Location: In park at Park Ave & Bull St, Savannah, GA 31401

Visited: August 13, 2009, 8:20am

Transcriptions of markers:

East face:

In grateful remembrance of
Stephen N. Harris
who served his country well
as a soldier and citizen
Private, Co. B 2nd Ga. Infantry
1898
Cdr. Worth Bagley Camp No. 10 Dept. Ga. U.S.W.V.
1932
Commander Dept. of Ga. U.S.W.V
1900       1931
Adj. Gen. United Spanish War Veterans
1928       1929
Chief of Staff, Council Of Adm. Ga. U.S.W.V.
1937       1938
His character and leadership inspired his
comrades and fellow citizens.

North face: [Spanish War Veterans’ insignia]

West face:

A tribute to that
Soldier · Comrade · Citizen
William L. Grayson
1870       1941
1st. Lieut. Co. “M” 1st Regt. Ga. Vols.
Spanish American War
Commander Department of Georgia U.S.W.V.
1925 — 1927
National Commander in Chief U.S.W.V.
1928 — 1929
His distinguished service has endeared him
to all veterans of all wars
1946

South face (front):

To those
Georgians who
volunteered and
served their
country in the
Spanish American
War

My impressions: This marker was high on my “want to visit” list for our trip to Savannah, because I found out about this through finding a Spanish-American War memorial in Portsmouth, VA and the linkage made by an editor of The Historical Marker Database to other markers that feature The Hiker, by sculptor Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson.

It is kind of amazing to see something familiar and apparently unique (until one learns the fuller story) in two different settings, nearly 500 miles apart. And that isn’t diminished too much by the fact that I knew I would see it and had planned the visit in Savannah.

I remember, early on in my days at Markeroni seeing somebody refer to “their marker,” a marker near their home with which they felt a strong affinity. At the time, before I’d started being intentional about snarfing (and before I’d logged any markers on the site), I didn’t really understand it. It clicked in for my last month, as I was in Portsmouth, VA for about the third time to find markers. That day I was “on a mission” to complete visiting a series of markers (for the city’s Path of History), but my walking route took me past several markers that I’d previously snarfed…and there was a familiarity that made it almost as though I was passing an old friend, because I had visited these markers, taken their photos, transcribed them, and written about them. So, standing in a park in Savannah, the first time I’d ever done more than drive through the state of Georgia, I felt at home…even though, I still know woefully little about the Spanish-American War.

Markeroni status: Not yet logged (and it appears I also did not log the similar monument in Portsmouth, VA yet).

Credit: Thanks to hmdb.org and their page on this monument for their transcriptions of this marker.

Schenectady, NY. Photo: Howard C. Ohlhous, 2007. Courtesy of hmdb.org

Yesterday, though, I learned through the expertise of one of their editors about links between a war memorial I had visited in Portsmouth, VA and others across the country. Almost two months ago, I saw a memorial commemorating those who served in the Spanish-American War. But through an editor’s links, I found that the depiction on that 1942 monument, dedicated to those who volunteered from Portsmouth and from Norfolk County, was actually somewhat famous.

Their database includes examples from three other places:

• Schenectady, NY, dedicated in 1921 (and rededicated in 1996) to honor those who served from Schenectady County;


Savannah, GA. Photo: Mike Stroud, 2008. Courtesy of hmdb.org

• Savannah, GA (a city my wife and I will be visiting next month), erected in 1931 to honor those who volunteered from Georgia; and


Arlington, VA. Photo: Richard E. Miller, 2008. Courtesy of hmdb.org

• Arlington, VA, where it has stood in Arlington National Cemetery (where my wife and I attended a burial earlier this year) since 1965.

According to Wikipedia, there are many more copies around the country, with estimates of 39 in an article on another example to roughly fifty, according to the article on the sculptor, Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson (1871–1932). Born in Brookline, MA, she was denied entry to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, because she was female. She started studying with sculptor Henry Hudson Kitson in 1886 and went on to marry him. Kitson was the first woman to be admitted to the National Sculpture Society.

So next month, when we go to Savannah, I think I’ll have to see if I can get to this marker. And I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes open online to see what else I can learn about history (and historical markers) from others!

It’s amazing what you can learn from the Internet these days!

On Monday, this blog will continue our trip towards Yorktown and later in the week, we’ll travel from there to Jamestown on the Colonial Parkway. I hope you’ll join us.

Location: US Route 17 at border between the cities of Portsmouth and Chesapeake, High St W, opposite Academy Ave, Portsmouth, VA, 23703

Visited: July 4, 2009, 9:50am

Transcription of marker: The site of this city was patented in 1659 by Captain William Carver. Established as a town in 1752 and named by its founder, Lt. Col. Wm. Crawford. Chartered as a city in 1858, it has the country’s oldest naval shipyard. Established 1767, the nation’s oldest naval hospital, commenced 1827, and is the birthplace of the world’s largest naval installation.

Virginia State Library, 1959

My impressions: After all the markers I’ve found in the older areas of Portsmouth, it came as a surprise to hear my wife say she’d spotted one as we were driving past a sea of fast-food outlets and businesses. (You can see the Wendy’s in the background of the photo, even.) Though the setting seems a little incongruous, what better place to recount the history of the city but as you enter it? (OK, we were leaving, but it was on the far side of the road, intended for those entering, I’m sure.) That said, I think there are other markers to commemorate nearly every event described on this marker, so it almost seems superfluous. Then again, this is right on US 17, and not everybody is going to venture to the older part of town, so perhaps it has benefit for getting more eyes on the city’s history.

Markeroni status: Visit logged.

Location: Monticello Ave (US-460) just north of Virginia Beach Blvd (US-58), Norfolk, VA 23510

Visited: June 23, 2009, 4:15pm

Transcription of marker: This is the site of Fort Tar, built to guard the approach to the city from the west, situated on the outskirts of Norfolk, near Armistead’s Bridge, which spanned Glebe Creek nearby. It served with Forts Barbour, Norfolk, and Nelson to protect Norfolk and Portsmouth from invasion by the British in the War of 1812.

Owen Mfg. Corp.     Norfolk, Va.

My impressions: This, like yesterday’s Four Farthing or Town Point marker is of unknown type. It’s listed in the Markeroni database (as it was in previous editions of the Virginia marker guidebooks) as an un-numbered state marker, but it is not in the current book and when one looks at the marker, one finds the seal of Norfolk where the seal of Virginia is normally found and the name of the manufacturer where the name of the state body erecting the marker is usually found.

This is one of those that almost devolves into laundry-list mode. We find out that the fort was built to guard the western approach to the city. After that it goes into the local geography briefly before listing various other forts in the area. It does seem incongruous to think of a fort at what’s now a busy intersection, though.

Markeroni status: Logged.

Update (7/16): After some discussion, I’ve decided to consider these markers as city markers, so have changed the heading and category tag to match that. As there are not enough of these City of Norfolk markers outside the Cannonball Trail series to form a list, I have included them in the parent category “Municipal Historical Markers.”

Location: Elizabeth River, at the High St ferry landing, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 3:20pm

Transcription of marker: The Elizabeth River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay, runs between the cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk. The river was named “Elizabeth” in honor of Princess Elizabeth Stuart, the eldest daughter of King James I of England.

The river was first called “Chesapeake,” after the tribe of Native Americans who lived on its banks. They were an Algonquin-speaking people who depended on the land and water for existence. When John Smith explored the eastern area in 1608, he saw their “golden plots” and other indications of Native American habitation.

My impressions: I can get all caught up in the differences between Canadian and American history that I can sometimes forget about the similarities. And as I come to the end of the photos from this trip to Portsmouth (a city with a name that would be at home in England), along a river named for Elizabeth (ditto), and prepare to cross back to a city named Norfolk (ditto), this (especially coupled with the photos you’ll see in today’s bonus third post) reminded me that we share a lot of history from before our paths diverged.

Markeroni status: When Path of History data entry is complete, I’ll be logging this visit on Markeroni.

Direct-logged
In Commemoration of the Last Public Appearance of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody at Portsmouth, Virginia on November 11, 1916

Location: Water St, parking lot between High St & Columbia St, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 3:10pm

Transcription of marker:

William F. Cody, associated with a Western exhibition titled “Buffalo Bill (Himself) and the 101 Ranch Wild West Combined,” passed by this spot on a route that would take the parade to the intersection of Washington and Lincoln Streets, site of the “Grand Finale.”

The success enjoyed by the Fourth of July celebration known as “The Old Glory Blowout” at North Platte, Nebraska, on July 4, 1882, convinced William F. Cody to organize “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” and tour the United States and parts of Europe. Buffalo Bill was and is a symbol of a glamorous and colorful era in United States history.

He literally crated and shipped samples of the “Wild West” to centers of population around the world, giving millions of Americans and Europeans the opportunity to view first hand a part of American history that had captured the popular imagination.

Dedicated to William F. Cody, an illustrious American, remembered as the “Father of Rodeo,” “The First International Star,” and “America’s Goodwill Ambassador-at-Large”

Sponsored by Backtrailing Buffalo Bill Cody
Presented by the Fletcher Family, November 11, 1987

My impressions: I have to admit to not having much of a clue who Buffalo Bill was. Colorful and showman are about the only impressions I have. I didn’t know of a Portsmouth connection until seeing this marker. I do wonder whether this marker is commemorating his last public appearance or his last public appearance in Portsmouth. I presume it’s the former, though I am not certain on this point.

This marker is interesting to me, because it appears to have been privately sponsored and because it sits in a small area surrounded by parking lots and buildings, which is to say, not in typical historic Portsmouth.

Markeroni status: Direct-logged and awaiting its proper code in the Markeroni database.

Location: At the east end of Columbia St, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 3:15pm

Transcription of marker:

Gosport Navy Yard
Birthplace of the CSS Virginia

Before you is the Gosport Navy Yard (Norfolk Naval Shipyard). Gosport is the oldest Navy shipyard in the nation. Here is where the USS Merrimack was burned and then transformed by the Confederates into the powerful ironclad ram, the CSS Virginia.

Gosport Navy Yard was first established in 1767 by British naval agent Andrew Sprowle. It was occupied by patriot forces in 1775 and operated as a shipyard by the Virginia State Navy. Gosport, the largest shipyard in America, was burned by the British in 1779 when they occupied Portsmouth.

In 1794 the yard was loaned to the U.S. Government and purchased by the U.S. Navy Department in 1801. The USS Chesapeake was one of a group of six frigates authorized by Congress to “Provide a Naval Armament,” and was the first ship built at Gosport Navy Yard in 1798–1799. On June 17, 1833, the 74-gun ship-of-the-line USS Delaware entered the newly completed Dry Dock No. 1. The Delaware was the first ship to enter a dry dock in America.

When Virginia left the Union, the U.S. Navy evacuated and burned the yard. Gosport was immediately occupied by local Confederates. Salvaged stores and equipment, including 1,085 cannons, were used to equip and fortify the many land batteries erected in the Tidewater region and at other locations throughout the South.

The steam frigate Merrimack, with 40 guns, had been under repair at Gosport and during the Federal evacuation was burned and sunk. The Confederates raised it, placed it in Dry Dock No. 1 and from designs drawn by Naval Constructor John L. Porter, a Portsmouth native, converted it into the ironclad CSS Virginia. While on its trial in Hampton Roads, Virginia sank the USS Cumberland and USS Congress on March 8, 1862. On the next day it fought the ironclad USS Monitor, proving that wooden warships were obsolete.

Gosport Navy Yard produced several other gunboats and part of another ironclad, the CSS Richmond. On May 10, 1862, the yard was burned again, this time by the evacuating Confederates and immediately reoccupied by the U.S. Navy. The Union controlled Gosport during the rest of the war.

My impressions: Again, I’m impressed by how much history, the Civil War Trails markers manage to include on one marker. They are full of context and details and color. They also appear to me to be well-written. I realize that this helped clear up some of my confusion around the Fort Nelson marker which speaks of how many times the fort was burned. But it seemed too passive to me. This marker, while discussing another site, explains the reasons why the installation was lost to fire. It doesn’t talk about how it “was burned,” it tells us who burned it and why, and makes a lot more sense to me than the guesses I was making as to the fire’s causes.

Markeroni status: Direct-logged and awaiting its proper code in the database.

This post will be the only one today, and it will be followed tomorrow with a special history-related (but not historical-marker-related) post. On Thursday, I’ll resume looking at markers I found on a recent trip to Portsmouth, VA in a mega-post about Fort Nelson Park, which contains roughly a dozen markers from Portsmouth’s Path of History, which I’ll combine in one post so we don’t have an entire week or two on the history of the Portsmouth Naval Hospital.

Now on to the marker about Collier’s Raid:

State Historical Marker
Virginia Q-8-G
Collier’s Raid

Location: Crawford Pkwy & Washington St, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:55pm

Transcription of marker: A British fleet under Commodore Sir George Collier sailed up the Elizabeth River and shelled Fort Nelson in May 1779, during the Revolutionary War. A landing force of 1,800 infantrymen led by Brig. Gen. Edward Mathew captured the fort on 10 May after a brief resistance. The British occupied Portsmouth, Gosport, and Norfolk, and burned Suffolk and the Gosport shipyard. Collier also captured or burned 137 vessels in Hampton Roads and dismantled Fort Nelson. The British force then embarked and sailed to New York.

Department of Historic Resources, 1998

My impressions: As somebody from outside the US, from a country that peacefully moved from colony to country, it takes me aback to think that this was happening in 1779, three years after that “magic” date of 1776. Reading the marker it seems almost random: the British forces did a lot in this area and then the one cryptic sentence: The British force then embarked and sailed to New York.

It almost sounds like “Nothing left to destroy here, we might as well move along…want to catch a Broadway show?” This is actually a tantalizing taste to me. That one sentence on its own seems so incongruous that it leaves me wanting to research what actually happened. WHY did they leave here and sail to New York?

Markeroni status: Logged.

Location: Crawford Pkwy, just west of Court St, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:45pm

Transcription of marker:

Olde Towne Portsmouth
* * *
Southern  Architectural Splendor

The one square block historic district before you is Portsmouth’s Olde Towne. The district dates to 1752 when Portsmouth was founded by William Crawford. Olde Towne contains one of the largest collections of historic buildings in Virginia featuring Colonial, Federal, Greek Revival, Georgian, and Victorian architectural styles.

Olde Towne is the centerpiece of Portsmouth’s Civil War history. Several of the buildings found throughout the district played an important role in events that unfolded in Portsmouth during the war.

The 1846 Courthouse was once the site of government in old Norfolk County. Before the Civil War, slaves were sold at the front of the building, and it was here that a vote was taken approving secession.

On April 19, 1861, the day before the Federal evacuation of Gosport Navy Yard, members of Portsmouth’s militia companies slept with their weapons in the courthouse. The building was used as a hospital by Union troops from 1862 until 1865.

The Macon House Hotel knew both gaiety and despair during the war. From its Middle Street porch the Virginia Defenders, a local volunteer infantry company, accepted a flag from the ladies of Portsmouth. After the Confederates evacuated Portsmouth in 1862, the Federals used the Macon House as a troop quarters and hospital. The names of Federal soldiers carved into the hotel’s floor are still visible.

Two houses, Pass House and the William H. Peters House, played a major role in the Union occupation of Portsmouth. The William H. Peters House served as headquarters for Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler while he commanded the Union forces in Portsmouth. Local legend claims that Butler earned his nickname of “Spoons” while in Portsmouth because of the sudden disappearance of family silverware when homes were occupied by his troops. The James Murdough Home, known as the Pass House, took on an ominous air when it became the headquarters of the Union Adjutant General. In order to leave the city, citizens first had to report here and secure a pass.

These historic buildings and the many others that line Olde Towne’s streets provide a glimpse into what a Southern city looked like during the Civil War.

My impressions: When it comes to the National Register of Historic Places, one of the things I’ve avoided recording so far are historic districts, because it is too easy to say “Yes, I’ve been there,” but not have done anything to appreciate the history there. A marker like this, though, opens the area up to me, and so I think next time I pay a visit to Portsmouth, I’ll spend some time in Olde Towne, appreciating it, and I’ll record my visit here and at Markeroni.

Markeroni status: I have direct-logged this site, which has not yet been transferred to its proper database code to be recorded by others.

Location: Crawford Pkwy, west of Court Street, Portsmouth, VA 23704

Visited: June 23, 2009, 1:45pm

Transcription of marker: Lord Cornwallis, commanding the British troops in the south, reached Portsmouth, July, 1781. He prepared to send a portion of his force to New York. Before the movement was made, orders came for him to take up a position at Old Point. Cornwallis selected Yorktown, however, and Portsmouth was abandoned.

Virginia Conservation Commission, 1948

My impressions: Terse to the point of being useless, in my opinion: He came, he saw, he departed. Lord Cornwallis was here. Doesn’t tell me anything, and doesn’t tease me enough to excite me to learn more about Cornwallis. Oh, well.