Haven't We Met Before?

I'm Not sure exactly when the history of the Civil War captured my imagination, but I think it was  when I was 7 or 8 years old. 

My family was visiting my cousin Charles Mateer and my Aunt Kathryn when they were spending the summer with Uncle Harry whose company was building a facility for the government's war effort  in Beaufort, S.C.  (Pronounced BEW-fort....as opposed to Beaufort, N.C. (Pronounced BOW-fort).

Walking around, barefoot (as most all kids did back then in the summer time) I stepped on a "mnnie ball." 

From then on, I was hooked.

I've never tired of reading about it and was especially thrilled to discover early on that I had ancesters who fought in the war...especially Manse Jolly, who was somewhat "famous," or "notorious," depending on which side you were on.

Then when I discovered that my wife also had an ancester, Sidney Davis, who had fought for the OTHER side...and had even written a book......WELL.......my imagination has been in overdrive ever since.

Being a Southerner, my sympathies have always been on the side of my ancestors.  But after "meeting" (via his book) Sidney Davis...WELL.....

Anyway, it's a damm good thing they didn't happen to meet up on some battlefield, and start shooting at each other...and........

Or did they?

Sidney Davis devotes an entire chapter of his book to the

Battle of Brandy Station the largest Cavalry battle of the War. Manse and Sidney were both Cavalry officers, but on opposite sides, and both fought in that battle!

Small world, huh?

But of course there were thousands of men and horses that participated  so the odds against their actually shooting at each other  were still pretty great.

There were also some new things I learned about Manse that I didn't know:

The Confederate Military Records stated that:

 The company comander, Capt. Baker, wrote that Manse was 6 feet 4 inches tall, and that he had a ruddy complexion, blue eyes and red hair. 

In the heat and confusion of the battle , Davis writes that he found himself knocked off his horse and mingled briefly with a few Coufederate Calverymen also separated from their horses scrambling to return to their units.

In the confusion, Davis writes that he passed  

 "....a tall,  savage looking confederate, his long red hair and flaming whiskers, heavy eyebows, and muscular frame made up a formidable object, of which I should have felt shy...if alone."

Manse?

Well, he sure fits that description, especially the "formidable object," part.

Nawwww, couldn't be. There were lots of Confederate Calvery soldiers....6'4"...with red hair........

Right?

-Ed

Stories Told on the Porch by My 170 Year Old Grandfather

Now that I have your attention.

Admittedly, the headline may be a little misleading, but it's all true!

Kinda.

Except it's not about my grandfather, he didn't tell stories on the porch, and he wasn't 170 years old.

Sidney Davis was my wife's great, great, etc grandfather. I never heard him tell any stories, but he wrote a lot of them, all of which were about his adventures as a Cavalry man in the Yankee Army during the Civil War...which occurred 150 years ago at which time he was about 20 years old.
That's how I came up with the 170.

I've passed on several of his adventures before on this site, for example the time he was sent out to forage  for meat for some of his fellow soldiers.....

"By and by, I came upon a flock of sheep, to which I gave chase. I was rather fleet of foot and kept close to them and driving them into fence corners and over all sorts of obstructions.
Finally, one of them, made an effort to jump through a fence but became fastened, and I caught it.

Out came my knife and I felt for its throat; while thus engaged, however, I felt its heart beat wildly against my leg. “Poor old fellow,” thought I, “how hard it must be for even an animal to yield up its innocent life!”

I hesitated, I put down my hand and stroked its head; and then, returning my knife to my pocket, dismissed the sheep with my blessing."

The foraging expedition was a failure that night.


The last I saw of that sheep was after I had crossed the fence out of the field. I looked back after I had traveled about two rods, and there he was, mounted on his hind feet, and with his fore feet upon the upper rail, and his white head up in the air, and his eyes peering after me.

And then there was the time, after the battle of Gettysburg that he was captured prisoner by the Confederates and being driven by "car" (the train) to Belle Isle prison near Richmond.

The ride from Gordonsville to Richmond was devoid of interest. I remember that it grew dark soon after we left the former town, and that there seemed to be an endless monotony of pine forests and lonely fields.

But few words were spoken that night. I managed to secure a seat on the end of a car beside one of the guards...a tall, lean, lank man, forty-five or fifty years of age, with long reddish hair and whiskers...and as comfortable as circumstances would permit. 

About midnight I felt the guard lean heavily upon me, and from his hand slipped the dreaded musket.  As it fell I seized it, and thus prevented its loss. The man was sound asleep.

My first impulse, now that I had an enemy in my power, was to push him off suddenly between the cars, and have him crushed to death; but it occurred to me that such an act would simply constitute a cowardly murder; then the vision of a family in tears rose vividly before me.

I awakened him, gave him his gun, and cautioned him playfully as to his duty as a soldier.

He seemed very grateful, and said he was completely worn out from fatigue.  For a few moments he sat up, and then settled back again...sound asleep, and I once more caught the gun as it fell.

I allowed him to sleep until we reached Richmond, just before dawn, when I aroused him."

Sidney Davis was a good man that the Civil War caused some bad

things to happen to. He saw a lot of death and came close himself on a number of occasions.  Even the one time he was issued a two week "leave" and returned home for a short rest, was not without shock.

Davis was a Motherless child who lived with an "off and on" alcoholic father who worked for a man named Levi Bentley. They also lived on his property. Davis' childhood was pretty much normal for children of that era. In addition to the farm, Bentley owned a printing business at which both father and son worked. A Mrs. Samuel's worked as a housekeeper for Mr. Bentley and was like a "mother" to Sidney.

While relaxing on leave at his home, Davis accidentally discovered a document that he never knew existed;

 Allegheny city, September 20 1845

This article of agreement between Levi Bentley of Washington, County, State of Pennsylvania, of the one part, and Nancy Davis of Allegheny City of the other part witnesseth:
     That the said Nancy agrees to give her son Sidney to the said Levi Bentley to raise until he shall be fit to go for a trade. He also agrees to feed and clothe the boy during the above period.  Mr. Levi Bentley also agrees to give the mother Nancy Thirty-five dollars in cash this day, which she receipts for.  It is distinctly understood by the parties that the said Levi shall have the sole control of the boy, without the interference of his mother Nancy, in consideration of the above thirty five dollars.

He had been an "indentured servant!"

Davis writes only that in hindsight, his father never exercised any claim over him as a parent and "Levi spared my feelings in the matter, for I did not know of the existence of the document."

Davis wrote his memories hoping to have them published and launch his career as a "writer."

But he had no luck.  Instead, his hand written manuscript traveled  unread,  from year to year in descendant's attics until my wife's uncle, John Davis read it....and published it.

Sales were mostly to family members...about half of whom took the trouble to read it, and the other half tucked it away in their attics.

Sorry Sid, but reading is not what many Americans do these days.

Plus, the current generation of youngsters consider the Civil War to be "old" news.  "Something that happened a long, long time ago....probably just after WW2."

It's "so...yesterday."

-Ed

WUNC-TV

My first "anchor gig" was when I was in college at the University of North Carolina. I took over the anchor position on the 6 o'clock news for Channel 4 in Chapel Hill...that was WUNC-TV.

(I was using my real name back then, Ed Myers.  I didn't become "Lee Shephard" until I joined WTOP-TV in Washington in  1961 because of a "conflict" with another "Ed Myer" TV personality on a competeting station.)


I was the first student to do that job...prior to that in 1956 or perhaps it was 1957...professors did that. I was paid $1 a show.
It was great experience for me....that was my first anchor job...and I'm sure it played a role in getting my first commercial TV job at WSOC-TV Charlotte...anchoring the 11pm news on Channel 9.

WUNC-TV was located at that time in Swain Hall....the original Cafeteria Building for UNC.  

(The nickname back then was "Swine Hall.)

Speaking of that, there was a small snack shop next to Swain Hall...which also housed the University's FM radio station. I hung around there for a short time during my freshman year but I don't believe I ever did any work there. I got to know a few of the guys who did work there, mostly seniors I believe, and one of the upper classmen asked me to run next door and get him a "cup of choclate."

Chocolate what,?  I asked.

A CUP OF CHOCOLATE!.....You Damm Fool.  (He didn't say, "Damm Fool" but that was his tone.)

So, I went next door and asked the clerk behind the counter for a "cup of chocolate."

She replied, "A cup of chocolate what?

Damned if I know, he said you'd know.

So, she pumped out a cup of chocolate sauce and handed it to me.

I gave it to the aforementioned senior...who didn't seem happy at all.

You just can't please some people.

Snapshots of staff members.

1957 was a long time ago....so forgive me, but I can't remember the names of these outstanding staff members.

My guess on the left....producer John?..... and Van Trapp ? on the right.  Middle fellow?

-Ed

My Inner Artist

In case you missed it, the art world is all atwitter because of Sotheby's  latest auction.  As usual, record prices were paid. To the best of my knowledge I don't ever remember an art auction where "record prices" were NOT paid.

Three of the top sellers were:

"Yellow on Blue" by Mark Rothko...which sold for 48 Million Dollars.

"Yellow on Blue"

Some of Marks other "masterpieces" are  "Red and Blue," "Brown and Black," etc.  His most famous paintng, was "Orange  and Yellow," which sold for $87 million dollars!

"Orange and Yellow"

Alberto Goacometti's bronze sculpture "Pointng Man" sold for 148 million dollars. which exceeded the record breaking price of 27.8 million dollars paid a couple of years ago for his "Walking Man."

"Pointng Man"  by Goacometti

Walking Man

I've decided that it's way past `time for me to get in on this rac....... game!

I realized last night while going through a box of old pictures, taken with the now forgotten film camera (remember Kodak?) that I've had an artistic talent lurking deep inside me that I never realized I had!  It's amazing how just reading about a Sotheby's auction brought out my "inner artist!"

Anyway, after going through only a couple of boxes of old photographs and negatives, a number of obvious "classics" popped right up.  I'm sure you'll agree that these prize winners will make struggling artists everywhere want to turn in their berets!

"Going Forward"

Circle of Life"

"In the Beginning"

Inner Artist (Continued)

"Life is Wired"

So, Eat your hearts out Mark and Al, there's a new guy in town....ME!

AND, I'm going to tell the thousands of CHS54 website readers how to get in on the action too!

Find a bunch of your old photographs (the kind we all used to take with a film camera) and search for the prints that hopefully you didn't throw away. Every roll we used to get back from the Drug Store included 2 or 3

"The Colors of Our Moods"

frames at the beginning of the roll that the Drug Store's developing machine printed that were simply part of the winding of the film into the camera.  Hopefully you didn't throw them away...because these are the non-sensical, funky images that the art world loves!

That's how my "classics" happened.

Except for the "Circle of Life."  That happened when my flash didn't go off.

Anything that doesn't make any sense to you, will probably be considered a masterpiece by the art world, so go for it!

Give them a high faluting, ethereal name...and VOILA!...the money should start rolling in.

-Ed