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New Book is Out!

Okay folks, the time has come.  My newest book has just arrived! You can purchase it here: Deeds Publishing    Amazon has the Kindle version.  Get'em while they last! ;)

Good news!  The draft of Broomsticks to Battlefields 2nd edition has been submitted to my publisher, Deeds Publishing. www.deedspublishing.com/.

This edition includes additional research on Delaware Military Academy and Henry C. Robinett.  It also includes a class mate of Robinett's, David Vickers.  Vickers was captured at the battle of the Wilderness and imprisoned at Camp Oglethorpe in Macon, GA, then moved as Sherman's march began.  His story after the war is quite intriguing.  More to follow.

Henry C. Robinett

David Vickers

Delaware Military Academy

An AHA Moment about Vickers and Freemasonry

I was talking to four Freemasons this week about both Robinett and Vickers.  They indicated that when a mason is removed from the organization every mention of them is purged for all records.  That could MEAN, in the case of Vickers that is what happened to him and why I cannot find where he was raised. BUT, then why was he buried in a Masonic cemetery?

Every question answered always generates new questions.

Keep History Alive
bs

Okay, so now what?

Manuscript finished, at least the first draft.  I will make some modifications before I make it publicly available.

Dr. Harris, at Widener has indicated there is no funding for my next proposal: a study of PMC from 1945 until the end of the Corps.

Guess I can kick back and relax now.

Manuscript Complete!

Well, draft is complete and sent off to AMU.  Now I can relax a bit and work on the next draft at my own pace.  This will not be published like Robinett was.  I will make copies available to those who are interested for a nominal fee.  More on that later.

Robinett and Vickers

AS the first draft of my manuscript winds down it is becoming quite obvious that the two had far more in common that simply DMA.  It now that David Vickers shared the same psychological issues: PTSD and Narcissism.  Hard to say for sure as long distance psychiatry is difficult at best and in Vickers' case he left so little in the way of personal papers.

Almost FInished!!!

Well, the first draft of my manuscript is almost finished.  I should wrap it up this week.

Progress!

Well, another weekend of writing is gone and I have made significant progress.  It is amazing how it is all coming together.  Still not sure what had a greater influence on Vickers, his time as a POW or Judson Kilpatrick.  My gut says Judson.  We will see where it leads.  If so, here is a snap shot of Kilpatrick:

He reacted rashly under pressure, striking out blindly against adversaries without thinking of the possible consequences.  He was not a man that one would want to follow into battle.  Another shortcoming was his arrogance, his feeling that he was not subject to the same rules as others, that he could steal, take bribes, or use his office for personal advantage with impunity...Kilpatrick had no loyalty to his command.  He was quick to abandon his responsibilities if he saw a brighter future looming elsewhere.  

That is from Samuel, J. Martin.  Kill-Cavalry: The Life of Union General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick. ( Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000). 

And then there is this from General Sherman as he was beginning is march to the sea:

Summing up Kilpatrick in 1864, Sherman about to undertake his march to the sea said, “I know that Kilpatrick is a hell of a damned fool, but I want just that sort of man to command my cavalry on this expedition.

So, after the war Vickers hitches his star to a man such as this.  Why?

20,000 Words...

and I am just getting to Vickers and the 3rd New Jersey enter the war at the firs battle of Bull Run or Manassas for your Southern folks!

Now it is on to a solid outline and then the first draft. Things are moving on at a good pace since I took the week off work to do this! Here is a short time line of David Vicker's life:
Timeline of David Vicker's Life
1840 DV born-Camden NJ
1858 DV enters DMA
1861
     DV graduates DMA
     1LT Co. B, 3rd NJV Infantry May 25, 1862
     Promoted Capt Co A June 6, 1861
1862
    July/Aug Typhoid Fever
    November - resigns for 3 NJV- recommended for dishonorable discharge - denied
1863 Various campaigns in Virginia including the "Mud March" & Fredericksburg
    April - recruitment duty & draft command
    Misses Chancellorsville & Gettysburg
    September - Promoted Major and assigned 4th NJV Regimental Adjutant
1864
    May 6 taken prisoner at the battle of the Wilderness
    Libby Prison in Richmond
    Camp Oglethorpe, Macon, GA
    Charleston Jail, SC
    Camp Sorghum, Columbia, SC
    Camp Asylum, Columbia, SC
1865
    February, Goldsboro, NC
    March paroled
       Promoted to Col of 4 NJV
       Dept of War overrules due to being paroled not exchanged.
       Finally exchanged in 26 March-no room for a COL in 4 NJV
       "shows him suffering from General Disability following chronic diarrhea."
     May discharged from Army
     June Promoted to Brigadier General for "meritorious service."
    December, leaves Philly w/ Gen. Kilpatrick for Chile
1866
    November marries Amelia (niece of future president of Chile)
    Late November returns to Philly
1869
    David II born
1870
    Helen E. Tyson born
1871
    DV engaged in various enterprises causing him to be away from family
1873 Hamilton Vickers born
1874 Affiliated with Freemasons in Camden
1875 Appointed Commissioner to an International Expedition of Chile--family moves to Chile
1876
    March daughter Maria Amelia born in Santiago
    September DV leaves Chile for US
1877-80 Editorial writer of West Jersey Press & possible NY Tribun
1878 Expelled from Freemasons for nonpayment of dues
1880 Letter to Dr Frelinghuysen (Sec of State) for nonpayment of support
1881 Appointed US Consul in Matanzas
1884 DV sends last letter to wife Amelia
1885 Suspended on the "grounds of bad moral character" from position.
    Returns to Camden lives with Aunt
1888 Marries Helen E. Tyson - seventeen
    Immediately leaves Philly for the west
1898
    Appointed Inspector General w/ rank of Major of Idaho Natl. Guard for Sp Am war
    July becomes ill at camp Chickamauga, GA
    Nov honorably discharged
1899
    January arrives in Boise - ill
    February diagnosed with heart disease
1900-1907 Extremely ill, mostly bedridden
1908 June 27 David Vickers dies

harum-scarum

I am working almost non-stop on coalescing my research.  I came across a very interesting assessment of David Vickers by a special examiner ordered to investigate his past upon his death and thougt I woudl share segments of it here:

"I have not been able to obtain anything more than a fragmentary history of soldier's life.  There are none of his relatives living in Camden….All had heard that he had married a Chilean wife and had left her, or she him.  The letter from his half sister, Mrs. Bates, gives one version of the separations.  There were various rumors that I heard, the one most common being that after losing his diplomatic post he had no means to support her, and he either left her on her sister, or she had to go to here sister for support.  One rumor had it that she left him in Philadelphia after he had purloined and disposed of some of her jewelry."

"Soldier is said to have been a very bright, intelligent, fine-looking , and fascinating man. But he was a high-roller & free-spender, one of the kind who would blow in forty or fifty dollars for a wine supper to friends, if it took his last dollar and he did not know where the next was to come from.  He was also a confirmed roué (A man devoted to a life of sensual pleasure; a debauchee; a rake), and I was told broke up at least two families in Camden while living there.  One man said he heard of his receiving three inheritances two of them running into the tens of thousands but he went through them in a  hurry.  As to whether he would have committed bigamy, there is a difference of opinion among his acquaintances.  It is conceded that the moral features would not have given him concern.  Some say that he would have been reckless enough while others say they think it improbable that a man of his experience and standing and knowing that tropical temperament of his wife, would have laid himself liable to the charge." 

"Of the Idaho claimant, none of his acquaintances had ever heard except his cousin, and he knew nothing as to her identify.  I made a careful search of the Philadelphia marriage records, and also the license records in Philadelphia & Montgomery Counties, but the name of David Vickers does not appear in the indexes. The stated license law, making obtaining of a license compulsory, went into effect in 1885.  The claimant does not hown whether a license was obtained and cannot produce even a marriage certificate. I thought is was worth while to look into her antecedents, and found her mother one of the most ignorant and unintelligent Pennsylvania Dutch women I ever came across.  I asked her if she was a widow, and she replied "No, she had never been married," and told me that Amos Tyson, whom claimant named as her father, was her mother's father."

"Coming from such a house and parentage, and a soldering being the kind of man he was, it is not too violent a strain on the imagainat8ion to suppose, in absence of proof to the contrary, that there was no marriage ceremony between them (By the way, her mother says her name is Ella not Helen). She must have been an intelligent, adaptable, woman to have fitted into the life of a man like Vickers who, whatever his faults, would have required a woman of brains to hold him loyal for twenty years."

I'll leave it to you to determine why entitled this harum-scarum

Good News!!!

Well, I am just about finished compiling my research.  Other than the VA Pension records it is all in.  Turns out that Vickers was far more complex than I first thought-soldier, diplomat (with some renown), and businessman (both in Chile and in Idaho).  He blew at numerous inheritances and was married twice-at the same time, it turns out! His last years were quite rough as he was bedridden with heart and liver disease.

His rather bizarre actions for the rest of his life after the war are quite interesting.  The key question is how much did his time as a POW during the Civil War impact his post-war behavior?  I have yet to determine that to my satisfaction.

Hopefully in the next few weeks I can sort that all out.  I have almost none of his writings and no letters of his.  Quite a bit different that Robinett as his letters were a window into his soul.

Camp Sorghum

Vickers spent a some time outside Columbia, SC at Camp Sorghum as Sherman's Army marched towards Savannah and then into South Carolina.  It was a temporary camp, not even having walls.  Rough planks were laid as a dead line manned by boys from the Armory & old men.  Many escaped, Vickers did not.  He signed a petition protesting the conditions there which were Spartan, to say the least; no shelter, sorghum and molasses for food, exposed to the weather with no relief. 

I went to the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum today [http://crr.sc.gov/] in the hopes of learning more about the camp. Nice museum, well done, if you are in Columbia I recommend a visit but unfortunately nothing on Camp Sorghum.  Just across the Saluda River is the approximate location of Camp Sorghum so it was my next stop.  It's exact location is lost to time, at this point but nestled in an older neighborhood of middle class houses is an abandoned radio station and antenna field just about where it should be.  The camp was positioned on a rise about 100 yards above the river.  The pictures are below.

Cliff Notes version ....

Okay, here is a short and sweet capsule of what I found so far:

• After the war Vickers accompanies Judson Kilpatrick to Chile-he claims as Secretary of the Legation, State Department says maybe unofficial secretary for Kilpatrick

• Kilpatrick marries cousin of President of Chile

• Vickers does same (Amelia) and becomes Kilpatrick’s brother in law.

• DV returns to Philly with his wife. They have two boys

• DV likes to party and blows through TWO inheritances!

• DV & Amelia return to Chile as part of a special legation

• DV & Amelia have a baby girl in Chile

• DV leaves for Philly-family stays in Chile, he says he'll send for them or return himself

• DV goes to Cuba are consul--write Amelia not to come due to yellow fever

• DV (40 at the time) returns to Philly, meets a 17 yr old PA Dutch girl (Helen) and within in week "marries" her.

• DV & Helen head west

• DV tells Helen his first wife is dead

• DV returns to service in the Spanish-American War as Inspector General for Idaho and goes @ Chickamauga

• After war returns to Idaho, seriously ill - heart & cirrhosis of the liver. Spends years in debilitating pain and suffering, cannot leave his room.

• Dies in 1908-Amelia had not heard from him in decades but gets a newspaper clipping announcing his death from a friend.

• She applies for widow pension

• Helen applies for widow pension and learns he was still married to Amelia

• Helen's petition is refused, Amelia grants widow's pension.

There is lots more but that is his life after the War of Rebellion in a nutshell.
Questions:

1. How much did his experiences as a POW in the war influence his actions after the war?

2. How much did Judson Kilpatrick influence his actions?

3. How did his expereinces @ Chickamauga

4. What does all this tell us about his mental state?

4. What else do I need to know and look for?

Interesting stuff!

FINALLY!!!

Thanks to the persistent efforts of my Congressman, Paul Broun's office, the VA has finally coughed up David Vickers file.  I filed a FOIA request in FEBRUARY!!!  Looks like close to two inches of documents to pour through for the next few weeks. I will be asking AMU for an extension on my project.  It is due 1 DEC and there is no way I can meet that now.  Fun stuff!

Charleston Jail

Visited the Old Charleston Jail this past weekend.  Vickers spent some time there between Camp Oglethorpe in Macon and Camp Sorghum in Columbia.

Battle of the Wilderness

I just realized I forgot to post these.  David Vickers was captured during Gordon's flank attack at the Wilderness.  Here are the shots I took while visiting there in August.

There's a deer on the trail!

CSA Trench

CSA Trench

Mine "Road"

Mine "Road"

The VA Drives Me Nuts!

They want a Social Security number for David Vickers!! Who taught these folks history? 

His records are in Baltimore but they will not give me a phone number or e-mail address to contact them directly.

I have been trying since FEBRUARY to get them to send me his records. 

Man what a mess they are!

Things are Moving VERY slowly.

Well, here we are half way through the year and it is time to take stock.  My research is no where near as far along as last year.  The VA is dragging their feet on getting me his records.  I have talked to them twice now and am still waiting.   The Freemasons in New Jersey are about the same, it seems.  This project lacks primary sources related to Vickers other than State Department records and I really want to keep the focus upon the Civil War.


Time will tell, there are always surprises in historical research.