Copyright 1998. Henry Robert Burke "Window to the Past"
This is about a courageous lady who tackled some of the toughest issues
of her
time. During the 1830s the momentum for positive change in social issues
was beginning
to be noticeable at the national level down to the local level.
Anti-Slavery, Temperance,
Children's Welfare, Women's Rights, Labor Reform were all issues of
Human rights. The
word temperance is seldom used in connection with alcoholic beverage
today, but from
around 1800 clear through the 1930s, the word temperance was commonly
used to
suggest abstention, or at least moderation in the use of alcoholic
beverage.
Let's look at the problem of alcohol during the time of the Northwest
Territory.
The Fort Harmar, completed in the spring of 1786, stood near the point
on the west side
of the Muskingum river, and upon the second terrace above ordinary flood
water. Joel
Buell, one of the first settlers at Marietta, was on the frontier as
early as 1785, and spent
considerable time at Fort Harmar. In his journal he states that the pay
of the common
soldiers was $3.00 a month (10 per day ). In his own words: "Drunkenness
and desertion
were prevalent evils. The punishment for drunkenness and other trifling
offenses was
frequently flogging to the extent of one hundred or even two hundred
lashes". Buell
further relates that on one instance, three of the finest soldiers at
the company had
repeated offenses of drunkenness, and were finally flogged for their
indiscretion. A
chaplain once complained to the commander; that no soldiers were not
showing up for
Sunday worship services. "I'll fix that!", promptly replied the colonel.
He immediately
issued an order that the liquor ration would hereafter be given out at
the close of the
Sunday's worship service. "It was a miracle", reported the chaplain
"not a single man was
missing!"
.
Drunkenness among all classes was very common during the early 1800s
and
probably long before that. It is suggested that a large number of
Revolutionary War
Veterans died drunkards, it was in fact common practice after the war,
to characterize
beggars and a drunkards as "old soldiers". If one showed up on your
door, here was a
"doggerel" to dismissed him:
--"Who comes here?" - A grenadier.
Later in his Journal, Buell noted: "It is impossible for this
generation to conceive
of the state of the society during that time (1785). Alcoholic liquids
were considered a
necessity of life; a sort of panacea for all ills; a crowning sheaf to
all blessings; good in
sickness and in health; good in summer to dispel the heat, and good in
winter to dispel
the cold; good for work, and more than good for frolic! So good in fact
that the first dram
in the morning was an "eye opener" duly followed by the
"eleven-o'clocker" and the "four
o'clocker", whilst the very last drink of the day was of course; the
"night cap".
Now having exploited the humorous side of alcohol abuse, lets approach
the
negative aspects that plagued people and families during those times.
What was true
then, is stile true to day. Excessive use of alcohol can lead to many
different problems.
One of those is the abuse families. So a movement to curtail the abuse
of alcohol, called
The Temperance Movement; and The Anti-Slavery Movement were gaining
momentum
during the same decades, 1830-40s.
Francis Dana Gage, born in Marietta, Washington county, Ohio on October
12,
1808. Her father was Colonel Joseph Barker, an early New England settler
in the
Northwest Territory. In 1829 Miss Barker married James L. Gage, a young
lawyer from
McConnelsville, Morgan county, Ohio, and while doing her great work, she
raised eight
children to maturity; four of her sons served with the Union in the
Civil War.
Early in her adult life she became an active worker in the
"Temperance", "Anti-
slavery" and "Women's Rights" Movements. In 1851 she presided over "The
Women's
Rights Convention", held in Akron, Ohio. Her opening speech attracted
widespread
attention to the movement. In 1853, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri,
where she came
under repeated threats of violence because of her anti-slavery views.
Twice she was the
target of arson. In 1857-58 she visited Cuba, St. Thomas and Santo
Domingo, and on her
return to the U.S. she wrote and lectured about her travels.
Later Mrs. Gage was the editor for an agricultural newspaper in Ohio;
but when
the Civil War began, she went south, where she ministered to soldiers,
taught freedmen,
and without pay, acted as agent for the sanitary commission at Memphis,
Vicksburg and
Natchez. In 1863-64 she was superintendent, under General Rufus Saxton,
of Paris Island
South Carolina, of 500 freedmen. In an 1865 she was crippled by an
overturned carriage
in Galesburg, Illinois. Still she continued to lecture until 1867, when
she became
permanently disabled by a paralytic "stroke".
Under the pen name of "Aunt Fanny", Mrs. Gage wrote many stories and
verses
for children. She was a contributor to the Saturday Review and published
the poems:
"Elsie Magoon or The Old Still-House; "Steps Upward"; and "Gertie's
Sacrifice". Mrs.
Francis (Barker) Dana Gage died in Greenwich, Connecticut on November
10, 1884.
Ref: HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of OHIO; Volume II; by Henry Howe LL.D.
(1908)
(Mrs. Gage's Career was edited from "Appleton's 'Cyclopedia of American
Biography",
1908.)
--"What do you want?" - A pot of beer.
--"Where's your money?" - I forgot.
--"Then get you gone you drunken sot."
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