Memorial Day, the Civil War and the Oyster Plant

I wanted to do a post about the Jack in the Pulpit plants now blooming in the woods. However, the plants can wait a day or two since it is Memorial Day, one of America's most important national holidays.
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those military people who fought, served and died for this great country. Over the years, it has also become a time to remember everyone who has reached the “other side”, both family members and friends. Graves are decorated and there are quiet visits to cemeteries.
Originally, Memorial Day was called Decoration Day; a solemn day to remember those who were killed in the bloody and tragic American Civil War. Slavery was certainly one of the key issues in that tragic conflict.
It was an important day in many communities of northwestern Pennsylvania just after the formal hostilities ended. And it remains a solemn day today in many of those same communities; Meadville, Erie, Girard, Wattsburg, Union City, Phillipsville and so on.
Northwestern Pennsylvania is rich in Civil War history. The cemeteries, large and small, are filled with the graves of those who served, marked with GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) plaques and flapping American flags. Many were young men from farms in rural areas of northwestern Pennsylvania who have been long forgotten.
Northwestern Pennsylvania is also rich in Underground Railroad History, perhaps the largest civil disobedience movement in the nations history. Untold numbers of slaves were housed, fed and clothed in many rural farm houses and churches and then taken into Canada and freedom. It was a secretive movement because it was illegal to help a slave escape; persons caught were jailed and fined. It was a serious federal offense.
John Brown who led the ill fated raid on Harpers Ferry just prior to the Civil War spent nearly ten years in New Ricmond just north of Meadville. He was active in the Underground and other anti-slavery actions. For more information, click on the title.
Every rural community had a GAR post, an organization formed to help the veterans of that horrible period in American history. The GAR was the center of a town's cultural and social life for decades until the veterans slowly died off and the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Affairs organizations stepped forward as the advocates for veterans after World War 1.
I have read some of the minute books (1880-1910) from a GAR post from the Cranesville, PA area, the Colonel Lytle Post. Several times a year, usually in late winter or early spring, the post had an “oyster supper” for members and townsfolk. It is likely they didn't have real ocean oysters back in the late 1800's but more likely used salsify, a vegetable root crop which is also called the oyster plant.
Salsify is an old time vegetable favorite worth planting. It grows like a parsnip and can be harvested like a parsnip in late winter and early spring. Freezing weather makes this root crop much sweeter. Here is the recipe for oyster soup. So yes, Memorial Day is particularly important this year. We have elected Barak Obama as our president, something unthinkable even a decade ago; we need to support our troops who are fighting two separate wars; and vegetables gardens have taken on a new importance as we struggle through one of the worst recessions since 1929. Salsify is worth the try, it really is pretty darn good and healthy as well as historic.

Obama and Memorial Day

Yesterday, was an amazing day in American history and that is likely an understatement as millions gather in DC to witness the inauguration of Barak Obama as the 44th president. The ceremony took place against the backdrop of the Martin Luther King holiday the day before.
Obama's inaugural address was one of the best. The new Commander-in-Chief touched on many noteworthy and important issues and values But what caught my attention was his emphasis on the sacrifices of our veterans throughout our history. It was their dedication which has given us the freedoms we enjoy and our way of life.
I couldn't help but to think about our horrific Civil War; over 620,000 soldiers died in that bloody event, blood which made January 20th, 2009 possible. There were even more atrocities, many of them unknown, during that era and huge tracts of land were laid to waste.
One of the worst massacres during the war happened on April 12th, 1864 at Fort Pillow in Tennessee on the Mississippi River. The Union fort, defended by 262 black troops and 295 white troops was attacked by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest with some 2,300 troops.
The Confederate troops stormed the fort and in cold blood executed all but 62 black troops who were serving in the Union Army to defend the status of the Union. It's not a pretty picture, nor was Forrest's future. He eventually became the Grand Wizard of the white terrorist group the Ku Klux Klan.
A second image during Obama's speech that I recalled was one of the first Memorial Day ceremonies shortly after the war in Charleston, South Carolina. An old horse racing tack was converted into a prison for Union soldiers. Hundreds died or were executed and thrown into a mass grave.
On May 1, 1865, after formal hostilities ended, thousands of freed slaves, honored the Union troops digging up the mass graves and giving them a more dignified burial. It was a solemn event, which included the children of the freed slaves who were enrolled in the new free schools, who carried armfuls of flowers and sang the song “John Brown's Body”. The free schools and one of the organizers of the first Memorial was James Redpath, a northern abolitionist and ardent supporter of John Brown who owned a tannery and farm near Meadville, PA in a place called New Richmond. (There is a really good museum today at the former Brown farm – fascinating place).
So, perhaps, Obama's speech will give a new meaning to Memorial Day this year. We live in a nation soaked in the blood of our fellow countrymen and all of our veterans from all the wars regardless of racial origins. There are events we should never forget. There's a lot of people who died so we could live in the greatest nation on earth.
The photo is from a cemetery near Canadohta Lake and is the lonely graves of a civil war veteran whose name was faded and could not be read.