“The Foolish Payment of a Foolish Bet” – Keene, New Hampshire – Nov. 14, 1872
3D red/cyan anaglyph created from stereo card, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum at www.getty.edu/museum/
Background story courtesy of the Historical Society of Cheshire County, Keene, New Hampshire, at: hsccnh.org/
Getty Museum Title and Date: Parade with Uncle Sam or Abraham Lincoln-like character at center; about 1865
Photographer: J.A. French ?
Notes: Other than the title and estimated date given by the museum staff, there is no information on the original stereo card. I thought if I could determine the location, maybe I could discover what this parade was about. Zooming-in on the right side, there is a storefront sign, "G.G. Dort & Co." I searched for that phrase on the web and got three results, all from old annual reports out of Keene, N.H., in the 1870's. Using Google Earth and street view I found a camera position in the center of Keene where the background seemed to match that in the photo. With this information in hand, I emailed the County Historical Society to see if they had someone who could confirm that the Getty stereo card image was indeed taken in Keene.
A staff person at the Historical Society of Cheshire County (HSCC) got right back to me and not only confirmed the location was Keene’s Central Square, but that they had another studio image of the same man in the same outfit – dressed, according to the caption, as “Brother Jonathan” (an earlier 1800’s version of Uncle Sam). Along with this new photo (see other flickr posting) was the complete background story, which is as follows:
“In 1872 political fervor had brought the biggest crowds in Keene’s history to support the Republican rallies. Egged on by the local media for weeks, the townsfolk had looked forward with enthusiasm to the outcome of the zany bet between John A. Drummer and John B. Fisher. When Grant won a sweeping victory over Greeley, the Republicans fired a 100 gun salute at midnight. On Thursday, November 14, at one o’clock this crowd turned out to see Drummer dressed as “Brother Jonathan” (in a suit made from an American flag) ride to victory. Fisher losing the wager pulled the sulky from the square to the fairgrounds and bank, accompanied by the Keene brass band and a portion of the fire department. Not a scene from Fiddler on the Roof, but a bit of Keene history as it really happened.”
With the information from the HSCC, it was pretty easy to locate some old newspaper articles at the Library of Congress website of this event from 146 years ago. The story appears in several Vermont newspapers, below is the article from the Burlington Vt Free Press, where I got the quote for my flickr title of the image:
“At Keene, N. H., John B. Fisher on Thursday afternoon, drew John A. Drummer from Central square to the Fair Ground and back, a distance of four miles, in a trotting gig, in payment of an election wager. The Keene Brass Band led the procession and two fire companies formed part of the escort. Nearly 2000 people witnessed the foolish payment of a foolish bet.”
In the course of my research, I found some additional information on John A. Drummer, the man dressed as Bother Jonathan (Uncle Sam). The 1860 census has his occupation down as “Glass Blower” and lists a wife and three sons. Two of the sons enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, but neither one survived the war – both dying at about age 20. His namesake and second son, John A. Drummer (b. 1841) enlisted in Co. A of the 2nd N.H. Volunteers on May 22, 1861 as a Private, and he died of disease, just seven months later, on Dec. 9, 1861, in Charles County, Md. His third son William F. Drummer (b. 1843) enlisted in Co. F of the 2nd N.H. and was wounded at Gettysburg on July 2nd, 1863, and died there, his body was never found. Just 3 months after this photo was taken, John A. Drummer lost his wife, Arvilla, to “typhoid pneumonia” on Feb 16, 1873. John A. Drummer (Uncle Sam – b. 1817) later remarried, and he died on August 2, 1896, aged 79.
The last thing I found was a “Google Preview” of the book “Keene” from the Arcadia Publishing series “Images of America,” which I’m going to guess is probably for sale somewhere in Keene today, likely near the Central Square. If I had only found this earlier, but there on page 101 is this same photo and the complete story about the wager. Towards the front, is a statement that the contents were drawn from the collections of the Historical Society of Cheshire County, Keene, New Hampshire.
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Red/Cyan (not red/blue) glasses of the proper density must be used to view 3D effect without ghosting. Anaglyph prepared using red cyan glasses from The Center For Civil War Photography / Civil War Trust.
“The Foolish Payment of a Foolish Bet” – Keene, New Hampshire – Nov. 14, 1872
3D red/cyan anaglyph created from stereo card, courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum at www.getty.edu/museum/
Background story courtesy of the Historical Society of Cheshire County, Keene, New Hampshire, at: hsccnh.org/
Getty Museum Title and Date: Parade with Uncle Sam or Abraham Lincoln-like character at center; about 1865
Photographer: J.A. French ?
Notes: Other than the title and estimated date given by the museum staff, there is no information on the original stereo card. I thought if I could determine the location, maybe I could discover what this parade was about. Zooming-in on the right side, there is a storefront sign, "G.G. Dort & Co." I searched for that phrase on the web and got three results, all from old annual reports out of Keene, N.H., in the 1870's. Using Google Earth and street view I found a camera position in the center of Keene where the background seemed to match that in the photo. With this information in hand, I emailed the County Historical Society to see if they had someone who could confirm that the Getty stereo card image was indeed taken in Keene.
A staff person at the Historical Society of Cheshire County (HSCC) got right back to me and not only confirmed the location was Keene’s Central Square, but that they had another studio image of the same man in the same outfit – dressed, according to the caption, as “Brother Jonathan” (an earlier 1800’s version of Uncle Sam). Along with this new photo (see other flickr posting) was the complete background story, which is as follows:
“In 1872 political fervor had brought the biggest crowds in Keene’s history to support the Republican rallies. Egged on by the local media for weeks, the townsfolk had looked forward with enthusiasm to the outcome of the zany bet between John A. Drummer and John B. Fisher. When Grant won a sweeping victory over Greeley, the Republicans fired a 100 gun salute at midnight. On Thursday, November 14, at one o’clock this crowd turned out to see Drummer dressed as “Brother Jonathan” (in a suit made from an American flag) ride to victory. Fisher losing the wager pulled the sulky from the square to the fairgrounds and bank, accompanied by the Keene brass band and a portion of the fire department. Not a scene from Fiddler on the Roof, but a bit of Keene history as it really happened.”
With the information from the HSCC, it was pretty easy to locate some old newspaper articles at the Library of Congress website of this event from 146 years ago. The story appears in several Vermont newspapers, below is the article from the Burlington Vt Free Press, where I got the quote for my flickr title of the image:
“At Keene, N. H., John B. Fisher on Thursday afternoon, drew John A. Drummer from Central square to the Fair Ground and back, a distance of four miles, in a trotting gig, in payment of an election wager. The Keene Brass Band led the procession and two fire companies formed part of the escort. Nearly 2000 people witnessed the foolish payment of a foolish bet.”
In the course of my research, I found some additional information on John A. Drummer, the man dressed as Bother Jonathan (Uncle Sam). The 1860 census has his occupation down as “Glass Blower” and lists a wife and three sons. Two of the sons enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, but neither one survived the war – both dying at about age 20. His namesake and second son, John A. Drummer (b. 1841) enlisted in Co. A of the 2nd N.H. Volunteers on May 22, 1861 as a Private, and he died of disease, just seven months later, on Dec. 9, 1861, in Charles County, Md. His third son William F. Drummer (b. 1843) enlisted in Co. F of the 2nd N.H. and was wounded at Gettysburg on July 2nd, 1863, and died there, his body was never found. Just 3 months after this photo was taken, John A. Drummer lost his wife, Arvilla, to “typhoid pneumonia” on Feb 16, 1873. John A. Drummer (Uncle Sam – b. 1817) later remarried, and he died on August 2, 1896, aged 79.
The last thing I found was a “Google Preview” of the book “Keene” from the Arcadia Publishing series “Images of America,” which I’m going to guess is probably for sale somewhere in Keene today, likely near the Central Square. If I had only found this earlier, but there on page 101 is this same photo and the complete story about the wager. Towards the front, is a statement that the contents were drawn from the collections of the Historical Society of Cheshire County, Keene, New Hampshire.
------------------
Red/Cyan (not red/blue) glasses of the proper density must be used to view 3D effect without ghosting. Anaglyph prepared using red cyan glasses from The Center For Civil War Photography / Civil War Trust.