Orlando Poe in Knoxville, Tennessee

By Susan Powers

[Post 3 in a series on Orlando Poe. Please see March 24, 2010 for Post 1, and May 17, 2010 for Post 2]

O. E. Babcock and O.M. Poe, 
Fort Sanders, Knoxville, TN, 
November 29. 1863

The outbreak of the American Civil War altered the direction of Orlando Poe’s career. The peace time task of mapping and surveying the Great Lakes gave way to the new mission of war. Poe was an Ohio native; he first worked to organize Ohio volunteers. He later served as a member of Major General George McClellan’s staff, taking part in the Rich Mountain campaign and helping McClellan to organize the defense of Washington D.C. In September of 1861, Poe was promoted to colonel and was given the command of the 2nd Michigan Volunteers. Prior to the Northern Virginia Campaign of 1862, Poe was given command of a brigade. By the end of 1862, Poe was promoted to brigadier- general of volunteers, but in the spring of 1863 Congress let his promotion expire. He reverted back to his former rank of lieutenant in the regular army. He quickly was promoted to captain and then soon after to chief engineer of the Twenty-Third Corps. By September, 1863, while directing the defenses of Knoxville, Tennessee, Poe was promoted to chief engineer of the Army of the Ohio.

Strategic military planning required reconnaissance. Routes, waterways, and the enemy’s position were scouted out in advance of troop movement. Among Poe’s papers at the Clarke is a small notebook, with the title “Itinerary of Route from Knoxville, Tenn. to London, Kty.” This journey of roughly 100 miles was made in three days, from September 28 through October 1, 1863, a few weeks before the siege of Knoxville. At the present time we are unsure of the author of the journal. The first two pages of the journal have been transcribed and posted below. It is interesting to note the detailed drawings and the house by house recording of who is loyal and who is a rebel, hence being a “good subject to bleed.”






Map of the Knoxville / London area, by Hal Jespersen, and “Topographical Signs for the use of Topographical Engineers in the Army of the Cumberland” card found among Poe’s papers.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

 

Itinerary of Route from Knoxville, Tennessee to London, Kentucky, September 28, 1863 – October 1, 1863                                                          

   

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Transcription of “Itinerary of Route,” pages 1 - 4

Journal of Route from Knoxville to Clinton [page 1 and 2, September 28, 1863]

Remarks

McBurk’s Grist Mill on the left of creek emptying into Bull Run. Elijah Jenning’s house on the left of road, has been in the Confederate army, but has since taken the oath. Country rocky, composed of lime or slate stone, set up on edge. Some indication of Iron. Log church called Zion on the right of fork. Road branching to the left leads to Emory. Blazes creek on the right.
Road crosses Beaver Creek over covered bridge. Rebel camp on eith[er] side of road in the woods. Guide boar[d] 9 miles to Knoxville
Fork in the road, left hand leads to Brick Chaple or Frotter’s Mill. Right fork to Clinton. Roads very good, but will be bad in wet weather, Have been worked some by the rebels. Good timber country.
Plenty of water abound in good clean springs.


Journal of Route from Knoxville to Clinton. (con.) [page 3 and 4, September 29, 1863]

Remarks

Wagon road & Rail Road through Gap between hills; wagon road in bad condition, rail road used in its place. no ties on the road. House on the right of road.
Road leads off to left to Lee’s Ferry across Clinch River. Henderson’s house on left a good, loyal citizen.
Yarnell’s house on the right; a strong rebel, rich with plenty of forage and stock. A good subject to bleed. Slaughter’s house on the left; loyal.
Road through very rough country. Wagon road leads of[f] to Right through Gap between hills. Woods on all sides.

Further Reading on Orlando M. Poe

Taylor, Paul. Orlando M. Poe: Civil War General and Great Lakes Engineer. Kent: The Kent State University, 2009.

Founders' Papers To Be Published Online

 By John Fierst
On October 12^th the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) announced an agreement with the University of Virginia Press “to make freely available online the historical documents of the Founders of the United States of America.”  The website will provides access to the annotated published papers of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, and Franklin.  When completed in 2013 Founders Online will include the contents of 242 printed volumes.  See the press release which quotes Archivist of the United States, David S. Ferriero: “This new archive of the Founding Era will revolutionize our understanding by creating for the first time a free and fully searchable collection of the Founders’ own words in the context of their time.  As scholars and statesmen debate the meaning of documents such as the Constitution and Bill of Rights, they can turn to the originals and the wit and wisdom of the Founders’ own debates.  And we can only express our gratitude for the effort of dedicated editors and scholars to create this work, a national monument to the founding of our nation.”

Orlando Poe and the United States Lake Survey

By Susan Powers

[Post 2 of a series on Orlando Metcalfe Poe, from the Orlando Poe Collection at Clarke Historical Library. To read Post 1, see March 24, 2010]

Prior to his service in the Civil War, Orlando Poe served as a topographical engineer working for Captain George G. Meade and the United States Lakes Survey. Meade, who would later become famous for his victory over General Robert E. Lee in 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg, admired and appreciated Poe’s work. Poe soon became Meade’s most valued assistant.


The United States Lakes Survey began in 1841 when on March 3 of that year the United States Congress appropriated $15,000 to the Corps of Topographical Engineers to survey the northern and northwest lakes of the United States. Steamer ships were now sailing on the Great Lakes, and safe navigation routes and protected harbors were needed. In the letter that follows, Orlando Poe is assigned by Meade to survey the area around what is now Frankfort, Benzie County, Michigan.


Poe was to survey the “Harbor of the River aux becs scies (pronounced similarly to “oh beck see”),” a French term meaning “of the sawbills.” The French named the river after a species of duck that was prevalent in the area. In the 1850s, Tifft and Co. of Buffalo, New York, was conducting a large amount of commercial trade between Buffalo and the Chicago area. In 1854, one of the company’s sailing vessels lost rudder control and was about to wreck during a storm on Lake Michigan. To avoid crashing on the bluffs, the captain and all onboard used an improvised rudder to sail into the mouth of the Aux Becs Scies River, where they saved the ship and discovered a deep water, land-locked bay, now known as Betsie (an Anglophone interpretation of “Becs Scies”) Lake. The Tifft company requested that Congress make a survey of the area.  As a result of this survey and of others in the area, a channel was constructed by the Frankfort Land Company to improve the outlet of the river between Lake Michigan and Betsie Lake, creating the port that is today known as Frankfort Harbor.




Bluffs at Frankfort, Michigan
                                                   
  

Transcription of the letter from Captain George Meade to Orlando Poe, describing survey work to be done at Betsie Lake, Michigan, March 24, 1859

Office Survey N+N.W[1]. Lakes
Detroit – Mar. 24^th 1859
L[ieutenan]t. O. M. Poe
Top[ographical] Eng[inee]rs

Sir,
     You are herewith detailed to execute a survey of the “Harbor of the River Aux becs scies” required by orders from the Bureau of Top[ographical] Eng[inee]rs.
     This harbor it is understood consists of a small lake through which the river Aux becs scies debouches into Lake Michigan. At present there can be carried into it some 4 feet by the natural channel of the river, but parties interested, proposed cutting a new channel from the Lake of the river to Lake Michigan and it is understood this survey is made with a view to demonstrate the feasibility of this project, and also to exhibit the capacity of the Lake as a harbor, & the consequent importance of the improvement.
     You will therefore commence your survey about a mile above the mouth of the river, and continue it to a point below the southern extremity of the lake, and include inland the eastern shore of the lake. You will thoroughly sound out the shore of Lake Michigan included in your survey, to the 4 fathom curve, and you will sound out the river from its mouth in Lake Michigan to its debouche into the small lake, minutely sounding the lake in all parts.
     You will measure a base at some suitable position & extend a small triangulation over your survey & chain carefully the shore of Lake Michigan, and such other parts as may be required.
     Asst. O. N. Chaffee[2] is directed to report to you for this duty and you will take James Clague[3] an experienced leadsman.
     You will make a requisition for such instruments and apparatus, as in your judgment it may be necessary to take from here, with the understanding that a boat & crew can be procured there, and also accommodations for yourself & party.
     All expenditures will be made in my name duplicate receipts being taken therefore in the usual form, all services to be charged on your pay roll. Funds upon your requisition will be furnished for you.
     You will avail yourself of the first practicable opportunity of reaching the spot designated, and will be pleased to use every exertion in your power to complete this duty at the earliest practicable moment.

Very Respectfully
Your Ob[edien]t Servant
Geo[rge] G. Meade
Capt[ain] Top[ographical] Eng[ineers]

---

[1] Northern and Northwest
[2] Assistant Engineer Oliver N. Chafee. Chafee’s work on water levels, which he tabulated for the Report of the Superintendent of the U. S. Lake Survey, 1860, by George Gordon Meade, was a significant contribution to the study of the Great Lakes.
[3] James Clague also served as a “computer” for the U. S. Lakes Survey. See Meade, Report of the Superintendent of the U. S. Lake Survey, 1860.

Images of the Letter from Meade to Poe

               

 Click images to enlarge

 

Further Reading

Bevier, Thomas. Images of Benzie County. The Donning Company Publishers. Virginia Beach, Virginia. 1998.
Howard, John H. The Story of Frankfort. Frankfort: City Council of Frankfort, 1930.
Meade, George. Report of the Survey of North and Northwest Lakes. Detroit: Daily Free Press Steam Printing House, 1861.
Taylor, Paul. Orlando M. Poe: Civil War General and Great Lakes Engineer. Kent: The Kent State University, 2009.
Woodford, Arthur. Charting the Inland Seas: A History of the U. S. Lake Survey. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994.

Orlando Metcalfe Poe

By John Fierst


[Post 1 in a series on Orlando Metcalfe Poe, from the Orlando Poe Collection at Clarke Historical Library. To read Post 2, see May 17, 2010]

Orlando Poe (1832-1895) grew up ten miles outside of the town of Canton, Ohio, on a farm located on the Tuscarawas River. His German ancestors had immigrated to the United States a century earlier. As a boy Poe dreamed of becoming a soldier, a dream he later realized. Educated at West Point, where he graduated sixth in his class in 1856, he chose a career with the corps of topographical engineers, and in that capacity he served as one of the most effective Union officers in the Civil War. When war broke out he was assigned to the staff of George McClellan, an association that later worked to his political disadvantage. McClellan’s enemies in Congress looked unfavorably on officers, like Poe, whose loyalty McClellan commanded.  Poe’s importance to the Union cause was only slowly acknowledged during the war, and even today few recognize the name of Brevet Brigadier General Orlando M. Poe. His ingenious defenses in the Battle of Knoxville won both the battle and the attention of William T. Sherman who made Poe his chief engineer and trusted advisor. Sherman placed Poe in charge of the destruction of Atlanta after the capture of that city. After the war, in the 1870s, the army appointed Poe chief engineer of the Upper Lakes Lighthouse District. In 1886 Poe laid out plans for a new, expanded lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, but he died before the lock, named after him, was completed in 1896.
Paul Taylor’s recent book, Orlando M. Poe: Civil War General and Great Lakes Engineer (Kent State University Press, 2009), from which the above information was taken, will go a long way toward bringing Poe, even if posthumously, the recognition he deserves. In researching this excellent biography Taylor made use of the Orlando M. Poe Collection at the Clarke Historical Library. The documents in this collection are, for the most part, Civil War documents: letters, reports, muster rolls, maps, military orders, letters of mourning, and “Itinerary of the Route” notebooks. The Clarke Library came into possession of its collection of Poe documents sometime in the 1970s. There is no record of acquisition.
What follows is a letter Poe sent Jefferson Davis prior to the Civil War. (Other Poe documents will be presented in later posts.) This letter concerns Poe’s first military appointment. Poe requested that he be assigned to the topographical engineers. Having graduated toward the top of his class at West Point, Poe could choose the branch of service to which he would be assigned. Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War at the time, granted Poe’s request.

Letter to Jefferson Davis from Orlando Poe

 

Click images to enlarge

West Point, N.Y.
July 17^th/[18]56
Hon. Jeff[erso]n Davis
Sir:
     If not too late I would respectfully beg leave to make application to be attached to the Topog[raphica]l Engineers, instead of to the Art[iller]y, as I made appl[icatio]n for the Art[iller]y under the impression that there were a number of vacancies in that arm, which I have learned is not the case.[1]
I am Sir very respectfully
Your Ob[edien]t Servant

Orlando M. Poe



[Reverse side]
Change of Appl[icatio]n for prom[otio]n
Endorsed by Assistant Adj[utant] Gene[ral]
saying informing of fact of
attach[men]t to Corps Topograph[ical] Eng[inee]rs
_____________________________
Recd July 21^st 1856



Respectfully returned for endorsement
Cadet Poe is informed that his name was laid before the Senate for confirmation as Brevet Second Lieutenant attached to [the] Corps of Topographical Engineers.
July 10, 1856                       By Order of
A[djutant] G[eneral’s] Office  Gausché
July 18/56                           Ass[istan]t Adj[utant] Gen[eral][2]

---

 [1] Poe wrote directly to Davis, the Secretary of War, instead of writing to the chief of the Topographical Bureau because he was afraid of being turned down. According to Taylor, “Going straight to the top with his appeal was in Poe’s best interest, for he was probably well aware that John James Albert, chief of the Topographical Bureau, rejected out of hand any applicant who made the topogs his second option,” see Taylor, Orlando M. Poe, 22.
[2] C. H. Gausché.  The editors have been unable to find further information about Assistant Adjutant General Gausché

Further Reading on Orlando M. Poe

Taylor, Paul. 2009. Orlando M. Poe: Civil War General and Great Lakes Engineer. Kent: The Kent State University Press.

Frances Margaret Fox, Michigan Children’s Author

By Susan Powers and Hannah Jenkins
 
 
Frances Margaret (Madge) Fox was born June 23, 1870 in South Farmington, Massachusetts. Tragically, her mother died two weeks after giving birth to Frances. Her father remarried and moved the family to Mackinaw City, Michigan, where he became a railroad dispatcher. Frances’ childhood was difficult; there were reports of beatings and other mistreatment. In spite of these hardships, Frances grew to love the Mackinac area.

The course of Frances’s life changed when she met the Joslyns, a family from Bay City, Michigan who summered in the Mackinac area. The family showed great kindness toward her. Frances eventually moved to Bay City to live with the Joslyn family, working for Lee Joslyn, Sr. as a secretary. She created many entertaining stories for the Joslyn children, Lee and Alan. These stories later became the foundation of her writing.


Encouraged by the writer William Thomson[1], Frances began to write down her stories and submit them for publication. In 1901 Frances published her first book for children, Farmer Brown and the Birds. Other books soon followed. Frances published fifty-one books and countless articles for magazines during her writing career. When the income from her writing permitted, Frances moved back to Mackinaw City, eventually building a stone house on the Straits of Mackinac that she named “Happy Landing.” She was well known in the area for her smile and her kind words to others. As a treat for the local children, Frances created the Sunshine Club and for years invited neighborhood children into her home to drink lemonade and share stories. Often she would give her stories a trial run by reading her manuscripts aloud to the Sunshine Club before sending them to her publisher.

For many years Frances spent summers in Mackinac and winters in Washington D.C., conducting research for her writings at the Library of Congress. Her notes reflect her intellectual curiosity; she researched topics such as forest animals, flowers, and famous people from Michigan’s early history. She was one of very few researchers of her time  allowed access to the stacks in the Library of Congress.

The Frances Margaret Fox Papers at the Clarke Historical Library contain hundreds of her stories, as well as her journals, research notes and letters. In the collection there is a handwritten version of the first Little Bear story, her most well-known series of books. Little Bear and his family were based on the characters found in the children’s classic Goldilocks and the Three Bears. A small, transcribed segment of this hand-made Little Bear book is posted below.

Frances died on March 1, 1959. Her last request was to be cremated and to have her ashes deposited in her beloved Straits of Mackinac, a request fulfilled by Alan Joslyn, her lifelong friend. Her remains were scattered from the beach of her favorite home, “Happy Landing.”
   


[1] William Thomson was a fellow Bay City, Michigan resident who heard of Frances’ stories, and one day took it upon himself to stop Frances on the street to say, “I am astounded that you have kept your talent hidden so long.” He encouraged her to seek publication of her stories. Thomson was the author of Great Cats I Have Met and other stories. See ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Frances Margaret Fox, 1942-November 1943 Diary, Frances Margaret Fox Papers, Clarke Historical Library, Mount Pleasant.

Transcription of Fox’s Original Little Bear

 

Click images to enlarge

From the cover:
This is the original Little Bear

What Woke Baby Bear
(written for Laura aged three.)
Before the little bear learned to walked and long before Goldilocks ate his porridge, broke his chair and slept in his bed, the middle-sized bear used to rock him to sleep every day. She was an old fashioned kind of mother and loved to cuddle her baby bear, in her arms. She used to sit in the middle sized chair and rock and rock and rock, with the little bear in her arms and sing (to the tune of Hush my babe [illegible] still and slumber
Bye bye my little cub
Bye bye my little cub
Bye bye my little cub
Bye bye bye.

A Child’s Letter to Frances

Dear Miss Fox.
We like your book very much.
We got the book this morning.
I read it to Pat and she liked it.
It is a good bed time story.

Artwork by  Little Bear Illustrator Walt Harris

This ink sketch was drawn for Frances by Walt Harris, the illustrator of the Little Bear Stories. The text reads “Fox & Bear,” a humorous play on Frances’ last name and the character Little Bear. The drawing is initialed by Harris.

Further Reading on Frances Margaret Fox

Dailey, Sheila. “Little Bear and Other Stories: A Look at the Life and Works of Michigan Children’s Author Frances Margaret Fox.” Great Lakes Review, 8, no. 1 (1982): 25-30.
Turner, Gordon. “Frances Margaret Fox.” The Cheboygan Observer, September 6, 1982.