JPK Huson, ma'am;
You wrote:
During the Civil War, many a hotel, a boarding house and private residences were turned into military use. DC was a sleepy governmental town compared to current times. The edge of civilization in DC was "H" Street and the rest was farmland supporting DC's interior with meat, dairy and poultry, lumber and such. Houses were not joined at the hip and where townhouses were, they were small houses in width and triple in depth--Narrow but deep. Some went up three floors. With head-quarters for the Army in total, General Winfield Scott's office was on the third floor of the War Department, which is where the Old Executive Office Building is now, next door was the Navy Department. When all the volunteers came rushing in to serve, there wasn't enough room to house them all. So, being the amazing people they were back then, hospitality normal and shocking if doors slammed shut on anybody in need--rooms were rented and changed hands frequently by those serving. Many homes turned into hospitals, especially in Georgetown. Many a hotel were turned into hospitals immediately after First Bull Run/Manassas.
In looking through the Official Records of the Rebellion, if there is an address in Washington, D.C. aka Washington, City--I jot them down. The area of Independence Avenue, between the Smithsonian Castle and the Air and Space Museum, on the south side of the street, were a string of brothels. That is where poor General Hooker gets his name stuck to the illegal profession--his troops had been placed there due to lack of space elsewhere. Having worked as a police officer in DC, I can picture that place extremely well. I was fortunate enough to be there before the alleys were built up/destroyed in the name of progress. I found the rear of Ford's Theater amazing and so 'telling'--unfortunately it hasn't survived past 1975. The alley was brick lined, with a center square "commons" that used to be a stable and a little pen for the horses outside their stall were kept, the carriage house and above that the coachman's quarters, etc. Like most city blocks, it housed only the residents of that block. The rear of Ford's Theater for example, three and one-half stories tall, windows were in the back on the top two levels, where I imagine the props were stored and like old barns--had a beam jutting out with a pulley with two doors that could probably fit a small car through. This loft would have been an interesting experience. The door where Booth escaped was still there though it was grated over by a door to prevent people breaking in. But, I could imagine seeing Booth escape, out the door--mounted on his "rent-a-horse" then spurring the horse out of the alley which only had one entry on the north side and south side respectively--Booth taking the north exit explains why the identification tag on the rental horse was found at 9th and F. Street, N.W. and turned over to the D.C. Police back then.
The addresses mean a lot to me knowing this City well in the 1970's before it got built up even more. Space being a premium. But, knowing the address of General Stoneman's residence and head-quarters, get an "Ah Hah" moment as to how General John Buford (Cavalry hero of Gettysburg) was attended to by a Doctor so often--it is due to the Hospital Finley a block away. Buford died in Stoneman's house, minutes after being made Major-General.
I just wish everybody else had the same ability to put themselves in the places where I've been to appreciate history even more and have these nuggets of information make everything much clearer.
Now here is why that place Calvin was at is so important:
O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME LI/1 [S# 107]
Union Correspondence, Orders, And Returns Relating To Operations In Maryland, Eastern North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia (Except Southwestern), And West Virginia, From January 1, 1861, To June 30, 1865.--#2
Abstract from return of the volunteer troops stationed in the Department of Washington, Col. Joseph K. F. Mansfield, U.S. Army, commanding, for April 30, 1861.
O Officers. A Aggregate present.
M Men. B Aggregate present and absent.
P Present for duty.
-------P------
Posts. Garrisons. Commanders. O M A B
Capitol 6th Massachusetts Infantry.(a) Col. Edward F. Jones 47 546 633 633
Do 7th New York Infantry.(b) Col. Marshall Lefferts 39 772 833 837
Do 8th Massachusetts Infantry.(c) Col. Timothy Munroe 42 465 517 696
Navy-Yard 71st New York Infantry.(d) Col. Abram S.Vosburgh 25 677 702 806
Inauguration Hall 5th Pennsylvania Infantry.(d) Col. Robert P. McDowell 38 607 671 752
Treasury 5th Massachusetts Infantry.(e) Col. Samuel C. Lawrence 48 717 787 787
Patent Office 1st Rhode Island Infantry.(f) Col. Ambrose E. Burnside 53 1,019 1,104 1,112
Assembly Rooms(*) 12th New York Infantry.(e) Col. Daniel Butterfield 39 819 870 898
Caspari's House, Capitol Hill. 25th New York Infantry.(g) Col. Michael K. Bryan 34 417 469 488
Capitol Pennsylvania Volunteers (5 companies).(h) .... 15 475 497 503
Do District of Columbia Volunteers. Col. Charles P. Stone 21 468 523 547
At different points within the District. do do 107 2,038 2,242 2,356
Total .... .... 508 9,020 9,848 10,415
((Note: DO means ditto))
You wrote:
Hahahaha! It's also funny, for some reason I kind of take people 'then' so seriously. Well, of course they were all exactly the same as we are now and if they all went out dressed up carrying picnic baskets to watch a battle, their peers would say the 1861 version of 'Huh?'. It was the first time I'd run across a referance to THAT attitude- found it delightful. I'm at least happy to say Calvin seems to have not taken fried chicken in a wicker basket with him, I guess that's something.
He did have 3 brothers in uniform. I haven't had time to compare their regimental records, as in who was where and when. I'm hoping to explain his lapse in judgement this way. The New York regiments mustered in early in the war had come to Washington, some stayed at Caspari's House, a hotel next to Congress I think which I guess was taken over to house troops for awhile. My grgrgrandfather, Calvin's brother, is listed as staying there we think ran the place at the time.( An awfully nice woman in DC found that for me. I don't have him listed as a relative in the war, because he mustered in and out in a month, NO idea why, as a Captain, then followed his brother to DC., then bought his own hotel after Calvin's death.) Anyway- I'm hoping Calvin's brotherly concern took him to the battlefield. That would be almost understandable. Almost! Makes me wish it were possible to go back in time, "NOOO, don't get into that carraige!".
During the Civil War, many a hotel, a boarding house and private residences were turned into military use. DC was a sleepy governmental town compared to current times. The edge of civilization in DC was "H" Street and the rest was farmland supporting DC's interior with meat, dairy and poultry, lumber and such. Houses were not joined at the hip and where townhouses were, they were small houses in width and triple in depth--Narrow but deep. Some went up three floors. With head-quarters for the Army in total, General Winfield Scott's office was on the third floor of the War Department, which is where the Old Executive Office Building is now, next door was the Navy Department. When all the volunteers came rushing in to serve, there wasn't enough room to house them all. So, being the amazing people they were back then, hospitality normal and shocking if doors slammed shut on anybody in need--rooms were rented and changed hands frequently by those serving. Many homes turned into hospitals, especially in Georgetown. Many a hotel were turned into hospitals immediately after First Bull Run/Manassas.
In looking through the Official Records of the Rebellion, if there is an address in Washington, D.C. aka Washington, City--I jot them down. The area of Independence Avenue, between the Smithsonian Castle and the Air and Space Museum, on the south side of the street, were a string of brothels. That is where poor General Hooker gets his name stuck to the illegal profession--his troops had been placed there due to lack of space elsewhere. Having worked as a police officer in DC, I can picture that place extremely well. I was fortunate enough to be there before the alleys were built up/destroyed in the name of progress. I found the rear of Ford's Theater amazing and so 'telling'--unfortunately it hasn't survived past 1975. The alley was brick lined, with a center square "commons" that used to be a stable and a little pen for the horses outside their stall were kept, the carriage house and above that the coachman's quarters, etc. Like most city blocks, it housed only the residents of that block. The rear of Ford's Theater for example, three and one-half stories tall, windows were in the back on the top two levels, where I imagine the props were stored and like old barns--had a beam jutting out with a pulley with two doors that could probably fit a small car through. This loft would have been an interesting experience. The door where Booth escaped was still there though it was grated over by a door to prevent people breaking in. But, I could imagine seeing Booth escape, out the door--mounted on his "rent-a-horse" then spurring the horse out of the alley which only had one entry on the north side and south side respectively--Booth taking the north exit explains why the identification tag on the rental horse was found at 9th and F. Street, N.W. and turned over to the D.C. Police back then.
The addresses mean a lot to me knowing this City well in the 1970's before it got built up even more. Space being a premium. But, knowing the address of General Stoneman's residence and head-quarters, get an "Ah Hah" moment as to how General John Buford (Cavalry hero of Gettysburg) was attended to by a Doctor so often--it is due to the Hospital Finley a block away. Buford died in Stoneman's house, minutes after being made Major-General.
I just wish everybody else had the same ability to put themselves in the places where I've been to appreciate history even more and have these nuggets of information make everything much clearer.
Now here is why that place Calvin was at is so important:
O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME LI/1 [S# 107]
Union Correspondence, Orders, And Returns Relating To Operations In Maryland, Eastern North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia (Except Southwestern), And West Virginia, From January 1, 1861, To June 30, 1865.--#2
Abstract from return of the volunteer troops stationed in the Department of Washington, Col. Joseph K. F. Mansfield, U.S. Army, commanding, for April 30, 1861.
O Officers. A Aggregate present.
M Men. B Aggregate present and absent.
P Present for duty.
-------P------
Posts. Garrisons. Commanders. O M A B
Capitol 6th Massachusetts Infantry.(a) Col. Edward F. Jones 47 546 633 633
Do 7th New York Infantry.(b) Col. Marshall Lefferts 39 772 833 837
Do 8th Massachusetts Infantry.(c) Col. Timothy Munroe 42 465 517 696
Navy-Yard 71st New York Infantry.(d) Col. Abram S.Vosburgh 25 677 702 806
Inauguration Hall 5th Pennsylvania Infantry.(d) Col. Robert P. McDowell 38 607 671 752
Treasury 5th Massachusetts Infantry.(e) Col. Samuel C. Lawrence 48 717 787 787
Patent Office 1st Rhode Island Infantry.(f) Col. Ambrose E. Burnside 53 1,019 1,104 1,112
Assembly Rooms(*) 12th New York Infantry.(e) Col. Daniel Butterfield 39 819 870 898
Caspari's House, Capitol Hill. 25th New York Infantry.(g) Col. Michael K. Bryan 34 417 469 488
Capitol Pennsylvania Volunteers (5 companies).(h) .... 15 475 497 503
Do District of Columbia Volunteers. Col. Charles P. Stone 21 468 523 547
At different points within the District. do do 107 2,038 2,242 2,356
Total .... .... 508 9,020 9,848 10,415
((Note: DO means ditto))