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The La Porte County
The way of the world Civil War re-enactors deal with rain, deserters during annual event By MATT FRITZ
Staff writer 1-219-326-3887 mfritz@heraldargus.com
Photos by Matt Fritz
Confederate soldiers collapse after being hit with a mortar round during re-enactments at the Civil War Railroad Days at the Hesston Steam Museum on Saturday.
Train raids, battles take place at steam museum By MATT FRITZ
Staff writer 1-219-326-3887 mfritz@heraldargus.com
HESTON — While some might be familiar with the military innovations of the Civil War, such as ironclad warships and primitive machine guns, or the medical advancements, such as greater sanitation, they might not be as aware of another development: Arterial embalming. “For the first time, we had a process to make someone look like he did before he died,” said Civil War re-enactor and practicing mortician Craig Malone. “It preserved (corpses) so they didn’t draw flies.” Malone was one of the many re-enactors attending the Civil War Railroad Days at the Hesston Steam Museum on Saturday. The event, which featured live train raids, battles between Union and Confederate soldiers, and Civil War-era campsites, also had booths catering toward lesser known aspects of the war. Malone, who practiced as a mortician for 32 years, said this war was the start of the modern mortician. But there were some differences. While modern morticians mechanically pump a form of formaldehyde into corpses to preserve the tissues for viewing, morticians during the Civil War-era would only have used a solution of arsenic, mercury and a form of liquid lead, which would be hand-pumped into the body. It was later absorbed into the tissues to keep them intact. He said the solution was discontinued, however, because of its poisonous nature. It resulted in a high number of mortician deaths. Malone explained that during most of the war,
Four-year-old Varina Burau enjoys a watermelon at the Missouri Guerillas Civil War camp on Saturday. soldiers had to make their own embalming arrangements with a private mortician before a battle. The cost was $200, about equal to a year’s wages. In return, they received a disc of metal that would both identify them and serve as a receipt. If they survived, they would have to seek out the mortician to get their money back. They often couldn’t find him. But too many soldiers got taken advantage of, Malone said, so President Abraham Lincoln signed an order to have it regulated, which introduced military morticians in the last four months of the war and made the nation responsible for embalming and returning the dead, a practice still carried out today. Previously, soldiers were buried where they died unless parents paid to have them shipped back home. But Civil War Railroad Days also highlighted other aspects of the war, such as the families tainted by the bloodshed. Preparing slices or watermelon, sausage and cheese for the Confederate soldiers was Lara Burau of DeKalb, Illinois, who was a member of the Missouri Guerrillas that See MUSEUM, Page A3
La PORTE — As the rain started coming down on Saturday, temporarily halting the Civil War Days event at the La Porte County Historical Society Museum, reenactors fled to their fly out tents, knocking down extra poles, and leaving the canvas covers to sag between supports. “We are creating slack so the rain drains off,” said reenactor Pete Hirl of Granger as he worked to get preparations in order. “All the canvas in the tent, as long as you don’t touch it with your finger, it will stay dry through the night.” Touching it could cause the fibers to break, he explained, and the tent to leak. Storms and adverse weather were some of the many obstacles re-enactors had to regularly contend with, he said, and come prepared for, just like the armies had to during the Civil War. Hirl, part of the 21st light artillery unit, was one of several re-enactors at the museum grounds on Saturday, putting on a series of staged Civil War battles and other activities for visitors during Civil War Days. It was one of two events celebrating the Civil War in La Porte County throughout the weekend. The other was at Photos by Matt Fritz Hesston Steam Museum. TOP: Union troops set off a mortar during Civil War Days at the La Porte County HistoriBefore the rain, the re- cal Society Museum. ABOVE RIGHT: William Zalas is blindfolded by Hawk Van Pew as enactors at the La Porte he awaits execution during Civil War Days at the La Porte County Historical Society Museum on Saturday. ABOVE LEFT: Jill Van Lew discusses fashions of the Civil War-era womSee CIVIL WAR, Page A3 an during a presentation at the La Porte County Historical Society Museum on Saturday.
100-year-old still enjoying ‘the good life’ By KIMBERLY KING Staff writer 1-219-326-3858 kking@heraldargus.com
Willa Mae Smith may seem like an ordinary woman: Her favorite color is pink, she enjoys painting china, as well as oil painting, and she’s preparing for an upcoming trip with her famy. She spent Sunday morning at church, and the rest of the afternoon she was hanging out with some of her best friends. But Sunday was no ordinary day: Willa and friends were celebrating her 100th birthday. Numerous family and friends gathered at First United Methodist Church in La Porte and ate bright pastel-colored cupcakes and sipped bright red punch amid a room decorated in pink confetti. Willa was seated in the middle of the room, wearing a birthday crown as she greeted all who entered with a handshake or hug, a fast smile and her extraor-
Willa Mae Smith, center, is shown Sunday with First United Methodist Church Pastor Evan Lash and his wife Barb as they celebrate Willa’s 100th birthday at the church. Photos by Kimberly King
dinary laugh. The parlor at the church was filled with attendees while others sat at tables outside the room and enjoyed the celebration, many discussing the oil paintings and china on display, all designed by Willa. They also commented on mementos displayed on a table, including her wedding invitation and photos
of Willa on her wedding day – Nov. 18, 1939 – and of her with various family members, as well as a collar once worn by a favorite pet. Willa, wearing a light pink suit, said during a quick break in greeting visitors Sunday that she believes the secret to her
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A3
Local CIVIL WAR From Page A1
toward the deserter since they would have to carry his gear over the six to eight weeks until he healed. The museum’s event also had a special program on Civil War fashion for women. Wearing a circa-1860 hoop skirt, Jill Van Lew, Hawk’s wife, said fashion of this age dictated women wear seven layers of clothing, including stockings and several types of undergarments. She said this was especially applicable in the South, where the famed Southern belles lived. They wore the garments in the blistering heat. “But they used sheer fabrics,� she said. “Really lightweight fabrics. That made a difference.� And tanning did not. Women commonly carried parasols, basically small umbrellas, for keeping out the sunlight. “You wanted to keep the sun off of you,� she said. “You wanted very pure, white skin. That was the fashion.�
County Historical Society Museum had finished executing a Confederate deserter responsible for helping a conscript escape. He was blindfolded while two soldiers shot him. Re-enactors Hawk Van Lew and Niles Clark explained that for a traditional Confederate execution, there would actually have been 13 rifles, and only one of them would have been loaded with a bullet. All the men would have been aiming, and none of them would have known who had the kill shot. “That way no one could ever say, ‘I killed him,’� Clark said. Van Lew, who is related to famed Union spy Elizabeth Van Lew, said the usual treatment for deserters was to have them horsewhipped in front of their regiment. This would make their fellow soldiers aware of their punishment. But it would Follow Matt Fritz on Twitter @ also make them less lenient matt_fritzHA.
Photo by Matt Fritz
Ceil Mach and her daughter Dana, left and center, respectively, admire a Civil War-era garment while Jill Van Lew, right, looks on.
MUSEUM
From Page A1 day. As she explained it, the Union campaigns in the state were so fierce during the war that soldier homes were often burned down, the land torched, the animals killed or taken, and the women arrested or tortured. �They would burn farms and torture you, if not kill you,� she said. “It was very intense for the family. And it was not uncommon.� She also noted that military units were often formed from the men in one town or community. And with 80 percent casualties to some of these units, towns could lose their entire male population.
LIFE
From Page A1 longevity is “good genes.� “I can’t complaint,� she said, “I’ve always been active and just keep going.� Sunday’s celebration was put on by several of Willa’s closest friends, including Eleanor DeMarco, who explained the pair had been friends “for years.� “She’s just the most interesting lady,� said Eleanor, who wore an outfit which was a slightly brighter shade of pink than Willa’s. Willa moved to La Porte about 35 years ago with her husband Edgar W. Smith. He passed away 12 years ago.
Photos by Matt Fritz
RIGHT: Chuck Martin, right, of the Missouri Guerillas, leads the defense of the Confederate-held train during Civil War Railroad Days at the Hesston Steam Museum on Saturday. LEFT: Union soldiers capture Confederate spy Danielle Case during re-enactments at the Hesston Steam Museum’s Civil War Railroad Days on Saturday. But many of the visitors to the Hesston Steam Museum came to see the action. At the train station, they got to board an engine full
of Union or Confederate troops, take off across the Hesston property, and get caught up in a gun battle between opposing armies. The
Associated Press
HOUSTON — Mayors from the GOP-dominated states of Texas and Arizona are calling on cities to use nature to fight the impacts of climate change, even while Republican governors and lawmakers repeatedly question the science that shows human-caused pollution contributes to global warming. As conservative governors criticize the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new rules designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the mayors – many from cities already struggling with climate-change effects – are taking steps and spending money to stem the damage. Attendees of the U.S. Conference of Mayors will vote Monday on a resolution that encourages cities to use natural solutions to “protect freshwater supplies, defend the nation’s coastlines, maintain a healthy tree cover and protect air quality,� sometimes by partnering with nonprofit organizations.
that female spies were commonly utilized by both armies in the war. This was because there were cultural Follow Matt Fritz on Twitter @ taboo against searching matt_fritzHA.
“We married in 1939, during the (Great) Depression, and we made everything,� Willa said. “We only bought what we had money for.� Her son Roy Smith, who now resides in Idaville, Indiana, was in La Porte on Sunday to celebrate the occasion. He agreed with his mother, saying she was “living the good life.� “She lived healthy and didn’t smoke or drink,� he said. “She stayed active gardening and at church.� Roy said that after a family celebration dinner on Wednesday, Willa will be heading to his cottage near Canada’s Georgian Bay for Photos by Kimberly King some summertime relax- LEFT: A birthday card for Willa Mae Smith is shown next to a photo of Willa and her family. RIGHT: Some ation. of the china Willa Mae Smith painted was on display Sunday at her 100th birthday celebration.
U.S. mayors to use nature to fight climate change By RAMIT PLUSHNICKMASTI
prize? A cache of gold and the capture of a spy. Playing that spy was reenactress and La Portean Danielle Case, who noted
It’s being backed by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton – all Democrats. Since the conference is almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, and the resolution only “encourages� steps rather than mandating action, Leffingwell believes it will easily be approved Monday since it quickly passed through the committee on Friday. “The best strategy is not
to get involved in partisan politics,� said Leffingwell, who noted that Texas Gov. Rick Perry may be a climatechange skeptic, but he still supported the state’s move to invest $2 billion in water infrastructure after a debilitating drought in 2011. “He doesn’t have to acknowledge climate change to know that the facts are there. ... We want to take the steps that would advance the things that we all believe in without getting into some ideological argument,� Leffingwell added.
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women at the time. She said female spies would often encrypt messages and attach them to their dresses or undergarments. �They wouldn’t have been able to check me,� she said. “It wasn’t appropriate for a man to even look at a woman’s ankles, much less search them.� Oh, in regards to what practices existed before embalming, Malone said towns would often hire people to carve out blocks of ice from the local lakes during the winter, and then store them in a cellar. Bodies would then be kept there until the funerals. �That’s where you get the phrase, ‘Put him on ice,’� he said.
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