“Yes, Sir, General President!”--Part 2

By Jennifer Uhlarik

 

Last month, I shared some brief details about the first five United States Presidents who had achieved the rank of General in our U.S. Armed Forces before winning their presidential elections.  This month, I wanted to share the other five with you. But before I begin, I wanted to announce the winner of last month’s drawing—and to apologize for the delay. Between some pressing family matters and bothersome technology glitches, I was unable to post the winner sooner.

 

Without further ado—last month’s winner of the “Go Away, I’m Reading!” sign is:

 

CONNIE R!

 

Connie, please leave me your email address in a comment below, and I’ll contact you privately.

 

Now, without further delay—here is part two of our list of ten American presidents who reached the rank of General before serving as President of the United States.

 

Ulysses S. Grant

Born Hiram Ulysses Grant, he became known as “Ulysses S.” because of a mistake made in his nomination to West Point, an appointment Grant’s father finagled on his behalf. At first, Grant wasn’t fond of the military life and considered quitting the prestigious military academy. But he stuck it out, graduated 21^st in his 39-member class in June 1843. His plan was to fulfill his required four years of service, then go on to a private life beyond the military. However, the Mexican-American war began during that span, and studying both Major General Zachary Taylor’s and Major General Winifred Scott’s styles during the conflict, he proved himself an innovative and capable leader. It was during this time he rose to the rank of brevet captain and decided that he could make a good life in the military. But once that war ended, he served in the military only a brief few years before resigning due to a developing issue with alcohol. It was after the first shots of the Civil War were fired that he again joined the ranks of the military, this time as a Colonel in charge of the 21^stIllinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Over and over, he proved his military acumen, although not always without controversy. But for his loyalty, shrewdness, and skill, he eventually rose to the rank of Commanding General of the U.S. Army in 1864, and it was he who negotiated the surrender of the Confederate Army to end the Civil War in April 1865. He served as Commanding General of the U.S. Army until 1869, at which point he was elected President and served two terms fraught with problems and scandals.

 

Rutherford B. Hayes

Hayes attended Harvard Law School and became a lawyer of meager-to-moderate success. But when Fort Sumter was fired upon, beginning the Civil War, Hayes resolved any issues he had in his own mind about the coming war and, instead, joined a volunteer company, where he was promoted to rank of major. He distinguished himself in battle during the length of the war, suffering more than one injury and also having a horse shot out from under him. By October 1864, he’d reached the rank of brevet major general, and at the war’s end the following April, he mustered out of the army. Ulysses S. Grant said of Hayes, “his conduct on the field was marked by conspicuous gallantry as well as the display of qualities of a higher order than that of mere personal daring.” Hayes went on to a career in politics, serving as a U.S. Representative for Ohio, governor of the same state, and eventually President after a very disputed election. One of his first acts as President in 1877 was to end the Reconstruction Era.

 

James A. Garfield

After his father’s death, poverty defined James Garfield’s early days. By age 16, he left home to work on a canal boat, but only a short time later, he was forced to return home due to illness. It was during this time that his mother elicited his promise that he would attend one year of school, which he fulfilled—then went on to pursue college, read for the law, and serve a year in Ohio’s senate. Once the Civil War broke out, he remained in the senate long enough to help muster troops and procure weapons, then received a commission in the 42^nd Ohio Infantry at the rank of colonel. He distinguished himself in January 1862 at the Battle of Middle Creek, and for his valor there, was promoted to brigadier general. Illness struck soon after, sending him home to recuperate, and when he returned, it was to the position of chief of staff to Major General William H. Rosencrans. By late 1863, he’d been elected to the United States Congress, a position he was reluctant to take until President Abraham Lincoln convinced him it was the right move. He remained there for some years and eventually ran for a won the presidency in 1881. Unfortunately, his term was cut short when Charles J. Guiteau shot him on July 2, 1881. Though he lingered until September 18 of the same year, he ultimately died of infection.

 

Benjamin Harrison

The second oldest of ten children, Benjamin Harrison was born in Ohio—the grandson of Former President William Henry Harrison. He graduated Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1852, married, and moved to Indiana, where he practiced law until 1862. At that point, he heard a call from President Lincoln for more Union Army recruits, and he answered by agreeing to help recruit a regiment. He was commissioned as a colonel in said regiment after turning down the command, since he had no military background. He earned a reputation as a strong leader and was well respected by his men. Because of his success in Resaca and Peachtree Creek, President Lincoln nominated him for the rank of brevet brigadier general, and Congress confirmed that nomination shortly before the war’s end. After the war’s end, Harrison returned to practicing law, as well as won election to the position of reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court—a position he'd held before the war, as well. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1881 to 1887, and won the presidency in 1888. He served for four years

 

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Known affectionately as “Ike”, Dwight D. Eisenhower is the only U.S. President who was also a general since the Civil War era. Eisenhower was a West Point graduate in 1915, and despite requesting to serve in Europe during World War I, ended up commanding a unit that trained tank crews. After that war, he achieved the rank of brigadier general, and went on to serve in the second World War. During his time in World War II, he oversaw the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, France, and Germany. After the war’s end, he served as military governor of American-occupied Germany, served as Army Chief of Staff for three years, and was the very first Supreme Commander of NATO. He won the 1952 and 1956 elections, both in landslides.

 

Award-winning, best-selling novelist Jennifer Uhlarik has loved the western genre since she read her first Louis L’Amour novel. She penned her first western while earning a writing degree from University of Tampa. Jennifer lives near Tampa with her husband and two furbabies. www.jenniferuhlarik.com

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW

 

Love’s Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

A Friendship From the Past Brings Closure to Dani’s Fractured Family

 

When Dani Sango’s art forger father passes away, Dani inherits his home. There, she finds a book of Native American drawings, which leads her to seek museum curator Brad Osgood’s help to decipher the ledger art. Why would her father have this book? Is it another forgery?

 

Brad Osgood longs to provide his four-year-old niece, Brynn, the safe home she desperately deserves. The last thing he needs is more drama, especially from a forger’s daughter. But when the two meet “accidentally” at St. Augustine’s 350-year-old Spanish fort, he can’t refuse the intriguing woman.

 

Broken Bow is among seventy-three Plains Indians transported to Florida in 1875 for incarceration at ancient Fort Marion. Sally Jo Harris and Luke Worthing dream of serving on a foreign mission field, but when the Indians reach St. Augustine, God changes their plans. However, when Sally Jo’s friendship with Broken Bow leads to false accusations, it could cost them their lives.

 

Can Dani discover how Broken Bow and Sally Jo’s story ends and how it impacted her father’s life?

 

 

Babies In the White House

by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

In the history of the United States, quite a few children have been born at the White House. However, only one of those was the child of a sitting president. Do you know who it was? If the rest weren’t a sitting president’s children, who were they? Let’s dig in and find out!

 

Thomas Jefferson

I think it is fair to say that Thomas Jefferson’s time in the White House saw the most children born. The very first baby born in the White House was Asnet Hughes, the son of 14-year-old Ursula Granger, a slave girl Jefferson brought from Monticello with the intention that she study under the White House’s French chef, so that he could enjoy delicious food once his presidency was over. However, young Ursula gave birth to her child in the early part of 1802, and by mid-August, the sickly child died. She returned to Monticello soon after her baby’s death, married Asnet’s father, and had a dozen more children with him.

 

Another slave girl, Edy Fossett, was brought from Monticello in 1802 with the same intention—to have her study under the French chef for the White House. But Edy was also pregnant upon her arrival, and in January 1803, she delivered a son who lived until 1806 and passed away from illness. Around this time, Edy’s enslaved sister-in-law, Fanny Hern, also came to the White House to help Edy with kitchen duties. Despite the fact Edy’s husband Joe and Fanny’s husband Davy, also slaves of Jefferson’s, remained at Monticello, they all saw each other often enough that the women went on to have more children. Edy bore two other children during her time in the White House—and several more after her return to Monticello, and Fanny had two children with Davy while in Washington.

Peter Fossett,
one of Edy Fossett's children

Also in 1806, James Madison Randolph, Thomas Jefferson’s own grandchild, was born. With his wife Martha, Jefferson had six children, but only two—the eldest (Martha) and the fourth child (Mary)—survived into adulthood. Since Jefferson was a widower, the duties of First Lady often fell to his two daughters. After Mary’s death in 1804, those duties fell largely to Martha who, with her husband and children, moved into the White House. On January 17, 1806, James Madison Randolph was born. The boy grew up, never married, and died of illness days after his twenty-eighth birthday.

Mary Louisa Adams,
grandchild of Pres. John Quincy Adams

After this, there was a span of roughly twenty years where no children were born in the White House. It wasn’t until John Quincy Adams won the presidency that another child made an appearance—and this child was Adams’ granddaughter, Mary Louisa. She was born on December 2, 1828, to newlyweds John Adams II and Mary Catherine Hellen. Mary took little interest in her marriage and only slightly more interest in her child, so little Mary Louisa was greatly influenced by her doting grandparents, John Quincy and Louisa Adams. The First Lady is said to have paced the floor with her teething granddaughter in the middle of the night, and the President tutored her regularly in math and languages.

 

President Andrew Jackson had been recently widowed before his time in the White House, so he brought his nephew, Andrew Jackson Donelson with him to act as his private secretary. Donelson and his wife Emily already had one child together, but soon after they moved into the White House, Emily realized she was again in the family way. Mary Emily Donelson was the first of three children they would have while residing in the White House. She was born August 31, 1829. Her next younger brother, John Samuel Donelson, came along on May 18, 1832, followed by the youngest child, Rachel Jackson Donelson, on April 11, 1835. Mary lived a good long life, staying connected to Washington politics for most of it. At the outbreak of the Civil War, John joined the Confederacy and died at Chickamauga in his early thirties. And Rachel eventually moved to Texas and lived a quiet life, though she was ill for much of it and eventually died of illness in her early 50s.

 

Emily Donelson, daughter-in-law
of Andrew Jackson, who served
as First Lady and gave birth to three of
Jackson's grandchildren in the  White House.

Martin Van Buren was another widower who assumed the role of U.S. President. His son, Abraham, married Angelica, and after their European honeymoon, moved into the White House to act as private secretary and first lady respectively. In 1839, Rebecca Van Buren was born—but tragically died soon after from an unknown illness. Some sources say it was as few as five days, some say six months, and still others fall somewhere in between—but regardless, little Rebecca survived only a short time.

 

President John Tyler saw two grandchildren born in the White House—granddaughter Letitia Tyler on April 13, 1842, and grandson Robert Tyler Jones on January 24, 1843. Both would go on to support or fight for the Confederacy during the Civil War. In fact, Robert was in the midst of Picket’s Charge, and when the man carrying the regiment’s flag was killed, Robert picked it up and advanced to the stone wall where he was severely wounded but survived.

Daguerreotype of James K. Polk

As several former presidents did, James K. Polk asked his nephew Joseph Knox Walker to act as his private secretary. Walker’s wife, Augusta Adams Tabb, gave birth to her fourth child, daughter Sally Walker, on March 15, 1846. In December 1847, Joseph Knox Walker, Jr. was born to the pair. Both children were doted on, although precocious Sally was known to barge into cabinet meetings and other important moments of her grandfather’s presidency. Unfortunately, Joseph Jr.—better known as Knox—died at age 10 after falling off a horse.

 

Almost another twenty years passed after Knox’s birth before another child made an appearance in the White House. This child was granddaughter of Ulysses S. Grant, Julia, born on June 7, 1876. Despite being just an infant or toddler, she was allowed to be in Presidential receiving lines at official White House events during her time there. She later lived in Europe, married a Russian prince, divorced him after thirty-six years of marriage and three children. Julia returned to America where she stayed involved in politics nearly until her death at age 99.

Esther Cleveland

The only baby to be born in the White House to a sitting president is Esther Cleveland, second daughter of President Grover Cleveland. She was born September 9, 1893. President and Mrs. Cleveland did have another child while he was still president, but that daughter (Marian) was born elsewhere. Esther married a British Army officer, had two children, and lived to be eighty-six.

 

The last baby to be born in the White House—and the only one born in the 20^th Century—was Woodrow Wilson’s grandson, Francis Bowes Sayre, Jr. He made his appearance on January 17, 1915, and went on to become an Episcopal reverend, dean of Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral, and fought for Civil Rights in the 1960s. Sayre lived to be 93, after a long and influential life.

Francis Bowes Sayre, Jr. with his parents.

 

It's Your Turn: Were you aware that so many children were born on the White House premises? Would you have wanted to give birth in the White House if such an option were available to you? Why or why not?

Award-winning, best-selling novelist Jennifer Uhlarik has loved the western genre since she read her first Louis L’Amour novel. She penned her first western while earning a writing degree from University of Tampa. Jennifer lives near Tampa with her husband, son, and furbabies. www.jenniferuhlarik.com

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW

Love’s Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

A Friendship From the Past Brings Closure to Dani’s Fractured Family

 

When Dani Sango’s art forger father passes away, Dani inherits his home. There, she finds a book of Native American drawings, which leads her to seek museum curator Brad Osgood’s help to decipher the ledger art. Why would her father have this book? Is it another forgery?

 

Brad Osgood longs to provide his four-year-old niece, Brynn, the safe home she desperately deserves. The last thing he needs is more drama, especially from a forger’s daughter. But when the two meet “accidentally” at St. Augustine’s 350-year-old Spanish fort, he can’t refuse the intriguing woman.

 

Broken Bow is among seventy-three Plains Indians transported to Florida in 1875 for incarceration at ancient Fort Marion. Sally Jo Harris and Luke Worthing dream of serving on a foreign mission field, but when the Indians reach St. Augustine, God changes their plans. However, when Sally Jo’s friendship with Broken Bow leads to false accusations, it could cost them their lives.

 

Can Dani discover how Broken Bow and Sally Jo’s story ends and how it impacted her father’s life?

 

 

 

Ulysses S. Grant at Fort Humboldt, California

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the future eighteenth President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant wasn't currently serving in the army. He worked at a family-run store in Galena, Illinois. In his earlier life, however, he had a military career--one that began at West Point, continued through the Mexican-American War, and ended in 1854 at a small, fog-shrouded fort in Northern California.

Ulysses S. Grant. Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, Library of Congress / Public domain

Grant's orders to go to California came in 1852, when he was serving as a quartermaster in Detroit. He and other members of the 4th Infantry Regiment set sail from New York to Panama.

Grant's wife Julia, eight-months pregnant with their second child, did not accompany him on the journey--a wise choice, considering the cholera outbreak that hit their company in Panama. The surviving members of the regiment sailed from Panama to San Francisco, arriving in September of 1852, five months after setting out from New York.

Grant was stationed at a few forts, including those in Benicia, California and  Vanouver, Washington, before he was promoted to Captain. In January of 1854, he was sent to Fort Humboldt on Humboldt Bay, north of San Francisco, to serve as quartermaster.

Fort Humboldt State Historic Park as it appears today. JP Smith / Public domain

Fort Humboldt was about a year old when Grant arrived, commanded by Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. Buchanan, a fellow veteran of the Mexican-American War. Comprised of just over a dozen buildings surrounding a central quad, the fort was not fenced, but it sat on a plateau overlooking the bay and Pacific Ocean. 

There were approximately forty men stationed there at the time, as well as a few wives and children (the fort doctor, Assistant Surgeon Simpson, lived in a house with his family). While the soldiers were called upon to intervene between conflicts between whites and the local populations, (most notably the so-called Red Cap War in 1855 and the Indian Island Massacre of 1860, when whites murdered up to 250 Wiyot people), it was fairly quiet during Grant's time at the fort.

Historic American Buildings Survey From Al Sondag Painting at G.G.I.E. (Taken from old photos) - Fort Humboldt, Eureka, Humboldt County, CA. Public Domain.

By all accounts, Grant was good at his job as quartermaster at the fort. He procured the standard rations of salt pork, salt, vinegar, sugar, and other staples, but also supplemented the soldiers' meat by purchasing local goods and hiring a hunter, Seth Kinman, to bring elk and other game to the fort. 

Grant was not happy at Fort Humboldt, however. The area was isolated. Though a decorated soldier, Grant had little use for protocol, and he did not get along with his commanding officer, the strict Colonel Buchanan. 

Worse, he did handle his separation from his wife Julia well. During his absence, she gave birth to their second son, Ulysses Jr. (later known as Buck). Lonely, depressed, and bored, Grant began to drink. 

He spent significant time at a nearby Eureka tavern, and it did not take much alcohol for him to become inebriated (a problem that would follow him into the Civil War, when he was likewise separated from Julia). Colonel Buchanan reprimanded him, and Grant is said to have responded that if he couldn't or wouldn't quit drinking, he would resign.

He didn't quit drinking, though, and facing a court martial, he resigned his commission, effective July 31, 1854. Buchanan never submitted a formal report against Grant, who returned to St. Louis, Missouri to reunite with his family.

Soldiers remained at the fort through the Civil War, and Fort Humboldt was formally abandoned in 1870.

Fort Humboldt hospital building, abandoned and dilapidated. Date unknown, Author unknown. Public Domain. Today it has been restored.

Today, the site is known as Fort Humboldt State Historic Park. The restored hospital still stands, and other buildings have been rebuilt, including Grant's former residence.

Despite the unpleasant memories of his time here, Grant is said to have thought California beautiful and hoped to return, which he did on his World Tour after the presidency. 

In an interesting twist, the son born after he set off on his California journey, Ulysses Grant Jr., did make California his home. He settled in San Diego in the late 1800's, where he became one of its most prominent and influential citizens.

**

Susanne Dietze's latest story, Frontier of Her Heart | The Soldier's Lady, is set at Fort Humboldt during Grant's time there. Captain Grant is a minor character in the story, as is Colonel Buchanan and a third historical figure, the larger-than-life hunter Seth Kinman.

A California native, she is the award-winning author of several award-winning romances. You can learn more on her website, www.susannedietze.com.

How Tall Were Our Historical Heroes?

This past week, I watched an interesting show on National Geographic Channel about one married couple’s attempts to authenticate an old tintype photograph they’d bought which they believed to depict Billy The Kid and a few of the Regulators playing, of all things, croquet. Perhaps you’ve heard stories about this “new discovery” (a few years old now)—or even watched the show. I won’t take the time to rehash the details in the 2-hour episode. Nor is my intent to debate whether the photograph truly doesdepict these famous figures out of Old West lore. There is debate about the validity of the claim. So if you’d like to read a detailed account of whether this photograph truly is “the real McCoy” in Billy The Kid memorabilia, please look at the thorough article done by True West Magazine. 

Old Tintype photograph that is rumored to depict Billy The Kid
and several of the Regulators

I found many of the details presented in the show to be a fascinating view into how one goes about authenticating antiques and other memorabilia. One such detail was how the facial recognition specialist hired to compare the new image to the only known one of William Bonney, then used the croquet mallet held by the supposed “Billy” to figure the man’s height. (Just a note, in the above-referenced article, they poke holes in the specialist’s assertion that there was a standard length for croquet mallets in that time period, so his math could be wrong). But, regardless, I found it interesting to see them estimate the supposed “Billy” figure’s height to be 5’8” tall, which, lo and behold, is the height recorded for the real Billy The Kid in history.

Close-up of the "Billy" figure, holding a
croquet mallet.

Hmmm. Billy The Kid was just 5’8”? He wasn’t much taller than me. Certainly not a very imposing figure for such a notorious outlaw. This got me to wondering about other historic figures and how tall they were. As is often the case, when I get curious, you get to benefit from my questions.

So how tall were the people from our past?

The general who led us through the Revolutionary War and who later become the first President of the United States, George Washington, stood at 6’2” tall. His wife, Martha, was a mere 5’ tall.

Martha and George Washington

Our 16^thPresident, Abraham Lincoln, was the tallest of our nation’s leaders, topping the height scale at 6’4” tall. His wife Mary Todd Lincoln, was another slight-of-stature woman at 5’2”.

Mary Todd Lincoln and President Abraham Lincoln

Interestingly, our shortest president was the fourth, James Madison, who stood only 5’4” tall, but was “dwarfed” by his above-average wife, Dolley, who stood 5’7” tall.

President James Madison and his tall wife Dolley.

General Robert E. Lee, who led the Confederate Army during the Civil War, stood 5’8” tall.

General Robert E. Lee

General Ulysses S. Grant, who led the Union forces in the same war—then went on to become our 18^thpresident—also topped out at 5’8”. 

General Ulysses S. Grant

Famed Old West lawman Wyatt Earp stood 6’ tall.

Lawman Wyatt Earp

Wild Bill Hickok, who worked many jobs in the Old West, including soldier, spy, wagon master, lawman, gunfighter, and actor, among other things, had a height of 6’ even.

Wild Bill Hickok

Martha Jane Canary, better known as Calamity Jane, doesn’t have a recorded height that I could find, but she was tall for a woman, strong like a man, and quite a character in every sense of the word.

Martha Jane Canary, also known as
Calamity Jane

Western sharpshooter, Annie Oakley, was all of 5’ tall.

Annie Oakley, famed sharshooter

What about more recent historical figures?

Longest-serving president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presided over the country when Pearl Harbor was attacked, stood 6’2” tall, though few got to see his impressive height. He was stricken with polio, rendering him paralyzed from the waist down. He served as president from a wheelchair, the only disabled president of our country.

President Franklin D Roosevelt

Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the second World War was a mere 5’6”.

Winston Churchill

I found conflicting reports on Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazis during World War II, which said he was 5’8 or 5’9”.

Adolf Hitler

Five-star general Douglas MacArthur, who played a major role in the Pacific theater of World War II, was 6’ tall. Emperor Hirohito, who was leader of Japan during the Occupation of Japan, stood 5’5”.

General Douglas MacArthur standing next to
Japanese Emperor Hirohito

And since our current president, Donald Trump, and his wife Melania, just visited England and met with the Queen, I thought I’d look up their respective heights. Donald Trump is 6’3”. Melania is 5’11”. And Queen Elizabeth of England is 5’4” tall. I found the photos taken during that visit to be cute. (Due to copyright laws, I can’t repost, but you can see them here).

It’s Your Turn:

Do you enjoy knowing the heights of historical figures? Why or why not?

Jennifer Uhlarikdiscovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

NOW AVAILABLE:

The First Love Forever Romance Collection

A first love is never easily forgotten...
and coming face to face with that person again can be awkward when the heartstrings are still holding on to the “what ifs.”

In settings from 1865 to 1910, nine couples are thrown back on the same path by life’s changes and challenges. A neighbor returns from law school. An heiress seeks a quick marriage. A soldier’s homecoming is painful. A family needs help. A prodigal son returns. A rogue aeronaut drops from the sky. A runaway bridegroom comes home. A letter for aid is sent. A doctor needs a nurse. Can love rekindle despite the separation of time and space?


Heartfelt Echoes by Jennifer Uhlarik
1875—Virginia City, Nevada: A short, urgent letter mentioning his childhood love, Millie Gordon, forces deaf Travis McCaffrey to turn to his estranged birth father for help rescuing the woman he can’t forget.

Legendary Stagecoach Drivers—and a Giveaway

It’s here, it’s here, it’s here! The Courageous Brides Collection, which includes my 3rd novella, Mountain Echoes, came out on July 1. So I’ll be celebrating this month with a giveaway of an autographed copy. 

My hero in Mountain Echoes is stagecoach driver Finn McCaffrey. In researching the men (and women) who held such a job, I found them to be a colorful bunch, so I thought I’d share a bit about them.

Stagecoach drivers were a daring sort. They had to handle a six-horse team with great skill while driving at top speed through sand, mud, inclement weather and harsh terrain. They had to be able to make hairpin curves on rocky mountain passes or cross flooded creeks without batting an eye. They needed the backbone to face robbers and Indians who might be laying in wait along their path, all with the mind to keep both passengers and any valuables they carried safe. They were affectionately known by various nicknames. Charley. Whip. Reinsman. Or my personal favorite…Jehu. This one was in reference to the Bible passage in 2 Kings 9, where the Israelite king, Jehu, was described as driving his chariot “furiously.”

The typical garb for a stagecoach driver was a flat-crowned, wide-brimmed hat. They wore a long linen duster coat to combat the elements, and long gloves to protect their hands from the leather reins. Tall leather boots completed the outfit. Most carried a whip which they’d crack above the team’s heads to encourage them along the route.

So…who were some of the real people who made names for themselves as stage drivers?

HANK MONK

 

Hank Monk

Henry James Monk, better known as Hank, was born in New York on March 24, 1826. He had a great affinity and skill with horses and was said to have once driven eight horses side-by-side in a Boston celebration. By the age of twelve, he was driving wagons and stagecoaches in New York State. At the age of twenty-six, he crossed the Isthmus of Panama and made his way to California where he began driving stagecoaches for various different companies across his long and storied career. He drove many routes for several different companies, but all the routes fell somewhere between Sacramento, California, and Virginia City, Nevada. Probably the best-known stagecoach driver in the West, he was imortalized by Mark Twain in Roughing It, where Twain described a stagecoach ride that famed New York Daily Tribune journalist Horace Greeley once took. Greeley complained to Monk that he was going to be late for a lecture he was slated to give in Placerville, California, so Monk put on the speed, to the point that Greeley was so jostled inside the coach that his head went through the ceiling! He was said to have called out to Monk that he was no longer in such a hurry, and to please slow down, to which Monk replied, “Just hang on, Mr. Greeley. I’ll get you there on time.”

GEORGE MONROE

George Monroe

George Monroe was born in Georgia and traveled west at the tender age of 11. Early on, he showed great promise with training and driving horses. At the age of 22, he hired on with the A.H. Washburn Stage company, which drove to Yosemite. Monroe’s quick thinking and nerves of steel gained him the title of “best all-around Reinsman in the West,” and when various U.S. Presidents (Ulysses S. Grant, James A. Garfield, and Rutherford B. Hayes) each toured the west, he was the whip chosen to drive them. Grant, an avid horseman himself, chose to sit on the bench beside the driver on the most treacherous part of the path—an unbelievably narrow 26-mile passage full of hairpin curves, potholes, and falling rocks. Grant watched as Monroe navigated each difficulty with great skill and later said that it was as if the six-horse team were one animal under Monroe’s control.

CHARLEY PARKHURST

 

Charley Parkhurst

This driver was an interesting person. Often called One-eyed Charley or Cockeyed Charley, this Jehu drove for many different stage companies throughout California for over thirty years. But rather than give you my brief description, I’ll let former HHH blogger Winnie Griggs’ post (found here) on old Charley speak for itself.

It’s your turn: Of the three drivers mentioned here, which would you have wanted to travel with? Leave your contact information with your comment to be included in the drawing for an autographed copy of The Courageous Brides Collection. Drawing will be held tomorrow, July 26, 2016.

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.

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THE COURAGEOUSBRIDES COLLECTION

Ride into adventures alongside nine determined women of yesteryear whose acts of compassion and bravery attract male attention. Marcy helps displaced Indians. Emmy tends wounds at Fort Snelling. Ronnie stows away on a cattle drive. Daisy disguises herself as a Pony Express rider. Elinor becomes an abolitionist. Mae tames wild horses. Hannah gets help for accident victims. Lucy’s curiosity unnerves criminals. Kate nurses soldiers on the battlefield. Will real dangers douse the sparks of love?