Do You Know What G.A.R. Means?

Montezuma Wine Tasting, Seneca Falls, NY

We were on our way to the Montezuma Winery in Seneca Falls today. Major road work caused us to be detoured over side streets. 

We discovered this monument dedicated to men in the G.A.R. 

Grand Army of the Republic(GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army who had served in the American Civil War. The GAR was among the first organized interest groups in American politics. It was succeeded by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (source from Wikipedia). We had never heard this term before today.

There were six G.A.R. posts in the Seneca Lake area. Two in Ovid (we visited Cayuga Ridge, Thirsty Owl and Hosmer wineries there); the one in Seneca Falls; one in Lodi (we visited Eremita winery last year even though it was closed for tastings); one in Interlaken (we visited Lucas winery there last year) and one in Waterloo (where there are no wineries!).Our winery pictures are below.

Of the chartered posts (some of which disbanded), seven men ranging in age from 18 to 29 joined. Five were killed in action and one was wounded and mustered out. That one was 23 and his younger brother, 21, was one who died as a POW.

We learned on our earlier travels that there was a civil war prison in Elmira, which the interred referred to as “Hellmira”. In a one-year period, at least 12,000 confederate soldiers were prisoners. Almost 3,000 men died there. Compare that with Andersonville from one of my earlier posts and the percentages are not too far apart. An historian, Michael Horigan, stated, “Elmira, a city with excellent railroad connections, was located in a region where food, medicine, clothing, building materials, and fuel were in abundant supply. None of this could be said of Andersonville. Hence, Elmira became a symbol of death for different reasons.” The site is now occupied by homes and there is only a small marker or two to indicate that there was a prison there in 1865.


Because we got involved in visiting wineries and breweries, we were slackers on our Civil War mission.  We thought we'd be done with NYS wineries and its Civil War places this year, BUT we know we'll return again next year for some more exploring.

Eremita Winery in Lodi, NY

View from Thirsty Owl, Ovid, NY

Hosmer Tasting Room in Ovid, NY (dig those purple Adirondack chairs!)

Cayuga Ridge Tasting Room, Ovid, NY

Lucas Winery in Interlaken

Memoirs are Memories with an E

Our next to last day in Glenville, NY, was July 11. We drove to Mt. McGregor which is in Wilton, NY, near where I was born and raised. It’s amazing how something can be in your backyard and you have never seen it. Such was the case of Grant Cottage. The outlook from the mountain was amazing. You can see the New York Adirondacks, Vermont Green Mountains, Massachusetts Berkshires and the NY Catskills.  It’s where Grant spent his last days before he died. These photos don't do the view justice.

The history of the cottage was fascinating.  Duncan McGregor (who is another story) built a small scale hotel on the summit and called it Mountain House. After a few years, he was approached by two business men, Arkell and Drexel.  They wanted to build a grand hotel on the mountain…the Balmoral. McGregor agreed to sell as long as he was on their Board and had a say in what happened to his hotel. His little hotel was carefully moved so that the new hotel could be constructed, along with a railroad. (The Balmoral was destroyed by fire from a lightening bolt and replaced with a prison.  The railroad was removed.) 

The workers stayed at the Mountain House and once construction was finished, Mr. Drexel moved in. He renamed it the Drexel cottage. When he learned his good friend, Ulysses, was terminally ill, he offered it to Grant and it became Grant Cottage.

General Grant took Drexel up on the offer as he had discovered his financial advisor had cheated him and there was  little money left to his name. He also had been diagnosed with throat cancer. He was devoted to his wife, Julia, and his family. He wanted to be sure they were in a good place financially. His goal was to write his memoirs and what better place to do it than atop a mountain. 

He left New York City and moved to the location just outside of Saratoga Springs, which had become the playground of the wealthy after the Civil War.  Mark Twain, another of Grant’s friends,  was willing to publish Grant’s memoirs.  Ulysses finished writing them three days before he died.

The cottage remains as it did when he lived there. Above is a tincture of cocaine and water that was used to soothe his throat. The guide says there has been no evaporation in over 100 years!


 His personal effects are there as he left them.

He had written a note to his family the night before he died and his family found it in his nightshirt pocket. It was very touching and I wish I had taken a photo of it.

The funeral procession went from Saratoga Springs, down State Street in Albany, thru the Hudson River Valley, past West Point to New York City. It has been said that it was the largest funeral procession in all of history. His wife did not attend and she never returned to the cottage. I must read her memoirs! 

Even floral arrangements from the funeral are in the dining room. They have been preserved by waxing each petal.

The dining room table is said to be where he was embalmed for a second time as the family wasn't pleased with the first time! 

Grant was a wonderful man, in my opinion, and four of the words he used still remain true today, “Let us have peace.” I may have to read his memoirs as well. Maybe I should write my own…no, I’ll stick to blogging! I only have memories, not memoirs.

Black is Black (Los Bravos)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#47987597

We saw that on the news tonight and it brought back memories of information we had seen on our Civil War trip. The more things change, the more they stay the same...just sayin'.

New York

This is the granite monument New York State erected in 1911 and dedicated in 1924 at the Andersonville prison cemetery. The Women's Relief Corps acquired the prison in 1896 and encouraged states to build memorials. It is HUGEah and has bronze pictures on both sides.

As you can see from the picture of my Mr. Perry, I am not exaggerating like Billy Fuscillo does! It's enormous because of their enormous sacrifice.

Of the 9,000 New York soldiers imprisoned at Andersonville, 2261 died and are buried here. It is said that the picture represents a soldier who has hope with the angel appearing and the other cannot see her because of his despair.

"F" Words

Anne's Chicken

House Salad

Bill, Anne, Me, Perry, Sandy

Mussels

Shrimp Ravioli

Spedini Appetizer

Veal a la Luigi

Yes, you are quite right...this has nothing to do with the Civil War and EVERYTHING to do with food and family...those are some F words I love. (That was for my children and all who know what word I hate!) OK, maybe I can bring the Civil War into it now...what were the F words then? Forts, fighting, Fredericksburg, freedom...yes, that's what it's all about FREEDOM.

"Baseball... been berra berra good... to me."

Garrett Morris' line from SNL. We love it! We also love Yogi Berra's, "I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house." and "Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets." Well, our grandson, Sam, was out of the house last night. His mother, father, sister and grandparents were off the streets! His team didn't win but they did play well (or is it good?) Any English majors who read this, let me know. We enjoyed watching Sam in the outfield and at bat...he's a good solid hitter. Once in awhile he pitches. Saturday we will go to another game and then probably the All Star game. Again, what's this have to do with the Civil War you might ask? Did you know that even while they were fighting they played baseball at Ft. Pulaski in Savannah? Here's a photo of a sign we took to show the team.

Abner Doubleday was a Union General and he never claimed to have invented baseball. He did fire the first shot from Ft. Sumter in Charleston. He also claimed to have been born in Ballston Spa, NY...which is where we had dinner (Spa Brauhaus) with our daughter and her friend tonight. We have had two wonderful evenings together with our family and more to come.

Our Grandson, Sam, at bat with no one on base. Score 11/11.

Our Granddaughter, Megan, anticipating Sam's winning hit...Sam's team wins!

New York State of Mind...Billy Joel

Sing it Billy Joel! We were in a NYS of mind today at the Antietam Battlefield and Cemetery. Since we are formerly from upstate NY, I thought I'd share a couple pics of the memorials NY erected in honor of men who fought at Antietam. There were more photos but I don't want to fill up the blog with those.

84th Infantry

Of the nearly 100,000 soldiers engaged in battle here, about 23,000 were killed, wounded, or missing. One company lost 2,200 men in 20 minutes. We went to the Antietam National Cemetery and discovered 849 of them were New Yorkers buried at this cemetery.

Monument at Cemetery

849 New York Grave Sites

We truly are in a NYS frame of mind as we are en route to Glenville, NY tomorrow to see family and friends in the Adirondack area. We didn't have time to do all of the Civil War trails that we had hoped to cover. That may mean another trip in 2014. We've got the route down pat now so I'll be able to read the maps like a pro!