A Tale of Two Collections: The Unseen Civil War Artifacts at the Grand Rapids Public Museum

Our April program takes us to the Grand Rapids Public Museum where we will explore Civil War artifacts not on display in the current exhibit, Thank God for Michigan! Stories from the Civil War. Members of the Grand Rapids Civil War Round Table are submitting requests for items from the Public Museum's permanent collection to be brought out from the CARC building. Those who submit requests will discuss why they are interested in the items and perhaps add some information to the museum’s knowledge. Parking is free at the Public Museum ramp on Front Avenue. Please do not park in the Holiday Inn parking lot.

John Wood McCrath Collection

One of the Civil War collections to be discussed is the John W. McCrath collection. Following is a brief biography written by two of McCrath’s great grandchildren, Robert John McCrath and Jeanne Ellen Summers.

John W. McCrath was born in Atlas, Mich. near Flint on Sept. 6, 1837, the first of six children born to James and Ellen McCrath. The family moved to the village of Grand Rapids in the spring of 1842. John attended the old Union school and Prof. Franklin Everett’s academy. He became a teacher at the ripe old age of 17, and taught school in Gaines Township in 1854 and ’55. He served an apprenticeship with W. D. Foster & Co. as a tinsmith. In 1859, John began selling hardware in Ionia for John McConnell, who moved his stock in 1860 to Grand Rapids, where he conducted a hardware and tin shop on the present site of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. John was in Mr. McConnell’s employ when the Civil War broke out. In September of 1861, certain citizens of Grand Rapids began organizing a regiment of engineering troops to be sent south. Among these were: Wright L. Coffinberry, a civil engineer; James V. Sligh, a merchant; Baker Borden, an architect, builder and contractor; Perrin V. Fox, a contractor and bridge builder; and

William P. Innes, a civil engineer, who had recently built the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad from Detroit to Grand Haven. The regiment was to consist of ten companies. John went back to Ionia and recruited Co. B. The state governor, Austin Blair, instructed that the regiment should be designated as “First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics”. William P. Innes was commissioned a colonel and put in command of the regiment. John was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on Sept. 12, 1861 and given No. 3 officer rank in Co. B, under First Lt. John W. Williamson and Captain Baker Borden. A training camp (Camp Owen) was set up on the county fair grounds in Marshall, Mich. and after three months of intensive drilling and training, the regiment left the state on Dec. 17, 1861 with the strength of 1,032 officers and men, and proceeded to Louisville, Ky. John’s brothers, Charles and Lyman were in the same regiment, both being in Co. D. His brother, Louis, was in the 21st Michigan Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Captain Charles E. Belknap. During the next four years, John and his company served under Generals Buel, Rosenkranz, Grant, Thomas and Sherman in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. They built bridges, repaired railroad tracks and destroyed same, built roads through swamps so that cannons and supply wagons could pass, built blockhouses and other fortifications at strategic points, and at times, skirmished with rebel forces, who did not appreciate their activities. The men of the regiment often worked all night so the army could march the next morning. John rose to the rank of Captain on May 11, 1863, and was put in command of Co. B.

Capt. McCrath and his brothers were with General Sherman on his march to the sea, reaching Goldsboro, N.C. on March 23, 1865. After the fall of Savannah and the surrender of General Lee, John was mustered out of service Sept. 22, 1865, after having served the full duration of the war. He married in 1865, Miss Elizabeth Henderson Dunks, of Detroit; the granddaughter of the founder of Hendersonville, Kentucky. She was born in Birmingham,

Mich. in 1839. John returned to the south and embarked in the stove and tin business in Atlanta in the fall of 1865 with two confederate army veterans as partners. Their place of business occupied one of the two stores left standing on Whitehall St., the main business street of Atlanta, before it’s destruction by Sherman. The firm prospered. John’s health became impaired in 1870 and he sold out to his partners. In 1872, he managed the first exclusive dry goods and carpet store in Chattanooga, Tenn. The panic of 1873 found him with a store full of depreciated goods and a debt of $24,000.00 owed to New York creditors, who offered to settle for fifty cents on the dollar. This, he refused, and told them that he would pay every dollar or not a cent. They agreed to give him the time he needed. John sold his home in Chattanooga and traveled about the country selling his stock at auction. After paying all obligations in full, he farmed and sold real estate i n Tennessee until returning to Grand Rapids in 1890. By this time, John and Elizabeth had four daughters: -- Elizabeth Fidelia -- Nellie Dunks -- Ellen Dunks and Elsie Rachael. John planted 30 acres of cucumbers on a farm 2 miles south of Grand Rapids, contracted with area farmers for more cucumbers, and started the West Michigan Pickle Works. He also founded the Ponce De Leon Water Co. in 1893, which he sold in 1900. The captain was a thirty-second degree Mason and member of Grand River Lodge No. 34. He was also an Elk, a member of Custer Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and an honorary member of the Mich. Natl. Guard. In 1897, Governor Pingree appointed him a member of the Board of Managers of the Mich. Soldiers’ Home. He served a term as Grand Rapids city alderman from the First Ward, and later ran for Kent County register of deeds. Capt. John died at his home, 90 1st Ave., Grand Rapids, Feb. 8, 1910, at the age of 73. In 1912, certain street names were changed by the city, and 90 1st Ave. became 34 W. Buckley St. John’s widow, Elizabeth, died there March 12, 1920, at the age of 81. Both are laid to rest in Garfield Park cemetery.

“A Tale of Two Collections: The Unseen Civil War Artifacts at the Grand Rapids Public Museum”, co-sponsored by Grand Rapids Public Museum and Grand Rapids Civil War Round Table, April 12, 2012, 7:00 p.m.