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October 2011 Archive 31 October - The Ghost of Walt Whitman  Special for Halloween is this ghostly bit of poetical ephemera from the Museum's collections... they say that on nights of the full moon, the shade of Walt Whitman still roams the gay bars of Camden, New Jersey. What it really is...  ... is the back of a superb chromolithographic label from a box of Walt Whitman cigars. link 22 October - Aerial View  Cat Natasha ascends a tree in 3D (red/blue glasses required), the better to view the superb fall foliage in the historic Circle, Washington Grove. In the background, the Museum's Historic Cottage. Meanwhile...  ... Nutmeg occupies a convenient late afternoon sunbeam for basking purposes along 6th Avenue, also in 3D. link 15 October - Down Scenic Cabin John Creek  Here is Cabin John Creek, an achingly beautiful salted paper print from the Collection. Cabin John Creek is a tributary of the Potomac, running through Montgomery County and entering the river downstream from Great Falls. There's a historic bridge spanning the creek, Union Arch Bridge, AKA Cabin John Bridge, that carries the Washington Aqueduct over the creek. Oh! We have a couple of images of the bridge:  Cabin John Bridge in Spring, an oil painting by Anon., circa 1920. And also...  ... A superb tintype of gents posing by the creek with the bridge soaring dramatically behind them. They may have been guests at the Cabin John Hotel or visitors to the Cabin John Amusement Park. I always thought the place-name of Cabin John wonderfully evocative; it may have been named after a hermit who lived near the creek, or it may have evolved from "Captain John" - possibly Captain John Smith, who sailed up the Potomac in 1608. Here's his description of the area: The river ... maketh his passage downe a low pleasant valley overshadowed in manie places with high rocky mountain from whence distill innumerable sweet and pleasant springs... Having gone so high as we could with the bote, we met divers savages in canowes well loaden with flesh of beares, deere, and other beasts whereof we had part. Here we found mighty rocks growing in some places above the ground as high as the shrubby tree. Previous Capt. John Smith Posts - Smith on the Potomac Smith Pursued by Spaniards Previously Posted Salted Paper Prints - Harpers Ferry Interior Ruins of the Wallingford Heron Oil Works More Ruins of the Wallingford Heron Oil Works link 14 October - An Incident of the Franco-Prussian War  Captain Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin asks Wendling's Peter for Milk. Illustration by Ernst Zimmer. At the start of the Franco-Prussian War, Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin (1838-1917), a captain of the Württemberg general staff, took part in a reconnaissance into Alsace by a small cavalry force. On July 25, taking a break for omelets at the Schirlenhof Inn, the detachment was surprised by a squadron of French hussars. The Germans fought it out; Zeppelin stole a horse and escaped the ambush. Later, after the smoke cleared, he returned to the inn and paid his bill. What happened after that is narrated in the diary of the Reverend Karl Klein, a pastor of the village of Fröschweiler: When Wendling's Peter (God bless him!) was tending his cows in the pasture that evening close to the wood by the mountain slope between Nahweiler and Linienhausen, there came along a strange looking man who could not be a Frenchman. He was leading a tired warhorse by the bridle and asked if he couldn't get a little milk. Peter looked at him in alarm. "Yes, I would just as soon give you a little milk if I had something to milk into." "That is easily arranged," said the man and drew a leather object out of his pocket which could be drunk out of and milked into, and Peter milked into it bravely enough. The milk tasted so good to the stranger that he let the cowherd fill the cup again, whereupon he gave the dumbfounded fellow a two-frank piece, said "Thank you" and "Goodbye." And all this happened while French horsemen were scouring up and down not more than three hundred paces away, and were execrating the Prussian in the wood though they did not go into the wood after him...  Studying the Art of War - Photograph by Alexander Gardner, June 1863. Count Zeppelin is the kneeling officer holding papers. Zeppelin reached the frontier the next day and was celebrated as the first German hero of the war. During his long ride, he may have recalled his balloon ascent with John Steiner over St. Paul, Minnesota on August 19, 1863 (after a stint as a military observer with the Union forces), and he might also have considered that some sort of powered, steerable balloon might make for less dangerous and arduous reconnaissance missions in future conflicts. And, of course, one could cook one's own omelets on board such a craft, and take along plenty of milk. link 9 October - Cats of Washington Grove - Socks  Here's our old buddy Socks, also known as Cat Van Beek, chilling on a porch over on First Avenue. Last seen here back in May. link 8 October - Dr. John's Flintlock  The Museum was touched, pleased, and greatly honored to be given this superb .45 flintlock pistol from the armory of the High Speed Triumph Research Laboratory of Myersville, Maryland; the gun was built by the Lab's founder and chief boffin, our old friend Dr. John Herrera himself. Here is the weapon being test-fired: It's a flash in the pan only - powder loaded only in the lock's pan and no charge in the barrel. But it is in 3D, with a slo-mo version following. link 1 October - Enoch and Jemmy  The fact that we keep digging up Cats of War images in our collections is either a testament to the size and breadth of our holdings or the fact that our inventory database is a total mess. At any rate, here's the latest to float to the top - General Enoch Wallingford and His Cat Jemmy at the Battle of Darnestown, 1814, by Adolphus Norbeck. I bet that Jemmy was named for President James Madison. Nice - we ought to put it on a tote bag, or on sneakers. Previous Cats of War: Franco-Prussian Cat Besieged Maryland Artillery Cat Bugler Cat Secesh Cat at Gettysburg Bashi-Bazouk with Cat Cats of the Great War Dragoon Cat, Lincoln's Cat, Christmas Truce Cat link |
