Liberal Arts Blog — Elmira, New York: the Underground Railroad, the Confederate Prison Camp (“Hellmira”), Huckleberry Finn

Liberal Arts Blog — Sunday is the Joy of Humor, Food, Travel, Practical Life Tips, and Miscellaneous Day

Today’s Topic: Elmira, New York: the Underground Railroad, the Confederate Prison Camp (“Hellmira”), Huckleberry Finn

Do you remember Mr. Carter, the bank examiner in “It’s a Wonderful Life” that shows up at the Bailey Savings and Loan on Christmas Eve? If not, you absolutely must fill in that gap in your cultural literacy without delay. (See photo below.) In any event, Mr. Carter was from Elmira. And that was the extent of my knowledge of Elmira until I ran into two tourists at the NorthBridge in Concord last weekend who so enthralled me with tales of their home town that I just had to do a little more research and write about it. Today, three highlights — 1.) this was where Mark Twain did much of his writing, including “Huckleberry Finn,” and this is where Twain is buried; 2.) this was the home of John Jones, an ex-slave who worked on the Underground Railroad bringing 860 fugitives to freedom and then chose to make a living giving respectful burials to Confederate soldiers who died in one of the most inhumane Northern prisoner-of-war camps; c.) this is the national capital of the thrilling sport of “soaring” that is “gliding” (motorless flight). Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.

JOHN JONES — Hero of the Underground Railroad, Sexton of the First Baptist Church for 43 years

1. Elmira was “the principal station on the ‘railroad’ between Philadelphia and Canada.”

2. Born on a plantation in Leesburg, Va., Jones fled at age 27 with four others.

3. “By 1860, Jones aided in the escape of 860 people who had been enslaved.”

NB: “He usually received the fugitives in parties of six to ten, but there were times he found shelter for up to 30 men, women, and children a night. It is believed Jones sheltered many in his own home behind First Baptist Church. Of those 860, none were captured or returned to the South.”

“HELLMIRA” — one the most notoriously inhumane prisoner-of-war camps in the North

1. “Of the 12,123 Confederate soldiers held there, 2,963 died from “malnutrition, prolonged exposure to brutal winter weather and disease directly attributable to the dismal sanitary conditions on Foster’s Pond and lack of medical care.”

2. “Of the 2,963 prisoners who Jones buried, only seven are listed as unknown. Jones kept such precise records that on December 7, 1877 the federal government declared the burial site a national cemetery. His extensive records allowed the federal government to place accurate headstones on all but seven of the 2,973 Confederate graves in 1907.”

3. “Each coffin was clearly marked with any information that the soldier had been willing to share; the information also was placed in a sealed bottle inside the coffin. Any valuables owned by the soldier at the time of his death were carefully cataloged and stored. The graves were identified with wooden markers and arranged in a pattern that suggested soldiers lined up for inspection. They were surrounded by the graves of Union soldiers, grouped as though they were still on guard. When the families received the precious family photographs, treasures, letters, and remembrances that Jones had kept for them, they were so moved that only three bodies were removed for reburial.”

MARK TWAIN’S STUDY IS ON THE GROUNDS OF ELMIRA COLLEGE

1. “Susan and Theodore Crane surprised their brother-in-law Samuel L. Clemens with this study in 1874. It was placed about 100 yards from the main house at Quarry Farm on a knoll overlooking the Chemung River Valley.”

2. “In this octagonal building, Mark Twain wrote major portions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, The Prince and the Pauper, A Tramp Abroad, and many short pieces.”

3. “In 1952, the Mark Twain Study was moved from Quarry Farm to the Elmira College campus. The Study is staffed by trained student guides daily throughout the summer and by appointment in the off-season.”

NB: “Clemens summered in Elmira at the home of his in-laws, the Langdon’s, for much of his adult life. He alternated between the Langdon mansion in Elmira and Quarry Farm up on a nearby hill. From the farm, which Clemens often walked to, the author could look over the Chemung valley ….” “The private study not only provided Twain with the quietude he required to write, but also kept his pipe smoke out of his sister-in-law’s house.”

FOOTNOTES — Mark Twain (1935–1910)

1. Mark Twain (1835–1910), born in Hannibal, Missouri, was called by William Faulkner, “the father of American literature.” Good at writing, he made a ton of money. Bad at investing, he lost it all and went bankrupt. But he had so many good friends, he lived well anyway.

2. A Twain quote I just found: “Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

3. Another: “When you find yourself on the side of majority it is time to pause and reflect.”

NB: A third: “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day that you find out why.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmira,_New_York

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Jones_(ex-slave)

https://web.archive.org/web/20110722133316/http://www.johnwjonesmuseum.org/jwjstory.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Halton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Jones_House

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlawn_National_Cemetery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looff_Carousel

https://marktwainstudies.com/about/mark-twains-study/

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YOUR TURN

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