Michigan Civil War Blog

Chandler given a home

Perhaps the final chapter in the saga of the ejection of the Zachariah Chandler statue from Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol from Sunday's Detroit News:

Zachariah Chandler statue moves to Lansing

RoNeisha Mullen/ The Detroit News

Lansing— After almost a century in the U.S. Capitol, Zachariah Chandler has found his way back to Michigan.

The 10,000-pound statue of the former Detroit mayor and U.S. senator has been moved from Washington, D.C., to Constitution Hall in downtown Lansing after being displaced earlier this month by a statue of former President Gerald R. Ford.

Each state is allowed two statues in Washington's Statuary Hall. The other Michigan statue is of former Gov. Lewis Cass.

Originally, it was thought the Chandler statue would be placed in the Detroit Historical Museum, but that proposal was met with some physical challenges.

"Certainly he's a historically significant figure," said Bob Sadler, director of public relations for the Detroit Historical Society. "But given the size and weight of the statue, we weren't able to accommodate it."

The statue weighs 4,000 pounds and sits on a base that weighs 6,000 pounds. Together, the two stand more than 111/2 feet tall.

It was built in 1913 and is valued at $750,000 due to the uniqueness of its marble, said Kurt Weiss, spokesman for the state Department of Technology, Management and Budget.

The statue is owned by the state, which is responsible for its care, Weiss said.

"We looked for all kinds of locations for it," he said. "But in the end, the decision was made that Lansing would be the final resting place for it."

The statue is located on the ground floor of Constitution Hall, which houses the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Michigan Department of Agriculture.

The Gerald R. Ford Foundation, which paid for the statue of Ford, also paid to have the Chandler statue shipped to Michigan.

Chandler began his political career as an anti-slavery activist in the 1840s. He served as mayor of Detroit from 1851-52 and as a U.S. senator from 1857-75. He was later appointed United States Secretary of the Interior under President Ulysses S. Grant.

Chandler is the namesake of Detroit's Chandler Park and one of the founders of the Republican Party.

While in Detroit, Chandler ran a general store with his brother-in-law. He also engaged in land speculation and banking.

Some reports claim he was one of the first men in Detroit to earn $50,000 from his businesses.

rmullen@detnews.com

Presentation/booksigning at Greenfield Village

On Monday next -- Memorial Day -- yours truly will have the privilege and honor of making a presentation as part of Civil War Remembrance Days at The Henry Ford. Time: 1:00 pm; place: Pavilion in Greenfield Village.

The program includes other Michigan Civil War presentations, so it is, as per usual, a great three days!

Sesquicentennial Essay Contest

On Wednesday, at the Michigan Historical Center in Lansing, awards will be handed out to students from 3rd through 12th grade who created the winning entries in the contest to see who could write essays on the Civil War during this Sesquicentennial period. It was a privilege to read some of the entries and gratifying to know that young people gained insights on the American Civil War during their encounter and effort here.

The flyer on the event is here: Download CW EssayAwardCeremonyt.cwk (WP)

County Commission Sesquicentennial Resolution

The Wayne County Commission last week adopted a resolution commemorating the Civil War Sesquicentennial, noting the service of thousands of its residents 150 years ago, and calling upon today's denizens to appropriately commemorate the watershed era in our history.

The resolution is here: Download CWS Resolution

The Henry Ford Civil War Kick-off

Had the privilege last nite of attending the ceremonial opening of the National Archives exhibit on the Civil War Sesquicentennial at The Henry Ford in Dearborn. It is an amazing and large exhibition of materiel! Kids should definitely like it, given its videos, interactivity, and artifacts like the 1860 census book in which U.S. Grant is found.

Besides the special NA room, THF has its own Michigan-related exhibit. Featuring an 1861 artillery piece and other artifacts, the centerpiece is the Loomis Battery. That alone is well worth the trip.

And an amazing fact: the exhibit was opened with a symbolic ribbon cutting by Mr. William Clay Ford, Jr., who used an original foot officer’s sword from the Museum collection. The sword belonged to Captain Joshua Slayton of the 13^th Michigan, who hailed from Eaton Rapids. His picture is here: Slayton

Book signing on Friday: Saugatuck

Yours truly will be at the Michigan Historic Preservation Network conference this Friday to enjoy the event -- after all, it's in Saugatuck! -- and do some book signings. Will be using the quill pen at noon and then later on.

Which book? Why, Michigan and the Civil War: A Great and Bloody Sacrifice.

Sesquicentennial kick-off report

For posterity, here's a report from one of the attendees and organizers of the April 16 Sesquicentennial "kick-off" event at the Michigan Historical Center, Bruce Butgereit, who has been laboring in this vineyard lo these many years:

Civil War Sesquicentennial Opening Ceremony

A resounding thank you to all who participated in or attended the opening ceremony of the Civil War Sesquicentennial.  The estimated visitor count was around 1,200 making it one of the best attended events in some time at the Michigan Historical Center.

(Your continued support for the various non-Civil War programs and exhibits at the MHC is highly encouraged.)

The groups that had table displays set up reported great interest from the visitors and as I walked around, there were many good questions asked about each group and upcoming events.

True Son Harold Becker shook a lot of hands, especially of young people, interested in meeting the son of a soldier from the Civil War.

Although a little wet, the outside living history encampment had a steady stream of visitors as well.  I saw coverage in several newspapers the following day.

We owe the staff of the Michigan Historical Center much appreciation for the countless hours of work they put into helping coordinate the event as well as for creating a fantastic exhibit titled, "Plowshares into Swords," a look at Michigan at the beginning of the Civil War and how things quickly changed in 1861.

Sandra Clark, Director of the Michigan Historical Center and Mark Harvey, Archivist of Michigan have both expressed interest in conducting events like this in the future...the comemmoration of the 150th will run until 2015.

"Answering the Call to Duty"

This is the apt title of Rick Liblong's excellent new book published by Arbutus Press, a fascinating collection of stories about the Civil War service of small town soldiers from Michigan. The village of Almont in Lapeer County serves as the book's centerpiece and representative of rural Michigan -- as the State largely was in 1861. Alongside more well-known vignettes, like Norvel Churchill's brave rescue of Custer at Hunterstown, are unfamiliar and amazing stories like attorney Melvin Brewer who within two weeks of Fort Sumter offered to raise a regiment, rose to lieutenant colonel of the 7th Michigan Cavalry, and paid the ultimate price at Winchester in Sept. 1864. Teacher William Hamilton's 17 months as a prisoner has similar poignancy. Liblong begins and ends the book by contrasting the freedom to hold slaves sought by insurrectionists with that embodied in a valedictory white pine monument on Almont's main street dedicated to a nation recreated with liberty and justice for all.

I learned a lot, enjoyed the many illustrations, and heartily recommend this fine book.

(Other books published by Arbutus include Vintage Views of the Mackinac Straits Region, a personal favorite that enables the armchair traveler to enjoy a trip through time and space without leaving his den.)

Who is more representative of Michigan?

In a letter to the editor of the Detroit Free Press that appeared on May 12, an insightful commentor opined on the issue of the Ford statue replacing the Chandler statue in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol:

Wrong statue replaced

Former state Sen. Tom George raised an interesting question about Gerald Ford's statue replacing Zachariah Chandler's as one of Michigan's two statues in the U.S. Capitol ("Anti-slavery leader Zachariah Chandler deserves place in historic hall," May 4). The question is whether Ford replaced the right person.

While I think President Gerald Ford's contributions as a Michigan congressman and as president warrants his placement in Statuary Hall, so does Sen. Chandler's national leadership for ending slavery. In contrast, the continued presence of Lewis Cass' statue, a pre-Civil War opponent of a national policy to end slavery and a proponent of a national American Indian removal policy is ironic.

Michigan is a diverse state with a legacy of supporting the Underground Railroad, a constitutional civil rights commission and support of civil rights legislation. It would be interesting to learn why our state political leaders felt that Cass was more representative of Michigan values than Chandler.

C. Patrick Babcock, Lansing

Agreed, it would, indeed, be interesting to know why, in this Civil War Sesquicentennial month, Chandler is out, Cass remains in.

A letter in the online Dome magazine is similar:

William Hamilton // May 6, 2011 at 11:22 am

No disrespect to the late President Ford, but his statue in the Capitol takes the place of Zachariah Chandler, probably one of the most important political figures ever to come out of Michigan. Chandler was a great man in the most important era of our nation’s history. He’s much more important than Ford and should not have been removed to an inaccessible corner of Constitution Hall in Lansing.

When this issue first came up several years ago, the Michigan Historical Commission passed a resolution urging a different approach than ultimately transpired. How will history look back at this outcome ... ?

Pure Michigan and the Civil War

Pure Michigan is the award-winning tagline that has come to "brand" Michigan in recent years. You can sign up for email newsletters and such, and yesterday arrived an email headed "May your month be filled with Pure Michigan moments". Cool. But even cooler as the lead story is this:

Celebrate the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War this Memorial Day weekend with a visit to The Henry Ford, where you'll experience one of the nation's most comprehensive and inspirational Civil War tributes in the exciting National Archives traveling exhibit, "Discovering the Civil War." Read More

The image in the email is of a drummer boy, a contemporary who has dressed in period clothing and is holding a kit. Invoking the idea that young people are involved, should be involved, need to be involved.

The link takes you to The Henry Ford website: THF CWS.

Obviously, Michigan and the Civil War is Pure Michigan.