January 1863 Part 2 Judy Garland's Family in the Civil War

This photo of John A. Gum, Jr.
may give us some idea of his
father's appearance.

Up in Jefferson, John Alexander Gum (grandfather of Frank Gumm and great grandfather of Judy Garland) had finally joined the war as a Confederate scout. Left at home was his wife, Martha Wade Gum, and their four children: Will, 8 (Frank’s father), John, 5, Laura, 2, and baby Lucy, four months old.

While Martha had quite a few members of her family living nearly, Jefferson was a frightening place to live during the period 1862-1864. While the Battle of Stones River raged, there were numerous skirmishes in town and just across the river. The sound of shots, galloping horses, cries, curses and yells were deafening at times.

Those in Jefferson would soon learn that no one was safe in this war. Their relative, via John Alexander Gumm’s step-father and half-siblings, was Rebecca Crosthwait, who was married to Judge Bromfield Ridley. The Ridleys lived in a beautiful old house on the hill overlooking Jefferson, known as Fairmont. The plantation, founded by Rebecca’s father, Sheldon, consisted of over 3,000 acres, and was run by 100 slaves. The estate was legendary to those in the area, within a month of the battle, Union soldiers, bent on revenge, set out to destroy it.

The family felt blessed that Rebecca’s old mother, Elizabeth Thompson Crosthwait, died two weeks after the Battle of Stones River, before she could experience the worst. Rebecca’s husband, Bromfield Ridley came home, and fearing for the safety of their thirteen year-old daughter in the midst of rampaging soldiers, took her away. But Rebecca, nursing her seriously ill daughter, Bettie, refused to leave.

Murfreesboro, TN sunset   (c) Michelle Russell

One night, as the family slept, the Union soldiers set their home ablaze. Everything was lost, but with the help of the remaining servants, all persons in the home survived.  

We can imagine the shock and horror of the residents of Jefferson, especially the Gums, waking to see the house on the hill ablaze, while the “Yankee” soldiers fired guns and laughed gleefully. Later, these same soldiers would come to town and threaten to burn the rented cottage where the Ridleys were staying. Certainly, Rebecca Ridley was not perfect. Throughout her life, she continued feel she had a right to own the persons who worked on her plantation. Nevertheless, one can sympathize with the pain she suffered. Her daughter Bettie died in 1864 due to illness and the trauma of the war. Rebecca herself died five years later, followed by her husband a year after that. Though not killed in battle, many persons died young as a result of the war.

***

The Gresham mansion, of which parts were begun in 1812,
still stood when I first arrived in Mufreesboro.
Although the Battle of Stones River was fought in
every direction around this hill, the hill itself became
an oasis of peace. Many wounded man came here to
seek help and without a doubt, some are buried here.
Around 2007, the owner decided the land was worth more
without the mansion and despite all protest, one night
he had it razed.

All of Judy Garland’s immediate family member survived the Battle of Stones River, but the loss of lives during those few days was terrible: 12,800 Union soldiers, and 10,306 Confederate soldiers. The amount of wounded men was far greater. It is said that the wounded and dead lay side by side, in the streets, in churches, schools, people’s homes and front yards. There were so many wounded men, they could not be treated. As a result, they were put on trains and sent to other towns like Tullahoma. Murfreesboro simply could not hold them.

Frank Gumm’s two uncles, (Clemmie’s elder brothers) John and Joe Baugh took part in the final battle along the Stones River in which thousands of troops entered an area without seeing the fifty-eight canons lined up on the hill above them. In one hour, 1,800 Confederate men lay dead and the waters of the Stones River ran red with blood. It was here that the Battle of Stones River concluded.

                                        ***

Entrance to the Gresham Mansion.
Through these doors, (as with many nearby homes,
the wounded\were taken and operated on.
In later years, the home was used
for weddings.

Prior to my time in Murfreesboro, I did not have knowledge of this battle nor the fact that Judy Garland’s family had fought in the Civil War. In times past, being a westerner and then a “northern girl” as some in the south called me; I did not understand how people could speak about the Civil War with such immediacy.

After living in Murfreesboro, I understand it better. When you live on land where a battle took place, when you dig and find bones and buttons and bullets, when the homes you enter have bloodstains on the floor because a surgeon stood there and severed limbs, when the portraits on the wall have been slashed by sabers, then it is real. When your ancestor shed blood on the land, right or wrong, it is real, it’s not a story in a history book. In part, I think this is why northern children can read about the Civil War and see it in the past. But in the south, you can touch the past.

There are many more photos and stories I’d like to share on the Civil War some day. I would also like to state that it has not been my purpose to defend the war one way or the other. My purpose has been to bring more understanding to Judy Garland’s family-- who represent a lot of other families -- and to show what they experienced during the Civil War.

For further information, please visit

http://www.catsongpublishing.com

December 1862 Judy's Family in the Civil War Part 1

      THINKING OF JUDY GARLAND and her sisters at this time of year, one pictures three little girls standing in the wings of a theater, giggling and getting ready to perform. This was a part of young Frances (Judy) Gumm’s life. Yet, only 70 years earlier, Judy Garland’s paternal grandparents—children at the time—found themselves in the midst of one of the most devastating and historically important battles of the Civil War, The Battle of Murfreesboro, or as it is known today, The Battle of Stones River.

***

The Christmas of 1862 was a wonderful time for Murfreesboro. The Union soldiers, who had occupied the area on and off between February and autumn, were gone and the Confederate troops, which included many local men, had come in large numbers to winter there. This brought a great deal of comfort and cheer to the residents. It was thought the men would not fight again until spring.

In the town of Murfreesboro, General John Hunt Morgan was celebrating his marriage to a local girl, Mattie Ready. Even Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, was in town for the event. Meanwhile, most people were unaware of the fact that Davis was also there to discuss war strategies with General Braxton Bragg. Shortly after his arrival, Davis was apprised of the fact that Union troops were moving south from Nashville in large numbers. Some were coming down Wilkerson Pike, near the home of Benjamin Marable (Frank Gumm’s great grandfather); others were coming down the Nashville Pike, near Jefferson, where the Gum family lived.

A lady of the period.  Photo taken
at a living history presentation,
Fort Rosecranz in Murfreesboro

Mary Ann Marable Baugh, Judy Garland’s great grandmother, lived in Old Millersburg on a farm at the time. This property was southwest of Mufreesboro and at least ten miles directly south of her father, Benjamin Marable’s property. Mary Ann’s husband, John Baugh, and three of her sons were away at war. Unbeknownst to her, all would take part in the Battle of Stones River.

At home with Mary Ann were five of her ten children: Fredonia, 17, Mary, 15, Eliza, 13, Charlie, 11, and Clemmie, 7. Clemmie would one day be the mother of Frank Gumm. In addition, there were still a few servants living with the family, and three year old Rollie Howland, Mary Ann’s grandson, whose mother, Mattie Baugh Howland, had died two months earlier. Although Mary Ann and the children were not in the line of battle at this point, they were certain to have heard the booming of the cannon and gunshot. During this battle, these sounds were said to have been heard over 100 miles away.

***

Christmas of 1862 had been warmer than usual, but on December 30^th, the night before the battle, the weather turned bitterly cold. That night, in preparation for the coming battle, the men, including John Baugh and son, Benjamin, tried to sleep while they shivered on the frozen ground. Late in the evening, suddenly, there was music in the air. The Union soldiers were singing:

    Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

    Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home!

     Home, home, sweet home.

     There’s no place like home.

As Union men continued with the son, one by one, the Confederate boys and men joined in. It is said that when the song ended and for a long while afterwards there was a lingering vibration of music in the air.

***

Stones River Battlefield, Murfreesboro, TN
(c) Michelle Russell

The battle began on the last day of 1862, early in the morning. Fought in cornfields and against hedges, many were slaughtered when they could not escape either the canons or the volley of the iron rifle balls with metal spikes. Those could tear a man apart.

The battle went on for three days, with a short break in-between. There are many accounts of it, and you may read more details in Part 1 of From Tennessee to Oz or in the books carried by The Stones River Battlefield National Park museum shop.

Re-enactment of Rebel Soldiers

After the first full day and night of battle, the “Federals” fell back two miles and the wounded were gathered. Two more days of battle followed, until the Confederates conceded defeat and retreated. 

Whatever your view, you can imagine how heartsick the men from the area were as they marched south, leaving behind their parents, siblings, wives and children. By the same token, the people who lived in the area were just as sick to see them march away. It is said that at least one woman ran out and yelled at them for deserting those at home.

Re-enactment of a Union Camp and Hospital on
the Battlefield at Stones River, Murfreesboro
(c) Michelle Russell

Meanwhile, somehow Mary Ann Baugh learned the facts of the battle and was desperate to reach her eighty-three year-old father. She arrived at the Shelbyville Pike in a buggy, but was not allowed by the “Yankee” soldier to pass, likely on pain of death. The Federal soldiers had been ordered to close down the roads. After this brutal battle, all activity by the Southerners was considered suspect; hearts had hardened in the face of such carnage.

Why her father left his home in the dead of winter during battle is unknown. Possibly there was a skirmish on his property, or his home was set ablaze by soldiers, which happened to many. I tried in vain to find the facts. Perhaps someday, someone will. What is known is that he was taken in by a Mr. Hunt and died there.

Bettie Baugh White,
Clemmie's eldest sister.
This photo has been cut down
for this blog, but I am including it
to show the great pain which she
obviously suffered in the war.
Taken shortly after the end
of the Civil War.
(courtesy Sherry White)

During the next months of war, Mary Ann Baugh and her family suffered the deprivation of food and other necessities. Children in the area no longer went to school and people did not attend church. It was dangerous to leave their homes; they might find themselves in the midst of a battle. They might also return to find their home gone, burnt to the ground. In many cases, soldiers from both sides came into homes and took food, goods, livestock and horses. Women also had to fear for their safety. It was not an easy time.

In the months that followed, the Baugh family would find that war came literally to their doorstep, with battles being fought in the yard, in front of their home. The children must have been terribly frightened. In Judy Garland's family, with the exception of one brother, Benjamin Baugh who eventually went mad from what he witnessed as a soldier in the war while still in his teens, the women and children at home were the ones who suffered the most.

Tomorrow, Part 2.

Visit: http://www.nps.gov/stri/index.htm

For information on From Tennessee to Oz, visit:

http://www.catsongpublishing.com

A Visit to Lancaster, California

In December of 2004, while living in Murfreesboro and working on From Tennessee to Oz, I decided to take a quick trip to visit my family in California. During the time I was there, I made my first real trip to Lancaster, home of the Gumm family from 1926 – 1932.

For those of us who are fans of Judy Garland and have read some of the books the books about her, we recall descriptions of the family moving to a small, hot, dusty town, 80 miles or so from Los Angeles. They moved there because this was the only place Judy’s father, Frank Gumm, could find a theater, and because, it was not far from the Mecca of entertainment, Hollywood. Meanwhile, the town was really the opposite of the very green, well irrigated and wooded town of Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

 

For my trip, I rented a small ‘rent a wreck’ can and, unaccustomed to freeways, decided to take the back route up to Lancaster. It was a route that was likely the one Ethel frequented in the old days with the three Gumm sisters. Traveling through Pasadena, I then got on a mountainous path through a flat wilderness, looking not much different than it did 100 years ago.

So what is this land that we’ve all read about really like? In 2004, the two lane highway traveled through a nearly flat desert of tumbleweeds and dry vegetation. Still considered Los Angeles County, it rests on the edge of the Mojave Desert (pronounced Mo-hah-ve) and is surrounded by the Tehachapi and San Gabriel Mountains If you’ve ever watched an old Hollywood western about settlers, cowboys and outlaws, this is it.

Mountains, barely visible here, appear as part of the clouds.
Sometimes if it difficult to tell thedifference between the two.

In 2004, the land had not changed much in the last eighty years. In recent years, I believe it has changed as the population rises and more people move to less desirable locations where it is cheaper to live. In 2004, one met a gas station, an old shack or a road winding into the hills only once in a while.

Joshua Tree
All photos here (c) Michelle Russell

As I neared Lancaster, I realized what Joshua trees are. They were something I had seen before, and read about, but didn’t connect. As ugly as the desert might seem to some, it does have a grandeur and beauty of its own.

In 2004, the town of Lancaster still had a dusty highway, with old buildings and a two-lane street. All this has also been changed recently as the mayor attempted to tear down most of the town (including one the last Gumm home there, a real artisan home).

One of my most important goals on this trip was to meet Glen Settle. Settle was a few years older than Mary Jane Gumm, remembered a great deal about the history of the town and the Gumm family. He had known Mr. and Mrs. Gumm, and gone to school with the older girls. In fact, his brother, Irving, had dated Jimmy for a while. At the time I created my “Made in America – Vaudeville Songs” CD, Glen had been able to describe to what the Gumm family, including young Frances, did on the state of The Valley Theater. When we spoke on the phone, as I prepared for this trip, Glen told me he had some pictures to show me as well.

In 2004, Glen Settle was in his 90s and still fit. Recently, he’d moved in with a nephew because he was completely blind due to macular degeneration. Other than that, his mind was very keen. I parked outside a nice condo and Glen welcomed me in. We went into a large library where he had everything laid out for me. What a lovely man, with so many stories to tell.

With all the good one might say about Glen Settle, to be honest, many might find some resentment of him. It was he who broke the story about Frank Gumm getting into trouble with some of the boys visiting the theater. If it hadn’t been him, someone else might have broke it. Glen knew the story because he went to school with some of those boys and he played on the basket ball team with them. His opinion in the 1930s about what he heard against Frank Gumm was that he considered who the stories he came. To learn more about this, you will have to read my book.

Dorothy Walsh and Glen Settle in the 1920s
(Courtesy Glen Settle)

Meanwhile, Glen was a lovely man to know and I greatly appreciated his friendship. He and Dorothy Walsh, the Gumm’s friend and neighbor, had a very deep friendship throughout their school years. After I found Dorothy living in Hawaii I was able to reconnect them. What a happy day that was for both of them. In turn, when Dorothy passed away a few years ago, her family asked me to let Glen know and I had that sad task. Glen did not live more than a year after Dorothy passed on. He told me one of the last times I spoke to him, “I’m failing. I don’t think I’ll be around much longer.” He had a good life though, able to do most of what he wanted until the very end. People called him from all over to find out historic facts about Antelope Valley and Lancaster.

The day I met him, we got in my car and he said he’d direct me over to see the last Gumm home, which had originally been Dorothy Walsh’s home. Now, remember Glen was totally blind, but gave me directions as I was driving. ‘Now, you’ll come up to a big 4-way light. Turn left there. Now, two blocks, do you see this…. Turn left again’ and so on. Amazing!

One of Glen's nephews (Dick White?) who was
also a classmate of young Frances Gumm

The home was used as a sort of group home for a while and in 2004 it had caught fire and sustained terrible damage. While we were there, the men were working on the house, so I couldn’t get very close to look into the windows or anything. It appeared that the home had been burnt mostly at the back.

A couple later bought the home and intended to turn it into a museum. They were fighting the mayor not to have the entire block razed. The home two doors down, not next door, was the Gumm’s second home in Lancaster.

Museum where the cement block
with Babe and Muggs' footprints
resides.

My trip to Lancaster was wonderful and I was so sorry that, due to finances, that I could not get back again. Glen was going to take me out to the family’s old gold or silver mine and give me some of the original chairs from the Valley Theater. In addition, there were others still in the town who remembered the Gumms. Some had good memories and some not as nice. Some had pictures as well. Unfortunately, I lost track as people passed away. And I missed meeting Judy’s best friend, Muggs. By the time I found her brother, she had passed on just a few months earlier.

So the story goes. I was able to connect just at the very end and come just to entrance of that door into the past.

Side view of the building
on the Sierra Highway where
Ethel Gumm taught dancing
For front view, see From
Tennessee to Oz, Part 2

While I was in Lancaster, I attempted to see Muggs and Babe's footprints in the cement block that had been moved to this museum, but unfortunately, it was closed.

I also went out to the highway and found the Quansit hut looking building where Ethel Gumm once taught dance. I was in a strange mood though, not wanting to talk to anyone, so I didn't go inside. I wish I had.

The years in Lancaster were formative years for young Frances Gumm and important years in the Gumm family's live. The girls were here for their formative years and at the same time, they were often taken away to study dance and perform. During these years, young Frances crossed the line from little girl with a big voice to a young girl with great power and artistry growing within her. The time of Lancaster was also one of sorrow and difficulty for Mr. and Mrs. Gumm. The things which took place nearly ripped their marriage apart and caused Ethel to push harder for Hollywood. This tale is told with a great deal of detail of  the book "Young Judy," co-authored by David Dahl and Barry Kehoe.

For more information on the Gumm’s life in Lancaster and the people they knew, please see From Tennessee to Oz, Part 2:

http://www.catsongpublishing.com

I hope you have enjoyed some of the color views here which could only be shown in black and white in the book.

Coming Next: Remembering one of the most important battles of the Civil War – The Battle of Murfreesboro, otherwise known as The Battle of Stones River. This was a battle which Judy Garland's paternal side all took part in.