GALENA

Bogdan Yelcovich told me "There are two of them."

Of course I said "Two of what?"

 

Of course Bogdan had an Atlantic Monthly with him. It was the January, 1863 issue.

Bogdan answered "Yes. Two Galenas."

That was two more than I was aware of.

One was a town in Illinois and the other was a ship that prowled the Atlantic coast.

Who knew?

This is the town:

These are six of the people that lived in the town.

Ulysses S. Grant a resident of Galena, Illinois. He was the 18th President of the United States after his successful role as a general in  the Civil War.

And five other generals:

Augustus Louis Chetlain, Union army, U.S. Consul to Belgium

Jasper Adalmorn Maltby, Union army, military mayor of Vicksburg

Ely Samuel Parker, Union army, transcribed Appomattox surrender terms, U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs

John Aaron Rawlins, Union army, Galena's City Attorney, Secretary of War

John Eugene Smith, Union army

This is the ship:



USS Galena was a wooden-hulled broadside ironclad built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War. She was damaged during the Battle of Drewry's Bluff because her armor was too thin to prevent Confederate shots from penetrating.

And this also was shown to me by Bogdan Yelcovich. It comes from that same Atlantic Monthly; January, 1863:

See? Down there by the water-line?

Bogdan even marked out where one shell and one canon ball is imbedded in the hull.

 

You don't think all those generals had anything to do with the naming of this ironclad - - - do you? Hometown pride and all that.

 

I wonder how the future will look upon all this.

 

 

I guess that explains the importance of Apalachicola Bay.

 

©W. Tomosky♠