A Rynex
Family Chronicle
by
Allison F. Childs
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A T I M E T R A V E L E R
T A KE S A T R I P
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This is an
account of one American Family. Its two branches were
rooted in
the
Colonial experience, witnessing seminal events like the Schenectady
frontier indian raids and the Boston Massacre. They took an
active part
in the Revolutionary struggle. Men of both branches served in now
famous campaigns.
Then when the two
branches were joined, increasing year by year the family moved across
the Eastern seaboard from Boston to New York, to Brooklyn, to
Philadelphia, to Baltimore and to Georgetown on the edge of Washington.
In those times children were born and died and mothers lost. Sometimes
they were separated but kept in touch and supported each other.
Led by an
ambitious father, they encountered other families looking for
places in
the government or commerce in
new States as they were being formed and growing. They made
lasting
friendships with
other families and experienced their pride when one
came home from the
Mexican War breveted a captain for bravery in battle only to be
saddened by his early death.
They joined
others seeking a place in the commerce of opening West as merchants,
clerks and
farmers. Then as the Union began to
fall apart in the Great Civil War they struggled through it and did
their
part in holding it together.
After the
Union was saved and the soldiers came home they took up the
new life in new places. But as with so many others, some of those
efforts failed and
they returned to their familiar Eastern haunts. In the final years they
settled into periods as merchants or in government service. The
roaming was over but the memories of their part in the change and
growth of their country would remain with them and their
descendants.
____________________
JOHN
AND ELIZA
EXCHANGE
"I DOS"
August
13, 1816 - The Branches Are
Joined:
This Rynex family chronicle starts on August 3, 1816
with the marriage
of John Rynex and Eliza Caswell. The marriage took
place in Boston at
the West Church which was the church of the Caswell family
and where Eliza’s father, Richard Caswell, owned a pew. West
Church was located on Leverett Street right around the corner
from Green Street where the Caswell’s lived for many years.
John’s mother Charlotte and his brother Samuel and sister,
Catherine, would have surely been there because they also lived nearby
on Green Street.
TICK - TOCK - TICK
- TOCK
TURN BACK THE CLOCK
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1700s
The Valentijn Reijneck Branch:
John Rynex was the grandson of the immigrant
Valentijn Reijneck who came to America
with his family in the mid
1700s. They came from Maastricht, Holland although Valentijn had
been born in Germany as had his first son Johannas. His
second son, Willem Cuenraed, the father of John was baptized in 1750 in
Maastricht at St.Janskrk’s, a church that had been built in the 12th
century and handed over to the protestant community in 1632. The
family settled in an area near Tarrytown, New York. They were members
of the “Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow” now known as The First
Reformed Church. They soon moved to the Schenectady area where
many of the descendants were born, married and are buried.
The name Reijneck appears frequently in German
records. There are records in the archives of the Dutch Reform
Church in Maastricht suggesting that Valentijn was a corporal in
the Regiment of General Lindtman during the period from 1746 to
1755. After the arrival in America of Valentijn and his family
the name was quickly anglicized to Rynex with variants such as Rynax,
Rynick and others, but Rynex persisted and is the spelling
one generally finds today.
Enlistment records show that Valentijn served
in the New York, Westchester County Militia from 1758-1762. He
was still living in the year 1779 when his name appears on
the tax rolls of Schenectady.
John’s father, Willem, was a cordwainer in New York City
and
named a freeman on September 11, 1770. He was 20 years old and probably
had been an apprentice because he was registered without payment
of any fees. During the Revolution he was appointed sergeant in
Captain John Copp’s Company, Goose Van Schaick’s Battalion of the 1st
New York Regiment, where he served from November 28, 1776 until at
least 1782.
The First New York Regiment was posted to many
locations in upstate New
York manning forts and facing the Indians who were supported by
he British. Willem’s Company was also particularly mentioned as being
at the Battles of Monmouth and Yorktown.
Both
of Willem’s brothers also served in the Revolution: Andrew a
corporal and John a private in the 2nd Albany Militia
.
Shortly after Willem was discharged from the Army he
married Charlotte M. Rupp of Quincy, Massachusetts. Their son,
John, was born in Schenectady in 1795, one of four
children: Samuel, Catherine, John and Adam Rupp. Willem died in
1815 in New York City and his wife Charlotte then moved to Boston where
there were many Rupp relatives.
The Caswell Branch:
Eliza Caswell, the other person who allows this
chronicle to be
recorded, was the youngest of five daughters of Richard
Caswell and
Mercy Baron of Boston. Both families had been in the New England Colony
for several generations. There were many Caswell families in
Massachusetts some going back to Mayflower passengers and there
had been Caswell’s in Boston from at least 1669.
The Barons could trace their ancestry
though the
Youngman family back to 1665.
Richard was a rope maker and from his pension
application
it is known that he also a veteran of the Revolution. He had
served for thirteen months in a Massachusetts Artillery
unit under Colonel Henry Knox. Knox subsequently became a General and
was the Secretary of War under Washington.
Richard was at the Siege of Boston and when
the British withdrew
he marched with his unit south to New York were he took part in
the Battle of Long Island. His unit came under heavy bombardment from
British ships as the British forces crossed the East River to capture
the City. After the battles that followed Washington’s evacuation
of New York to Fort Washington at the northern heights of the
Island then to Hackensack, New Jersey where Richard
fell sick and was hospitalized. He rejoined his unit at Fishkill, New
York where he was discharged .
Around and Around He Goes
Where He Stops
Nobody Knows
|
Moving Around With John Rynex and
Eliza:
John had a reputation as a man who moved around a
lot. It certainly
showed up early in his career.
.
1818 - John M. born:
In 1818 when their first first child, John
M., was born they were living on North Allen
Street
right in the same area where the marriage had taken place. This area
north of Cambridge Street and south of the Mill Pond was also
where the Caswell rope walks were located and where the
other Rynex family members lived.
1821- John in Business
In 1821 John
was operating a shoe store at 56 Broad Street with a partner Thomas
Arnold. Broad Street was in a more commercial area near the docks .
1822 Elizabeth C. Born
By now John and Elizabeth were living on Blossom Street.
July 24, 1824 Caroline Lafayette born
They are still living on Blossom Street when
Caroline was born and Boston was about to have a great jubalee week. In
August General LaFayette, the French hero of the American
Revolution visited Boston and received a grand
reception. It should not be too much of a stretch of the
imagination that John and Eliza could have added
Lafayette as Caroline's middle name in honor of that event.
1826 "Rich" born
"Rich" is the only identity of a son that died at about
age six
(probably named Richard for his maternal
grandfather, Richard Caswell ). At this time .John and Eliza were
living on
Spring Street.
1830 Family in Dorchester
All of this moving took place in Boston but by 1830 the
family was living in Dorchester. There probably was another
daughter because the 1830 census (which only enumerated the name
of the heads of households), shows a female 10 years old.
January 22, 1832 "Rich" Dies
There is no other record of the short life of this child except
a brief
mention in the Caswell family bible.
November 10, 1836 Samuel Francis born
By 1836 John was listed in A.
M’elroy’s Philadelphia
Directory, for 1837 as a merchant at 2
Franklin
Place with a home at 423 Chestnut Street. The present day 423
Chestnut Street is a well maintained red brick row house just east of
Independence Mall in a good part of the City. And by now
another son has been added to the family. Born in Philadelphia,
he was bamed Samuel Francis but was always known as Frank.
December 25 1837 -Richard Caswell
Rynex born
John and Eliza’s last child, Richard Caswell was born
on Christmas Day 1837 in Boston. Within his family he was
always known as Cass. It isn’t clear if John was in
Boston at that time for his business or if Eliza
returned there for the birth of Richard.
Boston c 1798
All
that moving about in Boston may not have been just
because of John's itchy feet. Boston at that time was undergoing a
great transtion. The City was practically an island attached to
the
mainland by a narrow strip of land known as th Boston Neck.
Boston went about cutting down or reducing the mounts and hills
for material to fill in the swamp and tidal flats
that surrounded the City. Thus the the tidal area and swanps on
both sides of the Boston Neck to the south were
eliminated . Also the swampy areas to the west of the Common created
what is known as Back Bay. The Mill Pond completely
dissappeared. It was an arduous task done completely by shovel,
wheelbarrow and cart. By the time they were through the city of only
789 acres would have trippled in size.
In any event John’ s moving about continued. As we shall see, by
1838 John was doing his “speculating” in New York.
While directories consistently listed, John as a merchant he was by his
own admission a speculator. In one of his letters to his son Frank he
wrote that “it has been very much against my views
and wishes that my boys preferred hiring after 21 years old, “hiring”
meaning working for hire, a wage or salary as, for example, as a clerk,
which they were doing at the time. At that time he was encouraging the
three younger sons to join together in a business operation or
some kind of store and offered to help them get the capital they would
need.
We will see how this kind of arrangement worked out. In the coming
years each of the sons did become entrepreneurs either as
partners
or individually.
1837 - John in New York City
In 1837 John had established an office in New York
City. He should
have felt comfortable there because with his Dutch ancestry
the City continued to have that
early Dutch influence in both commerce and society.
July 4, 1838 - Death of Eliza Rynex:
That same year on July 4 across the East River in their home in
Brooklyn Eliza died. She was only 41.
She had given birth to eight children, probably, and certainly
seven. As we shall see, six of them survived to adulthood,
five married and four raised families. Caroline, in effect raised
two families, her two younger brothers, Frank and Richard, and the
three daughters of her sister Elizabeth: Caroline, Sallie and Mary.
Eliza’s two youngest children were Frank, just over two years
old, and Richard, just six months. The daughters, Elizabeth and
Caroline themselves, only sixteen and fourteen, were left to care for
the young boys.
Her only obituary consisted of a simple death notice that appeared in
the Boston Massachusetts Chronicle and Columbian.
What kind of woman had this young mother been? There are no
family letters that she wrote and, painfully, few others that even
mention her. In a letter of May 14, 1862 to his children John
wrote
“..how much of the good and evil of this life I have witnessed since
that day ...I married your ever good, ever kind mother”.
Then, years later in a letter to Caroline from Caroline Dyer
there is this: ...“I will imagine I can see all your dear mother’s
children together...your mother was dearer to me than all my other
Aunts and I have passed many happy days with her. She was a dear little
woman always so kind and good to me ...”.
1839 - John in New York:
In the 1839 New York City Directory John appears at 60 Clinton
Place. This may well be the address of the Clinton Hotel to which his
daughter Caroline had letters addressed from time to time. There
is a Clinton Street in lower Manhattan East Side at the present time
which may be the same location. His name doesn’t appear in the
1839-1840 city directory .
February 27, 1841 - Richard
Caswell Dies:
Back in Boston an event occurred that would have an effect on John’s
children. On February 27, 1841 their grandfather Richard Caswell died.
His will was probated on April 14, 1841 and in it he made provisions
for the children of his daughter Eliza (Caswell) Rynex. The
estate which included several properties in the city, amounted to
about $14,500 with a third was to go to Eliza’s children.
John and the family were probably still in New York because
among the Rynex family letters, there is a promissory note dated New
York, September 7, 1841 from one John B. Macy to John Rynex (more
about John B. Macy later).
1842 John Investigates The West:
With all this moving around and what we find
later
it should be of no surprise, as is strongly suggested in family
letters, that in the early 1840s John took his family west at
least as far as St. Louis. They probably went overland as
far as Pittsburgh and then by steamer down the Ohio River.
Undoubtedly he was searching for some kind of opportunity in the
opening West but did not find anything attractive.
As we will see, while John gave up on the opportunities in the West,
all of his children returned as adults in various endeavors during the
1850s and up through the 1870s. Eventually, however they all came back
east to spend the rest of their days in Washington.
At least during the 1840s and 1850s John continued to move around
constantly from Boston, to New York, to Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Alexandria and Washington.
With all this moving around one wonders just how he managed
in a time when travel between even the largest cities was wearisome, to
say the least.
A glimpse of what a typical trip just from Washington to
New York in the 1830s involved is described in
Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman when he, Sherman, traveled
from Washington to enter West Point as a cadet:
We
went to Baltimore by rail, there
took a boat up to Havre de Grace, then by rail to Wilmington, Delaware
and up the
Delaware in a boat to Philadelphia.... from
Philadelphia we took a boat to Bordentown, rail to Amboy and a boat
again
to New York City. About June 12th [1836] I embarked on the
steamer Cornelius Vanderbilt for West Point.
October 15, 1845 - The Iron Furnace
Caper:
In 1845 John and his family were living in Baltimore at 147
Fayette Street and he was engaged in an incredible venture. In
Georgetown, DC he was planning to build an iron furnace!
What could have caused him to imagine such a plan? There is no
direct evidence for the answer to that question but there are
some intriguing possibilities. As we shall see, John and his family had
spent considerable time in the Valley of Virginia and were well
acquainted with the Lees and the Hupps. Perhaps they came to the Valley
in the summer to escape from the heat of the Eastern cities where
they usually lived or for the therapeutic value of some of the
many spas.
There also had been many iron furnaces in the Valley from the
earliest times. One, in fact had been owned by a Hupp family
which was a family that the Rynex’s knew quite well.
Perhaps John observed the operation of these furnaces and
figured that the presence of the canal from Cumberland to Georgetown
would provide transportation of the necessary fuel and ore.
In any event on October 15, 1845 he contracted with Benjamin
Miller and Robert Duval to buy property along the Potomac River
west of Fayette Street (35th Street at present) for the purpose of
building an iron furnace. This would have been near the present site of
the Key Bridge between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Potomac
River. The price he agreed to was $12,000 with $3,000 in cash and the
remainder in four notes due at various times up to June 12,
1847.
Location of Rynex Furnace in Georgetown
______________________
Johnson/Rynex Vows
Exchanged in
Baltimore
______________________
February 12, 1846
- Elizabeth Rynex and
Thomas Renaldo Johnson, Jr. Marry:
The first of John’s children to marry was
Elizabeth. She and
Thomas Renaldo Johnson, Jr. were married in Baltimore on February
12, 1846. He was a direct descendant of George Mason of Gunstan Hall,
Virginia through his mother Sarah Ann Thomson. Thomas Renaldo Johnson
was always referred to as Mr. Johnson or just Johnson in family
letters.
It appears from comments in family letters
that
Elizabeth’s father, John did not approve of this
union and did not attend the marriage. As recorded in The
Baltimore Sun, Elizabeth’s
brother, John M., did attend. There is no
indication of what her father’s objection was. She certainly was old
enough, 24, and the Johnson family had the right pedigree
although not a particularly bright economic future. Or perhaps he was
hoping that she would stay around and continue to help care for
her two young brothers, Frank and
Richard.
As a sidelight on the pedigree of Thomas
Renaldo Johnson,
the Gunstan Hall Association, which administers that property,
maintains a genealogical list of all the descendants of George Mason.
The descendants of Thomas
and Elizabeth (Rynex) Johnson are included in that listing.
Thomas Renaldo Johnson, Jr.
__________________
Shift
the Scene
To
The
Old Dominion
_________________
1845- Friends In The Valley of
Virginia:
One of the families that the Rynexs‘ became
very well
acquainted with was the Lees of Strasburg in the Valley of Virginia.
It isn’t clear exactly when or how this came about
but it was some considerable time before March 15, 1846. That was
the date on the earliest extant Rynex family letter referring
to the Lees. But there are suggestions in many subsequent letters that
the close relationship between the two families had been going on for
some time. At that time John M. Rynex was already courting Elizabeth
Lee, the daughter of John and Mary P. (Hupp) Lee.
The relationship with the Rynex family in the Valley
would have
included Adam Rupp Bowman a nephew of John Rynex. Adam was the
son of
Catherine
(Rynex ) Bowman the sister of John. Adam’s activities in the
Valley especially his courting of Elizabeth Holliday, known as
“Lib”, were frequently referred to in their correspondence.
March 15, 1846 - Daniel Smith
Lee Enters the Scene:
The March 15 letter referred to was
written by “Dan’l
S. Lee” from Staunton, VA addressed to “Miss Cara Rynex,
Baltimore, Maryland care of Chas. Carrole”.
Daniel Smith Lee was born in 1822 the second
chi ld of John
and Mary P. (Hupp) Lee of Strasburg, Virginia. He had graduated from
the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington in the class of
1845. When he wrote to Caroline he was 24 years old and she was
22.
In the salutation Daniel refers to “My Cousin Cara”. There
is no evidence that Daniel and Caroline were literally cousins, at
least not first cousins. Her grandparents surnames were Rynex and
Caswell, his were Lee and Hupp. “Cousin Cara” is perhaps just an
indication of his familiarity with Caroline and the family.
Daniel starts his letter with a flourish:
Times flies but
not to efface the
cherished memory of the past. There
are scenes in my life (whenever cares & sorrows come) which raise
up & bid me be happy again. Now I will tell my cousin what those
scenes are. May there be a time when we shall meet again …with
untrammeled confidence and friendship.
In this letter he announces that he now has a
law license and
happily refers to himself as “Lawyer Lee”. The letter also
contains separately an invitation to meet the Law Class “at the parlour
of the Washington Hotel on Tuesday Evening next at 8 o’clock”.
Presumably this would have been in Staunton where he had been studying
law under Judge Lucius P. Thompson. The Staunton
Spectator issue of 18 March 1846
reported on a
testimonial prepared by members of that law class of their
approbation and high regard for Judge Thompson.
Daniels letter to Caroline also contains other
hints of the close
relationships between the Rynex and Lee families when he
refers to the marriage of Elizabeth to Thomas Johnson.
1947-Caroline La Fayette Rynex and her
Beau:
At this time Caroline herself had a beau,
perhaps even an
“understanding”
His name was John
B. Macy, Jr. He had been
born on the island of
Nantucket off the Massachusetts coast on January 17, 1824 and
thus was the same age as Caroline. They met a result of the
business relationship between John Rynex and the senior
John B. Macy who was an entrepreneur and speculator much
like John Rynex although considerably more successful.
John Macy, senior is typical
example of the pearls , failure and opportinities of the time.
He had been born on Nantucket Island
in 1799 and had left
there to make his fortune in the expanding country. John Macy was
a success as a merchant on Nantucket but after a failure in
1826 he went to New Your City. That same year he moved to Buffalo
where he established the forwarding house of Smith & Macy.
From 1842 to 1845 he was in Cincinnati and then in 1845
moved with his family to Fon du Lac, Wisconsin. He had
acquired considerable amount of property there and built a fine
house that is still maintained as a proud part of historical Fond
du lac.
He was one of the proprietors of the Rock River
Valley Railroad.
In Wisconsin he was elected as a Democrat to the 33rd Congress
(1853-1855). Tragically, he was lost on the burning of the steamer
Niagra on Lake Michigan , September 24, 1857.
The two Johns crossed paths in New York. You
will remember the
mention of the promissory note in 1841 from Macy to Rynex.
Relations between John Jr. and Caroline began soon after that. From the
many letters they exchanged, their relationship was not easy to
pursue because of the many moves made by each of them or their
families, sometimes in opposite directions. Caroline’s
letters went to Baltimore, Georgetown and New York and his
from Georgetown, Philadelphia and New York.
|
_______________
Macy, jr. Probes
New States for
Best Future
_______ _______
|
April 7, 1847 - John Macy
Jr's.
Mission to
Washington:
On April 7 of 1847 the John Macy,
Jr.
was in Georgetown
writing to Caroline in Baltimore. He was just 23 years old. He
had been expecting to see her but his mission in Washington had been
delayed. Like so many who make their way to Washington his
mission was to get a government position in one of the new states
entering the Union. He thinks it will be settled next week.
The problem is that there are two different locations and he has
a hard time deciding which one to go for. One is Florida and the
other is Wisconsin. In describing these two states he becomes very
lyrical.
About Florida he writes:
As a
place of residence it is a
Paradise - they have the open
Prairies, the shaded everglades, in whose depth, without culture,
without care, spring spontaneously from the earth all the rich fruits
of a tropical clime, the Oranges and dates are found by the solitary
traveler in uninhabited,. trackless wilderness where the foot of man
never before trod. The tall Palmetto spreads its broad leaves over your
head, whilst the cooling trade winds fan the heated brow and near at
hand you pluck the Golden Apple or the rich ripened Cocoa Nut.
Florida had only just entered the Union on March 3,
1845. He favors
Florida because he sees it as having vast resources and the
potential to be a wealthy state. He thinks that it will be held back by
being a slave state. The only objection to him is the climate during
the summer months.
Wisconsin had not yet become a state when he is
writing but there had
been much activity as a territory and statehood was granted on
May 29, 1848.
Of that future State he says:
Wisconsin is
different, one unbounded
trackless space, here and there a
man in wondering meets the solitary cabin of a go-ahead down Easter,
then you find an occasional corn field, and no sign of a living
creature, then you stand alone upon one of the hills of this rolling
Prairie, alone - solitary you stand & as far as the eye can reach
you find no life, no sign of vegetation but the tall rank grass or the
half burnt stubble.
John is very favorably impressed with the
opportunities for Wisconsin,
seeing it filling up with immigrants and dotted with towns and
villages. He expects that if he gets the position in Wisconsin he will
be receiving $1,095 yearly, perhaps even more.
Interestingly he says that if he were to get the
position in Florida
that wouldn’t be such a great amount because the habits of the south
are such that a man is compelled to spend as fast and often times
faster than he makes, while in Wisconsin people are frugal.
May 6 1847 - The John Rynex Iron
Furnace Project In
Trouble:
John had begun erecting the iron furnace and
had spent $20,000
when he found that he did not have clear title to the property.
Apparently he had also failed to meet the due dates on the notes
because the trustee Robert Auld advertised that on May 6, 1847 the
property would be sold at auction.
John obtained an injunction to stop the sale claiming that he had
been defrauded and sought relief in the DC Circuit Court of
Chancery. The litigation dragged on and as late as 1857 John
still had hold of the furnaces and expected to make something of them.
But he ever did.
Never the less, John continued his quest for the
“Pot of Gold” at the
end of the rainbow. One time his youngest son Richard complained
“we have spent a fortune on travel and need to settle down”, which is
what he, Richard, and other members of John’s family
finally did
.
July 18, 1848 A surprise
letter from
Daniel Smith Lee :
At this same time Caroline received another
from Daniel Lee
addressed to:
“My Dear Friend Miss Carra & all the rest of ‘em” .
He
is expecting the whole family to read his letter. It was
from Pueblo, Mexico dated 18 July 1848. So
what
has happened and how did he get to Pueblo, Mexico?
The Mexican War is what happened ! The
conflict had
been brewing for some time and had finally erupted in an official
declaration of war on May 13, 1846. Battles had taken place in Texas,
in areas that are now New Mexico,in California and
in; places where American forces crossed the Rio Grande.
But by early 1847 advances had pretty much stalled in northern Mexico.
Then in March of that year General Scott landed 12,000 men
on the coast of Mexico at of Vera Cruz, took that city and headed for
Mexico City. At Pueblo he was delayed because he was forced
to release many one-year volunteer regiments.
Fortunately some new recently recruited regiments including the 11th
Infantry of volunteers from Virginia soon arrived. Our hero
Daniel Smith Lee, was 1st lieutenant and Adjutant. He had been
commissioned February 24, 1847. His Regiment was a part of
General Pillow’s 3rd Division, and General Cadwalader’s 2nd Brigade.
The 11th Infantry commander was Lt. Col. Paul O. Hebert who later
served during the Civil War in the Confederate Army.
Daniel’s letter had little to say about activities
of the Army. Once
again he rhapsodizes:
I
have been promising myself the
pleasure of writing to you for a long
time but our communications with the states are so very seldom that I
found it impossible to gratify that desire. I however was sitting in my
room this morning when a reflection of a very soothing character,
unconsciously stole over me and let me assure you Miss Cara you were
not absent in those happy reflections.
He describes the countryside and the city, which he
compares in size to
Baltimore, in very positive terms. He is frustrated by not being able
to become acquainted with the higher classes, especially the ladies
because they shun the Americans. He tells Caroline that he has
seen a Lt. Leonidas Wetmore who asked about her and whether or
not she was married. Daniel writes that if he comes back and finds she
is married it will be a disappointment to him and that other fellow.
Caroline must have had many beaux because young men were frequently
asking if she were still single.
Daniel’s next letter to Caroline was dated August
27, 1848 from
“4 miles from the City of Mexico”. The Army had left Pueblo on
the 10th of August moving by
the National Road toward Mexico City. By the 15th of August they
were near the city of Contreras only 15 miles from the capital
where a major battle took place and the Mexicans were routed
Scalling
the Wall at Chapultepec
_________________________
Valley's Own Lt. Lee
Honored for Bravery
At Chapultepec
__________________________
Moving on, the Army faced major
resistance before the city
of Chapultepec, a beautiful town which had been a retreat for the
Aztecs kings and important officials of the Mexican
Government. In his letter Daniel tells that he is a wounded man, not
seriously, with only a flesh wound. He says he did not leave
the field of battle because of it. As a result of his
leadership he received the following commendation:
It
was during this attack Adjt Danl
S. Lee was wounded but
gallantly maintained his position upon the field. I am very much
indebted to this gallant young gentleman for his aid and assistance
during the previous night and day in Communicating Orders and assisting
in pressing the men forward. There never could have been greater
gallantry displayed than was by him during the actions of the 18th,
19th and 20th particularly during the two actions of the 20 Aug 1847
and I warmly recommend him to public notice.
As a result of his leadership in this important
battle, he was promoted
to brevet Captain. Interestingly, there was another Lee
from Virginia involved in these actions. He was Captain Robert E.
Lee. That Lee was an Engineer and a much respected junior officer
in Taylor’s Army . On one occasion he made his way clear beyond
the Mexican left flank providing valuable information for the future
battle of Cerro Gordo.
By October 21 Daniel is in the City of
Mexico. He says “the
great city is now ours and not without a great sacrifice of human
life.” Says he was wounded six times but none seem to be serious. He is
learning Spanish but looking forward to coming home and suggests that
he may set up in Baltimore. Like so many soldiers in this situation he
is pleading for “that great big letter ” .
Caroline and John Macy continue their
affair:
Caroline’s responses to John Macy’s letters
are not nearly as
feeling
as his. Caroline wishes him well on his “mission” but says not to be
too sanguine:
you know my dear Mr. Macy that my every wish is for your success
in anything you may undertake, and I am ever ready to listen to your
bright anticipations, but I have been so often disappointed that I have
made up my mind never to anticipate.
She has been quite unwell. She is suffering
from a toothache and
a swollen face. She says she doesn’t expect to see Winchester this
summer as they have for some summers past. Here again are suggestions
that visits to the Valley have been a regular summer occurrence.
She is worried that John’s sister does not have a sufficient
description of her. She hopes that his mother and sister will meet
her so they can see what kind of a girl she is. She is clearly
concerned about the impression she will make with John’s family.
Caroline always refers to John as “Mr. Macy ”
but he refers to
her as Kate. The formality on her part is clearly
contrasted in her letters but his are warm, speak of love
and looking forward to being together.
***************************
LOVERS SADLY PART WAYS
***************************
|
21 August 1848 - The Caroline and John
Macy Affair Ends:
This bantering type of letter continued until
suddenly in August
of
1848 something happened and on the 21st of that month John returned all
of Caroline’s letters and there were no more. What was the cause
of this break? It is know that John did go
to Wisconsin. Perhaps Caroline could not
face the prospect of moving to that relatively unsettled area. John
died in Fond du Lac on February 22, 1851. He was only
27 years old.
Whatever caused the rupture did not seem to
affect Caroline’s
communication with John’s family. She wrote to them several times and
there is a warm letter from John’s mother Mary in January of
1865. At that time Mary was living in Buffalo with her widowed daughter
Elizabeth B.
Thomas.
Now there were a short series of letters
between Caroline and
John Hupp a cousin of Daniel Lee. They seem to be somewhat coquettish
but not nearly so intimate as the ones with John Macy.
August 14, 1848 - Daniel Smith Lee Is
Mustered Out:
By July 31, 1848, Daniel had
written from Fort
Hamilton,
New York to “My Dear Miss Carrie” in Georgetown,
DC. He starts off with “Once more on the land I stand on my
own dear nation’s soil, and hope very soon to see some of our dear
little girls once more” and complains about not getting letters.
It seems this has always been a perennial complaint of in he
field of battle.Daniel says that when he does head for home there will
be a stop of a
day or two in Washington and hopes to see her . He was mustered out on
August 14, 1848.
The
Sentinel of the Valley reported that on
September 5th
that the people of Strasburg held a dinner for
Mexican War soldiers from the Shenandoah, three of whom were from
Strasburg. A procession formed in the public square and marched through
the principle streets to an orchard. The former soldiers were welcomed
home. Capt. Daniel S. Lee responded for the soldiers. It
was noted that he had been brevetted to a captaincy for gallant conduct
on the field of Contraras. It was said that he was the third man to
enter the City of Mexico.
By that fall, all is back to normal as far as
relations go with Dan and
the Rynex family. He did send a message to Thomas Johnson (the
husband of Caroline’s sister Elizabeth) “Crow Man Crow”. Apparently he
was teasing Johnson who had supported Lewis Cass, a
Democrat, over the Whig General Zachary Taylor in the 1848 presidential
election which Taylor won handily.
Dan also reported on the marriage of
Elizabeth Holliday of
Strasburg to Adam Rupp Bowman. Adam was a cousin of Caroline‘s, his
mother
having been Catherine (Rynex) Bowman. There had been a long
engagement and some wondered if it would ever come off. It did,
on November 28, 1848 I Frederick county Virginia. They
immediately went to St. Louis where Adam started a forwarding business.
October 28, 1849 - Daniel Lee and John
M. Rynex to go West:
The next communication from Dan was on October 28,
1849. It is from
“Our Store, Middletown, Fred.Cty, Va.” He explains that he has
purchased a very elegant stock of goods and that John (Caroline’s
brother John M. Rynex) is going west with him to establish a store in
Iowa. John is to take the goods by river to St. Louis and Dan is
going north to stock up.
He refers to St. Louis as a place that is dear to
her and then teases
her somewhat by pointing out that their new location will
be near Fond du Lac which is where her former beau, John Macy, has
moved with his family, and noting that if she will just visit her
brother in his new home perhaps she can also see John Macy. By
this time the affair with John Macy is well over. In fact, as
already corresponding on quite friendly terms with John
Hupp.
True to the plans Daniel revealed
to Caroline in
that
letter of October 28, 1849, John M., the eldest Rynex son,
and Daniel packed up their merchandise and headed west to Iowa. The
State had only been admitted into the Union in December of 1846 but the
population had been growing rapidly and the area was a perfect place to
establish the business that John and Dan planned. The Federal
Census for 1850 finds them in Union Township, Davis County, of south
central Iowa. Later they were also joined by John’s 24 year old brother
William.
October 26, 1850 - John M. Rynex and Elizabeth Lee Marry:
John had been courting Elizabeth Lee, Daniel’s
sister, for some time
and in June of 1850 he headed back to Strasburg where they were
married. The marriage took place in Strasburg, Shenandoah County,
Virginia on October 26, 1850.
In a letter dated January 17, 1851, which Elizabeth wrote to Elizabeth
Johnson from Keokuk, Iowa, she describes her parting with Strasburg
friends and the trip to Keokuk. She writes:
The
parting was more like a funeral
than a marriage. I felt then like I
could never enjoy anything again but what strange creatures we are.
I never enjoyed anything more than the journey out.
Our friends all came to the hotel and staid [sic] with us until a late
hour next morning they returned and went to the cars with us.
During this period “the cars” was used to designate
a railroad train.
The train headed for Pittsburgh where they were to board a river
steamer for the trip down the Ohio River to St. Louis. They stayed in
Pittsburgh for two days, a place she said she did not fancy
particularly. She reminds us again that the Rynex’ had been over this
route before when she writes “It is useless to describe the country
through which we passed as you are more familiar with it than I”
Honeymooners
Go
With the Flow of
The Ohio o o o o
|
It was a pleasant ride on the river when they could
spend most of their
time on the upper deck or in the pilot house but otherwise they felt
quite cooped up. They stopped for a few hours at some of the
bustling river towns such as Louisville and Cincinnati.
Elizabeth was very impressed
River
Boats at Cincinnatti in the 1850s
with both cities and saw more gay dressing in Louisville than she had
ever seen before. She notes that Washington Bowman and his niece, the
future Mrs. J. S. Hupp, went with them as far as Louisville.
They were a day and a half in St. Louis. They
stopped at the city hotel
and Elizabeth was perfectly delighted with the City. Adam Bowman
, who you will remember had gone there with his bride, Elizabeth
Holliday, called on them by himself as Elizabeth was so weak and
nervous since the birth of their first baby that she could not come. At
the time, Adam was operating a forwarding business. He and Elizabeth
remained in St. Louis for the rest of their lives and raised a large
family there. He was later a clerk for the city government.
Two New Easterners
Welcomed To
Keokuk,
Iowa
|
John and Elizabeth headed north to Keokuk, Iowa a
town at the Des
Moines rapids of the Mississippi. It had only been platted in
1837 and incorporated in 1847. In those early days it was a
jobbing headquarters for the pioneer Middle West.
Elizabeth writes of Keokuk where it was very cold:
When
I begin with Keokuk I rarely
know what to say. My first
impression was anything but favorable. The location is beautiful but
the houses present a most singular appearance. It looks like there has
been a number of small white houses here and there, a pretty good sized
brick built together in a hurry and then someone came and scattered
them without regard to order or rule but in a few years I have no doubt
it will be beautiful.
Elizabeth liked the city and enjoyed the social
activities but reports
that John is planning to move the store to Centerville, an even
newer village some 80 miles west near the Missouri border. She tells
about the Episcopal Church, teas, the sewing society and a
singing society where every Friday they practice church songs. She
notes that William (John’s younger brother) is with them and is much in
love with one of the local girls. Nothing came of this romance,
if there was one, because as you will see he married Adella Grill in
Lineus, Missouri.
In closing Elizabeth says:
Make
my kind regards to your
father [John Rynex] tell him I
should have been much gratified to have had him present when we were
married but I suppose he thought it was not worth the money in all it
would not have at any rate one of his industrious habits. I suppose he
is as busy as ever.
While the letter was addressed to Elizabeth Johnson
it was quickly
shared with other members of the family.
Now, other members of the family were feeling the
urge to follow John’s
example. Caroline reported that Thomas Johnson is considering
leaving Washington and taking up farming and she, Caroline, is
trying to convince her father to do the same, taking her and the
boys Frank, 14 and Richard, 13 with him. He never did.
Brick by
Brick by Brick
THE WILSON
MACHINE
Makes 'em Quick
|
18 July 1851 John and the Brick Making
Machine:
While John still had an office in New York at 64 Broadway he was
also an agent for Wilson's
Brick Machine which was located in Baltimore. It was
managed by James L.D. Wilson.
1852 Daniel Lee Involved in Politics:
By this time Daniel in Iowa had become seriously involved in
politics. He had become a Democrat, much to Caroline’s disgust and,
with the notoriety that went with his Mexican War
experiences he was one of those selected to attend the Democratic
Convention in Baltimore for the presidential nomination in
1852.
That convention was badly split among at least five potential
candidates but after many ballots Franklin Pierce, a congressman from
New Hampshire was nominated. Pierce had also been a Brigadier
General of Volunteers in the Mexican War. Thus, in the contest for
president he would face and defeat the Whig party candidate, his
former commander General Winfield Scott. Daniel also became
an elector from Iowa for the President.
Political
Activist Daniel Lee
Awarded Post
As Consul at Basel
|
1853 Daniel as Consul to
Basel,
Switzerland:
Now, Daniel set about trying for a
reward for his service
to the
party and in 1853, with the help of the Governor of Iowa, was
appointed United States consul at Basel, Switzerland. He
was now referred to as General Lee, undoubtedly an honorary title that
went with the post at that
time.
Daniel continued a lively correspondence with
Caroline describing
his activities, both the official and unofficial. These letters reveal
just how much Caroline, with her father, is still traveling around the
east. One is directed to her at New York. The next one is sent to
Alexandria, Virginia.
When the letters finally do catch up
with her we find out about some of the things that Dan has been doing.
In one letter he sent from Basil, Switzerland he writes:
My
life here is stupid enough just at
present the opera season is over
and the traveling birds have not yet fairly commenced their flight but
the times will soon be here and I anticipate some rich variations. You
never saw anything like it in all our born days, and rushing and
pushing of strangers into Switzerland during the summer. I came within
an ace of loosing my heart with an English widow last summer . She was
magnificent and I played the devoted during four weeks that she
remained here and the lord only knows how I would have ended if the
husband had not sudden arrived and put a stop to it. Oh vimmen and
vidders particularly .
Daniel Smith Lee
At the end of President Pierce’s presidency
and with
the election of
Buchanan, Daniel returned to Washington in time to attend the
inauguration of the new president and to await new instructions.
On August 3, 1857 he went to a shooting
gallery to practice with
his pistol. Tragically, he accidentally shot himself in the foot.
Today “shooting one’s self in the foot” is a humorous pejorative
for an inept politician. In this case it was not humorous and much more
serious because Daniel’s wound became infected, he developed lock
jaw and died. It was August 15, 1857. He was in his 35th year.
Caroline nursed him to the end. She was
present when he prepared
his will and Richard witnessed it, as did the landlord and his
wife. In his will he stated that he had $835 in his trunk
and gave two hundred dollars to Kate Rynex for her service and
attention. The balance was to be deposited in the Banking House
of Pairo and Nourse to the credit of his mother, Mary Lee.
Daniel’s brother John escorted the body back to Strasburg
for burial. His obituary was hardly more than a death notice. Let this
account be a substitute.
He was a friendly, witty young man with deep roots in Virginia.
He was proud of having become a lawyer reading with a well known
judge in Staunton. He served his country as a valiant soldier and as a
foreign diplomat. He participated in the great move to the west in his
growing country. He served his state as a delegate to a convention that
nominated a successful president.
He was mourned by his mother, brother, sister and niece and a
grieving Rynex family.
August 1858 - Richard goes to Missouri:
By now, 1858, only Richard and Frank remained with Caroline
in
Washington. Richard is listed in the City Directory as a clerk
boarding at 588 I Street, North. He was only 20 years old. Frank was
boarding at the same location and was a clerk at 577 7th Street, West.
This was probably 7th Street, Northwest because at this time Northwest,
Northeast, Southwest and Southeast were not consistently used.
Who Said ?
"Go West Youmg Man"*
|
*Horace Greely is generally given credit but he acknowledged that
it was John Barsone Lane Soule in 1851 in an article in the Terre Haute
Express.
.
By August of 1858 Richard had followed his brothers
John and William to Missouri. It is a credit to his good
education that he immediately found work as clerk and bookkeeper at a
store owned by Peter Putnam in Linneus the county seat for Linn County.
It was not far from where his brother John M. was farming.
He had left behind his many friends and relatives that he clearly
missed. In a letter from Linneus, dated August 4 1858 to brothers and
sisters he sent greetings, kisses and love to little Carrie, and
Sallie [two of sister Elizabeth Johnson’s daughters ], Old
Poggie, Mrs. Treadway [?] and says:
Tell
Miss Susie F. to give my love to
Sallie Sunflower (stop giggling).
As to the other little one, that is Miss B [Amanda Virginia
Burns, his
future wife] tell her that I have a
rose she gave me the day or two
before I let kept pressed and safe to remember her by not saying I
could not remember her without a momento but ‘when I gaze on it it
brings such eminations to my brest’ [sic]. O’lordy it makes me feel all
over and about me when I go home on a dark night.
It will be Sunday before I think I
can come out if you want to come in
let me know and I will bring a buggy for you. As regards money, when
ever you want to go home, I will give you what you want. I do not
intend you shall be imposed upon by any one. Don’t talk about paying
your own way so much, you know it is only a little feeling you have
about your brothers. You are old enough to know better than to think
they are too stingy to give you all they are able. Don’t say anything
more about that. When you want to [go] say so and take it as you have a
right to. I knew before you came out you could not stand it out in the
country. I would not live there for the farm.
In September of 1859 Carolines sister Elizabeth, writing to her
from Washington, gave her lots of news about friends and
relatives. She reports among other things :
Say
to Caswell [Richard] ....... Miss
Burns [Amanda, Richards future
wife] is as pretty as ever. Mrs.
Wells [Mrs.Nathanial Wells, Amanda
Burns’ sister] saw Carrie in church
and told her to say to me she was
coming here soon. Mr. Johnson and Frank desire regards to all, Carrie,
Sallie and Mamie [Elizabeth’s three children] send kisses to auntie...
I presume you will see Mrs.
Tredway in St Louis. Write me as soon as you get to St Louis as I feel
very anxious about you. I am glad William is going that far with you. I
wish he would come all the way.
And thus Caroline returned to Washington.
Eastern
Merchant Finds
Midwestern Farming Tough
January 1860 - John M.
Farming in
Missouri:
By 1860 Elizabeth’s mother had given up her farm in Virginia and
joined her daughter in Iowa. John M. purchased a farm in Linn
County, Missouri. He had no experience as a farmer but was
rather a merchant and speculator like his father. He operated the farm
with slaves.
In January of 1860 he wrote a letter to his brother Frank in Washington
which goes a long way in explaining the difficulties of farming in Linn
County, Missouri at that time, perhaps at any time. He was
justifying why he could not pay Frank $15 that Frank claimed John owed
him for a debt Caroline assumed at his store .It was a very long
letter in which John wrote in part:
As
Cassie and William could have
assured you I have not had at any one
time in my hands since last January the amount of $25 of my own money
and have some little debts of not over $15 that have been
standing for two years...I have not sold $100 worth off the farm this
year. You say you have mules and cattle, why not sell them...All the
stock I have except work horses are young and unsaleable except at very
low prices and by keeping them another year they will get their growth
and command a market at fair prices.
He then goes on to explain the state of the economy in the area, the
lack of ready money, the falling value of land, and the state of
the crops. Then he describes some of his specific concerns
with the farm and his family:
On
our price of corn of 50 acres I
shall not get my seed back...
on 24 acres of Hungarian grass
they should have paid me at least
$400, I make a total loss, the chinch bugs having destroyed it ...
40 acres of meadow grass should
have made me from 40 to 60 tons
of hay and we never put a scythe in it...
from 14 acres of wheat I got about 35
bushels which is the best crop I
have on the place being about 6 bushels to the acre. I ought to have
had 300 at least ...
From 18 acres of oats I threshed 10
bushels to the acre.
Now he explains about the family he has to feed and the
problems he has doing it. In addition to himself he has his wife
Elizabeth, his mother-in-law, Mary Lee and his niece Mary Lee
usually referred to as Molly. Then there are the “13
negroes and of the 13 only 2 are producing anything. The balance being
women and children”. He also has to feed 35 head of cattle, 7 work
horses, 9 mules, 5 calves and 25 head of hogs. He explains that he is
so short of money that he has not bought a gallon of molasses for three
He explains that he is so short of money that he has not bought a
gallon of molasses for three months. Brown sugar and Rio coffee
are the only groceries they indulge in.
I told you this was a long letter and I have only touched on parts of
it but this should be enough for now. In one last comment he says:
You
had better be
preparing Mr. Johnson [Thomas Renaldo
Johnson, Elizabeth’s husband]
for a move from Washington some time next
year for there is no earthly prospect of Mr. Breckenridge being elected
and he will undoubtedly have to “walk the plank” [meaning he
will loose
his government job].
Breckenridge was Vice President under Buchanan and was expected
to have the nomination to run as the Democrat against Lincoln,
which, of course, he did and lost.
John continued to farm and suffered through the war with frequent
threats of raids by the ever present bushwackers. When the War
ended the slaves were freed and he sold the farm and established
a lumber business in the nearby town of
Brookfield, Missouri.
_________________
LOVE
WOWS WILLIAM
BUT NOT
HERR GRILL
__________________
March 1860 - William Rynex and
Adela C. Grill Marry:
But, more about William in Linneus. He has
met a young lady
named Adela
C. Grill. She had been born in Germany and accompanied her parents to
America. She and William were married in March of
1860. It was a short ceremony performed in the parlor of the
Grill residence in Linneus.
John M. and Elizabeth came in from the farm. Richard
was a member of the
wedding party and drove one of the buggies.
In a condescending letter back to Washington,
Elizabeth
described the wait in the parlor before the ceremony as more like a
funeral than a wedding. She said that the only thing that looked
like a wedding was William’s white gloves and vest. Adela “wore a dark
cashmere dress with a narrow white ruffle at the neck, nothing on her
head! & not even white gloves”. Elizabeth pronounced
her a prudent fine woman.
There was a “very nice dinner for this
country”. The description
of the wedding dinner gives a good picture of the regard for which
these people of modest means at this time and place felt about
such an occasion. There was first oyster soup, then for
meat turkey, ham, fish and venison, also vegetables, canned
peaches, pies, cakes, nuts and raisins, apples and coffee!
Everything was satisfactory except that Herr Grill was not
exactly willing. He thought they were too poor to venture into
matrimony. It is only natural that he would worry about the future of
his only daughter but he need not have worried. William was a
kind and caring young man and as the years went on he provided well for
his family.
Their family started right away, when,
in
1862, Adela
presented grandma and grandpa Grill with a grand daughter whom
they named Selma. It was John and Eliza’s first grandchild and one can
imagine that Eliza would have been proud.
William and Adela followed Caroline back to
Washington and there,
in 1868, a son Otto was born. The couple continued to live in
Washington where William operated grocery stores in various
locations around the
city.
William Rynex and Family
**********************
WAR!!
South
Carolina Artillery
Fires
on Fort Sumpter
**********************
|
April 12, 1861 - The Civil War begins:
When the Civil War erupted in April of 1861 conflict
was not new to the
pro- and anti- slavery factions in Missouri. They had
battled each other with words and deeds even before the state was
admitted to the Union in 1820 and continued with particular
fury along the Kansas-Missouri boarder in the mid
50s. When the southern states seceded the pro-slavery forces
tried to take Missouri with them but did not prevail.
Thus, it was “only by the skin of it’s teeth” that
Missouri was kept in
the Union and thus avoided the military rule and the problems of
reconstruction that followed the defeat of the Confederacy.
Never-the-less throughout the war there were a succession of raids by
Confederate bands called bushwhackers who terrorized the
countryside. John and Elizabeth from their farm near Linneus were
particularly concerned because of their location and their
vulnerability.
Numerous regiments were raised throughout Missouri
for both the Union
and the Confederacy. One hundred ten thousand men volunteered for
the Union and 40,000 for the Confederacy. In July of 1861 J. T. Tindall
started recruiting for the Union 23rd Missouri Infantry Regiment. By
September, seven companies had been organized and equipped, and by the
end of the year the last three companies had been recruited. The
Regiment was commanded by Tindall and then by Colonel W. P. Robinson.
Richard enlisted at Chillicothe in December and was
assigned to Company
F. The regiment was fortunate to enroll a soldier who was
familiar with handling merchandise and was also a book keeper and so he
was immediately detailed to the Quartermaster Department as a clerk.
Until March of 1862 the Regiment was stationed at
Chillicothe,
Livingston County, largely to keep order and to protect the county from
the bushwhackers. Then it was ordered to Benton Barracks near St. Louis
where new rifles and clothing were issued.
April 6, 1862 - Battle of
Shiloh:
April 1862 saw the Regiment’s first real
action at Shiloh,
considered
by some historians to be one of the most significant of the war, except
Gettysburg. Early in April the 23rd Regiment had been transported from
St. Louis by river boat down the Mississippi and up the Tennessee to
Pittsburgh Landing about 2 or 3 miles south of the log meeting house
called Shiloh. The battle was already raging when the Regiment arrived
and the 23rd was ordered to support the division commanded by General
Prentiss. It was close to 7AM.
***********************
24rd Missouri
Regiment
Mauled
in Battle
Many Captured
**********************
|
The action is best
described by the report written
after the battle:
They fought all day but as the battle progressed the
Union forces
gradually fell back. Unfortunately Prentiss’ Division lost contact with
the other Union Divisions on its right and left and found
itself with unprotected flanks. As a result, at about
6PM General Prentiss and about 2000 men were captured. As for the
23rd, the commander Colonel J. T. Tindall was killed as
were 30 privates. 170 were wounded. 20 officers and 390 enlisted men
were taken prisoner. They were first taken to a
Confederate prison camp in Macon, Georgia but then paroled to Benton
Barracks, Missouri awaiting exchange.
On December 1, 1862 , Lt. Col. Quin Morton
wrote a report
to the Governor of Missouri, H.R. Gamble describing the action and
praising the bravery of the forces. He specifically singled out several
who displayed great coolness and bravery throughout the day. In the end
he says “ this report would have been made earlier, but being a
prisoner until recently, I have not been in a situation to
make it.”
Richard was apparently not among those captured. Being in the
Quartermaster Department, he would not have been directly
involved in the fighting. That is not to say that the regimental
quartermaster did not have a function vital to
the success of the regiment. As will be apparent as the war
continued, commanders depended on them to get the ammunition, the
rations and the feed for horses and mules, moved up to the
fighting troops. It's importance is indicated by the efforts of
the commanders on both sides to protect their lines of supply and
at the same time to deny the enemy a link back to their base of
supplies. This was an important factor leading to the capture of
Atlanta and the subsequent march to Savannah.
After an exchange of the prisoners was
arranged, the 23rd was
ordered back to duty in St. Louis, then to Macon and Hudson,
Missouri.
We need to stop here with Richard’s activities to come up
to date on
his father John.
1862 John was in Washington in July of 1862 when he
heard the tramp of
marching feet of troops going off to battle, probably those first
encounters at Manassas Junction.
Washington is very up beat he says and, like so many in those
early days of the war, he is sure the Rebs will be severely routed.
John’s children were still trying to get him to come west but while he
admits that St. Louis might be ok he would never agree to going to
Linneus. He is clearly a big city guy and would not want to live on a
farm or in a small town.
We can do this best dexcribe this by recording
a letter he wrote
from Boston on May
14, 1862 to his son Frank in Washington:
My dear son
Tomorrow if I live so long your
father is 67 years of age. How long and
how eventful has been my life to this day, Oh, my heavens, how much of
the good and evil of this life I have witnessed since the Sunday 3rd
day of August 1816 when I married your ever good ever kind mother.
Well my son those days are gone
by. My dear good sister Catherine
[Bowman] and good brother Samuel are now both living and in good health
and kindest of kind to your father. So far as living I am very
comfortable and happy.
All my relations here treat me with
the greatest respect and kindness
but my dear son your father has got too much life and energy to content
himself in quiet do nothing. He knows that his children are in need and
at every hazard of life and comfort he intends to exert himself to
relieve them.
I have now a speculation on hand that
requires me to go to the coast of
Labrador. I expect to hear this month from Halifax N.S. and thence to
St. Johns, Newfoundland. How long I shall be gone I cannot say but I
think 2 months when I hope to return to this city. I will write you
again in a few days again with more particulars.
Oh, how I love all of my children and
how anxious I am to aid you all
and believe that very soon I shall be able to do so.
I send you the newspapers for the
news--it is all glorious and we soon
shall have this rascally rebellion crushed out, I hope for 1000 years.
With love to all, affectionately
your father
John Rynex
The glorious news John is referring to is probably
the many Northern
victories in the West following the disaster at Shiloh. The New York
Herald Tribune described May as “A Deluge of Victories” in the West.
From February to May, Union forces conquered 50,000 square miles
of territory, gained control of 1,000 miles of navigable rivers,
captured two state capitals, and the south’s largest city, and put
30,000 enemy soldiers out of action.
Private Rynex of Company F.
Promoted to Quatermaster Sergeant
|
At about this time on the
28th of May, Richard was made
Quartermaster Sergeant. At Hudson City, Missouri on October 25,
1862, Richard wrote to Caroline:
Dear Sister Kate:
I received your letter last week -
have not answered before on account
of cold weather. I have now moved my quarters into the commissary. We
have the nicest kind of place -- a good stove and bunks to sleep in.
Now I can write at my ease and without being disturbed...
I have not heard from Mollie [Mary
Lee, the niece of Elizabeth Lee
Rynex] but once since I left. She has quite deserted me. I do not know
why, I am expecting every day to hear that John has managed to set her
against me but if he does, if he manages to break it up between Mollie
and I will damm him so long as God gives me the power of speech. Mollie
has made me every promise I could ask. I am not jealous for I have no
cause. Only I have always felt that John and the Lee family were bound
to do their best to break up the match. I have made up my mind
that for my part it shall be. I cannot say that I have anything in the
world against John for I forgive a great many little actions he has
done me. I do not care for money -- I am rather reckless and do not
pretend to be excessively moral -- not what might be called a Good
Young Man but my conscience is clear of any wrong doing
toward Mollie or any other respectable girl as any other man in this
world. Mollie was always free with me. I believe the girl loves me
truly. I like Mollie and am willing to make her my wife and will
be true to her.
I cannot say I love her as I
did the
other but let it pass. I suffered
over it once, really and truly but I felt or thought I have been
wronged more than anyone else thought or I never would have given her
up as I did. I will confess my very soul was hers and; many a
bitter night did I have over it but it is now over. I can never
feel toward another woman as I felt toward her. I laughed over it when
I could have cried. Mollie is a good girl. I know her to be -- what I
thought the other was not.
Who was this woman who caused Richard so much
suffering? There is no
clue in the family letters that survived. Perhaps it was one of
the young ladies he left behind in Washington when he joined his
brother in Linneus, Miss Susie F., Sallie Sunflower or even Amanda
Burns, the woman he did marry after the war. She had in fact,
been engaged to a Mr. Crowley in early 1862 when he went into the army
but he was killed in action. In any event the suffering the woman
caused Richard doesn’t seem to have slowed him down too much as
far as the ladies were concerned since he goes on to report a
lively social life:
I board in a place right over the
commissary, a small hotel kept by a
man named Snover. He has two daughters, very nice young ladies, they
are ladies too. None of your common kind. They are very genteel and
ladylike so I wish and if it were not for a “prior engagement” Dickey
would be in love with one of them. We have a party nearly every week,
dance until 12 or 1 o’clock and then quit. Last Thursday night the
Ladies Union (or Mission) Aid Society gave one and we had a fine time.
Lots of girls. The “Girls” are most of all “Union” here.
He added that he would have Caroline join him in
Hudson City (a small
town together with Macon 123 miles northwest of St. Louis) if he were
sure that the regiment would stay there in winter quarters, and he
expressed his hope for something better soon. What he hoped for
apparently was a commission which actually came in the spring of the
next year. After mentioning some supplies he sent to Caroline and
William in La Clede, a small town near Linneus, he says:
Tell Frank and Mr. J. [Johnson] and
Eliza to write soon also. I am
always glad to hear from “home” -- for -- “Home is where the heart is
be it ever so humble there is no place like home.”
And believe me affectionately
Your Bro.
Richard
I’ve quit drinking on my word. I have
not touched a drop since or just
after my return.
The Regiment did not stay in Hudson as Richard
had hoped. By
January 28, 1863 he was in Pacific, Missouri a town some 30 miles
southwest of St. Louis, writing to sisters Caroline and Elizabeth in
LaClede. It is clear that they were very unhappy and wanted Richard’s
help to get them back to Washington. He replied that he was willing to
do so but wanted them to be sure that they could support themselves
.
Mr. Johnson, Elizabeth’s husband also wanted to go
but Richard
cautioned “Washington is not what it used to be.” ( It never is).
He added if he got his discharge he would be able to raise $200. He
also suggested that if his discharge came through he would go to
Washington himself. But he says, “Remember Kate that Father and
all of us have spent two fortunes traveling and now I hope you will
settle down in some place for good”. If he gets his discharge, he
writes,
“I shall go to St Louis and get
into the Commissary or QM
Department in that place. No doubt if I should go to Washington I
should be able to do the same but I am well known at [Benton Barracks]
and I may go there. I would go there [that is to Washington] but I have
something to keep me in this country that regards my own happiness”.
These family letters are filled with tantalizing tidbits: what was the
something with regard to his happiness that would keep him in that
country? There is no hint in any of them. Is it perhaps his feeling
towards Mollie Lee the sister of Elizabeth Lee Rynex?
Finally, he says:
Write me any conclusions you come to
-- now go into secret session --
consider what you will do when you get to Washington -- take it cool,
and then report to me how you are agreed and the whole proceedings. I
will offer no resistance. I just want you to decide for yourselves --
you talk about Washington as your home but recollect you cannot keep
from starving without something to do. Mr. Johnson must not go there
without Certification of Loyalty in his pocket -- sure.
There is no indication that Mr.
Johnson was particularly suspect.
Richard was probably giving him this advice based on his observations
of the very tense situation between Union and Confederate sympathizers
in Missouri. In any event it is clear that Richard had become the
family confident, the one to whom the others went for advice and help.
On February 7, 1863 at Pacific City, Richard
was discharged for
disability (incipient Phthisis pulmonary, or consumption). In a claim
addressed to the Pension Board in 1885 he explained that his series of
illnesses began after he drank Mississippi River water on the trip from
St. Louis to Pittsburgh Landing from April 1st to April 5th trip from
St. Louis to Pittsburgh Landing from April 1st to April 5th 1862. They
were generally described as recurring diarrhea and cough.
This was not a unique event. In another testimonial
a Major of the
23rd, Jacob A. Trumbo stated that he knew of Richard’s illness and
that, in fact, the colonel and former Major McCullough had died
of the disease at about the same time as Richard’s discharge.
This condition continued so seriously that the
assistant Surgeon
had him discharged. Richard states that after discharge he returned to
home in Linn County but as the country was in such disturbed condition
it was not safe to remain there and he returned to the Regiment. He
remained there with the Quartermaster, Thornton F. Easely until Easely
resigned on March
QM SGT Rynex
Appointed 1st
Lt and Regimental
Quartermaster
|
Richard was appointed to fill the vacancy
and was mustered in on May 4, 1863.
At about this time Richard helped Caroline and
Elizabeth get back to
Washington. Shortly after their return in August 1863 Elizabeth died.
She was only 41. Caroline took charge of the three girls. They were 11,
8 and 4 years old. Caroline raised them to adulthood and saw them
married.
Richard’s Regiment remained in Missouri until
November when it was
ordered to Tennessee. It was November of 1863 and Richard was in an
operating area of the war that was a nightmare for a Quartermaster.
Moving troops in that mountainous area was bad enough but getting
supplies to them was even worse. Many of the railroads were destroyed
as were bridges. What railroads that did exist were single track not
capable of carrying needed supplies. Many of the tactical and strategic
decisions were warped by the lack of lines of communications
lines of supply.
November 24, 1863 Richard in Mc
Minnville, Tennessee
Mc
Minnville, Tennessee is some 50 miles northwest of Chattanooga.
Here
are some excerpts from a letter Richard wrote to Willam about his
experiences at that time:
I wish you would attend to having
what little property I have sold, and
the money invested with what Mollie has in 5-10s [these were 6%
bonds
redeemable in not less
than 5 or more than 10 years , issued to finance
the war] ...If I should die or be
killed, as you say -- I am in danger
-- I desire that any money be divided between Mollie and Kate. My
health is very poor and I may never return.
We were somewhat startled the
other
night by the news that Burnside had
retreated. If he retreats beyond Nashville, it will have us at the
mercy of the Rebs -- who could capture us with ease, but we will give
them every chance, by waiting long enough to fight them, the road form
Knoxville here, is through open, nothing less than infantry with
artillery will capture us, as we are determined not to retreat. We
heard yesterday that Wheeler with 12,000 troops and artillery had
crossed the he did not get here today so Tennessee River and was
on his way here we doubt the report. [The Tennessee River is
some 90
miles west of McMinnville]
Richard was right to worry about Burnside. That
General had been under
siege for some months and supplies were very low. Many in the
military thought the town was not worth saving but Washington
insisted it be held to protect the loyal inhabitants. After the battle
of Missionary Ridge Grant sent Sherman to Burnsides relief and
the town was saved.
To continue Richards account of his life in
McMinnville:
I am stopping at Capt. Clifts, the
only man in this county [Warren] and
town who dared to vote publicly for non-secession of the State and then
against joining the S.C. He is Captain to the Tennessee Union
Guards, as loyal a man as ever lived, has only 5 daughters, with whom I
have my own fun, all rare girls. Camp and myself are running the trade.
Ain’t that rich...
The "Champ" that Richard refers to was probably James
Champ Clark who was elected to Congress and helped Richard get a better
job in the Pensions Office
He was right about Captain Clefts. He is specifically mentioned in
Sherman’s memoirs in a dispatch from the commander at McMinnville
not to leave the town without Army protection because of the
vulnerability of the loyal citizens to the rebel sympathizers.
In his letter Richard continues:
Please attend to the money affair.
Peter Clark is my agent in St.
Louis, write to him and he will attend to any business for me. He is a
claim agt. but if you can get the 5-10s without his assistance do so as
he will charge his regular percent.
Please attend to the money affair.
Peter Clark is my agent in St.
Louis, write to him and he will attend to any business for me. He is a
claim agt. but if you can get the 5-10s without his assistance do so as
he will charge his regular percent.
The contradictions in this letter and in subsequent
events are
confounding. Here is a young man discharged from the army for
disability, given a commission and appointed 1st Lieutenant and
Regimental Quartermaster, complaining of ill health, and at the same
time having fun with Capt. Clifts’, five daughters. As subsequent
events will reveal he traveled all the way across Georgia with
Sherman’s Army and when he was past 80, bragged that he had
worked in the Pension Office for 38 years without missing a day
because of illness.
On top of all this he applied for a pension on the
basis of disability
and submitted letters by his sister-in-law, his sister, a fellow
lieutenant in the regiment, a doctor in Linneus and others attesting to
the fact that when he entered the army he was a healthy vigorous young
man and that when he returned he was a puny sickly person
unable to engage in a days labor.
MOLLIE,
MOLLIE WHERE HAVE YOU GONE ?
Richards last surviving letter written while he was
in the military was
to William from Nashville on December 1, 1863. He was there
on business, still being posted to McMinnville. He mentions that he has
been considering leaving the service but “as we are now in the
South...I cannot now conscientiously do so with honor and I do not want
to return home without a fair name”. Then he says “Tell Mollie I will
write to her very soon.” and that is the very last time he ever
writes a word about Mollie! What happened?
We have to stop again to pick up the track of the
father John. On
December 9 of 1863 he wrote from New York to Frank in Washington. He
hadn’t heard from Caswell (Richard) and wonders if he is still living
and if so where. From his letter he seems very depressed:
complains about not hearing from his children although he has written
them; is especially unhappy with son John whom he says grossly insulted
him; is alone in this great city with no kind friend or child or
relation to aid or assist him. Says he is to go to Frederick,
Maryland concerning a large track of coal lands and expected to
leave in 2 or 3 days.
John did go to Frederick as mentioned and his
brother Samuel
noted that “he was thinly clothed and caught a complete chill”.
Fortunately he was able to make his way back to Washington, where in
the last few days of December he died. He was attended by Frank
and probably buried in Holmeds Cemetery (Western Burial Ground). If so
his body was disinterred and moved elsewhere when that cemetery was
absorbed into the city. It was located between 19th and
20th Streets, NW and between S Street and Florida Avenue.
In a series of letters the various
children agonized over
their relationship with their father. Trying to cope with their grief
and possibly their guilt, they asked Frank and each other many
questions: why did he come to Washington; did he appear to be unwell;
when was he attacked; what was the cause; was he properly clothed; did
he leave one word of remembrance for his children; did he say how he
was getting along; why did he insure his life; who was it for?
They felt guilty that they were not in Washington to aid Frank in
their hour of grief. Frank in turn was praised for his kindness and his
efforts to care for their father.
1st Lt. and Regimental
Quartermaster
Richard C.Rynex
January 1864 - Following Richard
:
We can now continue on Richard’s trail
by following that
of the 23rd Inf. Regt.. In January of 1864, the Regiment was brigaded
with the 3rd
Division of the XIV Army Corps commanded by General George H. Thomas.
From July through September, it was involved in the Atlanta Campaign --
the Chattahoochee River Battle, the Siege of Atlanta and the flank
movement at Jonesboro.
Now the Army marched and fought flanking after flanking battle to
the southeast
Chickamuga
Chattanouga
Lookout Mountain
Missionary
Ridge
Franklin
Dalton
Reaca
Kennesaw Mountain
_______________________
Fairwell
to Burning Atlanta
Greetings to Savanah
From Sherman's Bummers
_______________________
|
That wide flanking movement to the south and
around Atlanta
caused that city to fall into Sherman’s hands. It had important
political as well as military consequences because in the North
discontent with the war had been rising. Then
followed the operations in north Georgia and in
Alabama against Forest and Hood and that famous (or infamous) March to
the Sea. On November 16, the XIV Corps was the last of 65,000 Federal
troops to leave the city reaching Savannah by December 10.
Finally, for Richard at least, there was the Siege of Savannah.
In a letter to
the Adjutant General - Missouri on December 15, 1864, the commanding
officer of the 23rd reported from near Savannah that they had cut loose
from the world (Atlanta) one month earlier, 240 miles away, and had now
opened communications with the fleet off Savannah. Six men had been
taken prisoner while foraging but there had been no deaths. Savannah
was occupied by Sherman’s Army on December 21, 1864, who wrote it was
“a Christmas gift to Mr. Lincoln”.
January 17, 1865 Richard is Mustered
out at Savannah:
Then Richard was mustered out at
Savannah and made his way back to Washington via New York. He later
wrote that he was “a Sherman Bummer” and that he regretted that he had
not stayed with the Army as it marched north through the
Carolinas, finally culminating in the grand parade in Washington
down Pennsylvania Avenue on May 24th.
It is no wonder that he had his regrets,
because, ragged though they were, the reception that Sherman’s Army
received in the City was absolutely stupendous. Richard was in
Washington at the time and must have watched the parade with mixed
emotions, surly pride but sadness at not being in the ranks. He
later became a member of the Loyal Legion of the United States, a
patriotic society of former officers of the Union Army.
The
Famous Civil War Parade In Washington that Richard saw but
didn't march in much to his Regret
(From a contempirary print)
Among his Civil War mementos, still in the family, is a classic Colt
revolver that he carried. Once one of his grand daughters
commented that she did not think he had ever fired it in anger.
Probably not, because while the 23rd was engaged in many battles, in
his position of Regimental Quartermaster he would not have been
directly involved in the action. There is also a sword that is
still in the
family that was probably not for use in battle but a ceremonial one he
carried while a member of the Loyal Legion. If he carried a sword
it would probably have been of the M50 Model used by staff officers.
Sword
that belonged to Richard C.Rynex
Model M50 US Army Sword which Richard as a Staff
Officer could have carried
Richard's Colt Revolver
__________________________
OH WHERE, OH
WHERE
IS THAT THAT
LITTLE GIRL NOW?
__________________________
November 28, 1865 - Richard
Caswell Rynex and Amanda Virginia Burns Marry:
Now it is late 1865 and Richard has been
mustered out of the
Army.
He has not headed back to Missouri, but to Washington. It
is soon quite clear that he is thinking of that pretty young lady
Amanda Virginia Burns whom he left behind some seven years before.
Amanda was the daughter of Benjamin and Ann (Cross)
Burns, born in 1841
in Washington. Ann Cross was the fourth wife of Benjamin with the
result that there were numerous Burns connections in the City because
of his earlier wives and their offspring.
He was a merchant tailor from Sunbury,
Pennsylvania who had been
a resident of Washington almost since the capital was moved there
from Philadelphia. He operated tailor shops on or near Pennsylvania
Avenue until he died in 1850. He was active in local affairs and a
member of militia groups who met the British when they invaded
Washington during the War of 1812 (and ungloriously fled).
Richard and Amanda were married in Washington on
November 28, 1865 by
the Reverend Dr. Natal at the Parsonage of the Wesley Methodist
Episcopal Church located on F Street between 6th and 7th, NW. He was 28
and she 24. The Burns family were members of a Methodist church in
Washington which was known as the Foundry Church.
Richard and Amanda boarded at 257 8th Street,
NW in 1866. If you
are at all familiar with Washington it’s interesting to picture where
that location is in the modern city. It is located between Constitution
and Pennsylvania Avenues right at the apex of the Federal Triangle
where the Federal Trade Commission Building now stamds.
At this time Caroline, William, Frank and Richard
Rynex were all living
in Washington. Only John M. was sto in Missouri.
Then, in 1866 Richard and Amanda headed
west. In spite of
the difficulties that Richard witnessed in Missouri in the years just
before the War, he had great faith in the state’s future. During the
War, when a convention in Missouri sought to free the slaves
immediately, he had written to his brother William:
‘Bully for Mo’. Radicalism has
spread more than I had the least
idea it would but the people of Mo. are just opening their eyes. Mo.
will be a great state when she becomes freed from the black man-as
slaves --when I go back to Mo. I hope to see it a free state.
The radical group Richard refers to was
successful and in
1864 Missouri was the first state to free the slaves.
Across
the Midwest
ARBUCKLE
COFFEE
By Horse and Buckboard
|
However, Richard and Amanda did not immediately head
for Missouri but
rather settled in Quincy, Illinois on the b
