He was born in Ohio in a small town in Sandusky County before it was a town. Today, the citizens of Clyde proudly honor his contribution to the Nation by giving him his rightful place in their community. He would grow up to play a pivotal role as a U.S. General commanding the right wing of General Sherman during his campaign to take Atlanta during the Civil War.

McPherson had been with Sherman for a long time including the siege of Vicksburg the following year. As Sherman would later say, his good friend and right hand, was James McPherson. When James asked Sherman for a short leave so he could marry his fiance in Baltimore, Sherman denied that request. A decision he would openly regret a few months later.

After his death, his body was returned to Clyde and buried in the family cemetery not far from the home where he was born on November 14, 1828.

James Birdseye McPherson was the first born son of William and Cynthia. William had come to this area from New York state 5 years before to purchase some land, build a house for his bride-to-be. He came with several of his friends, one of them was James Birdseye for whom William would name his son.

William was a blacksmith and a farmer. From some records it indicates that he may have had a quick to rise temper. Like many of his friends that would later join him in Sandusky County, his family were Scottish. He purchased a rather substantial piece of land that was at the time known as Hamer’s Corners (this name would later be changed to Clyde in honor of Clyde New York which was named for the Clyde River in Scotland).

Four years after the McPherson’s set up household in Hamer’s Corner, Cynthia gave birth to James B. McPherson. No description of this birth or of the baby was recorded, but many years later after James’ death, his mother Cynthia related a story that when he was 3 weeks old a group of Seneca Indians stopped in at their house to see the new baby. One of them declared: “He will be a great man.”

When James was 11, the country experienced a major financial crisis that became known as the Panic of 1837 which was similar in scope to the 2008 financial crisis experience that lasted seven years. Banks failed, businesses failed, prices declined and thousands of workers lost their jobs. Unemployment rose as high as 25% in some areas.

Like most businessmen of the day, the Panic of 1837 caused dramatic changes in William first in his financial health and then later his physical health. The stress of his losses and his efforts to try and protect his family ultimately caused him to become bedridden. Since the family business had collapsed, young James found it necessary to work for others in order to help provide for the family. At the age of 12 he had become the man of the family which would prove to have a long lasting effect on him and his career.

Fortunately, James was able to find work as a clerk in Sterntown (known today as Green Springs located about 6 miles southwest of Hamer’s Corner). Robert Smith the owner of a general store and the local mill adopted James (not legally). They exposed him to a rich education where he learned to read, appreciate music and was exposed to a variety of people one of those being Rutherford B. Hayes who was six years older than James and the two became good friends. It was through the Smith family and Rutherford that several years later afforded him the opportunity to move up in the world when he became a West Point cadet.

In 1847 James’ father died. The following year 19 year old James left home for West Point. He would never return to Hamer’s Corner other than for short stays.

During the battle for Atlanta, General McPherson was at General Sherman’s tent discussing what McPherson thought about how the Confederate would attack. It was in Sherman’s mind that the Confederates were retreating from Atlanta, but McPherson was certain they were setting up an attack of the Union’s flank and rear. It was a heated discussion and ongoing when a large volume of gunfire erupted in the direction of where McPherson’s troops were located and confirming his belief that Confederate forces were mounting an attack and that attack had begun.

McPherson quickly returned to his men until he reached his XVI Corps. Here he found his men struggling against an overwhelming advance of Confederate forces. Realizing the importance of this contact, McPherson decided to personally go on to his XVII Corps so they could be brought to bear upon the advancing Confederates.

McPherson’s two corps were separated by a thick woods which he had to navigate to reach his XVII Corps. McPherson, his aide and Colonel R.K. Scott were alone when they came upon a Confederate skirmish line. Both sides were suddenly taken back, and the Confederate skirmish line of 3 or 4 men simultaneously yelled for the two Union men to halt. Realizing what was about to happen if he were to be captured, McPherson and his aide wheeled their horse and bolted. The skirmish line reacted with volley of fire. McPherson’s aide turned in his saddle and saw the line taking aim and he later reported sliding around in his saddle so his horse was between him and the enemy. Unfortunately, James Birdseye McPherson was hit and killed, becoming the highest ranking Union officer to die in battle.

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The fact that John Clem was afforded such honors, is only trumped by the fact that John Clem was actually born John Joseph Klem in 1851, making him just 9 years old when he first tried to enlist in the 3^rd Ohio Infantry in May 1861, just days after fighting began. John J. Klem actually changed his name to John Lincoln Clem to prove that he was a “Union Man.”

Having being rejected by the Ohio Infantry, John tried to enlist in the 22^nd Michigan that was also posted to Camp Dennison in Cincinnati. They too refused but John had no where else to go since his mother had been killed earlier the year before. John spent much of the next year or so hanging out with the boys from Michigan and when they departed from Cincinnati in 1862, John tagged along, taking on the tasks of drummer boy for the unit. Members of the company even began to pay him a monthly stipend of $13 out of their own pockets.

John Clem gained notoriety when the 22^nd Michigan took part in an engagement in Georgia that became known as the Battle of Chickamauga, the second bloodiest battles during the war. During this battle, it was reported that a Confederate cannonball destroyed John’s drum. The battle dragged on for 3 days and on the third day, things began to break down for Union forces. Many of the men in the 22^nd were captured. John escaped capture by fleeing back to Union lines on an artillery caisson. It was widely reported that a Confederate officer demanded John immediately surrender, but instead, the young 12 year old raised his weapon and fired at the officer striking him down. Once he got back to his own unit, John was advanced to the rank of Sergeant becoming youngest person ever to hold that rank.

After this encounter, John was later captured and held as a POW before being paroled 2 months later. When word of John’s daring escapade during the battle appeared in a newspaper, John Clem became almost an instant celebrity. Folks everywhere knew him as the Drummer Boy of Chickamauga.

Before being discharged from the army at age 13, John Clem would be promoted to lance corporal.

Years later President Ulysses Grant would help the young man who served his country at such an early age, by personally giving his second lieutenant ‘s commission in 1871.

John Clem would once again see action during the Spanish-American War. In 1903 he became a Colonel and then in 1916 he left the U.S. Army once again after 53 years of active military duty. Twenty-one years later on this day and at the age of 85, John Clem, the Drummer Boy of Chickamauga died. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. Patent for the telephone. A year later the sitting President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, who was born in Delaware, Ohio, installed this new technology in the White House’s telegraph room. Several years earlier, Hayes first used a telephone in a call to its inventor, after which the future president was quoted to have said:

“It’s a great invention, but who would ever want to use one?”

With such a new invention that was not widely accepted, one might wonder who President Hayes wanted to call or who would be calling him? In May of 1876 the only other number in Washington was to the Treasury Department. It would take a while before the first telephone exchange would be created. The White House phone number was #1.

It would take another 50 years before the telephone actually became a regular feature of the President’s desk when President Hoover had one installed in the Oval Office.

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What’s red white and blue, sometimes it is hoisted up one or two of the flag poles on the roof of Ohio’s statehouse, and oh yes, it’s not a flag?

On this day in 1902 the Ohio General Assembly enacted a bill authorizing the adoption of a new state flag. Till this day in Ohio history, Ohio did not have a state flag. Ohio had been a state for almost 100 years, but we had never taken the step of creating a state flag. But a year before this date, several historic events came together in such a way that the General Assembly felt compelled enough to adopt a new symbol for the Buckeye State – and those events happened in another state.

That state was New York where in 1901 the Pan-American Exposition was being held in Buffalo. The Exposition was a show place for countries from both North and South America. It also included exhibits from many states including Ohio. As part of the Ohio Exposition building, flew a new pennant designed by a Cleveland architect that he felt help draw attention to the building.

In 1900 Cleveland architect, John Eisemann, was the winning bidder for designing the Ohio Building for the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. Realizing that Ohio did not have an official flag, Eisemann went about creating a special flag to fly over the Ohio Building. It’s not clear whether Eisemann intended his creation to become Ohio’s flag or not. What he did want was something unique to fly over his building design. He even patented the flag with the U.S. Patent Office on July 23, 1901.

The Pan-American Exposition ran from May 1, 1901 to November 1, 1901. During those 6 months more than 8,000,000 visitors would pass through the gates each paying 25 cents for admission. Besides the debut of what would later become Ohio’s state flag, the fair also had a more tragic Ohio connection.

On September 6, 1901, former Ohio Governor, former Ohio Representative, and current 2nd term President of the United States, William McKinley, was assassinated at the Pan-American Exposition. He would die just 8 days later.
In the following months and years after McKinley’s death, Ohio pay tribute to the fallen leader in various ways. One of those was the adoption of a special scarlet carnation worn by McKinley throughout his political career. Known as the Lamborn Carnation, the carnation became known as the “scarlet carnation” and three years later it became the official state flower as a “token of love and reverence to the memory of William McKinley”.

The other was the adoption of the flag that was flying over the Ohio Building when the president was shot. Less than 8 months later, that flag would officially be adopted as Ohio’s flag which has been flying over public buildings since this day in 1902.

The Ohio state flag is the only “flag” of all the 50 state flags, that is not an actual flag. It’s really a swallow tail burgee, which means it is tapered like a pennant, but has the tip notched with a v-shaped cut out. The only other place the swallow tail burgee is commonly seen is on sailing ships, commonly seen on Lake Erie.

The Big Blow as it was known around the Great Lakes became one of the greatest winter storms in Cleveland’s history. All communication between Cleveland and eastern Ohio was gone. Food shortages became rampant. People died.

A massive low pressure system formed along the Appalachian Mountains. The counter-clockwise spin of the system pulled massive amounts of  arctic gales into the eastern Great Lakes region.

The storm began as two separate systems that tracked across the southern U.S. This system combined with a low pressure area in the Arctic and was pulled out of Canada dropping temperatures quickly into the single digits and wind gusts around 90 mph. Waves cresting more than 35 feet, and snow squalls that visibility to just a few feet. The storm system straddling the mountains began a slow, but stead move northwest towards Lake Erie. As it did, the two system merged. Barometric pressure dropped to 28.50 inches.

Because the Lake Erie had not yet frozen, the arctic gales picked up large amounts of moisture that was then dropped as several feet of snow along Ohio’s north coast. The high winds created massive snow drifts, knocked out power everywhere.  The hurricane force storms lasted for 16 hours before it began to ease.

More than 230 people lost their lives in the storm mostly from lost ships on the lake. Days later bodies would turn up along the shore often in clusters of bodies frozen in each others arms. So many bodies came a shore that looting of the corpses became a problem requiring additional police to protect the grotesque site until the bodies could be removed.

As a result of this storm system, the USDA Weather Bureau began a major effort at making more accurate forecasts. The large Great Lakes ship designs were changed to make them more stable in unstable weather conditions. And in Cleveland, as a result of this storm, all utility cables were buried underground.

Sometimes on his journeys he distributed pamphlets about the church and used the apple seed as a metaphor for the church. Other times he just read passages from his Bible.

Jonathan was frugal — he never let anything go to waste (an original green earth devotee). If left to his own means, he would never hunt or kill for food (an original vegetarian). He did trust in God to provide him with what he needed be it food or clothing (an original religious fanatic). However, unlike today’s youth, Jonathan Chapman had no desire to leave a lasting memory of himself. The only physical memory he wanted to leave were his beloved apple trees, which surprisingly, some are still growing in places yet today.

What we know about Jonathan Chapman today, or the name most of us know him by Johnny Appleseed, is known today because of what others remember of him and what they wrote and said about him.

On this day in, September 26, 1774, the boy who would become Johnny Appleseed was born.

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Even though he was 2 years over the age limit, Eddie was accepted into the Army Air Service (thanks in great part to influential friends, many of whom he met back in Columbus, Ohio where he was born and raised).

After going through his air training, Eddie was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant and became chief engineer at the poorly prepared training base in Issodun. After making many improvements at Issodun, he was sent for training in aerial gunnery in Cazeau in the following January. He qualified as a candidate for training to become a combat pilot.

In February, Eddie was sent to Villeneuve-les-Vertus for advanced training and was assigned to the 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron, the first all-American air unit to see combat.
Eddie had his first confirmed victory on April 24, 1918 and in May, became an ace, winning the French Croix de Guerre by shooting down 5 German airplanes. He was named Commander of the 94th on September 24.

The following day, on this day in 1918, Eddie was flying alone not far from Verdun when he spotted a couple of German reconnaissance planes being escorted by five fighters. Eddie slipped in behind the formation and began climbing until his plane wouldn’t go any higher. He then shut down his engine and began a steep dive right towards the enemy planes. When he came in range, he opened fire shooting down one of the fighters. Restarting his engine, he roared back up flying right through the scrambling formation taking aim at one of the reconnaissance planes which went down in flames as well.

Having lost the element of surprise, the overwhelming number of enemy planes began a concerted effort at shooting down Eddie. He would later recall that he “saw tracer bullets go whizzing and streaking past his face.” Eddie then withdrew from the combat and headed back home.

For that feat and his courage Rickenbacker would receive the Medal of Honor and the admiration of many Americans. Just 14 days later “old man” Eddie Rickenbacker would celebrate his 28th birthday. By war’s end, Eddie downed 26 enemy planes and given the title “Ace of Aces.”

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Captain Robert Queissner of the Ohio National Guard had two sons, Charles and Robert serving in the United States Army on the front lines in Europe during the Great War. It was his idea for families of service members back home to show their pride in their family member’s service during active hostilities where American military forces are involved.

The flag quickly was adopted by military families during the war, and again when the United States became involved in World War II. During that war specific guidelines were developed that helped standardized its use.

The Blue Star Service Flag was to be in the same size ratio as the American flag. It has a wide red border with either a blue star or a gold star during any period of war or hostilities in which the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged. A Service Flag can display from 1 to 5 stars depending on the number of active service members currently serving. A special designation of the gold star is used if the family member dies while in service, regardless of cause, in a time of hostilities.

In 2010 Congress passed a resolution adopting the Silver Star Service Banner in which includes the red border and a field of blue with a silver star designating a family member that has been discharged from service because of wounds received during combat.

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On this day in 1881, Ohio born James A. Garfield died as the results of two gunshot wounds he received back on July 2, 1881 as the President was making his way through the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Terminal in Washington D.C. Here, Charles J. Guiteau, a crazy person who had been stalking the President because the President had not given him a government job.

As President Garfield entered the station on that Saturday morning, Guiteau stepped forward. He raised the weapon and fired the first shot which grazed the President’s right arm. Garfield cried out “My God, what is this?” and began to turn toward where the shot had come. Guiteau fired again striking the president in his back near the first lumbar vertebra but missing the spinal cord. Garfield collapsed on the dirty depot floor. For a moment the room was still and then it erupted in screams. beginning a never ending series of events that would ultimately cost the president his life.

From that moment on, the President’s life would be in the hands of a host of doctors, some of whom were almost by any standards incompetent, even by 1881 standards. This fact would later be brought out in Guiteau’s trial that it wasn’t him that killed the President, it was his doctors.

From the time of the shooting till the time of his death, some 12 different doctors poked and prodded Garfield’s into his wounds. Although in much of Europe the idea of bacteria and the infections that can come from bacteria was accepted medical knowledge, in the United States, the medical professional rejected this notion and ignored those precautions recommended to prevent bacterial infections.

In early September, Garfield was moved from the sweltering heat of Washington D.C. to Long Branch, NJ in hopes that the cooler temperatures might be beneficial. The improved environment found at the Jersey Shores may have benefited Garfield’s mental conditions, they did not improve his overall health. In fact, the bacterial infection in the President’s wound was slowly destroying him and at 10:35 P.M. Dr. D.W. Bliss confirmed the President had died. The 49 year old president died from a bacterial infection that spread to his blood. He had gone from over 200 pounds to just 135 at the time of his death.

It had been 16 years since the assassination of President Lincoln but in those years presidential security had not changed.That issue would not be addressed until after the assassination of another Ohio president, William McKinley who died just 4 days short being exactly 20 years from today, the day James A. Garfield died.

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He grew up in Cincinnati, went to school at Yale where he became a heavyweight champion wrestler, and he was extremely fit throughout his adult life despite his size. He was 6 foot or so (sources vary between 6’0″ and 6’2″) and when he graduated from college he weighed a very muscular 243 pounds.

After graduating from Yale, Will returned to Cincinnati where he studied law. He also got involved in local politics. However, he always seemed to prefer law over politics. His goal was to become Chief Justice of the United States, but that didn’t fit with his wife’s idea of success.

Helen Herron, or Nellie as her friends called her, seemed to always have an eye on becoming the Chief Lady of the White House. When she was just 16 years old, she actually visited the White House when Lucy Hayes occupied the center of American power with her husband Rutherford. Lucy invited the daughter of her husband’s law partner to an afternoon social. After this engagement, Nellie wrote that she would much like to return to the White House someday… as First Lady!

Not long after the White House visit, Nellie met the young, but 4 year older, Will Taft, at a sledding party in Cincinnati. They hit it off in many different ways that eventually brought them together as husband and wife in 1886. While it is not certain what part she played behind the curtains, it is certain that she encouraged her husband to strive for higher achievements.

As young Will became an accomplished attorney, his life would increasingly be drawn to the political arena. After having been a state judge, Will became Solicitor General of the United States, a federal judge, he was appointed to oversee the American civil government in the Philippines, and later was appointed by President Teddy Roosevelt as his Secretary of War. Teddy would later in his term offer Will the chance to fulfill his dream of becoming Chief Justice of the United States.

He discussed this opportunity with Nellie who was adamantly opposed to the idea. Her idea was that since Teddy Roosevelt had already promised the nation he would not seek a second term, it would be wiser for her husband to seek the presidency. In her mind, you could always become a Chief Justice, but the odds of becoming President of the United States were extremely high.

So following his wife’s advice, the extremely large fellow from Cincinnati, William Howard Taft, was elected President of the United States, the largest man to ever sit behind the Oval Office desk. Having achieved her dream of becoming First Lady, it would take several more years before Taft achieved his dream of becoming Chief Justice.

It was during another Ohioans term in office that President Harding made him Chief Justice of the United States where he would remain for the rest of his life. Taft would later write after becoming Chief Justice “I don’t remember that I ever was President.”

Today is the birthday of the only man ever to serve as President of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

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