Articles and Letters before/after The Battle of Mill Springs, Pulaski, 1862

Previously:

Click here for a list of my other Pulaski/Rockcastle/Laurel County KY articles

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Updated 7/19/2017 with one additional source (#11).


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[December 24-26, 1861] -

Army Correspondence.

From the 17th Regiment.

The following extracts from letters of Captain Stinchcomb to his wife, we publish for the benefit of those who have friends or relatives in the 17th Regiment.

CAMP NEAR SOMERSET, KY., }
December 24, 1861. }

The Health of the Fairfield Boys.

Henry Laymen, Aston P. Berry and John W. Champman are so bad that Colonel Conneli directed us this morning to give them liberty to go home, while H. C. Hart, Daniel Johnson, Joseph Lockart, Abraham Ressley, John Dogan, John L. Elder, Elisha Hall, Wm. Barr, are all in the hospital. In addition, Thomas and Charles Shrieves are both taking medicine. Jams Hindman, Edward Thompson, William C. Holiday, Sargent Sears, George W. Spittler, Eli Tipple, John E. Sane, Joseph Delong and Enoch Berry, are sick at quarters. Many of the above, though sick, are able to perform duty. I will write to you each day in regard to the condition of the sick, and you will endeavor to inform the relations, by sending them word directly, or by publishing the above in the Gazette.

(The friends and relatives of the above named can learn all about their health, by calling upon Mrs. Stinchcomb as she will get letters every day from Captain Stinchcomb. -- Eds.)

Dec. 26, 1861. -- CHRISTMAS IN CAMP.

Christmas is over and we had quite a fine "Turkey and Chicken" dinner. We had 29 Turkeys and 28 Chicken. We invited all the Field Officers and Captains, and nearly all the Lieutenants, and any number of the boys. There were about 300 at our dinner, and we had plenty although at 10 o'clock we were informed that we had neither bread nor meal to bake bread of, but as soon as we learned this fact, Lieutenant Ashbrook, Sargent Ruffner, Corporal McNaughten and myself, and several others started out on a foraging expedition to the country to buy bread and meal. We soon found two and a half bushels of corn meal, and by half past 12 o'clock we had so much good corn bread as 500 men could eat. Enoch Shumaker baked three pones on the stove. I got a flat or "Dutch" oven and baked five Virginia Corn cakes -- which were pronounced by good judges, excellent. The balance we hired the negroes in Somerset to bake for us.

After dinner Lieutenant Colonel More, Captain Philips of the First Tennessee, Lieutenant Graten of the 38th, Captain Jackson and Captain Frye of the 31st Ohio, and Captain Fullerton, each made short appropriate speeches, filling the boys with enthusiasm. We then sung songs and adjourned with three cheers.

I never saw a Christmas pass over with so little drunkenness as there was in the 17th Regiment. I saw none drunk, although I learned there were three who got "How come you so." The boys were allowed to have as much liquor as they wanted, under a promise from all that none would get drunk, and I am proud to say that so far as the 17th is concerned, with the exception above, their promise was strictly and faithfully kept.

We now begin to feel the effects of the hard march from London and the exposure of the boys, in the shape of death, the 17th has lost seven by death and will lose a number more, probably 50 to 75 are dangerously sick.

It is enough to sicken the stoutest heart to hear the boys cough when awakened in the night and called into line. There will be, probably, one-half of the Regiment coughing at the same time, yet each trying to restrain his cough. We hope to be able to rest here, or at some point, a sufficient length of time, that the men of the Regiment may recruit their health.

The men have improved in health rapidly since we have been here. As to myself I have never had better health than at present. About the time of our exposure I caught a severe cold, and at one time I thought I would be sick, but by keeping close to quarters and using stews and hoarhound tea, I soon got rid of my cold, and in a short time found myself in good health.

THE PROSPECT OF A FIGHT.

I don't look for a fight now, unless, we attack the enemy, which will not be done, unless, we get force enough to make our victory sure. In which event you will hear of a victory, such as General Pope is said to have achieved in Missouri. I am not at liberty to give the details or places, but I think you may prepare yourself to hear of a battle and a victory before long, not a thousand miles from Gen. Schoephff's column.

HEALTH.

Noah Sites is apparently better this morning, though he is so low that it is difficult to ascertain his true condition. He is the only one of my boys that is dangerous, who are at present in our camp.

Frank Shoemaker of Company A, accidently shot off his right fore finger this morning. Company C, buried another of the boys this morning. He took colic and the Surgeon sent him a vial of laudanum to take in doses, and his comrade gave him too much, and from the effect of it he died yesterday morning. I find that nearly every death that has occurred has been the result of carelessness to some extent, either in eating too much or exposure unnecessarily.

JAMES W. STINCHCOMB. [1]

"Knife and Forkiana" 1861 (USIH Primary Source Reader)

This Northern article contains ideas on human equality, transcendentalist ideas about self-reliance and organized religion, and also references Southern secession, the tension over Fort Sumter, as well as the rumors and misinformation confounding Northern and Southern papers at the time.

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From the Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, MA on January 14, 1861:

Knife and Forkiana.

"Will you take fish, or oysters?" said the landlady.  Thank you; I don't care if I do; it is hard to choose between them.  But, did it ever occur to you, what a lesson we might learn from fish? "Why yes," said Miss Pallas, "I have read of 'books in the running brooks;' and I have heard 'sermons from stones;' so I can imagine lessons in fishes."  There is the trout, and the oyster; can there be a greater difference than that which exists between their conditions.  The one is of symmetrical form, beautiful in color, graceful in motion; is quick, alert, sagacious; the very dandy of fishes; he is a denizen of the mountain brook, as wild, free and dashing as himself; he inhabits an element so pure and transparent, that he flashes through it like a meteor through space; he is "noble game." 

Grave senators, reverend clergy, profound philosophers, keen witted lawyers, delight to inveigle him; they handle him delicately, view him admiringly, and exult over his capture, as the Palmetto men probably would over the capture of Fort Sumter; but whoever heard of one of these dignitaries raking for an oyster?  He, poor mudsill of piscine society, without form or comeliness, hidden in a rough shell; (which, like many another forbidding exterior, envelopes a rich treasure,) imbedded in slime and ooze; incapable of motion, save to turn his jaws to the advancing or the retreating tide; seeing no society, save goggle-eyed, idiotic looking jelly fish, or recalcitrant retrograding crabs; torn from his humble home by the ruthless tooth of an oyster rake, (not the only rake that has invaded peaceful and happy homes,) thrown carelessly into a scow, thence shoveled into a cart, thence dumped into a cellar; can anything be less desirable, to our views, than such an inglorious career? Yet, when brought to the table of the final arbiter, man,--he don't accord the preference to either (leastways I don't) but enshrines both in the chief place in his esteem (estomac, I was going to say.)  The moral to be deduced is this,--be content with your lot, whether lofty or lowly; we shall all, one day, be equal, if we act well the parts assigned to us here.

"That last clause smacks somewhat of the drama," said the quiet individual.  And is therefore inadmissible in this connection, I supposed: but Shakespeare is quoted more freely than Paul, in some pulpits; and I don't know why green room parlance should not be tolerated in a lay sermon.  "why, you don't mean to say that you  have been giving us a sermon?" said Pallas.  Why may not a man illustrate the truth in a homely way, even if he be not a preacher? Truth dwells (not lies) at the bottom of a well, and why may not I fish it up, with a rude oaken bucket; as well as your Andover graduate, with all the patent appliances.  I am sorry to say there is too much exclusiveness in this matter.  The haughty captains of the regular church militant say, in effect--"you must enlist in our companies, we will have no bush fighting, in the christian warfare, you can't be allowed to resist the devil on your own hook, your rough leather hunting shirt of a good conscience is insufficient. (Note--Somebody will say that "leather conscience" is an apt comparison, but no matter.)  You must put on the whole armor of God, which is only furnished at our armory.  (Note again--Somebody will say "our armory is the Bible;" well then it is only the clink of our busy hammers that should be heard closing rivets up.)  You must sign our compact, you must subscribe to the thirty-nine articles; it is of no avail that you live up to the standard described in the 15th Psalm; a moral life won't save you; you must be with us, or against us." Who is to be judge?

"But," said the landlady, good soul, "did you never hear your minister point out the folly of self righteousness?" Whether he did so or not, I have heard of that, where most of us have probably heard it, at a mother's knee; and if a mother's prayers and teachings, testified to an enforced by the example of her daily life and conversation, could have an effect proportioned to their faithfulness, I should long ago have ranked among the elect.  But don't, for goodness sake, don't dodge the question, (which I find is a common failing among professing Christians).  What I contend for is this--that a man may, solitary and alone, so far as human society is concerned, undergo that change of heart, and experience that peace of mind, which the world cannot give, but which is popularly supposed to be the result of what are termed revivals, whether on a large or small scale; that he may see his Saviour walking on the waves of a tideless sea, like that blue expanse which glitters beyond the pillars of Hercules; as well as behold him in the guise of a storm king, treading the surges of a Bay of Fundy tide of periodical excitement.  I maintain that a man may be a sincere and devout Christian, without making a public parade of his principles; that he may stand afar off, and say, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner--instead of crowding to the front, and ostentatiously putting dust on his head; that he may cherish a lively sense of gratitude to his Redeemer, every day of his life, without taking pains to let his neighbors know it, once in two months.  "Why don't he do so, then?"  How do you know that he don't?  Because a man don't commit his conscience into the keeping of his minister, to be regulated, as he would entrust his alarm clock to a priest of Chronos, to be tinkered, are we to infer that he sets no value on it, and don't care whether it strikes the alarm at the right moment, or not; or, worse yet, shall we say he has not got any?  

A loss of self-reliance seems to be one effect of the primal curse.  We seem to share the sentence of the serpent, "Upon thy belly shalt thou go," not stand upright.  In religion, as well as in fashion or politics, the many must submit to the dictation of the few.  The Bible tells us that the Creator made man in his own image.  It also tells us that he made him a little lower than the angels.  It further tells us that he is to live forever, and has an opportunity afford him, of passing his prolonged existence in the company of those superior beings, and in the presence of his Creator.  We feel that we are endowed with reasoning powers.  Now does it look reasonable, that such finished productions, or rather a vast majority of them, should be left destitute of a knowledge between good and evil, especially when they are bidden to make their choice between the two?  Some men are created with superior intelligences?  Yes, I know they are: and so too, some mugs and pitchers are made of finer clay than others; but one sort will hold just as good ale as the other; and neither will prevent it from turning sour, if circumstances tend that way.  The style of religious government nowadays, puts one in mind of the feudal system, when the word of the chief was law to his vassals; none presumed to question, none durst disobey.  From his impregnable castle he issued mandates, whence there was no appeal.  

So now, the spiritual adviser makes his pulpit a sort of ecclesiastical Ehrenbreitstein; his word is law, there; since nobody can have the hardihood to reply "in meeting," he illustrates the dogma of Free Speech, to his own satisfaction; he is monarch of all he surveys.  Oh, yes! such talk is flippant, sophistical, irreverent, and all those things; but don't be too fast.  I have a great respect for many of those gentlemen, as individuals; but, as parts of the iron system to which they belong, one is apt to lose sight of their individuality.  I dare say that many of them find themselves in the condition of U.S. Army officers of Southern origin; bound by oath to support the Constitution, they must turn their guns on their friends, or else resign.  I only wish they would exercise a little more clarity sometimes, in speaking of those who don't agree with them, some of that charity which suffereth long, and is kind; which speaketh no ill of its neighbors, etc. 

If they would only graft their "church charities" upon some such stock as that, they would realize the somewhat Quixotic idea, yelept[?] gilding the sunbeam or painting the lily.  By the bye, we are told that some parts of the South are, or soon will be, in a starving condition; this may be a canard, like the stories circulated at the South, about us, but I don't think Republican papers would lie: so, how would it pay, to take up a contribution for the purpose of sending our exciteable brethren something to eat.  A ship load of provisions entered the harbor of Charleston, Savannah or Mobile, might quell angry passions as effectually as a load of warlike stores.  It would be heaping coals on fire on the heads of the chivalry, ("if thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat" and they, being fire-eaters would doubtless appreciate the attention.  Anyhow, it would be killing two birds with one stone.

DASHWOOD.

19th Century Recycling: The Utility of Refuse Things

From the Gazette Sentinel of Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville, Louisiana on April 20, 1861:

The Utility of Refuse Things

The prussiate of potash is made in large quantities in Cincinnati from the hoofs, horns and other refuse of slaughtered cattle. 

Cow-hair, taken from the hides in tanneries, is employed in making plastering-mortar, to give it a fibrous quality. 

Sawdust is sold for sprinkling the floors of markets.  It is also used for packing ice for shipping.

The rags of old worn out skirting, calico dresses, and the waste of cotton factories, are employed to make the paper upon which these lines are printed. 

Old ropes are converted into fine note paper, and the waste paper itself, which is picked up in the gutter, is again reconverted into broad, white sheets, and thus does duty in revolving stages.

The parings of skins and hides, and the ears of cows, calves, and sheep, are carefully collected and converted into glue. 

The finer qualities of gelatine are made from ivory raspings and the bones and tendons of animals. 

Bones converted into charcoal, by roasting in retorts, are afterwards employed for purifying the white sugar with which we sweeten our coffee. 

The ammonia obtained from the distillation of coal in making gas, is employed for saturating orchil and cudbear, in making the beautiful lilac colors that are dyed on silk and the fine woolen goods. 

Carbonic acid, obtained in the distillation of coal tar, is employed with other acids to produce beautiful yellow colors on silk and wool. 

The shavings of cedar wood, used in making pencils, are distilled to obtain the otto of cedar wood. 

Brass filings and old brass kettles are remelted, and employed to make the brass-work of printing presses and pumps. 

Old copper scraps are used in the construction of splendid bronze chandeliers, for illuminating our churches and the mansions of the wealthy. 

Old horseshoe nails are employed to make the famous steel and twist barrels of fowling-pieces.

World War II U.S. Ration Books One Through Four

Making an exception to my pre-1922 only rule, here are some high quality scans of U.S. World War II ration books.  I forgot to schedule a Thanksgiving post, so after the rabid consumerism many Americans display on Black Friday weekend (and throughout the Christmas shopping season), I think this topic is, in a way, highly relevant to the holidays.  As it says on many of the below pages:

"If you don't need it, don't buy it."

If only.

Rationing for the War in the United States began in 1942 and ended in 1946.   Ration Book One was issued in May 1942, Book Two in January 1943, Book Three in October of 1943, and Book Four towards the end of 1943.

These books were not the only rationing coupons issued by the U.S. government.  For more information and pictures about WWII rationing in the United States, please see this wonderful web page.

The below ration books belonged to Maude Elizabeth Haas Williams, of whom I shared a photograph in an earlier post.  As you can see from some of the ration books, she lists her age as 35.  Maude's husband Clarence did not serve in the war due to his age (52 according to his Book Two).  In late 1942, Clarence and Maude had a son.  Did you know they issued ration books to children, including infants? Their son John has one at age 2 months.

All four books are represented here for Maude as well as the cover of Book Two for her son John.  Stamps from Book One and Book Three are shown (the other two are empty).  Also included is a clipping from a newspaper of the Book Four Rationing Calendar.  This is the only item I have transcribed below.  

Click to enlarge.

Upton Sinclair Sentenced For Breaking Delaware Sabbath Laws

Most people know Upton Sinclair for writing The Jungle, a muckraking novel about U.S. meat-packing that helped bring about legislative reforms of the food industry.  In addition, Sinclair wrote a book, Oil!, satirizing the Teapot Dome scandal, tried starting a Utopian colony, and ran on the socialist ticket for Congress. 

Upton Sinclair, a Socialist author who violated the Sunday laws at Wilmington, Del., decided to take an imprisonment of 18 hours rather than pay a $4 fine, and was put to breaking rock in the city workhouse.  His offense was playing baseball and tennis on Sunday.  Nine other men took the same punishment.

The Tragedy of the American Buffalo

Very large pile of American buffalo skulls, photo taken 1870.  Source: Wikipedia.

The word "pile" seems a hopelessly inadequate description for this image.

The American Buffalo almost went extinct in the nineteenth century due to people over-hunting them for food, clothing, and sport.  Only a few small herds managed to escape the extermination, creating a severe genetic bottleneck.  Worse, scientists have recently discovered that the genetic makeup of the majority of these herds are contaminated with cattle DNA.  (Unlike the progeny of donkeys and horses, the offspring of cattle and buffalo are generally fertile.)

The following is from the second chapter of The Overland Stage to California by Frank A. Root, published in 1901.   This chapter is actually about the Prairie ("the Great American Desert", as he refers to it), but talks in great detail about buffalo, which I have excerpted and arranged here.  Root was in Kansas Territory in the 1850s and '60s and drove overland stagecoaches during that time, and his book recounts many of his firsthand experiences.  You can view the book on google books for free if you wish to read this chapter, or the book, in its entirety.

CHAPTER II.

THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT, HOME OF THE BUFFALO. 

The first buffaloes I ever saw were in the streets of Atchison.  It was in the early '60s, during the war; but after that I saw them on several occasions.  These were domesticated and yoked together, having been driven in by a ranchman from the Republican valley, hauling produce to the Atchison market.  They attracted considerable attention from the business men.  They seemed to travel all right, were extremely gentle, and, under the yoke, appeared to work quite as nicely as the patient ox.  Nothing particularly strange was thought about the matter at the time, when there were immense herds of buffalo roaming wild on the plains of western Kansas; but I never, after that year, saw any of the shaggy animals yoked and doing the work of oxen. 

The number of buffalo in the great West less than half a century ago was roughly estimated at from ten to twenty millions. Careful authorities put the number at fifteen millions.  They once existed in New York, a number of buffaloes having been killed in the western part of that state, near where the bustling commercial city of Buffalo is built, which will perpetuate the name of the now practically extinct American animal.  In western Pennsylvania, near the salt-licks, a number of buffaloes were found; and according to an early explorer, a few head were found in ... large numbers in Virginia.  According to early writers, they were found in the Carolinas and along the northeast coast of Georgia, the only record known of their existence on the Atlantic seaboard.  East of the Mississippi, they ranged south as far as northern Alabama and were found in places throughout Mississippi and Louisiana.  Large numbers abounded in Texas.  They were also found in the northern provinces of Mexico, New Mexico, a portion of Utah, and also in Idaho, Washington, and in the arctic circle as far north as Great Slave Lake.  ...   

A HERD OF BUFFALO ON THE PLAINS IN WESTERN KANSAS
Pg 26 of The Overland Stage to California by Frank A. Root (pub 1901)

History informs us they were found by Coronado on his march northward from Mexico as early as 1585, between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains; later they were found by Lewis and Clarke, Zebulon M. Pike, and Long, in the early part of the present century; still later by Fremont and others, who made tours of exploration through the great West.  Often they were seen by tourists and hunters in immense herds, numbering hundreds of thousands. ... 

... Daniel Boone, the famous Kentucky hunter, once found a herd of buffaloes in his state which numbered 1000 head.  That was then believed to be a big herd but it was not then known that there were herds numbering millions of buffalo grazing on the plains embraced in the region known as the "Great American Desert," lying between the Missouri and the Rockies. 

The pioneers of Kansas, particularly a number who settled on the frontier--along the upper valley of the Smoky Hill, Republican, Solomon and Saline rivers--practically owed their lives to the existence of the buffalo.  For years in the '60s a goodly portion of the meat consumed by those early settlers was cut from the carcass of the noble, shaggy animal which so long existed as monarch of the plains.  Thousands of people who at an early day went overland to Utah, Oregon and California drew their supply of meat from the buffalo.  Where this life-preserver was found, it was known that, by following their paths, nearby water would be found.  The principal article of fuel found on the frontier for cooking the meat of the buffalo was the dried excrement of the animal, known in early Kansas and Nebraska parlance as "buffalo-chips."  The buffalo was one of the noblest of all animals.  It seemed indispensable.  It furnished man with an abundance of the most wholesome meat; the hide was made into shoes and garments worn during the day, and it made a comfortable bed and supplied warm covering in or out of doors at night. 

The building of the Pacific railroad was made possible at so early a day simply because the buffalo existed.  From the mighty herds the vast army of railroad builders drew their daily supply of fresh meat, and thousands of the animals were annually slaughtered for food while pushing to completion, in the '60s, the great transcontinental line.  For a few years in the '70s the railways did an enormous business carrying East train loads of hides and buffalo bones, these for a number of years being the principal articles of commerce gathered from the plains.  For years the great West resembled a charnel-house. Losing their crops, the pioneer settlers gathered up the bleached bones that covered the land, and they were shipped to the carbon works in the East, for the sale of which enough was realized to enable them to pull through another season. ... 

... The last herd of buffalo I ever saw in the wild, native state was in the fall of 1870.  It was along the Kansas Pacific railroad, near the head waters of the Smoky Hill river.  The railroad had just been built, and the animals seemed terribly frightened at the cars.  In their mad race westward along the railroad, they actually kept up with the passenger-train, which was moving along from fifteen to eighteen miles an hour.  The race became exciting, and all the passengers--many of whom had never before seen a buffalo--held their breath in suspense.  It was noticed that the animals never changed their course, but kept steadily coming nearer the train, apparently determined to cross the track at the curve a short distance beyond.  Not caring for a collision which might possibly derail the train, the engineer gave up the race and whistled "down brakes," stopping within a few rods of the animals to let them cross.  A parting salute was given by some of the passengers, who emptied the chambers of their six-shooters among the beasts, but which they did not appear to mind any more than a blast from a toy pop-gun.  While these animals used to cover the prairies and plains of western Kansas and Nebraska in countless millions, hardly one of them is now left to remind us of the once noble and powerful herds originally known in the great West as "crooked-back oxen." 

The best meat we used to get on the frontier in the early days was buffalo.  The markets at Atchison, Leavenworth, Topeka and a number of other Kansas towns, as early as 1857 and for some years following, were often supplied with buffalo meat, brought in from central Kansas.  No beef, it was said, could excel, even if it could equal, that of the buffalo; especially the hump upon the shoulders, which was invariably spoken of as a choice morsel."  Rich, juicy buffalo steaks and superb roasts were as common in the '60s on the plains as were other fresh meats in the best of well-regulated city markets. ... 

... What a shame, what an outrage on civilization! that the buffalo ... was so ruthlessly slaughtered.  Millions of the shaggy beasts were indiscriminately shot down by the white man in the '60s and '70s apparently just for the "fun of the thing." 

I remember well in the early '60s, while residing at Atchison, when long ox trains, loaded exclusively with buffalo hides, frequently were brought in from the plains by freighters.  The wagons were unloaded on the levee and the skins shipped on board steamboats down the Missouri river for St. Louis and Cincinnati.  Later, I saw hundreds of wagon-loads of these skins on the plains, in 1863-'65, when riding on the overland stage along the Platte and Little Blue rivers.  Several years afterward such trains were frequent sights at various towns on the Missouri.  Most of the wagon trains bearing the cargoes of untanned robes from the "Great American Desert" were from the Platte valley; some bound for Omaha, some for Nebraska City, some for St. Joseph, and most of the balance for Atchison and Leavenworth.  Hundreds of wagon-loads of the skins from the plains went into Kansas City from the "Old Santa Fe Trail." ... 

... According to a writer in Harper's Magazine a few years ago, Fort Benton--a military post about 2500 miles up the Missouri from St. Louis--in 1876 along sent 80,000 buffalo hides to market.  Toward the close of their career on the plains the animals had divided into two great herds--the southern and northern.  The great southern herd, however, was the first to go, being practically extinct at the close of 1872.  A few straggling herds only, after that date, were to be found.  The early '80s was about the last seen of the wild buffalo of the plains, which a quarter of a century or more before was so numerous between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains.  The greatest slaughter of the beasts was in 1872-'74, when, it was estimated, the number slain ran up into the millions. 

Hundreds of the best shots from all over this country and Europe, in the early '70s, were on hand to take a farewell hung before the shaggy bison became extinct.  Scores of noted Nimrods came from England, Scotland, Russia, and Germany--in fact, from almost every part of Europe.  The Grand Duke Alexis, youngest son of Emperor Alexander, of Russia, with quite a numerous retinue, came with a party from St. Petersburg, and went on a tour through "Buffalo Land" in the winter of 1871-'72. ...  

... During the immense overland traffic in the early '60s, portions of the plains were fairly white with bones of the buffalo.  The animals had first been killed by the Indians for their food and robes, and later, millions of the shaggy beasts had been indiscriminately slaughtered by the white man just for sport, their carcasses left a prey for the wolves, and their bones to bleach by the wayside.  In the '50s and '60's their bones were scattered promiscuously in center localities for hundreds of miles in central and western Kansas, and between Fort Kearney and Julesburg along the Platte, as far back from the river as the eye could reach.  

No one seeing the apparently endless mass of bones even dreamed that any use would ever be made of them; but after the completion of the Union Pacific railway and its branches across the "Great American Desert," and, later, the building of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe line into the Southwest, an immense new industry was early inaugurated in Kansas.  Kansas was the natural home of the buffalo, and, during the '70s, hundreds of merchants in the western part of the state had a regular trade established and did a lively business buying and shipping buffalo bones to Eastern markets.

1.5-Year-Old Boy and His Pet Snakes

From The Caldwell Watchman of Columbia, Louisiana on January 8, 1915:

SNAKES IN INFANT'S LAP

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Mother Startled at Finding Child Petting Copperheads and Feeding Them.

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Altoona, Pa.--To keep him home, where she thought he would be in no danger, Mrs. John Kobac of Northwood, a suburb of Tyrone, carried a large bowl of bread and milk out on the front porch and summoned her active eighteen-month-old son George to a feast.

George "fell to," and the mother went off to finish her housework.  In a short time she heard him using pet names, and went out to see who was there.  She was horrified to discover George nursing two fair-sized copperheads.

The reptiles were lying in his lap, greedily feeding on the bread and milk, while he stroked them affectionately with his hands.

Mrs. Kobac screamed, grabbed the child and fled into the house as the snakes wriggled away.

The Purpose of Harrowing After Plowing

From Ranch and Range of North Yakima, Washington on April 15, 1897:

VALUE OF HARROWING.

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BY ED. WELLEW.

In riding over our county a few days ago the writer noticed many fields being plowed for grain, potatoes, hops, etc.  More than one-half of the plowed fields were just as the plow left them, some very poorly plowed, some rough and uneven, while in a few cases the harrow or "drag" had followed the plow.

We certainly have one of the best farming countries in the world, but even here such beginnings will not result in successful farming.  Here, where we have warm, sunny days and occasional dry winds, the harrow should follow the plow if good results are to be obtained.  Never allow plowed fields to remain exposed to the sun and dry air, but pulverize the surface as quickly as possible.  In this way the moisture is retained, germination hastened, irrigation delayed, better crops assured, and much time and labor saved.

It is surely a serious mistake to expose a rough surface of the soil and let the moisture evaporate simply because we have an abundance of water to irrigate with.

Last year on a piece of grain land forty-eight bushels per acre of barley were raised where the ground was well plowed and the harrow followed.  On the same kind of soil, near by, a little less than thirty bushels per acre of barley were raised where the plowed field was exposed from two to three days before harrowing.  This last field required more irrigating than the first, had the same kind of seed put in just as well, equally as good soil, was planted nearly at the same time, and yielded more than eighteen bushels less per acre.  There may not always be so great a difference, but there will be a difference.  The successful farmer in any country will agree with us, we believe; at any rate, experiment will prove beneficial to the doubtful.

North Yakima, Wash.

False Claims of Travelling Salesmen

From The Columbus Journal of Columbus, Nebraska, December 12, 1894:

A Churn Peddler Outwitted.

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That the shrewdest of churn peddlers sometimes meets defeat is again in evidence.  One of the verbose pedestrians recently called at a farmhouse in Lewiston.  The lady said she had a patent churn already, but the man insisted that his was so much better that he could get two pounds more butter from the cream than she could from her churn.  She said: "If you can I will buy it." So he left the churn, promising to come and prove it the next morning.  The lady put her cream into her churn and brought her butter, took it out and poured the buttermilk into the vender's churn.  He came the next morning and churned and churned, but no butter, exclaiming at last: "There's no butter in this cream." "I know it," said the lady, "for I've churned it in my churn, but I wanted to see you get the other two pounds."  There was no sale and no further conversation.

Raising, Slaughtering, and Preserving Hogs, 1839

This is from a book entitled The Kentucky Housewife by Mrs. Lettice Bryan, originally published in 1839.  This appears on pages 92 and 93.  (The diagram appears in the index.)  The entire book is available for free on Google Books.

Anecdote: Breakfast in Kentucky

The Most Famous of All Kentucky Breakfasts

A steak                                                          A man

1 quart bourbon whiskey (bottled in bond)      A dog

The man throws the steak to the dog and drinks the whiskey.

This is from the book Out of Kentucky Kitchens by Marion Flexner, originally published in 1949.  Some pages of the book are available on google books, here.

Flexner, Marion. Out of Kentucky Kitchens. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2010.

Photographs of Bakery on 5th Street, Charlotte, NC

These are photographs that were in my husband's late uncle's possession, of 'The Ideal Bakers' Mayer & Haas Bakery, on 5th Street in Charlotte, N.C.