Who is this person?

[Gene C]

John Ericsson - designer of the USS Monitor ?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Good guess, Roger, but Gene is correct - brilliant, Gene!!

Please allow this aside: AFAIK, the first submarine entirely made of riveted sheet iron was the "Brandtaucher" (Incendiary Diver), nicknamed "Eiserner Seehund" (Iron Seal), which was constructed by Wilhelm Bauer in Kiel (where I live) in 1850 to break the blockade of the Danish Navy. It weighed about 70,000 pounds and was powered by two sailors turning a big tread wheel with their hands and feet. Under an enemy's ship the captain would reach out through a gutta percha glove fixed to an opening of the hull, grab an electrically triggered mine mine located on the hull, and fix it on the target vessel. Then the mine was to be ignited from a safe distance.
       
At a public show in the Kiel harbor on Feb.1,1851, the sliding weight slid too far forward and the Brandtaucher plunged to the bottom, getting stuck in the mud at 60 feet. Water pressure was too great to allow Bauer and his two sailors to open the hatch. For six hours they had to wait until enough water had seeped in through the damaged hull so that incoming water had raised the internal pressure to match that outside. The increased air pressure inside the sub finally allowed the men to open the hatch, and they were swept aloft unharmed in a bubble of escaping air. This was also the first submarine escape to be witnessed and reported. The Brandtaucher was raised in 1887 and is still on display.

I think (not sure) the Hunley was quite a similar construction?! BTW, did the Hunley sink more than one ship?

[RJNorton]

Eva, that is a fascinating post!

Vicki and I visited the Hunley several years ago, and I am pretty certain the guide said it only sank that one ship.

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Who is this person?

[Rogerm]

Is this the 14 or 15 year old future historian who discovered the photo of the body of Lincoln lying in state?

[RJNorton]

Terrific guess, Roger, but it's not Ron Rietveld.

[Dave Taylor]

Ed Steers

I just recently watched the short video about him that included that photograph:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...YrT-6bGs#!

[RJNorton]

You got it, Dave. Kudos. I saw it in the same place you did and emailed Ed for permission to use it as a trivia question.

[L Verge]

Great video, and I am proud to say that I have known Ed since before he wrote his first assassination book. BTW, those beautiful gardens that you see at the beginning are at Ed's home. He has a green thumb also.

[L Verge]

The April issue of the Surratt Courier is in the mail, so I am going to pose a trivia question now and hope that Wes Harris chimes in from this point on because he authored an article for the issue on George Wren. The question is: Who was George Wren?

[Anita]

George Wren was a stage manager at Laura Keene's theater in Manhattan.

Nora Titone, in her book "My Thoughts Be Bloody" writes that George Wren had a little spat with John Wilkes Booth about Fort Sumpter. When Wren announced he was going to sign up with the Union, Booth responded in anger, saying " he did not doubt but what the South would gain what they were fighting for." Wren later testified that Booth planned to "go into the Southern Service."

[L Verge]

Thank you, Anita, for answering a question that was posed a month ago. I'm surprised that those of us who are members of the Surratt Society didn't answer my question sooner - once they received the April issue of the Courier and saw the excellent article by Wes Harris...

[Anita]

Somehow I didn't get the April issue of the Courier and I kept checking the forum to see who George Wren was. I was also surprised that your question kept sitting there unanswered. After a bit of a search I found the answer.

Now I need the April issue to read the Wes Harris article!

[L Verge]

Send me an e-mail reminder at work, and I will send you another copy. The May issue has been in the mail for a week. Have you gotten that one?

[Anita]

Yes, it came yesterday and I learned so much from your article on Dr. Squibb and Squibb Pharmaceuticals.

In addition to Squibb's bio and contributions to the Union Army, you touched on so many issues related to the status of health and medicine during the Civil War. I don't know how you managed to fit so much history into four pages, from the practice of "heroic medicine", profiteers using tainted ingredients and selling contaminated supplies to the military, problems of medical supplies distribution, to name a few.

Thanks for an interesting and informative read. Love the Surratt Courier.

[Anita]