Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000

Subject: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 May 00 - 09:36 AM

In 1865 he was mustered out without pay. "Greenbacks" were then the money of the army. They were practically worthless. There was no government benefit or backing in anything. I can well remember when Father first applied for a pension. A government agent came through the country looking up veterans, urging them to apply for pensions. Father applied and was granted $6.00 per month. A few years before he died this was increased to $12.00.

Flora Estella Ewings Youmans: The Ewing Family - Pioneers of Boulder County

Flora was my grandmother. She is speaking of her father and his service in the Civil War. According to a published report, he enlised September 16, 1861, in Company E, Sixth Kansas Calvary, Colonel Judson commanding.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 May 00 - 09:39 AM

Sorry, thought I had the italic turned off.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: Amos
Date: 27 May 00 - 10:40 AM

It looks better with them -- like your gramma's voice coming up from the parchment.

It musta been a kick when his pension doubled, but even with inflation that would have been what, $200/month? After four years of blood, pain, hellish conditions and heart-stopping terror and anger, grim battles...jeeze. Did you ever trace the unit's records (Judson' unit)?

A

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 May 00 - 12:15 PM

I bet he spent some of that on a copy of Grant's Memoirs. I was reading last night about Mark Twain setting up a cross-country door-to-door salesmanship of the memoirs so as to help the Grant family out of their financial mess, and to give his widow something to live on. It appears every soldier in the Union army just about, bought the book. Got a good deal too -- wonderful book. (Sorry to thread creep).

Where is Boulder County? Wyoming?

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 27 May 00 - 12:21 PM

kat, I wonder if your grandmother Flora and your great grandfather thought 'wow, can you believe we are getting money for serving in the army?' To them it could have felt like a 'win fall'

Amos, how do veterans feel about the money they receive? Do they feel they are being well compensated for? Or can you never monetarily compensate adequately enough for what men serving in a war had to do?
I mean, you never see veterans go on strike, or do they?

BB

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 May 00 - 12:43 PM

My father (a WWII veteran) never complains about how well veterans are treated officially, just that no one pays attention to them personally. (He was the president for many years of the Last Post Society in Canada, for burying poor veterans). In our country -- probably because we didn't have a good movie industry -- the wartime histories are completely forgotten, and are never taught in school. Certainly since he was a long-serving officer, he thinks of what he gets as his pension, and as an entitlement. My mother fought for 20 years to get a pension from the British government (she was an officer in the WAAF), not for the money, just to get the recognition she felt women deserved. The British government acted disgracefully throughout. I remember one evening my mother was at an official reception for some War Reunion in Canada, and the British Ambassador said to her (she was wearing her medals), Oh my dear, where did you get those? And she replied: ""This one is for the Battle for Britain. And this one is for my Battle against Britain."

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 May 00 - 01:17 PM

Boulder County is in Colorado. Yup, my grandma went to Boulder Prep Shcool housed first in the attic of the Hale scientific building, the only building besides "Old Main", at the time, on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Normal School was like junior college is today and that is where she got her teaching certificate.

When she was 76 yers old, she broke her writing arm, so trained herslef to write with the other and penned her memoirs during a long convalecense. As she was a terrific writer and teacher, they are chock full of info on the early days of Boulder and the surrounding territory as well as New Castle, on the Western Slope of Colorado where she and my granddad eventually settled and had my mom and her siblings.

Peter, that is very interesting about the book. I don't know if they had a copy or not, but I will ask my aunt, who is now almost 90 and sharp as a tack.

Amos, the only information I have on my great-granddad's military service is from a "State Historical Society of Colorado Portrait and Biographical Record." It says, John N. Ewing, "took part in the battles of Cain Hill, Prairie Grove, and many skirmishes." He was mustered out at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. While in the Army, he applied for and was granted a short furlough and on Spet. 4, 1862, went back to Kansas and married my great-grandmother, Miss Amanda Hodgson. On the 7th, he returned to his command.

After the war he homesteaded 160 acres in Kansas and then in 1880, joined a wagon train of four wagons and spent four weeks traveling to Boulder, arriving on May 26th.

Grandma Flora also had this to say about him and his was service, The Civil War songs were always favorites. Father had a good voice, though untrained. Sometimes we could induce him to sing Tenting on the old camp ground or Just before the battle mother.

I can't find the reference right now, but she also related that her father would never talk about the War and refused to get out his sword/saber? when the children would ask. She also said that he first gave one of his two plow horses to the Union when they put out a call for horses. when they asked for his remaining horse, he joined up, too.

Thanks for your comments and interest. Bonnie, I am sure you are right...they probably were very grateful for what they received. It certainly sounds as though he was a kind and gracious, yet stern father, well-loved by my grandmother.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 May 00 - 01:30 PM

"Normal School was like junior college is today and that is where she got her teaching certificate." That should read, "Boulder Prep School was to prepare one for university as there were no high schools at the time, in Boulder." She did get her teaching certificate after attending there.

Peter, your parents sound like wonderful and honourable people, which, really does not surprise me....seems they did a pretty good job of raising a son with the same attributes.

Amos, I think I posted it somewhere, maybe last year about my Uncle Howard, one of Flora's children, who was a vet of WWII. Lied about his age, wound up in the Marines, in a foxhole on Guadacanal for some ungodly length of time, many months, was wounded so badly he had to stay in New Zealand for a year before he could be moved to the States. Still had shrapnel in his body for the rest of his life, some of which was near his heart and he was told it could kill him at any moment. When he retired from a government job and applied for veteran's benefits, he had to fight for several years, including trips to Washington, D.C. before he ever got anything.

It is our belief, from hints he gave near the end of his life, that the war had a terribile "post traumatic stress" effect on him and contributed greatly to his struggles with alcoholism and eventual suicide by shotgun in 1994. I don't think the government could ever have compensated enough for what he and many others went through and which haunted them all of their lives.

When I called my dad, who knew my uncle very well and had played in a band with him, and tearfully told him what had happened, his consoling and wise words were, "I cannot blame him. He was in pain for all of his life after the war. Now, he is free of it all."

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 May 00 - 01:49 PM

Great Thought, Katlaughing! Reading your granny's memoirs reminded me of 2 wonderful things, which are really the same thing - Visiting some incredibly old relatives in New York City evry yar or so throughout my childhood. His parents had gone through the Civil War (hers tried to farm potatoes in Ireland, not nearly as interesting to me as a child, more fool me!). So talking to them was second-hand MEMORIES of the Civil War, which in turn was like the (I think) Theodore Sturgeon short story (the second thing) about a time machine which turned out to be a visit to an old person. Lovely times, lovely story.
In contrast to your history, the memories I would hear about though weren't battle memories, that side of my ancestry is Quaker so it was memories of helping slaves escape, and being conscientious objectors, and generally being a nuisance to the government, I'm sure, though that isn't the way Uncle Will and Aunt Bea would phrase things.

Thanks for reminding me of some of my favorite, now long-gone, relatives. To brag some more about this particular couple, he was killed at 96 by a bus, and she lived to be 100 and a half, including at 97 subduing a would-be purse-snatcher single-umbrella-ly and sitting on him till the cops got there! And going to court to testify and everything! Thanks again, Kat!

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 May 00 - 04:37 PM

Mrrzy! Wow! What great relatives! Thanks for sharing them with us...I hope I can be like that at 97!

My Aunt Ruth, (Flora's daughter) who is almost ninety is tough like that. She fell flat onto her back in her garage this year; couldn't get her left arm out from under her body, finally did, to find her shoulder was broken, pulled herself over to her house door, crawled up and into the kitchen, pulled herself up by the counter and then called her daughter, who was not at home, then her granddaughter, who also wasn't home, then the neaighbour, who was at home, who immediately called the emergency squad! She was in hospital about a week, then with a new shoulder started physical therapy. Now, a ocuple of months later, she is back to her daily aerobics classes and bowling! Personally, I think she is too stubborn to do anything else but live life to its fullest. What a wonder!

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 27 May 00 - 07:33 PM

"Her father would never talk about the War"

My father was in three wars, the Irish Civil War, the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Hardly ever talked a word about any of them. Never got a pension from any kif them. Had a few medals in a drawer.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 May 00 - 09:32 PM

Interseting thoughts and stories here folks.

Amos---Kat and I searched a bit on the net for unit info with only marginal success as I recall.

kat---Where was your grannie's family from? A lot of Ewings around here, a very BIG name...streets, schools, etc.

Peter---The story of Clements and Grant is one of the more touching episodes of Twain's life. Unique man, Mr Twain. Grant's memoirs would never have even been written and the family would have been left penniless had it not been for Twain's help. Grant finished them a very short time before his death and I'm not sure he ever saw the finished product.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 27, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 27 May 00 - 09:43 PM

Oh, duh! I cannot believe I didn't make the connection, Spaw. Here I am such a Cloradoan, even though I wasn't born there, that I plumb forgot...tada they came from OHIO!!! From the same bio, it says John Newton Ewing was born the son of Robert and Elizabeth (Milton) Ewing. He had nine siblings, five of whom were living when the bio was written, probably around 1898.

Robert was a native of Brown County, Ohio, born in 1805, was a carpenter for some years, followed that trade to Ohio, but in 1837 took his family to Illinois to Schuyler County. Then in 1857 to south of Kansas City in Kansas. He was a chosen delegate to the convention that framed the constitution of the state of Kansas. (Gee! I could learn a lot just by reading what I have!**BG**)

Wow! Now I really am going to have to come visit! Kewl! Thanks, Spaw!

kat