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History Comes Alive In Osawatomie

By Doug Carder

“Mrs. Hays. Do what you can with what you have where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt.

Local historian and columnist Margaret Hays was the recipient of this quotation from Roosevelt, sketched by first-person narrator Joe Wiegland onto a photograph from the president’s famed trip to Osawatomie in 1910 to dedicate John Brown Memorial Park.

Hays, who was wearing an original gold medallion that commemorated Roosevelt’s visit 100 years ago, was among the audience members who gathered Sunday to hear Wiegland perform as Teddy Roosevelt during the annual Freedom Festival.

The festival attracted scores to the park to hear first-person narrators give presentations about John Brown, Florella Adair, Gen. Robert E. Lee and other notable figures from the past.

Festival goers also had the chance last weekend to take in an 1870s baseball game, the Battle of Osawatomie reenactment and watch a pair of re-enactors get hitched in the gazebo, in wedding attire and uniforms from the Civil War period.

“The festival has gone off without any problems. I’m really pleased,” said organizer Grady Atwater, site administrator for the John Brown Museum State Historic Site. “This festival gives us the chance to share the rich history of our community with others.”

Wiegland, a renowned narrator who has performed at the White House, used the opportunity to share some rich stories about Theodore Roosevelt.

Roosevelt battled asthma as a small child, and his father used to take him on carriage rides at night, racing through the streets of New York to force fresh air into his lungs.

As a young child, Roosevelt also was forced to smoke cigars and drink bitter black coffee, the idea being that forcing him to cough would stimulate his breathing. Not a prescription any doctor would likely issue today.

Roosevelt graduated from Harvard in 1880 and entered Columbia Law School, deciding he would become a lawyer. But he quickly grew disenchanted with that idea and took a liking to politics – much to the disappointment of his family, who thought politics were not becoming of a gentleman.

One cousin quipped that, dissected, the word is poly, meaning “many,” and tics, meaning “blood sucking insects.”

Wiegland talked of Roosevelt’s days as a cattle rancher in the Badlands and of his love of nature, and hiking and hunting, his Christian upbringing, the loss of his first wife and mother on the same day – Valentine’s Day 1884 – and of his ascent through the political ranks until he came within one breath of the White House.

Roosevelt did his job so well of cleaning up corruption while a New York official that his own Republican Party decided they would put him where he wasn’t likely to ever be heard from again – the vice presidency.

But Vice President Roosevelt did become commander in chief soon when President McKinley was assassinated. Roosevelt said the greatest triumph of his administration (1901-1909) was overseeing the building of the Panama Canal. Others may argue that protecting the Grand Canyon from development, over the objections of Congress, was equally monumental.

While in office, Roosevelt helped break up business monopolies and establish public lands for parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

His nemesis, J.P. Morgan, once toasted Roosevelt after the former president left for an African safari with his son, Kermit. Morgan raised his glass: “To the lions, may they do their job.”

Roosevelt, in his drive to give every person “a square deal,” captured the hearts of Americans as well as people from other nations the world over.

A toy manufacturer created a new stuffed animal he named in Roosevelt’s honor: “Teddy’s Bear,” or more commonly known by children today as “teddy bear.”

Not always a teddy bear, Colonel Roosevelt led the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War of 1898 in Cuba. He took command of his unit when legendary Confederate cavalry Gen. “Fighting” Joe Wheeler from Alabama was stricken with yellow fever and succeeded his leadership role over the Rough Riders to Roosevelt.

“We were routing the Spaniards, and General Wheeler shouted, ‘After ’em, boys. We

have those damn Yankees on the run.’ We decided it was time for the general to go to sick bay.”

Proslavery forces had John Brown’s men on the run. With overwhelming numbers, the forces ransacked and burned Osawatomie and threatened to destroy the Adair Cabin, if not for the bravery of Florella Adair, portrayed by Mary Buster, Florella’s great-great-granddaughter.

Buster mesmerized the audience with tales of a tough life during those Bleeding Kansas years and that fateful day when the Battle of Osawatomie took place Aug. 30, 1856.

“Fifteen to 20 pro-slavers raced down on our house and faced a cannon at our cabin door. ‘Who lives here?’ I told them, You can have anything you want, if you spare our lives,” Florella said. “The leader said, ‘There is nobody here but women and children. We are gentlemen, but if we find your men we’ll put a rope around their necks.’ Then they stole our horses and cattle.”

In constant danger of attack, John Brown’s sister Florella repeatedly used the words poverty, persecution and death to describe those years.

John Brown, portrayed wonderfully by Kerry Altenbrand, provided insight into Brown’s upbringing and his desire to see all slaves freed, culminating with his ill-fated raid on Harper’s Ferry, Va., where he was captured and sentenced to be hanged.

Robert E. Lee was in charge of overseeing Brown’s hanging as a junior officer in the U.S. Army.

Lee, who resigned his commission with the U.S. Army and eventually became commander of the Confederate armies during the Civil War, also paid a visit to the park on Saturday.

Portrayed by Norman Joy, Robert E. Lee talked about his struggles during the war and about that fateful surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. In his final order to his troops, Lee said:

“Because the Army of Northern Virginia was compelled to yield to overwhelming forces … and we are determined to avoid useless sacrifices, the officers and men can now return to their homes … with unceasing admiration, I bid an affectionate farewell.”

Lee went on to say, “I expected to surrender my sword to General Grant. He did not offer to even touch my sword.”

Other performances included Revolutionary War soldier Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man so she could fight and actually met General George Washington, portrayed by Anna Smith. And Miss Clara Gowing, missionary and teacher to the Delaware Nation, portrayed by Lynsay Flory.

The event also provided the setting for the first performance of the Osawatomie Time Machine players, who portrayed several men and women who helped shape Osawatomie’s history – for good and bad. The performers were Julane Williams, Phyllis Sharp, Audrey Tate, Israel Gulley and Asher Gulley. Museum curator Atwater, who heads the group, said anyone is welcome to join who wants to learn how to perform first-person narratives of historical figures.

An 1870s baseball game between the Wichita Red Stockings and Wichita Bulldozers provided spectators with a fun glimpse into how the game used to be played, including being able to instruct the umpire to tell the pitcher to throw a fair ball, and players ringing a bell every time they crossed home plate to score a run.

Not to be outdone, Civil War re-enactors representing the Second Colorado Cavalry and McLain’s Independent Battery on the Union side and Elliott Scouts on the Confederate side put on quite a show.

But perhaps Grady Atwater had the best line of the weekend. At the conclusion of his lecture, “John Brown – Saint or Sinner?” Atwater talked about a former settlement called Brownsville, to which a shot from a re-enactor’s rifle rang out in the distance. Atwater smiled at the audience: “See, even the mere mention of the name Brown draws gunfire.”

— Staff Writer Kevin Gray contributed to this article.

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Posted by Doug on Sep 22 2010. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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