A Walk in The Park

by Daniel Mallock

Last year I had a most abysmal job. The only joy in it was the location, nearby to Centennial Park in Nashville, Tn.

Nashville was surrendered without a shot to the Union after Forts Henry and Donelson fell to US Grant in early 1862. The Federals immediately began to dig in and fortify, and Nashville became the 2nd most fortified city on the continent second only to Washington, DC. An important supply depot for the Union in the west, Nashville was considered critical – and would be held. Only John Bell Hood in 1864 would come close to threatening the Union’s hold on the city.

Ringed by forts and blockhouses, Nashville was a formidable place. Fort Negley, recently refurbished and re-opened to the public, is a fantastic example of the star fort style of the War. It’s an amazing place to visit. Bristling with guns Nashville was quite the prize and not easily taken, in fact it never fell.

The Federals built fortifications and gun emplacements all around the city. One of these locations was the Centennial Park area where a very impressive replica of the Parthenon now sits.

My abysmal job was located near by to Centennial Park and I took a stroll in the park during my first week. There was a Union mortar emplacement in this particular section of the park and I went to look at the muzzle – you know to see if they were legit, etc. Well, sure enough, they were the real deal.

This emplacement had two mortars side by side both screwed down tight to concrete platforms. Very imposing and impressive one could imagine the shells being thrown for miles from these guns. I was most impressed – then I was horrified as I saw to my shock that one of the mortars had a round half in and half out of the mouth of the gun! I saw no indication whatever that the shell (round shot) had been disarmed. I thought, gosh, some drunken fool with a hammer or bottle banging on that thing… boom!

(Look at the pedestal behind this behemoth… it’s empty! Now you know why! Photo courtesy of Mr. Chip Curley. I am not an artillery expert and do not know exactly what kind of mortar this is. I invite any of my kind and ever patient readers to comment and let me know as much as they do about this critter.)

So, being the good Civil War student and humanitarian I looked on the Internet for the email address of the director of Public Works for the City of Nashville. I figured that the Department of Public Works would be responsible for such things, you know, like Civil War artillery pieces with live rounds in them in public places and such. I found his contact information readily and, consulting a map out of curiosity, also determined that sure enough this fine fellow’s office was located about 200 yards from the mouth of the gun and directly in its line of fire.

I crafted a nice little email and sent it along politely informing the Director of Public Works for the City of Nashville, TN that his office could be fired on at any moment from a Yankee cannon located nearby that was still loaded.

He replied that he would investigate the matter, right away.

Well, sure enough, three days didn’t go by before that mortar and its solid shot disappeared from the park!

The following week the local newspaper “The Tennessean” printed a single paragraph item buried deep in its pages that one of the mortars from Centennial Park had been removed. The paper stated that they didn’t know why the gun had been moved, or when and/or if it would be replaced. I didn’t get any credit at all but the comfort of knowing that the danger of the Yankee gun had been resolved! Several months back I did a little recon and the gun was still absent.

So you see, the moral of the story is this… just a little of bit of Civil War knowledge can be a life saver!

“For the Union Dead” by Robert Lowell – A Superb Civil War Poem that Continues to Resonate

Introduction by Daniel Mallock

It is altogether fitting and proper that this poem should be posted and read today, of all days. Martin Luther King day is the right day for this poem, this tribute to the Union dead of the Civil War and a particular remembrance of the black soldiers who wore the uniform of the Union particularly of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment made famous to non-Civil War students by the movie Glory several years ago.

The 54th Massachusetts was the first black regiment to march from the North to fight the Confederacy. These men were quite brave knowing that in battle they would likely get little or no quarter, and if captured they would most assuredly be sent south back to slavery. These men had much to prove what with years of racism from North and South to be broken and defeated by their bravery and sacrifices not to mention the Confederate army that they would later face on the battlefield. They would win ever-lasting fame for their courage during their doomed assault on Fort Wagner at Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, July, 1863. The attack would be a night assault on this heavily guarded fort. The fighting would be intense and the 54th would not be successful. Their white colonel, Robert Gould Shaw would be killed, and almost half the regiment would be lost. The first Medal of Honor for a black man would be earned there.

They marched down Beacon Street, with the Massachusetts State House on one side and Boston Common on the other – off to war, off to death and glory on a twin mission; to fight for the Union and show the world that they were equal in ability to whites. Directly across the street from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Street there now stands the brilliant monument by Augustus St. Gaudens forever commemorating the 54th, the first black regiment and their white commander Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.

Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Colonel, 54th Massachusetts

This monument on Beacon Hill is one of the finest monuments of any kind in the United States. As a tribute to Shaw and the 54th it is unparalled in the physical world; but in the emotional world, the world of poetry, Robert Lowell comes quite close. Lowell brilliantly describes the monument to the 54th and works it into the life of Boston that foremost of abolition cities of the North. Standing before the 54th monument on Beacon Hill, as the crowds walk swiftly by and the traffic speeds along past the State House, one can almost hear the men breath as they are forever frozen in bronze on their march south to battle. There are few monuments in bronze as lifelike as this one: it is an incredible tribute to the 54th and their commander and adorns the city of Boston as fittingly as the obelisk at Bunker Hill or the colonial historical sites of Adams, Revere, Hancock, and several miles to the west, Lexington and Concord.

Lowell’s “For the Union Dead” is a successful poem on so many levels and succeeds completely where Tate’s “Ode to the Confederate Dead” so totally fails. It unifies time and place, and brings context and permanence where everything seems to be shifting and changing. As a tribute to the 54th and the Union dead of the Civil War its elements run as deep as the waters off the coast of Boston seen from the top of Beacon Hill so long ago when the skyscrapers didn’t block the view.

Having started his education at Harvard Lowell transfered to Kenyon College to study under John Crowe Ransom another of Vanderbilt’s Fugitives, like Allen Tate and Donald Davidson. It is an astounding thing that the two greatest Civil War poems of modern times (“Lee in the Mountains” and “For the Union Dead”) and the worst (“Ode to the Confederate Dead”) should be written by poets with Nashville connections. Lowell went on to graduate school to study under Robert Penn Warren, another Vanderbilt “Fugitive”.

St. Gaudens placed a latin inscription on the monument, the motto of the Society of the Cincinnati (a society of Revolutionary War officers started by George Washington and Henry Knox): “Relinquit Omnia Servare Rem Publicam”. The translation is: “He left behind everything to save the Republic”. Lowell opened his poem with this latin phrase but changed the singular “he” to “they” in the latin so that his poem would refer to all the men of the 54th not just its white commander, Robert Gould Shaw, to read: “Relinquunt Omnia Servare Rem Publicam”.

St. Gaudens’ Masterpiece – The 54th Massachusetts Marching to War – You can almost hear them breath

“For the Union Dead” was published in 1964 during the height of the Civil Rights movement. Active in Civil Rights efforts it is perfectly understandable that Lowell should have written this poem of unity and appreciation with concern, too, that the past should be remembered and its lessons learned. The battlefield of Fort Wagner had been by then reclaimed by the sea at Charleston Harbor and the monument to the 54th had fallen into disrepair. In fact, it was during this time that the St. Gaudens monument had been removed and stored in a crate to prevent damage from “shaking” from the construction of the underground Boston Commons parking garage. So, the battleground is gone, and Shaw’s monunument is gone (but only temporarily), and history fades while “progress” continues speedily obliterating the memory of those that have come before.

“The stone statues of the abstract Union Soldier
grow slimmer and younger each year–
wasp-waisted, they doze over muskets
and muse through their sideburns . . .”

Lowell’s brilliant poem is his way of retaining the past and ensuring that important historical memory is not lost forever. The men of the 54th Massachusetts, black and white, were leaders in bringing an end to slavery and establishing equality under the law for blacks in America. The story of their bravery and sacrifice is important to understanding American history and the Civil War. These men demonstrated with their actions and their blood that they were equals and merited equal positions in American society. As Americans North and South we ought to continue to embrace their memory and appreciate the many challenges that they overcame and the lessons that they taught us with their sacrifices at Fort Wagner and elsewhere.

On Martin Luther King day especially we can look back to the 54th Massachusetts as a standard bearer in the struggle for Civil Rights in America. In the 1980s I was privileged to be part of an effort to restore the St. Gaudens monument to its original beauty and power. Lowell’s poem is a tribute to this beautiful work of art, and the men of the 54th Massachusetts who so inspired it. It is our duty as a civilized society to remember our past, appreciate and commemorate our war dead, and learn those lessons that they underscored for later generations with their lives.

“Two months after marching through Boston,
half the regiment was dead;
at the dedication,
William James could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe.”

This is one of the finest poems of the 20th century and stands with “Lee in the Mountains” as one of the two great modern poems of the Civil War. It is my pleasure to present it here.

-Daniel Mallock

For the Union Dead

by Robert Lowell

“Relinquunt Omnia Servare Rem Publicam.”

The old South Boston Aquarium stands
in a Sahara of snow now. Its broken windows are boarded.
The bronze weathervane cod has lost half its scales.
The airy tanks are dry.

Once my nose crawled like a snail on the glass;
my hand tingled
to burst the bubbles
drifting from the noses of the cowed, compliant fish.

My hand draws back. I often sigh still
for the dark downward and vegetating kingdom
of the fish and reptile. One morning last March,
I pressed against the new barbed and galvanized

fence on the Boston Common. Behind their cage,
yellow dinosaur steamshovels were grunting
as they cropped up tons of mush and grass
to gouge their underworld garage.

Parking spaces luxuriate like civic
sandpiles in the heart of Boston.
A girdle of orange, Puritan-pumpkin colored girders
braces the tingling Statehouse,

shaking over the excavations, as it faces Colonel Shaw
and his bell-cheeked Negro infantry
on St. Gaudens’ shaking Civil War relief,
propped by a plank splint against the garage’s earthquake.

Two months after marching through Boston,
half the regiment was dead;
at the dedication,
William James could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe.

Their monument sticks like a fishbone
in the city’s throat.
Its Colonel is as lean
as a compass-needle.

He has an angry wrenlike vigilance,
a greyhound’s gently tautness;
he seems to wince at pleasure,
and suffocate for privacy.

He is out of bounds now. He rejoices in man’s lovely,
peculiar power to choose life and die–
when he leads his black soldiers to death,
he cannot bend his back.

On a thousand small town New England greens,
the old white churches hold their air
of sparse, sincere rebellion; frayed flags
quilt the graveyards of the Grand Army of the Republic.

The stone statues of the abstract Union Soldier
grow slimmer and younger each year–
wasp-waisted, they doze over muskets
and muse through their sideburns . . .

Shaw’s father wanted no monument
except the ditch,
where his son’s body was thrown
and lost with his “niggers.”

The ditch is nearer.
There are no statues for the last war here;
on Boylston Street, a commercial photograph
shows Hiroshima boiling

over a Mosler Safe, the “Rock of Ages”
that survived the blast. Space is nearer.
When I crouch to my television set,
the drained faces of Negro school-children rise like balloons.

Colonel Shaw
is riding on his bubble,
he waits
for the blessèd break.

The Aquarium is gone. Everywhere,
giant finned cars nose forward like fish;
a savage servility
slides by on grease.

54th:

http://www.nga.gov/feature/shaw/s3100.shtm

http://www.54thmass.org/54about.html

Shaw:

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/1800sarmybiographies/p/rgshaw.htm

Monument:

http://boston.about.com/od/walkingtours/ss/bcWalkingTour_10.htm

(photo of monument: Robert Gould Shaw Memorial photo courtesy Larry Stritof © 2006.)

Obtuseness and Inaction Create a Disaster in Omaha

by Daniel Mallock, BookFolks

Desperately damaged people ought not to be allowed to inflict their desperation and moral emptiness on others. This is exactly what happened Wednesday (12/05/07) in Omaha, Nebraska.

All Americans are horrified, stunned and appalled at this vicious murder of innocents doing their Christmas shopping at a mall. The country unites in grief at the loss to our society and to their families and friends of the 8 innocent victims. We wonder why the broken young man who committed this act of cowardly violence couldn’t simply have killed himself and left everyone else alone? Too many broken empty people apparently have a strong need to hurt others, this makes them exceedingly dangerous to all of us.

The events in April at Virginia Tech, and the mall shootings in Salt Lake City several months later are eerily similar to this most recent horror in Omaha.

One could make political arguments here about the value of an armed populace: anybody with a gun in that mall could have challenged the angry empty killer and perhaps have stopped his murderous rampage. But now is not the time for such discussion – it’s just too soon. Now we wait for the funerals and join with our fellow Americans hurting in Omaha in sorrow and anguish. We always ask questions after these kinds of horrific events: How could this happen? How can someone be so evil, so selfish, so hateful, so angry, so empty? Could this terrible crime have been prevented?

WCBSTV in Ohama in an article on this horror posted today states
“She told the Omaha World-Herald that the night before the shooting, Hawkins and her sons showed her an SKS semiautomatic Russian military rifle – the same type used in the shooting. She said she thought the gun belonged to a member of Hawkins’ family. She said she didn’t think much of it – the gun looked too old to work. ”
The “she” in the story is the mother of a friend with whom the murderer had been living. Tragically, the gun that Hawkins showed her was likely the murder weapon, and the day of the shooting Ms. Maruca-Kovac “went to her job as a nurse at the Nebraska Medical Center, where victims of the shooting soon began to arrive.”

The twisted young man who perpetrated this evil upon the people of Omaha should never have been allowed to be near a weapon. But he was. Mr. and Mrs. Maruca-Kovac must have known that he had been “kicked out” of his parent’s home. They knew that he was a deeply troubled young man. Did they know that he had threatened to kill his step-mother and was sent to a mental institution? They should have known that such a person should not have access to firearms. Why did they not take this weapon, and call the authorities?

Misplaced Sympathy

Mrs. Maruca-Kovac said on the “Early Show”, “I feel so sorry for him, that he was so lost and alone that he had to resort to this.” This is an unfortunate public utterance. I have zero sympathy for the wretched murderer, but a great deal of sympathy for the victims and their families.

Warning Signs and Access to Weapons

Only two weeks ago a former female friend of the killer told KETV news that Hawkins had threatened her and her family. “Mandy said Hawkins had threatened her and her family as recently as two weeks ago. She said one message threatened to shoot her if she didn’t stop bad-mouthing Hawkins.” The assault rifle used in the attack was owned by his stepfather, and apparently stolen from him. This very same rifle was seen in his possession the evening before the murders by his friend’s mom (and host) Mrs. Maruca-Kovac. And yet she neither confiscated the weapon nor contacted the authorities. Shouldn’t the host family have taken some action to separate this clearly confused and bitter young man (with a long criminal history and mental health problems) from this or any weapon?

Obtuseness and Death

In so many of these horrible cases those close to the murderer are unaware of their ownership of, or access to, weapons. This is not the case here. What is the responsibility of a mature person in our society when they know that an unbalanced person (someone who had made violent threats against his own step-mother) owns a weapon or can obtain one readily? Is responsibility negated when the observer is unaware of the true nature of the person involved, or simply chooses not to see it? The killer was living under her roof for a year, how could she not have known?

Mrs. Maruka-Kovac is quoted on KETV’s website as having said yesterday after hearing of the murders, “‘I had a sick feeling when I heard about it,” she said. “I can’t believe he would go this far. He was a good-hearted kid. He was just going through some rough times.’”

The wrongness of this statement is self-evident. Deconstructing it completely unnecessary. Some knew this young man for what he was, and what he was capable of, while others were apparently utterly oblivious. Do those so close yet so apparently obtuse carry any responsibility for this crime?

Heading Toward a Total Break

Mrs. Maruca-Kovac is quoted on YahooNews today describing Hawkins as someone who “helped out all the time”. Was she seeing him for what he was, or what she hoped and wanted him to be? The authorities knew of him due to his felony drug conviction in March of 2005, and a disorderly conduct charge later that same year. He was facing a court appointment later this month on contributing to the delinquency of a minor charge. This is not a person who is “good”, or “kind-hearted”.

Despite Hawkins’ troubled recent history, and his pending court hearing (which she may not have been aware of, we just don’t know yet), she did not confiscate the rifle that she saw in his possession in her own home the evening prior to the attack, nor did she contact the authorities about it. “But Maruca-Kovak saw nothing foreshadowing the horror Hawkins would inflict during his last moments alive. She remembered a gentle young man who loved animals. She regarded him so benignly that when he showed her an SKS semiautomatic rifle the night before his attack, she thought little of it, the Omaha World-Herald reported.”

This was not a gentle young man, obviously. Can we blame people for lack of insight, for a failure of character judgment at a critical moment? Can we judge them for their inability to judge others? Because the murderer was a guest in her home, and a friend of her family, there must be some accountability that society can demand for the fact that she allowed this broken, cowardly, morally empty young murderous man a place in her home and at her table and allowed him to retain a weapon in her home. If nothing had happened in Omaha we would never have heard of Mrs. Maruca-Kovak and her wretched house guest.

As quoted in the local press, and by her own admission, she thought nothing of the rifle in the young man’s possession. Two days ago, she could forget about the rifle, dismiss it from her mind and go about her business, and the poor pathetic coward who supposedly loved animals but clearly hated himself and human beings.

The Obtuse Experts Weigh In – What Can be Done? They say Nothing Can Be Done. I Totally Disagree

Some obtuse so-called experts suggest doing nothing, in fact that there is nothing anybody can do. Sometimes, well, things like this just happen, they suggest.

Observe: “‘This is not something that anybody can reasonably anticipate,’ said Don Greene, a former FBI agent who has written a book on mall security.” This is unacceptable. Doing nothing and simply waiting for the murderer to kill himself or run out of ammunition is a failure of imagination and completely irresponsible. This concept that we are utterly powerless in the face of evil is ridiculous and offensive. A first step is to get armed security personnel into every mall in the United States, and quickly. But the experts have their negative opinions on this suggestion as well.

There are 1,200 enclosed malls in the United States and about 50,000 shopping centers. Although some include police sub-stations, most are patrolled by unarmed private mall and store security guards.

Should these private security guards be armed? “Absolutely not,” said Greene. Greene said if a security officer were to pull a gun on an armed individual in a mall, it could result in ‘the gunfight at the ‘OK corral,’ and then we might have 23 people killed instead of eight.’”

More do-nothing utter nonsense.

The concept of fighting armed criminals and murderers with complete inactivity,  flight/hiding being the only apparent acceptable (to them) response is beyond unacceptable.

We Have Air Marshals – Empower Mall Marshals NOW! 

We have Air Marshals on every American aircraft. The Air Marshal has a concealed weapon, is properly trained, and will use his/her weapon if the aircraft is threatened by armed lunatics. Every time I fly commercial I am heartened to know that there is at least one armed “good guy/gal” on the aircraft.

We need now in this country a program of Mall Marshals. Every mall in the USA should have at least one properly trained security guard armed with a concealed weapon onsite during open hours. Imagine how this nightmare may have turned out if the assailant had known there were at least one armed officer in the mall. Perhaps he wouldn’t have gone there. Perhaps it would not have happened? We can never know. Cowards don’t go places where they know they will likely be confronted. These mass murders are acts of cowards, cowards hate confrontation, and they will not go to places where they may be challenged or readily stopped. We must take action, responsive and preventative. We must make changes now.

We Need a Solution Immediately – Air Marshals to Mall Marshals

We need to create a “Mall Marshal” program as soon as possible so that killers like Hawkins will hesitate (and perhaps reconsider) before they ever consider such a course again. This program is a preventative one, to stop such events before they happen – and to provide some recourse in the event that they do. It is time that we protect our public spaces and ourselves. Attacking an unguarded mall is simply too easy for psychopaths. It seems not a difficult matter to me to empower a trained security officer to carry a concealed weapon to protect the public and employees in these facilities.

Doing nothing in the face of these mass killings is not acceptable. The reality of the solution is simple, but finding the political will in our society to implement it is quite another matter. There is too much at stake to do nothing.

Infamy is an Ugly Fame 

Hawkins the murderer wrote the other day in his pre-murder-spree note, “Now I’ll be famous”. His friend’s mom is now also famous. It’s an ugly kind of fame, infamy. They both have the attention of the country, but for all the wrong reasons.

Tragedy of Cleveland, Ohio Should Not Be Its Obituary – It Should be A Call for Renewal!

by Daniel Mallock, BookFolk

Recent headlines for Cleveland could hardly be worse, “Where Cleveland Went Wrong”, and School Shooting! are two of the most recent. This once proud “rust belt” city on Lake Erie is in eclipse. Long known for lake effect heavy snows and too many gray days per year Cleveland is now the horror that all American cities fear to become. With a completely diminished tax base, a failed economy, and little apparent hope for economic recovery in the near future Cleveland waits to figure out how to repeat the stunning recovery of similar cities like Pittsburgh. After the steel mills close, the inner city rots away, foreclosures suck the life out of low and middle class areas, and folks who can flee flee, where can Cleveland turn for growth and renewal?There are four fascinating aspects of Cleveland life that, if properly fostered, encourage, and leveraged, will be the foundation of its rebirth – diversity of population, superb civic culture and history, excellent health care, Lake Erie waterfront and port.

The excessive and horrible foreclosures currently sweeping the country, based upon shady and misleading mortgages sold to folks wanting a share in the American dream of home ownership – have hit Cleveland hardest. One section of Cleveland in particular now is littered with empty foreclosed homes looted by dirtbags and crooks (see link above).

This is now the time for urban renewal folks to make their plans. Giving up on Cleveland is for fools – Cleveland can now become a shining example of American ingenuity – a place where folks will want to move to and live. It’ll take time, but the effort should be made, and quickly.

Cleveland is blessed with one of the finest orchestra’s in the world, the Cleveland Orchestra. Long recognized as one of the finest symphonies in the world it is a testimony to Cleveland’s importance that so many in the area continue to support this great institution as the city that hosts it continues its long crumble into decay. There is enough money in the area, enough people loyal to the area – living outside the city limits – who continue to support the superb cultural and educational offerings of the city. In addition to the Orchestra, Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art are available for all to enjoy. Cleveland has a proud history. Ohio was one of the largest contributors of soldiers to the Union during the Civil War. The monument to Civil War veterans in downtown Cleveland is a little known national treasure that all who appreciate American heritage and history should visit. Folks are not leaving the region en masse, only the inner city itself (with folks who can’t leave, staying). Cleveland can be saved. If Cleveland is not revitalized and rehabilitated it will become a sister city Detroit. While the proponents for Cleveland and Detroit may challenge the studies that proclaim the failure of these cities and speak of the irresponsibility and cruelty of suggesting such things – the problems remain. These problems must be resolved, and quickly. Hopefully, for both Cleveland and Detroit the hour is not too late to make a change. And don’t forget, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, too! Cleveland rocks, remember?

The failure of American steel and the closure of most of Cleveland’s factories, steel mills, and economic infrastructure shattered the economy of the city in the 70s and 80s – but… businesses remain and are growing – albeit in completely different sectors. Now, healthcare and technology are the economic hopes for Cleveland’s future growth and prosperity. Cleveland Clinic is a nationally ranked hospital system serving folks from all across the planet. Imagine – Cleveland as a destination city just for health care! Well, that’s the truth.

The true natural resource of Cleveland and the foundation of its recovery is the waterfront. Some folks in Cleveland are actively working to build up the waterfront, attract investment and bring folks back to Cleveland. The Port Authority is leading the way. Why can’t Cleveland have a bustling port and waterfront anchored with the Rock Hall and the Science Museum just like Boston’s or Baltimore’s or San Francisco’s. Build a destination for folks – a beautiful place with great hotels and parks and condos and apartments and restaurants and homes – and folks will come!

So, how does a city recover after being the hardest hit in the nation by foreclosures with school shootings and serious inner city decay? All the great urban planners, investment gurus, historians, restaurateurs, and government officials – city, regional, and federal – should build a commission now to reclaim Cleveland.

It is a national sin to let our cities fall and die while our pathetic neanderthal pseudo allies grow rich on our consumption of their oil. Our cities should be a shining light, a beacon, to everyone in the world – a testament to our ingenuity, our skills at planning, organization, and creativity. Shame on the government of Cleveland and the federal government for allowing Cleveland to rust and die a slow wretched death.

Bring Cleveland back to life and bring Detroit back to life, too. America is built on hard work and business and caring for our fellow citizens. Let Cleveland be a beacon to those creative folks who want to show their stuff, their organizational and leadership skills, and their patriotism. Rebuild Cleveland. Do it now.