Civil War Family History

There is a story that my maternal Aunt tells about one of my Grandfathers being a doctor during the Civil War. So, since I have been working on my Ancestry for a few years now, I thought I would try to find this Grandfather. No luck! What I did find was my Great Great Great Step-grandfather John Hysell and my Great Great Grandfather Eli Russell.

Eli was born in 1834 to Robert and Nancy Russell. My Great Great Great Grandfather Robert died in 1845 at the age of 43, leaving behind a wife and 8 kids. The oldest boy, and their 4th child, was Eli at 9 years old. The next time I found Eli in the National Census was in 1850 when he was 16 and living with his Mom, Nancy, and Stepfather John Hysell, a man about 8 years her junior. Go, Great Great Great Grandma Nancy!

My Great Great Great Step-grandfather, John Hysell, enlisted into the 75th Regiment, H company, of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry on November 7, 1861 to fight in the Union Army, and was to serve 3 years. He was 40 years old at the time. At this time, and until the Enrollment Act or Civil War Military Draft Act was enacted on March 3, 1863, the Union Army was an all volunteer army.

On May 8 1862 John fought in the Battle of McDowell, which was also know as the Battle at Sitlington's Hill. This battle was a loss for the two Union Army brigades of Major General Fremont's, lead by Brig General Schnek and General Milroy. John was under the command of Milroy during this battle.

This is a map from the Civil War Preservation Trust showing the location of the battle and the troop. John Hysell was in one of the two groups I have circled in red.

In the battle of McDowell/ Sitlington's Hill the Union soldiers pressed forward towards Confederate troops lead by Stonewall Jackson, who had twice as many men, and controlled the higher ground. Milroy drove his troops up the hill to engage the Confederates and after four hours, from about 4:30 in the afternoon until about 8:30 PM, of intense fighting the Union troops retreated back to the town of McDowell.

Current picture of the battle location.

Across the road in the pasture was where the Union forces had their camp in plain view of the Confederate forces on the hill in the back of the picture. The Union troops moved to safer ground.

John was in one of the companies that went up the hill first and he died from wounds he received during that battle. He was only a Union soldier for 6 months. I was unable to find his final resting place, so I am assuming that he was buried in a marked mass grave on the battlefield.

This may be the only headstone marking my Great Great Great Step Grandfather's final resting place.

My Great Great Great Grandmother Nancy Russell Hysell was widowed once again.

My Great Great Grandfather Eli married Mary Hesslop in 1854, and had 5 kids, when he enlisted into the 91st Regiment, H company of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry on Aug 8, 1862. I can only imagine how hard it was for Mary being left behind with babies of ages ranging from infant to seven years old. Not to mention that Nancy, his mother, must have been beside herself with worry seeing a son go off to war just a few months after losing her husband to that same war.

In May of 1864 my Grandfather Eli, well into his second year of service, was one of 6100 soldiers serving under General George Crook.  Among the soldiers from Ohio in this group were two future presidents, Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes and Major William McKinley. My Grandfather Eli served with these two men.

This plaque was originally dedicated in 1939 and attached to a boulder that was later moved when the road where it was located was widened. Then the plaque was missing for over 40 years. Someone saw it for sale on the Internet in 2014 after a new plaque was already made,  purchased and attached to a boulder at the battlefield location in time for the 150 anniversary of the Civil War. The original plaque will be displayed in Pulaski County Courthouse.

The union army was working their way through western Virginia destroying salt mines, lead mines and railroads. They also were trying to draw the Confederates away from western Virginia. There were a few Confederate units left in the area led by Confederate Brigadier General Albert G. Jenkins who set up a defensive position in Pulaski County at Cloyd's Mountain.

An Original drawing of the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain  from the Virginia Historical Society.

This is a picture taken in the 1970s of the same location in the drawing above.

On May 9, 1864 at about 9 AM some small skirmishes started at Cloyd's Mountain, and Crook recognized that the Rebel position was too strong for a frontal assault. Crook decided to instead strike from the right flank of the Rebels position.

Map of the troop locations from the book "The Battle of Cloyds Mountain, The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad Raid" by Howard Rollins McManus. Eli was in the group of 91st Ohio soldiers in the far right side of the map.

 The battled started at about 11 AM and lasted only one hour. This battle was exceptionally violent because most of the fighting was hand to hand combat. Some soldiers stated that it was not the greatest, or most important battle of the war, but for fierce and deadly intensity Cloyd's Mountain exceeded them all. If the fighting was not violent enough, gunfire ignited dry leaves on the battlefield starting a fire that burned everything and everyone in its path. Many active and wounded soldiers were burned to death in this fire. Among the wounded that escaped the fire was the Confederate leader Jenkins. He died later of complications from having his arm amputated.  Some stories say that the bandages came loose, or were knocked off by a medical assistant, from his arm and he bled to death. I am not sure if that story is true, but it certainly was possible.

Historical marker at Cloyd's Mountain.

 The Union was victorious at Cloyd's Mountain, but casualties for both sides were extremely high for the small size of the troops involved. Eli was wounded in this battle. He must have been treated and eventually returned to duty, because he was not mustered out of service until June of 1865.

It was a miracle that he survived the war to begin with, but especially after being wounded.  Of the estimated 620,000 men that died in the Civil War, most were not from battle wounds. About 413,000 died from diseases, of which the number one killer was dysentery.  If trying to survive the enemy was not enough soldiers had to worry about Typhoid, Ague (swamp fever), Yellow Fever, Malaria, Scurvy, Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, Smallpox, Chicken Pox, Scarlet Fever, Measles, Mumps and Whooping Cough. The soldiers had to contend with many issues that contributed to the spread of disease like, poor hygiene, garbage in the camps, contaminated water supplies, overcrowding, exposure, spoiled food, bugs, and lack of medical personnel. I had a Great Great Grandfather named Adam Swinehart that was in the Ohio 176 Infantry for about 10 months at the end of the war. His unit was stationed as a sort of guard unit in Nashville. Adam's company saw no action yet they lost 102 men, all to disease.

House used as a Field Hospital for the battle of McDowell.

Eli was lucky to not have contracted a disease, but even more lucky that the treatment of his wounds in battle did not kill him. Eli was also lucky that he was wounded closer to the end of the war because the medical staff of the Union army was increased and improved over the years of the war. In late 1862 there was finally a type of ambulance system put in place. Men were treated close to the fighting, the wounds were packed with lint (scraped from linen fabric), bandaged as best they could, given morphine for pain, maybe given some whiskey for shock and then taken by "ambulance" to a field hospital. This would have been in a nearby tent, barn or house. If you made it that far you then were treated by someone who may, or may not have had any medical training, or someone who just "considered" themselves a physician. Many doctors worked with a copy of a military surgery manual to use for directions as they treated soldiers.

House used at Cloyd's Farm as a Field Hospital.

Many Civil War doctors did not understand germs, or how they were spread. Many thought pus was a positive sign and were not very careful to not spread the infection from one wounded man to another. Instruments were not sterilized and surgeons did not wash up between patients. Most of the soldiers wounds were to the arms or legs, and the surgeons believed that the best chance of the soldiers survival was to amputate.

I am not sure of the exact wound my Great Great Grandfather Eli sustained, but from pictures of him after the war where he is holding a cane, I am guessing he was wounded in the leg. Eli was that lucky one in four that survived the war, and even luckier to have survived his wound. Above all he returned home to his family that grew to 12 kids, and to his mother Nancy who had already suffered so much loss.

Great Great Grandfather Eli B. Russell

I may not have found the elusive Grandfather that was a doctor in the Civil War, but I did find a Great Great Great Step-Grandfather and Great Great Grandfather that in my eyes were Civil War Heroes! Both volunteered to serve in this countries deadliest war to fight for a cause they believed in. One gave his life for that cause, and the other was wounded in one of the most brutal battles of the war. Both of these Grandfather's stories make me proud to be their Granddaughter.

A Window with a History

A few years ago when I was living in Virginia I was looking for an old window to use as a bed headboard. I found some windows at an antique store that we were told were from the original Washington National Airport, currently Reagan National. The windows were from the 1940s. I purchased two of these windows and took them back to our house in Virginia where they sat for a long while on our patio. These windows were a constant bone of contention between me and my husband. He hated those windows for a few reasons, first they smelled musty, and second they were covered in peeling lead paint. Two really good reasons, but I loved them and was determined to use them in our home, safely.

The first thing I did was research on how to strip off the lead paint. I knew I could not sand them because the lead would be in the dust and I could breath it. I ended up using a paint stripper, and with a paint respirator I safely stripped off the dangerous lead paint. Unfortunately, after stripping them the windows sat on the patio for a few years while we were living in temp housing in Texas trying to sell the house in Virginia.

Against my husbands misgivings I had the windows packed and moved to Texas. Before they were packed I realized that the glass was not going to stay in place and removed the glass from both windows before they were packed. When they made it to Texas I decided to only keep one of the windows and threw the second one away. Happy Husband!

The surviving window stripped and ready for polyurethane. 

Now, I had to decide what to do with the remaining window. I thought about painting it and using the pane sections for pictures. Or, maybe paint it, add some hooks, and hang it outside for beach towels.  Then I thought I would use it outside as part of a planter. So, this is what I did with a lot of help from my husband, surprisingly enough.

First, I measured between the handles at the bottom of the window, and bought a wood flower box that would fit in between the handles. I also bought some polyurethane to seal and waterproof the window, and some large bolts to attached the flower box to the window.

Wood flower box I bought at Lowes.

Next I put a coat of polyurethane on both sides of the window. I wanted to keep the original patina of the window, but protect it from the weather.

I added a coat of Poly to protect the raw wood from the weather.

My next step would have been to bolt the box to the window, but my husband analyzed my plan and realized that it wouldn't hold the box in place, and it would require drilling holes into an old window that may not be able to take it. So, after much thought we came up with a plan and went off to Home Depot to get our supplies. We bought a deck window box kit, 3 horseshoe clamps (the type that holds a pipe against a wall) and 3 heavy duty rafter hangers.

Here are our supplies, three large rafter hooks, 3 horseshoe clamps, 2 hooks from the deck flower box kit, and some screws to hold it all together.

Once we had the supplies My husband put the project together while I was swimming with my Grandson. I definitely got the better end of that deal, right?

First he used the hooks from the deck flower box kit and screwed them into the back lower section of the flower box. We used these hooks to hang the box onto the bottom of the window frame.

Hook screwed into the bottom of the flower box.

Both hooks are in place and attached to the window frame.

Because the box would have fallen forward with just the hooks on the bottom holding to the window, he put the horseshoe clamps at the top of the box and used them to hold it against the window frame. He put a felt pad on the inside of the clamp to protect the frame from the metal clamp.

The horseshoe clamp was padded, put around the frame and then screwed into the top back of the flower box.

All three horseshoe clamps are in place.

We decided to hang the window flower box on the fence behind the pool using the rafter hangers.

I picked English Ivy to plant in the flower box in hopes it will grow up, around, and through the window frame like a trellis.

The best part of this creation of ours is that it is not only a piece of history but, my Husband loves it!

Holy Guacamole!

I have been making guacamole for many years and have always made it with a mix that I bought at Meijer in Indiana. I use "McCormick`s Produce Partners Mild Great Guacamole" mix. When I moved to Virginia I had to import the mix whenever I went back to Indiana or Ohio to visit relatives. There were trips where I would go to a Meijer and buy 15 or 20 packets. I still have many packets left to use here in Texas. The good news is that I can get the packets here when I run out. Get with the program Virginia!

Here is how I make my guacamole.

I use 2 to 3 large Hass ripe avocados, mashed
I add about half or more of the mix
Hellmans light mayo (maybe 1 and 1/2 Tbs)
Light Daisy sour cream (About 2 Tbs)
One squeeze of a half of a lime
One chopped Roma tomato, or small tomato (remove the seeds)

Mix to together and test and test and test, Yum!

As you can see I eyeball most of the ingredients so it is hard for me to put the exact amounts of the ingredients. I think Guacamole is a personal taste and is made so many different ways that you have to play with it to get the taste you like. As you can see I do not use cilantro. I am one of the the many people in the world that does not like the taste of cilantro, and I think it has a taste like dish soap. Flash back to getting my mouth washed out with soap as a kid, lol. There is even an "I Hate Cilantro" website.

Now, back to the reason for this blog. I have been making guacamole for years and hated that when you save the leftovers and go to eat it the next day it is all brown from oxidation. I have done everything I could think of to stop oxidation. I have put the leftovers in a baggie and sucked the air out. This works, but it is hard to get all the dip out of the bag. I put the leftovers in a plastic container and put plastic wrap directly onto the dip, pushing it onto the dip to try to get all the air out and then put on a lid. The top was still brown. Then I went online and saw the best idea for my problem.

I made my dip, ate and ate and ate. I put the leftovers in a plastic container, smoothed the top of the dip, I filled a cup with lukewarm water and slowly poured the water over the top of the dip, just enough to cover the whole top surface of the dip. I put on the lid and refrigerated the leftover dip.

The water after a few days is brown so I was worried about what I was going to find underneath.

Three days later I took the dip out, gently poured off the water. Mixed the dip to incorporate any drops of water that was left, and then gave it a taste. HOLY GUACAMOLE! The dip was still green after 3 days and the taste was still really good. Why did it take me this long to find this magic solution?

Green Guacamole! A few very small brown spot where I didn't have all the dip under water. Once it was mixed it was all green.

Nursery Slipper Chair Slip Cover

Several years ago I bought a slipper chair online to put in my bedroom in our home in Virginia. The chair was modern and we truly never even sat on it the whole time we owned it. When we moved to Texas we gave the chair to our daughter. A few months ago my daughter was at a store and called me telling me about a chair she was looking at that was covered in a patchwork quilt. She asked if I could make a slip cover for the slipper chair out of a patchwork quilt for the baby's room. I am always up for a craft challenge.

Original slipper chair

I have never made a slip cover before, but had a general idea as to how I would go about it. I watched a few videos and read a few blogs for some guidance. I thought about making the patchwork quilt first, but decided it would be way too much work for a first time project. Next, I started looking online to see if I could buy one, but the price of a real patchwork quilt was also too much for a first time project. So, I decided to look at girls coverlet quilts and found a cute printed patchwork quilt coverlet, in the right colors, at Walmart for $24. The perfect price for a first time project. This coverlet matched the colors of the Pottery Barn Peter Rabbit Quilt we are using, and it is covered in flowers too, so it could have come right out of Mr McGregor's garden.

Pattern of the Walmart quilt coverlet.

This coverlet was patchwork on one side and solid pink on the other side. It was also trimmed all around with pink bias tape. The quilt was twin size and I was able to cut the body of the slipcover out of the middle and leave a 6 inch trim all around the edges, with the bias tape hem, for the skirt on the bottom of the slip cover.

Step One: I laid the coverlet over the chair using the middle of the coverlet to cover the back of the chair, the seat back, the seat, and the front.  I covered it pink side up and pinned the cover to the chair so it would not move around. I made sure the patchwork was straight by using the quilting lines sewn in the coverlet. I pulled a fold up at the seam between the back and seat so I could tuck it in when the piece was sewn and turned right side out.

Pinned coverlet in place directly into the chair. I made a pleat in the middle to tuck into the chair.

Step Two: To cut the piece I poked the scissors into the coverlet at the bottom of the current cover so that I would not cut into the hem tape that I wanted to keep intact for the skirt. The cover was pinned at the side seams of the chair and I cut the fabric a few inches past that seam.

I started cutting inside the trim so I could save the bottom for the skirt.

The completed cut piece.

Step Three: I took the piece that was left, which was a coverlet with a big hole in the middle, and took one side of the remaining quilt and pinned it into the side of the chair. When it was straight, and completely pinned to the chair, I cut off the bottom of the side piece, once again leaving about a 6 inch piece, with the binding hem attached to save for my skirt. For the rest of the piece I cut off the excess to make the side seam was a few inches wide. I pinned the new side piece at the seams to the middle piece seams.

The pinned side piece with the bottom cut off. You can see the left side of the picture has another section that will be cut for the skirt.

The top of the side piece is cut just above the original chair seam.

The completed cut side seam.

The side seams are pinned to the main bodies seams, with a fold across the back of the seat.

The side seams are pinned to the main body and the excess fabric has not yet been trimmed.

Step Four: Repeat step Three for the opposite side of the chair.

Step Five: Remove the cover and sew the seams together following the pin line. Turn the cover right side out and put it on the chair to test the fit. If the cover fits correctly, remove it from the chair and trim your seams. If you need to make adjustment, do so before you trim the seams.

The seams were sewn along the pin line.

Step Six: I measured 6 inches from the bias hem edges of the remaining pieces of the coverlet and cut the unfinished sedge so that all the pieces were the 6 inch width. Because the corners of the cover were rounded, I cut those sections out so I had 4 pieces were 6 inches wide and about a yard so so long. Each pieces was finished with bias hem binding on one edge for the hem and a straight cut on the unfinished edge. I sewed all four pieces together. Then every 6 inches or so I pinned in a pleat. I sewed a quarter inch stitch across the unfinished edge to set the pleats.

I pinned the skirt sections together and then sewed them.

Sewn piece

Pleated section with a top stitch to hold the pleat in place.

Step Seven: With the cover on the chair I turned under the bottom edge of the cover to fall just at the bottom edges of the original chair fabric. Then starting in the back of the chair, I turned the raw edges of the end of the skirt under, and I started pinning the the pleated skirt under the bottom of the cover. I measured as I went along to make sure the skirt was 5 inches long all the way around the chair. When I got to the edge where I started, I crossed over the beginning of the skirt about 2 inches, I cut the piece from the remainder of the unused skirt piece, turned the end raw edge under an inch and pinned.  Remove the cover and top stitch the skirt onto the cover.

Skirt is pinned to the bottom the chair and ready to top stitch.

Step Eight: I bought some simple pastel, flat buttons and sewed them onto the top of each pleat, rotating colors.

Because the main color of the room is green, I used a green bottom on every other pleat and mixed them with yellow, pink, and blue buttons.

Cutest chair ever!!!!!

All done with a $24 Walmart coverlet and a few dollars worth of buttons. Looks like a Million Bucks!