General George B. McClellan

Do you know who once called President Abraham Lincoln a “well meaning baboon”? The answer is George B. McClellan, the Civil War General for whom Fort McClellan was named. If you want to know more about the man behind the name, here are some interesting facts:

• George B. McClellan was born on December 3, 1826 in Philadelphia, PA. 
• He graduated from West Point in 1846, ranking second in his class. 
• He fought in the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848. 
• After leaving military service, McClellan became the President of the Ohio and Mississippi RiverRailroad. 
• He married Mary Ellen Marcy and had two children.
• In 1861 when the Civil War began, McClellan reentered military service and commanded Ohio’s  volunteer army. 
• After winning a series of small battles in West Virginia, he was given command to organize the Army of the Potomac.
• In November 1861, McClellan was named the General-in-Chief of the Union Army.
• Unhappy with McClellan’s hesitancy to attack the Confederate Army, President Lincoln removed McClellan as General-in-Chief in March 1862. 
• In 1864, McClellan ran for the presidency as the Democratic Party candidate against Abraham Lincoln and failed. 
• He served one term as governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881. 
• McClellan died in 1885 at the age of 58.

We Can Do It!

Have you ever wondered just what exactly “Rosie the Riveter” did for the war effort? This fictional wartime heroine based on hundreds of women throughout the United States helped to build airplanes by shooting rivets into metal plates with a gun. She worked as a team with another woman called the “bucker”. The bucker flattened or smoothed out the rivets on the other side. According to one real-life female defense worker the job of riveting took more skill, but the job of bucking took more muscle. Which would you have preferred?

Between 1942 and 1944, five million women joined the American workforce. They filled many jobs formerly only held by men, working as welders, mechanics, crane operators, and bus drivers. Employment gave women confidence and a new sense of purpose. They liked making their own money. Women in Huntsville, AL earned $1,400 a year as assembly line workers at the Huntsville Arsenal, and women in Mobile, AL earned $3,600 a year working as welders in the shipyards. The majority of these women were not ready to give up their newfound independence after the war. A 1944 Labor Department study found that 80% of working women desired to continue working after the war. Unfortunately, most of the women were laid off soon after the war, but regardless, World War II changed women’s lives forever.

“Rosemary had found a personal resolve and identity in her work that didn’t include her family, her background, or a man. Her work was for her what music was for Ava, except that instead of it being primarily an outlet for her emotions, it was a vehicle of self-worth and importance. Ava breathed in and looked away, knowing that she, Rosemary, and the whole country would be all right after the war…”

Songbird, Chapter 55

Love and War

While World War II produced innumerable soldiers, tanks, and warships, it also produced something else – marriages! With the uncertainties of war, couples across the country rushed to the altar before men were shipped overseas to enter the war. The 1941 marriage rate, 12.6 per 100,000 population, was the highest recorded rate ever in the United States.

Anniston, AL was no exception. The Anniston Star reported in January 1942 that during the month of December 1941 alone at least 150 marriage licenses were issued and about three marriages occurred daily. The 27 Division from New York was preparing to depart for the Pacific warfront, and the men were eager to marry before leaving. Many married hometown sweethearts, and others married Alabama girls they met while training at the fort. Wartime romances were often sincere, but others were impulsive and fleeting, as shown by the increased postwar divorce rate.

In December 1941, Edward N. Burke of Fort McClellan and Lila Marie McCary of Anniston were married. James Joseph Sergio of Fort McClellan and D. Virginia Knight of Anniston were married, and Herbert Dorman of Fort McClellan and Alice Virginia Williams of Anniston were married to name a few. I wonder what happened to these wartime lovers.

There's Big opportunities in the Big City!

When Jason and I talked to older adults at the Fair on the Square a few weeks ago, they all had the same thing to say about Anniston, AL in the 1940s. They said it was a “booming” town. People from the rural surrounding areas and soldiers from Ft. McClellan poured into the city to work, shop, eat, and watch a movie.

Many cities throughout the United States experienced a similar population growth during World War II as men and women left the farm for new work opportunities. Other Alabama cities such as Mobile, Huntsville, and Childersburg grew rapidly as people came looking for jobs in defense industries. Mobile alone employed nearly 60,000 people in defense jobs. In Georgia, the quiet town of Marietta was changed forever when the United States Army and the Bell Aircraft Corporation began building a bomber plant in 1942 which would employ about 30,000 people. In California, San Diego doubled its size, and in Illinois, Seneca quintupled its size. Military bases and defense work changed many Americans’ way of life and transformed cities across the United States.

“Rosemary and Ava had never seen so many people inside or outside the store. On the weekends, people from the surrounding countryside poured into Anniston, and the city turned khaki-colored from all of the Fort McClellan soldiers that swarmed the populated streets.”

Songbird, Chapter 6

Memories of War Time

Here is another clip form the amazing Mrs. Elsie Wheeler. In this piece she tells us about meeting her husband after WWII and the time he spent as a POW in Japan.

Please help Share Mrs. Wheeler's wonderful memories and support our preservation efforts, Like us on Facebook and subscribe to the "War Stories" blog for updates on stories and upcoming events.

I Won’t Have to Cross Jordan Alone

I have said before that Songbird is a musical in words. The book is full of popular big band music from the 1940s, which I absolutely love, but it is also interlaced with gospel music. Gospel music is a big part of my family’s heritage. My great grandparents loved to go to “singings” and would often stay up until the early hours of the morning singing songs from church. One of my Paw Paw’s favorite gospel hymns was I Won’t Have to Cross Jordan Alone. Ava sings the song with her family at a tent revival in the second chapter of the book. Enjoy this version by Johnny Cash!

Brother Penny said “Amen,” and her family and cousin Jude began to assemble themselves at the front of the tent. Sheffield motioned for his sons to begin playing, and Ava began to sing.

“When I come to the river at ending of day, when the last winds of sorrow have blown,” she sang out by herself.

            It was I Won’t Have to Cross Jordan Alone, her mother’s favorite song about heaven, and she was always careful not to get any of the words wrong. Just then a commotion occurred outside the tent. Mrs. Valencia Boozer was approaching the food tables with three young soldiers, and everyone was greeting them like rich relatives.

Songbird, Chapter 2