Tis the season for backyard grilling. In fact, grilling basically has become an American pastime. Whether it is a simple family meal or a gathering of friends, usually on the grill are hamburgers and hotdogs. But how much do you know about where your food comes from… historically that is.

Hot dogs are fairly simple – a sausage (processed meat) served in a bun, however their history is anything but. In fact, the American root of this now ironically American food is uncertain. The one commonality in its origin story agreed that’s agreed on by most historians is that it became an American classic at the hands of German immigrants. By the time of its introduction in the US, this combination was decidedly old hat in German culture.

The most commonly accepted origin of America’s love affair with hot dogs begins with a German immigrant and his unassuming pushcart. Charles Feltman drove his food cart through New York City’s Bowery in the 1860s peddling frankfurters (a popular sausage also known as “dachshund” or “little dog”) with milk rolls and sauerkraut. This successful combination paved the way for Charles to open Coney Island’s first hot dog stand in 1871. In the first year alone he sold over 3,684 of his novel sausage and bread combo.[1]

The 1890s was an important time for fanning the flames of American fandom with the still foreign food. The Columbian exposition held in Chicago in 1893 introduced thousands of visitors to the ease and convenience of sausages sold by street vendors. The phenomenon attached itself to the sports world in the same year when the German owner of the St. Louis Browns baseball team started selling sausages in the ballpark.[2]

Another commonly cited, although not as reliably accepted, piece of hot dog history reportedly occurred at the St. Louis “Louisiana Purchase Exposition” in 1904. The Bavarian immigrant street vendor Anton Feuchtwanger began selling his steaming hot sausages with the loan of white gloves to patrons to keep their hands from being burned or greasy.[3] When Anton noticed his customers failed to return the borrowed gloves, he needed a solution that wouldn’t so critically cut into his profits. In desperation, he turned to a brother-in-law baker for a solution. What he devised was the first hot dog bun – a long roll suited for holding a sausage.[4]

What’s in a name? A lot it would seem. The name “hot dog” is equally as complicated. Its origins are attributed amongst a 1901 New York polo grounds and a New York Journal cartoonist and to Yale University in the 1890s. The phrase is believed to refer to everything from resembling the shape of the Germanic dachshund canines to the dubious origin of the encased meat, especially its relation to said dogs. This came in the way of lighthearted jokes to anti-immigrant slurs.[5]

This might not help you identify the mystery meat that makes it up, but now at least you know the story behind the hot dog. One of America’s favorite and iconic street foods emerged from an immigrant convenience food, which you’ll actually find is true of most of American dishes. While its history is dubious, the hot dog’s future seems certain.

[1] “Hot Dog History,” National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, 2016. https://www.hot-dog.org/culture/hot-dog-history.

[2] Ibid.

[3] “‘Hot Dog’ Meets Bun: Famous Food Discoveries,” NPR, April 29, 2012. https://www.npr.org/2012/04/29/151451448/hot-dog-meets-bun-famous-food-discoveries.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Jennifer Jensen Wallach, How America Eats: A Social History of the U.S. Food and Culture. (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013), 170.

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As a museum educator and all-around nerd for museums, I’m happy to report museums across the country are answering the call for digital outreach to students of all ages during this time of social distancing. A majority of this outreach has been constructed for use by classroom educators and the families of students now looking for at-home resources. From a professional perspective, this adjustment by many museums has occurred rapidly and with great energy which is refreshing to see in such an extraordinary time. As the Education Director with The Castle Historic House Museum, and as an aforementioned museum nerd, I’ve been keeping up-to-date with many of these new offerings and thought that sharing these resources might be of use to families across the MOV. The following are a few of my selections for history education resources available online for students of all ages.

The Castle Historic House Museum – Marietta, OH

At The Castle, we are eagerly figuring out ways to respond to the needs of educational outreach. Currently, we have digitized The Castle Coloring Book as a means for families to enjoy their time together with a little historical education and creativity. Over the next few weeks we will be highlighting a few of these pages via our website and social media with chances for you to win a free pass to tour the museum this season if you share with us your finished coloring page! More is in the works such as sharing some historical craft ideas.

Follow along at: Marietta Castle and via our Facebook and Instagram

Ohio History Connection – Columbus, OH

Ohio History Connection’s “Learn at Home” has great Ohio centered activities for grades K – 12 as well as some resources for adults. For students, resources include lesson plans, crafts, and videos such as “Prehistoric Storytime” which incorporates fun storybooks with museum artifacts. They have also provided a resource list to home learning opportunities from the Smithsonian, Cincinnati Zoo, Cleveland Zoo, COSI, and more.

Check out these resources at: Ohio History Connection

George Washington’s Mount Vernon – Mount Vernon, VA

The home of our first president will be hosting a daily Facebook live sessions throughout the week including tours of the mansion. They have also made available several online resources such as a virtual tour of the mansion, access to collections and exhibits, and fun coloring pages, games, and quizzes. One really cool resource is the Be Washington activity which is “a first-person interactive leadership experience” where players essentially face the same quandaries George Washington faced in the Revolution and as president. As Washington you’ll have to weigh advice from trusted advisers and make the decisions Washington faced. It comes complete with lesson plans connected to each decision area.

Check out these resources at: mountvernon.org/onlinelearning and via their Facebook page (George Washington’s Mount Vernon)

Colonial Williamsburg – Williamsburg, VA

The largest outdoor living history museum in the US has prepared materials for online learning which include an interactive timeline of the Stamp Act, a quiz on 18th-century knowledge, historical recipes (I’d recommend the Chelsea Buns), access to online collections, and coloring pages of museum artifacts.

Check out these resources at: Colonial Williamsburg

Plimoth Plantation – Plymouth MA

The “History at Home” provided by Plimoth Plantation is a series of our engaging online videos discussing the culture of the pilgrims and native peoples of the Wampanoag tribe. You will need to register online for your selections of the four video sessions at a nominal fee of $10 per program.

Check out this resource at: Plimoth Plantation

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but is a great start to exploring online educational outreach from museums. At the very least, these are resources which will mesh well with Ohio and West Virginia state curriculum for elementary level students. You can find virtual tours available online for many, if not most, renowned museums and historic sites. You can even take a tour of Buckingham Palace if you wish. Other museums offering online sources you might wish to explore are Old Salem Museums & Gardens, Historic Richmond Town, and the National WWI Museum and Memorial. There are plenty more out there that you can explore, so hopefully this list is just a starting point of your foray into virtual history education. I also hope this article is useful in providing your household with educational, fun, and creative opportunities to explore history!

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The Story of the 25th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Battle of Gettysburg

Our regiment had seventeen color-bearers killed or wounded during the war. Seven of these were shot at Gettysburg in less than twice that number of minutes.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeremiah Williams, 25th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

The Battle of Gettysburg has the honor of being the subject most written about in American history. Scholars have analyzed it in every way possible. It has been examined through individuals, states, and regiments. Yet one important regiment, the 25^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI), has never been fully analyzed. This regiment was made up almost entirely of Monroe County men who volunteered their service at the beginning of the war in 1861. The 25^th played a pivotal role at Gettysburg. They suffered the second highest losses within the entire Union Army engaged at this critical fight.[1] Of the nineteen Ohio units engaged at Gettysburg, the 25^th OVI accounted for nearly one-quarter of this state’s total casualties.[2] News of their decimation spread across Ohio. It was felt in almost every community. Yet, today their part in this battle remains unknown.

One of the most renowned engagements of the Civil War is that of Gettysburg. The Battle of Gettysburg occurred July 1^st to 3^rd, 1863, the third year of the Civil War. This engagement was not only the largest battle of this conflict, but the largest to have ever been fought in the Western Hemisphere.[3] It was a hard fought battle that resulted in a victory for the Union, bringing the war to a turning point. However, this turning point did not come without a cost. Gettysburg resulted in the largest number of casualties of any battle during the Civil War, “The two armies between them lost more than 57,000 men during the Pennsylvania campaign, including some 9,600 dead.”[4]

On July 2nd, a little after 7:00 p.m. the remaining members of the 25th Ohio saw the ranks of a Confederate force crossing the fields in front of their position on Cemetery Hill. This Confederate advance consisted of Hays’ Louisiana Tigers and Avery’s North Carolinians. The same Rebels they had fought the day before in the opening engagement of the Battle of Gettysburg.

On July 1^st, the 25th Ohio arrived at Gettysburg with a force of 220 men. At the end of the day, they numbered less than 60. After a short and desperate fight at Blocher’s Knoll the 25th was forced to retreat through town to the heights of Cemetery Hill. In this retreat they lost two commanders. Lieutenant Colonel Jeremiah Williams led the regiment into the battle. He had been slightly wounded in the initial fighting at Blocher’s Knoll. Having retreated with the regiment to the Almshouse he led a small force contesting the Confederate advance where he was captured. As the regiment was pushed through town, command fell to Captain Nathaniel Manning. Manning was subsequently wounded. In his injured state he passed command of the regiment to Second Lieutenant William Maloney. Maloney made it back with the remainder of the regiment to the comparative safety of Cemetery Hill. In a few hours’ time the 25^th Ohio took approximately 73% casualties and was forced to retreat through town to safety on Cemetery Ridge.[5] The regiment fell under the command of a second lieutenant with all other officers being killed, wounded, captured, or missing.

Throughout the day on the 2^nd, the 25th was placed on a skirmish line in advance of East Cemetery Hill. Here they lost fourteen more men- casualties of Confederate sniper fire. Later in the day they were relieved from the skirmish line and placed behind the stone walls of East Cemetery Hill, forming behind an angle in the wall. When the Confederate attack came on Cemetery Hill, the 25th was spread out in a single file line crouched and lying behind a short stone wall flanked by the 107th Ohio on their left and the 75th Ohio and the remainder of the Union forces on their right.

As the Confederate line crossed the rolling fields toward Cemetery Hill, Hays’ men mounted a ridge, approximately fifty-to-seventy-five yards from the Union lines. One Yankee eyewitness stated they came over the ridge “stooped over and disjointed as if a mob had rushed forward” and then, they formed their lines and rushed forward at a double-quick with a rebel yell.[6] At this point, Union infantry and artillery opened up on the advancing Rebels. Both firing too high to do much good, the artillery endangering their own infantry in the process.

Hays’ Louisiana Tigers hit hard at the angle resulting in hand-to-hand fighting “with bayonets and clubbed guns” along the 107th and 25th OH’s line. One 25th member noted years later, the Tigers ”put their big feet on the stone wall and went over like deer, over the heads of the whole …regiment, the grade being steep and the wall not more than 20 inches high.”[7] In the chaos of the fighting Hays’ men broke through the 25th sending their regiment fleeing back to Wiedrich’s battery. Here, alongside the gunners they again engaged the Confederate attackers in a hand-to-hand brutal struggle. In the melee the 25th’s commander Second Lieutenant William Maloney was wounded. In this confusion command fell to First Lieutenant Israel White.

As Hays’ men mounted the hill, their numbers had been severely reduced and resembled a mob rushing the guns. The Tigers captured the guns for a few short moments, repulsing the Union defenders. Hays’ men prepared for a counterattack. In the darkness, at only twenty yards Union reinforcements- the 119th and 58th New York- fired three volleys into the Confederate line. These reinforcements double-quicked along with members of the 25th and 107th Ohio chasing the few remaining members of Hays’ men back down the hill. In the fighting at Cemetery Hill, the 25th lost eleven more casualties, bringing to a close the regiment’s fighting in this engagement.

In the Battle of Gettysburg, the 25^th lost a total of 84% casualties. The 2^nd highest of the entire Union Army at Gettysburg. As a state, Ohio played a critical role in the Civil War, especially at this battle. Ohio attributed the fourth largest amount of soldiers to the Union cause of the eighteen loyal states.[8] Of the 4,400 Ohioans engaged at Gettysburg 29%, 1,271 men, became casualties.[9] Stories like that of the 25^th Ohio illuminate the plethora of intriguing stories that aboundingly remain even in a topic area such as Gettysburg that has been excruciatingly studied.

Works Cited

Baumgartner, Richard A. Buckeye Blood: Ohio at Gettysburg. Huntington, West Virginia: Blue Acorn Press, 2003.

Busey, John W. and David G. Martin. Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg. Hightstown, NJ: Longstreet House, 1994.

Culp, Edward C. “From the 11^th Army Corps,” July 5, 1863. Norwalk Reflector. July 21, 1863.

Jones, Terry L. Cemetery Hill: The Struggle for the High Ground July 1-3, 1863. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2003.

Sears, Stephen W. Gettysburg. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.

[1] John W. Busey and David G. Martin, Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg. (Hightstown, NJ: Longstreet House, 1994), 262.

[2] Richard A. Baumgartner, Buckeye Blood: Ohio at Gettysburg. (Huntington, West Virginia: Blue Acorn Press, 2003), 9.

[3] Terry L. Jones, Cemetery Hill: The Struggle for the High Ground July 1-3, 1863. (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2003), 13.

[4] Stephen W Sears, Gettysburg.(New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003), xiv.

[5] Bvt. Col Edward C. Culp, Raising The Banner of Freedom a Call to Arms: The 25^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the War for the Union. Edited by Tom J. Edwards. (Omaha, Nebraska: iUniverse, 2011), 87.

[6] Jones 74.

[7] Baumgartner,109.

[8] Baumgartner, 9.

[9] Ibid.

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This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of temperance advocates like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and Anti-Saloon League killing off “John Barleycorn,” an antiquated yet clever name applied to their foe… alcoholic beverages. The 18^th Amendment banning “the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors” was ratified January 16^th, 1919 and slated to go into effect the following year. However, Ohio’s enforcement of prohibition would begin May 27^th, 1919 after voters passed Ohio’s prohibition amendment that previous November. The vote passed by a margin of less than three percent! [1]

Needless to say, the idea of taking away an individual’s right to consume alcohol was a divisive issue. The good ol’ USA did not decide to go dry on a whim. Temperance forces grew in numbers, force, and political savvy since the 1830s. Driven by religious and moral ideologies, what started out as a women’s crusade in Ohio quickly spread across the nation. In fact, so many temperance organizations operated in Marietta in the late nineteenth century that the Marietta Temperance League was formed to help direct the work. [2] The movement continued to grow and by the early 1900s won the support of prominent politicians, elite families (aka the Rockefellers), and voters in favor of progressive reform.

By the turn of the century, Americans believed Americans had a drinking problem. At its seemingly worse in the 1830s the average American over the age fifteen drank over seven gallons of alcohol per year. [3] By the time of Prohibition, consumption was reduced to less than two and a half gallons per capita, comparable to today’s average. While it is easy to discount history’s temperance advocates as party-poopers, their stance was rooted in distressing moral issues such as domestic abuse, crime, and violence to name a few. Staunch advocates of temperance believed the only way to cure America of these sins was total abstinence from alcohol. On the other hand, there were those who’s motives were not so altruistic. Many wanted to take away an embedded cultural pastime of the nation’s growing German and Irish immigrant communities. The saloon culture and beer garden were deemed un-American.

In 1919, the tide turned on the “wet” population giving way to a “dry” nation. Well, in theory at least. The 18^th Amendment lacked much forethought on enforcement and the Volstead Act, written to define the law, had several loopholes. Millions of Americans exploited those loopholes and many others chose to simply ignore or break the law. Al Capone, the mafia, and bootlegging all became familiar terms. Across the nation, a growing population of young adults were more than willing to thumb their nose at authority and enjoy the excitement of a speakeasy.

Locally, we didn’t experience all the glamour, excitement, and crime syndicates of the big city, but Marietta had the bad luck of being positioned on a popular bootlegging route between Akron and Charleston. Additionally, quite a few locals enjoyed making their own wine, ‘shine, or brew. Several articles from The Marietta Times during Prohibition have similar headlines to “Find Still Well Hidden in Cellar” while one sensational article describes a highspeed police chase down Front Street. “A score of pistol shots and a number of shattering loads from a sawed-off shotgun were fired into a fast-flying liquor car as it sped through Marietta at an early hour Saturday morning” exclaims the article. [4] Following the car over the Putnam Street Bridge, the chase began and shots rang out from the police car as they sped onto Franklin Street and through Harmar. The pursuit of the bootlegger abated just outside Barlow where the police car suffered engine trouble, only after having to turn on their windshield wipers to clear the glass of all the liquor streaming out of the bullet ridden car that got away.

With the onset of The Great Depression, Prohibition was repealed with the 21^st Amendment in 1933. While largely considered a failure, it is believed that alcohol consumption was reduced as much as eighty to ninety percent. [5] The legacy of Prohibition still lingers today. For example, cocktails and cocktail hours became popular during this time to mask the taste of the usually disgusting alcohol being made at home. Also, one of those loopholes in the Volstead Act never defined the consumption of alcoholic beverages as illegal nor did it state that the possession of alcohol within a private residence as illegal. You couldn’t purchase, transport, or manufacture alcohol, which pretty much took care of any way for you to possess it within your home. Regardless, having guests over for cocktails became an exciting, edgy thing to do.

Password guarded speakeasy rival the image of tommy gun wielding gangster in Prohibition’s popular memory. Speakeasies, operating on the DL, were abundant and ranged from dingy garages to well hidden, glitzy barrooms and dance halls. Patrons of these establishments were probably paying twice as much for a drink as they would have pre-Prohibition, but the speakeasy was usually the only place to go for quality alcohol.

Armed with this knowledge you are now fully prepared to enjoy People’s Bank Theatre’s 1919 Speakeasy Party on Saturday, February 2^nd 8pm – 11pm. Partying Prohibition Style with live music, you’ll have the chance to sip era appropriate themed cocktails. One of which is the popular “Bees Knees.” This cocktail features gin, honey, and fresh lemon juice served shaken and chilled usually in a cocktail glass with a twist of lemon. Honey, instead of the more common addition of sugar, bolstered by lemon should be able to reduce the odor and taste of homemade gin fresh from the bathtub. Rest assured, we know it must have been tasty. After all, “Bees Knees” is 1919 lingo for “the best” and I’m sure Peoples Bank Theatre’s 1919 Speakeasy Party will be the cat’s pajamas!

[1] Ohio Prohibition on Alcohol, Amendment 2 (1918) https://ballotpedia.org/Ohio_Prohibition_on_Alcohol,_Amendment_2_(1918).

[2] Reece Nichols, “Temperance in Marietta: The Riverside Speakeasy” (Marietta College, 2017.)

[3] Dr. David J. Hanson, “Temperance Movement Calls for Abstinence.” https://www.alcoholproblemsandsolutions.org/timeline/Temperance-Movement-Calls-for-Abstinence.html

[4] “Shots from Police Car Fail To Halt Liquor Car Speeding Through Marietta Saturday” The Marietta Times, January 4, 1931.

[5] Jason S. Lantzer, Interpreting the Prohibition Era at Museums and Historic Sites. (New York: Rowan and Littlefield, 2015), 55.

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