Trasimond Landry Died in 1879

1879 letter, top of page 1

I haven’t written very many posts about Trasimond.  That’s mainly because I only have one solitary photo of him.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great photo from 1861.  He is young and handsome in the photo and he’s wearing a Civil War uniform for the Confederacy.  Of course, he was.  He was from the South!  I can only say so much about one photo.  I will share it again today, but it’s not the main topic of the post today.

1879 letter, bottom of page 1

The main topic is about his death in 1879.  To be more precise, it is about a letter that was sent to his wife Marie Amelie “Belite” Bujol Landry on March 17, 1879.  Trasimond had died the month before at the young age of 39.  He died from yellow fever.  I found this letter recently at the West Baton Rouge Museum.  There was a presentation there the other day for people who are interested in their family history.  It was about finding information from maps and land ownership.  It showed me how much I had to learn about all that is and can be family history.

1879 letter, top of page 2

After the presentation, a fellow enthusiast showed me some of the files available in one of the rooms I had been to several times.  I really need to pay attention to my surroundings more often!  There were all kinds of interesting documents in those files.  But I was just quickly browsing through them, because I hadn’t planned on staying long.  I was on the lookout for anything that was related to my family, though.  So I was kind of excited to find this original letter that was sent to my great great grandma Belite.  I’ve written much more about her, because she lived a full life and there are many photos of her in her later years.

1879 letter, bottom of page 2

The letter is in pretty good shape, considering how old it is.  It looks like it has been laminated in some way.  It’s a thin lamination, so it’s still pretty flexible and feels almost like regular paper.  But it does reflect the light and made it tricky to photograph.  It’s still relatively easy to read.  It looks like three different people wrote different parts of the letter.  Their handwriting is different, but all three are easily legible for those that can read script writing.

The first person writing has some calligraphy features to it.  The capital C has a heaviness about it that makes it stand out, as you can see in the words “Capt Trasimond Landry.”  He talks about the Court of West Baton Rouge Parish finding out about the sad event of the death of a recent clerk of the Court.  The decided to draft a resolution in honor of said deceased.  The second hand writing begins with “In Memorium” and talks about the death of Capt Landry on February 25, 1879.  I have his death identified as the week earlier (Feb. 18).  They point out the fact that he fought during the entire duration of the Civil War as part of the West Baton Rouge Tirailleurs.  They also note that he left his wife and five young children in “destitute circumstances.”

I was kind of surprised to see their condition spelled out so blatantly.  I had seen references to the family being left in a difficult financial situation before, so it wasn’t a shock to see it.  It made me wonder what they were going to do about it.  Offer assistance?  Provide a gift?  Nope, they just offered her condolences.  Plus they “resolved that we tender to his widow + children the heartfelt sorrow of the members of the Bar.”  They also made sure that they would publish this resolution in the local paper The Sugar Planter.  They also gave themselves some time off to mourn their departed “brother.” 

“Wait!  Wait!”  I was thinking.  “What about those debts?  What about his starving children?”  My great grandmother Marie Therese Landry – his oldest child – was only ten years old at the time.  I kept reading.  A third hand continued the letter on the back (page 2) of it.  This person was deputy clerk C. W. Pope and he dutifully closed out the official copy of the minutes of the meeting.  I wonder if it was him that put the official Louisiana state seal that is stamped on the margin of this letter?  It looks like his handwriting that added the personal note to Grandma Belite.  He addresses her as Mrs. Landry and expresses his sympathy for her “great affliction.”  He could have at least included a gift card for the local A&P or Walmart!

I wonder how this ended up in the museum.  In some ways it is a letter and in other ways it is the minutes of an official meeting.  It must have gone to Grandma Belite, since it has that part addressed to her.  You can also see the words “For my dear Mose” written across the top of the first page in pencil.  Trasimond and Belite’s fourth child was Moses Joseph Landry.  I’ve heard him referred to as Uncle Mose.  The only thing that makes sense is that those words were written to Mose by his mother Belite.  She must have wanted her son to know the respect that his father had garnered from the officials of West Baton Rouge Parish.

And now some of her descendants know that as well.  Thanks, Grandma Belite, for passing that down to us.

 

Alcide ‘Met the Elephant’ – WARNING – Graphic Content

For some reason I was thinking about the other Van Landry out there.  I have a cousin with the same name as mine and I’ve never met him.  Thinking of that led me to thinking about our common ancestor Simon Alcide Joseph Landry.  He was known by the name Alcide.  Not that I ever knew him.  He died before my father was even born.  My dad was Robert Joseph Landry, Jr. and he was known by many people as Bob.  His father, of course, was RJL, Sr.  He was known as Rob. Rob was the son of Alcide.   So when I was thinking of what I would say to the other Van about our common ancestor, I remembered a story I read about Alcide from another cousin Thomas Richey.

Alcide Landry as an adult circa 1890 or so. I wish I had more than this one photo of him.

Thomas Richey (let’s call him TR) actually descends from Alcide’s older brother Trasimond.  I descend from both of the brothers.  TR wrote a book about the experiences of our great great grandfather Trasimond during the Civil War.  Trasimond and Alcide were from southern Louisiana, so they fought for the Confederacy.  The name of the book is “Tirailleurs” and it is about the Acadians of Company H who were mainly from Brusly, Louisiana.  Of course, the main ‘star’ of the book was Trasimond.  But there were several stories about Alcide as well.  I don’t know where TR got all of the amazing details that are in the book.  He quotes old letters, diaries, and other writings from the time.  I’d like to meet him one day.  I’ll be quoting some of his book in this post.

The story I was thinking about occurred in the early morning hours of August 16, 1864, eight miles from the center of Atlanta, Georgia.  Young Alcide was sleeping in the trenches when he was startled awake by the shout of “Attaque!”  It was a trench raid and Alcide grabbed his Bowie knife.  “He looked up to see a Yankee lieutenant with his saber blade crashing toward Alcide’s head.  Alcide raised his arm to protect himself, his knife deflecting the saber stroke into the dirt.  The Yankee officer aimed a pistol in his left hand at the young Rebel private.  Alcide swung the Bowie knife and crushed the Yankee’s left hand.  He then pulled back the knife and plunged it into the Yankee’s belly.”  The knife was buried in the spine of the Federal who slumped forward, dead.

“Alcide stood panting and pale.  Sweat poured into his eyes.  This was his birthday.  He was nineteen years old – and still alive… Alcide had ‘met the elephant.’  He was no longer a new recruit…for the longest time, Alcide stared at the Union officer’s dead face.  He wondered why this poor dead Yankee would want to kill him.  He felt saddened and guilty over the man’s death.”  He reached over and pulled the cap down over the dead Yankee’s eyes and thought, “Meilleur vous que moi.” (Better you than me.)

What an intense story!  I can’t imagine facing such a situation.  We mostly live in a very peaceful time.  But during the Civil War, things could get pretty brutal.  Since I descend from Alcide, I am very pleased with the outcome of the confrontation.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.  Like Alcide, I wonder about the story of the Yankee soldier’s life.  In this book told from the southern perspective, the Yankees are the anonymous others.  It reminds me of ‘Star Trek.’ When those unnamed characters with red shirts beamed down to the dangerous planet with Captain Kirk, you knew they weren’t going to last long.  Sure enough, the next scene would show some unforeseen threat take the life of the forever unknown crew member.

The Yankee soldier that Alcide killed shares that fate.  We don’t know who he was.  I don’t even know where he was from.  Could he have been from Massachusetts, where my mom’s Bucklin family lived for generations?  Or maybe he was from Pennsylvania, where her Phenice line was from?  I don’t think we’ll ever know.  I’m sure he was from a family, though.  There could be some other family historian looking at an old great uncle or cousin in their tree and wondering, “I wonder what ever happened to him?”  Oh, the woes of war.

Samuel Phenice’s Civil War Record

It seems like I write a post about my great great grandfather’s Civil War experiences every two years.  This is the third one I have written about it.  (See  A Witness at Ford’s Theatre from 2017 and Eating Tacks in the Civil War from 2019.)  Of course I mention the fact that he was in the Civil War more frequently.  Besides sharing a document about my ancestor Samuel Charles Phenice from the War Department, I’m sharing a photo of him.  The document has a date of December 18, 1890, but the photo didn’t come with a date.  I’m guessing that it is from around 1935.

Samuel Charles Phenice in Almena, Kansas, circa 1935.

I’m sharing the photo of Charles first, because most people are more interested in people photos that old musty documents.  Fortunately for you, I will share both of them.  I find the musty old documents interesting, too.  The photo is not the best photo I have of him, but I still like it.  It comes from a photo of him with two of his daughters and a son-in-law by way of the Lincoln Collection (thank you, Mona!).  The photo is a bit distorted, especially of the other people in the photo.  Maybe I’ll get a bet version of it some day.

From the approximate ages of the people in the photo, I estimated it to be taken around 1935.  Samuel was born in 1844 in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.  That would make him around 90 years old in this photo.  He lived to the ripe old age of 95.  Not too bad for a guy that was shot and could have died during the Civil War when he was just 20 years old.  It was sometime around 1935 that he went to live with his daughter Myrtle.  Not his granddaughter Myrtle who was my grandmother.  Her name was Myrtle Phenice Bucklin.  Charles’s daughter was Myrtle Phenice Cozad.

That Myrtle lived in Almena, Kansas, but it’s not like Charles moved far away to live with his daughter.  He lived by himself in Precept, Nebraska, which is near the southern border of Nebraska.  Kansas is on the other side of that border and the first town you come to is Almena in Norton County.  It’s only about 10 to 15 miles away.  It’s out in the middle of nowhere with fields surrounding you as far as the eye can see.  So this photo was taken somewhere in that area.  In 1936, he was one of only two surviving veterans of the Civil War in Norton County, Kansas.

Dec. 18, 1890, document from the War Department for Samuel Phenice.

Though he was known as a Civil War Veteran for 70 years at that time, he only served for a short few months.  That’s because he was injured in the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5, 1864.  This document shows the exact dates of when he was injured and the hospitals he was admitted to.  He was a private in Company F of  the 57th Pennsylvania Volunteers.  He mustered in at New Brighton on Feb. 12, 1864.  Following that:

May 5 – received severe flesh wound to the thigh

May 24 – entered Carver General Hospital in Washington, DC, with gunshot wound

May 31 – transferred to Haddington in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

June 16/17 – entered General Hospital in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

October 8 – transferred to Invalids Corps

It doesn’t mention it in this document, but other sources show that he was in a field hospital between receiving the injury and entering Carver G. H. in Washington.  During that time it was taken over by Confederate forces and was unable to get adequate treatment.  He suffered from severe hunger and gangrene.  I’m not sure how long he was under medical care between the June and October dates.  I’ve also seen something that showed that he suffered from that injury most of his life.  It didn’t keep him from farming and homesteading in Nebraska.  He seemed to have an active life.

I’ll leave you with one of the many articles about Charles that I have found.  It concerns his activity while in the Invalid Corps.  He was assigned to Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC.  and was there on the night of April 14, 1865.  Cue the curtain to rise for the performance of “Our American Cousin.”

Sioux City Journal on Feb. 21, 1938.

 

 

Do NOT Try This at Home!

Enhanced photo of Alcide Landry circa 1890.

I had decided that I was not going to post this photo this week.  It’s one of the only things I was sure of as far as my blog goes.  I try to plan things out a little, but I’m usually not sure what I’ll exactly say from week to week.  I have been looking for something about my great grandfather Simon Alcide Landry to write about.  He was the husband of Marie Celeste from two weeks ago, but I really didn’t say much about him.  I have lots of photos of Marie Celeste through her years, but only one of Alcide.  I thought I would save this enhanced photo of him for later.  It’s the only photo I have of him.

So that was it.  I was not going to post this photo of him this week.  What I was doing this week was re-reading the book “Tirailleurs” by my 3rd cousin Thomas H. Richey.  It had been a while since I had read it and I thought I might find something regarding family history in it.  It’s mainly about Alcide’s older brother Trasimond’s experiences in the Civil War. 

But sometimes it mentions baby brother Alcide.  I was reading along, minding my own business, when I got to page 123.  It recounted a story about Alcide that I didn’t remember.  I read the book before, but I must have just overlooked it somehow.  I didn’t this time.  I decided then and there that I was going to write my blog this week about the story that was told.  It’s time for something a bit lighthearted.

It was the summer of 1863 in Brusly Landing in southern Louisiana.  On the plantation of Narcisse Landry, his son Alcide Landry was aching to join in on the fighting in the War.  But he wasn’t old enough yet.  He wouldn’t be turning 18 until August 16.  In June they were growing their corn crop, but didn’t dare to harvest it yet because the Yankees would just confiscate it.  There were some skirmishes going on at Port Hudson, so there were many Union soldiers about.

Port Hudson fell to the Union, so things settled down a bit.  Older brother Belisaire decided it was safe to harvest the corn.  Part of that work fell to young Alcide, who was not the least bit thrilled.  His 18th birthday couldn’t come soon enough and it was still a month away.  So he set to work picking up the corn as he rode in his corn wagon.

Don’t ask me what a corn wagon was, because all I can say is that it was probably a wagon for gathering corn!  And all I know about this one is that it had a bench in the front of it, just behind the horse that was pulling it.  Nothing automated in those days!  On this particular corn wagon on July 29, 1863, young 17-year 11-month 13-day-old Alcide Landry was sitting on the bench behind an old mare horse.  It had been a long, hot southern Louisiana day and Alcide was making his way back to the barn.

As they were riding along, Alcide was preoccupied with thoughts of the army.  He would grab an ear of corn, shuck it, and throw the grains of corn on the mare’s back and watch them fall.  Then he’d grab another ear.  As he was going through his repetitive process, he was pulled out of his reverie by a pungent explosion.  That old mare had lifted her tail and let out a stream of obnoxious fumes practically right in his face!  I’m surprised it didn’t knock him off of his bench.  I’m sure he had a few choice words for his horsey friend!

They continued on their way, and as they were approaching the barn, Alcide picked up another ear of corn to shuck.  At this moment, the mare lifted up her tail for another surprise.  Before he realized what he was doing, Alcide has used the ear of corn in his hand to stop up the source of the foul gift.  And before the mare realized what she was doing, she was bucking up her back legs and kicking at the source of whatever it was that was hindering her gassy relief.  “Tonnerre m’ecrase!”

All Alcide could see was the belly of the mare as her back legs rose up and kicked the corn wagon and his ribs.  Fortunately for Alcide it was an old mare after a long day’s work.  Unfortunately for Alcide she was still a pretty powerful animal.  So now, not only did he have to wait until he turned 18, he also had to wait for his ribs to heal.  I’m sure during his time of waiting he must have shaken his head a few times wondering how he could have done such a thing.

What a story!  I wonder if that was a story passed down to some of his children or grandchildren?  I’d never heard it that I recall.  And the French phrase in there means something like, “Thunder crushes me!”  It sounds like an explosive situation all the way around. 

I’m glad I know this story.  I hope you enjoyed it.

 

 

Eating Tacks in the Civil War

Two years ago I wrote about my great great grandfather Samuel Charles Phenice’s Civil War experiences.  He was on my mom’s side of the family, and all of her ancestors were from the Northern USA, England, or Ireland.  The Phenice line was in Pennsylvania for a few generations and that is where Samuel joined the military in February 1864.  He fought and was injured in the Battle of the Wilderness a few months later.  He then was in the “Invalid Corps,” where he was stationed at Ford’s Theatre on the historic night of the Lincoln assassination.

Parts of pages 318 and 319 from the book “History of Mercer County.”

Since I wrote that post, I found out a few more details that I thought I’d add to his story.  One of the things I thought about his previous experiences was that he was a new recruit when he went into battle and was injured.  That could mean that he didn’t really know his fellow soldiers very well and might have felt very alone.  This first document I found eased a bit of that concern.  (Not that it would make any difference at this point anyway!)  I saw this document a few times before I noticed the important part.  While the names are in alphabetic order for the most part, it’s not strictly in order. 

The thing that I noticed was that Samuel’s brother William Henry Phenice was in the same Company F as he was.  As you see in the document, they spelled the name differently – Phenicy.  Samuel himself spelled his last name as Phenicie on some documents.  Our line of the family now consistently spell it as Phenice.  The descendants of William Henry spell it the same way.  There are a few of them who have taken DNA tests and they are strong matches to us.  I like this other connection that we have that our ancestor brothers fought together in the Civil War out of Mercer, Pennsylvania.

The other new information comes from an article I found in Nebraska last year when I visited Samuel and Cathrine Phenice’s graves.  I had already seen at least four articles that talked a little bit about Samuel’s Civil War and Lincoln Assassination experiences, so I wasn’t expecting to see more.  But I was wrong.   In Beaver City’s little library there was a binder with Phenice information in it.  A lot of the information was about the Civil War group called the Grand Army of the Republic or G.A.R.  It was for veterans of the Union army.  There was even a small square in the middle of town that had a monument for this group.  I can kick myself now for not walking across the street to see it.  It’s likely to have his name engraved on it, but I don’t know that for sure.  Maybe another cousin will visit one day and give a report.

1937 Newspaper article from Precept, Nebraska

But I did find this article.  What struck me most were the details about his time after getting injured in battle.  Soon after sustaining the injury, he was taken to a field hospital.  Unfortunately for young Samuel, the hospital was taken over by Confederate forces.  It did not stay in Confederate hands for long, but it was a difficult time nonetheless.  There was no fresh food supply for the patients, so they resorted to the emergency rations called hardtack.  They would heat it up a little to soften it, but it still was barely palatable.

But even worse was the medical situation.  The injury that he had sustained was not too severe when he first received it.  But due to lack of care and supplies, he suffered from gangrene.  They were finally able to make a compound to clean out the damaged tissue and he was able to heal more quickly.  The field hospital went back to Union hands and he was then transferred to the West Philadelphia Hospital.  I had seen records of his stay in Philadelphia as well as a stay in Pittsburg.

He reports that he was able to make a visit home between that time and the time he was assigned to Ford’s Theatre.  He talks about having worked at the Theatre for some time before the Assassination.  I had wondered about that.  All I knew before was that he was there that one night.  I didn’t know if it was a one time assignment or something else.  Obviously it was the something else.  He states that he was familiar with the layout of the stage and such. 

Previously I had been skeptical about all of the details that he seemed to remember from that night.  But if he was in familiar surroundings, it would have been easier to remember all of the things that went on at that historical event.  Yet, he says that several people died at the Theatre that night.  I’ve never seen that report anywhere else, so I doubt that it happened.   So I’ll leave it up to you to decide what parts of the article are true or not. 

I’ll clarify one item.  They didn’t really eat tacks.  Hardtack is a type of hard biscuit.

A Witness at Ford’s Theatre

I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about today, but then I saw a photo of my cousin Julie Phenice Campbell at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC.  I made a few comments and then realized that I hadn’t gone into the details of my great great grandfather’s Civil War experience.  So I’ve decided that the time is now.  Plus I have a really cool photo of him that I obtained this year.

Samuel Charles Phenice in his elder years.

Isn’t this a cool photo of an old grizzled man?  This is Samuel Charles Phenice later in his life. (He was the father of Harry Clifton Phenice, who was the father of Myrtle Phenice Bucklin, who was the mother of Betty Lou Bucklin Landry, who was my mother.)  He lived to the ripe old age of 95.  Any time I hear the question, “If you could visit one of your ancestors to have a conversation with them, who would it be?” I always think of the man in this photo.  So many questions that I would like to have answers to.  So much wishful thinking.  Let me tell you what I do know.

Samuel Charles Phenice was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, on April 19, 1844.  He was the fourth of seven children to Daniel Phenice and Susan Jackson Phenice.  The family must have stayed in that area during his childhood, because when he enrolled to fight in the Civil War, he would become part of the 57th regiment of the Pennsylvania Infantry out of Mercer County.  He was a private in Company F.

According to a document I found, the 57th regiment went on furlough on Jan. 8, 1864, for a period of 49 days.  When the soldiers returned to camp, there were a large number of new recruits.  Among those recruits was Samuel Charles Phenice, who had enlisted on Feb. 12, 1864.  During March they became part of the 2nd Brigade, which was composed of units from Pennsylvania, New York, and Maine.  In April Samuel celebrated his 20th birthday, though he was quoted as saying that he suffered “many hardships, hunger and thirst.”  Maybe a not-so-happy birthday.

On May the 3rd of that year, Samuel and his fellow soldiers marched to Chancellorsville, Virginia.  This is close to Spotsylvania and there were many skirmishes going on in the area.  The 57th, along with other Union troops, advanced along country roads and woods.  In one particularly wooded area on the morning of May 5th, Confederate forces were encountered and frenzied fighting took place.  The fighting was at short range (when you could see your enemies behind the trees) and was vicious, yet brief.  There were twenty-two killed, one hundred twenty-eight injured, and three missing.

Among those injured at the “Battle of the Wilderness” was 20-year-old Samuel Phenice.  He was shot in the left thigh – more specifically the “inner aspect of the thigh and about the middle of the thigh.”  Part of the information about the wound was gotten from a medical report from 1915 that reports that complications of varicosity of his leg was a direct result from the wounds received during the War.

Civil War hospital in the Spotsylvania, Virginia, area after the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. (I found this photo online.)

After he was wounded, Samuel spent a while recuperating.  He went to a place that was probably very similar to what you see in this photo.  It is a photo of a makeshift infirmary in the Spotsylvania area after the Battle of the Wilderness.  I don’t recognize Samuel in the photo, but there is no way to make out some of these people.  On May 24, 1864, he was a patient at Carver General Hospital in Washington, DC.  A week later he was transferred to Haddington in West Philadelphia.

Once he recovered well enough, he became part of the “Invalid Corps” (9th Regiment of the Veterans Reserve Corps) on October 8, 1864.  The only posting that I know of was the one on April 14, 1865, at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC.  And everybody recognizes that place and date.  Samuel was stationed at the front of the theater checking passes of military personnel.  According to one account Samuel was an eyewitness to John Wilkes Booth’s entering the presidential box and shooting President Abraham Lincoln.  He also was a witness to the flight of the assassin.  So my great great grandfather was present at one of the defining moments in American history.

Samuel was honorably discharged from the military on July 5, 1865.  Though he would get married and raise a family, he would never forget those vivid events that he experienced as a 20-year-old young man.  He obviously liked to recall the events, because there are several articles about him speaking about it.  One says “Phenice often recalled the wild scenes in the theater after the shooting.”

Oh, to be able to hear those stories in his voice.  Like I said at the start of this story, I would love to be able to pull up to Great Great Grandpa Samuel’s rocking chair and say, “Grandpa, tell me ’bout the good ol’ days.”  My excitement would build as he’d rock back with a grin on his face and say, “Well, now, young man, that may take me a while…”

Alcide the Great

1890 - Simon Alcide Joseph Landry

Alcide Landry circa 1890

I think I have shared a photo of all of my other greats before.  This is Simon Alcide Joseph Landry, my paternal great grandfather.  You can call him Alcide the Great if you want to, but Alcide will do.  He was born in Brusly, Louisiana, in 1845.  His father’s name was Narcisse and they lived on a plantation.  When the Civil War started, he was too young to join, but his brothers did join.  I’ve talked about one of his brothers – Trasimond – because he was my great great grandfather.  There were two other brothers that fought in the Civil War – Amedee and Belisaire.

When Alcide turned eighteen in the summer of 1863, he joined in on the fighting two months later in Alabama.  He fought in several battles there, in Atlanta, and in Nashville.  He was captured at Hollow Tree Gap in December of 1865.  He then spent time as a prisoner of war at Camp Douglas which was located in what is now Chicago, Illinois.  What I find amazing is that all of the four brothers that fought in the Civil War survived through all of those battles.

After the war he married Marie Celeste Leveque (his half first cousin once removed – his grandfather Joseph Ignatius Landry was her great grandfather).  They had ten children together, the last being Robert Joseph Landry, Sr. my grandfather. At some point in the 1880s the family moved to Westlake in Calcasieu Parish.  He and his wife are buried in Lake Charles at Orange Grove Cemetery.

An interesting note about grandfathers in this line.  Here is the Landry line going back – Van, Bob, Rob, Alcide, Narcisse, Joseph Ignatius, Augustin, Pierre, Antoine, and Rene.  My paternal grandfather Robert Joseph, Sr. died before I was born.  Daddy‘s paternal grandfather Alcide died in 1917, which is 12 years before Daddy was born.  Narcisse died before Rob was born.  Joseph Ignatius died before Alcide was born, and Augustin died before Narcisse was born.  And finally we get back to Pierre who was considerate enough to stick around for 33 years after Joseph Ignatius was born.  This is mostly a result of being in a line of latter born children.

Trasimond the Tirailleur

1861 - Trasimond crop

Jean Trasimond Landry in 1861

I realized recently that I haven’t posted one of the oldest photos in my collection of old photos.  It is a Civil War photo of my great great grandfather Trasimond Landry.  He was my paternal grandmother’s maternal grandfather.  And being that he was from the South, he was in the Confederate Army.  The photo is dated as 1861.  It’s a pretty clear photo considering how old it is.

I won’t talk about the politics of the Civil War.  Oh, well, maybe just a little.  Slavery is wrong.  It is so hard for me to understand how people can treat their fellow human beings so cruelly.  I hear things like, “But they treated them so nicely.”  or “They kept the buildings they lived in nice and comfortable.” or “He really cherished him and left him a gold watch in his will.”

“Really?” I think, shaking my head.  If you treated them so well, why weren’t we freed?  If you liked the buildings so much, why don’t we trade?  If you want to leave something, leave me my free will – worth innumerable gold watches compared to the life you stole from me.  But I wasn’t there (thank goodness) and people are more enlightened now (hopefully).

So I’ll get back to talking about my great great grandfather, who grew up in a culture saturated with the slavery mentality.  When he was born in 1839, his family had seven slaves on their property.  The number increased continually until the time of the Civil War.   In 1859 Trasimond went off to St. Joseph’s College in Bardstown, Kentucky, to finish his education.  When that was completed in 1861, Trasimond then became part of the West Baton Rouge Tirailleurs.  This group mustered into service of the 4th Louisiana Infantry Regiment.  (For more information, see the book titled Tirailleurs by Thomas H. Richey, a cousin and fellow descendant of Trasimond.)

Trasimond fought in many battles during the war with people falling all around him.  The story about his battles is very riveting.  Fortunately for me and my relatives, he survived all of those perilous encounters.  Of course all of us descend from survivors of famines, pestilence, and wars, but to read a book that describes the experience makes it a bit more personal.

After the war Trasimond married Amelie Bujol and they had five children together.  In 1879 he was bitten by a mosquito.  But not just any mosquito.  This one carried the virus for the yellow fever.  It proved fatal.  To make it through musket fire, cannon shot, and slicing bayonets only to be taken down by a lowly mosquito.  When the pesky bug bit him, he wouldn’t have known that it would be his downfall.  Just the same, I hope he swatted it flat!


Feb. 26, 2021 – The website MyHeritage now has a feature that animates old photos.  Of course I had to try it out on this old photo.  It came out really well.