Unknown Confederate Dead Near the Mall

Three and 3/4 miles north of Wolfchase Mall on Brunswick Road lies Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

Pleasant Hill Cemetery

Pleasant Hill Cemetery

The burial ground was founded in 1853 at the original site of the Brunswick Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  The cemetery is still active although the church has long since moved. There are over 800 bodies buried at Pleasant Hill, some with large granite markers and recent flower offerings, others simple homemade and hand carved.

Homemade Grave Marker

Homemade Grave Marker

Pleasant Hill is a marked and noted site of the Tennessee Historic Commission because of its age and because it contains the graves of seventeen unknown Confederate soldiers. Like so many of the churches in Memphis, Brunswick Cumberland Presbyterian was converted into a hospital after the Union victory in June, 1862, So many church histories claim that they were occupied by Union hospitals that its hard to believe. But every time that I do a fact check, it turns out to be true. Many of the Memphis churches were paid by Congress after the war if it was found that they were taken over legally and that they were “loyal to the Union.”

So Brunswick CP was known to be a hospital. The Confederate soldiers were members of the Army of General Sterling Price. After the fall of Memphis (or the liberation of Memphis, depending on your view), General Sherman and General Grant were headquartered in Memphis. The rail head in Corinth, Mississippi was considered to be the next major target for the Union Army. In 1862 Mississippi was controlled by the Confederacy. General John Pemberton was the commanding officer, headquartered  in Jackson, Mississippi.

Union and Confederate forces met at Corinth where General Price’s merged with General Earl Van Dorn’s army to form a force of 22,000 men clashed with 23,000 Union soldiers under the command of General William Rosencrans. Nearly 10,000 men were killed. Price’s Army lost more than 30% of its troops. 2,359 Union soldiers were killed and 4,838 Confederate troops lost their lives. The number of wounded was overwhelming. The Confederate wounded were left on the battlefield as Van Dorn retreated. Many of those that needed long term care were taken by rail or cart to Memphis 100 miles to the northwest. Most of the hospitals were in Memphis proper and the Confederate wounded were taken there.

So I wondered, why were these 17 gravely wounded soldiers transferred from Memphis to Brunswick, a difficult journey 20 miles northwest of Memphis? Perhaps it was because the flood of the Union wounded from the battle of Corinth overwhelmed the facilities in Memphis. Or maybe there was another reason.

Memorial to the 17 Unknown Soldiers.

Memorial to the 17 Unknown Soldiers.

Tennessee Williams, Memphis Jews and a Shrunken Head are Tenuously Related

In the summer of 1935, Tom Lanier “Tennessee” Williams was recovering from a series of “breakdowns” suffered while working at the International Shoe Company in St. Louis, a job his distant and abusive father had contracted for him. Seeking refuge, Williams came to Memphis to stay with his maternal grandparents, the Reverend Walter Dakin and his wife Rose. The Dakins had been his protectors throughout his turbulent childhood.

The Dakins had retired in Memphis and lived on Snowden Avenue. Williams found a haven in the library at Rhodes College which was then known as “Southwestern,” a few blocks from his grandparents’ home. There, he discovered the plays of Anton Chekov which revived his spirit and brought him back to writing. Williams was also enchanted by the Shapiro family who lived next door to the Dakins, especially their free-spirited daughter, Bernice Dorothy Shapiro.  Known as Dorothy, she was a member of a Memphis amateur drama group alternately known as the Garden Players and the Rose Arbor Players. Both names came from the site of their productions which was in the large backyard of Alice G. Rosebrough at 1780 Glenview Avenue in Memphis. Shapiro and Williams set to writing a play which they called “Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay,” a farce about two sailors on shore leave in New York.

Cairo, Shanghai, Bombay is considered to be the first Tennessee Williams play to be produced and preformed. It was directed by Arthur Scharff. Dorothy Shapiro became a footnote in American literary history as credited co-author of the play. Forty years later, Tennessee Williams recalled,

“In the summer of 1934 (sic), when I first became a playwright, there lived next door to my grandparents in Memphis, a family of Jews with a very warmhearted and actively disposed daughter named Bernice Dorothy Shapiro. She was a member of a little dramatic club in Memphis. Their productions took place on the great sloping lawn of a lady named Mrs. Roseborough, which accounts for the “Rose Arbor” name of that cry of players. Dorothy wanted me to collaborate with her on a play for the group—she knew that I was a writer and she wasn’t. I wrote a farcical but rather touching little comedy about two sailors on a date with a couple of “light ladies.” Bernice Dorothy Shapiro wrote a quite unnecessary and, I must confess, undistinguished prologue to the play. Thank God the prologue was short: that’s all I can remember in its favor. The play was produced late that summer. It was not long, either, but it was a great success for the group. On the program I was identified as the collaborator and given second billing to Dorothy.” [i]

More importantly, Williams recalled, “Still, the laughter, genuine and loud, at the comedy I had written enchanted me. Then and there the theatre and I found each other for better or for worse. I know it’s the only thing that saved my life.”

Postscripts

Arthur Scharff, director of Williams’ play was the son of Memphis dry-cleaning mogul Abe Scharff, founder of Model Cleaners (today known as Krause Model Cleaners.) Abe Scharff was known for his is civic mindedness…he personally funded the first YMCA for African-Americans in Memphis. [ii]  Abe Scharff was also an adventurer. In 1939, four years after the production of Williams’ play, Scharff set off with his other son, Jack on an adventurous trip through South America. On his journey, Scharff acquired a shrunken head.  In 1941, Scharff loaned the head and other objects from his travels to the Pink Palace Museum. In 20xx the family officially donated it to the collections. In 1940, Scharff self-published a book about his travels entitled “Peruvian Rambles.” The Museum owns an autographed copy with a dedication the Museum’s first director (then called “superintendent”), Julia Cummings.

Mrs. Alice G. Rosebrough, at whose home the play was performed, achieved some notoriety in 1958 when, at the age of 75 she was the leader of a group known as the “Peaceful Pickets of Glenview.” The “…group was formed to stop other Negro families from moving into the Glenview subdivision [in Memphis]. She said the group pickets the Negro homes every Sunday.”[iii]

[i] Candles to the Sun: A Play in Ten Scenes

By Tennessee Williams.  Dan Isaac. New Directions Publishing, 2004

[ii] http://www.isjl.org/tennessee-memphis-encyclopedia.html

[iii] The Kingsport Times, Oct. 7, 1958

Why Watching Selma Made me Think About My Mother

We watched “Selma” last night. I was hesitant because I know that none of the speeches were actually MLK’s words and that many of the details were slightly changed for story continuity and effect. But then I realized, “so what?” Since when do I watch Hollywood movies for historical accuracy. Its a piece of art about one of the most important incidents in American history and it’s well worth watching. It is moving and nearly mythological in its storyline. Not The best movie that I ever saw or even the best civil rights movie that I ever saw. But certainly worth your time if you haven’t seen it yet and it’s scenes, those based directly from iconic images of the day and those rewritten for effect are moving.

My personal tie-in? I was 11. March 13, 1965, the day that President Lyndon Johnson summoned Governor George Wallace to meet at the White House, a scene recreated in film, I was in our kitchen when my mother called Western Union to deliver a telegram to President Johnson. I remember her words clearly. I remember where she was standing and where I was standing. (sorry Barb Masler Weiss​, I don’t remember if you were there or not). It was March 13, six days after Bloody Sunday in Selma. My mother dictated her message to the president of the United to be delivered by Western Union. I had never seen her use telegram as a means of communication before or after that. She said, “President Johnson, please remind Governor Wallace that America is still the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

I’m sure that it was read by interns who put together a compilation of pro and con messages to give to Johnson in a report. But maybe they pulled that one to show him as an example. My mother, after all, had recorded radio spots in the Chicago suburbs for LBJ and had done some campaign work. We got tickets to see him speak at the International Amphitheater in Chicago and were purposely seated at the point that LBJ entered and I got to shake his hand… well, touch the fingertips of his hand.

The scene in Selma of LBJ browbeating Wallace IS one of the accurate speeches from the time. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach was in the room with him. Johnson started out by introducing Wallace to his (Johnson’s dogs.)

The conversation went like this:

“George,” “you see all those demonstrators out in front of the White House? Wouldn’t it be just wonderful if we could put an end to all those demonstrations?”

Wallace, nodded. “Oh yes, Mr. President, that would be wonderful.”

“Well, why don’t you and I go out there,” Johnson continued, “and let’s announce that you’ve decided to let the blacks vote. Why don’t you let the niggers vote? You agree they got the right to vote, don’t you?”

Oh yes, there’s no quarrel with that.

“Well then, why don’t you let them vote?”

“I don’t have that power.” “That belongs to the county registrars in the state of Alabama.”

That was it for civility as far as Johnson was concerned. “George, don’t you shit me as to who runs Alabama.” “You’re fucking over your president. Why are you fucking over your president?” “George, you and I shouldn’t be thinking about 1965; we should be thinking about 1985. We’ll both be dead and gone then. Now, you got a lot of poor people down there in Alabama, a lot of ignorant people. A lot of people need jobs; a lot of people need a future. You could do a lot for them. Now, in 1985, George, what do you want left behind? Do you want a great big marble monument that says ‘George Wallace: He Built’? Or do you want a little piece of scrawny pine lying there along that hot caliche soil that says ‘George Wallace: He Hated’?”

Wallace, who was terrified by Johnson, later claimed that five more minutes and he would have become an integrationist.

So, did my mother help to move Johnson to force Wallace to request federal troops to protect the marchers.

Yea, I think she did until someone proves otherwise.

The Patron Saint of Minor Lost Causes

A Chicago legend and a hero of mine died yesterday. Ernie Banks was a Chicago Cub from the year that I was born (1953) until the year that I graduated from high school (1971). After that, he worked in publicity for the Cubs through the 1980s. He is the first Cub to have his Jersey retired. Except for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues, Ernie never played for any other team. His was the most loved and respected Cub of all time.

As a child, I loved his sunny attitude and his enthusiasm for life and boundless love for the Cubs. I can honestly say without a doubt that I never thought about his skin color. It was a non-issue for me as a child at a time even though I was aware of the racial turmoil of the 1960s– my parents made sure of that. I guess that part of my love for Ernie was his seeming belief that everything was going to be okay, no matter how terrible the moment seemed.

Every season he declared that the Cubs would win the pennant although they hadn’t done it since 1945 and wouldn’t during his active years as a Cub. He believed that they would win every game even though for most of his career he played on losing Cub teams. In 1958 and 1959, the first years that I can remember events and place them in time, Banks became the first player to win the MVP in consecutive years.

1959 was the year that the other Chicago team, The White Sox, won the pennant and went to the World Series. Still, it was the year that Banks cemented my allegiance to the Cubs; and not because of his stats. I was six years old in 1959, I didn’t know or care about stats. I didn’t know or care about the Cubs haplessness. Until I was around ten, I often saw the Cubs games as a lot of things that happened between times that Ernie came to bat or made a spectacular play at first base or shortstop.

It was a great day when Ernie was the guest on the Cubs pre- game show, “The Lead Off Man.” The Cubs helped me to understand that the game was at the least as important as winning. Ernie helped me understand that people could be loyal even in dismal circumstances and happy even when losing. Even Ernie made errors but they are hard to remember because he came back and did something wonderful.

I never was a very good baseball player and I certainly have not been able to maintain a daily enthusiasm for my life and job. I will never be thought of as the nicest guy or ever be Mr. Memphis. I am not universally beloved. The best that I can say is that I try to believe that everything will always turn out okay and that it’s possible to be happy in adverse circumstances.

In the 1990s I had the opportunity to briefly meet Ernie at an event where he was meeting fans and signing autographs. I shook his hand and told him of my love of the Cubs and of his playing and of my disappointment in the 1969 season when the Cubs were in first place from April until their spectacular collapse in September. He smiled and signing his photo said, “That was something, wasn’t it?” as if  it wasn’t the famous “Lost Chance” that he remembered, but how great they played for most of the season.

If there are saints in baseball, Ernie is one. Baseball is not life or death. There is childhood cancer or unfathomable poverty. St. Jude is the patron of those lost causes. But Ernie was the embodiment of the patron saint of minor lost causes during his life and just maybe he can become that symbol for me now.

Clarence Saunders and the German Spy

Reblogged from the Pink Palace blog. As always, It’s not plagiarism if you reblog your own post!

The Pink Palace Family of Museums

In the summer of 1934, Clarence Saunders had seen his second fortune vanish with the bankruptcy of his “Clarence Saunders Sole Owner of Name” stores. A well-dressed, suave, continental gentleman with impeccable manners and letters of introduction approached him with an intriguing story. The man, Armgaard Karl Graves, was a well-known celebrity of sorts who may or may not have been originally named Max Meinke, who was also known as Peter Gunther von Kanitz and Dr. Louis Clement. He was born in Switzerland in 1877 and trained as a chemist. He fought in the Boer War until he was jailed for breaking military code. He then was recruited by the German Intelligence agency and sent to Great Britain where he was caught transmitting coded messages in Scotland and sentenced to prison. While there he was recruited by British Intelligence as a double agent and sent back to Germany. From Europe…

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Clarence Saunders’ Third Chain Store sets Prices 75 years ago

75 years ago: 1939

The Keedoozle, Clarence Saunders’ store at 1628 Union, is selling bacon for 18 cents a pound; ground beef, 10 cents a pound; oranges, 10 cents a dozen; ears of corn, one cent each; eggs, 23 cents a dozen; and dog food, four cents a can.

 

From the Commercial Appeal http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/local-news/memphis-memories/midsouth-memories-sept-10_93977985

 

The Backfire Effect

I find this to be so true. When arguing things like evolution, climate change, Israel and Hamas, etc. etc., when people are bombarded with sourced facts that disagree with their position, they dig in all the deeper. In his new book, Daniel Dennett (not usually known for his subtlety and tact [I have been known to throw his books across the room in disgust even though I agree with what he’s saying] rephrases Anatol Rapoport’s (best-known for originating the famous tit-of-tat strategy of game theory.) On how to compose a successful critical commentary: Dennett synthesizes the steps:

You should attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way.
You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement).
You should mention anything you have learned from your target.
Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.
I have found that using this approach has made our Human Evolution exhibit less objectionable to those that would normally have deep negative reactions. I was told that we would receive a huge amount of mail and complaints. But the exhibit has been up for nearly four years and I have seen three written complaints.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/03/28/daniel-dennett-rapoport-rules-criticism/

I’m not good at this technique in normal everyday life. I tend to drop sarcasm bombs on a regular basis. But often, there is a lot collateral damage that I never intended. I will still argue for science and even for philosophical beliefs. But I swear, I’m trying to learn by my arguments. Every person whose position that I have changed in anyway has changed my opinion at least as much.

You Are Not So Smart

The Misconception: When your beliefs are challenged with facts, you alter your opinions and incorporate the new information into your thinking.

The Truth: When your deepest convictions are challenged by contradictory evidence, your beliefs get stronger.

Wired, The New York Times, Backyard Poultry Magazine – they all do it. Sometimes, they screw up and get the facts wrong. In ink or in electrons, a reputable news source takes the time to say “my bad.”

If you are in the news business and want to maintain your reputation for accuracy, you publish corrections. For most topics this works just fine, but what most news organizations don’t realize is a correction can further push readers away from the facts if the issue at hand is close to the heart. In fact, those pithy blurbs hidden on a deep page in every newspaper point to one of the most powerful forces shaping the…

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