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Archive for the ‘Historical’ Category

OLD BEDFORD VILLAGE

Posted in Historical on August 26, 2012| 1 Comment »

  Traveling south on Route 220 I saw the big green and white distance sign. I clearly saw Bedford 17. Slight anxiety could be felt within me.  I continued on! Shortly, I saw the Exit 10 sign! If the Dodge Caliber can make it past this exit all would be well, I remember thinking.

Young soldier!

I breathed a slight sigh of relief after I went a few extra miles south. I MADE IT! Most of you readers are, probably thinking what is this idiot writing and why!

They wanted me to hold the target!

A year ago, I was heading in the early hours to the Old Bedford Village  for a Civil War event known as  “MEET THE GENERALS”. After I went past the Bedford 17 miles and prior to the Exit 10 sign I stopped in the wooded area for some business. Upon returning to the car, and turning the key, I was amazed that the dash had so many-colored lights! The car wouldn’t start. Eventually, I managed to get the car started periodically and after going right at Exit 10 the problems continued until I flagged down a state trooper for assistance. I didn’t make the event. The car’s computer system failed with only around 24,000 miles.

After the wedding.

Jim Butler-camp cook

This has been a joke between my friend, Robert “Slim” Bowser and myself since. He was one of the reasons I was making the trip. He requested I show my painting, “THE WHEATFIELD-WHIRLPOOL OF DEATH” at the event. Slim is president of the Company D, 62nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry 5th Corps group of living historians. (www.62ndpvi.wordpress.com) I am honored and proud to be a honorary member with the group.

I arrived early at the village and unloaded about 7 paintings to display. I spent much time with many friends of the 62nd group. We had lots of laughs and lots of friendly harassment! A great bunch of people indeed! 

My friend, Jim Butler, after much harassment, made an excellent breakfast of bacon and eggs! (I ate 4 eggs!) Jim later in the evening made a turkey; beans; potatoes and sweet potato pie over the fire and using dutch ovens. Other long-time friends and a few newer friends included Joe Rupp; Den Butler; Judy Butler; Marylou Rupp; Sue Carson; Jim Johnson,; Cindy McShane and others. A few young-uns are with the group too.

K.P. duty

Some events of the day were a firing demonstration and the Meet the Generals event. I attended a Civil war era wedding. This ceremony was a reaffirmation of a couple’s marriage. Of course, this was done in Civil War era clothing and style. Many officers lined up outside of the old church with sabers arched over the couple as they exited the church. A small reception was open to the public afterwards.  too.                                                                                                                                                              

The Old Bedford Village, for those who have never heard of the site consists of original log cabins and homes. Many are log cabins transferred to the site and erected again as a, hopefully, permanent display as to how our ancestors lived. The cabin I was at with my display was built in 1790. (Type in Old Bedford Village for a list of events and such for a learning experience.)

I have included some photos  to see just a few of the log cabins found here .

                                                                                        

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Things I Have Been Doing!!!

Posted in Historical, Muskie Fishing, Wildflowers on July 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Purple Coneflower

  I’ve been busy! The last weekend in June I played guitar with, at least, 6 bands at campgrounds. Of course, over the 4th of July week I was at several cook out meals. One was with my family and the other was at Greensburg, Pennsylvania at Laurie’s brother and his betrothed home. We attended  the home of Kristen and Mark Crosby on July 4th for multiple reasons. Mark had made the trek to becoming a Free Methodist pastor. We, and others had stopped by for a cook out type congratulatory visit. The invite, also, meant chairs set up watching the fire works during the Heritage Days event in Ford City, Pennsylvania.

We did some western-style square dancing  Friday evening (July 6) during one of the hottest days of summer. (Didn’t say we were smart! and I didn’t say I did well either!)

One evening I went for a nice bike ride. I went to Rosston and went around the marina and returned home.The several hour ride was invigorating.

Another project for me is placing tracks in a digital recordings for a future CD. I have placed , thus far, up to six and seven tracks on some of the 13 songs. This is a lot of work and is time-consuming. This morning we worked at placing some vocals on three of the songs.

Button Bush

Muskie Maus

On Tuesday, I spent the day on the Allegheny River casting and trolling for muskies at the invite of my friend, Frank (MUSKIE) Maus. He has caught 305 of these great fish in his fishing career. That is quite an accomplishment. The man is obsessed with muskies! We failed to have any strikes this day. I watched a gar trail my lure and with the next cast felt a nudge on the lure which was, probably, the same gar. We saw lots of mallards and some mergansers and a few gulls.  

Wednesday, found me doing a  couple of miles of walking and later gathering some large rocks for landscaping. (I am getting to old for such weights!)

A bear walked somewhere below my home on Tuesday. I sure would have liked to have seen it! This week I have seen a few deer and, today I did see about 7 turkeys cross the road below my old homestead.

Wednesday evening I located the final resting place of Col. William Sirwell. He was the commander of the 78 Pennsylvania Regiment from our area. He is buried at the St. Mary’s cemetary near Kittanning, Pennsylvania.

Col. Wm. Sirwell grave marker.

Saturday, I am scheduled to play lead guitar with a band called Just Passin’ Through. This band lost their lead guitar player about four years ago and I have been asked to play at Grey’s Home for their annual picnic the last three years.  This band doesn’t play music much together due to travel, etc. This is one time they manage to get together. They play older style country music.

Sunday evening, I was asked to play lead guitar with a gospel band called the Gospel Messengers. This will be a televised event. They lost their lead instrument last year and, as of date, haven’t found a full-time replacement.

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Rock River Illinois & Black Hawk Memorial

Posted in Historical, Misc. Nature on April 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The Rock River area of Oregon, Illinois was a beautiful sight to behold. the river’s width is wider than the Allegheny River here in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. The overall depth is more in tune with a natural, free-flowing river. Plenty of islands, some of a large size, can be viewed . While I walked about  the Lowden Park and White Rock Parks I could see many paired off Canada Geese. Some nests were discovered too.     

The Castle Rock Park area had high rocky outcrops. One had       steps guesstimated  to be over 500 feet in length to walk to   the top viewing area. here you could look out in both directions of the Rock River. Many vultures were flying about. these rocky areas would provide outstanding nesting sites for the carrion-loving bird.

I understand that “clamming” was popular in the rivers earlier history. Catfishing is still popular.

  North of Oregon, Illinois, on the eastern hillside stands a memorial reaching 48 feet 4 inches towards the sky. The monument built early in the last century depicts the War Chief, Black hawk. Black Hawk was leader of warriors of the Sauk and Fox Indian nations of that area. He led a short-lived rebellion against the white encroachments in 1832. Sadly, the limited resources always lead to the loss of native lands. The white war machine could be kept with supplies and manpower making Indian resistance doomed. this is and has been part of a negative history of America, but this is still our history.

Black Hawk

Visitors can stand at the memorial’s base and look upon the Rock River and see Oregon on the opposite bank. It is quite impressive to stand by and look about.

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Illinois Trip

Posted in Historical, My Family on April 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Ira (Buddy) Yount and my mother, Ruth.

Headed west! Family members and myself left for the 12 hour trip to Illinois. The reasons were varied for the trip. My step father, Bob purchased a 1985 El Camino, that is like new, from some relatives of mine who live in northern Illinois near Oregon. Also, I wanted to see where some of my family had settled 100 years ago. I, also, wanted to see my 96-year-old second cousin Ira Yount (known as Buddy by most.) and his 91-year-old wife Jennie. (Reality is I will, probably, never see them again. They used to come to Pennsylvania when they were younger.)

BRIEF HISTORY: Approximately 100 years ago some of the Yount family brothers migrated to Illinois looking for work. They were Delbert and Ervin.They lived near  the Oregon and DeKalb communities. Buddy was born in 1916 to Ervin and Belle and lives here to this day.

The 1985 El Camino

Rock River at Oregon, Illinois

Uncle Ervin was a magnetic man. People would just gather around him to listen to his stories. He was an avid car and gun collector. (Allen Smail, my father, gave Uncle Ervin an original muzzleloader back in the 1950 era. If my dad would have known how much his son would later enjoy muzzleloaders….)

Windmills in Illinois

I was not thrilled as we entered Illinois. Huge barren looking farms were the norm. Trees and woodlands were scarce. Trees would usually indicate the home areas. Some areas had many of the big wind mills with generators. However, as we approached the community of Oregon things began to change fast. I was seeing woodlands and hills. The Rock river flows through this area. the river is beautiful and looks natural with big and varied islands. I thought I could be happy here!

Black hawk through the trees

Another highlight of the Oregon area is a park featuring a 48.4 foot memorial of War Chief, Black Hawk.  This memorial sets in a wooded area overlooking the Rock River. This Indian lead the Sauk and Fox warriors against the white encroachment upon their lands. Of course, they failed in their attempt. (I will post another site on this soon.)

The long drive was tiring, but I was fortunate to see a number of deer and turkeys. I saw two bald eagles; sandhill cranes; gulls; geese and ducks. I was happy to see some new sights of America. Although ,I wouldn’t want to leave the big hills of Pennsylvania I found it great to see where and how others live.

Rock River

One side story told by Buddy before I close. It seems my great grandparents, John and Susan Yount took a train to Oregon in 1916 to see their new grandson. They purchased a Motel T Ford and drove home to Pittsburgh where he took the Ford over an embankment. My great grandmother reused to ride in the car to Armstrong County. They took a train and had someone drive the car back home.

Buddy, sister Ruthie after a property run

My grandparents, J. Edward and Mary Yount loaded up their five children in the early 1940 era and drove to Oregon. Can you imagine 5 children in a car without air conditioning traveling such a distance? One of those five was my mother Ruth.

Bob and thr gang!

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THE ATTACK ON KIT-HAN-NE E-BOOK (Update)

Posted in Historical on February 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

My book entitled, “THE ATTACK ON KIT-HAN-NE” can be found by visiting: Amazon.com and clicking on the “Kindle Book” link on the left.

The Attack On Kit-Han-Ne

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THE ATTACK ON KIT-HAN-NE

Posted in Historical, My Art on January 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 

In Memory of my friend, Mike Slease (Colonel Armstrong at Blanket Hill battle site) Mike passed away last week.

   Some time ago I wrote a book entitled, “THE ATTACK ON KIT-HAN-NE”. The book was written as an educational book to inform individuals of our areas great history. The area of present-day Kittanning, Pennsylvania, not only features, some outstanding beauty, but played a pivotal part of early history.

    Prior to the settlements and fields, local natives lived  out their existences by farming, hunting, fishing and trapping. By 1755, our local Kit-Han-Ne Indians lead by War Chiefs, Captain Jacobs and Shingas entered the French and Indian War allied with the French against the British and colonists. These natives were of the Lenni-Lenape (Delaware) tribe.

 These great men launched raids across eastern Pennsylvania killing, plundering and capturing many. Colonists often fled with nothing but their clothes upon hearing of Indians lurking in nearby areas. They fled toeastern communities like Philadelphia.

Colonel John Armstrong and over 300 men headed into western Pennsylvania to attack the village. This would be the Colony of Pennsylvania’s only attack during the war. The September 8, 1756, lead  to many casualties and  burning of many of the village’s log buildings. The results are debatable. The raids continued into eastern Pennsylvania and the Indians did live at the site for a time before moving farther west behind the French line of forts along the Allegheny River.              

    The book was published by: Mechling Bookbindery. Their web site is: www.mechlingbooks.com  Last week the publisher contacted me about a new venture for the book. The book is now available as an E-book. For those of you interested in this rather new concept of downloading books you can go to Amazon.com and search by typing in my name; Kittanning;The Attack on Kit-Han-Ne…

Please, if you decide to obtain this book via this option, don’t forget to leave a review.

You can see the book by clicking on the book link on the right on my web site here too.

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Blanket Hill Adventure

Posted in Deer Hunting, Historical, My Family on January 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

  

Blanket Hill battle on the right

  Locals in the Armstrong County, Pennsylvania area have heard of Blanket Hill. In 1756, Colonel John Armstrong ordered 13 men to wait until daybreak and attack the 3-4 Indians located by the fire. Scouts spotted their fire earlier that evening. Armstrong feared these Indians could alarm the main village at Kit-Han-Ne. (Present-day Kittanning)

However, the hand full of natives turned out to be many more than the four and the 13 soldiers were either killed, wounded or deserted. The actual site of the battle was about one and a half miles from where the community of Blanket Hill is presently. The hill where the battle originated is a small strip of woodlands corrupted with multiflora rose brambles. The top is field and the bottom is a reclaimed strip job. 

Used to be where we hunted!

  The plan was simple. the three of us, Cousin Donnie; step-father Bob  and myself, after a morning stand hunt, would  meet and hunt that strip around 9:00.  The early hours were very chilly somewhere in the low teens or, possibly colder. I saw 9 deer prior to 9:00. (Six were bedded and spotted while driving  to the hunt site.)  Donnie saw two turkeys.

     We organized and I placed Bob along the top of the ridge and Donnie walked the bottom and set up. I circled around seeing 4 deer. I continued circling the woods edge and began a slow drive towards the two. I didn’t go very far and could see a couple of laying deer and a few more feeding. I allowed my presence known and the deer moved slowly and stopped before moving on. I waited for a shot.                                      

Half-rack Buck

I began moving towards them and could see deer walking ahead of me and shortly a resounding “boom.” I moved in to see Donnie having bagged a deer. Bob saw some of these deer, but couldn’t get a good shot. Donnie’s 37 yard shot connected very well allowing the deer to go about 12 yards. Bob exited as planned to a right of way. I continued the push seeing a couple of the deer. One laying deer was a half-rack 4-point. I actually did get a photo of the deer laying before moving them out. (Donnie shot another flintlock deer last Saturday.)

Donnie with his doe

     I helped Donnie drag the deer before Bob and I went to another site.  I spotted a deer laying but Bob couldn’t see it until it jumped up to run. Later I spotted another deer feeding and we maneuvered and the deer walked rather close but didn’t afford a shot. I tried to push the deer back and spotted another deer in its bed. Nothing past Bob!!

Ring neck track

    I was almost to Bob and could see a feeding deer far out. We positioned and the deer eventually walked to about 50 yards. The wind wasn’t the best, but when I felt the draft change I told Bob the deer would wind us. She did and the escape was certain!

I saw two more deer before we quit as the rain started.

I saw a groundhog out today in January!  The temperatures eased rapidly into the forty degree mark. The snow melted just as fast. I, also, saw a couple of hawks.   

Donnie dragging

 I find walking the area where the Blanket Hill skirmish traditionally began to be an exciting adventure. To get a deer  where native Delaware warriors and early Pennsylvania  soldiers may have walked is just as much of thrill to me. This is “hallowed ground.”

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A Day at the Museum

Posted in Historical on November 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

     I had the opportunity to spend the day at the Armstrong County Historical and Genealogy Museum in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Valerie Jack brought her 8th grade classes to the Native American Room at the museum. The teacher is just completing her educational lessons concerning the French & Indian War and the events of that war in our local area of Kittanning and some surrounding sites.

My task at hand is to further enhance some of the events that occurred. I, also, spend time discussing weaponry, war tactics of the time, cultural living and apparel.  I, of course, was dressed as an 18th century longhunter/militia member of those times.

The Native American Room features various native items throughout the small room including paintings of petroglyphs (rock carvings) from north of Kittanning along the Allegheny River. The classes seemed intrigued with the possible descriptions as to what each carving may have represented.

Close-up of Eastern native knife sheath/ knife

I wish to thank Valerie  Jack and her students patience with me despite my nervousness. They are a tough audience. They can see through any attempts to be non-factual on my part!

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a  chance to take photos of the class members for this site.

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Victorian Tea Party

Posted in Historical on November 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

    Saturday I attended a Victorian Tea Party. Not to drink tea but to display the painting, “THE WHEATFIELD-WHIRLPOOL OF DEATH.” The event was held at the Trinity United Methodist Church at Indiana, Pennsylvania. The hosts for the event were members of the Sons of the Union Veterans; John T. Crawford Camp #43 and the Sara A. Crawford Auxiliary. This event was being held as a fund-raising effort for the project of erecting a memorial entitled “REST ON ARMS.”           

The Rest On Arms Memorial idea was actually formulated shortly after the Civil War ended by the vets of that time. Several attempts to raise funds early on failed. The Crawford Camp intend to finish the dreams! The proposed statue/memorial will be erected in the Indiana community.

You can read more on this important project by visiting:  www.restonarms.wordpress.com

Terry Greene-master fiddler!

  Approximately 80 tea-drinkers attended the two-hour event. Lots of cookies were created by the ladies of the auxiliary.(Some of which entered my internal parts.)

   A Civil War era fashion show completed the event as many of the ladies spotlighted their varied 19th century apparel.

Unfortunately, the painting was far from the interests of most of those in attendance. Also, I lost my watch. Despite these setbacks I enjoyed the event too. Seeing friends  and learning more of the times of the Civil War! 

Tea anyone?

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THE “WHEATFIELD-WHIRLPOOL OF DEATH”-ORDERS

Posted in Historical, My Art on October 30, 2011| 5 Comments »

Well friends my painting entitled, “THE WHEATFIELD-WHIRLPOOL OF DEATH” is now ready for purchase. This labor of love is a painting of the 62nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry at Gettysburg fighting at the area of Gettysburg known as the “Wheatfield”. (Painting can be viewed on my August 25th Blog at www.larrysmailart.com)

If you would like to purchase a print you can contact Robert J. Bowser at:   100yrs2L8@windstream.net or call at: 724-545-1330 or me (Larry Smail) at: lasmail@windstream.net or call at: 724-548-2042.

Options available are:

150th anniversary edition  (signed and numbered) for $150.00. This edition has a hand-drawn Maltese Cross on the margins. The 62nd PVI had the cross on kepies (hats) and/or uniforms.

Regular edition of signed and numbered 450 prints at: $100.00

Artist proof edition of 45 signed and numbered print for $120.00.

Checks can be mailed to: Robert J. Bowser at 144 Presston lane;  Kittanning, PA 16201

Thank you for your support of this project. Proceeds benefit in part: Company D, 62nd PVI Living History Unit;  Sons of Union veterans of the Civil war Camp #43 and the “Rest on Arms” Indiana County Civil war memorial project.

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