Thursday, July 22, 1999
Civil War comes alive for youngsters
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
Hard times in Seneca County during the Civil War were remembered by a small group of school-age youngsters at the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library Tuesday afternoon.
Seneca County Museum director Rosalie Adams dressed in the era's garb and brought some items from that time with her to give the youngsters a glimpse into life during those years. This activity was part of the library's summer reading program titled "The Incredible Library Time Machine.''
Junior Library director Willa Jean Harner said the program was focusing on different time periods and learning more about them through reading. Time periods covered include the ancient Egyptians, the time of the dinosaurs and medieval times. Harner said that although the young child may not have a sense of history, he can recognize and be interested in these subjects.
Adams regaled the children with tales of life in Seneca County during those war-torn years. After explaining the reasons for the beginning of the war, she told them that even though no battles were fought here, the war had a profound effect on the families in the area.
"Abraham Lincoln recruited volunteers for the Union Army from Ohio,'' she said. "He wanted 13,000 soldiers, and General Gibson &emdash; his statue is on the courthouse lawn &emdash; he recruited his men.''
To temporarily house these recruits, a tent camp on a hill by the fairground, called Camp Noble, was used. And some of these soldiers were not much older than the children Adams was talking to. "Some were very young,'' Adams said. "There were drummer boys; we have a drum at the Museum. And they all left their parents, wives and children to fight.''
Hundreds of them left the county, and with a population of only 4,000, Seneca County was left with mostly women and children to accomplish all of the work that the men would have done.
"They didn't have any electricity or gas,'' Adams reminded them. "They had to grow their own food and animals; all of the children, mothers and women pitched in to help.''
Because there was no electricity, all the work was done during the daylight hours. "Children went to school, did their chores and worked in the gardens, canned, carried in the wood and had to do their homework all during the daylight hours,'' Adams said.
Schools were small, although no longer a one-room schoolhouse. "There was a school on the Fort Ball side and on Tiffin side, called Union School,'' Adams said. "In records of the school, it showed that in 1864 there were four people who graduated; in 1865, five people, and in 1866, only four people. They had to walk to school; there was no transportation. They had to carry what they had to bring with them, and the houses were not as close together because each place had its own garden and farm.''
Sometimes ladies were working in the factories, providing woolen clothing at the town's woolen factory, while the children helped to grow the food that not only fed them but the soldiers that fought. "This area was called the breadbasket because Ohio fed the soldiers and the people here,'' she said.
Other ways that the area helped the war effort were through groups called "Ladies Aid Societies,'' which provided relief workers to help the cause through the establishment of small agricultural tool factories that sprung up, and by corresponding with the lonely soldier on the field of combat.
Adams said that General Gibson's daughter was "adopted'' by his regiment, because she began writing to the troops at the young age of 11. "She was named the 'daughter of the regiment,' '' Adams said, "because she was so young and wrote letters to the soldiers to cheer them up. They are also at the museum.''
Adams had with her several items from the museum's collection, including a soldier's "ditty bag,'' a blue Union hat, sewing kits and needle cases, and a doll with two faces.
The Underground Railroad, the route that slaves took to gain freedom in Canada, was also a part of Seneca County's history during that era. "Many of the slaves came into our area and our local people would hide them,'' Adams said. "When they came up through Ohio to Canada, they were given lights to carry, and the people here would put out quilts with patterns on them that would be messages. The different patterns might tell them things, like 'Don't follow this path,' so that the quilts and the lights would tell them where to go.'' At least three homes in Tiffin were used as underground railway stops, as well as one in the county. "There were a lot of local people that were sympathetic for helping those slaves,'' she said.
Towards the end of the presentation, the children had the opportunity to experience some "hands-on'' history, when Adams brought out some wooden toys that their Civil War counterparts would have played with, if they had the time, or the toy itself.
"If they had one toy, they were lucky,'' Adams said of the children. "And they spent many hours playing with it, although they didn't have much time.''