saw this picture with the caption "8th and Cook," and realized that is ONE BLOCK south of the Lincoln neighborhood! I recognize those houses. There was a lot of water in the neighborhood when we all left work this evening, so hopefully it hasn't risen THAT much just since 5:00, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Luckily the Lincoln Home sits higher than the rest of the neighborhood. They were saying that we got nearly five inches of rain in under two hours. That's a lot of rain!

Behind our condo there is a really pretty wooded area with a stream running through it. Greg got home from work at about 4:00 and noticed that the stream had risen quite a bit. So he went out to take a look at it and literally saw the stream start to wash over the road! There were some construction barriers on the sidewalk, but as you can see from this picture, the barriers washed away. People who live in th neighborhood up above ours couldn't get home until the water went down a bit. The nice field of grass across the street from us turned into a lake--but the water didn't get close to our condo at all. What a crazy day!