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History Backroads

History Backroads

By: JD Byous
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We are changing our name!!! We are now called History Backroads. We're still based in Savannah, Georgia USA, and where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. You can find transcripts of the show and the coordinates of where these events happened at our website HistoryByGPS.com. That way you can follow the story as it goes along.... Or, you can just listen and enjoy. The show's host, JD Byous, is a historian, writer, photographer, and author.

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Episodes
  • The Cursed Silk Dress Balloons 32.078098° -81.082878°

    The Cursed Silk Dress Balloons 32.078098° -81.082878°
    Apr 17 2023
    Hey, Everyone!Today I’m going to tell you about a rather fashionable weapon of war…I have a story about the Confederate Air Corps… and their airships made from silk dresses… Or so the legend goes.It is a tragic and twisted story from the beginning all the way to the very sad end. These balloons seemed to be tinged by a curse.     It was back in 1862 in a pre-dawn light when Savannah gas plant supervisor James Smedberg braced himself against the wall of a brick well to shut off… as he called it… an “intolerable gas flow” and found his hand resting on the still lifeless face of a man suspended on the side of the pit where the valve was located.Smedberg said the man was hanging by the jaws, between a flange on one side and the brickwork on the other.Two men were dead, another lay at the bottom of a twenty-four-foot dry well used for running gas and oil pipes for the facility.Around the spot, other plant workers staggered and fell across the work yard like drunken chickens around a barnyard moonshine tank.Nearby a short rope held the partially inflated Gazelle, an experimental Confederate observation balloon tied to a winch that was staked to the ground of the gasworks terrace.The day was supposed to be a festive occasion with bleachers for military and city bigwigs, but then all hell broke loose.I’m JD Byous. Welcome to History By GPS, where you travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location.Remember, the other GPS locations mentioned in this story can be found on HistoryByGPS.COM or on the show notes of your podcast provider… Apple, Google Podcast… and others.This is part of three interesting historical events that happened years apart at this exact location… which is…32.078098° -81.082878°.The other two episodes were the Don’t Tax Me Bro story and the Yankee in the Garden episode. So, check them out if you haven’t. You’ll hear about this guy, Smedberg mentioned in one of them.Okay, back to the balloon that had a gas problem…And at my age… boy, I know the feeling.Now, I will tell you that I had come across this story… about the Confederate balloon… in my studies about the American Civil War. And I will tell you that I am not a scholar of that war by any means. I am a scholar of the places I lived and how things like the Revolutionary and Civil War affected them.But this incident came to my attention almost by accident. When I was going through old newspaper accounts of things that happened at the area in Savannah called Trustees’ Garden I came across a one or two sentence notice in a Richmond, Virginia newspaper that said that on May 29 1862 two men died in an accident at the Savannah gas works.So I set it aside and pretty much forgot about it.Later, I was researching the Savannah gas works and found an article written by James Smedberg about how it was necessary to use pine wood to make gas because of the scarcity of coal during the war. In it he talked about the deaths and that it happened when they were inflating a balloon for the military.It became evident that the only balloon possible was the first gas balloon built by the Confederate Army to use to spy on Union forces.Okay, back to business… I imagine that a gas leak was evident when Superintendent Smedberg arrived at the Savannah gasworks just before sunrise at 4 o’clock on that May 29 morning.He must have smelled smell the fumes before he stepped onto the property.See, coal and wood gas give off a putrid odor like the oil used in the cracks of sidewalks or creosote piers and telephone poles. It’s unlike today’s odorless natural gas, which needs the added chemical mercaptan to give a scent to escaping fumes.Gas retort ovens for cooking coal or wood to manufacture gas.President Abraham Lincoln’s Union blockade created a shortage of coal for the Confederacy. Residential and industrial products like coal supplies could not get into the city… or out of, for that matter.So the buoyancy for lifting the Confederate Army balloon, Gazelle, required gas that was cooked from Southern yellow pine wood. Some reported that wood gas was thicker and burned better than standard coal, but both forms have a similar smell.For the gasworks crew, it was time for the morning shift change when Smedberg circled the building to get onto the holding tank terrace where the fumes emanated.The pungent, nauseating stench would have socked Smedberg in the nose like a punch during a Saturday night boozer.[1] He later wrote that Several plant workers “were badly asphyxiated.”Two Irish immigrants, Martin Brannan, and William Harper were dead.One had broken his neck in a fall down the maintenance well and could not be removed because of the heavy flow of gas from the pipe that was supposed to be filling the balloon. The stokers of the redoubt ovens, ordinarily tough and hard-as-nails men… were in a panic. Their eyes were blood red and burning from the fumes. Some lay on the coal-tar-stained ground ...
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    45 mins
  • Yankee in the Garden 32.078098° -81.082878°

    Yankee in the Garden 32.078098° -81.082878°
    Mar 13 2023
    Hey, everyone!Did you hear that?Somebody said, “The Yankees are coming!”Actually, we hear that all the time here in Savannah, Georgia.Today it would mean they were coming down for a few days of vacation… But back in 1864, it didn’t mean they were stopping in town to catch dinner at Sweet Potatoes Kitchen and buy a couple of tee shirts down on River Street.It would have been a little more distressing when those words were spoken around South Georgia.And so… to go with that… here’s a great story about a Union Prisoner of war in Savannah at the end of the American Civil War who heard those words and was very relieved…His story… gives you a perspective that you don’t often hear.Because in 1864, Union soldier Frederick Emil Schmitt and others endured the stench of filth and death in the infamous Confederate Civil War Prison camp near Andersonville, Georgia.Andersonville_Prison by John L Ransom former prisoner.But out of a stroke of genius and luck, he ended up in Savannah, hiding from the Rebels and waiting for the arrival of the army of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.Union Major General, William T. Sherman.He has a great story that almost fell into obscurity. Sick around and I’ll give you my take on it.I'm JD Byous. Welcome to History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture, GPS location by GPS location. So click on your favorite map app and follow along.The coordinates for the location talked about in the podcast 32.078098° -81.082878°Now… on to our story… which, by the way… is one of three interesting historical events that happened years apart at this same location… we’re talking physically on the same spot of ground within a ten-yard circle.You’ll find those stories noted at the website too.For this episode the spot plays an important role in the life of Frederick Schmitt because he ended up hiding within this small tiny circle on the globe.If you recall the story of Andersonville, almost 13,000 of 43,000 Union prisoners died from hunger and disease during the years the prison was operating… 1861 to 1865...Now… I might add that similar conditions were experienced in Northern prisoner-of-war camps. There were no picnic either… but you don’t hear as much about them.The South lost the war in case you haven't heardAnd… as is always espoused… The victor writes the history.What made things worse in the South was that the population was low on food and provisions, which made prison life a living hell.By the way, JD Huitt over at The History Underground on YouTube has a great episode about the conditions at Andersonville. I’ll put the link in the show notes. It’s well worth a look.Okay… There at Andersonville… One day Frederick Schmitt’s luck changed in October 1864 when he noticed a group of prisoners by the main gate being placed in rank and file as if they were getting ready to march outside. It was drizzling rain when he saw his chance for a difference in scenery.But who was Frederick Schmitt?Great question! I’m glad you asked. It fits right in with the next part of the story.Schmitt came to America from Bavaria in 1859, settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and enlisted in the Union Army on February 10, 1864. He held the rank of private in Company D, of the 3rd New Jersey Cavalry regiment under Colonel Andrew J. Morrison.By June 1864, he was in the Union Calvary under Major-General James H. Wilson and found himself captured after the rebels raided his position outside of Richmond, Virginia. His friends and officers couldn’t find him and thought he was dead and they listed him as being killed in action.So, most of his military life… military experience… was in Prison.In 1919 he wrote his memoir of being a POW when he was 77 years old, fifty-five years after his experience in the South.But… ironically… his story wasn’t published until 1958, when his daughter gave it to the Wisconsin Historical Society.So, I guess there’s hope for some of the articles I wrote back in my newspaper days…Not much is known about Schmitt. I do know that he was an engineer, and I did find a master’s thesis written at the University of Wisconsin in 1904 by a Frederick Schmitt.It was on mass transit, you know, street trolleys, and things like that, and as far as I can tell, he was in that field… being an engineer, so he could have written it, I suppose.However, I suspect it may have been a son or someone else since he… Frederick… would have been 62 years old by that time.Then again… I got my history degree at the ripe old age of 53, so who knows.His recollection of the prison is an intriguing story in that it… bends, the typical narrative about Andersonville with an interesting perspective. It tells of his kindness toward his captors in a way that other prisoners did not record nor recollect afterward. At least as far as I’ve seen.Schmitt said… and I quote…, “Personally, I witnessed no cruelties to individuals, except ...
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    25 mins
  • Don't Tax Me Bro! 32.078098° -81.082878°

    Don't Tax Me Bro! 32.078098° -81.082878°
    Mar 5 2023
    Hey, everyone.We’ve got a great story for this episode.Today we’re going to talk about two historical events that were separated by 100 yards but were a decade apart in history.They also tie in geographically with two other historical events that took place on the same GPS location that we are looking at today.Those are in different episodes.Well, back in 1765, things were getting hot here in Savannah, Georgia. And we’re not talking weather kind of hot. We’re talkin’… if things had gotten out of hand, the American Revolution could have started a decade earlier… kind of hot.So… why all the fuss?Stick around, I’ll give you my take on it…I’m JD Byous, and this is History by GPS, where you travel through history and culture GPS location by GPS location.You can find transcripts of the show at HistoryByGPS.com or on the show notes for Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and other podcast platforms for the coordinates of where these events happened.As for the main location…Here are the coordinates… 32.078098° -81.082878°Okay, back to a hot time in Savannah.The first incident in 1766 was over a little paper stamp.People got really riled up over this little stamp.So why get aflutter about a small piece of paper… it only cost a few pennies?Here’s why… It incident took place on the northeastern corner of Savannah’s Historic District in what locals call the Old Fort District.Today the Charles H. Morris Center at Trustees’ Garden is on top of the bluff where Colonial Era Fort Halifax once stood.Now, this spot is just a few feet away from Savannah’s world-famous Pirates’ House Restaurant, which is in a building that sits on the location of the old fort headquarters… and may, in fact… after pouring through old records and studying the construction of the facility… I suspect a section of the structure is the same building used by the British before and during the Revolution.See, right outside of that building is where things got heated… nine years before the start of the American Revolution. Georgia and the other colonies were political tender spots that were growing into tinderboxes and were ready to blow.The Pirates’ House in 1939.The area outside… it was open land stretching to the gates of the town one-quarter mile to the west. The Sons of Liberty – Liberty Boys – had gathered around the fort’s walls, screaming and demanding they be let in.Captain John Milledge and his British Royal Rangers were on the parapets and were determined keeping them out.The uproar was over the British Parliament’s passing of The Stamp Tax of 1765, which put a levy on several paper items. In addition to that law, the American Revenue Tax of 1764, a Sugar Tax, had already inflamed the residents the year before. Like other imposed taxes, the paper tax mandated payment in British Pounds, not in colonial currency.See, each colony had its own monetary system with different values based on the English pounds, shillings, and pence. However, ALL colonial currencies were worth LESS than the British equivalents.On top of that, Much of the commercial currency was in barter. Barter being the practice of trading product for product. People paid with rum, or tobacco, or some other commodity.Which is one reason the tax man wanted to be paid in British pound sterling. Barter is difficult to access and tax for many reasons. And it’s difficult for those paying taxes because they have to exchange their goods for currency… first to Colonial script… which was hindered by a chronic shortage of paper or coin specie… then it was exchanged for British currency.And the total per stamp cost was around 2 shillings, 6 pence, which equalled 54 pence… pennies.During the days leading up to the American Revolution, the “obnoxious” stamps represented taxation by the Crown. The levy covered things like playing cards, magazines, newspapers, and legal documents.Now, the stamps that were to be distributed in Georgia were stored at Fort Halifax. That’s where the hubbub came up. Royal Governor James Wright placed them there for protection against the local Sons of Liberty, who vowed to burn them.After the Liberty Boys marched on the fort. Governor Wright wrote in a report, “And on the 1st appearance of Faction & Sedition I ordered in Some of the Rangers from each Post & made up the Number here at Savannah 56 Privates & 8 officers and with which & the assistance of Such Gents as were of a Right Way of thinking I have been able in a great Measure to Support His Majesties Authority.”This guy writes crazily. This guy didn’t know what a period or a comma was.…So in other words he brought in 64 soldiers who thought the way he did and had them armed and ready to defend the stamps and the king’s authority to issue them.James Wright held the Sons of Liberty in absolute disdain. In another report, he complained that “the Liberty Boys, as they call themselves, had assembled together to the Number of about 200 ...
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    20 mins
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