Civil War Archives - Chris Carosa

First Hamburger: The Top Ten Myths About Who Invented It

By Chris Carosa on May 24, 2022

For some reason (and probably a good one if you think about it), the powers that be have decreed May 28^th as “National Hamburger Day.” This coincides nicely with the month of May either being “National Hamburger Month” and “National Burger Month,” depending on whose press release you read.

As a result, no doubt you’ve read, listened to, or watched something about the almighty burger at your favorite news outlet. The question you should ask (but won’t know to) is whether what you’re reading, hearing, or seeing is true. Unfortunately, in all likelihood, probably not.

To help set the record straight, here are the top ten myths about the origin of the first hamburger:Continue Reading “First Hamburger: The Top Ten Myths About Who Invented It”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 1885, 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, Athens, beefsteak tartare, boulette, Buffalo, Charles Menches, Civil War, Clint Murchison, cotton candy, Dallas cowboys, Dallas Morning News, erie county fair, Fairy Floss, Fletcher Davis, Frank Menches, frikadelle, Germany, hamburg, Hamburg Fair, Hamburg Steak, Hamburger, James H. Salisbury, John C. Kunzog, Louis' Lunch, Menches Brothers, National Burger Month, National Cheeseburger Day, National Hamburger Day, New Haven, Ray Kroc, Salisbury steak, September 18, Tartars, Texas, World War I, World War II, Yale

Remembering Armistice Day and Celebrating Veterans Day

By Chris Carosa on November 9, 2021

Today is Veterans Day. At the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month in 1918, an armistice between opposing sides formally ended the fighting of ‘The Great War.” This was called “the war to end all wars” because the world realized the deadly nature of technology had finally convinced everyone that there was no romance of war.

Perhaps the fact that America learned this lesson a half century earlier in its own Civil War explains our country’s late entry into “The World War” (yet another name used to define the conflict that raged from 1914-1918. Indeed, it was William Tecumseh Sherman who Continue Reading “Remembering Armistice Day and Celebrating Veterans Day”

Posted in Great Speaking Tips, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Armistice Day, Calvin Coolidge, chemical weapons, Civil War, Decoration Day, Dwight D. Eisenhower, lost generation, Memorial Day, Michigan Military Academy, tanks, The Great War, The War to End All Wars, The World War, trench warfare, Veteran's Day, William Tecumseh Sherman, Woodrow Wilson, World War I, World War II

Juneteenth Reveals Another Hidden Gem of Greater Western New York

By Chris Carosa on June 22, 2021

The Civil War offers many heroes from Abraham Lincoln to Ulysses S. Grant to William Tecumseh Sherman. (In fairness, the War Between the States provide quite a few villains, too – on both sides – but no need to belabor the half-empty glass.)

We know quite a few of these heroes, like Rochester’s Colonel Patrick H. O’Rorke, who was killed at Gettysburg while leading his men into action on Little Round Top, gave their ultimate in the fight to free the slaves.

Some heroes, whose significance fades with the passage of time, are occasionally rediscovered as changing perspective once again shines light on their distinguished acts of bravery, perseverance, and devotion that sets them apart from their fellow soldiers.

Today’s news has elevated the stature of Gordon Granger, a man who might have single handedly changed the outcome of the Civil War.

If you travel just south of the Village of Sodus in Wayne County, you’ll find County Road Continue Reading “Juneteenth Reveals Another Hidden Gem of Greater Western New York”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Battle of Chickamauga, Benjamin Joy, Braxton Bragg, Burnside, Catherine Taylor, Chattanooga, Civil War, Connecticut, District of Texas, Elihu Granger, Farragut, Gaius Granger, General Sullivan, George H. Thomas, George S. Patton, Gettysburg, Gordon Granger, John Decker Robinson, Joy, Juneteenth, Knoxville, Launcelot Granger, Massachusetts, Mobile Bay, Nathaniel Gorham, Oliver Phelps, Ontario County, Patrick H. O'Rorke, Phelps, Pierce Granger, Plymouth, Preemption Line, Sally Emery, Sodus, Turkey Hill, Ulysses S. Grant, Wayne County, William Rosencrans, William Tecumseh Sherman

Condemned to Repeat It: This 200+ Year Old Concept Rises Again in 2020

By Chris Carosa on January 14, 2020

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
– George Santayana in his 1905 series, The Life of Reason: the Phases of Human Progress.

It’s not new. It’s been with us since George Washington ended his second term as President. You might have heard it ended once and for all during the nadir of the American experiment.

But it’s still here. And for all its association with evil, the worst of our proud heritage, people continue to embrace it like a badge of honor.

Yet, it began with such promise…

No one ever questioned George Washington. He’s our first and probably last Continue Reading “Condemned to Repeat It: This 200+ Year Old Concept Rises Again in 2020”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1796 Election, Adam Bello, Alien and Sedition Acts, Civil War, compromise, Compromise Tarriff of 1833, drivers license, Federal Immigration Law, George Santayana, George Washington, Henry Clay, James Madison, John Adams, John Calhoun, Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, Michael Kearns, New York State, nullification, Sanctuary City, second amendment, The Life of Reason, The Nullification Crisis, Thomas Jefferson, tribalism

The Fantastical (Real-Life) Time Machine

By Chris Carosa on June 11, 2019

I had the pleasure of being invited to perform for Living History Day at SUNY Fredonia a couple of weeks ago. The all-day event features dozens of “acts.” It’s offered to hundreds of 7^th graders from throughout the Greater Western New York region. They’re bussed in early in the morning and attend live demonstrations of everything from Seneca Indian dances to artillery cannon fire.

These 12-year-olds watch as regiments from the Revolutionary War (both sides), the War of 1812 and the Civil War (both sides) conduct their drills. They see real-life colonial cooking, frontier gaming, and homespun crafts. The learn from medicine women, Suffragettes, and military historians. They discover 18^th century artifacts, 19^th century women’s fashions, and 20^th century genealogical grave hunting.

All this is done in period dress. Not just generic period dress, but actors dress as actual historical characters. I walked in with Harriet Tubman. Later I saw her talking to Abraham Lincoln. I could have sworn I saw a British general drinking coffee with Susan B. Anthony.

And they were all in costume. Even the civilians wore clothing of the era they represented. You can see from the pictures from the event. Everyone donned the fashion of the time from which they spoke and lived.

All except me.Continue Reading “The Fantastical (Real-Life) Time Machine”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Great Speaking Tips, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Greater Western New York, Harriet Tubman, Konstantin Stanislavski, Living History Day, Method acting, Rankin/Bass, Revloutionary War, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Seneca, SUNY Fredonia, Susan B. Anthony, Time Travel, War of 1812

Hamburger WhoDunIt Part VII: Those Amazing Menches Boys

By Chris Carosa on September 18, 2018

(The seventh part in a series of seven)

Brothers Charles and Frank Menches were prolific concessionaires. They didn’t start that way. By the time he was twenty, Charles had a “successful season” with the Bob Stickney circus. Contemporary reporters called him a “thoroughly proficient” trapeze artist.¹ After spending several years as a high wire and trapeze artist with the Bob Stickney circus and the Old John Robinson circus, Charles decided to enter the concession business full-time with his brother Frank in 1884.²

Frank, six years younger than Charles, was no slouch when it came to athleticism, either. He was an award-winning bicycle racer, competing into his early twenties.^3,4

Born in Canton, Ohio, the brothers dove into multiple business ventures at an early age. While working with the circus, Charles began dabbling in concession sales. Very quickly, he Continue Reading “Hamburger WhoDunIt Part VII: Those Amazing Menches Boys”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, Bob Stickney circus, Charles Menches, Civil War, Corn and Cone Company, Crackerjack, Frank Menches, Gee Whiz, ice cream cone, Liberty Theater, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Menches Brothers, Norhtern Ohio Traction, Old John Robinson circus, Orrin Barber, Premium Candy, Premium Candy and Corn, Stark County Fair, Summit County Fair, Summit Lake Park, William McKinley

Are You an Instigator, a Skeptic, or Merely Somebody Else’s Tool?

By Chris Carosa on November 14, 2017

They say the world is made up of two types of people. They’re wrong. The world consists of three types of people, but two of those types get all the press.

Journalists like to frame issues in a binary fashion – one side against another. That’s simple. It’s black and white. It’s A versus B. Reporters don’t do this because they can’t handle the complexity of multiple opposing points of view. They structure their stories as a duel between competing interests because readers find those stories easiest to digest. The audience finds such pairings quite familiar. Literature is replete with examples: Ahab vs. Moby Dick, Sherlock Holmes vs. Professor Moriarty, and Bambi vs. Godzilla, to name a few.

It’s not just drama. Philosophy often has an attraction to complimentary combinations. We see this most markedly in the Taoist notion of “dualistic-monism” as expressed in the Continue Reading “Are You an Instigator, a Skeptic, or Merely Somebody Else’s Tool?”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Ahab, Anaximander, argumentum ad populum, Aristotle, Bambi, Civil War, complementarity, dualistic-monism, Einstein, Founding Fathers, Galileo, Godzilla, Heraclitus, Instigator, journalism, Loyalists, Moby Dick, Moriarty, Newton, Oneness, quantum physics, Relativity, Revolutionary War, Sherlock Holmes, Skeptic, Star Wars, Taoism, Tool, watchdog, yang, yin

A Civil War Memorial

By Chris Carosa on May 23, 2013

America’s Civil War left nearly a million casualties and a national wound that would take generations to heal. Heal it did and the process began almost immediately. While a small hamlet in Greater Western New York was busy forgetting its recent past, another of our villages became the first to keep from forgetting. If we travel east of Town Line on Route 20, we pass through the heart of our region. Just past Geneva and before we reach Seneca Falls, we come to the not-so-small Village of Waterloo in Seneca County. Waterloo’s a big village, reaching into three towns – Waterloo, Seneca and Fayette.

When the Union veterans began returning to Waterloo, a forty-five year old druggist took note. He noted how the residents greeted all those who returned with honors and celebrations. What bothered him, though, were the ones that didn’t return. Who would honor their memories? Perhaps he was compelled by his own personal experience. He Continue Reading “A Civil War Memorial”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged 50 Hidden Gems, Buffalo, Centennial Celebration of Memorial Day, Civil War, Decoration Day, Fayette, Henry C. Welles, Henry Wells, John A. Logan, John B. Murray, Lyndon Johnson, Memorial Day, Palmyra, Route 20, Seneca County, Town of Seneca, Town of Waterloo, Village of Waterloo, Waterloo, Wells Fargo, World War I

First Hamburger: The Top Ten Myths About Who Invented It

Remembering Armistice Day and Celebrating Veterans Day

Juneteenth Reveals Another Hidden Gem of Greater Western New York

Condemned to Repeat It: This 200+ Year Old Concept Rises Again in 2020

The Fantastical (Real-Life) Time Machine

Hamburger WhoDunIt Part VII: Those Amazing Menches Boys

(The seventh part in a series of seven)

Are You an Instigator, a Skeptic, or Merely Somebody Else’s Tool?

A Civil War Memorial

Welcome to ChrisCarosa.com

Categories

(The seventh part in a series of seven)

Welcome to ChrisCarosa.com

Categories

Tags