Review: Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero

As previously stated, I've decided to post some of my short Goodreads reviews of 4 or 5-star history books I've read over the last several years. Why? Well for one the work is half done and I don't have to edit them that much. Also, it's a good way to showcase how captivating history can be by praising great history authors and their books.

The first post of 2017 has nothing to do with Ohio history although Ohio played a vital role in the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement during the 19th century.

Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero by Kate Clifford Larson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I decided to read this book in May 2016 when it was announced that Harriet Tubman's likeness would share the $20 bill with Andrew Jackson. I really didn't know much about her other than the typical abolition stories most of us get from a grade school history class.

Much of Harriet's story had only been told orally by Tubman and exaggerated by others over the years. Thus, the book is peppered with speculative adverbs such as maybe, possibly, perhaps, etc. I find this to be understandable since Tubman was illiterate, and Larson backs her assertions up with other writers words and letters along with other good source material to fill out the narrative.  The author also debunks some of the long-held beliefs such as putting her number of trips at 13 and 70 slaves feed vs 19 trips and 300 slaves freed. An amazing feat nonetheless. I feel this is a truthful, captivating, and well-written biography, but it's much more than that. It's a story told in context.
Kate Clifford Larson fills in some of the gaps in Harriet's story with explanations of how the class and social system operated in 19th century America. This is crucial in order to understand how enslaved people were able to move about and operate on the Underground Railroad undetected. I think most of us envision the plantation system in the deep South, like Roots. But in Maryland, slaves could be hired out to work on other farms and were even allowed to visit extended family unsupervised for periods of time. Slaves were even permitted to marry free blacks. This wasn't done out of sheer kindness. The children of a slave/freeman marriage still belonged to the slave master. This act was more or less an investment. They knew that if a slave had a strong extended family, they were less likely to run away. If slaves caused trouble, they might be sold to a much crueler master in the deep South away from their family.
As if the moral problems of legal slavery were not bad enough, some slave owners cheated the system as they saw their livelihood slowly disappearing. As abolitionists made progress with Americans on the idea of emancipation, at a certain point selling your own slaves in Northern states became illegal. Instead of freeing or manumitting them at a certain age as the law dictated, some masters would simply sell them to illegal Southern slave dealers and claim they ran away. It was rare for a slave owner to be prosecuted for this.

It is unfortunate that despite Tubman's heroic accomplishments assisting slaves to freedom and later working for the Union Army, she was still quite poor and struggled in her final days and even dismissed by others after her death due to her race and social status. Tubman was a brave courageous woman who did much to help make this country truly "equal". One of America's greatest sins was kicking the can of slavery down the road until finally the lives 600,000 Americans would be sacrificed to end that system.

From what I've read about Jackson, he wouldn't like this one bit, but being famously anti-bank, one wonders how he made it on the $20 bill himself. In fact, you likely would have to get into the second half of the 20th century before you would find a US President who would have been OK with this. Maybe Kennedy, but not with the Jim Crow South in the 1960s. Times and attitudes change and I'll be glad to see Tubman on the $20 bill, even if it is over 100 years after her death.
View all my reviews

Something rank in Ripley

Ripley OH: an abolitionist stronghold.
This is the restored home of John P. Parker,
a noted African-American abolitionist

I agree somewhat that the American Civil War was about States rights, but one must remember that the main right the Southern states wanted to preserve was the right to own black people as property while the Northern states were making progress to end the practice. If the South had won the war, we would have had a separate country to the south of the US called the Confederate States of America where slavery remained legal for at least several decades longer. The end result of this war was preserving the Union and the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in one of the last holdouts in the Western Hemisphere. It was a great leap forward for human rights in the US, which we all know is supposed to be the land of the free.

top to bottom:
1st (Stars and Bars),
2nd, 3rd National flags
of the CSA. The rebel
battle flag is last.

So too bad about the Confederate flag. This is a good time to point out that this flag was never the official national flag of the CSA, it was the battle flag used by the Army of Northern Virginia under General Lee and the Army of Tennessee, the largest CSA field army. The first national flag was the Stars and Bars. The second national flag did incorporate the more familiar rebel flag as did the third.
People that display the rebel flag in modern times like to say "it's about heritage, not hate". Maybe the flag had noble origins to some but that doesn't really matter now. The Southern states dashed that notion when they started a war which cost the lives of 750,000 people. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups also dashed that notion when they used this flag to terrorize and murder African-Americans in post-Antebellum America.  The states of Mississippi and Georgia yet again dashed that notion when it was used as a protest against school integration in the 1950s. The Confederate flag flew over the Alabama state capitol from 1961-1993. On June 11th, 1963 the University of Alabama was desegregated by Federal force while Gov. George "segregation forever" Wallace, protested in front of the school doors and 5 years later used the Confederate flag in his Presidential bid. Wow, that's some heritage! I hate to invoke Godwin's Law but the swastika was a perfectly acceptable symbol to many cultures for centuries until the Nazis appropriated it. Same thing. No one is walking around with a swastika on their shirt or truck unless they want to be known as a white supremacist. So Mississippi, follow Georgia's lead and get the rebel battle flag of oppression off your US State flag. Oh also, enough with the passive aggressive license plates, 10 US States offer the flag as an option. I realize you think that this is the good old days but please stop. It's embarrassing y'all.

Rankin House

So what does this have to do with Ohio history?

On a beautiful sunny Easter weekend in April 2014 I visited the Ohio towns of Point Pleasant, Ripley and Georgetown. My main objective was geocaching but the route I planned had an unplanned common thread. In the 19th century, Southwest Ohio and towns along the Ohio River were a hotbed of Underground Railroad activity, there are signs and markers everywhere and many of the structures still stand or have been restored. This was also the area that future President US Grant was born and raised. You've probably heard of him. He helped win that Civil War that some Southerners are still mad about losing.

from KY across the Ohio to freedom

The Rankin House in Ripley is probably the most famous stop on the Underground Railroad. For 40 years, Reverend John Rankin, at risk of imprisonment himself due to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, helped over 2000 slaves flee the US to Canada. One of these escaped slave stories inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Toms Cabin, about which Lincoln famously remarked upon meeting the author, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!" A nearby marker in town states that a Confederate General wanted to burn this "abolitionist hell hole of Ripley" to the ground. Everyone knew what happened in Ripley. So the town bought a cannon as a defense against any Confederates who decided to invade. It turns out that they didn't have to use it since the infamous Rebels known as Morgan's Raid only got within a mile of Ripley. They still have the cannon proudly displayed in front of their library. The town of Ripley has built up quite a heritage tourism industry around its role in abolition and they should be proud of it. America should be proud of it. Everyone that lives or passes through Ripley surely knows these things.

despicable display

As I approach one of the many signs pointing the way to the famous Rankin House perched 300 feet high upon a hill overlooking the Ohio River, something catches my eye. It's a Confederate flag flapping from the front porch of a tiny home not 200 feet from the only road up the hill to the house. In this context, this is not about heritage, the person that lives here is clearly making a statement. I started thinking of all the African-Americans that have passed by here to see the land where their ancestors first saw hope for freedom... and this is what they will see when they arrive. This mocking display thumbs its nose at the bloody struggle that occurred over 150 years ago. What else is anyone supposed to think when they see this well-defined symbol of racism fluttering on this hallowed ground? So get the rebel Confederate battle flag off your porch, it's embarrassing.

Ohio's Aunt Jemima

Rosa Washington Riles 1901 - 1969

File under: "Cool stuff you learn while geocaching"

I almost didn't stop at this old cemetery on my April 19th, 2014 trek through Ohio's abolition country. I was headed from Ripley toward the boyhood home of US Grant in Georgetown. But it's so hard to resist the lure of geocaches in old cemeteries as I nearly always find something interesting. This was no exception.

At first, I thought this was an impostor buried along U.S. 68/62. Maybe someone who had the head bandanna look down pat, cooked a mean stack of flapjacks, and got a cool nickname out of it. I even called my wife and she confirmed via Google that the original Aunt Jemima was Nancy Green, a former slave born in KY who died in 1923. Oh well. I kind of forgot about all this until I went through my photos from that day and decided to Google the name on the gravestone.

I learned there were multiple Aunt Jemimas through the years and Rosa Washington Riles was one of them. Born (and buried) in Red Oak OH, Rosa was recruited by Quaker Oats in the 1950s and traveled around the country making public appearances portraying Aunt Jemima. Every year a pancake breakfast is even held at the early 19th century Presbyterian church on the same property. The proceeds are used for the upkeep of the old part of the cemetery next to the church where several Revolutionary War veterans are buried.

AJ: Buckeye version

She isn't officially acknowledged as one of the Aunt Jemimas by Quaker Oats I suppose because by the 1950s multiple people were portraying her, but this article on Jim Crow Propaganda (warning: old-timey racist imagery ahead) has a copy of a 2001 article in the comments section with some more information on Ohio's very own Aunt Jemima. Also, check out this article on the history of the old church and cemetery and its role in abolition and the Underground Railroad.

Geocaching and history, my chocolate and peanut butter as I always say! In this case, my pancakes and syrup.

Garfield & Friends

beginning

 James Abram Garfield, was born on this day November 19th 1831 in Moreland Hills, Ohio, near Cleveland. He rose from abject poverty, by a widowed Mother, worked as a janitor to attend college and became our nations 20th US President. He was shot in 1881 four months into his first term and died two months later from the treatment of his wounds ending up with the second shortest US Presidency and the second US president to die in office. That's usually all anyone knows about him.

Like William Henry Harrison, his legacy will mostly be his death, a mere footnote in history, one for the trivia games. That's too bad as he was a remarkable man. A Civil War veteran, a preacher and highly educated, it was said that Garfield could "write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other."  If it weren't for a rotten political system and a lunatic with a gun you probably would know more about him.

It turns out Garfield wasn't even planning on running for President. The 1880 Republican Convention was split into 2 factions, the Half-Breed moderate faction wanted James G. Blaine, while the Stalwart conservative faction supported an unprecedented third term for former President U.S. Grant. Garfield gave a speech nominating an alternate Half-Breed candidate John Sherman. Because of the splits in the party, no one was getting the required number of votes in the nomination process. After 35 voting rounds, Blaine and his supporters along with Sherman and his supporters decided to band together and nominate a compromise candidate, James A. Garfield, a Major General Civil War veteran and nine-term Congressman from Ohio who eventually would go on to win the 1880 election. To make peace within the party, a Stalwart, Chester Arthur was nominated as VP.

middle

In the 19th century, it was common practice for government office seekers to seek jobs via the Spoils System whereby the President would hire people based on their political and personal relationships and little or no regard to qualifications. Basically with no oversight whatsoever, if you were a big supporter or a family member you would likely get a cushy job. The system was rife with corruption and incompetence. People would line up by the dozens to beg for jobs at the White House which consumed much of the Presidents time. Garfield dreaded it and thought that should change.

Charles J. Guiteau, a Stalwart, was one of these office seekers who initially supported Grant but then switched to Garfield and somehow had the grand illusion that he was a major reason for Garfield's election. He felt he was owed a political appointment and became furious when he was rejected. Guiteau purchased a revolver and began stalking the President with the intention of killing him so the Stalwart VP could become President. But let's be clear, most of the folks that encountered him including his own family found him to be a bit a loon. In fact, the free love commune he belonged to in the 1860s found him quite annoying. They called him Charles Git Out. True story.

On July 2, 1881, Guiteau got his chance and shot Garfield twice in the abdomen on a train platform in Washington DC. He was quickly apprehended as he attempted no escape and shouted, "I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. .. Arthur is president now!". Oddly, Guiteau later wrote Arthur and demanded a pardon and a job. He was eventually hanged.

end

Garfield was severely wounded but modern doctors speculate he would have survived if they just left him alone. It was fairly normal after the Civil War for men to be walking around with a slug somewhere in their body.  Erroneously thinking the bullet may be near a vital organ (it really wasn't), the American doctors who had not yet adopted Joseph Lister's new antiseptic techniques being practiced in Europe subjected him to much prodding and poking with unsterilized equipment and fingers which eventually led to multiple infections and then his death on September 19th 1881. The use of antiseptics was quickly accepted by American doctors after this event.

We will never know what would have been but as far as I can tell he may have been one of the most honest and incorruptible men that held the office of the Presidency. Or maybe corruption would have found him. It seems to happen to most people of power. Ironically one of his lasting legacies was his initiative for Civil Service reform which would away with the Spoils System, the very system that contributed to his death. It was that assassination by the disgruntled office seeker that eventually led to President Chester Arthur signing the bi-partisan Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act which handed out appointments based on merit rather than privilege or political party.

Another part of his legacy will be his support of civil rights by supporting education for black southerners and appointing several African-Americans including Frederick Douglas (who as a US Marshall also presided over the inauguration of Garfield) to government positions.

Garfield was laid to rest in in Cleveland Ohio's Lakeview Cemetery.

Here is a fun fact: Abraham Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln was present for three Presidential shootings. He witnessed his father's assassination in 1865. Then as a cabinet member, he was present during Garfield's shooting. He also witnessed the murder of President McKinley 20 years later. Strange.

For more information on Garfield, especially surrounding his assassination and death I highly recommend  "Destiny of the Republic" by Candace Millard, a 2012 bestseller that got rave reviews. It is a highly engaging narrative account that reads like a novel. I was actually kind of shocked at how fun this book was to read.

6/13/2014 Update: A documentary based on Destiny of the Republic is scheduled to be aired on PBS in February 2015

Going Underground on Hamilton Avenue

 Dr. John Witherspoon Scott

Underground Railroad sign

On what appears to be just another struggling storefront in Midwest America at the corner of Compton & Hamilton Ave in Mt. Healthy, is a small wooden sign announcing "a stop on the Underground Railroad in 1840". I decided to check up on that assertion as I really enjoy uncovering more info on forgotten and obscure local history.


It turns out there was an entire Underground Railroad system up and down Hamilton Avenue in the early 19th Century.

The home was built in 1840 in what was then Mount Pleasant by Dr. John Witherspoon Scott (1800-1892), an abolitionist, Presbyterian minister, math Professor, and the first Professor of Science at Miami University in Oxford, OH from 1828-1845. He was fired by Miami U over the issue of slavery in 1845 when folks were choosing sides on this hot topic of the day. It seems that Miami U President George Junkin, also a Presbyterian minister, was supporting slavery on Biblical grounds. After his dismissal, Scott began teaching at a prep school called Farmers College in what would become the Cincinnati neighborhood of College Hill, a couple of miles south of this house. It should be noted that since there was another Mt. Pleasant in Ohio, in 1850 this town was renamed to Mt. Healthy after a cholera epidemic in the area somehow left its citizens unscathed that same year.

Dr. Scott's former home in Mt Healthy
c.late 1800s (left side)

Dr. Scott's former home in Mt Healthy c.2012

Dr. Scott also has a connection to Ohio's US Presidential legacy. Scott was future 23rd President Benjamin Harrison's mentor at Farmers College from 1848-1850. Benjamin, born in North Bend OH and grandson of 9th US President William Henry Harrison became friendly with Scott's daughter Caroline during his many visits to the Scott home and they eventually married in 1853 with the Reverend father-in-law officiating. Dr. Scott later lived with the Harrison's in the White House until he died there in 1892.


So, back to the sign. Was this a stop on the Underground Railroad? Probably. Sometimes these claims are difficult to prove since their actions were illegal in Ohio* and left few records but based on who lived there, the amount of activity of this type in the area and the fact that there are traces of tunnels and hidden rooms inside the home, it seems very likely.

On a related note, Happy 162nd Anniversary to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. It first appeared in an abolitionist periodical on June 5th, 1851 as a series which led to it being published as a book the next year.

*Coincidentally on this same date, June 5th, 1804, one year after Ohio Statehood, the Ohio General Assembly enacted the so-called Black Laws that required African-Americans to prove they were free and anyone harboring an escaped slave could be fined.

Many thanks to the excellent local history book available to read online, A Little Piece of Paradise...College Hill, Ohio by Betty Ann Smiddy as well as the Mount Healthy Historical Society website for information in researching this article. 

Tales of Brave Ulysses

Grant's birthplace in Point Pleasant OH. It toured the US.

April 27th, 1822 is President U.S. Grant's 191st birthday!
I'm not going to attempt a biography of Grant in a mere blog post. His service during the Civil War is heavily documented. I'll just touch on some items you may not know.
Born in a modest home in Point Pleasant OH and moving a year later to Georgetown OH, his given name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. When he entered West Point at the age of 17, a clerical error made him Ulysses Simpson Grant because his Mother's maiden name was Simpson. Including Grant, there are three US Presidents who were born with different names than the name they were elected under. The other two are Ford and Clinton.

During Grant's military career he developed a reputation for binge drinking which may have been exaggerated by his enemies. Some historians think he probably drank as much as any other 19th-century man which is to say, a lot.
 After the Civil War, he became a huge celebrity and became involved in politics. In 1869 became 18th President of the US serving two terms. His Presidential legacy is marred by a series of corruption scandals and economic crisis' during a violent and pivotal era in post Civil War America but he accomplished several great things such as furthering the rights of African-Americans and overseeing the passage of the 15th amendment. I do kind of get the feeling that Grant could have burned the White House to the ground in a drunken rage and he still would be forgiven because of his service in the Civil War. He was that big of a deal to Americans.

Grant may  have been reported on his own highway

Grant's Presidency began a tripleheader of Republican Ohio born Presidents (Grant, Hayes, Garfield) that controlled the White House from 1861 to 1881. Most people don't know that an attempt was made to nominate Grant for an unprecedented 3rd term in 1880 but the deadlocked and divided Republican convention became enamored by fellow Ohioan James Garfield's speech in support of another contender named James Blaine. Grant lost the nomination to Garfield who was shot 4 months into his term by a crazy lone gunman who had written speeches in favor of Grant. There was, of course, no connection to Grant but it is an interesting fact nonetheless.

In 1884 Grant learned he had throat cancer, a sure death sentence in those days. At the urging of supporters, he decided to write his memoirs which he finished just days before he died. I suppose if Grant did get that third term he very well could have been added to the list of Ohio Presidents who died in office. Those Buckeyes can't catch a break.

Being a national hero and all, after he died on July 23rd, 1885 they put his birthplace cottage on a train and toured it all over the US and then they put it back in Point Pleasant OH. I don't think anyone really cared or knew that he lived there for only a year and really grew up in Georgetown OH.
Grant was laid to rest in New York City. Why wasn't he buried in Ohio? NYC was where he and his wife lived after leaving the White House and Julia, who outlived him by 20 years, wanted him nearby so she could visit.

Grant's Tomb in NYC

So who is buried in Grant's Tomb? No one. Grant and his wife Julie are in an above ground vault.


"Grant was himself the supreme example of American opportunity."

-President and fellow Ohioan Warren G. Harding

speaking in Point Pleasant on the
1922 100th Anniversary of Grant’s birth

Happy 210th Birthday Governor Bebb!

Bebb's Cabin birthplace built in 1799
near Okeana OH, restored here in 1959.

Never heard of Governor Bebb? Yeah me neither until I went geocaching in the park named after him.To be honest the official Ohio Historical Marker Marker #25-9 there is pretty boring. For some reason, they didn't include two very interesting tidbits about him that I found from other sources. One, he was an early proponent of Civil Rights and racial equality in mid 19th century Ohio. Two, he was once tried for manslaughter.

First the boring historical marker stuff. 
After the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, a flood of settlers came to the area to build homes. It was here in Butler County that future Ohio Governor William Bebb was born to Welsh immigrants December 8, 1802, the first white child born in Butler County OH west of the Great Miami River. I'm, not sure if that's true or not. It is likely something that was invented when he became involved in politics. Even back then people padded their résumés and it was probably a charming thing to include in order to capture the hearts of voters.
As an adult, Bebb was a teacher and a lawyer before he became active in politics. During the 1840 Presidential campaign, he stumped for fellow Whig William Henry Harrison. He narrowly became Ohio's 19th Governor in 1846 with the catchy slogan "Wm. Bebb and a Home Currency against David Tod and Pot Metal". I'd like to see that on a t-shirt.


Emily gets some frontier justice in front of Berridge Cabin,
built in the early 1800's near Hamilton and restored here in 1992

Now for the more interesting info not on the sign.

Slavery was not allowed in Ohio but Bebb was in favor of repealing the so-called and discriminatory Black Laws that specifically forbid African-Americans from among other things, owning property, legal recourse, the right to vote and access to public schooling. The Governor said this of slavery in his inaugural address, "I cannot forget that the Black Laws still disgrace our statute books. All I can do is earnestly to reiterate recommendation for their unqualified repeal". The Black Laws were finally repealed in 1849 and after serving one term Bebb retired from politics and moved to a farm in Rockford, Illinois.



In 1857, he was tried and ultimately acquitted of manslaughter for shooting and killing a rowdy man named Lemuel Clemens who had been part of a group celebrating Bebb's son's marriage with a "charivari".  Here is a link with some more details of this odd event in the life of Governor Bebb. I guess I can see why they didn't include this unfortunate event on the historical marker but the Civil Rights support was a pretty big deal.

William Bebb died on October 23, 1873, at his farm in Rockford IL at the age of 70. No source seems to say what he died of but age 70 was a pretty long life back then.
 

1850 - Covered Bridge, built in 1850 near Oxford OH,
restored here in 1969. One of two originals left in Butler County.

The site of his birthplace and cabin is now a Butler County Metro Park and Nature Preserve where a pioneer village has been re-created from several other period buildings around the area including an 1850 covered bridge. It is a pretty neat little historical site to see so many structures from that time period in one place and it's worth a visit if you are ever in the area. I'll be back for some new geocaches.

Seven Chimneys

Emily visits Grandpa's old house

Here is some local history that isn't on a sign or easily found in a book or even on a single web page. If you drove by this house you might say "look at that old house" and notice how it looks out of place surrounded by more modern homes and strip malls. Then you might never give it a second thought.

I first learned of the home I'd always known as Seven Chimneys from my Dad who lived in this area when he was a boy. In fact, he lived in this house from 1951-1956 when he was about my daughter Emily's age in the photo. I've stopped by here years ago and even went inside once but I had no idea of the history otherwise. I did a little bit of research and found some interesting information that even my Dad did not know.

Located on Cincinnati-Columbus Road in West Chester Township OH, Seven Chimney had other names throughout the years, such as Shenstone Eagle Tavern, James D. Conrey House, and the Colonial Farm Restaurant. It was originally built in 1839 in a U-shape and had 14 rooms each with its own fireplace. It once had a courtyard which is now enclosed. You can see the U shape and the enclosure in the aerial photo along with all "seven chimneys" for the 14 fireplaces. If you would like more information on the home's design, this website has a very detailed description of the interior and exterior of "Spread Eagle Tavern", the original name. (The link no longer works here is the Wikipedia entry for the home)

All seven chimneys, courtesy of Bing "birds eye" maps

The now private 4000 sq ft residence is believed to be the oldest standing building in West Chester Township and one of the only examples of Jeffersonian architecture in the area.
James D. Conrey, a Methodist minister who owned the house in the 1840s used the building as a stopover on the Underground Railroad for escaped slaves fleeing the South. It also happens to be the stagecoach stop mentioned in Chapter 9 of the 1852 anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

The structure was placed on the National Historical Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Happy Birthday to Harriet Beecher Stowe

Happy 201st Birthday to Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) whose 1852 book Uncle Tom's Cabin was a catalyst for the anti-slavery movement in the US.
President Lincoln met her in 1862 and supposedly greeted her with "so you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war?" 
The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Walnut Hills was owned by her abolitionist Father and is where she lived from 1833-1836.
The home is now a museum focusing on Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Underground Railroad, and African-American history.

James Bradley paid the actual price of freedom

James reads and I consult my notes in Covington KY

It was $700.

The statue of James Bradley, honoring anti-slavery activity in Kentucky, is one of the several statues along the scenic Covington Kentucky Riverwalk portraying persons having a strong association with the Ohio River and its history.

In Bradley's autobiographical letter, he was about 3 years old “when the soul-destroyers tore me from my mother’s arms, somewhere in Africa, far back from the sea”.

Sometime around 1819, he was taken to a plantation in South Carolina where he was given his name James Bradley after the surname of the man who purchased him. He recalls being treated physically well there, however, later in his own words he wrote, "...from the time I was fourteen years old, I used to think a great deal about freedom. It was my heart’s desire; I could not keep it out of my mind. Many a sleepless night I have spent in tears, because I was a slave. I looked back on all I had suffered – and when I looked ahead, all was dark and hopeless bondage."
After many years he managed to earn $700, about $15,000 in today's money, by sacrificing precious sleep to do extra work on the plantation and finally bought his freedom in 1833. He headed for the closest free state which was Ohio and crossed the Ohio River near this statue.

Lane Seminary was in Cincinnati's Walnut Hills

In 1834, Bradley learned of Lane Seminary which was run by the father of Harriet Beecher Stowe who later raised US awareness of the plight of slaves in her 1852 book Uncle Tom's Cabin. Bradley was admitted to the school and was the only black person admitted to an American institution of higher learning before the Civil War. He participated in the highly publicized Lane Seminary Debates regarding the cruelty and immorality of slavery which helped shift students and many Americans toward that point of view.

Not much is known of James Bradley after he left the school. Nothing more is written about him. I hope he at least lived to see the day decades later when the end of the US Civil War finally began the process to free his people from, in his words, "the soul destroyers" and "hopeless bondage" of slavery.

The bronze statue to honor him was made and installed in 1988 by sculptor George Danhires as part of Cincinnati's bicentennial.

Piqua, Piqua, Will Rock You - The Mills Brothers!

Growing up and getting their start in Piqua OH in churches and other local venues in the late 1920's, The Mills Brothers, Herbert, Donald, Harry, and John Jr., were a popular jazz and pop vocal quartet for several decades. They created their unique vocal style of imitating musical instruments when one of the brothers forgot his harmonica and he was forced to improvise without it. Later, when they were on Brunswick Records the label boasted “No musical instruments or mechanical devices used on this recording other that one guitar”. I couldn't help but be reminded that 40 years later, the rock band Queen, also known for their unique vocal style, would make a similar brag of "no synthesizers were used on this record" because people mistook their multi-multi-tracked guitar sound to be synthesizers. (I make several more Queen references. If you enjoy that keep reading.)

Herbert, Donald, Harry, and John Jr. performed on Cincinnati's 5000 watt WLW radio which allowed them to reach audiences as far away as Chicago and New York City. The brothers were billed under various other names for these shows such as Four Boys and a Kazoo and the peculiar Tasty Yeast Jesters, which sounds like some modern Indie rock band but this name came from the sponsor of the show, Tasty Yeast.

After a broadcasting executive heard them in late 1930 on WLW, CBS Radio signed them to a three-year deal becoming the first African-Americans to have a network radio show. After this, they became national stars and their version of the jazz standard Tiger Rag went to #1 in 1931, which became the first recording by a vocal group to sell one million copies.

They followed up with a string of hit songs. In 1934, they became the first African-Americans to perform for British Royalty including the Queen (Mary, not the band). During the War Years, they continued churning out the hits and touring worldwide to great acclaim and delight.

Mills Brothers monument in Piqua

In 1943 The Mills Bros had their biggest song with Paper Doll going to #1 and selling 6 million copies. Not bad for a song that was recorded in 15 minutes. The group remained active up through the rock and roll era still topping the charts and appearing on popular TV variety shows such as Jack Benny, Perry Como, and the Tonight Show.

After four decades and 71 chart singles (Queen only had 18), The Mills Brothers disbanded after their final hit Cab Driver in 1968 which happened to be the same year Brian May met Roger Taylor forming the basis for the rock band Queen.

Over the years since, The Mills Brothers performed reunion shows with different members. The last original Mills Brother, Donald passed away in 1999 at the age of 84. The son of John Jr, John Mills III and Elmer Hopper of the Platters currently tour as a version of "The Mills Brothers" much in the same way Brian May and Roger Taylor still perform without Freddie Mercury or John Deacon as a version of "Queen".

Segregated Soldiers in Hillcrest Cemetery

original crude hand-made gravemarker

Geocaching sometimes takes me to interesting and forgotten places that pique my curiosity after scratching the surface a bit. Hillcrest Cemetery, a Cincinnati OH cemetery on Sutton Road in Anderson Township is one of those places.
Its 14 acres were established as a resting place for the remains of African-American US veterans and members of their families. Most of these men served in the Civil War, the Plains Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, World War I & II, and Korea.

The bodies of nearly 1,000 African-American veterans rest in this ground and most fought for their country despite not having equal rights at home under the law. Upon returning from their sacrifices they were still met with segregation and racism. These men came to be here because Jim Crow laws even applied to burials in many places in the US prior to the 1960's. Cincinnati was no different. There are several other segregated cemeteries with African-American veterans in the area including United American Cemetery and Beech Grove Cemetery.

Sadly, over the years, Hillcrest's private ownership fell into dispute. With no one caring for the grounds, the cemetery became vandalized and run down. Erosion had even exposed some graves and vaults to the point where bones were visible and groundhogs had taken up residence. No one wanted to assume responsibility for its maintenance. In 2002, the Ohio National Guard with assistance and funds from private, local and state organizations helped with the restoration of the property and replaced or restored many missing headstones for these forgotten men and their families.

Buffalo Soldier

I am sure there are many forgotten stories to tell in this graveyard. Being an aficionado of local ties to Native American history, one marker, in particular, caught my eye on my 2nd visit here.


Pvt Nelson Morrow of the US 24th Infantry Regiment was one of the "Buffalo Soldier" units organized of black men to fight in one of the many hundreds of confrontations with Native Americans. The US Army dubbed them the "Indian Wars" which occurred west of the Mississippi from the Civil War up until 1898. The Cheyenne supposedly came up with the term Buffalo Soldier because the curly black hair reminded them of buffalo fur. The Lakota called them black wasichu which meant "black white person".
Here also rests an American paradox. Morrow is a young post Civil War "free" black man sent off by his country to kill or force another group of individuals into Indian reservations only to return home and live out his days in segregation even upon his death. Pvt Morrow probably felt he was doing the right thing to get his share of the American Dream and improve his own lot in life or perhaps he had no real choice in the matter, but nonetheless his story still represents the struggle of two ethnic groups of Americans that certainly didn't get their piece of the freedom pie as easily as others... or at all. At any rate, it is good to see that the men buried here have at long last been given some respect and recognition by the local community in the country they served.

Up Caesars Creek with a paddle

I knew that the popular enormous flea market called Caesar's Creek near Wilmington OH derived its name from the nearby Ohio State Park.
What I did not know and never thought about much was where the name came from. Like the name Cincinnati, I assumed it was a nod to the Roman era. The billboards for the flea market seem to emphasize that angle too. It turns out the billboards aren't exactly historically accurate and as usual, there is more to the story.

The name comes from an escaped or possibly captured black slave named Caesar who was adopted by the Shawnee, a fairly common American Indian practice in those days. Sometimes these adoptees escaped but many they stayed with their new Indian families. Caesar stayed, preferring this new life to his old one. I'll bet that wasn't a hard decision for him. He was eventually given his own hunting land by the local Chief.  I wish there was more information on Caesar himself but his significant place in history was recalled by the famed frontiersman Simon Kenton who owed him his life...

marker near Xenia OH has been stolen

In 1778, Kenton was captured by the Shawnee in Ohio and forced to run the gauntlet..nine times. The gauntlet was a form of a furious beating torture used to test the mettle of captives, who were then considered for adoption themselves. Simon, already well known among the Shawnee, was a prized captive and paraded from village to village for all to see. Kenton was then condemned to die near present-day Xenia OH. The Shawnee named him Cuttahotha meaning "condemned to be burned at the stake", something that was attempted three times, yet each time circumstances resulted in his escape. The Shawnee saw this as a sign he was protected by the Great Spirit, Monetoo. They commuted his death sentence and he was adopted into a Shawnee family.

During his captivity, Caesar, now a full member of the Shawnee, took some pity on Simon who was barely clinging to life from his ordeal. Caesar could not offer direct assistance or face punishment himself, but he did give him information on how to escape if given the chance. By following the creek on his hunting land he named for himself...Caesars Creek, to the Little Miami and then to the Ohio River, a trip of at least 60 miles, he could then reach the safety of the settlements in Kentucky.

Simon Kenton never got to use the advice from Caesar but his words gave him hope when all hope seemed lost. He finally did escape in 1779 during a stop at the British Fort Detroit and made it back to American settlements thereby securing his status as a living legend, feared and respected by whites and Indians alike. But this post is really about Caesar. You can look forward to a full Gehio post about Simon Kenton one day!

Simon Kenton (1755 - 1836) in Covington KY

The area around Caesar's Creek fittingly became an important part of the Underground Railroad in the 1850's by the area Quakers who helped slaves escape.
No one knows what happened to Caesar, but without his encouragement, Kenton would surely have perished or been forgotten himself and changed American history.