The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1908-06-04

uldrkS Inc Dand played ''IDe star
Spangled Banner after which three
cheers for the ladies Of Kenosha made
the welkin ring"
On the following day that is on the
9th day Of April, with this flag waving
AT the head of the column, the Park
City Grays, the first quota Of the "brave
men Of Kenosha county who victoriously
defended the Union on land and sea
during the war Of the great rebellion,
l861-65 went to Milwaukee to join the
First Volunteer Infantry, Wisconsin S
prompt response to Abraham Lincoln s
call for $4,000 men for three months.
Some men Of this Company who i'm
bibed their patriotism from the Kenosha
schools are among us. / recall Myron
A. Baker, Charles H. Blood, John Frenz,
Phillip Harnan, Ezra Simmons, Charles
H. Leonard and Warren Wilder.
The flag was carried by the Park City
Grays during the three months service
and by the Kenosha Company in the
re-organized First Wisconsin Infantry
for three years.
The balance Of the story is briefly
told in the following letter which accom-
panied the flag when it came to me from
Rochester, New York.
Rochester, N. Y May IS, 1900
f. H. Lyman, ESQ.,,
Adjutant and Secretary, etc.
Kenosha, Wisconsin,
Dear Sir
Your communications concerning the
flag presented by the patriotic women
of Kenosha, Wisconsin, to the "Park
City Grays," my kinsman, Capt Donald
c. McVean, commanding, on the eve of
their departure to the front in response
to the call in 1861, by the now immortal
Lincoln for men to put down treason
and to preserve entire the Union of the
States, are before me. Capt McVean
who was honored by promotion to the
ranks in succession, of Major and Bre-
vet Lieutenant Colonel, First Wisconsin
Regiment, to which the Grays belonged,
worshipped that flag, for it represented
our common country, and it's trials and
triumphs, the patriotism Of the sons Of
Kenosha who followed it through deadly
combat with an intrepid but erring foe,
the patriotism of the women of Kenosha
whose hands framed it's stars and stripes
and whose sympathies and prayers fol
lowed it and it's brave defenders through
all their trials in that cruel war, and it
represents the gallant Majors wound
at Chickamauga that eventually ended
his life. His widow, Mary B. McVean
(nee Locke, former teacher at Keno
sha) revered that flag, and held. it as a
sacred memorial of the war and of the
Majors service therein; and it en-
shrouded his remains when borne to
their final resting place in the officers
row in the national cemetery at Jeffer-
son Barracks, Mo. She was most pa
triotic woman. At her death the FLAG
was sacredly cared for by me, her hus-
band, and I have no doubt that if she
were now in life, she would consider it
an honor and duty to place the flag
In the keeping Of the brave men and
the women referred to, and their de-
scendants at Kenosha
In view of the foregoing, and as a
matter Of duty [ present the tattered
and worn flag to those brave men and
patriotic women and their descendants
of Kenosha, with the hope for it's
preservation, that for generations to
come it will prove to be an inspira-
ton to patriotism to the good people
! Of Kenosha. Yours sincerely,
VIM. j. Mcpherson.
And it is this Tattered Ensign, preci-
Gus memento of Kenosha s patriotism
that we now dedicate to the memory Of
The Kenosha School Boys who fought
In the war for the preservation Of the
Union. May it be an impressive lesson
in patriotism for many generations to
come
Besides the flag described and just I'M
yelled, there is in this case a roster of
the Park City Grays, the men with
whom you have just been made ac-
quainted.
There is also brief history of the
| flag.
The compilation of another list, the
Muster Roll of the Kenosha School
Boys, who with some of their teachers
helped fight the battles of our common
country, has involved much hard, though
intensely interesting work. It has in
volved correspondence with surviving
officers and comrades in arms, mothers,
widows, sisters, old-time teachers,
former school-mafes, who for good rea-
sons did not enlist, adjutant generals Of
various states, all covering the area
from Massachusetts to California.
Much valuable information was OBJ
tanned from the schoolgirl correspon-
dents, who with true sisterly spirit
wrote tender missives, fervid with pat
riotism and other emotions to the Boys
at the front.
Many interesting and pathetic items
of Kenosha S early history came to me
Incidentally through the medium of
this correspondence.
Lack of time prevents me from read
jJ71o Of ~