Miami County Courthouse Opened 125 Years Ago

By Judy Deeter

TROY - The beautiful Miami County Courthouse has quietly reached a milestone in its long history.  It just turned 125 years old.  Miami County officials moved in and it opened for business in January 1888.  Except for an old newspaper story about how the newly-opened Common Pleas Courtroom was too cold to hold court in, and the court session had to be held in the old courthouse courtroom, little is known about the first days in the building.  Records have not been located that tell of a grand opening celebration or a dedication with great fanfare.  We do know, however, about events leading up to the opening.

The decision to construct the present-day courthouse in Troy came at the end of a nearly century-long battle between Troy and Piqua over which city should be the county seat for Miami County. The long-running feud between the cities is sometimes referred to as the “Courthouse War.”  From the beginning of the county in 1807, officials and residents of Piqua thought their town should be and eventually would be the county seat.  It is believed Troy was chosen because it is located in nearly the geographical center of Miami County.  Today’s courthouse was built on a piece of land then known as Swailes Square. In the early years of the building it was sometimes known as the Swailes Square Courthouse.

There was a great celebration when the building’s cornerstone was laid on the northeast corner of the building on July 16, 1885. The day the cornerstone was placed has been described as one filled with the music of brass bands, military marches, displays of bunting and fireworks.  Newspaper reports of the day said the event was one of the most memorable in county history. Trains carrying program attendees pulled in to Troy from throughout Southwest Ohio. Other people traveled to Troy by horse and buggy. The Grand Army of the Republic post from Addison, Ohio (in Champaign County) brought a large flag, which was suspended across Main Street.  (The Grand Army of the Republic was a Civil War veterans’ organization.)   The Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad brought a delegation from Tippecanoe City (Tipp City) including the town fire department in uniform.  Other town delegations were on hand from Dayton, Miamisburg, and Hamilton, Ohio.  According to an article in the Troy Daily News (July 24, 1947), “The procession formed at 1:30p.m. and was one of the finest that ever marched in western Ohio.”

The cornerstone was placed with in a Masonic ceremony.  Joseph Bains, who then served as the grand treasurer of Ohio Masonry, put a copper box in the mortice of the cornerstone.  The box was filled with a variety of items   including records of local organizations (with names of members), area newspapers, a blank copy of a Miami County Courthouse bond, and the printed program for the cornerstone laying.  A poem titled  “To The New Courthouse” by Casstown poet and writer Thomas C. Harbaugh was also included.  During the 1996-1998 renovation of the courthouse, items in the cornerstone were microfilmed.   The microfilm is available for public viewing at the Troy-Miami County Public Library Local History Library at 100 W. Main Street in Troy.  The July  1947 Troy Daily News article says:  “Grand Master J.M. Goodspeed leveled, plumbed and squared the cornerstone and sprinkled it with wheat, wine and oil after the ancient Masonic custom.”

The speaker for ceremony was Captain Elihu Stephen Williams, who was known for his oratory skills.  Williams led an interesting life.  He was born in New Carlisle in Clark County on January 24, 1835.  He attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs for two years then studied law in Dayton.  In 1861—just as the Civil War was breaking out—he was admitted to the bar.  In October that year, he enlisted as a Private in the 71^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  He became a First Lieutenant in 1862 and a Captain in 1863.  He served at a military post at Carthage, Smith Co., Tennessee.  When the war ended, he stayed in Tennessee and served as Attorney General of the Sixth Judicial District of Tennessee from April 1865 until 1867.  From 1867 to 1869 he served as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives.  He relocated to Troy in 1875, and a few years later, was elected to serve in the United States House of Representatives.  He served as a US Congressman from March 4, 1887 until March 3, 1891.  He later worked as the editor of the local Buckeye newspaper.  He died in Troy on December 1, 1903.  Words remembered from his ceremony speech published in the 1947 article are:  “Then let this court house be built upon the foundation, the corner stone of which we this day plant.  Let it rise in its architectural beauty as a sign and symbol that the protecting arm of the law is around every home, and that justice like the sunshine and the rain of heaven falls alike upon the rich and poor, without regard to race and color. ‘No man is too high for its reach and no man too low for its grasp.’ A shield of protection for the innocent, and a swift, strong arm of punishment for the guilty.” 

The architect for the courthouse was Joseph Warren Yost.  Miami County Commissioners had chosen Yost as architect in 1885.  He had previously designed the Guernsey County Courthouse (1881) and the Noble County jail and Sheriff’s office (1882).   He had studied the architectural style of Henry Hobson Richardson, whose style was known as Richardson Romanesque, a style characterized by heavy masonry walls, rough stone surfaces, deeply recessed entryways, towers, turrets, and gabled rooflines.  The Miami County Courthouse is known for most of those things as well as several interior features such as a beautiful carved staircase, patterned flooring, and walls with relief pieces depicting local history.  A Troy Daily News article written by Jim DeWeese about 1967 and reprinted in the Miami County Courthouse Curriculum describes the lovely third floor:  “Eight busts are molded into corners…Paul Braunschweiger, who has been employed more than 40 years at the courthouse, has his opinions about this. Braunschweiger believes the busts represent King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the first Indians in the county, slaves, Princess Pocahontas, and John Rolfe.  Adjacent to the busts are inlaid plaster of paris plaques representing agriculture, horticulture, astronomy and the arts.”  The building is filled with symbolic representations.  The gray marble flooring on the second and third floors originally cost $3,655.00.  The general contractor for the project was T.B. Townsend.  Construction workers were paid 40 cents and hour for their labor.

It should be mentioned that some local 1880s newspapers condemned the construction of the courthouse.  Editors wrote about cracks in building’s walls.  They said that it would “fall down within a decade” and be a financial disaster.

Electricity is thought to have been put in the courthouse in 1903.  There are records of plans submitted for electrification by the Hobart Electric Manufacturing Company from that year.

Seven female allegorical statues stand at five roofline locations.  They are on both the dome of the courthouse and on each side of the building.  The statue at the top of the dome is Lady Justice.  She is sometimes referred to as Justica, the Goddess of Justice.  Other statues represent agriculture, education, industry and transportation.  W.H. Mullens of Salem, Ohio created the statues.

There is a special story about the transportation statue on the east side.  She holds a model train locomotive in her hand.  In 1947, a severe windstorm loosened the locomotive from the statue.  It was found and repaired by courthouse custodian and maintenance man Homer Collins.  When Collins tried to return the locomotive to the statue, he found that county commissioners were not interested in having it reattached.  So he kept it.  After Collins’ death, his daughter Nancy Collins Mikels donated the locomotive to The Troy Historical Society.  In 1995, it was restored to the statue’s hand where it is today—nearly a half century after it fell off the statue.

The courthouse has undergone two restorations project:  1972-1982 and 1996-1998.

A few lines from Thomas Harbaugh’s poem “To The New Courthouse” ring as true today as they did in the late 19^th century:

“The farmer, when he homeward comes

     From Fields with furrows many,

Will shout to see thy gilded dome:

     ‘Heighho! but she’s a daisy!’

‘Tis sweet to think that by and by,

    When we have done life’s duties,

Our childrens’ great-grandchildren’s eyes,

    Will gaze upon thy beauties.”

The Troy Historical Society has an exhibit about the courthouse at the Troy Miami County Public Libriary Local History Library at 100 W. Main Street and a public program in May at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center.

For historical information about the courthouse, contact The Troy Historical Society at (937) 339-5900, send an email tths@frontier.com, or visit the Local History Library.

Pioneer Aviator Died at Miami County Fair

By Judy Deeter

TROY - Not long ago, I spent an afternoon at the Troy-Miami County Public Library Local History Library looking at old Troy photographs.  Time seemed to fly by as I gazed at images of men and women in century-old clothing, buildings with names of forgotten businesses, and horses pulling buggies and wagons through the town.  One picture that particularly caught my attention was that of a pioneer airplane pilot, who—according to writing on the postcard picture—died in September 1911 in a biplane crash at the Miami County Fair.   The story of the young pilot’s final flight is a forgotten piece of local aviation history.

Frank Miller in his Curtiss biplane prior to crashing at the Miami County
Fair in 1911. See the result of the crash below.

The aviation industry was still in its infancy in 1911.  It was less than a decade since the Wright Brothers had made the world’s first airplane flight  (on December 17, 1903); the mode transportation for most Miami County residents was still the horse and buggy.  In fact, the word airplane was still spelled “aeroplane.”

According to the Miami Union newspaper of September 28, 1911 (a newspaper based in Troy), there had been a “demand” for the Miami County Fair Board to have an aviation attraction at the fair that year.  The Fair Board had contacted several air flight companies and selected one owned by Charles J. Strobel of Toledo. 

Strobel sent a young pilot named Frank R. Miller, a Curtiss biplane, and two mechanics to Troy to attract and thrill fairgoers.  It is believed that Miller had started doing the flying exhibitions only a few months earlier in April 1911.  In an interview with the Miami Union (September 21, 1911) Miller said that he hoped to make at least two flights a day.   He would go up once in the morning between 10:00am and 12:00 Noon and again between 2:00 p.m. and sundown.  If conditions were right, he might make several flights in the afternoon.  The airplane was housed in a tent at the fairground’s race track.

Miller told the Miami Union that it was important to have the right wind conditions for his flights.  The newspaper reported “…it is necessary to have a wind either from the north or south, because the machine must be started against the wind and there is not sufficient room in the quarter stretch (of the race track) to start either to the east or west, as on one side there is the grand stand and on the other trees which must be cleared.   Whenever there is a suitable breeze from north or south an ascension will be made and Mr. Miller will circle around the grounds so that everyone may secure a good view of the machine.”

After the deadly crash, Miami County residents surround the wreckage.

Miller made his first flight at 6:00pm on Tuesday evening, September 19^th.  After circling the fairgrounds a few times, he flew to the south over Troy.  Only a few people witnessed his return to the fairgrounds because of “the lateness of the hour.”   At Noon the next day (Wednesday), however, thousands watched him fly.  According to the Miami Union (September 21, 1911), Miller intended “to give the Fair Board its moneys worth.” 

After his Noon flight, Miller told the newspaper staff that “air conditions at noon had been very treacherous and he had been very near falling.”   The flight had made him very nervous.  Nevertheless he made another flight later that day about 5:00pm. Although the fair had a very large attendance on Thursday and many people wanted to see Miller fly, he did not go up because he did not feel that the air conditions were right.   Though many people criticized Miller for not flying, it is said he would have flown if the weather/winds had been right.

Early Friday afternoon, after Miller thoroughly examined the biplane, “he rose from the ground in a circling flight which took him south toward Troy and returned making a thrilling descent in full view of the crowd.”  (Miami Union – September 28, 1911)    

Miller seemed reluctant to make his next flight later in the day.  As he was ready to take off, he is supposed to said to his mechanic, “Let her go.  I’ll be glad when its all over.”   

It is said that Miller took the plane up to about 1,000 feet above the fairgrounds—higher than he had taken the plane on the previous fair flights.  He flew south toward Troy and came back over the fairgrounds at a “tremendous” speed.   “Sweeping in a circle he again returned until he came just above the race track and then began an altitude ascent in which he reached his greatest height.  Again he flew southwest and returned gradually nearing the earth with a view to landing near the tent within the race track.”  (The Miami Union – September 28, 1911.

Something went wrong as the plane started to land.  Suddenly—when it was 75 to 100 feet above the fairgrounds—it  turned over and plunged straight to the ground.  The plane’s gasoline engine fell into a corn field next to the fairgrounds and exploded.  The biplane was also became a burning wreckage.  Witnesses ran to the plane and threw dirt on it to extinguish the flames, but they could not save the life of Frank Miller.  He had been both burned and crushed by the biplane’s engine.

The Miami Union reported both that the biplane engine fell to the ground for some “accountable” reason and that it was “pretty generally established” the plane accident was not caused by defective machinery or poor wind conditions.   A report regarding the final cause of the crash has not been located.

The paper also said, “…except for its tragic ending, (the flight) was much the best of the series” and it had been “the most beautiful and successful of the week.”

Frank Miller was 27 years at the time of his death.  He had never married.  His body was shipped from Troy to his brother and sister in Hebron, Nebraska for burial.

Though Miller’s aviation career was short, his name sometimes appears on lists of pioneer American aviators.

The crash that took the life of Miller was one of the earliest in Miami County and is a forgotten chapter in Miami County Fair history. 

The original photograph of Frank Miller may be viewed at the Troy-Miami County Public Library Local History Library, 100 W.  Main St., Troy, OH.  It is part of the Troy Historical Society photo collection.   For further information call the Local History Library at (937) 335-4082 or contact The Troy Historical Society  at (937) 339-5900 or by email at tths@frontier.com .

   

The Great Flood of 1913
The Days the Miami Valley was Washed Away
By Judy Deeter

The Flood of 1913 took the Miami Valley by complete surpise. In a way,
it was our Hurricane Katrina. Luckily, people responded and created
a system of dams that make almost impossible to ever happen again.
(Photo provided by the Troy Historical Society and showing Market Street)

Ninety-nine years ago the Miami Valley was a much different place. Almost overnight, the area entirely changed. Historians can divide our town stories between what was before and after the great flood of March 1913. In the space of a few days, people, animals and vegetation died, buildings were washed away, badly damaged or burned and great sorrow filled the land. From Sidney to Cincinnati, everyone seemed to be somehow affected by the disaster. You might say that this was Ohio’s Hurricane Katrina.It is not unusual for rain to fall in the Miami Valley in March. So when it began raining in March of 1913, most residents weren’t surprised. On Easter Sunday, the 23rd, the rain was not unusually heavy, but on Monday the 24th heavy rain fell throughout the watershed of the Miami and across Ohio and Indiana.
The enormity of the disaster is found in the booklet DAYTON – BEING A STORY OF THE GREAT FLOOD AS SEEN FROM THE DELCO FACTORY – APRIL 1913: “The flood that swept the valleys of central Ohio and Indiana during the week of March 24, 1913 was unique. Nothing like it appears in modern history. Never before since accurate records became possible has there been a rainfall of such magnitude over so large an area. There are records of greater local rains, but nowhere in all history can we find a trace of a deluge in which the elements so combined to magnify the disaster. The records of the United States Weather Bureau show that during a period of three days the rainfall amounted to an average of 71/2 inches over an area of 8,000 square miles.  In other words, something like 9,000 billion gallons of water fell from the clouds during those three days. The weight of this water was about 33 billion tons.  It would have taken a reservoir 174 miles long, 1 mile wide and 25 feet deep to hold it. It had to go somewhere, and when 33 billion liquid tons are moving in the same general direction, something has to give way.  No work that could have been constructed by the hand of man would have been sufficient to withstand this tremendous rush of water.”
According to the 1917 booklet THE MIAMI VALLEY AND THE 1913 FLOOD by Arthur E. Morgan, Chief Engineer of the Miami Valley Conservancy District:  “At Dayton, Troy, and Piqua the precipitation was about 3 inches, increasing to 5 inches at Richmond, Ind., and decreasing to 2 inches on the north, south, and east.  Even a smaller rain would have overtaxed the river channels, and toward evening (of the 24^th) the upper Miami had reached the danger mark.”
In those years, there was not the mass communication as we have today.  Although some homes and businesses had telephones and there was communication by telegraph, there were no Doppler radar maps to see the approach of rain and possible destruction.
The Columbus Weather Bureau Office had sent out a telegram to cities along the Miami River warning them of possible flooding and some officials had taken established flood precautions including closing the flood gates of the sewers.
The flood came from the north and traveled south.  It crept into Piqua at night; water quickly rose in the night time hours.  Arthur Morgan wrote:  “The electric light plant was flooded and out of use, and the rescuers at the water’s edge working in the rain and darkness, could only surmise by the crash of collapsing buildings and frantic cries for help, what was going on in the terrible current that was tearing a path through the east part of the city.”
As the water rose, people scurried upper floors and building roofs, clung to trees and waited for help.  Local boaters tried attempted to save people; some rescuers were killed trying to save lives. 
There is a story of a boatman in Piqua who saved many lives.  Arthur Morgan wrote:  “Following a house that was being carried down the river he rammed the bow of his boat against the corner of the roof and its occupant, a man, jumped to safety.  A little later this boatman rescued another man from a tree, and then went on down to the bridge, which had turned on its side, and got off three more.”  One family is said to have stayed on the roof of their home for 32 hours before being rescued.
In Troy, as the Great Miami began to leave its bank and flow into town, watchmen with lanterns looked on as the water rose to dangerous levels.  When the river got to its highest level known, bells were rung and whistles were blown to alert sleeping town residents (it was about 2 a.m.). Two men also rode horseback through the streets yelling a flood warning. At first people were just curious about the situation, but they soon became alarmed and right down scared.
John Patterson of National Cash Register in Dayton is considered a hero of the flood.  He and company executives organized both a relief and cleanup effort.   Through NCR, food and food supplies, medicine and drinking water were collected and distributed and flat-bottomed boats were built.  NCR became the center of Dayton relief efforts.
The Bell Telephone Company in Dayton and the telephone relay facility in Phoneton played a major role in getting reports to Governor Cox in Columbus and to the news services out what was going on in the flood-ravaged areas.
Although relief efforts did come from the State of Ohio and surroundings states, one is struck in reading stories of the flood how much self-reliance there was in those years. Neighbors working together to rebuild their communities rather than waiting on a government agency.
Loss in the Miami Valley is listed as 360 dead, 1,200 horses drowned and more that $100 million in property loss.
Local historian and poet Thomas Harbaugh wrote a poem titled “The Flood”.  In his beautiful words, he outlines the enormity of this event.  It was published in the MIAMI UNION newspaper on April 10, 1913. One stanza reads:

           On, on it dashed, that mighty tide,

           On, on thro’ the bitter night,

           Leaving behind in its awful wake

           Nothing but wreck and blight:

          And where the fair Miami swept

          Over it widening bed,

          Angels wept as they looked upon

         The scores of drifting dead.

Troy School Named After Civil War Hero

By Judy Deeter

One school in Troy got its name
from this Civil War hero.

TROY - Although students think about many things as they begin their school day, very few will think about the name of their school building.   Yet, many daily enter buildings named in honor of Americans who made our country a better place to live—Presidents, poets, soldiers and inventors.  While students often recognize and “know” the person of their school name, sometimes schools are named for local heroes, whose deeds and faces have mostly been forgotten.   One of the schools with an important but “mostly forgotten” hero is Kyle Elementary School in Troy.  The school is named in honor of Civil War soldier Lt. Col. Barton S. Kyle.  The story of Kyle’s life is a piece of Ohio Civil War history and it presents a view of life in the Miami Valley in the 19^th century.
Early Kyle family members are considered Miami County pioneers.  Barton S. Kyle was born in Miami County’s Elizabeth Township on April 7, 1825 to Samuel and Mary Bell Kyle.  The family was known to be very religious.  Both his father Samuel and Uncle Thomas B. Kyle were preachers.  In the Miami County History of 1900, a biography about Barton Kyle says, “In 1803 two brothers, Samuel and Thomas B. Kyle, came to Miami County, Ohio, from Kentucky, each bringing with him a Bible and an ax.  They were backwoods preachers and pioneer farmers.” 
In 1807, Samuel Kyle married his cousin Mary Bell, who was the daughter of Thomas Bell and Elizabeth Weir.   The couple had twelve children.
Samuel Kyle was also one of the first schoolteachers in Troy.  Historian Thomas Wheeler wrote in his book TROY THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: “In the winter of 1813-1814 Samuel Kyle taught a class of twelve in a log house at Market and Water Streets.”
Samuel died on April 8, 1836, the day after Barton Kyle’s eleventh birthday.  After his father’s death, his older brother Thomas became his teacher.  Barton Kyle’s obituary in the Troy Times says:  “He was educated entirely in the common schools of this county (Miami) and chiefly under the tuition of his elder brother the late and greatly lamented Thomas B. Kyle long and well known as one of the most successful educators in the county.  Perhaps no two brothers were ever more closely united than Barton and Thomas.  It was not simply brotherly attachment, but in the decease of the father, Barton had turned to his brother for guidance.”
In June 1845, when Kyle was 20, he moved to Troy from the family farm and began working in the Miami County Auditor’s office as the Chief Clerk.  Some sources say he worked there six years. At almost that same time, however, (around 1849) he was appointed as deputy US marshal for the southern district of Ohio.  His appointment came when he was 23 years old.
Life in Troy also included involvement with the Free and Accepted Masons (Freemasons) Franklin Lodge 24.  He was initiated into the lodge in 1847 and is thought to have been active for the rest of his life.  He was known as one of the leading members in Southern Ohio.
He also had a romance in his life.  At some unknown time, he fell in love with Margaret Jane “Maggie” McNabb, the daughter of Abner and Sarah Dunn McNabb.  The young couple married on the May 8, 1851.  The Troy Times newspaper of May 15, 1851 says that  “Ma. Barton S. Kyle of this city and Miss Margaret Jane, the only daughter of the late A.W. McNabb of Staunton Township (were married) at ‘Rose Hill place’ by Mr. Rev. Gorsuch of Dayton.  ‘Hearts that love, like two kindred drops, they mingle into one.’”
Almost immediately, the couple grew into a family.  Their first child, Sarah Cordelia, was born in 1852.  Within the next few years, three more children were born: Walter (1854), Thomas (1856) and Ivy (1858).
Kyle enjoyed both education and politics.  An article in the April 24, 1862 edition of the Troy Times newspaper says:  During the administration of Gen. Taylor and Mr. Filmore (US Presidents 1849-1853) he served as Deputy United States Marshal for Miami County.  He was a member of the National Conventions both American and Republican held in Philadelphia in 1856 and during the Presidential Canvass of that year was an untiring and ardent supporter of Gen. J.C. Fremont for the Presidency.  It was in this year that his ability in conducting a political canvass was displayed.  He represented this district at Chicago Convention of the Republican Party in 1860.  His first and last choice being Mr. Lincoln.   It is thought he might have traveled to the Chicago Republican Convention with Troy convention representative George D. Burgess.  Historical sources refer to Burgess as “the most handsome man” at the 1860 convention.
In the late 1850s, there had been great deal of arguing and violence over the questions of States Rights and slavery.  With the election of Abraham Lincoln as President, the United States as a country really began to fall apart.  Southern States withdrew from the United States to form a new country, which they named the Confederate States of America.  Those who loved the United States as country of both northern and southern states, tried to do what they could to save the Union.  This was true of Barton Kyle.
Though Kyle was involved in many things, including a Troy bookstore with partner David Kelly, he stopped what he was doing to prepare for war.
According to Kyle’s obituary:  In September 1861 he procured an order from his Excellency (Ohio) Governor Dennison to raise the 71^st Regiment O. V. (Ohio Volunteer) to be encamped at Camp Dave Tod, Troy, Ohio.  Many men derided the probability of accomplishing this—any other man might have failed.   (Camp Dave Tod, named for a former Ohio Governor, was in the southeast corner of Troy.  It is the former site of the Miami County Fairgrounds.) Soldiers for the 71^st Regiment were recruited in Miami, Auglaize and Mercer counties.  The Regiment was made up of ten companies.  Companies C, E and F were from Miami County.  Kyle’s recruiting partner was G.W. Andrews of Wapakoneta. 
Kyle was offered the rank of Colonel for the Regiment, but he turned it down because he thought someone with more military experience, who could do a better job, should hold the rank.  He eventually consented to be a Lieutenant Colonel.
In October 1861, advertisements were placed in the TROY TIMES Newspaper.  An advertisement by Recruiting Officer Lieut. C.H. Kramer (written from the Morris House in Troy) reads in part:  “All young men, therefore, that have talked or thought about going (to) war, can have an opportunity.  We intend going into “Camp Tod” at Troy.  You men who wish to enlist and have no place to stay, will be furnished with board and lodging at the Morris House, free of expense until the Camp is open for their reception.”  Soldier pay in another advertisement is listed as “from $13 to $23 per month and $100 bounty at the close of the war.” 
Ohio Governor Dennison gave the job of training the recruits to Rodney Mason of Springfield.  The book OHIO AT SHILOH by T.J. Lindsey says that Mason “was supposed to possess something of a military education and had passed through the three-month services as Lietuentant-Colonel of the 2^nd Ohio”.  Mason, however, would later be chastised for his poor training of the young men.
By early 1862, the 71^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry was “ready” for war.  In February 1862, the Ladies of Troy presented them with a Regimental Flag and then they set out to fight.  They first went by train to Cincinnati.  From Cincinnati, they took a steamboat to Paducah Kentucky and eventually they traveled to Pitsburg Landing, Tennessee where they were assigned to the Army of the Tennessee under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman.
Reports about Miami County Regiments were sent to Troy newspapers.  One such report published in the TROY TIMES on April 3, 1862 (written from near Pitsburg Landing in on March 27, 1862 by Glen Dale) says:  We are now about twenty miles from Corinth (Mississippi) where the enemy is said to be in great force and strongly fortified—determined to resist the victorious progress of our gallant army.  In the report, Dale describes military movements by both sides and also notes:  There has been considerable sickness in the regiment especially whilst at Paducah, but all appear to be recovering.  Col. Mason is a good disciplinarian and soldier every inch of him, and is well liked by his command, as is also Lieut. Col. Kyle and Maj. Andrews.  It is true that now and then you hear some growling but such men would growl in heaven…Col. Kyle has been indisposed (sick) for some days, but as I write, I see him mounted on his coal black steed.  These words are very interesting in light of what happened to them the in next week on April 6, 1862.
In the book PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM P. KELLY  (the son of Kyle’s bookstore partner David Kelly) it is written:  He (Barton Kyle) left Troy amid such excitement that his business affairs were much confused.  So father (bookstore partner David Kelly) took the firm’s account books and joined him at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., where the 71^st were encamped with Gen. Grant.  Sitting together under a tree they made a settlement.   The next morning, the 71^st was involved in a surprise attack.
In his 1909 History of Miami County, Thomas Harbaugh wrote:  “It (the 71^st) received its baptism of fire at Shiloh (another name for the battle at Pitsburg Landing) on the memorable 6^th of April.  The regiment was unfortunate in the choice of its colonel, who was Rodney Mason, of Springfield, a man boastful when there was no enemy in sight, but not so brave in actual combat.  On the fatal morning of the 6^th, the regiment, fresh from the comforts of home, was hastily formed in line of battle.  I cannot better describe the part taken by the seventy-first on the 6^th of April than in the words of the late Captain E.S. Williams, who was a member of the regiment and an active participant in the scenes.
‘We were formed,’ he says, ‘under the guns of a rebel battery and in a trap surrounded by advancing lines of seven rebel regiments, and when, to save the regiment from capture, our colonel (Lt. Col. Barton Kyle) instead of having us fall back in line as a regiment, led us back at will with the motto, ‘Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.’    Williams then describes how they fell back on the crest of a hill and fought for two hours forces that were about three times their strength.  In our front were men who knew how to die but not how to retreat.  Bullets were failing like hailstones and cannon balls were sweeping through our ranks.  It was there that Col. Barton S. Kyle of Troy, received his death wound.
In his Memoirs, William P. Kelly wrote:  The next day the Union forces recovered their lost positions.  Father found the body (of Kyle), gave it temporary burial and later, under a permit from Grant, brought it home partly by government transport and partly by train.  This permit written in pencil on a scrap of paper he (David Kelly) carried in his wallet as long as he lived.  (Note: Some sources indicate that Kyle died on a hospital boat.)
When word reached Troy that a Lt. Col. Kyle of Indiana had died at a place called Pitsburg Landing (Shiloh).  People feared that the Col. Kyle of Indiana was really their friend and neighbor from Troy.  Historian Thomas Wheeler wrote in his work MIAMI COUNTY AND THE CIVIL WAR:  “Trojans dreaded to suppose that this might be their own Colonel Kyle.”   In a matter of days their worst fears were realized.  It was their beloved friend.  Kyle was the only officer of the 71^st Regiment killed in the Battle of Shiloh.  He died on April 6, 1862, the day before his 37^th birthday and almost exactly 26 years after the death of his father, who died on April 8, 1836.
Thomas Wheeler described the funeral:  Wednesday, April 18, saw every activity, except one, cease.  At nine in the morning the doors of the Methodist Episcopal Church were opened to allow people to file past the closed casket of Lieutenant Colonel Barton S. Kyle.  The Reverend Mr. Cheever commenced the services at one o’clock in the afternoon.  Chaplain Lyle of Kyle’s regiment, led the prayers, The Reverend Mr. Marly preached the sermon, and The Reverend Mr. Thompson delivered the long eulogy.
As the spring rain poured down, Grand Marshal Dr. George Keifer, and his five assistant-marshals, started the cortage for the cemetery (Rose Hill in Troy).  Leading the procession was the military band of the 42^nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  Next came the Rosson Riflemen, the Lafayette Blues, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Masonic Lodge of Troy, and the hearse followed by twelve pallbearers.  Next in the procession came the carriages carrying relatives and friends, ex-Governor Dennision, and distinguished guests, members of the court and bar, county officials, and lastly ordinary citizens.  The Reverend Mr. Thompson said a prayer and the Lafayette Blues fired a volley as the casket was lowered.
Though very little has been written about the grief of Kyle’s family, it is known that life was difficult for Kyle’s young wife and their four children.  The obituary of Barton Kyle’s son, Thomas, says that his mother “kept the family together” after his father’s death.  Sadly, however, Margaret Kyle died a little more than four years after her husband.  While there are many stories written about Barton Kyle, almost nothing has been written about his wife.  Unlike the pages in newspapers and history books about Kyle’s death, for his wife there is only a paragraph in the Miami Union newspaper on December 8, 1866:  “Died Kyle – In Troy on Wednesday last after an illness of several months, Mrs. Maggie Kyle, widow of the late Barton Kyle, aged___years.”
In the mid-1880s, a school built along South Plum Street in Troy was named in honor of Lt. Col. Kyle.  Kyle School opened in 1884.  The original building, which was said to be quite impressive with ceilings 14 feet high, was torn down about 1951.  A new Kyle School opened on the same site in 1952 and is still in use today.
A monument at the Shiloh Battlefield reads:  “This regiment formed line of battle here at 11:00 a.m., April 6, 1862, but was soon driven back to the ravine in the rear.  Lieutenant-Colonel Barton S. Kyle was killed while attempting to rally the regiment.  Its loss was 1 officer and 13 men killed; 44 men wounded; 1 officer and 50 men missing; total 109.”
There is some information about Kyle’s children that is of interest.
We have very little information about daughter Sarah Cordelia, who was known to family and friends as Cordelia.  It is known that she lived in Des Moines, Iowa in the early 1900s.
Kyle’s son Walter was the US Postmaster in Troy early in the 20^th century.
Son Thomas, who was a lawyer, was the most prominent of the children.  He was admitted to the bar in 1884 (the same year Kyle School opened), and from 1890 to 1896, was a Miami County Prosecuting Attorney.  He served as a US Congressman from the Seventh Ohio Congressional District from 1901 to 1905 and one term as the Mayor of Troy in starting in 1907.
Daughter Ivy married Noah Yount.  In January1884, Ivy gave birth to a son that they couple named Barton Kyle Yount.  Barton Kyle Yount served in the Army Air Corps where he attained the rank of Lieutenant General.  During World War II, in 1943, he became Commanding General Army Air Forces Training Command.  He and his wife are buried at Arlington Cemetery.  Photos of Lt. Gen. Yount and his biography can be found online at www.arlingtoncemetery.net/bkyount.htm .
Kyle is not just the name of a school in Troy; it is the name of an American hero.
For more information about Troy and Miami County Civil War Regiments, families and school histories, contact the Troy Miami County Public Library Local History Library at  (937) 335-4082 or The Troy Historical Society at (937) 339-5900 or by email at tths@frontier.com.

Old Penny Post Cards Show Christmas Long Ago

By Judy Deeter

Several years ago, I inherited my Great Aunt Louise’s post card collection—beautiful old cards from the early 1900s.  Contained in the collection were cards sent by an old boyfriend from places around the world, Easter, Halloween, birthday and greeting cards.  The most beautiful of the cards are the Christmas cards, which also contain bits of family history in pencil-written messages and symbols of past holiday seasons—mistletoe, holly, birds and, of course, Santa Claus.   Studying the cards, one can see how Christmas symbols have changed over the years.  In fact, one card depicts Santa Claus arriving in a pink robe trimmed in brown fur and hat decorated with holly.

According to the Hallmark Cards Public Relations Department, “The joy of sending and receiving Christmas cards has a colorful history dating from the days of the stage coach and penny postage.”   In 1843, Englishman Henry Cole had an idea to put “Christmas in an envelope.”   Historians say that Cole asked an artist friend at the Royal Academy, John Calcott Horsley, to create the first Christmas card.  Horsley’s card had three sections.  The main section depicted family elders raising a glass of wine for a toast while the card’s side sections showed poor people being fed and clothed.  Horsley placed sprigs of holly (the symbol of chastity) and ivy (symbolic of “where God had walked) into the design.  Written across the card were the words:  “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.”  Temperance groups criticized the card because it showed a family raising a toast of wine.

Several card companies were founded in England in the 1860s.  The best-known company was Marcus Ward and Company of London, which published cards designed by famed artist Kate Greenway.  Greenway depicted beautiful children wearing high-fashion garments.  Her name is still connected to clothing for children.

Bostonian Louis Prang is considered the “father of the American Christmas card.”  In 1875, he perfected a lithographic process of multi-color printing.  A memo from the Hallmark Card Public Relations Department states, “His reproductions of oil paintings often used as many as 20 colors and were so perfect that at times only experts could tell print from painting.”  His cards were considered superior both here and in Europe and dominated the market until about 1890.   Prang charged more to maintain quality—more money than many people wanted to pay.  At the time, the American market was being flooded with inexpensive German cards.  In the book THE AMERICAN CHRISTMAS author James H. Barnett says, “This threatened Prang’s business, since he could not meet the competition without sacrificing his standards of artistic and technical excellence, and he withdrew from the Christmas-card business about that time.” 

German cards dominated the card business until World War I.  American card manufacturers began making a comeback about 1910 and by 1920, there were once again quality American cards on the market.  During the Great Depression of the 1930s, cards even “spoofed” poverty.   The Hallmark Public Relations Department has said, “People could still probe their condition without losing faith in tomorrow, and cards reflected that feeling.”  During the World War II, cards were sent to soldiers with words “Missing You” and “Across the Miles”.

Since World War II, the Christmas card industry has seen tremendous growth.  Today, Americans send billions of Christmas cards.   The Public Relations Department of Hallmark notes, “One reason for the increase is the mobility of the American family.  When people move, they continue to send Christmas cards to their old friends, at the same time adding newly acquired friends to their list.” 

Christmas cards are not only an expression of friendship; they are an expression of life in America and the way it has changed down through the years.

Paying Tribute to an Unknown Horse

By Judy Deeter

This statue sits behind the old post office on the corner of
Fourth and Main streets in downtown Tipp City and honors
the horse that a Civil War soldier rode to and home from
the war. It was erected by Philip and Lois Cox of
Philip G. Cox Insurance, which now occupies the building.

TIPP CITY - Throughout America, there are monuments erected to honor people and things that are treasured in local communities. One of the most unusual of these tributes is in Tipp City. There, a small horse statue stands behind what was once the town post office. The statue marks the legendary final resting place of a Civil War horse. 

For more than a century, owners of the burial site have made sure that the horse’s gravesite area has not been disturbed by development. The burial area has been protected out of respect of what many people and historians believe was the wish of the horse’s owner. This protection of the land is particularly interesting, however, since no one is sure that there is anything buried at there.

The story about the horse began at the end of the Civil War when Captain Daniel M. Rouzer of the 8^th Ohio Calvary brought his beloved Army horse home to Tippecanoe City (now Tipp City). Rouzer, who had ridden the animal through the war, claimed that it had saved his life. Though not much is known about the horse — not even its name — a great deal is known about its owner Capt. Rouzer.  

Rouzer was born on March 28, 1818 in Greene County. In the early 1830s, when he was between 12 and 14 years old, his father went to work in Dayton. Young Daniel went along with his father and found that he too could work jobs and earn money. Eventually, a man named Morrison taught him to be a wheelwright (to repair wheels on wagons and buggies). He worked in that occupation until he was in his early thirties. Then he decided to put a little adventure in his life.

Like many young men in the late 1840s and early 1850s, Rouzer left Ohio to find wealth in the California mines. He might have heard the stories about California’s “mountains of gold” there and that anyone could go west to dig for it.

Daniel and his friends David Young and David Johnson started for California in 1852, which was later than most young men seeking their fortunes in the State’s mines. (The California Gold Rush was in 1849.) It is thought that they traveled overland to a river or seaport and then by boat or ship south to the Isthums of Panama. There, Rouzer stopped to start a business. He built a warehouse and ran his operation for about six months. Eventually he went to California where he became prosperous as a miner and worker in the mining industry. He only stayed there, however, for a short time. Once he had made a sum of money, he headed home to Ohio. He probably started his trip back east in 1853.

Shortly after his arrival in Dayton, Rouzer moved to Tippecanoe City where he gained a contract to help build the Smith distillery. (It was built in 1855.) Together, Rouzer and George and Edward Smith (and eventually a Mr. Grimes) produced linseed oil.

It was also about this time — in May of 1856 — that the 38-year old Rouzer decided to marry. He became the husband of Miss Mary Grow of Covington.

Life in Tippecanoe City in the late 1850s seems to have been good for Rouzer, but bad times were on the horizon. There was great tension in the United States, particularly over slavery and states’ rights issues. In some parts of America, the election of Abraham Lincoln of Illinois as President drew great anger. From Washington D.C. to California, it seemed like everyone was arguing with one another. There were serious discussions (quarrels) between government representatives in Washington, D.C., families and friends. The Civil War started in the spring of 1861. 

Though Rouzer was 43-years-old when the fighting began, nevertheless he joined up to serve in the Union Army. In fact, he was instrumental in the organization of Company E of the 44^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he became Captain and his company later would be referred to as “Rouzer’s Raiders.” Capt. Rouzer and Company E served in Virginia (sometimes in the area that eventually became West Virginia), Kentucky and Tennessee.

On January 4, 1864, the Eighth Ohio Cavalry (aka Eighth Ohio Mounted Cavalry) was organized from members of the 44^th OVI. They spent from January to May 1864 organizing at Camp Dennison, Ohio. Rouzer and members of the 44^th were transferred into this regiment and remained in it until the end of the war in 1865.   They fought mostly in Virginia and Maryland. In January 1865, most of the Eighth Ohio Cavalry was captured by Southern forces and taken to Libby prison in Richmond, Virginia. An online history by Larry Stevens (www.ohiocivilwar.com/cwc8.html) says: “On the 11^th of January, 1865, the camp of the Regiment was surprised and over 500 officers and men were captured.  They were marched through snow, barefooted, and with scarcely any food, to Staunton (VA), where they were loaded on to stock cars and sent to Libby Prison.  The sufferings of the men were dreadful at the hands of a cruel and relentless foe.  They ere exchanged in February, and in August, 1865, the Regiment was mustered out of service.”   

Though we have not been able to document that Rouzer was taken to the prison, we have found that the men of his regiment were captured — men that were probably his acquaintances. Was Rouzer one of the few who escaped capture from Libby prison? We’ll never know.

In 1865, he came home to Tippecanoe City. An old undated newspaper article says, “Col. Rouzer did come riding home from the war. (He was known as “Colonel” after his death.) We can still see Col. Rouzer swing wearily from the saddle and stand a moment, talking gently to the animal (his horse), grateful to be home and mindful of his debt to the horse that had carried him safely through the war.

In a manuscript titled “The Rouzer House History from 1865 to 1994” it says:  “Colonel Rouzer credited his horse for saving his life during the war and placed great value on it. When it died, he buried it in the Northwest corner of his property. His love and respect was so great that he made an addendum to the deed, which is still in effect, stating that nothing was ever to be built over the horse’s grave.”

During Rouzer’s lifetime, his Tippecanoe home — the horse’s burial site — was then near the intersection of West Main Street (State Route 571) and Fourth Street, where the old Post Office building now stands. Rouzer’s wife purchased the property while he was away at war.  Local historians believe that the horse died and was buried sometime between the return of Rouzer in 1865 and Rouzer’s own death in 1881.

In those years, Rouzer was well known in Miami County where he served as a Trustee for Monroe Township, a member of the Tippecanoe City Council, a member of the school board and a Miami County Commissioner. He died of Brights Disease (kidney disease) on November 12, 1881.  His obituary states:  “The funeral was one of the largest ever seen in Tippecanoe.” In February 1885, nearly four years after his death, a Grand Army of the Republic Post (an organization for Union City War veterans) was established in Tippecanoe City.  It was named in Rouzer’s honor as the Dan W. Rouzer Post #393.

Mary Rouzer lived in her Tippecanoe City house until 1920 when she moved to California. (She died in Long Beach, California in 1930.)  When Mrs. Rouzer moved west, she deeded her home to Jennie Wheeler with supposedly an addendum to protect the horse’s burial site.  When Wheeler sold the property in 1922, many believe the addendum continued to be on the deed.  Down through the years, the property passed through many owners. In 1933, the US Government became the owner of the property. The Government purchased the property so that a new post office could be built. The Rouzer home was then moved to Miles Avenue, where it now stands. The US Post Office opened in 1938.

The post office was careful to keep the horse’s grave undisturbed.  Even when it expanded a loading dock behind the building in 1962, it made sure to preserve the horse’s burial site. The post office moved to another location in 1991. Since that time, the owners of the old post office building have continued to leave the gravesite free from development.

Philip and Lois Cox purchased the property in 2005 for their insurance businesses Royal Crest Marketing and Philip G. Cox Insurance.  According to Lois Cox, they moved into the building on Easter Day 2006. They have refurbished the beautiful old Post Office, collected historical articles about Captain Rouzer, given tours of the old building to children, and placed a horse monument over the burial area. They hope to eventually place an historical marker near the horse statue tell the story of the legendary horse.

There are many in Tipp City who doubt the story about the horse’s burial site.  For years, historians have been looking for the deed addendum or official documentation about the gravesite. They say that there nothing written to confirm that anything was ever buried behind there.

An article in the Dayton JOURNAL HERALD newspaper by Don Schroder (July 18, 1962) describes the stipulation found in the land records:   According to these historians, Mary Rouzer, who bought the lot from John and Margaret Washington for $550 while her husband was in the war, stipulated that nothing could be built on the northwest corner of her lot because, it there were, it would block the view of her neighbor’s house.

There is also a deed agreement in the Miami County records between Mrs. Rouzer and her northern property neighbor Ellis W. Kerr that outlines areas of their properties that they would not build upon. Historians say that agreement had to do with the placement of a barn on Mrs. Rouzer’s land.

Whether the horse is buried behind the old Post Office building, whether there ever was an agreement to keep the land clear, or even how the old horse saved the life of his owner may never be known. What is clear that there is a little plot of land in Tipp City that may never be developed because one man loved his horse.  It’s quite a tale about an old horse!