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Stuck in the Filter: February 2025’s Angry Misses
By Kenstrosity
February comes down the pipe about two or three months after February. A perfectly normal thing to experience here at AMG HQ, this Filter’s tardiness is brought to you in part by my body getting stuck in one of the tighter conduits that lines the concrete interior of this confounded bunker. My minions are elsewhere, trudging through similar environs, and report their findings to me via eldritch beast telepathy. Since I obviously don’t speak eldritch tongue, I have to use my Codex of Enspongification to decipher these antediluvian transmissions. I’m sure you can imagine, that takes no small measure of time, especially when you’re stuck in this galvanized prison of rusting sheetmetal.
Until my ungrateful minions can find me and rescue me—something I don’t expect to happen anytime soon considering I give them no workers benefits or pay of any kind—you’ll have to make do with the selections of rough-hewn and sharp, but valuable, ore provided below. OBSERVE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Kenstrosity’s Crusty Grab
Metaphobic // Deranged Excruciations [February 28th, 2025 – Everlasting Spew Records]
When Atlantan death metal quintet Metaphobic caught my attention with the megalithic riffs opening their debut LP Deranged Excruciations, I thought the stank face it brought out of me might be permanent. Nothing new and nothing sophisticated awaits here. Just brutalizing riffs delivered in a relentless sequence of destruction. Lead guitars squeal and scrape against the swampy ground underfoot, leaving a noxious slime trail behind “Mental Deconstruction” and “Execration” that tastes of Tomb Mold, Incantation, and Demilich to varying degrees. Guttural utterances and cacophonic—but accessibly structured—riffs offer the same infernal ferocity of the olden ways. However, in a similar manner to Noxis, their application here feels modern and fresh-ish (“Execration,” “Veiled Horizons,” “Hypnosis Engram”). Not nearly as nuanced as that comparison might suggest, Metaphobic are more than satisfied to use their brutish death metal as a cudgel for blunt force trauma. Nods to death doom in long-form wanderings like “Disciples of Vengeance” and “Insatiable Abyss” provide an appreciable variation in pace, though it doesn’t always work in Metaphobic’s favor. While those songs tend to meander too long on ideas unfit to support such mass for so long, livid outbursts like “Veiled Horizons” and “Reconstituted Grey Matter” more than make up for it. In short Deranged Excruciations commands my attention enough to earn my recommendation here, and my attention going forward.
Tyme’s Missing Minutes
Caustic Phlegm // Purulent Apocalypse [February 28, 2025 – Hells Headbangers]
Caustic Phlegm is the filth project helmed solely by Chestcrush main man Evan Vasilakos, who joyously employed his HM-2 and RAT pedals to create the utter disgustingness that is Purulent Apocalypse. A far cry from the angsty, I’d-rather-see-humanity-dead blackened death metal of his main outfit, Caustic Phlegm is a throwback to the days when Carnage walked the streets of Sweden and Impetigo was melting faces and killing brain cells. Purulent Apocalypse is a platter of pestiferous riffs (“Fouled, Infected & Infested,” “Soft Bones,” “Blister Bliss”), so many it’s like sitting on a death metal toilet puking and shitting riffs ad nauseam. Evan’s drum work, replete with the occasional but very satisfying St. Anger snare tone, drives the mindless fun forward, and the 80’s zombie giallo synth work would have Lucio Fulci himself clawing out of his grave to eat your face. Vasilakos’ vocals are a fine litany of belches, squelches, and gurgles that sound like a colony of maggots cleaning the putrid flesh from a corpulent corpse. Caustic Phlegm is the foul stench of death and will have you reaching for the soap and steel wool as you try to rid yourself of the Purulent Apocalypse infection.
Vermilia // Karsikko [February 14, 2025 – Self Release]
Had the incomparable Darkher not released The Buried Storm in 2022, Vermilia‘s Ruska would have garnered my top spot that year, which put her on my radar for the first time. When I saw Vermilia‘s follow-up, Karsikko had dropped in February—sadly we didn’t receive a promo—I jumped at the chance to filter it. While Karsikko is a bit more straightforward than Ruska, it’s full of liltingly beautiful pianos (“Karsikko”) that give way to icy black metal riffs (“Kansojen Kaipuu”) and gorgeously rendered folk metal melodies (“Koti,” “Veresi”). Comparisons with Myrkur and Suldusk would be appropriate, but Vermilia continues to carve out her own space in the folk black metal scene, marrying beatific melody with beastly aggression. Performing all of the music on Karsikko, as is her one-woman calling card, renders her finished products even more impressive. The highlight has always been the voice, though, as Vermilia deftly transitions between angelic cleans (“Suruhymni”) and frosty rasps (“Vakat”), completing a circle that makes each of her releases a joy to listen to. It’s confounding that another of Vermilia‘s albums is an independent release, which might be artistically intentional or the result of bone-headed label execs. Either way, don’t miss out on Karsikko, as Vermilia shouldn’t stay unsigned for long.
Killjoy’s Drowsy Discovery
Noctambulist // Noctambulist II: De Droom [February 7th, 2025 – These Hands Melt]
Although I love blackgaze, I must admit that it can be challenging to find artists who stand out in the genre, whether through quality songwriting or unexpected twists. It turns out that the Dutch band Noctambulist1 offers both. Noctambulist II: De Droom is a fun and fresh blend of Deafheaven-adjacent blackgaze with a Molotov cocktail of post-punk energy. The power chord-driven guitar lines prove to be an unexpectedly compatible fuel source to propel the shimmering, gazey tremolos and blackened rasps to new heights. Many songs (particularly “Aderlater” and “Lichteter”) start with neat intro melodies that catch the listener’s attention, then build and ride that momentum throughout the remainder. A faint sense of loss—stemming from the achingly relatable theme of homeownership drifting further out of many people’s reach—pervades the record, but there is also an infectious cheerfulness. Despite their name, Noctambulist are hardly sleepwalking as they tread along a well-worn genre.
Thus Spoke’s Disregarded Diamonds
Sacred Noose // Vanishing Spires [February 2nd, 2025 – Breath Sun Bone Blood]
My experience with Irish extreme metal has been that it is all incredibly dark, twisted, and supremely, gorgeously dissonant.2 Belfast3 duo Sacred Noose make absolutely no exception to this rule. Vanishing Spires’ ruthlessly brief 31 minutes are defined by stomach-tightening twisted blackened death designed to cut to the heart of misery and fear. The lurching sensation brought about by rapid tremolo descents and sudden accelerations of ever more dissonant chords, impenetrable drums, and pitch-shifting feedback is nauseating (“Entranced by Concrete Lathe,” “True Emancipation”). The pure horror of the inhuman, high-pitched shrieks answering the already fearsome bellows is anxiety-inducing (“”Black Tempests of Promise,” “Moribund”). The near-constant buzzing of noise is oppressive (“Terminal Prologue,” “True Emancipation”); the creeping, malevolent scales unnerving. And Sacred Noose play with their victim, luring them into a trap of deceptively familiar cavern-core (“Sacred Noose”) before throwing a hood over their head and yanking them backwards into more horrifying mania; or perhaps they’ll start with the assault (“True Emancipation”). This more ‘straightforward’ edge to Sacred Noose is most akin to a faster Sparagmos, while their dominant, demonic personality I can compare most faithfully to Thantifaxath, if Thantifaxath were more death-metal-inclined. Vanishing Spires is the first time since the latter’s 2023 Hive Mind Narcosis that a record has genuinely made me feel afraid.
Crown of Madness // Memories Fragmented [February 28th, 2025 – Transcending Obscurity Records]
Life unfortunately got in the way of me giving this a proper review, but Crown of Madness deserve better than to slip by unmentioned. Memories Fragmented is the duo’s debut, but Crown of Madness is one of several projects both are already in.4. The ominous yet colourful sci-fi/fantasy cover art and spiky logo scream ‘tech-death’ and that is indeed what Crown of Madness deliver. At base, there is some damn fine technical death metal here that’s impressive and acrobatic (), but snappy, not outstaying its welcome—the entire record barely stretches beyond 35 minutes. But there is more to Memories Fragmented, and as a result, it is memorable.5 A drawl to certain refrains (), the tendency to gently sway to a slow, near-pensiveness (), the atmospheric hanging of some tremolos over a warm, dense bass (). There is depth. And it reminded me quite starkly of early Ulcerate. In this vein, the record leans towards the more meandering side of the subgenre, gripping not with hooky riffs and heart-pumping tempos, but an intricate kind of intensity. Memories Fragmented arguably goes too far in the indistinct direction, and as a result, loses immediacy. But the churning, introspective compositions presage the potential for true brilliance on future releases.
Vacuous // In His Blood [February 28th, 2025 – Relapse Records]
Full of youthful vigour, London’s Vacuous demonstrate their willing ability to evolve with their sophomore, In His Blood. While debut Dreams of Dysphoria, which I covered back in 2022, played more or less by the disso-death book, here they are already experimenting. Strange, almost post-metal atmosphere now haunts the boundaries (“Hunger,” “Public Humiliation,” “No Longer Human”), combining brilliantly with the band’s already cavernous death metal sound, and amplifying its fearsomeness. Crowning example of this is the gem Vacuous save for the record’s final act in closer “No Longer Human.” In His Blood also sees them flirt with a punkier energy that borrows more than a little bit of malice from the blackened handbook (“In His Blood,” “Flesh Parade”), backed up by d-beats, and contrasting well with their now less frequent crawls. At its most explosive, In His Blood feels downright unhinged, in the best way (“Stress Positions,” “Immersion”), but it never feels messy, and there’s potential in here for Vacuous to evolve into yet another, incredibly potent form of unique, modern hybrid extreme metal. I wish there were more than 30 minutes of this.
Dolphin Whisperer’s Bottom o’ the Barrel Boons
Pissgrave // Malignant Worthlessness [February 21st, 2025 – Profound Lore Records]
Though it may appear, at a glance, that I have gold-colored glasses for bands of rank and urological reference, I’d call it more of a chance happening that such miscreant acts have created intriguing works. And, truthfully, PISSGRAVE has leaned closer to filth first, function second with the war-leaning crackle (and brazenly offensive cover art) that relegates their lineage to corners of listening ears who need therapy with a high tolerance for guts and grime. Malignant Worthlessness, of course, is not accessible by any means, though, despite these Philly boys packing these nine ode to a failed society in a package that doesn’t cause immediate squirm. But with grooves trapped in an endless skronk and blast, and vocals shifted and layered to reflect the sound of a swarm of Daffy Ducks with a serious disdain for life, PISSGRAVE still embodies an endless swirl of unleashed aggression rendered in riffed and regurgitated form. Malignant Worthlessness lives on the dry and crispy side with most of its tones, which allows copious hits of quick delay and reverb on OUGHs and EEEEEEEUGHs to land with an extra psychedelic knocking when you least expect it. Little slows down the pain train here, with tracks like “Heaping Pile of Electrified Gore” and “Internment Orgy” taking brief detours into chunky guitar builds that feel within grasp of normalcy just before dropping back into an intensified flaying. Elsewhere, a martial urgency that reminds of Paracletus-era Deathspell Omega or the industrial-tinged pummel of Concrete Winds, stirs a twitching movement response, all while retaining a grinding death snarl and chromatic fury, leading its fused-by-hatred structures toward an explosive and fuming conclusion. Humanity has no place in the PISSGRAVE environs, and Malignant Worthlessness, in its celebration of a hostile world, does everything it can to reinforce that.
終末回路 // 終端から引き剥がす [February 20th, 2025 – Self Release]
For things that wander around the math rock world, nailing a vibe remains essential to enjoyment. It’s all too easy in this day and edge to fall into the comfortable trap of ambient tapping and comfortable posty swirls to pleasant crescendos that renders many modern acts to high brow background music (even including bands I like, to a degree, like Covet or Jizue). New Japanese act 終末回路,6 however, chooses to imbue their nimble and tricky instrumental center with the searing emotion and urgency of a noisy post-hardcore, with searing vocal inclusions adding a gravitas to passages that would otherwise threaten to flutter away in glee (“誤殖,” “知らねぇよ”). On one end, 終末回路 delivers a bright playfulness that swings with the pedal power and psychedelia of a young Tera Melos. Yet, weighted with a punk urgency and rawer Japanese assembly of tones, which give a physical clang to tight kit heads and blazing squeal to shrill loops and feedback, 終末回路 finds a constant momentum in their shorter form excursion that makes my lack of understanding of its introspective lyrics a non-issue. Packing plaintive piano melodies (“ご自由に “), speaker blowing synth cranking (“dgdf++be”), and prog-tinged guitar flutters (“知らねぇよ”) into one listening session isn’t easy, but with this debut outing of 終端から引き剥がす,7 終末回路 makes it seem as if they’ve been honing the craft for years.
Saunders’ Salacious Skeeves
Möuth // Gobal Warning [February 14th, 2025 – Self Release)
Veteran rockers The Hellacopters returned with a typically rollicking, fun album in February. Elsewhere, dropping with little fanfare, fellow Swedes and unsung power trio Möuth emerged with an intriguing debut rock platter, entitled Global Warning. Featuring more than meets the eye and flashing a dynamic rock sound, Möuth embrace both retro and modern influences, whipped into an infectious concoction of styles, ranging from Sabbathian lurches, doomy grooves, stoner vibes, and elements of psych, punk and hard rock. For the most part it works a treat, creating a welcome change of pace. Fuzzy, upbeat rockers (“Dirt,” “Appetite”) snugly reside amongst moody, psych-bending numbers (“Alike,” “Mantra”), and heavier doom-laden rock, such as powerful opener “Holy Ground,” and brooding, emotive album centerpiece, “Sheep.” Vocally, the passionate, Ozzy-esque croons hit the spot, matching up well to the band’s multi-pronged rock flavors. Compact and infectious, varied in delivery and featuring enough tasty rhythms, fuzzy melodies and rock punch to satisfy, Global Warning marks an intriguing starting point for these Swedish rockers.
Chaos Inception // Vengeance Evangel [February 21st, 2025 – Lavadome Productions]
Emerging from a deep slumber in the depths of the underground, Alabama’s long dormant death metal crew Chaos Inception returned with their first album since 2012’s The Abrogation. Third album Vengeance Evangel went under the radar, festering unclaimed in the promo sump. After the fact, the album’s crushing, controlled chaos smacked me upside the skull with a violent modern interpretation of the classic Floridian death metal sound, with the musty hues of Tucker-era Morbid Angel most prevalent. This is blast-riddled, relentless stuff, played expertly by the trio of Matt Barnes (guitars), Gray White (vocals) and session drummer Kevin Paradis (ex-Benighted). Incredibly dense, atmospheric, and blazingly fast, Vengeance Evangel is a brutal, knotty, technical hammering, punctuated by sick, wildly inventive soloing. While not traditionally catchy, Vengeance Evangel is the kind of intense, layered death metal album that gets under the skin, grafting a deeper impression across repeated listens. The insane tempo shifts, jigsaw arrangements, and wickedly deranged axework delivers big time. From the violent, intricate throes of opener “Artillery of Humwawa,” and disturbed soundscapes of “La Niebla en el Cementerio Etrusco,” through to the brutish grooves of ‘Thymos Beast,” and exotic, tech death shards of “Empire of Prevarication,” Vengeance Evangel does not neatly fit into any one subgenre category but ticks many boxes to cast a wide appeal to death fans of varied equations.
Steel Druhm’s Viscous Biscuits
Ereb Altor // Hälsingemörker [ February 7th, 2025 – Hammerheart Records]
Steel loves his epic metal. I was raised on the stirring odes to swordsmanship and ungovernable back hair from Manowar and Cirth Ungol, and in time, I took a place at the great table in Wotan’s Golden Halls to appreciate the Viking metal exploits of Bathory and later adherents like Falkenbach and Moonsorrow. Sweden’s Ereb Altor got in the game late with their epic By Honour debut in 2008, boasting a very Bathory-esque sound and emotional tapestry that felt larger-than-life and stirred the loins to begird themselves. 10th album Hälsingemörker is a glorious return to those halls of heroes and bravery. This is the large-scale songcraft first heard on Bathory albums like Hammerheart and Twilight of the Gods, and it’s most welcome to these ape ears. Cuts like “Valkyrian Fate” are exactly the kind of sweeping, epic numbers the band’s excelled at over the years. It takes the core sound of Viking era Bathory and builds outward to craft bombastic and heroic compositions that feel HUUUGE. It’s the kind of metal song that embiggens the soul and makes you want to take on a marauding horde by your lonesome and usurp all their battle booty. On “Hälsingemörker,” you get a fat dose of Moonsorrow worship, and elsewhere, Primordial is strongly referenced to very good effect. Hälsingemörker is easily the best Ereb Altor album in a while and the most in line with their beloved early sound. Strap on the sword and get after it!
#AmericanMetal #Arboreal #Benighted #BlackMetal #BlackSabbath #Blackgaze #BreathSunBoneBlood #Carnage #CausticPhlegm #ChaosInception #Chestcrush #ConcreteWinds #Coscradh #Covet #CrownOfMadness #Darkher #Deafheaven #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #DeathspellOmega #Demilich #DerangedExcruciations #DissonantDeathMetal #DustAge #EmbodimentOfDeath #ErebAltor #EverlastingSpewRecords #FolkMetal #GlobalWarning #Hälsingemörker #HellsHeadbangers #Impetigo #InHisBlood #Incantation #IrishMetal #JapaneseMetal #jizue #Karsikko #LavadomeProductions #MalignantWorthlessness #MathRock #MelodicBlackMetal #MemoriesFragmented #Metaphobic #MorbidAngel #Möuth #Myserion #Noctambulist #NoctambulistIIDeDroom #Noxis #OzzyOsbourne #Pissgrave #PostMetal #postPunk #ProfoundLoreRecords #PurulentApocalypse #RelapseRecords #Rock #SacredNoose #SelfRelease #SelfReleased #SermonOfFlames #Sparagmos #SwedishMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #TerZiele #TeraMelos #Thantifaxath #TheHelicopters #TheseHandsMelt #TombMold #TranscendingObscurityRecords #UKMetal #Ulcerate #Vacuous #VanishingSpires #VengeanceEvangel #Vermilia #VultureSVengeance #終末回路 #終端から引き剥がす
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https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/various-black-seed-issue-1#toc22
When Nature Attacks
Squirrel Blamed For Massive Southern Marin Power Outage - Marin Independent Journal, 1/8/2014
A squirrel is being blamed for a large power outage in Marin County that affected 23,000 customers Wednesday morning, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno said the outage began at 10:12 a.m. when a squirrel caused a flashover and damaged a breaker at the Mill Valley substation. He said the squirrel acted as a conductor between equipment and didn’t survive the experience. About 12,000 customers in the affected areas of Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Tiburon and Muir Beach had restored power by 11:17 a.m. At 11:39 a.m. power was restored to all, Moreno said.
Pope’s Peace Doves Attacked By Crow & Seagull - from The Guardian, 1/26/2014
Two white doves that were released as a peace gesture by children standing alongside Pope Francis were attacked by other birds. As tens of thousands of people watched in St Peter’s Square on Sunday, a seagull and a large black crow swept down on the doves after they were set free from an open window of the Apostolic Palace. One dove lost some feathers as it broke free from the gull. But the crow pecked repeatedly at the other dove. It was not clear what happened to the doves as they flew off. Speaking at the window beforehand, Francis appealed for peace in Ukraine, where anti-government protesters have died.
Woman Badly Mauled By Black Bear in Her Suburban Florida Home - from NatureWorldNews, 4/14/2014
A woman in Seminole County, Florida was attacked by a 200-pound bear in the garage of her home, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The woman survived with bite marks to her head, arm and leg and claw marks on her back. She had to have 30 staples and 10 stitches in her head before being released from the hospital. Coincidentally, the day she was attacked an advisory had been issued about Florida black bear activity increasing, as the animals have just come out of their dens from winter hibernation. The day after the attack, the State said it captured and killed three bears in the area that showed no fear of people. One of the three bears was described as particularity aggressive. Our thoughts go out to the bears’ families and we wish them a speedy vengeance.
Earthquake Liberates Over 300 Prisoners In Chile - from Russia Today, 4/2/2014
Armed forces were sent to the city of Iquique, Chile to track down escaped prisoners after an earthquake, several after-shocks and the threat of tsunami wreaked havoc on a women’s prison. Authorities say the situation got out of control because the prison is located in an area prone to flooding. At the time of reporting, only 16 prisoners had been re-captured.
#anarchy #BLACKSEED a green anarchist journal
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https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/various-black-seed-issue-1#toc22
When Nature Attacks
Squirrel Blamed For Massive Southern Marin Power Outage - Marin Independent Journal, 1/8/2014
A squirrel is being blamed for a large power outage in Marin County that affected 23,000 customers Wednesday morning, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno said the outage began at 10:12 a.m. when a squirrel caused a flashover and damaged a breaker at the Mill Valley substation. He said the squirrel acted as a conductor between equipment and didn’t survive the experience. About 12,000 customers in the affected areas of Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Tiburon and Muir Beach had restored power by 11:17 a.m. At 11:39 a.m. power was restored to all, Moreno said.
Pope’s Peace Doves Attacked By Crow & Seagull - from The Guardian, 1/26/2014
Two white doves that were released as a peace gesture by children standing alongside Pope Francis were attacked by other birds. As tens of thousands of people watched in St Peter’s Square on Sunday, a seagull and a large black crow swept down on the doves after they were set free from an open window of the Apostolic Palace. One dove lost some feathers as it broke free from the gull. But the crow pecked repeatedly at the other dove. It was not clear what happened to the doves as they flew off. Speaking at the window beforehand, Francis appealed for peace in Ukraine, where anti-government protesters have died.
Woman Badly Mauled By Black Bear in Her Suburban Florida Home - from NatureWorldNews, 4/14/2014
A woman in Seminole County, Florida was attacked by a 200-pound bear in the garage of her home, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The woman survived with bite marks to her head, arm and leg and claw marks on her back. She had to have 30 staples and 10 stitches in her head before being released from the hospital. Coincidentally, the day she was attacked an advisory had been issued about Florida black bear activity increasing, as the animals have just come out of their dens from winter hibernation. The day after the attack, the State said it captured and killed three bears in the area that showed no fear of people. One of the three bears was described as particularity aggressive. Our thoughts go out to the bears’ families and we wish them a speedy vengeance.
Earthquake Liberates Over 300 Prisoners In Chile - from Russia Today, 4/2/2014
Armed forces were sent to the city of Iquique, Chile to track down escaped prisoners after an earthquake, several after-shocks and the threat of tsunami wreaked havoc on a women’s prison. Authorities say the situation got out of control because the prison is located in an area prone to flooding. At the time of reporting, only 16 prisoners had been re-captured.
#anarchy #BLACKSEED a green anarchist journal
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I don’t know how you feel about this, but I’m stoked! 🤘😬✨
LIVE WEBINAR
#AI in #Healthcare: Who Benefits, Who Pays, and Who’s at Risk?Not only is this our inaugural panel on the new ITSPmagazine #Webinar platform, but I couldn’t have asked for a more exciting conversation to moderate with Sean Martin.
The topic is undeniably fundamental when examining #society and #technology, and the panelists are stellar!
I truly hope you join us!
Reserve your spot now 👇
https://www.crowdcast.io/c/ai-in-healthcare-who-benefits-who-pays-and-whos-at-risk-an-itspmagazine-thought-leadership-webinar-march-2025-3eeb9725b912#Artificialintelligence is changing healthcare, but at what cost—and to whose benefit? From patient care and provider operations to the insurance ecosystem, AI is shaping decisions that affect who gets care, who pays for it, and how much it costs. But as automation and algorithms take hold, can we trust that AI will work in everyone’s best interest?
Join us on March 25, 2025, at 2:00 PM EDT // 11:00 AM PDT // 6:00 PM GMT for a live conversation that goes beyond the technology to examine its real-world impact on care quality, costs, and trust in the healthcare system.
🔸 PANELISTS 🔸
• Robert Pearl, M.D. – Healthcare Contributor at Forbes, Stanford University, Former CEO, The Permanente Medical Group, Inc.
• John Sapp Jr – VP & CISO, Texas Mutual Insurance Company
• Jim St. Clair – VP, Public Health Systems, Altarum
• Robert Havasy – Senior Director, Connected Health, HIMSS
• Robert Booker – Chief Strategy Officer at HITRUST🔸 MODERATORS 🔸
• Sean Martin, CISSP – Co-Founder, ITSPmagazine
• Marco Ciappelli – Co-Founder, ITSPmagazine🔸 WHO SHOULD ATTEND 🔸
This session is essential for healthcare professionals, business leaders, product developers, privacy experts, technologists, policymakers, insurers, and security professionals navigating AI’s role in who gets care, how it’s delivered, and who ultimately pays the bill.🔸 WHAT YOU CAN LEARN 🔸
• How AI is changing patient care, healthcare operations, and insurance decisions
• The risks AI poses to privacy, security, and trust among patients, providers, and insurers
• What’s needed to ensure AI drives better care, fairer costs, and responsible innovation🔸 SAVE YOUR SPOT 🔸
This live webinar includes a Q&A with the panelists, moderators, and your peers—this is your chance to join the conversation.Reserve your spot now 👇
https://www.crowdcast.io/c/ai-in-healthcare-who-benefits-who-pays-and-whos-at-risk-an-itspmagazine-thought-leadership-webinar-march-2025-3eeb9725b912#DigitalHealth #PatientTrust
#privacy #infosec #cybersecurity #tech #Healthtech -
Quote of the day, 11 January: Conrad de Meester, O.C.D.
Profession of
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
Sunday, 11 January 1903“My Mother, here is the Bridegroom!” (L 155).
After the 8 o’clock Mass, the community, in their white mantles and a large candle in their hands, go up the grand staircase to the chapter room, singing the O gloriosa Virginum (“O glorious Virgin”) to Mary. As a small cell of the Church, the community experiences the profession as a great moment of universal significance, an offering for the universal Church. United in intimacy, it’s also the family that’s going to grow. At the end of the procession, the prioress leads the novice by the hand.
The account of Sister Mary of the Trinity, plainly taken up again in the Memoirs (S 107), introduces us to this supreme act:
“Her profession was still made entirely in faith, but already in peace since her visit with the priest. She tells us that she was taken up by the idea of sacrifice and immolation alone. Especially as she climbed the steps, going up to the chapter room, she was strongly taken, seized by this thought and then told us that she had found her whole state of mind in the day’s reading: ‘Offer your bodies to God as pure, holy and pleasing hosts to God’” (cf. Rom 12:1).
Climbing the stairs reminds Elizabeth of the symbol of the mountain, whether it be Tabor or Calvary—like Abraham going up to the top of the mountain indicated by Yahweh to sacrifice his son Isaac (cf. Gen 22:1-19), like Jesus Christ on his way to the Cross. Each stair-step is a decisive movement towards total self-giving to God, prayer, and sacrifice for the Church.
Detail of the grand, spiral staircase in the ruins of the first Carmelite monastery on Mount Carmel. As a tradition, many monasteries of Carmelite nuns are built to include a monumental, spiral staircase. See the complete photo here.
Image credit: biblewalks.comUpon arriving in the chapter room, the Prioress sits on the left side of the altar. Elizabeth kneels before her. Mother Germaine asks her the same questions as on the day she took the habit. The same answers resound—standard, formulated answers—but with great density, essential expressions of what one is seeking. After Elisabeth has thus sought “the mercy of God, the poverty of the Order and the company of her sisters,” the Prioress reminds her of the demands of the narrow path she is following forever.
Then, with her hands joined in those of the Prioress, Mother Germaine of Jesus, Elizabeth Catez repeated the formula of her profession three times: “I, Sister Mary Elizabeth of the Trinity, make my profession, and I promise chastity, poverty and obedience to God, Our Lord, and to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” in obedience to the superiors “according to the primitive, unmitigated Rule of the Order of Mount Carmel until death.”
Translator’s Note—In English-speaking Discalced Carmelite monasteries, the formula was: I, Sister N. of N., make my solemn profession and I promise obedience, chastity, and poverty to God, to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, and to you, Rev. Mother Prioress, and to your successors, according to the primitive Rule of the Discalced Carmelites and our Constitutions, until death.
In this very sparse setting, the words resonate…
After the prayers offered by the Prioress, as on the day she took the habit, the newly professed is clothed in her Marian scapular and white mantle to symbolize the new life received from the Risen One. Now she lies on the floor in the form of a cross on the wool carpet decorated with flowers while the community sings the Te Deum. After she has been sprinkled with holy water, a reminder of the water of Baptism, Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity rises, kneels before the Prioress, kisses her hand, embraces her, and goes to kiss all the sisters as they sing Psalm 133, Ecce quam bonum: See how good it will be to live together as true sisters.
On Sunday, 11 January 1903 it was freezing in Dijon. The temperature was -5 (23 F) and a snowstorm would arrive the next day in eastern France. This photo, however, was taken by Sister Geneviève some days after Elizabeth received the black veil on 21 January 1903. The remaining snow from earlier in the month appears in the garden.
Image credit: Discalced Carmelites Detailed view of Elizabeth’s profession crucifix. See the complete image here.She receives her profession crucifix, on the back of which she has had St. Paul’s words engraved in Latin: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). She also receives her copy of the Constitutions of the Order and the Prioress places a crown of flowers on her head, which she wears all day long, she who is Christ’s bride.
During the day’s prayers, she is the one who presides. At meals and evening recreation, she sits between the Prioress and the Sub-Prioress, her place in the refectory being adorned with flowers. The community has “license” today to visit each other, but the newly professed remains in silence, in a prayer of gratitude and love, until the joyful and emotional gathering during the evening recreation.
After Compline, the Prioress removes the crown from Elizabeth who will place it in front of the statue of Our Lady of Grace in the cloister, the Queen of Heaven, of whom she wants to remain more than ever the daughter, the mystical Spouse of Jesus.
Conrad de Meester, O.C.D.
Rien Moins Que Dieu: Sainte Elisabeth de la Trinité
Chap. 22: Chaque jour ma vie d’épouse (excerpt)Note: We invite our readers to explore the official website of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. Although the website has not yet been completely translated to in English, the most important information has been translated for English visitors.
Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 1984, Je te cherche dès l’aurore : évocation d’un visage et d’un coeur, produced by C. de Meester and the Carmel of Dijon, Carmel de Dijon, Flavignerot.
Elizabeth of the Trinity, S, de Meester, C, Lonchampt, J, 1980, Oeuvres Complètes, Les Editions du Cerf, Paris.
Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, translated from the French by Nash, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.
Featured image: Profession photo 63 from the photo album Je te cherche dès l’aurore published by the Carmel of Dijon. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites
#biography #ConradDeMeester #GregorianChant #history #religiousProfession #spirituality #StElizabethOfTheTrinity
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TY to #CensoredNews for posting a link to this news story!
BIG SHIP STUCK IN KAHNAWAKE
Posted on August 22, 2024
#MohawkNationNewsMNN. AUG. 22. 2024. A 7.00 pm "Today this ship enroute to Huelva Spain sailed through the St. Lawrence Seaway which meanders through the middle of #Kahnawake #MohawkLand, expected to arrive there on Sept. 2. [MO 94433669 MMSI 244010871]. It’s a General Cargo ship of the Netherlands. The crash shook the community and sent many indigenous people to the site near the Pow Wow grounds.
"The S.S. HEEMSKERKGRACHT, which is Dutch, were our first allies in 1684. They 'sold' their colony to the English. They were the first to adhere to the #TwoRow and #kaianerekowa as the law of the land. So they knew they couldn’t sell our land.
"It is possible the Mohawks can take possession as the ship is now in the middle of kanienkehaka Mohawk territory. They surely know where they are! On ‘#kaniatarowanon,’ the 'The Great River of the Kanienkehaka', one of the biggest, most beautiful and most impressive rivers in the world.
"Seventy years ago the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority forcefully took the land from the Mohawks. We were never compensated.
"The children use to go stand on the wall behind the catholic church and yell war whoops as the ships sailed by. The crew were so terrified they would run and hide inside their cabins.
"The captain is powerful when he’s out on the sea but not on our land. He now can only sit on the ship like everyone else.
"A big crowd has emerged, a reminder that #Creation put us here to take care of our river. We will be here til the end of time carrying out our duties.
"When all these settler/boat people are gone, we will still be here on our river where creation placed us. Since this kahonwehia cannot move, this ship is now a part of our land.
"We shall send to the shipping company bales of tobacco and our thanks, according to our proper protocol. All the goods on that ship are ours. The Seaway is ours and the river is part of kasatsensera kowa sa oiera, the great natural power, and we will take care of her."
Source:
https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2024/08/22/big-ship-stuck-in-kahnawake/#IndigenousNews #SaintLawrenceRiver #FirstNations #MohawkNation
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TY to #CensoredNews for posting a link to this news story!
BIG SHIP STUCK IN KAHNAWAKE
Posted on August 22, 2024
#MohawkNationNewsMNN. AUG. 22. 2024. A 7.00 pm "Today this ship enroute to Huelva Spain sailed through the St. Lawrence Seaway which meanders through the middle of #Kahnawake #MohawkLand, expected to arrive there on Sept. 2. [MO 94433669 MMSI 244010871]. It’s a General Cargo ship of the Netherlands. The crash shook the community and sent many indigenous people to the site near the Pow Wow grounds.
"The S.S. HEEMSKERKGRACHT, which is Dutch, were our first allies in 1684. They 'sold' their colony to the English. They were the first to adhere to the #TwoRow and #kaianerekowa as the law of the land. So they knew they couldn’t sell our land.
"It is possible the Mohawks can take possession as the ship is now in the middle of kanienkehaka Mohawk territory. They surely know where they are! On ‘#kaniatarowanon,’ the 'The Great River of the Kanienkehaka', one of the biggest, most beautiful and most impressive rivers in the world.
"Seventy years ago the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority forcefully took the land from the Mohawks. We were never compensated.
"The children use to go stand on the wall behind the catholic church and yell war whoops as the ships sailed by. The crew were so terrified they would run and hide inside their cabins.
"The captain is powerful when he’s out on the sea but not on our land. He now can only sit on the ship like everyone else.
"A big crowd has emerged, a reminder that #Creation put us here to take care of our river. We will be here til the end of time carrying out our duties.
"When all these settler/boat people are gone, we will still be here on our river where creation placed us. Since this kahonwehia cannot move, this ship is now a part of our land.
"We shall send to the shipping company bales of tobacco and our thanks, according to our proper protocol. All the goods on that ship are ours. The Seaway is ours and the river is part of kasatsensera kowa sa oiera, the great natural power, and we will take care of her."
Source:
https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2024/08/22/big-ship-stuck-in-kahnawake/#IndigenousNews #SaintLawrenceRiver #FirstNations #MohawkNation
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TY to #CensoredNews for posting a link to this news story!
BIG SHIP STUCK IN KAHNAWAKE
Posted on August 22, 2024
#MohawkNationNewsMNN. AUG. 22. 2024. A 7.00 pm "Today this ship enroute to Huelva Spain sailed through the St. Lawrence Seaway which meanders through the middle of #Kahnawake #MohawkLand, expected to arrive there on Sept. 2. [MO 94433669 MMSI 244010871]. It’s a General Cargo ship of the Netherlands. The crash shook the community and sent many indigenous people to the site near the Pow Wow grounds.
"The S.S. HEEMSKERKGRACHT, which is Dutch, were our first allies in 1684. They 'sold' their colony to the English. They were the first to adhere to the #TwoRow and #kaianerekowa as the law of the land. So they knew they couldn’t sell our land.
"It is possible the Mohawks can take possession as the ship is now in the middle of kanienkehaka Mohawk territory. They surely know where they are! On ‘#kaniatarowanon,’ the 'The Great River of the Kanienkehaka', one of the biggest, most beautiful and most impressive rivers in the world.
"Seventy years ago the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority forcefully took the land from the Mohawks. We were never compensated.
"The children use to go stand on the wall behind the catholic church and yell war whoops as the ships sailed by. The crew were so terrified they would run and hide inside their cabins.
"The captain is powerful when he’s out on the sea but not on our land. He now can only sit on the ship like everyone else.
"A big crowd has emerged, a reminder that #Creation put us here to take care of our river. We will be here til the end of time carrying out our duties.
"When all these settler/boat people are gone, we will still be here on our river where creation placed us. Since this kahonwehia cannot move, this ship is now a part of our land.
"We shall send to the shipping company bales of tobacco and our thanks, according to our proper protocol. All the goods on that ship are ours. The Seaway is ours and the river is part of kasatsensera kowa sa oiera, the great natural power, and we will take care of her."
Source:
https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2024/08/22/big-ship-stuck-in-kahnawake/#IndigenousNews #SaintLawrenceRiver #FirstNations #MohawkNation
-
TY to #CensoredNews for posting a link to this news story!
BIG SHIP STUCK IN KAHNAWAKE
Posted on August 22, 2024
#MohawkNationNewsMNN. AUG. 22. 2024. A 7.00 pm "Today this ship enroute to Huelva Spain sailed through the St. Lawrence Seaway which meanders through the middle of #Kahnawake #MohawkLand, expected to arrive there on Sept. 2. [MO 94433669 MMSI 244010871]. It’s a General Cargo ship of the Netherlands. The crash shook the community and sent many indigenous people to the site near the Pow Wow grounds.
"The S.S. HEEMSKERKGRACHT, which is Dutch, were our first allies in 1684. They 'sold' their colony to the English. They were the first to adhere to the #TwoRow and #kaianerekowa as the law of the land. So they knew they couldn’t sell our land.
"It is possible the Mohawks can take possession as the ship is now in the middle of kanienkehaka Mohawk territory. They surely know where they are! On ‘#kaniatarowanon,’ the 'The Great River of the Kanienkehaka', one of the biggest, most beautiful and most impressive rivers in the world.
"Seventy years ago the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority forcefully took the land from the Mohawks. We were never compensated.
"The children use to go stand on the wall behind the catholic church and yell war whoops as the ships sailed by. The crew were so terrified they would run and hide inside their cabins.
"The captain is powerful when he’s out on the sea but not on our land. He now can only sit on the ship like everyone else.
"A big crowd has emerged, a reminder that #Creation put us here to take care of our river. We will be here til the end of time carrying out our duties.
"When all these settler/boat people are gone, we will still be here on our river where creation placed us. Since this kahonwehia cannot move, this ship is now a part of our land.
"We shall send to the shipping company bales of tobacco and our thanks, according to our proper protocol. All the goods on that ship are ours. The Seaway is ours and the river is part of kasatsensera kowa sa oiera, the great natural power, and we will take care of her."
Source:
https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2024/08/22/big-ship-stuck-in-kahnawake/#IndigenousNews #SaintLawrenceRiver #FirstNations #MohawkNation
-
TY to #CensoredNews for posting a link to this news story!
BIG SHIP STUCK IN KAHNAWAKE
Posted on August 22, 2024
#MohawkNationNewsMNN. AUG. 22. 2024. A 7.00 pm "Today this ship enroute to Huelva Spain sailed through the St. Lawrence Seaway which meanders through the middle of #Kahnawake #MohawkLand, expected to arrive there on Sept. 2. [MO 94433669 MMSI 244010871]. It’s a General Cargo ship of the Netherlands. The crash shook the community and sent many indigenous people to the site near the Pow Wow grounds.
"The S.S. HEEMSKERKGRACHT, which is Dutch, were our first allies in 1684. They 'sold' their colony to the English. They were the first to adhere to the #TwoRow and #kaianerekowa as the law of the land. So they knew they couldn’t sell our land.
"It is possible the Mohawks can take possession as the ship is now in the middle of kanienkehaka Mohawk territory. They surely know where they are! On ‘#kaniatarowanon,’ the 'The Great River of the Kanienkehaka', one of the biggest, most beautiful and most impressive rivers in the world.
"Seventy years ago the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority forcefully took the land from the Mohawks. We were never compensated.
"The children use to go stand on the wall behind the catholic church and yell war whoops as the ships sailed by. The crew were so terrified they would run and hide inside their cabins.
"The captain is powerful when he’s out on the sea but not on our land. He now can only sit on the ship like everyone else.
"A big crowd has emerged, a reminder that #Creation put us here to take care of our river. We will be here til the end of time carrying out our duties.
"When all these settler/boat people are gone, we will still be here on our river where creation placed us. Since this kahonwehia cannot move, this ship is now a part of our land.
"We shall send to the shipping company bales of tobacco and our thanks, according to our proper protocol. All the goods on that ship are ours. The Seaway is ours and the river is part of kasatsensera kowa sa oiera, the great natural power, and we will take care of her."
Source:
https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2024/08/22/big-ship-stuck-in-kahnawake/#IndigenousNews #SaintLawrenceRiver #FirstNations #MohawkNation
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By Maddog
It awakens. Hope dies. Well-rested after an eight-year slumber since Krighsu, Wormed boots up. Programmed for violence, its processor whirs as it hones in on your location. It finds you in minutes; hiding in the alley behind St. Vitus wasn’t your best move. As soon as you spot its piercing red eyes, you realize the jig is up. In that split second, you see Wormed’s sculpted metal features gleaming in the midnight neon, like a steel diagram of the muscular system. You don’t know its Origin. All you know is that you have to run. So you run.
It chases. You cut southeast to throw it off, but Omegon stays on your tail with superhuman speed. Crunchy technical riffs evoke Cryptopsy on Adderall, developing at a breakneck pace and switching rhythms mid-measure. These tech death bloodbaths erupt into the slammiest of slam (“Automaton Virtulague”). Punishing slam flirts with haunting melodies, elopes with uplifting blackgaze, and abandons it at the altar (“Virtual Teratogenesis”). Omegon’s scattered serene melodies disintegrate into noise (“Malignant Nexus”) or get gunned down by riffs (“Omegon”). Indeed, you gloat prematurely, Omegon’s occasional attempts to slow down do it no favors. Speed and precision are Wormed’s game, and the band’s brutal death metal assault hasn’t been copycatted in the two decades since Planisphærium. You hook right and skirt The Kingsland, hoping the sleepy residential darkness can conceal you from Omegon.
It twists and turns, but keeps its footing. Not content to be merely a speed demon, Omegon outwits you. On first glance, Omegon’s chaotic evolution seems scatterbrained. But it’s not scatterbrained; you are.1 Countless listens reveal that Omegon’s frenzied melodies never just emerge from the ether, even when it seems otherwise. Wormed always plants seeds in advance, before developing dormant ideas into lethal climaxes (“Protogod”). Omegon’s fluid dystopian storytelling makes it easy to identify and adore specific sections, no matter their density. As you sprint for your life, you notice details that would ordinarily elude you. The wilting iris in the community garden, the two gray Jeeps with shattered taillights, the manic disso-doom of “Pareidolia Robotica,” the foreshadowing of the Meshuggah ending of “Aetheric Transdimensionalization.” Over-stimulated, your brain notices a crack in the sidewalk, but your feet are too slow to get the message. The world spins, concrete clobbers your chin, and fear gives way to resignation. As Wormed looms over you, you get a closer look and realize your error. Beneath Omegon’s metal armor and scarlet gaze, you see flesh. Your mysterious captor is no automaton. Omegon’s cybernetic ambush betrays as much human craftsmanship as mechanical precision. You grimace at the thought of what Wormed might do next.
It slams. Perfectly capable of pulverizing you with fancy technology, Wormed takes the caveman route first. Beating your torso with an out-of-character crowbar, Omegon’s barrage begins with the fantastic “Automaton Virtulague” and doesn’t let up. Wormed’s Pierced from Within riffs slam into oblivion and scratch an itch that’s usually limited to Suffocation (“Pareidolia Robotica”). While Omegon loves an old-fashioned bludgeoning, its techier pieces hit just as hard. With the demented opening of “Virtual Teratogenesis” and the arpeggiated soloing of “Gravitational Servo Matrix,” Wormed graduates from crowbar to chainsaw without sacrificing a shred of fun. Because Omegon flows so well, its headbangability persists even through its stupefying time signature changes. Wormed’s irresistible blend of Stone Age brutality and Space Age technicality launches them into the ranks of Gorod, Archspire, and Revocation, despite sounding worlds apart from those bands. The album’s power wanes as it proceeds; once it saws off one leg, the second one goes easier. But throughout its 41 minutes, the spectacle of Omegon holds you rapt.
Then, it vanishes. You jerk awake. Drenched in sweat and terror, your mind races over your fading nightmare. While Omegon’s minutia haven’t yet wormed into your memory—that won’t happen until your fifth listen—its hectic ambiance has. Confused and overwhelmed, you try to wipe Wormed from your mind. You distract yourself with Alcest, but it sounds frivolous now. You spin Ulcerate, but even that lacks Omegon’s chaos. Exasperated, you resort to Confessions on a Dance Floor, but its orderly rhythms pale before Wormed. You’ve deteriorated into Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker; having experienced violence once, you’ve fallen in love with it, and nothing else compares. You realize now what you must do.
It awakens.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Season of Mist Records
Websites: wormed.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/wormed
Releases Worldwide: July 5th, 2024#2024 #45 #Archspire #BrutalDeathMetal #Cryptopsy #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #Gorod #Jul24 #Meshuggah #Omegon #Origin #Review #Reviews #Revocation #SeasonOfMist #SeasonOfMistRecords #Slam #SpanishMetal #Suffocation #TechnicalBrutalDeathMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #Ulcerate #Wormed
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By Maddog
It awakens. Hope dies. Well-rested after an eight-year slumber since Krighsu, Wormed boots up. Programmed for violence, its processor whirs as it hones in on your location. It finds you in minutes; hiding in the alley behind St. Vitus wasn’t your best move. As soon as you spot its piercing red eyes, you realize the jig is up. In that split second, you see Wormed’s sculpted metal features gleaming in the midnight neon, like a steel diagram of the muscular system. You don’t know its Origin. All you know is that you have to run. So you run.
It chases. You cut southeast to throw it off, but Omegon stays on your tail with superhuman speed. Crunchy technical riffs evoke Cryptopsy on Adderall, developing at a breakneck pace and switching rhythms mid-measure. These tech death bloodbaths erupt into the slammiest of slam (“Automaton Virtulague”). Punishing slam flirts with haunting melodies, elopes with uplifting blackgaze, and abandons it at the altar (“Virtual Teratogenesis”). Omegon’s scattered serene melodies disintegrate into noise (“Malignant Nexus”) or get gunned down by riffs (“Omegon”). Indeed, you gloat prematurely, Omegon’s occasional attempts to slow down do it no favors. Speed and precision are Wormed’s game, and the band’s brutal death metal assault hasn’t been copycatted in the two decades since Planisphærium. You hook right and skirt The Kingsland, hoping the sleepy residential darkness can conceal you from Omegon.
It twists and turns, but keeps its footing. Not content to be merely a speed demon, Omegon outwits you. On first glance, Omegon’s chaotic evolution seems scatterbrained. But it’s not scatterbrained; you are.1 Countless listens reveal that Omegon’s frenzied melodies never just emerge from the ether, even when it seems otherwise. Wormed always plants seeds in advance, before developing dormant ideas into lethal climaxes (“Protogod”). Omegon’s fluid dystopian storytelling makes it easy to identify and adore specific sections, no matter their density. As you sprint for your life, you notice details that would ordinarily elude you. The wilting iris in the community garden, the two gray Jeeps with shattered taillights, the manic disso-doom of “Pareidolia Robotica,” the foreshadowing of the Meshuggah ending of “Aetheric Transdimensionalization.” Over-stimulated, your brain notices a crack in the sidewalk, but your feet are too slow to get the message. The world spins, concrete clobbers your chin, and fear gives way to resignation. As Wormed looms over you, you get a closer look and realize your error. Beneath Omegon’s metal armor and scarlet gaze, you see flesh. Your mysterious captor is no automaton. Omegon’s cybernetic ambush betrays as much human craftsmanship as mechanical precision. You grimace at the thought of what Wormed might do next.
It slams. Perfectly capable of pulverizing you with fancy technology, Wormed takes the caveman route first. Beating your torso with an out-of-character crowbar, Omegon’s barrage begins with the fantastic “Automaton Virtulague” and doesn’t let up. Wormed’s Pierced from Within riffs slam into oblivion and scratch an itch that’s usually limited to Suffocation (“Pareidolia Robotica”). While Omegon loves an old-fashioned bludgeoning, its techier pieces hit just as hard. With the demented opening of “Virtual Teratogenesis” and the arpeggiated soloing of “Gravitational Servo Matrix,” Wormed graduates from crowbar to chainsaw without sacrificing a shred of fun. Because Omegon flows so well, its headbangability persists even through its stupefying time signature changes. Wormed’s irresistible blend of Stone Age brutality and Space Age technicality launches them into the ranks of Gorod, Archspire, and Revocation, despite sounding worlds apart from those bands. The album’s power wanes as it proceeds; once it saws off one leg, the second one goes easier. But throughout its 41 minutes, the spectacle of Omegon holds you rapt.
Then, it vanishes. You jerk awake. Drenched in sweat and terror, your mind races over your fading nightmare. While Omegon’s minutia haven’t yet wormed into your memory—that won’t happen until your fifth listen—its hectic ambiance has. Confused and overwhelmed, you try to wipe Wormed from your mind. You distract yourself with Alcest, but it sounds frivolous now. You spin Ulcerate, but even that lacks Omegon’s chaos. Exasperated, you resort to Confessions on a Dance Floor, but its orderly rhythms pale before Wormed. You’ve deteriorated into Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker; having experienced violence once, you’ve fallen in love with it, and nothing else compares. You realize now what you must do.
It awakens.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Season of Mist Records
Websites: wormed.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/wormed
Releases Worldwide: July 5th, 2024#2024 #45 #Archspire #BrutalDeathMetal #Cryptopsy #DeathMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #Gorod #Jul24 #Meshuggah #Omegon #Origin #Review #Reviews #Revocation #SeasonOfMist #SeasonOfMistRecords #Slam #SpanishMetal #Suffocation #TechnicalBrutalDeathMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #Ulcerate #Wormed
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It is easy to look at the early days of Suzanne Vega’s adult years as being a Bohemian dream. In the early 1980s she was enrolled at a liberal arts college in Manhattan called Barnard College. She was majoring in English. Between classes, she wrote poetry and participated in writers’ groups that eventually evolved into coffeehouse folk music sessions on open mic nights throughout the city. While working on her writing and her school work, Vega would frequent a restaurant called Tom’s Restaurant. This is the restaurant made famous in the Seinfeld comedy show. While inside this real restaurant, alone with her creative thoughts, Vega would take note of the patrons who came and went, creating characters out of them based on their fashion, their mannerisms, the interactions they had with the staff and with each other and so on. Not far from Tom’s Restaurant is a church known as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. In front of that cathedral is a series of large stone steps. Many people use those steps to stop and rest from the hustle and bustle of walking in such a busy city. For Vega, she used those steps as a rendezvous point where she and her boyfriend would meet. They would have picnics and sip wine at midnight under the glow of whatever moonlight happened to filter down to street level. Together, they would talk about the purity of poetry and of Art and the corrupting influence of wealth and commerce upon the creative process. It was all a very heady and idealistic time in her life.
Singer Suzanne Vega.It was also a time when Vega decided that she wanted to try to turn some of her poetry into song lyrics and perhaps try to record some songs. She took to trying out her original material during her coffeehouse sessions. While Vega was by no means becoming a star, she did start to develop a bit of a name for herself in local folk circles. Not long afterwards, she was offered the chance to record some of her songs on an album. That self-titled debut album was released in 1985. Due to the groundwork that she had laid on the coffeehouse circuit, her album ended up in the hands of some music critics from influential New York publications. Her album failed to generate any hit songs, but it did earn Vega some positive reviews from those music critics. Armed with those reviews and the confidence that they inspired, Suzanne Vega began work on a follow up album. All the while this was happening, she and her boyfriend began finding themselves more at odds with each other. While Vega had certainly not become rich from sales of her debut album, she was earning a modest income. In addition, she hired a manager and started having to think in terms of the business of making music her career. This change in mindset led to a breakup with her boyfriend. After this happened, Suzanne Vega found herself feeling a sense of disconnect from the world around her. As she continued to visit places like Tom’s Restaurant, she began to view the world there differently. Those same customers who once were merely characters in her poems took on new meaning. As she watched them, she felt a sense of alienation taking hold of her. Her observations took on a sharper focus as she watched who actually spoke to whom, who sat alone in silence, which people were always looking wistfully out of the window at a world that didn’t include them and so on. It is easy to be alone among the crowd. So many people around her seemed to be on their own, either by choice or by circumstance. And now she was like them, too. Channeling that feeling of solitude into music resulted in a song being written called “Tom’s Diner”. It was originally going to be called “Tom’s Restaurant” in tribute to the place that had become like a second home to her and those around her, but in the end, she thought that the word “Diner” sounded better, so the song became “Tom’s Diner”.
In 1987, Vega had put together enough material for a new album that became known as Solitude Standing. The songs on this album reflected a growing sense of maturity in Vega’s writing. A sense of social consciousness began to appear in the form of her first single, “Luka”. This song was about child abuse as told from the perspective of the child being abused. In later years, Suzanne Vega admitted that the song was inspired by her own life. However, when “Luka” was released, the message that child abuse was an experience that scarred its victims and, furthermore, was an experience for which children were not to blame became something of a social phenomenon. It was a song that caused victims who had previously suffered in silence to finally feel heard and seen. The national conversations that arose regarding the nature of how child abuse happens and what can be done about it changed the lives of many people who had being bearing the weight of guilt and shame their whole lives. The song also made a star out of Suzanne Vega. The followup single to “Luka” was “Tom’s Diner”.
“Tom’s Diner” holds a unique place in the history of modern music for several reasons. First of all, Suzanne Vega decided to write the lyrics of this song as she would a poem. Furthermore, when she thought about how best to perform this song, she felt that since it was written like a poem that she should deliver it like one. Thus, “Tom’s Diner” is sung almost as a spoken word poem and is delivered completely a capella. After this song was released, it became almost as big a hit as “Luka”, making it one of the most successful a capella songs in music history. As people grew familiar with the content and cadence of “Tom’s Diner”, Vega began to notice a curious trend appear during her live shows. For all of her other songs, the audience would be chatty and would dance and sway to her music as she sang. However, when it came time for the opening notes of “Tom’s Diner”, the crowd would still and become silent as if under a spell. To this day, whenever Suzanne Vega has performed “Tom’ Diner” at some of the world’s largest music festivals such as Glastonbury and Coachella, the crowd always stills and listens hard. A sense of calm envelops them as Vega reads/sings her story of how it was to sit in Tom’s Restaurant all those years ago watching so many people she came to know so well yet never spoke to, going about their lives, alone in one of the most populated cities on earth.
Solitude Standing became an album that sold millions of copies. It helped Suzanne Vega to become a household name in the music business. But a funny thing happened because of the song “Tom’s Diner” that helped solidify that song as one of the most special songs of all time, and it didn’t really involve Suzanne Vega at all. The world of audio technology was evolving all through the 1980s, just as Suzanne Vega’s career was evolving, too. The 1980s was the time period when the ability to digitize sound was becoming more refined and commonplace and, most importantly, more economical to produce on a mass scale. Without going into a detailed scientific explanation, the evolution of audio engineering that took us from record albums to cassette tapes and on to digital compact discs involved something known as sound compression. In order to be able to reproduce sounds in smaller physical properties such as computer processors, engineers had to figure out a way to compress sounds in a way to make them fit in a smaller area yet still retain the full breadth and depth of the original sound. Along the way, an audio engineer named Karlheinz Brandenburg was attempting to create a new audio compression system that ended up becoming known as MP3 technology. MP3 technology was what led to things such as iPod Shuffles and other portable listening devices becoming a thing. In any case, as Brandenburg was trying to fine tune his audio compression design, he happened to hear “Tom’s Diner” playing in a room adjacent to where he was working. The crystal clear clarity of Suzanne Vega’s voice on this song had previously been used to test drive high end speakers for home stereo systems. Brandenburg wondered how the audio quality would sound after being processed through his MP3 system. Once he played “Tom’s DIner”, he found that his MP3 technology made it sound awful. By tweaking his own design to make “Tom’s Diner” sound wonderful again, Brandenburg discovered that his system now worked for all other songs, too. Thus, “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega is credited with being the song that launched MP3 technology, that, in turn, changed the way in which all of us potentially interact with our music.
The folks who created MP3 technology..Solitude Standing has turned out to be the highwater mark in terms of sales for Suzanne Vega. But that hasn’t stopped her from touring and singing and bringing people together because of her words. She is always good to support causes related to social justice and the environment, as well as numerous issues termed “women’s issues”. Vega has also collaborated several times with one of my favourite singers, Joe Jackson (who you can read more about here). However, the most recent wave of success that she has achieved came from her old song, “Tom’s Diner”, and again, it had little to do with her. A new band that called themselves DNA remixed “Tom’s Diner” and mashed it together with the song “Keep On Movin’” by Soul II Soul and created a dance hit from Vega’s original a capella rendering. As seems to be becoming a trend, modern artists reaching back into the music vaults of the 1980s for inspiration has resulted in Suzanne Vega’s career being placed in the social media spotlight of an entirely new generation of music fans. Just like with Kate Bush and “Running Up That Hill”, “Tom’s Diner” has been given a new lease on life thanks to DNA.
DNA and their remix of “Tom’s Diner”.And so we come to the end of a post about a song that describes what it is like to feel alone while watching the world pass by from within the confines of one of America’s most recognizable cultural touchstones, Tom’s Restaurant. This song, initially about alienation, has ended up endearing Suzanne Vega to the world in more ways than she could have possibly imagined. For me, it is also another clear example of trusting your own instincts. She charted her own course in life, refusing to stay with a boyfriend who would have been satisfied if she had limited herself to singing in coffeehouses for the money in tip jars. Suzanne Vega understood the power of poetry and refused to alter the structure of her song to make it more verse-chorus, verse-chorus style as many pop songs are. Finally, Vega could have recorded “Tom’s Diner” with a band, as I’m sure was suggested to her at the time. But she stuck to her guns and insisted that a capella was the way for that song to be properly sung. As a result, the clarity and cadence of her spoken word song/poem was viewed as being perfect to help design a sound compression system that helped usher in the era of portable audio devices, and it acted as the foundation for a very successful dance remix. All because Suzanne Vega trusted her own instincts. There is such a lesson in all of that for the rest of us. Stay true to your vision. Trust your gut. The purity of art is what comes from possessing a mindset such as that.
The link to the official website for Suzanne Vega can be found here.
The link to the video for the song “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to a video for the song “Tom’s Diner” as remixed by DNA can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to a video that explains how the song “Tom’s Diner” helped to create the MP3 sound compression system can be found here. ***This short video is more interesting than you might think. Check it out. 🙂
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#DNA #KarlheinzBrandenburg #MP3 #ReadersChoiceTomsTopTunes #SuzanneVega #TomsDiner #TomsRestaurant
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It is easy to look at the early days of Suzanne Vega’s adult years as being a Bohemian dream. In the early 1980s she was enrolled at a liberal arts college in Manhattan called Barnard College. She was majoring in English. Between classes, she wrote poetry and participated in writers’ groups that eventually evolved into coffeehouse folk music sessions on open mic nights throughout the city. While working on her writing and her school work, Vega would frequent a restaurant called Tom’s Restaurant. This is the restaurant made famous in the Seinfeld comedy show. While inside this real restaurant, alone with her creative thoughts, Vega would take note of the patrons who came and went, creating characters out of them based on their fashion, their mannerisms, the interactions they had with the staff and with each other and so on. Not far from Tom’s Restaurant is a church known as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. In front of that cathedral is a series of large stone steps. Many people use those steps to stop and rest from the hustle and bustle of walking in such a busy city. For Vega, she used those steps as a rendezvous point where she and her boyfriend would meet. They would have picnics and sip wine at midnight under the glow of whatever moonlight happened to filter down to street level. Together, they would talk about the purity of poetry and of Art and the corrupting influence of wealth and commerce upon the creative process. It was all a very heady and idealistic time in her life.
Singer Suzanne Vega.It was also a time when Vega decided that she wanted to try to turn some of her poetry into song lyrics and perhaps try to record some songs. She took to trying out her original material during her coffeehouse sessions. While Vega was by no means becoming a star, she did start to develop a bit of a name for herself in local folk circles. Not long afterwards, she was offered the chance to record some of her songs on an album. That self-titled debut album was released in 1985. Due to the groundwork that she had laid on the coffeehouse circuit, her album ended up in the hands of some music critics from influential New York publications. Her album failed to generate any hit songs, but it did earn Vega some positive reviews from those music critics. Armed with those reviews and the confidence that they inspired, Suzanne Vega began work on a follow up album. All the while this was happening, she and her boyfriend began finding themselves more at odds with each other. While Vega had certainly not become rich from sales of her debut album, she was earning a modest income. In addition, she hired a manager and started having to think in terms of the business of making music her career. This change in mindset led to a breakup with her boyfriend. After this happened, Suzanne Vega found herself feeling a sense of disconnect from the world around her. As she continued to visit places like Tom’s Restaurant, she began to view the world there differently. Those same customers who once were merely characters in her poems took on new meaning. As she watched them, she felt a sense of alienation taking hold of her. Her observations took on a sharper focus as she watched who actually spoke to whom, who sat alone in silence, which people were always looking wistfully out of the window at a world that didn’t include them and so on. It is easy to be alone among the crowd. So many people around her seemed to be on their own, either by choice or by circumstance. And now she was like them, too. Channeling that feeling of solitude into music resulted in a song being written called “Tom’s Diner”. It was originally going to be called “Tom’s Restaurant” in tribute to the place that had become like a second home to her and those around her, but in the end, she thought that the word “Diner” sounded better, so the song became “Tom’s Diner”.
In 1987, Vega had put together enough material for a new album that became known as Solitude Standing. The songs on this album reflected a growing sense of maturity in Vega’s writing. A sense of social consciousness began to appear in the form of her first single, “Luka”. This song was about child abuse as told from the perspective of the child being abused. In later years, Suzanne Vega admitted that the song was inspired by her own life. However, when “Luka” was released, the message that child abuse was an experience that scarred its victims and, furthermore, was an experience for which children were not to blame became something of a social phenomenon. It was a song that caused victims who had previously suffered in silence to finally feel heard and seen. The national conversations that arose regarding the nature of how child abuse happens and what can be done about it changed the lives of many people who had being bearing the weight of guilt and shame their whole lives. The song also made a star out of Suzanne Vega. The followup single to “Luka” was “Tom’s Diner”.
“Tom’s Diner” holds a unique place in the history of modern music for several reasons. First of all, Suzanne Vega decided to write the lyrics of this song as she would a poem. Furthermore, when she thought about how best to perform this song, she felt that since it was written like a poem that she should deliver it like one. Thus, “Tom’s Diner” is sung almost as a spoken word poem and is delivered completely a capella. After this song was released, it became almost as big a hit as “Luka”, making it one of the most successful a capella songs in music history. As people grew familiar with the content and cadence of “Tom’s Diner”, Vega began to notice a curious trend appear during her live shows. For all of her other songs, the audience would be chatty and would dance and sway to her music as she sang. However, when it came time for the opening notes of “Tom’s Diner”, the crowd would still and become silent as if under a spell. To this day, whenever Suzanne Vega has performed “Tom’ Diner” at some of the world’s largest music festivals such as Glastonbury and Coachella, the crowd always stills and listens hard. A sense of calm envelops them as Vega reads/sings her story of how it was to sit in Tom’s Restaurant all those years ago watching so many people she came to know so well yet never spoke to, going about their lives, alone in one of the most populated cities on earth.
Solitude Standing became an album that sold millions of copies. It helped Suzanne Vega to become a household name in the music business. But a funny thing happened because of the song “Tom’s Diner” that helped solidify that song as one of the most special songs of all time, and it didn’t really involve Suzanne Vega at all. The world of audio technology was evolving all through the 1980s, just as Suzanne Vega’s career was evolving, too. The 1980s was the time period when the ability to digitize sound was becoming more refined and commonplace and, most importantly, more economical to produce on a mass scale. Without going into a detailed scientific explanation, the evolution of audio engineering that took us from record albums to cassette tapes and on to digital compact discs involved something known as sound compression. In order to be able to reproduce sounds in smaller physical properties such as computer processors, engineers had to figure out a way to compress sounds in a way to make them fit in a smaller area yet still retain the full breadth and depth of the original sound. Along the way, an audio engineer named Karlheinz Brandenburg was attempting to create a new audio compression system that ended up becoming known as MP3 technology. MP3 technology was what led to things such as iPod Shuffles and other portable listening devices becoming a thing. In any case, as Brandenburg was trying to fine tune his audio compression design, he happened to hear “Tom’s Diner” playing in a room adjacent to where he was working. The crystal clear clarity of Suzanne Vega’s voice on this song had previously been used to test drive high end speakers for home stereo systems. Brandenburg wondered how the audio quality would sound after being processed through his MP3 system. Once he played “Tom’s DIner”, he found that his MP3 technology made it sound awful. By tweaking his own design to make “Tom’s Diner” sound wonderful again, Brandenburg discovered that his system now worked for all other songs, too. Thus, “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega is credited with being the song that launched MP3 technology, that, in turn, changed the way in which all of us potentially interact with our music.
The folks who created MP3 technology..Solitude Standing has turned out to be the highwater mark in terms of sales for Suzanne Vega. But that hasn’t stopped her from touring and singing and bringing people together because of her words. She is always good to support causes related to social justice and the environment, as well as numerous issues termed “women’s issues”. Vega has also collaborated several times with one of my favourite singers, Joe Jackson (who you can read more about here). However, the most recent wave of success that she has achieved came from her old song, “Tom’s Diner”, and again, it had little to do with her. A new band that called themselves DNA remixed “Tom’s Diner” and mashed it together with the song “Keep On Movin’” by Soul II Soul and created a dance hit from Vega’s original a capella rendering. As seems to be becoming a trend, modern artists reaching back into the music vaults of the 1980s for inspiration has resulted in Suzanne Vega’s career being placed in the social media spotlight of an entirely new generation of music fans. Just like with Kate Bush and “Running Up That Hill”, “Tom’s Diner” has been given a new lease on life thanks to DNA.
DNA and their remix of “Tom’s Diner”.And so we come to the end of a post about a song that describes what it is like to feel alone while watching the world pass by from within the confines of one of America’s most recognizable cultural touchstones, Tom’s Restaurant. This song, initially about alienation, has ended up endearing Suzanne Vega to the world in more ways than she could have possibly imagined. For me, it is also another clear example of trusting your own instincts. She charted her own course in life, refusing to stay with a boyfriend who would have been satisfied if she had limited herself to singing in coffeehouses for the money in tip jars. Suzanne Vega understood the power of poetry and refused to alter the structure of her song to make it more verse-chorus, verse-chorus style as many pop songs are. Finally, Vega could have recorded “Tom’s Diner” with a band, as I’m sure was suggested to her at the time. But she stuck to her guns and insisted that a capella was the way for that song to be properly sung. As a result, the clarity and cadence of her spoken word song/poem was viewed as being perfect to help design a sound compression system that helped usher in the era of portable audio devices, and it acted as the foundation for a very successful dance remix. All because Suzanne Vega trusted her own instincts. There is such a lesson in all of that for the rest of us. Stay true to your vision. Trust your gut. The purity of art is what comes from possessing a mindset such as that.
The link to the official website for Suzanne Vega can be found here.
The link to the video for the song “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to a video for the song “Tom’s Diner” as remixed by DNA can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to a video that explains how the song “Tom’s Diner” helped to create the MP3 sound compression system can be found here. ***This short video is more interesting than you might think. Check it out. 🙂
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#DNA #KarlheinzBrandenburg #MP3 #ReadersChoiceTomsTopTunes #SuzanneVega #TomsDiner #TomsRestaurant
-
It is easy to look at the early days of Suzanne Vega’s adult years as being a Bohemian dream. In the early 1980s she was enrolled at a liberal arts college in Manhattan called Barnard College. She was majoring in English. Between classes, she wrote poetry and participated in writers’ groups that eventually evolved into coffeehouse folk music sessions on open mic nights throughout the city. While working on her writing and her school work, Vega would frequent a restaurant called Tom’s Restaurant. This is the restaurant made famous in the Seinfeld comedy show. While inside this real restaurant, alone with her creative thoughts, Vega would take note of the patrons who came and went, creating characters out of them based on their fashion, their mannerisms, the interactions they had with the staff and with each other and so on. Not far from Tom’s Restaurant is a church known as the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. In front of that cathedral is a series of large stone steps. Many people use those steps to stop and rest from the hustle and bustle of walking in such a busy city. For Vega, she used those steps as a rendezvous point where she and her boyfriend would meet. They would have picnics and sip wine at midnight under the glow of whatever moonlight happened to filter down to street level. Together, they would talk about the purity of poetry and of Art and the corrupting influence of wealth and commerce upon the creative process. It was all a very heady and idealistic time in her life.
Singer Suzanne Vega.It was also a time when Vega decided that she wanted to try to turn some of her poetry into song lyrics and perhaps try to record some songs. She took to trying out her original material during her coffeehouse sessions. While Vega was by no means becoming a star, she did start to develop a bit of a name for herself in local folk circles. Not long afterwards, she was offered the chance to record some of her songs on an album. That self-titled debut album was released in 1985. Due to the groundwork that she had laid on the coffeehouse circuit, her album ended up in the hands of some music critics from influential New York publications. Her album failed to generate any hit songs, but it did earn Vega some positive reviews from those music critics. Armed with those reviews and the confidence that they inspired, Suzanne Vega began work on a follow up album. All the while this was happening, she and her boyfriend began finding themselves more at odds with each other. While Vega had certainly not become rich from sales of her debut album, she was earning a modest income. In addition, she hired a manager and started having to think in terms of the business of making music her career. This change in mindset led to a breakup with her boyfriend. After this happened, Suzanne Vega found herself feeling a sense of disconnect from the world around her. As she continued to visit places like Tom’s Restaurant, she began to view the world there differently. Those same customers who once were merely characters in her poems took on new meaning. As she watched them, she felt a sense of alienation taking hold of her. Her observations took on a sharper focus as she watched who actually spoke to whom, who sat alone in silence, which people were always looking wistfully out of the window at a world that didn’t include them and so on. It is easy to be alone among the crowd. So many people around her seemed to be on their own, either by choice or by circumstance. And now she was like them, too. Channeling that feeling of solitude into music resulted in a song being written called “Tom’s Diner”. It was originally going to be called “Tom’s Restaurant” in tribute to the place that had become like a second home to her and those around her, but in the end, she thought that the word “Diner” sounded better, so the song became “Tom’s Diner”.
In 1987, Vega had put together enough material for a new album that became known as Solitude Standing. The songs on this album reflected a growing sense of maturity in Vega’s writing. A sense of social consciousness began to appear in the form of her first single, “Luka”. This song was about child abuse as told from the perspective of the child being abused. In later years, Suzanne Vega admitted that the song was inspired by her own life. However, when “Luka” was released, the message that child abuse was an experience that scarred its victims and, furthermore, was an experience for which children were not to blame became something of a social phenomenon. It was a song that caused victims who had previously suffered in silence to finally feel heard and seen. The national conversations that arose regarding the nature of how child abuse happens and what can be done about it changed the lives of many people who had being bearing the weight of guilt and shame their whole lives. The song also made a star out of Suzanne Vega. The followup single to “Luka” was “Tom’s Diner”.
“Tom’s Diner” holds a unique place in the history of modern music for several reasons. First of all, Suzanne Vega decided to write the lyrics of this song as she would a poem. Furthermore, when she thought about how best to perform this song, she felt that since it was written like a poem that she should deliver it like one. Thus, “Tom’s Diner” is sung almost as a spoken word poem and is delivered completely a capella. After this song was released, it became almost as big a hit as “Luka”, making it one of the most successful a capella songs in music history. As people grew familiar with the content and cadence of “Tom’s Diner”, Vega began to notice a curious trend appear during her live shows. For all of her other songs, the audience would be chatty and would dance and sway to her music as she sang. However, when it came time for the opening notes of “Tom’s Diner”, the crowd would still and become silent as if under a spell. To this day, whenever Suzanne Vega has performed “Tom’ Diner” at some of the world’s largest music festivals such as Glastonbury and Coachella, the crowd always stills and listens hard. A sense of calm envelops them as Vega reads/sings her story of how it was to sit in Tom’s Restaurant all those years ago watching so many people she came to know so well yet never spoke to, going about their lives, alone in one of the most populated cities on earth.
Solitude Standing became an album that sold millions of copies. It helped Suzanne Vega to become a household name in the music business. But a funny thing happened because of the song “Tom’s Diner” that helped solidify that song as one of the most special songs of all time, and it didn’t really involve Suzanne Vega at all. The world of audio technology was evolving all through the 1980s, just as Suzanne Vega’s career was evolving, too. The 1980s was the time period when the ability to digitize sound was becoming more refined and commonplace and, most importantly, more economical to produce on a mass scale. Without going into a detailed scientific explanation, the evolution of audio engineering that took us from record albums to cassette tapes and on to digital compact discs involved something known as sound compression. In order to be able to reproduce sounds in smaller physical properties such as computer processors, engineers had to figure out a way to compress sounds in a way to make them fit in a smaller area yet still retain the full breadth and depth of the original sound. Along the way, an audio engineer named Karlheinz Brandenburg was attempting to create a new audio compression system that ended up becoming known as MP3 technology. MP3 technology was what led to things such as iPod Shuffles and other portable listening devices becoming a thing. In any case, as Brandenburg was trying to fine tune his audio compression design, he happened to hear “Tom’s Diner” playing in a room adjacent to where he was working. The crystal clear clarity of Suzanne Vega’s voice on this song had previously been used to test drive high end speakers for home stereo systems. Brandenburg wondered how the audio quality would sound after being processed through his MP3 system. Once he played “Tom’s DIner”, he found that his MP3 technology made it sound awful. By tweaking his own design to make “Tom’s Diner” sound wonderful again, Brandenburg discovered that his system now worked for all other songs, too. Thus, “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega is credited with being the song that launched MP3 technology, that, in turn, changed the way in which all of us potentially interact with our music.
The folks who created MP3 technology..Solitude Standing has turned out to be the highwater mark in terms of sales for Suzanne Vega. But that hasn’t stopped her from touring and singing and bringing people together because of her words. She is always good to support causes related to social justice and the environment, as well as numerous issues termed “women’s issues”. Vega has also collaborated several times with one of my favourite singers, Joe Jackson (who you can read more about here). However, the most recent wave of success that she has achieved came from her old song, “Tom’s Diner”, and again, it had little to do with her. A new band that called themselves DNA remixed “Tom’s Diner” and mashed it together with the song “Keep On Movin’” by Soul II Soul and created a dance hit from Vega’s original a capella rendering. As seems to be becoming a trend, modern artists reaching back into the music vaults of the 1980s for inspiration has resulted in Suzanne Vega’s career being placed in the social media spotlight of an entirely new generation of music fans. Just like with Kate Bush and “Running Up That Hill”, “Tom’s Diner” has been given a new lease on life thanks to DNA.
DNA and their remix of “Tom’s Diner”.And so we come to the end of a post about a song that describes what it is like to feel alone while watching the world pass by from within the confines of one of America’s most recognizable cultural touchstones, Tom’s Restaurant. This song, initially about alienation, has ended up endearing Suzanne Vega to the world in more ways than she could have possibly imagined. For me, it is also another clear example of trusting your own instincts. She charted her own course in life, refusing to stay with a boyfriend who would have been satisfied if she had limited herself to singing in coffeehouses for the money in tip jars. Suzanne Vega understood the power of poetry and refused to alter the structure of her song to make it more verse-chorus, verse-chorus style as many pop songs are. Finally, Vega could have recorded “Tom’s Diner” with a band, as I’m sure was suggested to her at the time. But she stuck to her guns and insisted that a capella was the way for that song to be properly sung. As a result, the clarity and cadence of her spoken word song/poem was viewed as being perfect to help design a sound compression system that helped usher in the era of portable audio devices, and it acted as the foundation for a very successful dance remix. All because Suzanne Vega trusted her own instincts. There is such a lesson in all of that for the rest of us. Stay true to your vision. Trust your gut. The purity of art is what comes from possessing a mindset such as that.
The link to the official website for Suzanne Vega can be found here.
The link to the video for the song “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to a video for the song “Tom’s Diner” as remixed by DNA can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.
The link to a video that explains how the song “Tom’s Diner” helped to create the MP3 sound compression system can be found here. ***This short video is more interesting than you might think. Check it out. 🙂
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
#DNA #KarlheinzBrandenburg #MP3 #ReadersChoiceTomsTopTunes #SuzanneVega #TomsDiner #TomsRestaurant
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In the last years of her life Lucia celebrated her birthday on two days—the 22nd for the outside world, and the 28th for the Community of Carmel because the 22nd was always too busy with correspondence and visitors, and the Community could hardly be with her.
March 2004: The hourglass of Sister Lucia’s life began the countdown of her final days, dropping the last grains of sands of her time in this world.
The Mass was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on the 22nd when her birthday was celebrated. The chapel was crowded as was the case for many years. Although the people could not see her, they had the joy of knowing they were participating at Mass near her.
This year was not her time to leave us. There was a week during this time in which she suffered severe pain in her legs and could not get up. After 11 hours what was she to do? The doctor gave her a strong injection and she managed to go to Mass during the day and receive a few visits from some friends.
It was a gift from her Bridegroom, a day free of pain.
Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of Coimbra
Chapter 19: Only some more time
Note: Venerable Lucia’s Discalced Carmelite sisters in the Carmel of Coimbra explain why she celebrated two birthdays. Lucia dos Santos was born on Holy Thursday [28 March 1907]. However, her father “did not want to wait too long to have his child baptized, but knew the parish priest would refuse to administer baptism on Holy Saturday to a child who was less than eight days old, and it was a very busy day. He also did not want his girl to spend Easter without being baptized, and wanted to avoid having two feasts on the same day—Easter and Baptism. Thus, he solved the problem with a “white lie”—he registered the girl as being born on March 22 so the pastor could not refuse. This is why Sister Lucia always celebrated her birthday on March 22 and only learned of her true birthday later in life when she heard her mother’s explanation…”
Venerable Maria Lúcia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart
22/28 March 1907 – 13 February 2005
Image credit: Discalced Carmelitesof St. Teresa Coimbra Portugal, C 2015, A pathway under the gaze of Mary : biography of Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart O.C.D., translated from the Portuguese by Colson, J, World Apostolate of Fatima USA, Washington NJ.
Featured image: Venerable Lucia uses a word processor with a CRT display in her cell. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/03/21/lucia-22mar04/
#baptism #birthday #CarmelOfCoimbra #familyLife #healthcare #HolySaturday #HolyThursday #Mass #monasticLife #pain #VenerableMariaLuciaOfJesusAndTheImmaculateHeart
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In the last years of her life Lucia celebrated her birthday on two days—the 22nd for the outside world, and the 28th for the Community of Carmel because the 22nd was always too busy with correspondence and visitors, and the Community could hardly be with her.
March 2004: The hourglass of Sister Lucia’s life began the countdown of her final days, dropping the last grains of sands of her time in this world.
The Mass was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on the 22nd when her birthday was celebrated. The chapel was crowded as was the case for many years. Although the people could not see her, they had the joy of knowing they were participating at Mass near her.
This year was not her time to leave us. There was a week during this time in which she suffered severe pain in her legs and could not get up. After 11 hours what was she to do? The doctor gave her a strong injection and she managed to go to Mass during the day and receive a few visits from some friends.
It was a gift from her Bridegroom, a day free of pain.
Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of Coimbra
Chapter 19: Only some more time
Note: Venerable Lucia’s Discalced Carmelite sisters in the Carmel of Coimbra explain why she celebrated two birthdays. Lucia dos Santos was born on Holy Thursday [28 March 1907]. However, her father “did not want to wait too long to have his child baptized, but knew the parish priest would refuse to administer baptism on Holy Saturday to a child who was less than eight days old, and it was a very busy day. He also did not want his girl to spend Easter without being baptized, and wanted to avoid having two feasts on the same day—Easter and Baptism. Thus, he solved the problem with a “white lie”—he registered the girl as being born on March 22 so the pastor could not refuse. This is why Sister Lucia always celebrated her birthday on March 22 and only learned of her true birthday later in life when she heard her mother’s explanation…”
Venerable Maria Lúcia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart
22/28 March 1907 – 13 February 2005
Image credit: Discalced Carmelitesof St. Teresa Coimbra Portugal, C 2015, A pathway under the gaze of Mary : biography of Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart O.C.D., translated from the Portuguese by Colson, J, World Apostolate of Fatima USA, Washington NJ.
Featured image: Venerable Lucia uses a word processor with a CRT display in her cell. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/03/21/lucia-22mar04/
#baptism #birthday #CarmelOfCoimbra #familyLife #healthcare #HolySaturday #HolyThursday #Mass #monasticLife #pain #VenerableMariaLuciaOfJesusAndTheImmaculateHeart
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In the last years of her life Lucia celebrated her birthday on two days—the 22nd for the outside world, and the 28th for the Community of Carmel because the 22nd was always too busy with correspondence and visitors, and the Community could hardly be with her.
March 2004: The hourglass of Sister Lucia’s life began the countdown of her final days, dropping the last grains of sands of her time in this world.
The Mass was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on the 22nd when her birthday was celebrated. The chapel was crowded as was the case for many years. Although the people could not see her, they had the joy of knowing they were participating at Mass near her.
This year was not her time to leave us. There was a week during this time in which she suffered severe pain in her legs and could not get up. After 11 hours what was she to do? The doctor gave her a strong injection and she managed to go to Mass during the day and receive a few visits from some friends.
It was a gift from her Bridegroom, a day free of pain.
Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of Coimbra
Chapter 19: Only some more time
Note: Venerable Lucia’s Discalced Carmelite sisters in the Carmel of Coimbra explain why she celebrated two birthdays. Lucia dos Santos was born on Holy Thursday [28 March 1907]. However, her father “did not want to wait too long to have his child baptized, but knew the parish priest would refuse to administer baptism on Holy Saturday to a child who was less than eight days old, and it was a very busy day. He also did not want his girl to spend Easter without being baptized, and wanted to avoid having two feasts on the same day—Easter and Baptism. Thus, he solved the problem with a “white lie”—he registered the girl as being born on March 22 so the pastor could not refuse. This is why Sister Lucia always celebrated her birthday on March 22 and only learned of her true birthday later in life when she heard her mother’s explanation…”
Venerable Maria Lúcia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart
22/28 March 1907 – 13 February 2005
Image credit: Discalced Carmelitesof St. Teresa Coimbra Portugal, C 2015, A pathway under the gaze of Mary : biography of Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart O.C.D., translated from the Portuguese by Colson, J, World Apostolate of Fatima USA, Washington NJ.
Featured image: Venerable Lucia uses a word processor with a CRT display in her cell. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)
https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/03/21/lucia-22mar04/
#baptism #birthday #CarmelOfCoimbra #familyLife #healthcare #HolySaturday #HolyThursday #Mass #monasticLife #pain #VenerableMariaLuciaOfJesusAndTheImmaculateHeart
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". “They’re playing our game,” said one friend. We kept marching, many of us starting to beat our chests and howl like a pack of wolves in unison. Two cops came forward from the main line, seeking to act as negotiators, holding up a peace sign with one hand while the other gripped his riot shield. “Are we doing this?” I asked. “Hell yeah!” someone responded. “Go toward the little one!” yelled another friend, pointing at one of the (still quite large) cops. The first two cops were bounced off the banners like water off a duck’s back. Then came the crush of the crowd against the shields and batons. Large men pushing their full weight into 20-year-old women who can’t have weighed much over 100 lbs. For a moment, I could hear the logical, risk-averse voice in my head screaming, “Run! They’ve got you surrounded!”'
#StopCopCity #CopCity #BlockCopCity
https://itsgoingdown.org/dont-panic-stay-tight-frontline-reflections-on-block-cop-city/
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Gabriel’s Road: the thread about how James Craig’s elegant and regular New Town grid is rudely interrupted
A tweet for #WorldTownPlanningDay from the The National Library of Scotland Map Library earlier (Nov. 8th 2019) threw up a reminder of one of my favourite, less weel kent features of Edinburgh’s first New Town. Namely, that James Craig’s otherwise regular Georgian grid of the First New town (red lines, principal streets of Princes / George / Queen Streets) of 1768 meets James Craig’s otherwise regular Georgian grid of St. James Square (green lines) of 1773 at a jarring, irregular and unsatisfactory angle. What’s this that about?
Ainslie’s Town Plan of 1804, decolourised, with red lines of the First New Town and green lines of St. James Square street grids annotated. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandClue 1 is in those dates. The two districts were planned 5 years apart. On Craig’s 1768 plan, the St. James area is still largely occupied by a portion of land known as Clelland’s Feu. (In Scottish land law, a Feu is a portion of land tenure.). This is a house with ample gardens and nursery land, all on a regular plan but offset at about 47 degrees from the New Town.
Clelland’s Feu from Craig’s 1768 Plan. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandA map of land ownership drawn up for the city in 1766 by John Laurie shows that Clelland’s Feu was only one of a number of pre-existing portions on this particular grid alignment and gives us Clue 2: looking at the dotted line below (which I’ve highlighted in red for you), the City did not own all of these parcels of land.
John Laurie. Plan of lands for the New Town of Edinburgh, 1766. The red / dotted line encloses the land owned by the City for development. The feus of Clelland, Syme, Hill, Moodie, Dickson and others lies outwith it. Crown copyright, NRS, RHP6080/1Mapping of the area of the New Town before Craig’s Plan is pretty scant, as it usually centres on the Old Town (indeed the land that became to be the New Town, the Barefoot’s Park, wasn’t yet even incorporated into the City and Royal Burgh), however a magnificent 1759 survey by Robert Robinson and John Fergus of the land north of the Old Town all the way to the Forth does exist. This captures Clelland’s Feu (spelled Clealand’s Few) and others, unfortunately this portion of is badly degraded and poorly conserved.
“Plan of the North of the City, with the town, harbour and citadel of Leith” by Fergus & Robinson, 1759. Personal photographs of the original copy in the archives of the City of Edinburgh © SelfBut from this we can at least see that a decade before the winning design for the New Town was approved there were already buildings and streets in the area respecting older boundaries and alignments – offset at that awkward 47 degrees to Craig’s grid. Five years after the latter was laid that out for the City, a private citizen – the writer (solicitor) Walter Ferguson – commissioned him to design a new square on the Clelland’s Feu. Also involved were two other lawyers with a financial interest in the Feu, Gray and Steuart.
James Craig by David Allan, with his calipers resting on a later version of his plan for the New Town with the large, central circus. His elevation of the Physician’s Hall on George Street lie on the ground with his dog.It should be noted that the Trustees of Heriot’s Hospital, as feudal superior (i.e. they held the land, on behalf of the Crown, and had sub-feud it to Ferguson, Gray and Steuart as vassals), tried to block this development in the courts but failed (they were trying to sue lawyers, after all!) Construction of St. James’ Square commenced at its southern edge in 1775, allegedly on or near the 17th of June and the British victory at the Battle of Bunker Hill, for which reason this corner became known as Bunker’s Hill. But that story might all be hooey! Stuart Harris – the historian of Edinburgh, who wrote the book on the street and placenames of the city – certainly thought so. He also notes that Ferguson, Gray and Steuart were all ardent Jacobites, and would meet annually in Steuart’s house to toast the birthday of Charles Edward “Bonnie Prince Charlie” Stuart. Harris goes on to suggest therefore that the St. James of St. James’ Square and the King of (Little) King Street is actually the Jacobite Old Pretender – James Francis Edward Stuart. This was something very risqué not 30 years after Culloden.
But that’s another story. Back on topic, in those early maps there’s something else tantalisingly hidden in plain sight. Clue 3: a loan (lane) that respects – but predates – the alignment of St. James Square. It runs in a straight line between the feus of Mr. Hogg and Mr Sim, and is walled in between them, before heading off northwest. I have highlighted it yellow below on Fergus and Robinson’s map.
Highlighted lane in yellow, on “Plan of the North of the City, with the town, harbour and citadel of Leith” by Fergus & Robinson, 1759. Personal photographs of the original copy in the archives of the City of Edinburgh © SelfThis is very tantalising as despite all the efforts of the Georgian developers, the Victorian rebuilders, the 20th century destroyers and the 21st century re-destroyers, this lane (and the western remnant of St. James’ Square) are still there!
The alignment of Gabriel’s Road (green line) and the western, surviving portion of St. James’ Square (pink highlight) overlaid on a contemporary ESRI aerial photo. The 3 domes of the Register Houses lie between the two.I am talking of course about the enigmatic Gabriel’s Road, a 126 foot (38.4m) long stretch of pavement that follows the ancient alignment of the lane which predates the Georgian city centre.
Gabriel’s Road, looking towards the Register House. CC-BY-SA Jim Barton.Rather than build over this section of the old lane, they built around, it and this block of West Register Street aligned its façades with it (Guildford Arms and Café Royal patrons will be more than familiar with this). Land ownership trumped town planning – as it frequently does to this day. Where the planners and builders hit an existing, irregular, land boundary which couldn’t be resolved, they simply went with it, and Gabriel’s Road became the boundary between the grid of the New Town and the grid of St. James’ square, aligned with the latter. This approach avoided the legal complexity (and cost) of trying to regularise it for the sake of a grid pattern.
Kirkwood’s town plan of 1819, which shows the building elevations, and predates the extensions to the Register House, clearly shows Gabriel’s Road as the boundary between the two grid systems. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandGabriel’s Road is an ancient right of way, which is why there is a gate and public access from Register Place through the Square outside the Royal Bank of Scotland head branch at 36 St. Andrew Square. So that is our case closed. Or is it? What have we here? Another Gabriel’s Road? Almost a mile away in Stockbridge? What’s that doing there? Surely just a coincidence?
Gabriel’s Road heritage street sign in Stockbridge, looking up the “Dummie steps”No, it’s not a coincidence at all, because it’s the same road (or lane). While the middle part has long since been built over and disappeared from view, either end escaped and survives. If we look at the 1804 town plan, before Saxe Coburg Place was laid out, we can see Gabriel’s Road clearly marked as “Foot Road“.
Ainslie’s 1804 Town Plan, the “Foot Road” on the boundary between Heriot’s property and Rose Esq. being Gabriel’s Road. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandThis section of the path was long ago known locally as the Dummie Steps. The steps part is obviously because the steep path was stepped and the first because because over the wall was the Deaf and Dumb Institution (the Dummiehoose) of the city, built here in 1823. Dummie is the Scots for dumb. The building of the Stockbridge Dummiehoose is now part of Edinburgh Academy.
The old Deaf & Dumb Institute building, now incorporated into the Edinburgh Academy. CC-BY-SA 2.0 Kim TraynorDummie is where the Edinburgh district of Dumbiedykes (once Dummiedikes) got its name, from the institute for the dumb (the Dummiehoose) set up by James Braidwood there in 1763, and the walls (dykes) that enclosed the land in that neighbourhood. Walter Scott had borrowed the name for a comical character in Heart of Midlothian, but changed it by inserting the b-, to give us Dumbiedykes. The change stuck and the street names and neighbourhood took up the extra letter, even though it should be silent.
Anyway, back to the lane. What is it and why is it there? Looking back at – and zooming out a bit – on that amazing 1759 map by Fergus & Robinson, we can see it clearly cutting northwest across what was then farmland, where the Second or Northern New Town and the eastern expansion of Stockbridge would later be built. The lane forms as straight a line as possible (around old land boundaries) between Inverleith House and what at one time would have been the northern access to the city of Edinburgh down Leith Wynd.
Highlighted Gabriel’s Road in blue, on “Plan of the North of the City, with the town, harbour and citadel of Leith” by Fergus & Robinson, 1759. Personal photographs of the original copy in the archives of the City of Edinburgh © SelfAt its very northern end, our map does not show what happens when Gabriel’s Road meets the Water of Leith, but this was long a ford, with stepping stones, across the river and is approximately where the Colonies houses of Collin’s Place are now.
Gabriel’s Road meeting the Water of Leith on “Plan of the North of the City, with the town, harbour and citadel of Leith” by Fergus & Robinson, 1759. Personal photographs of the original copy in the archives of the City of Edinburgh © SelfOld & New Edinburgh records the “beautiful and sequestered footpath bordered by hawthorn hedges, known by the name of Gabriel’s Road, is said to have been constructed for the convenience of the ancient lairds of Inverleith to enable them to attend worship in St. Giles [kirk]“. The definite meaning of the Gabriel part of the name is lost to time. It may be a reference to it being used for attending church. A theory about it relating to an infamous murder is apparently spurious and an old tavern of that name in Broughton is said to have been named for the road and not the other way around.
If you keep on looking for odd angles in the modern property and street lines you can see for yourself a few other intermediate fragments of Gabriel’s Road. For instance along East Silvermills Lane:
East Silvermills Lane, on the alignment of Gabriel’s Road.And if you follow along to the eastern end of Abercrombie Place, where there is a short block of houses on the south side of the street (the only ones along its length), you will notice that there’s a section of garden boundary wall at an odd angle… That’s right, it’s perfectly aligned on Gabriels’ Road, another instance where the portions of land on either side were in different hands when it came to planning and building.
1849 OS Town Plan showing the eastern end of Abercrombie Place and highlighting the garden boundary walls that respect the alignment of Gabriel’s Road. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandAnd back where we started off, with the boundary of Clelland’s Feu, this long and invisibly demarcated parish boundaries. St. James’ Square was a detached exclave of St. Cuthbert’s parish (the large parish that surrounded the old city of Edinburgh), where as Craig’s New Town was split between two new parishes of St. Andrew’s and St. Stephen’s.
1849 OS Town Plan showing the parish boundary of the detached portion of St. Cuthbert’s. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandAnyway, there you go. Hidden amongst the regular, monotonous Georgian grid of the New Town there are some little clues and reminders of Edinburgh in a much older time. You can read about another one at the other end of Craig’s New Town here.
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Soldier-turned-forger: the thread about the farcical execution of John Young
“Drawn at The Execution of John Young in the Grass Market, Edinbr., 1751” The description says “a crowd… in the foreground, beyond them the gallows officers with the condemned man on a platform“. Except that’s not quite what’s going on here… Let’s find out more!
Drawn at The Execution of John Young in the Grass Market, Edinbr., © The Trustees of the British MuseumThe image is by the hand of Paul Sandby, the young English draughtsman who came to Edinburgh in the aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion to turn the triangulations of William Roy’s survey of Scotland into the incredible illustrated map. Sandby also proved to be quite the artist and with his little gang of esteemed friends (including John Clerk of Eldin and Robert Adam) in his free time he would sketch the street scenes of the city. But this isn’t a thread about Paul Sandby, it’s a thread about the scene he drew and how not is quite what meets the eye.
John Young was an Irishman, born into a lower middle-class protestant family in Belfast. He had a good start in life, was educated and apprenticed to a linen draper. But when his master died, he ended up having to go to London for work, which he found as a clerk. But he had to abandon this position in a hurry however and fled London in disgrace after he got his master’s serving maid pregnant. On the road, with no prospects, he was easy prey for the Army’s recruiting sergeants and with liberal application of intoxicants he took the King’s Shilling
Soldier of the King’s Own / 4th Regiment of Foot, 1742This was about 1744, the War of the Austrian Succession was raging, and the Army was in need of recruits. Being educated, intelligent and amenable, the officers liked him and the disgraced clerk actually found that military life in the ranks suited him. It was (apparently) the 4th Regiment of Foot (The King’s Own) that he joined and his manners and abilities quickly saw him promoted into the first sergeant’s vacancy that came along.
Shipped off to Flanders, John was said to be at Fontenoy when the Allied Army, the British contingent under the Duke of Cumberland, were defeated by the French under Louis XV. However most of the 4th missed the battle as they had been detached beforehand. Wherever he was, and whichever Regiment he was with, he apparently acquitted himself with bravery and was rewarded with promotion to company paymaster and with being sent back to England with a recruiting party to help replace the Army’s losses in Flanders.
Battle of Fontenoy 1745, by Pierre L’EnfantIt turned out that recruiting was also something John took to naturally. He signed men up on honest and frank terms and didn’t swindle them (or their families) out of their sign-on bounty. Again he was recognised by his superiors and a promotion to Sergeant Major was forthcoming. He rejoined his regiment in a hurry, as they had been shipped back to Britain along with the Duke of Cumberland to help put down the Jacobite Rebellion. (This fits with him being in the 4th). He was at the Battle of Falkirk Muir in January 1746, and apparently accounted for a few Jacobites with his Sergeant Major’s halberd. Although it was a Jacobite victory, it was a hollow one and they retreated from it.
The Battle of Falkirk Muir, 1746John marched on with his Regiment after the retreating Jacobites and was at the bloody Battle of Culloden in April. Circumstances fit that he was in the 4th, the Grenadiers of whom are prominent in David Morier’s well known painting of that battle. The 4th were hit hardest of the Government units by the Highland charge, taking 25% losses.
An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745 by David Morier.But John, and the 4th, survived the Jacobites and survived the battle. As a result of its performance and losses, the regiment remained in Scotland for “mopping up” duties, before being sent to garrison Edinburgh castle. John was sent off recruiting, reaching as far south as Bristol. Coming back to Edinburgh with plenty of recruits, he was sent off again, this time to Yorkshire. But it wasn’t just recruits who followed him back to Edinburgh on this occassion, he also had an innkeeper’s wife, with whom he had fallen in “criminal intercourse” with.
That might have been that, except the woman had cleared out her husband before fleeing. It wasn’t long before an aggrieved Yorkshire innkeeper pitched up in Edinburgh on the hunt for his wife, his money and a licentious recruiting Sergeant He didn’t take long to find all three; but John was saved from punishment on account of his having been ignorant of the wife’s theft and having not conspired with her, and the fact his officers liked him; he was a good soldier, and the army needed such men.
The 4th were shipping out anyway, so John was sent off with them to Inverness and (the first) Fort George, garrisoning the remains of it while preparations were made to build the bigger replacement at Ardersier. Coincidentally, Paul Sandby made a reconstruction illustration of it as it would have looked before the retreating Jacobites blew much of it up .
Fort George as it was in 1744, illustration (c. 1780) by Paul Sandby. Royal Academy of ArtsIt was in Inverness that John became familiar with one of his new recruits, a man by the name of Parker who had served some time as a printer. John was company paymaster, and when assisting him one day, Parker mentioned how easy it would be to copy the bank notes if you knew how. John knew better than to continue the discussion in public, but managed to get Parker aside in a tavern and pick his brains. It would be easy, said he, if you could just get a note to copy, somewhere safe to copy it, and the materials to engrave a printing plate. John could do all three, and he took on a private room where Parker and another could work, “borrowed” a Royal Bank of Scotland note from the company purse, and acquired all the materials a forger might need from the Garrison’s supplies.
Parker was good to his word, soon he had produced some Royal Bank notes that couldn’t easily be told apart. They could get away with things for a reasonable time, if they were clever, as such promissory notes would circulate in the local economy for a good long while, rather than being sent back to Edinburgh to be reconciled with the accounts against which they were issued. And although he was a mere Sergeant Major, as a paymaster it was not unusual for John to have reason to be carrying and exchanging paper money.
Royal Bank of Scotland 20 Shilling note, 1745, of the sort forged by Young and ParkerThey got away with it for at least 6 months, before their regiment got notice that it was leaving Inverness. It now seems that he may have been with the 24th Foot, the Earl of Ancram’s, rather than the 4th.
Soldier of 24th Regiment of Foot, 1742The hitherto cautious John now over-reached himself, and before leaving Inverness he had an Aberdeen stocking manufacturer, Mr Gordon, convert £60 worth of notes into Sterling. This suited Gordon as it was safer than carrying “real” money on his journey home. Gordon left a merry trail of counterfeit paper notes across the north of Scotland as he made his way home from town to town and tavern to tavern. He was horrified to get back to Aberdeen and find notices in the newspapers from the directors of the Royal Bank that they were advising merchants in the north of Scotland that they were aware of counterfeit notes circulating and to please be on the lookout for them
Realising he had been swindled, Gordon went straight back to Inverness and called upon the Sheriff. It didn’t take long to put the facts together, and news was sent chasing along after the 24th that the law would like to ask one of their Sergeant Majors a few questions. The law caught up with the Regiment, and with John, in Glasgow. When arrested, he had the copper plate and 300 forged notes on his person.
He was sent to Edinburgh to stand trial. He was optimistic that he might be let off or treated leniently, but the embarrassed bankers of Edinburgh wanted an example made of him, and so it was. Parker and the other accomplice turned King’s evidence. The trial on November 9th 1750 lasted all of a day. He was found guilty and sentenced to hang. John prevailed upon his officers to intercede, on account of his good record, but they couldn’t, wouldn’t, or were of no avail. He was sent to the Tolbooth to await his fate.
Henry G. Duguid, The Old City Tolbooth and St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh. CC-by-SA NGSOn the evening of 19th December, as was the custom, he was chained in the Iron Room, the “escape proof” cell where the condemned of Edinburgh spent their last night before the final walk to the gallows. The following morning, the magistrates and 2 ministers awoke him to read him his sentence. Did he have any objections? No he did not. Would he like to speak with the ministers? Yes he would. He asked to be excused with the latter for some “ghostly consolation” for a while.
Hall of the Old Tolbooth, c.1795, by William Clark © Edinburgh City LibrariesBut John was less concerned with spiritual matter, his quick mind was instead hatching a plan. His sentence, which had just been read to him, had stated that he would be hung between 2 and 4 PM that afernoon. Having been misled by other prisoners, he assumed all he had to do was delay proceedings until after 4 and he would get a temporary reprieve. After prayers with the Ministers, he asked the men of God if they might give him a moment’s private contemplation, to prepare himself for his maker. This they readily agreed to. They left the cell, and he quietly pulled the door shut.What nobody was sure how he did it, but somehow he contrived to lock himself in the cell, and the ministers, magistrates and gaolers out of it.
When it was realised what he had done, no amount of pleading, shouting, or beating of the door could get John Young to come to his senses and accept his fate. “No“, said he, “in this place I am resolved to defend my life to the utmost of my power”. As he saw it, all he had to do was buy himself a few hours for another night on earth…
The tradesmen of the City were called, but they said it was impossible to break through the Iron Room’s door or wall without compromising the building. More likely they couldn’t be bothered with such heard work and found it all very funny. Time was ticking away. Perhaps John was going to get away with it. The magistrates summoned the Lord Provost, George Drummond, and together the combined minds of the city administration hit upon a simple scheme to thwart him. They had the town clock stopped!
Clock of the Netherbow Port, 1766, from an engraving by John Runciman entitled “
View of the Netherbow Port of Edinburgh from the West”. © Edinburgh City LibrariesThis bought them the time they needed, and finally they resolved to smash through the floor of the room above the cell and get him out that way. This took 2 hours hard work but once a large enough hole was made, one of the Town Guard poked his musket through to help persuade him out. But John was a battle-hardened soldier and had faced worse than the Edinburgh town guard. Quick as you like he grabbed the barrel of the gun and pulled it to himself, “declaring, with an oath, that, if any man attempted to molest him, he would immediately dash out his brains“
William Lizars Home, 1800, the Edinburgh Old Town Guard © Edinburgh City LibrariesThe gun however was unloaded, so the guardsman followed through the hole after it. He took the full force of the butt of it for his efforts, knocking him down, and it took 4 of his burly colleagues to subdue John Young. Asking if it was now after 4PM, he was informed that it was, but “he would be hanging even if it was after 8“. Realising the game was up, John resolved to be “no accessory to my own murder” and be uncooperative to his last. It took 8 guardsmen to carry him, head first, out of the Tolbooth. Refusing to walk, a cart had to be sourced, and he rode this, with the noose already around his neck, the short distance down the West Bow to his place of execution in the Grassmarket. James Skene’s sketch of 1827 shows a scene fundamentally unchanged from Sandby’s of 1750. The gallows is on the left, the structure on the right was used as a corn market.
Grassmarket and Bow, James Skene, 1827, © Edinburgh City LibrariesWhat I am pretty sure we can actually see in Sandby’s sketch is not a crowd watching the condemned ascend the gallows, it’s a scene of one waiting, in boredom and anticipation, wondering where is John Young? Where’s the afternoon’s promised gruesome entertainment?
The crowd in Sandby’s scene, talking amongst themselves, looking anywhere but at the “action” going on at the scaffold.The guardsman on the left, the one with the Lochaber Axe, looks positively bored. Is his colleague on the right pushing back the restless crowd? And what – or who – is that arriving in the background on a cart…
Closer look at the scaffold and background in Sandby’s scene.“John Young underwent the sentence of the law in the Grassmarket of Edinburgh, about six o’clock on the evening“. Uncooperative to the last, he had to be carried up the scaffold. It apparently took a whole 30 minutes for his desperate cling to life to be extinguished. It is unclear what motivated him; he was not known as a spender of money or an indulger in drinking or gambling. His men and his officers liked him, he was otherwise a good, honest and brave solider, and there seems little in life he desired that his pay could not cover
It is not known either where John Young’s final resting place was. No Edinburgh Kirk recorded his death or burial in their registers that I can find. The newspapers are the only record of his exploits, his final story being printed far and wide. “This poor man had served in the army many years, with reputation, was beloved by his officers, being never before convicted of the least offence, and was said to have been recommended to the first vacant colours in his corps.” In June 1751, the Royal Bank re-issued all its 1750 edition. 20 shilling bank notes.
Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
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#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret -
Reading about the Bayou:
"The Chitimacha subsisted on maize, potatoes, and wild game. They preferred deer, alligator, and aquatic species. Hunting and fishing were accomplished with the aid of bone, stone, or garfish scale pointed arrows, or through the use of blow guns and wooden darts, as well as, nets and traps for fishing. The Chitimacha were prolific ceramics producers until about 200 years ago when those techniques were lost to history, however the designs are said to have been similar to those employed in basketry.
The crown jewel of the Chitimacha cultural tradition is river cane basketry, both single and double woven. According to tribal legend, basketry was taught to the Chitimacha by a deity and has been practiced by tribal families for thousands of years. There are at least 50 different design elements, which can be combined to create hundreds of different basket designs.
At the time of contact with European explorers and other non-indigenous populations, the Chitimacha were known as the most powerful tribe between Texas and Florida. Iberville, an early French explorer, encountered the Chitimacha and one of their subdivisions, the Washa along the shores of the Mississippi River in 1699. In 1706, as a response to slave raids and French aggressions, a group of #Chitimacha killed St. Cosme, a priest and slave owner, and several members of his party, who were missionaries to the Natchez Tribe. Bienville responded to this by convincing other tribes to help them make war on the Chitimacha. This war lasted until 1718 when a Chitimacha Chief met Bienville in the fledgling city of New Orleans. A treaty establishing peace was signed and a ceremony was held, which ended the long war in which the majority of the tribal members were annihilated. In the twelve years of conflict, many Chitimacha were forced into slavery and were the most enslaved of any population in Louisiana during that time period."
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I thoroughly enjoy the listening experience from my Schiit Audio Modi 3+ and Shiit Audio Magni Heresy. I noticed that the "Schiit Stack" sound is better and more enjoyable than my Mac’s 3.5mm headphone jack or the iPhone 11 Pro over Bluetooth headphones or via the pigtail adapter.
I want to sit in a chair, my eyes closed, and imagine Dad is with me, both of us quietly enjoying the moment. Dad had a large vinyl collection. I have none. Correct, I had none. Let’s back up a bit.
I felt nostalgic for the final weeks of my last year (1986) of school. It was June and Carnival time in St. Vincent, and Kingstown was excitedly buzzing. Carnival attracts thousands of tourists and is a colourful and vibrant celebration of music, dance and Vincentian heritage. Towns nationwide come alive with street parties, calypso and steelpan performances, costume parades and much more.
I had just completed my A-levels, and my brother Shane, our close friend Andre, and I were excited about Carnival. We encouraged David, our exchange student from Los Angeles, to come along. David didn’t know what he was in for.
Carnival starts in the middle of June, culminating on two special days, a Monday and Tuesday, at the start of July. The Monday is called J’Ouvert, a contraction of the French term Jour Overt, meaning "early morning". A fete1 runs from midnight to dawn. A large band then takes to the streets of Kingstown, waking the residents to enjoy the penultimate day of the carnival. J’Ouvert is followed by Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). In Vincy Mas, a band of the year competition is followed by a final parade of the mass bands to signal the end of the festival.
That last J’Ouvert morning in St. Vincent, we got up early, around 4 AM, piled into Andre’s Peugeot, and headed into town to meet the band. Andre parked the car at Barclays Bank, and we joined the celebration.
The street is filled with human beings, jam-packed like sardines in a tin. A large truck with enough speakers to sink a boat moves slowly through the street, inching forward at one mile/hour. The dancing, writhing crowd surrounds the truck, the truck and people moving in perfect harmony. The air is filled with the sound of the year's calypso anthem, "I want soca". The music is infectious. The DJ is playing this seven-minute song on a continuous loop. The party never stops, and neither do we.
Oh, man! I miss it.
audio-technica AT-LP60X · Monday 28 August 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WRUnfortunately, most of the calypso music from my youth, including Alston "Beckett" Cyrus’s hit, I Want Soca, never transitioned to digital. I spent hours searching Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, SoundCloud, Tidal and others. If I wanted to listen to the calypso of my youth, I would have to get vinyl pressings.
A quick Google search and I discovered multiple vinyl copies of the single on discogs. I bought a few other recordings. But I didn’t have a record player. The sleeved black disks sat on my desk while I dreamed of turntables, phono cartridges, pre-amplifiers, amplifiers, and speakers.
Schiit Audio claims their products are "designed and built in California". When they say "designed and built in California," they mean that most of the production costs for their products—including the chassis, boards, and assembly—are allocated to U.S. companies that manufacture within the United States. The chassis and PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) are manufactured nearby or in Northern California. In essence, Schiit Audio is a product company deeply rooted in local production.
About a year after I bought the [Schiit Audio Modi 3+ and Shiit Audio Magni Heresy] while searching for more vinyl, I walked into Princeton Record Exchange. I was looking for records. I walked out with an Audio Technica AT-LP60X.
Audio TechnicaAT-LP60XTypeBelt drive turntable, fully automatic.MotorDC servo-controlledDrive MethodBelt-driveSpeeds33-1/3 RPM, 45 RPMTurntable PlatterAluminiumWow and FlutterLess than 0.25% (WTD) @ 3 kHzSignal-to-Noise Ratio>50 dB (DIN-B)Output LevelPre-amp “PHONO”: 2.5 mV nominal at 1 kHz, 5 cm/sec Pre-amp “LINE” 150 mV nominal at 1 kHz, 5 cm/secPhono Pre-Amp Gain36 dB nominal, RIAA equalised.Accessories IncludedDust cover, Felt mat, Platter (with drive belt), 45 RPM adapter, RCA audio cable (approx. 1.2 m. (3.9')), AC adapter (approx. 1.5 m (4.9'))The AT-LP60X is a basic turntable. While the Wirecutter and others will recommend a [starter combo] with "an affordable turntable" and powered speakers costing over $600, the AT-LP60X was just $149. I had no speakers. I remembered that Shiit Audio offered a product called SYS.
Schiit PYST by Snake Oil · Saturday 26 August 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF27mmF2.8 R WRSchiit Audio often markets their products humorous and irreverently, but the company is serious about audio quality. SYS, which Schiit Audio says is short for "Switch Your Stuff", is a 2-way switch and a potentiometer. The SYS allows me to switch between two audio sources or control the volume for a single audio output without adding active components to the signal path. Being a passive preamplifier means it doesn't require power and won't amplify the signal. This is often seen as beneficial for audio purists who want to maintain the audio signal's integrity without introducing additional noise or distortion that active electronic components could bring.
Schiit Audio Stack · Saturday 26 August 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WRI bought some RCA PYST Snake Oil branded cables with the SYS passive switch. Snake Oil is a start-up from California. The name PYST is a playful acronym for "Put Your Schiit Together". These cables connect various audio components, e.g. [Schiit Audio Modi 3+ and Shiit Audio Magni Heresy]. However, they can also be used in other configurations. The PYST cables are typically well-received for being high-quality interconnects that provide reliable performance, although, like any other brand, user experiences may vary.
Schiit AudioSYSNumber of inputs2 (stereo RCA)Number of outputs1 (stereo RCA)Input impedance10k ohmsOutput Impedance5k ohms maximumSize5 x 3.5 x 1.25”Weight1 lbI easily switch between the Schiit Audio Modi 3+ DAC or AT-LP60X, feeding into the Shiit Audio Magni Heresy headphone amplifier and using the potentiometer to adjust the volume in my Grado SR-60s headphones. Listening on my Grado SR-60s, I easily switch between the AT-LP60X for vinyl and the Schiit Audio Modi 3+ for Apple Music streaming. The total cost of the SYS and PYST was $69. This kit is not the vintage system I had imagined, but the system's compact size and minimalism are better suited for my small home listening room space. This solution works for me.
Schiit Audio Stack · Saturday 26 August 2023 · FujiFilm X-T3 · XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WRAt some point, I would like to get some powered speakers. Schiit Audio makes powerful amplifiers, but they are not budget-friendly (at least not for my budget). The Magni Heresy has an RCA output that can connect to the input of powered book-shelf-size speakers (aka monitors) from JBL or Klipsch. My "Plan B" is to connect some used Bose 901 speakers to an old Sony AV amplifier I found in the basement. I’m not sure which way to go.
I'm thinking of grabbing some powered speakers at some point. Schiit Audio has some pretty awesome amplifiers, but they're a bit too pricey for me. The Magni Heresy has an RCA output that could hook up to some compact powered speakers, like the ones from JBL or Klipsch. My other plan is to get some old Bose 901 speakers and the Sony AV amp collecting dust in the basement.
- Fete is a word of French origin meaning a celebration or festival. But in the English-speaking Caribbean islands, a fete means a Carnival party. ↩
https://islandinthenet.com/a-minimalist-vinyl-kit-with-schiit-audio-sys-and-pyst-snake-oil/
#ActiveListening #AppleMusic #ATLP60X #AudioGear #AudioTechnica #DigitalAudio #ExperienceReport #GradoLabs #GradoSR60 #HeadphoneListening #SchiitAudio #SchiitMagniHeresy #SchiitModi3_ #SchiitPYST #SchiitStack #SYSPreamp #VinylListening
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The thread about the excavation of parts of Edinburgh’s old cable tramway system from beneath Leith Walk, what the various pieces of ironmongery were and how it all worked
This thread was originally written and published in bits and pieces between 2000 and 2022 as bits of tramway came out of the ground. It has substantially re-written here to create a coherent story.
In a previous post I covered how (and why) Edinburgh came to use cable-hauled trams in the 1880s and why Leith didn’t, and also some basics of how that system worked.
The principal of operation of a cable hauled tramway is quite simple. Between the tram tracks is a slot, in which there runs an endless loop of moving cable. The cable is powered by steam engines in a winding house, from where it runs around the system under the streets on an ingenious (and complex) series of pulley wheels. The tram car is fitted with a pair of grippers which slide into the slot; to move forward it grabs the cable with a gripper and to stop it releases the cable and applies its brakes. To move across junctions, between different cables or to pass subterranean obstructions such as pulley wheels, it can perform an elaborate ceremony whereby it grabs and releases different cables with the front or rear grippers – often with a little bit of gravity assistance.
1882 American diagram of a hypothetical cable tramway system. The winding house with its steam engines, gearing and cable drums is towards the top. The cables exit the winding house in a tunnel under the street and then head off around the system in the slot between the tracks, guided by a large system of pulleys.One of the most common finds has been sections of old tramway rail. A tramway rail differs from a railway rail in that the rail has a flat top with a groove in the middle of it for the flange of the wheel to run in; a railway rail has a domed top and the wheel flange hangs over the side. The rails were relaid when the move was made from cable traction (or in Leith’s case, horse) to electric, so none of the dug up rail sections will be from cable days.
Tram rails on Leith Walk, notice the dark line on the top which is the groove for the wheel flange to run in. © selfThe next most common item that was seen during excavations were the U-shaped cast iron “chairs” that formed the supporting base of the conduit structure in which the cable ran beneath the street surface. To better understand what were are looking at (and for, underground), a cross-section of a cable tramway is helpful, I can’t find one for Edinburgh so one from San Francisco will do as the two were fairly similar. The chairs are coloured yellow, and sat on the concrete base of the conduit.
San Francisco Cable tramway cross-section. The rails are coloured green; the horizontal ties in blue; the top of the conduit structure in orange; the supporting chairs in yellow; the small cable support pulleys in pink; and the cable gripper in red.The Edinburgh system did not use the orange cast slot shown below; it used old rails laid on top of the cast iron chairs to form the slot. Additionally it did not have the small pink cable support pulleys; it used larger, 14inch diameter pulley wheels spaced every 50 feet.
Section of an illustration of a hypothetical cable tramway system, which seems very similar to the system in use in Edinburgh. Note the cable running through the conduit and over the support pulleyThe picture below shows a pile of these iron chairs dug out from beneath Leith Walk, plus sections of old rail that had been used to form the horizontal ties. Notice the chairs are caked in old concrete, as they were set into the conduit when it was being poured.
Cable conduit support chairs, September 2021 © selfCable conduit support chairs, December 2020 © selfNone of the cast iron chairs are complete; all are missing their top sections; cut and cracked off. However it was not the excavation works of 2021 that caused this, it were those of 1921! A a book kindly provided to me by Chris Wright has a photo of Hanover Street, c. 1921, on the cover. In this scene, a crowd watches workmen digging up the old cable conduit system during the switch over to electric traction (which was apparently the first use of pneumatic drills in the city). The caption explains that for ease, the workmen only removed the top section of the conduit chairs when removing them; the lower sections were left concreted into their bases. There are a couple of broken sections of chair in the pile of rubble below the boy with the cricket bat.
Edwin Catford’s Edinburgh, coverThe cables themselves were driven from the four winding houses at each of the tramway depots; Henderson Row, Tollcross, Portobello and Shrubhill (off Leith Walk). We see the Shrubhill winding house interior in the images below. The engines, each with two cylinders and producing 500hp, are in the foreground. They are connected to the cable system by the ropes strung between the pairs of enormous drums. The larger drums, in the back ground, were connected to the 10 foot diameter cable-driving pulleys.
Interior of Shrubhill winding house, seen from the side of the enginesInterior of Shrubhill winding house. The two wheels in the foreground are those that would drive the traction cables.The cables were tensioned on weighted pulleys hung from the wall of the winding house, before exiting the building down a long tunnel from the winding house off Dryden Street at the northern end of the site to Leith Walk. The below photo shows the remains of one of these tunnels being demolished in the 1960s during works outside Shrubhill.
Brick arch of the cable tunnel on the right.These tunnels ran to large brick chambers beneath the road surface and ran off up and down Leith Walk. Each cable required two pulleys; one for it on its outbound journey and one for it returning back to the winding house. Shrubhill drove two cables, so required two sets of these pulleys in chambers below Leith Walk. The diagram below shows the State Street Cable Car power station in Chicago. The winding engines are in yellow and drive 4 sets of cables. The red and blue cables head off right and left out of the power station. The two green cables are for different lines; they travel to the start of those lines “blind” (i.e. not pulling trams), which is why they are running in between the two sets of tracks, rather than between the rails like the red and blue cables. Each cable reaches the end of its line where it turns around and comes back to the power station. Shrubhill was very similar to this but drove only two cables; one for St. Andrew Square and Leith Walk, which also served the branch to Abbeyhill, the other for the Bridges to Newington.
The Street Railway Journal, 1889The illustration below shows a cross section of those cables coming to and from the winding house down the tunnels, running around the pulleys in their chambers and then off around the network. The chambers are brick built, with arched steel plate roofs. This is a conceptual railway, but has two driven cables, rather like Shrubhill. Notice the return pulley is inclined so as to be able to sit underneath the outward pulley.
Cables to and from the winding house and running around the large underground pulleysThe below images show the destruction of the brick walls of one of the Shrubhill pulley chambers under Leith Walk. The dark patches are not tunnels, the one on the left is a recess in the chamber walls and the other seems to be a previous collapse that had been filled in with concrete.
Leith Walk at Shrubhill, November 2020 © selfLeith Walk at Shrubhill, November 2020. Notice the cast iron chair section onwards the middle bottom of the photo © selfThe image below, taken of the same overall excavation hole as those above, shows the huge steel roof section of the chamber – the frame is almost identical to drawings of one for the terminal pulley of one of the Henderson Row cables. There is a supporting structure of steel I-beams that would have sat on the brick walls and foundations, and the metal sheet sections forming the roof on which the road surface lay. The large pulleys that directed the cables in and out of the tunnels to the winding house sat directly below this.
Shrubhill cable chamber roof structure, November 2020 © selfThese chambers, and others around the system (particularly where there were junctions) were manned to make sure the cable was running properly. Children were in the habit of tying a can to a piece of string, then dropping the loose end into the slot in the road, where it would catch the cable and be dragged off up the road creating an amusing racket. If there was any snag or derailment of the cable, they would phone back to the powerhouse, who would disengage the cable until it could be reset or re-spliced, or the offending item untangled from it.
The excavations here also uncovered the structure of the railway tunnel under Leith Walk, where the North British Railway passed beneath. This was incredibly close to the surface (as a result of the tunnel being built after the road surface, and the Town Council refusing to allow the road level to be raised where it passed overhead); the outer skin of the tunnel is about only 30cm or a foot below the surface. Indeed, a special system had to be devised here to support the new tramway as there was not enough space to fit the standard concrete track slab. You will notice a large trough in the tunnel structure here. This, I think, is where the cable for North Bridge to Newington ran, as it was not used for traction purposes here and is described as “running blind” as far as Picardy Place, where it came in to use to go up Leith Street.
Leith Walk railway tunnel, May 2021 © selfThe shallowness of this tunnel totally precludes the urban myths of any tunnels under the road running up Leith Walk towards Elm Row from Shrubhill. Those tunnels are actually a single passageway, just large enough for a man to walk up, that ran under the pavement from Mcdonald Road up to Picardy Place, which was to carry the first electricity cables into the city from the McDonald Road Power Station.
When Edinburgh moved to replace its entire horse-drawn tramway with the cable system across the city, for various reasons Leith declined. Up until the last minute, it had been hoped and assumed that a compromise could be reached and that Leith would join; but it declined to do so. The Shrubhill winding house had a third winding drum for a cable round the Leith rails, but it was never used. Instead, the cable ran from the winding house at Shrubhill, turned left down the hill to the municipal boundary at Pilrig Street, and then ran back up the hill towards Edinburgh again. This meant that passengers had to change onto a Leith tram to proceed any further north (and vice versa). This 24 year inconvenience became known as the Pilrig Muddle. In the below photo, an Edinburgh cable car loads its passengers at the terminus of the line at Pilrig Street. In the background, the electric cars of the Leith system wait for the exchange of passengers heading the other way. exactly where this pit is.
The Pilrig Muddle © Edinburgh City LibrariesThere was another one of these awkward interchanges on the network, at Joppa, which I like to call the Joppa Jumble. Here the cable line from Portobello met Musselburgh’s electric system and again a change had to be made for through travel. But this was at least at the network end, not the middle of a principal route, and traffic here was much lighter
https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightycat/5967127413
The terminus of the cable car lines was always on a short, single line siding of track on a slight incline. If the terminus was a downhill incline; the car would disengage from the cable and run by gravity into the siding, where it would pick up the cable running back the other way with its other gripper. The process was reversed for an uphill terminus; it ran into the siding on the cable, and ran out of it by gravity to the return cable. This was required as the cable could not be gripped where the it ran around the huge terminal pulley to change direction. This is shown by the diagram below, where the terminal pulley is in blue, inclined so as to fit below the street surface. The cable (red and white dashed line) is guided to and from it by the orange pulleys.
Terminus of the Edinburgh Northern tramway from Henderson Row.Much excitement erupted at the Pilrig Muddle in August 2021 when unexpectedly (considering this shoul dhave been discovered way back during the first round of tram works), an almost completely intact terminal pulley chamber was uncovered, with not one but two huge pulleys, each totally complete and in remarkable condition. Both were still sitting on their original bearings, just as they had been left almost exactly 100 years before when they were covered up and forgotten about!
Side view of the Pilrig terminal pulley chamber and pulleys © selfOne of the terminal pulleys, approximately 8 feet in diameter. Photo Credit: ACamerunner / @aljaroo1874The Pilrig Muddle pulleys are unusual for two reasons. Firstly, they are mounted vertically, usually they were horizontal. Secondly, they are back to back, which makes little sense for the terminus of the line. I suspect they are vertical as the street is narrower here, so there was less room to fit them in horizontally. And I think there are two back to back in anticipation of the cable being extended down Leith Walk into that burgh (which of course never happened). The red pulley on the right would have returned the Edinburgh red cable back up Leith Walk to Shrubhill. The blue one on the left would have returned the blue Leith Walk cable back down to the Foot of the Walk. If the cable had been extended to Leith, at Pilrig trams coming uphill from Leith would have swapped from the blue to the red cable here as they crossed the civic boundary. Because Leith was never added to the cable system, if I am correct the blue pulley would therefore never have been used.
Side view of the Pilrig terminal pulley chamber and pulleys © selfThe below animation shows how a car would have swapped cables here. A car travels with its front gripper engaging the cable. As it approaches the end of the cable, it is released before the gripper gets dragged into the pulley. To move onto the next cable it can either use its momentum (known as a “fly shunt”), can use gravity if it is running down hill, or it can push itself off the cable onto the next one by using its rear gripper. When the front gripper is over the next cable, it can be re-enaged and the car sets off again. This was a laborious (and potentially hazardous) process, so by design a cable car network keeps junctions and switching between cables to a minimum.
Swapping cables © selfIf you look closely to the left of the archaeologist squatting on the ground peering into the chamber you can see the conduits for electrical wires on the wall along with a box. This is either for electric lighting or the communication telephone.
Electrics in the Pilrig pulley chamber © selfPilrig was not “de-muddled” until 1922 after the amalgamation of the Burgh of Leith and its Tramway into that of the City of Edinburgh. Edinburgh quickly decided to adopt the electric system of Leith and rapidly converted one to the other. The picture below shows the Muddle being converted. A cable car has reached the terminus at Pilrig Street and is about to return back up the hill. You can see the slot between the tracks for the cable. The tracks on the right are being relaid for the electric trams and a new junction to connect down the Leith Corporation tracks on Pilrig Street is being incorporated. The centre poles for the overhead wires are already in place. I suspect the reason that the Pilrig pulley chamber was left in such good condition, with its pulleys still in situ, was the speed with which the switchover was made. There was no time to demolish the chamber, remove its pulleys and infill it. The new tracks were simply built over it and connected together one night to allow for running of the electric trams the next day.
De-muddling the muddle, 1922 at Pilrig Street looking up Leith Walk.When Leith Corporation rebuilt its horse tramway for electric traction in 1904-1905, it constructed a large new depot on Leith Walk. This later became the Leith Depot of Edinburgh Corporation Tramways. Sadly the depot structure was demolished for no good reason about 4 years ago now, but the depot office building remains. During excavations at the rear of this, the brick outlines of inspection pits appeared, where the running gear could have been checked and maintained without having to lift the tram body off of it. The tram rails would have run along the top of these walls, see the lower picture for an example.
Inspection Pits at Leith Depot. These were only ever for electric cars © selfInterior of Leith Depot, pre-1920. © Edinburgh City LibrariesNote to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
Or please do just share this post on social media or amongst friends and like-minded people, sites like this thrive on being shared.Explore Threadinburgh by map:
Travelers' Map is loading...
If you see this after your page is loaded completely, leafletJS files are missing.These threads © 2017-2026, Andy Arthur.
NO AI TRAINING: Any use of the contents of this website to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret -
The thread about #NowAndThen photo montages of old railway stations, tramways and bridges around Edinburgh and Leith
This thread was originally written and published in December 2017 and a further part in May 2019.
This thread features #NowAndThen photo-montages of long gone railway stations, tramways and bridges in Edinburgh and Lieth; period photos overlaid on the current streetscape to show just how much or little things have changed over time.
Duke Street in 1954 on the last day of service for the No. 25 tram. This service ran from Corstorphine to Portobello King’s Road via Leith Walk and the Links. Not much else has changed on this side of the road, although the occupants of the buildings certainly have. On the left was the Palace Cinema, with a snooker hall above. It is now a J. D. Wetherspoon pub.
No. 25 Tram at Duke Street. Original image © Kenneth G. WilliamsonCommercial Street in 1955. The No. 17 tram from Granton passes the “Highland Queen” bonded warehouse of MacDonald and Muir. It is running across the railway lines that crossed into the docks from the former North British railway at North Leith / Leith Citadel station. The bond is now flats, through the West Dock Gate where the railway ran is the now the Scottish Government building – Victoria Quay. The Old West and East docks are infilled, unimaginatively used as car parks. The Victoria Dock is cut off from the harbour basin and is a sterile and bleak water feature in front of Victoria Quay.
No. 17 tram at Commercial Street. Original image © Kenneth G. WilliamsonKing’s Road at Portobello in the 1950s. The No. 12 tram from Corstorphine via Leith, it has just passed the ghost of a car heading the other way to Portobello. The background is dominated by the great red brick lump of Ebenenzer J. Macrae’s Corporation electric power station.
No. 12 Tram at the King’s Road. Original image © Kenneth G. WilliamsonTollcross in 1956. There was a tramway depot here – where the central fire station now is – and the route was also a junction where 3 routes from the suburbs converged and then split immediately into two to head into the city by different routes. As such this was always a busy place on the network and this scene is busy with shoppers and tramcars. The tenement on the right and the castle are all that remain of the original buildings in this shot now.
Trams at Tollcross. Original image © Kenneth G. WilliamsonTrinity Crescent in the 1950s. A no. 17 tram squeezes under the bridge carrying the railway from Trinity Station along Lower Granton Road to the docks. The low bridge and tight S-shaped turn of the road meant that the tramway here was single line in the middle of the road, with the overhead line lowered. A set of traffic signals allowed only 1 tram at a time into this short section and warned motor vehicles that a tram was about to pass as their route swung onto the right lane to make the turn.
No. 17 at Trinity Crescent.And Trinity again in 1986. A ghost train crosses Trinity Road on track removal duties. Click on the link to the EdinPhoto website to see more images of this series.
Trinity railway bridge in the 1980s. Original photo © Peter Stubbs.Moving on to animated transitions, here is Balgreen Halt station. A 1934 addition to the suburban railway network by the LNER (London & North Eastern Railway), it was closed in 1968. Estimate the old photo is early 1960s.
Balgreen Halt. Original CC-BY-SA Ben BrooksbankAnd at the end of the line at Corstorphine. Always a hard one to get your head around as no hint of the stations presence is left under the 1980s housing, beyond the name “Station Road”
Corstorphine Station, 1926. Original Image © Edinburgh City LibrariesSide fact, Corstorphine had extraordinarily long platforms for a suburban station (250m, sufficient for a 12 coach train of 60 foot stock), I believe this was because the railway company hoped that a new barracks to replace the Georgian cavalry establishment at Piershill would be built nearby. The new barracks were ultimately built at Redford instead but Corstorphine was left with its overly large station. There were 2 full platforms and 2 full length carriage sidings. As a result it was used to stable and clean coaching stock overnight and on occasions such as rugby and football matchdays.
Another overlooked Edinburgh suburban station; the awkwardly located Piershill at the foot of Smokey Brae, between Meadowbank and Restalrig. The road here running under the bridge is Clockmill Road, which connected to the Clockmill Lane. This was the ancient route from the Canongate to Restalrig, cut in two by the London Road when it was built in the early 1820s. The road was obliterated and the bridge cut off by the groundworks for the 1970s Commonwealth Games stadium, the velodrome being built on top of the road. The bridge is now blocked up as a garage, but may be re-opened as a through route in the future when the eastern end of the stadium site is redeveloped as housing.
Piershill Station. Original Image © CanmoreLeith Walk station – no, not the big one at the Foot, but the one called Leith Walk towards the top.The demolished tenements of Shrub Hill and Shrub Place are in the background, plus an intriguing belfry. I’m guessing it was the old school next to Pilrig Model Buildings, which later became the “Royal Caledonian Bazaar”.
Leith Walk station, 1890s. Original from The Story of Leith by John RussellNow the site of the Inchkeith House multi-storey flats, the Royal Caledonian Bazaar was a “posting and livery establishment”; basically a horse transport depot. The proprietor was one John Croall. The Croalls were established in the horse business and were pioneers of motoring in Edinburgh. They gave their name, unsurprisingly, to Croall Place, the tenement at the top of Leith Walk where it meets Macdonald Road. Croall & Croall later built car and bus bodies and had a number of works around the West Port and Lothian Road. They later became part of the SMT (Scottish Motor Transport) empire.
Granton Road, once an important suburban commuter station and tram route. It was much more conveniently located for the wealthy suburb of Trinity than the station of that name, and later for the big new housing scheme at Boswall.
Granton Road station, 1955. Original image © Kenneth G. WilliamsonThere’s an old cast iron column just outside where the station was, I always assumed it was a tramway pole for the overhead wires. This photo shows it supported no wires – there’s an actual tramway pole right behind it – and it had a crown-shaped vent cap. It’s not a pole or a lamp post at all, it’s actually a sewer vent – a stink pipe – which is why it has survived.
We move on to Granton station itself. One of the first in Edinburgh and originally the site of a pioneering train ferry to Burntisland before the Forth was bridged. It closed in 1925 as an economy as there was little need by this time for a passenger station in the middle of the docks – most people taking the ferry across the Forth found the electric tramway much more convenient to get into the city than taking the train.
Granton Station, pre-1925. Original image © Kenneth G. WilliamsonThe slip for the train ferries is still used by the Royal Forth Yacht Club. Thomas Bouch’s Floating Railway was an ingenious and effective solution to bridging the Forth before the technology allowed a permanent structure. Basically an early, steam-raised linkspan that lowered a ramp on to a special ferry boat, allowing wagons and carriages to be run aboard. The whole apparatus, rails and all, was on a great wheeled carriage, allowing it to move with the tides. The rails were in short sections, bolted together in such a way that they could flex.
Bouch’s “floating railway”, a rather ingenious solution to the problem of bridging the Forth by railThomas Bouch is an engineer remembered for his greatest and most infamous creation, the first Tay Bridge, but he had a long career in which he constructed many pioneering and innovative solutions to the problems of getting railways across obstacles.
I’m quite chuffed with this image, which shows the evolution of the Upper Drawbridge at Sandport Place. Not only is the river much higher now since the docks were dammed, but the deck was widened and the central arch of the current bridge replaced the lifting section.
The “Upper Drawbridge” over the Water of Leith. Original Image © Peter StubbsThe Water of Leith is no longer a tidal river, as in the 1960s a set of lock gates were installed at the mouth of the docks to keep the dock basin always filled with water to allow bigger and deeper ships to use the port, and not be so restricted by the tides when coming and going. The water level these days is frequently within a foot of the central arch but you can still see the “river bed” in the right conditions only a few feet below that, there must be a good 20 foot of mud and silt and sludge built up on the river bed, unable to be washed out by the tide.
The next image is the same spot as before but looking the other way, to St. Ninian’s Wharf (named for the old North Leith Kirk behind, with its distinctive Dutch tower). The site of a dry dock and boatbuilding yard in the 1850s and 60s.
St. Ninian’s Wharf, original image by Thomas Vernon Begbie, taken in the 1850s. © Edinburgh City LibrariesThe photo confused me for a good while, as I assumed that the ship must be in the dry dock, which was one of the first dry dock in Scotland so pre-dated the photo by about 100 years. I later realised that the ship being built in the picture is not in the dry dock at all, but on a building slip alongside, with a temporary coffer dam following the line of the river wall – marked in red on the Town Plan below.
OS 1849 Town Plan. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandThat ship may even be on a “patent slip”, a Leith invention.
Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
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The thread about Edinburgh and Leith under occupation; when “Gardyloo”, Christmas and being rude to Frenchmen were banned
From 1548 to 1560, the Port of Leith was occupied by a French garrison in support of the Queen Regent of Scotland, Mary of Guise. During that time the French fortified the town and made themselves generally unpopular with the locals. Such was the mutual bad feeling that in 1555 Mary of Guise’s Parliament made it an offence to speak ill of Frenchmen. I am not sure if this act has been repealed yet…
The arms of Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland (Maria de Loraine, Regina Scotie) in South Leith Kirk. CC-BY-SA 3.0 Kim TraynorOne of the reasons for the French being so unpopular was their constant requisitioning of ships – this was a town that relied on the sea for its prosperity and in doing so the occupiers were directly impoverishing its occupants. As a result of this, shipowners were in the habit of making their vessels be spontaneously elsewhere whenever they got wind that the French might need them, which created logistical problems for the garrison commander. In 1550, the French governor in Leith employed two pynours (porters) to remove and impound all the rudders of the ships of Leith to prevent them from slipping away without his say-so. Twelve days later, all Scottish vessels from Kinghorn to Crail were ordered to leave for Leith within three hours or face being forfeited with their masters put to death.
Opposing the French in Leith were Scottish Protestant lords – the grandiosely titled Lords of the Congregation, or The Faithful – backed by an English army. An English general, Randolph, noted in 1560 that “in no other country were ever seen so many particular quarrels, which daily cause many to keep off who mortally hate the French“: Randolph could not understand how the Scots resented the French occupiers so much but yet were so reluctant to fight with the English against them. He had money to finance 2-3,000 Scots troops to eject the French but could not get them “for love nor money“. The English ended up assaulting Leith under an incompetent commander, with untrained recruits and ladders that were too short to scale the walls. This amateurish attack was repulsed by the stretched, starving but competent and well entrenched French garrison. Further bloodshed was spared when Mary of Guise died shortly thereafter and a short peace was agreed, allowing the French to leave.
“Incident in the Siege of Leith”. It is not clear which party is which here and what they are fighting over. But nobody seemed to be getting along.Less than 100 years after the exit of the French, Leith would find itself once again under military occupation after the calamitous defeat in 1650 of the Scottish Covenanter forces at the hands of Oliver Cromwell in the Battle of Dunbar. Relations between occupier and occupied this time were less strained; although English rule was firm and uncompromising there appeared to be more mutual tolerance on both sides, probably both were just exhausted from nearly 12 years of bloody warfare. The population and economy of Leith had also been shattered by a plague in 1645 that killed nearly half its population.
Cromwell at the head of his Army at Dunbar, a 19th century painting by Andrew Carrick Gow. CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 Tate GalleryCromwell entered Edinburgh on Saturday 7th December, just days after victory at Dunbar. Although the remnants of the Scottish army fought on it had abandoned the city to wage a protracted war of retreat across the country. The occupation was initially marked by restraint on the part of the victors and under Cromwell’s direct orders on 27th December three of his men were publicly flogged through the town by the “Provest marschellis men” for the offence of plundering houses without orders. Another unfortunate Roundhead was strapped to a horse with a pint jug tied around his neck, his hands bound and muskets tied to his feet, and ridden around the town for 2 hours for the offence of drunkenness. In May 1652, an English officer had his ear nailed to the public gallows and thereafter cut off for toasting the King’s health.
Cromwell enters Edinburgh, from an 1886 souvenir of the Edinburgh International Exhibition telling the history of the cityCivilian administration in those days was relatively limited, but the English were sensible enough to allow that of Edinburgh to continue to function – under close observation. Leith however had no such local authority of its own beyond that of Edinburgh and so was ruled directly through military courts headed by English officers “without partiality or favour“. In November 1651 they hung one of their own troopers at the Market Cross “a gallant, stout fellow” for robbing a butcher. A soldier found drunk and swearing in Leith was bound, hit repeatedly in the mouth and tied to a pillar with “a paper bound to his breast” specifying his crimes. Relations in Leith with the English seemed to be downright cordial at times (perhaps because the locals were pleased to be relieved of the constant political and economic interference from Edinburgh) but things ended up becoming too cordial. In October 1651 English soldiers had to be forbidden from marrying Leith women without the written permission of their Major and in February 1652 this prohibition was extended to the keeping of female servants!
In Edinburgh, although the town itself had been easily taken, the Castle garrison had held out and was being besieged by Cromwell’s New Model Army. Anyone found treating with the garrison was dealt with severely. A gardener at the West Kirk (now St. Cuthbert’s Parish Church) was accused of giving intelligence to the Castle; he was taken to the city guardhouse and hung from his thumbs with burning slow matches (the sort used in matchlock firearms) between his fingers until they were “burnt to the bone“.
“Cromwell’s Bartizan, Edinburgh”, by James Drummond RSA, 1861. Oliver Cromwell surveys his newly conquered lands from a rooftop in the Old Town of Edinburgh after the Battle of Dunbar. A bartizan is an overhanging projection from a defensive wall. The solider in the background has a matchlock firearm over his shoulder, and the slow match is the fine cord that can be seen above his gloved hand. The auction listing suggests this is Cromwell at the Castle, but it was then under siege and he is lower than surrounding buildings. The original RSA listing confirms he is actually stood on a housetop.In March 1651 the English soldiers in Edinburgh mutinied due to the lack of provisions and pay; what had been sent to them by sea had been turned back by unfavourable weather. They put their own commanders in jail and “ran through the markets of Edinburgh, plundering and robbing the people of the town, so that few would go out on the streets“. General John Lambert arrived in Edinburgh at the end of November that year to restore order and to make arrangements for quartering of his army in the city over winter. He seems to have made a positive impression with the locals; on finding out that there was no local magistrate in place to dispense justice, he reinstated some of the old ones. He also ordered the Incorporated Trades to choose their own Deacons (the principal officers of the Trades, who formed a core of the Town Council). He did however maintain a right of veto over appointments and kept the appointment of the Castle’s governor to his personal choice.
Oliver Cromwell (left) and Lieutenant General John Lambert (right), 1745 mezzotint by Andrew Miller after Robert Walker, 1650. © National Portrait Gallery, London NPG D32974In December, Lambert ordered citizens in both Edinburgh and Leith to hang out lanterns and place candles in their windows or doors from 6PM to 9PM on account of the disorder being committed by the soldiers. This was observed but cost the inhabitants dearly as candles were an expensive commodity. Anybody found not complying was to be fined 4 shillings sterling, with the master or mistress of the house being thrown in the city guardhouse until it was paid. He also set about the perhaps impossible task of the cleaning up of Auld Reekie. Orders were given on the 24th December that the streets, closes and wynds in Edinburgh were be cleansed within 13 days and “no filth or water should be thrown forth from their windows upon pain of paying immediately 4 shillings sterling“. The proceeds of such fines were to be split equally between the informant and the poor of the town. Clearly it did not have a long lasting effect as just three years later the city was ordered to procure carts and horses for the carrying away of the filth.
“The Flowers of Edinburgh”, a satirical 18th century print on the traditional manner of “flushing the toilet” in Old Town Edinburgh. © The Trustees of the British MuseumOn December 25th 1651 the English authorities in Leith ordered that Christmas should be banned. The point being made here was probably moot however given it was not something that would have been openly observed or celebrated in Presbyterian Scotland. Indeed the Kirk, the usual incumbent authority on moral matters in Scottish towns and burghs, had banned its celebration back in 1640. However ten years later it had nothing like its former authority, especially in Leith where it had been evicted from its church buildings and relieved of its civic duties by the occupiers.
Entry for 2th December 1651 from the Diary of John NicollOn February 7th 1652, under orders of the Commissioners of the English Parliament who were at that time resident in Dalkeith, the symbols of the Stuart Kings’ arms, crowns and royal unicorns of the city were taken down wherever they were to be found. They were stripped from the King’s pew at St. Giles’ Kirk, from the Mercat cross, the Netherbow Port, Parliament House, Edinburgh Castle and the palace of Holyroodhouse. They were then taken to the gallows and publicly hung.
In May 1654 General Monck, who had been Cromwell’s military commander in Scotland until 1652, came once again to Edinburgh to proclaim the union of England and Scotland as the Commonwealth. He was received by the Lord Provost and Bailies of the Town Council (the most senior members of the civilian authority) in their finery. Perhaps they were mindful of the rape and pillage of Dundee committed by Monck’s men back in 1651 and set out to woo the General lest they incur his wrath. They conveyed him to a “sumptuous dinner and feast, prepared by the Town of Edinburgh for him and his special officers. This feast was six days in preparing, and the bailies of Edinburgh did stand and serve the whole time of that dinner“. They also laid on a “great preparation” of fireworks which were set off from the Mercat Cross between 9PM and midnight, “to the admiration of many people“.
George Monck by Peter Lely, c. 1665Cromwell also left it to Monck to resolve the interminable squabbles between the city of Edinburgh and Port of Leith. The latter wanted freedom to trade without interference from its neighbour, the former wanted to assert its historic legal rights to her port. An English merchant in Leith at the time said that the town had been “under the greatest slavery that I ever knew” and should subject to under Edinburgh no more than “Westminster to London.” As part of his overall strategy to pacify and control Scotland, Monck proposed enclosing Leith in fortifications as a garrison town – probably reconstructing the 1560 walls and bastions. The prospect of this terrified Edinburgh, as it would make it substantially easier for Leith to act independently. Edinburgh shrewdly counter-offered that it would pay £5,000 instead for a standalone Citadel outside of Leith – or it may be that the it was Monck being shrewd and he had played Edinburgh off against Leith to get them to finance his scheme. In the end the £5,000 citadel apparently cost many times that to build. The city would later buy it back for a further £5,000 from Charles II, so ended up paying for it twice. Although it was well engineered it was soon abandoned as a defensive fortification; the seaward walls and bastions had been impossible to protect from erosion by the sea and had collapsed within 30 years.
By May 1660, the Commonwealth was over (assisted in no small part by Monck) and the Houses of Parliament had proclaimed Charles II to be King. Orders were sent to the Governor of Edinburgh castle to fire 3 volleys from the guns, one for each of the Three Kingdoms. The chief gunner at the Castle gave the orders to his men but one refused saying that “The devil [would] blow him in the air that loosed a cannon for that purpose” and “if he loosed any cannon that day sum man should repent it“. The complainant was transferred to a gun overlooking the West Kirk. The first volley was duly fired and when this man went to reload his weapon, he recharged it with powder only for it to spontaneously discharge while he was doing so, there being a smouldering ember in the barrel. He was blown clean over the castle walls and off the Castle Rock itself, falling over 250 feet to his death. He was buried near where he landed in the West Kirk.
“The Prospect of the Castle and City of Edinburgh from the Nor’ Loch”, by John Slezer in 1693. The unfortunate gunner met his end by falling from the walls on this, the north side of the castle. © Edinburgh City LibrariesNote to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
If you have found this site useful, informative or amusing then you can help contribute towards its running costs by supporting me on ko-fi. This includes my commitment to keeping it 100% advert and AI free for all time coming, and in helping to find further unusual stories to bring you by acquiring books and paying for research.
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The thread about exploring Cromwell’s enigmatic Citadel of Leith
I was quite very excited to find this image in the Edinburgh City Libraries collection that I’d somehow missed before. It’s the “Gate of the Old Citadel of Leith“, an 1818 watercolour by the lawyer and prolific cityscape artist of Edinburgh, James Skene.
“Gate of the Old Citadel of Leith“, James Skene, 1818 © Edinburgh City LibrariesThe Citadel was part of Oliver Cromwell’s plan to subdue and control Scotland during his occupation of the country after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.
It acted not just as a base for the occupying forces, but by protecting and controlling the Port of Leith it guarded the supply lines and meant the Army could be provisioned. Its construction was ordered in 1653, overseen by Cromwell’s man on the ground, General Monck, and was reluctantly financed by the city of Edinburgh to the tune of £60,000 Scots (£5,000). According to Nicoll’s Diary, construction began on May 26th 1656. The occupiers brought with them a printing press to churn out official declarations and propaganda and so it’s no coincidence that the first newspaper in Scotland is said to have been printed on an English press within the Citadel; “The Mercurius Caledonius – Comprising The Affairs now in Agitation in Scotland With A Survey of Forraign Intelligence“. It only ran for 12 issues from Dec 1660 – Jan 1661 and is not to be confused with the later Caledonian Mercury. It printed reports from Parliament, “Forraign Intelligence” and other stories sourced from the London papers. Monck also encouraged other English merchants and industrialists to set up in the safety of The Citadel and they introduced the craft of glassmaking, something Leith would later become famous for.
Mercurius Caledonius, edition of the first week of 1661.As I may have said many times before, as far as I am aware there are no surviving contemporary illustrations or plans of The Citadel and the earliest map showing it accurately in plan was not made until 50 years later, after it was abandoned as a fortification and encroached upon by the sea. Before we look further at Skene’s illustration, it’s worth getting an idea of the layout of the fortress.
The Citadel followed the classic 5-pointed “Star Fort” layout, with projecting, arrowhead-shaped bastions at each point of the star. These were fortifications explicitly engineered for the age of artillery; the corner bastions formed raised firing platforms to mount your defensive cannons. Gone were the tall, stone walls of medieval castles, in were carefully sculpted and aligned ditches and earthen mounds to resist cannon fire. John Naish’s 1709 survey and plan of Leith is the best reference to get an accurate survey of some of the walls and internal buildings. Note we can only see three sides and corners of the five walls; even at this stage he calls it the “Ruins of the Cittadell”. It can be seen from where he delineates the “high water mark on a raging full sea” that where the remaining walls and bastions should be has been reclaimed by the North Sea. The ditch that surrounds it all could be filled to a depth of 6 feet, and it can be seen on Naish’s map that a small pond has formed to the east of the walls.
Excerpt from John Naish’s 1709 survey and plan of “Leith, Surveyed May 28th 1709”. Crown Copyright, MPHH 1/32We also have a first-hand description of it during construction from the travelling English naturalist John Ray:
…one of the best fortifications that we ever beheld, passing fair and sumptuous. There are three forts [bastions] advanced above the rest and two platforms; the works around about are faced with freestone towards the ditch and are almost as high as the highest buildings within, and withal thick and substantial. Below are very pleasant, convenient and well-built houses for the governor, officers, and soldiers and for magazines and stores. There is also a good capacious chapel, the piazza, or void space within, as large as Trinity College, Cambridge, Great Court.
After the Stuart Restoration in 1660, The Citadel was abandoned as a military fortification. The contents of its chapel; its timber, seats, glass, masonry and even its steeple, were used in 1673 to refurbish that of Heriot’s Hospital. The City of Edinburgh were allowed to buy it back by King Charles II, so in effect they paid for it twice. Its walls were abandoned to the sea, or quarried out for building materials, and the modern buildings within them became something of a desirable place to live. John Skene’s delightful little sketch was made in 1818, a full 109 years after Naish’s map and 150 or more years after it was first built. But even in this time period, few other images of the subject matter were created and it remains a real rarity. So what does it show us of The Citadel, how does that relate to what we know of it and where was the artist positioned to sketch from. Let’s now find out, shall we?
Despite being a small watercolour, Skene has crammed a lot of interesting detail in there. The obvious thing is it shows a port (gateway). From this we can confirm that the gateway was surrounded with dressed masonry, the walls themselves were faced in stone and were likely filled with earth and rubble. It also gives us an idea of overall idea of the height of the walls and gateways as there are figures here for scale. If we suppose these are accurate, then the gateway might be 10-12 feet high and the walls 20-30 feet in total. The wall height of the contemporary Ayr Citadel is 25 feet, so this fits nicely.
The Citadel gateway, close-up.In the background of the image we can see limewashed buildings with pan-tiled roofs; standard, vernacular east coast Scottish style at this time. This building looks particularly tall, but if we work it out from the window spacing, it’s probably just 3 storeys plus an attic dormer. Skene often plays with the height of buildings and stretches them to make the scene look more dramatic. The chimneys are smoking, so these buildings are in use, most likely residential.
Pantile roofs and whitewashWe can also see that the blocks of buildings here don’t meet at right angles, given it was a five-sided fortification we would expect them to therefore be at about 72 degrees (give or take, as it was a slightly squished pentagon in plan). This distant range again looks to be 3 storeys with perhaps 2 in the attic dormer.
Pantile roofs and non-right anglesWe see can also see street lighting. From a previous thread on the topic we can be sure these are “train oil” (i.e. whale) lamps.
A lamp post.And a woman hangs out her washing to dry on the grassy slope that is all that remains of the former wall embankment.
Washing day.In the foreground, two men appear to be working stones. He in the red seems to have a regular block propped up and his partner in the blue looks like he’s trying to heave a slab off the ground. I wager they are reclaiming masonry from the collapsed walls; we know at both Leith and Ayr that this took place.
Working masonry.And just to the right of the two masons are two intriguing square posts. The Citadel was surrounded by a broad engineered ditch, which we can clearly see on Naish’s map, and it’s more than likely it would have had wooden trestle drawbridges across it. It’s nice to think that those posts may be part of that, they are after all aligned with the gateway.
Wooden posts in the waterIn the left midground we have yet more pantile roofed, whitewashed buildings. This range is two storeys and has curving, external stairs to the 1st floor. We know that there were at least two 2-storey blocks within the complex which would have been barracks quarters and stables and we can see evidence in maps of the late 18th and early 19th century that some of the buildings had external staircases.
Curving external stairs to the first floorAnd lastly, auld Leith wouldn’t be auld Leith without a forest of masts and rigging in the background. These are the ships of the port, crammed into the river basin beyond. There were no formal wet docks here at this time, everything tied up in the river mouth and alongside the quays of North and South Leith.
Masts and rigging of the Port of LeithSo to conclude an answer to the first question, we can see rather a lot. We can see that the fortifications were largely gone, but bits remained; we can see its buildings were actively occupied and in reasonably good repair at this time, and we get a good idea of the building style and some of its inner layout.
And on to the second part; where was Skene’s viewpoint from where he made his drawing? Well that’s easy of course because we know exactly where The Citadel’s port was as it’s still there! (Many people are amazed to find out that there’s a well preserved section of Cromwellian Fort wall hiding in plain sight at the end of a car park in Leith).
The surviving Citadel Port. The upper level of dressed masonry and the wall to the left are more modern © SelfAn 1804 Town Plan showing Leith by John Ainslie is roughly contemporary with Skene’s illustration. The gateway in the photograph above is marked S, and so Skene would have to have been outside (to the east or right of the S), looking inwards or west.
Ainslie’s 1804 Town plan of Edinburgh & Leith. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandExcept there’s actually three problems with this hasty conclusion.
- Firstly, in Skene’s image we are looking into The Citadel from outside and there is no way for there to be ships and masts in the left background as that is dry land well away from the shoreline. Skene is a reliable and accurate illustrator, it’s not likely he just made a big mistake.
- Secondly, there was no range of buildings in the north of the inner courtyard of The Citadel; the buildings on the right of Skene’s image should not be there.
- Thirdly, and crucially, the arch in Skene’s picture is a plain, rounded arch and clearly doesn’t match the segmental profile of the one in the photo above; it is also finished plainer, missing the tracery.
So how can we be looking at the arch from outside The Citadel bearing all of this in mind? The answer is quite simple actually, we can’t be. We are looking at a different arch! – Until the early 19th century, there was the remains of another port; the western or St. Nicholas Port. It is clearly marked T on the map below, set into W, which is the remains of old walls.
Aitchison’s Town Plan of 1795. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandSuddenly it all begins to fall into place. Skene is located on the shore, to the left of the above map, looking at the St. Nicholas Port. The stonemasons are working not on the shore but in the ditch outside the walls, and the washerwoman is hanging up her whites on the slope of that wall W. Beyond is the range of buildings marked X and on the map can see two small projections on those buildings, which I would suggest are the external stairways. Beyond X is the further range of buildings offset from them at an angle around 72 degrees. Skene is now looking directly towards the piers and quayside of the Port, shown on the map below, and so the masts and ships are now in the correct place.
Aitchison’s Town Plan of 1795. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandLastly, we can corroborate all pf this with a further map, that by William Bell dated 1813, which shows the layout of buildings and land ownership in The Citadel at that time, and confirms two Citadel Ports again; you can see one marked on the left below the word “Property” of “Mr. Campbell’s Property” and the other on the right, to the right of “Citidal Green“. Bell’s map shows that at this time the whole area was being encroached upon by the building of the wet docks.
Bell’s Plan of the Regality of Canongate etc., 1813. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandI’ve only ever seen one other illustration of the western port of the Citadel, which refers to it as “Oliver’s Mount” (i.e. Cromwell) on account of the mass of earth that had once formed the core of the wall rising above it. Confusingly it shows the passageway as bifurcating, which makes little defensive or engineering sense, and conflicts with Skene’s sketch. However, my understanding is at one time it may have been used as a cattle store and had been given a dividing wall internally. The artist of the below drawing may have been working off of a second-hand description and hence made it look like there were two separate passages, not one that had been divided.
“Oliver’s Mount” from Leith and its Antiquites by James Campbell Irons, 1898Another semi-contemporary image shows the “Cromwell House“, in which Cromwell most likely never stayed. It was probably built as a governor’s mansion and would have been a desirable property to take over after the fort was abandoned to residential use. The general style and scale of this building does not contradict Skene’s illustration. This building, also known as the “Governor’s House” was still standing in 1825 when it was advertised as for sale.
“Cromwell House” from the Story of Leith.A last piece of the puzzle and one which helps to tie everything nicely together can be found an etching by John Clerk of Eldin (who was a thoroughly good landscape draughtsman). It is something which is very easy to miss, but if we squint at “Leith from the West” we can see our gateway (highlighted blue) and the range of two-storey buildings with the curved, external staircases (red). The Leith Custom House is highlighted in yellow to help get our bearings. The full engraving is digitised in the National Galleries Scotland collection, you can zoom in on it and explore it at your leisure.
Excerpt of “Leith from the West” by John Clerk of Eldin. Move the slider to see the coloured highlightes. CC-BY-NC National Galleries Scotland.We can then take all of this evidence and add it on to Naish’s map to get a good idea of the layout and what the various features we can see on it actually were for.
Naish’s map, conceptual details of the Citadel filled in and annotated. Base map Crown Copyright, MPHH 1/32I know of know reconstruction plan or illustration of the Leith Citadel, but one does exist for another one of the Scottish Cromwellian citaels of this era, that of Ayr. This is similar in some respects to Leith as it was built on the shore of a port town, but was larger and had 6 instead of 5 corner bastions. The illustration below gives a reasonable impression of what Leith would have looked like though.
Ayr Citadel by Robert NelmesSurviving sections of the walls of Ayr also give us a good idea of what Leith might have looked like:
A bastion of Ayr Citadel. CC-by-SA 3.0 Rosser1954I find the Leith Citadel hugely enigmatic. It was a massive, dominant fortification that was totally unlike anything else in this part of the world. It was built at great expense and yet from a military point of view was abandoned within a few years of completion. It very briefly saw some military action in 1715 when Jacobites under Mackintosh of Borlum occupied it and had a standoff with government forces before retreating and briefly in 1780 some old cannons were mounted on its walls to counter the threat posed by John Paul Jones. I also find it remarkable that even though much of The Citadel survived so long and after its abandonment, so little was left by the way of record. We are lucky indeed to have the remaining gateway and a small section of wall, tucked away in a car park in North Leith.
The tantalising remaining fragment of the Citadel Wall. © SelfThe other great survivor of The Citadel is less obvious from the ground, but it you look at a map of streets in the area it is immediately obvious that there is a pentagonal arrangement, bounded by Cromwell Place, Couper Street, Coburg Street and Dock Street. This directly aligns with the orientation of the walls, ditches and internal structures as you can see on the below animated image transition of old maps of Leith on the modern streetscape and overlaid with a schematic of The Citadel.
Transition animation of the Citadel. NLS maps reproduced with the permission of the National Library of ScotlandNote to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
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“Labor Is Life” (U.S. Postal Service’s Labor Day Stamp, 1956, U.S. Library of Congress, public domain).
Bakers, blacksmiths, boatmen, butchers, carpenters, cabinetmakers, cigarmakers, coal miners, factory workers, farmers, gardeners, gold miners, iron workers, masons, quarry workers, teamsters, tombstone carvers. These were just a few of the diverse job titles held by the laborers who enlisted with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War.
Many returned to their same occupations after the war ended while others found new pathways for their life journeys. Far too many were never able to return to the arms of their loved ones and still rest in marked or unmarked graves far from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In honor of Labor Day, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers: One Civil War Regiment’s Story is proud to present this abridged list of blue-collar men and boys who served with the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry between August 1861 and January 1866, as well as the names of two of the women associated with the regiment who made their own unforgettable marks on the world.
* Auchmuty, Samuel S. (First Lieutenant, Company D): A native of Duncannon, Perry County and veteran of the Mexican-American War who was employed as a carpenter during the early 1860s, Samuel Auchmuty responded to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to defend the nation’s capital during the opening weeks of the American Civil War by enrolling as a first lieutenant with Company D of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry on August 20, 1861; after completing his three-year term of enlistment, he was honorably discharged in September 1864 and returned home to Pennsylvania, where he resumed his work as a house carpenter and launched a successful contracting business that was responsible for building new business structures, churches, single-family homes, and schools, as well as renovating existing structures; he died in 1891, following a brief illness;
First Sergeant Christian S. Beard, circa 1863 (public domain).
* Beard, Christian Seiler (First Lieutenant, Company C): A twenty-seven-year-old, married carpenter residing in Williamsport, Lycoming County when President Abraham Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers to defend the nation’s capital, following the fall of Fort Sumter in mid-April 1865, Chistian S. Beard promptly enrolled for Civil War military service before that month was out as a private with Company D of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteers; honorably discharged in July after completing his Three Months’ Service, he re-enlisted as a sergeant with Company C of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers on August 19; after rising up through the ranks to become a first lieutenant, he was honorably discharged on Christmas Day, 1865, and returned home to his wife in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, where he continued to work as a carpenter; after having several children with his wife, he was widowed by her; remarried in 1884, he relocated with his wife and children to Pittsburgh, where he continued to work as a carpenter; ailing with heart and kidney disease, he died there on November 16, 1911 and was interred at that city’s Highwood Cemetery;
* Burke, Thomas (Sergeant, Company I): A first-generation American, Thomas Burke was a twenty-year-old cabinetmaker residing in Allentown at the dawn of the American Civil War; after enrolling for military service on the day that the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was founded (August 5, 1861), he was officially mustered in as a private; from that point on, he continued to work his way up the ranks, receiving a promotion to corporal on September 19, 1864 and then to sergeant on July 11, 1865; honorably mustered out with his company in Charleston, South Carolina on December 25, 1865, he returned home to Lehigh County, where he married and began a family; sometime in early to mid-1871, he and his family migrated west to Iowa, settling in Anamosa, Jones County, where he was employed as a carpenter and contractor; he died at his home there on October 22, 1910 and was buried at that town’s Riverside Cemetery;
* Colvin, John Dorrance (Second Lieutenant, Company C): A native of Abington Township, Lackawanna County who was a farmer when he enlisted for Civil War military service on September 12, 1861, John D. Colvin transferred to the U.S. Army Signal Corps on October 13, 1863, and continued to serve with the Signal Corps for the duration of the war; employed as an engineer, post-war, he helped the Pacific Railroad to extend its service from Atchison, Kansas to Fort Kearney in Nebraska before returning home to Pennsylvania, where he married, began a family and resided with them in Olyphant and Carbondale before relocating with them to Parsons in Luzerne County, where he became a prominent civic leader and member of the school board; initially employed as a machinist, he went on to become superintendent of the Delaware & Hudson Coal company before taking a similar job with the Lehigh Valley Coal Company; the U.S. Postal Service’s postmaster of Parsons during the early 1890s, he died there on March 15, 1901 and was buried at the Hollenback Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre;
* Crownover, James (Sergeant, Company D): A twenty-three-year-old teamster residing in Blain, Perry County when he enrolled for Civil War military service on August 20, 1861, James Crownover rose up through the ranks of the 47th Pennsylvania from private to reach the rank of sergeant; wounded in the right shoulder and captured by Confederate troops during the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana on April 9, 1864, he was marched to Camp Ford, near Tyler, Texas, the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi River, where he was held as a prisoner of war (POW) until he was released during a prisoner exchange on November 25, 1864; during captivity, he was commissioned, but not mustered as a second lieutenant; given medical treatment before he was returned to active duty, he was honorably discharged with his regiment in Charleston, South Carolina on December 25, 1865; after returning home, he found work at a tannery near Blain, married, began a family and then relocated with them to East Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, where he worked as a teamster; relocating with them to Braddock in Allegheny County after the turn of the century, he worked at a local mill there; he died in Allegheny County on July 18, 1903 and was buried at the Monongahela Cemetery in Braddock Hills;
Jacob Daub, circa 1862-1865 (carte de visite, Cooley & Beckett Photographers, Savannah, Georgia and Beaufort and Hilton Head, South Carolina, public domain).
* Daub, Jacob and William J. (Drummer Boy, Company A): A German immigrant as a child, Jacob Daub emigrated with his parents and younger brother, William, circa 1852; after settling in Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, where his father found work as a stone mason, Jacob grew up to become a cigarmaker, and also became the first of the two brothers to enlist in the American Civil War; after enrolling at the age of sixteen, he was classified as a field musician and assigned to Company A as its drummer boy; his nineteen-year-old brother, William, a carpenter by 1865, followed him into the war when he enlisted as a private with the same company in February of that year; after the war ended, both returned home to Northampton County, where they married, had children and went on to live long, full lives; William eventually died at the age of eighty in 1928, followed by Jacob, who passed away in 1936, roughly two months before his ninety-first birthday;
* Detweiler, Charles C. (Private, Company A): Berks County native Charles Detweiler enrolled for Civil War military service on September 16, 1862; a carpenter who later became a farmer, he served with Company A until he was severely injured in the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, October 19, 1864, when he sustained a musket ball wound to the middle of his thigh; treated at a Union Army hospital in Virginia before being transported to the Union’s Mower General Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he learned that the musket ball had damaged his femur and femoral arteries; following his wound-related death at Mower on March 12, 1865, he was buried at the Fairview Cemetery in Kutztown, Berks County;
* Diaz, John (Private, Company I): An immigrant from Spain’s Canary Islands, John Diaz emigrated sometime between 1862 and 1865 and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he found work as a cigarmaker; on January 25, 1865, at the age of nineteen, he enlisted with the Union Army at a recruiting depot in Norristown, Montgomery County and served as a private with Company I of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry until it was mustered out on Christmas Day, 1865; following his return to Pennsylvania, he resumed work as a cigarmaker in Philadelphia, eventually launching his own cigarmaking firm, which became a family business as his sons became old enough to work for him; sometime between 1906 and 1910, he relocated with his wife and several of his children to Camden County, New Jersey, where he died on September 5, 1915;
James Downs (circa 1880s, public domain).
* Downs, James (Corporal, Company D): A twenty-three-year-old tanner residing in Blain, Perry County when he enrolled for Civil War military service on August 20, 1861, James Downs was captured by Confederate troops during the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana on April 9, 1864 and marched to Camp Ford, near Tyler, Texas, the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi River; held there as a prisoner of war (POW) until he was released during a prisoner exchange on July 22, 1864, he received medical treatment and was subsequently returned to active duty; following his honorable discharge with his regiment in Charleston, South Carolina, on December 25, 1865, he returned home, married, began a family and relocated with his family to Phillipsburg, New Jersey; suffering from heart and kidney disease, and possibly also from post-traumatic stress disorder, rather than “insane” as physicians at the Pennsylvania Memorial Home in Brookville, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania had diagnosed him, he fell from a window at that home and died at there on September 16, 1921; he was subsequently interred in the Veterans’ Circle of the Brookville Cemetery;
* Eagle, Augustus (Second Lieutenant, Company F): A German immigrant as a teenager, Augustus Eagle arrived in America on June 23, 1855, two years after his brother, Frederick Eagle, had emigrated and made a life for himself in Catasauqua, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania; both men married and began families there, with Fred employed as a laborer and Gus employed by the Crane Iron Works; when President Abraham Lincoln issued his call for volunteers to defend the nation’s capital during the opening weeks of the American Civil War, both men enrolled for military service on August 21, 1861 as privates with Company F of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; in 1862, Fred fell ill and was honorably discharged on a surgeon’s certificate of disability, but Gus continued to serve, rising up through the regiment’s enlisted and officers’ ranks; commissioned as a second lieutenant, he was honorably discharged on September 11, 1864, upon completion of his three-year term of service; post-war, Fred became a successful baker with real estate and personal property valued at $4,200 (roughly $155,750 in 2023 dollars) and died in Catasauqua in 1885, while Gus owned a successful restaurant in Whitehall Township before operating the Fairview Hotel, which became a popular spot for political gatherings; after suffering a series of strokes in 1902, Gus died at his home on August 17 and was buried at the Fairview Cemetery in West Catasauqua;
* Eisenbraun, Alfred (Drummer Boy, Company B): A tobacco stripper and first-generation American from Allentown, Lehigh County, fifteen-year-old Alfred Eisenbraun became the second “man” from the 47th Pennsylvania to die when he succumbed to complications from typhoid fever at the Kalorama Eruptive Fever Hospital in Georgetown, District of Columbia on October 26, 1861; he still rests at the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home Cemetery in Washington, D.C.;
* Fink, Aaron (Corporal, Company B): A shoemaker and native of Salisbury Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Aaron Fink, grew up, began a family and established a successful small shoemaking business, first in Allentown and then in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) in Carbon County; on August 20, 1861, he chose to respond to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to help bring the American Civil War to a quick end when he enrolled for military service; shot in the right leg during the fighting at the Frampton Plantation during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on October 22, 1862, he was treated at the Union Army’s hospital at Hilton Head, South Carolina, but died there from wound-related complications on November 5, 1862; initially buried near that hospital, his remains were later exhumed by Allentown undertaker Paul Balliet and returned to Pennsylvania for reinterment at that city’s Union-West End Cemetery;
* Fornwald, Reily M. (Corporal, Company G): Born in Heidelberg Township, Berks County, Reily Fornwald was raised there on his family’s farm near Stouchsberg; educated in his community’s common schools and then at Millersville State Normal School, he became a railroad worker before returning to farm life shortly before the dawn of the American Civil War; after enlisting for military service at the age of twenty on September 11, 1862, he was wounded in the head and groin by an exploding artillery shell during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on October 22, 1862; stabilized on the battlefield before being transported to a field hospital for more advanced medical care, he spent four weeks recuperating before returning to active duty with his regiment; promoted to the rank of corporal on January 19, 1863, he continued to serve with his regiment until he was honorably discharged at Berryville, Virginia on September 18, 1864, upon expiration of his term of enlistment; after returning home, he spent four years operating a blast furnace for White & Ferguson in Robesonia, Berks County; he also married and began a family; sometime around 1870, he left that job to become an engine operator for Wright, Cook & Co. in Sheridan and then moved to a job as an engine operator for William M. Kauffman—a position he held for roughly a decade before securing employment as a shifting engineer with the Reading Railway Company at its yards in Reading; following his retirement in 1905, he and his wife settled in Robesonia, where he became involved in buying and selling real estate; following a severe fall in May 1925, during which he fractured a thigh bone, he died at the Homeopathic Hospital in Reading on June 1 and was buried at Robesonia’s Heidelberg Cemetery;
Captain Reuben Shatto Gardner, Company H, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, circa 1863 (public domain).
* Gardner, Reuben Shatto, John A. and Jacob S. R.: Natives of Perry County, Reuben Shatto Gardner and his brothers, John A. Gardner and Jacob S. R. Gardner, began their work lives as laborers; among the earliest responders to President Abraham Lincoln’s call to defend the nation’s capital, following the fall of Fort Sumter in mid-April 1861, Reuben was a twenty-five-year-old miller who resided in Newport, Perry County; after enlisting as a private with Company D of the 2nd Pennsylvania Volunteers on April 20, he was honorably mustered out after completing his term of service; he then re-upped for a three-year tour of duty, mustering in as a first sergeant with Company H of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; also enrolling with him that same day were his twenty-three-year-old and twenty-one-year-old brothers, John A. Gardner and Jacob S. R. Gardner; John officially mustered in at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg on September 18 (the day before Reuben arrived), while Jacob officially mustered in on September 19; both joined their brother’s company, entering at their respective ranks of corporal and private, but Jacob’s tenure was a short one; sickened by typhoid fever in late December 1861, he died at the 47th Pennsylvania’s regimental hospital at Camp Griffin, near Langley, Virginia on January 8, 1862; his remains were later returned to Perry County for burial at the Old Newport Cemetery; soldiering on, Reuben and John were transported with their regiment by ship to Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida and subsequently sent to South Carolina with their regiment and other Union troops; shot in the head and thigh during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on October 22, 1862, Reuben was treated at the Union Army’s hospital at Hilton Head, South Carolina for an extended period of time, and then returned to active duty with his regiment; meanwhile, John was assigned with H Company and the men from Companies D, F and K to garrison Fort Jefferson in Florida’s Dry Tortugas; both brothers then continued to work their way up the regiment’s ranks, with John promoted to corporal on September 18, 1864 and Reuben ultimately commissioned as a captain and given command of Company H on February 16, 1865; both then returned home after honorably mustering out with the regiment in Charleston, South Carolina on Christmas Day, 1865; sometime around 1866 or 1867, Reuben and his wife migrated west, first to Elk River Station in Sherburne County, Minnesota and then to Stillwater, Washington County, before settling in the city of Minneapolis; through it all, he worked as a miller; Reuben and his family then relocated farther west, arriving in King County, Washington after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889; initially employed in the restaurant industry, Reuben later found work as a railroad conductor before prospecting for gold with son Edward in the western United States and British Columbia, Canada during the 1890s Gold Rush; employed as a U.S. Post Office clerk in charge of the money order and registry departments in Seattle from 1898 to 1902, Reuben died in Seattle at the age of sixty-eight on September 25, 1903 and was interred at that city’s Lakeview Cemetery; meanwhile, his brother John, who had resumed work as a fireman with the Pennsylvania Railroad after returning from the war, was widowed by his wife in 1872; after remarrying and welcoming the births of more children, he was severely injured on October 9, 1873 while working as a fireman on the Pacific Express for the Pennsylvania Railroad; unable to continue working as a fireman due to his amputated hand, he worked briefly as a railroad call messenger before launching his own transfer business in Harrisburg; after he was widowed by his ailing second wife, John was severely injured in a second accident in 1894 while loading his delivery wagon; still operating his business after the turn of the century, he remarried on January 3, 1900, but was widowed by his third wife when she died during a surgical procedure in 1911; he subsequently closed his business and relocated to the home of his daughter in the city of Reading, Berks County; four years later, he fell on an icy sidewalk and became bedfast; aged eighty and ailing from arteriosclerosis and lung congestion, he died at her home on February 20, 1918 and was buried at Reading’s Charles Evans Cemetery;
* Gethers, Bristor (Under-Cook, Company F): Born into slavery in South Carolina circa 1829, Bristor Gethers was married “by slave custom at Georgetown, S.C.” on the Pringle plantation in Georgetown sometime around 1847 to “Rachael Richardson” (alternate spelling “Rachel”); a field hand at the dawn of the Civil War, he was freed from chattel enslavement in 1862 by Union Army troops; he then enlisted as an “Under-Cook” with Company F of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in Beaufort, South Carolina on October 5, 1862, and traveled with the regiment until October 4, 1865, when he was honorably discharged in Charleston, South Carolina upon completion of his three-year term of enlistment; at that point, he returned to Beaufort and resumed life with his wife and their son, Peter; a farmer, Bristor was ultimately disabled by ailments that were directly attributable to his Union Army tenure; awarded a U.S. Civil War Soldiers’ Pension, he lived out his days with his wife on Horse Island, South Carolina, and died on Horse Island, South Carolina on June 24 or 25, 1894; he was then laid to rest at a graveyard on Parris Island on June 26 of that same year;
* Gilbert, Edwin (Captain, Company F): A native of Northampton County and a carpenter residing in Catasauqua, Lehigh County at the dawn of the American Civil War, Edwin Gilbert enrolled as a corporal on August 21, 1861; after rising up through his regiment’s officer ranks, he was ultimately commissioned as a captain and placed in charge of his company on New Year’s Day, 1865, and then mustered out with his company in Charleston, South Carolina of Christmas of that same year; resuming his life with his wife and children in Lehigh County after the war, he continued to work as a carpenter; after suffering a stroke in late December 1893, he died on January 2, 1894 and was buried at the Fairview Cemetery in West Catasauqua;
Mrs. Caroline Bost and Martin L. Guth celebrated the anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday with fellow Grand Army of the Republic and ladies auxiliary members in February 1933 (public domain).
* Guth, Martin Luther (Corporal, Company K): A native of Lehigh County and son of a farmer, Martin L. Guth was a seventeen-year-old laborer and resident of Guthsville in Whitehall Township at the dawn of the American Civil War; after enrolling for military service on September 26, 1862, he was officially mustered in as a corporal; he continued to serve with his regiment until he was honorably mustered out on October 1, 1865, upon expiration of his term of service; at some point during that service, he broke his leg—an injury that did not heal properly and plagued him for the remainer of his life; after returning home to the Lehigh Valley, he found work again as a laborer; married in 1883, he became the father of four children, one of whom was born in New Mexico and another who was born in California; he had moved his family west in search of work in the mining industry; documented as a “prospector” or “miner” records created in Nevada during that period, he was also documented on voter registration rolls of Butte City in Glenn County, California in August 1892; by 1900, he was living separately from his wife, who was residing in Bandon, Coos County, Oregon with their two children while he was residing at the Veterans’ Home of California in Yount Township, Napa County, California; subsequently admitted to the Mountain Branch of the network of U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Johnson City, Tennessee on February 11, 1912, his disabilities included an old compound fracture of his right leg with chronic ulceration, defective vision (right eye), chronic bronchitis, and arteriosclerosis; discharged on December 12, 1920, he was admitted to the U.S. National Soldiers’ Home in Leavenworth, Kansas on July 30, 1912, but discharged on September 29, 1913; by 1920, he was living alone on Fruitvale Avenue in the city of Oakland, California, but was remaining active with his local chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic as he rose through the leadership ranks of chapter, state and national G.A.R. organizations; after a long, adventure-filled life, he died on October 11, 1935, at the age of ninety-one, at the veterans’ home in San Francisco and was interred at the San Francisco National Cemetery (also known as the Presidio Cemetery);
Lieutenant Charles A. Hackman, Company G, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, circa 1864 (public domain).
* Hackman, Charles Abraham and Martin Henry (First Lieutenant and Sergeant, Company G): Natives of Rittersville, Lehigh County, Charles and Martin Hackman began their work lives as apprentices, with Charles employed by a carpenter and Martin employed by master coachmaker Jacob Graffin; members of the local militia unit known as the Allen Rifles, they were among the earliest responders to President Abraham Lincoln’s call to defend the nation’s capital, following the fall of Fort Sumter in mid-April 1861; both enlisted as privates with Company I of the 1st Pennsylvania Volunteers on April 20 and were honorably mustered out in July after completing their service; Charles then re-upped for a three-year tour of duty, mustering in as a sergeant with Company G of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; he then spent most of his early service in Virginia; meanwhile, his younger brother, Martin H. Hackman, who was employed as a coach trimmer in Lehigh County, re-enlisted for his own second tour of duty, as a private with Charles’ company, on January 8, 1862; working their way up the ranks, Charles was commissioned as a first lieutenant on June 18, 1863, while Martin was promoted to sergeant on April 26, 1864; Charles was then breveted as a captain on November 30, 1864 after having mustered out on November 5; Martin was then honorably discharged on January 8, 1865; initially employed, post-war, with the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad’s train car facility in Reading, Berks County, Charles was promoted to car inspector at the company’s Philadelphia facility in December 1866; he subsequently married, but had no children and was widowed in 1904; remarried, he remained in Philadelphia until the early 1900s, when he relocated to Allentown; Martin, who worked as a bricklayer in Allentown, did have children after marrying, but he, too, was widowed; also remarried, he became a manager at a rolling mill; ailing with pneumonia in early 1917, Charles was eighty-six years old when he died in Allentown on January 17; he was buried at Allentown’s Union-West End Cemetery, while his brother Martin was buried at the Nisky Hill Cemetery in Bethlehem, following his death in Bethlehem from a cerebral hemorrhage on December 14, 1921;
* Junker, George (Captain, Company K): A German immigrant as a young adult, George Junker emigrated sometime around the early 1850s and settled in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, where he found employment as a marble worker and tombstone carver, and where he also joined the Allen Infantry, one of his adopted hometown’s three militia units; responding to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to defend the nation’s capital during the opening weeks of the American Civil War, George enlisted with his fellow Allen Infantrymen, honorably completed his Three Months’ Service, and promptly began his own recruitment of men for an “all-German company” for the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; commissioned as a captain with the 47th Pennsylvania, he was placed in charge of his men who became known as Company K; mortally wounded by a Confederate rifle shot during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina on October 22, 1862, he died from his wounds the next day at the Union Army’s division hospital at Hilton Head, South Carolina; his remains were returned to his family in Hazleton, Luzerne County for reburial at the Vine Street Cemetery;
* Kern, Samuel (Private, Company D): A native of Perry County who was employed as a farmer in Bloomfield, Perry County when he enrolled for Civil War military service on August 20, 1861, Samuel Kern was wounded and captured by Confederate troops during the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana on April 9, 1864; marched to Camp Ford, near Tyler, Texas, the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi River, he was held there as a prisoner of war (POW) until he died from harsh treatment on June 12, 1864; buried somewhere on the grounds of that prison camp, his grave remains unidentified;
* Kosier, George (Captain, Company D): A native of Perry County and twenty-four-year-old carpenter residing in that county’s community of New Bloomfield at the dawn of the American Civil War, George Kosier became one of the earliest men from his county to respond to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for to defend the nation’s capital, following the fall of Fort-Sumter in mid-April 1861, when he enrolled for military service on April 20 as a corporal with Company D of the 2nd Pennsylvania Volunteers; honorably discharged in July after completing his Three Months’ Service, he re-enlisted as a first sergeant with Company D of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; joining him were his younger brothers, Jesse and William S. Kosier, aged nineteen and twenty-three, who were enrolled as privates with the same company; all three subsequently re-enlisted with their company at Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida in 1863; sadly, Jesse fell ill with pleurisy and died at the Union Army’s Field Hospital in Sandy Hook, Maryland on August 1864; initially buried at a cemetery in Weverton, Maryland, his remains were later exhumed and reinterred at the Antietam National Cemetery in Sharpsburg, Maryland; both George and William continued to serve with the regiment, with George continuing his rise up the ranks; commissioned as a captain, he was given command of Company D in early June 1865; both brothers were then honorably discharged with their regiment on Christmas Day, 1865; post-war, both men married and began families; William died in Pennsylvania sometime around 1879, but George went on to live a long full life; after settling in Ogle County, Illinois, where he was employed as a carpenter, he relocated with his family to Wright County, Iowa, where he built bridges; he died in Chicago on December 3, 1920 and was buried at that city’s Rosehill Cemetery;
Anna (Weiser) Leisenring (1851-1942) , circa 1914 (public domain).
* Leisenring, Annie (Weiser): The wife of Thomas B. Leisenring (Captain, Company G), Annie Leisenring was employed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a factory inspector after the American Civil War; she became well known through newspaper accounts of her inspection visits and also became widely respected for her efforts to improve child labor laws statewide;
* Lowrey, Thomas (Corporal, Company E): An Irish immigrant as a young adult, Thomas Lowrey emigrated sometime around the late 1840s or early 1850s and settled in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, where he found work as a miner, married and began a family; responding to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to defend the nation’s capital during the opening weeks of the American Civil War, Thomas enlisted with Company E of the 47th Pennsylvania on September 16, 1861; after completing his three-year term of enlistment, he was honorably discharged in September 1864 and returned home to Pennsylvania, where he resumed work as a coal miner near Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, and where he resided with his wife and children; after witnessing the dawn of a new century, he died in Shenandoah on January 11, 1906;
This image of Julia (Kuenher) Minnich, circa 1860s, is being presented here through the generosity of Chris Sapp and his family, and is being used with Mr. Sapp’s permission. This image may not be reproduced, repurposed, or shared with other websites without the permission of Chris Sapp.
* Magill, Julia Ann (Kuehner Minnich): Widowed and the mother of a young son at the time that her husband, B Company’s Captain Edwin G. Minnich, was killed in battle during the American Civil War, Julia Ann (Kuehner) Minnich became a Union Army nurse at Harewood Hospital in Washington, D.C. during the war in order to keep a roof over her son’s head; she then spent the remainder of her life battling the U.S. Pension Bureau to receive and keep both the U.S. Civil War Widow’s Pension and U.S. Civil War Nurse’s Pension that she was entitled to under federal law; forced to go on working into her later years by poverty, she finally found work as a cook at a hotel in South Bethlehem; she died sometime after 1906;
* Menner, Edward W. (Second Lieutenant, Company E): A first-generation American who was a native of Easton, Northampton County, Edward Menner was a sixteen-year-old carpenter when he enrolled for Civil War military service on August 25, 1861; working his way up from private to second lieutenant before he was honorably discharged with his regiment in Charleston, South Carolina on Christmas Day, 1865, he was wounded in the left shoulder during the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia on October 19, 1864; after returning home to the Lehigh Valley, he secured employment as a hooker with the Bethlehem Iron Company (later known as Bethlehem Steel) on March 15, 1866; he married, begam a family and continued to work in the iron industry for much of his life; he died in Bethlehem on April 25, 1913 and was buried at that city’s Nisky Hill Cemetery;
* Miller, John Garber (Sergeant, Company D): A native of Ironville, Blair County, John G. Miller was a twenty-one-year-old laborer living in Duncannon, Perry County when he enrolled for Civil War military service on August 20, 1861; captured by Confederate troops during the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana on April 9, 1864 and marched to Camp Ford, near Tyler, Texas, the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi River, he was held there as a prisoner of war (POW) until he was released during a prisoner exchange on July 22, 1864; returned to active duty with his regiment after receiving medical treatment, he continued to serve until he was honorably discharged with the regiment in Charleston, South Carolina on December 25, 1865; after returning home, he married, began a family and relocated with his family to Philipsburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania, where he was employed as a teamster; returning to Blair County with his family, he resided with them in Logan Township before relocating with them again to Coalport, Clearfield County; suffering from heart disease, he died in Coalport on February 16, 1921 and was interred at the Coalport Cemetery;
Captain Theodore Mink, Company I, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers (circa 1870s-1880s, courtesy of Julian Burley; used with permission).
* Mink, Theodore (Captain, Company I): A native of Allentown, Lehigh County who was apprenticed as a coachmaker and then tried his hand as a whaler and blacksmith prior to the American Civil War, Thedore Mink became one of the “First Defenders” who responded to President Abraham Lincoln’s call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to defend the nation’s capital after the fall of Fort Sumter in mid-April 1861; after honorably completing his Three Months’ Service in July, he re-enlisted on August 5 as a sergeant with Company I of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; after steadily working his way up through the ranks, he was commissioned as a captain and placed in charge of his company on May 22, 1865; he continued to serve with his regiment until it was mustered out on Christmas Day, 1865; following his return to Pennsylvania, he was hired as a laborer with a circus troupe operated by Mike Lipman before finding longtime employment in advertising and then as head of the circus wardrobe for the Forepaugh Circus before he was promoted to management with the circus; felled by pneumonia during late 1889, he died in Philadelphia on January 7, 1890 and was interred in Allentown’s Union-West End Cemetery;
* Newman, Edward (Private, Company H): A German immigrant who left his homeland sometime around 1920, Edward Newman chose to settle in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, where he found work as a baker; after enlisting for Civil War military service in August 1862, he mustered in as a private with Company I of the 127th Pennsylvania Volunteers and fought in the Battle of Fredericksburg from December 11-15 of that year; honorably mustered out with his regiment in May 1863, he re-enlisted on October 23, 1863 for a second tour of duty—but as a private with a different regiment—Company H of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers; he continued to serve with the 47th Pennsylvania until he was officially mustered out in Charleston, South Carolina on Christmas Day, 1865, he returned to Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where he worked briefly as a baker; suffering from rheumatism that developed while the 47th Pennsylvania was stationed near Cedar Creek, Virginia during the fall of 1864, he was admitted to the network of U.S. Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at the Central Branch in Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio on July 17, 1877; still unmarried and still living there in 1880, his health continued to decline; diagnosed with acute enteritis, he died there on January 22, 1886 and was buried at the Dayton National Cemetery;
Captain Daniel Oyster, Company C, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, circa 1864 (public domain).
* Oyster, Daniel (Captain, Company C): A native of Sunbury, Northumberland County who was employed as a machinist, Daniel Oyster became one of the earliest men from his county to respond to President Abraham Lincoln’s call to defend the nation’s capital, following the fall of Fort-Sumter in mid-April 1861, when he enrolled for Civil War military service on April 23 as a corporal with Company F of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteers; honorably discharged in July after completing his Three Months’ Service, he re-enlisted as a first sergeant with Company C of the newly-formed 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers on August 19; his brother, John Oyster, subsequently followed him into the service, enrolling as a private with his company on November 20, 1863; after rising up through the ranks to become captain of his company, Daniel was shot in his left shoulder near Berryville, Virginia on September 5, 1864 and then shot in his right shoulder during the Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19; successfully treated by Union Army surgeons for both wounds, he was awarded a veteran’s furlough in order to continue his recuperation and returned home to Sunbury; he then returned to duty and was honorably discharged with his company on Christmas Day, 1865; post-discharge, he and his brother, John, returned home to Sunbury; Daniel continued to reside with their aging mother and was initially employed as a policeman, but was then forced by a war-related decline in his health to take less-taxing work as a railroad postal agent; his brother John, who was married, lived nearby and worked as a fireman, but died in Sunbury on April 20, 1899; employed as a bookkeeper after the turn of the century, Daniel never married and was ultimately admitted to the Southern Branch of the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Hampton, Virginia, where he died on August 5, 1922—exactly sixty-one years to the day after the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was founded; he was given a funeral with full military honors before being laid to rest in the officers’ section at the Arlington National Cemetery on August 11;
* Sauerwein, Thomas Franklin (First Sergeant, Company B): The son of a lock tender in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, Thomas Sauerwein was employed as a carpenter at the dawn of the American Civil War; following his enrollment for military service in Allentown, Lehigh County on August 20, 1861, he was officially mustered in as a private with Company B of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; from that point on, he steadily worked his way up the ranks of the regiment, ultimately being promoted to first sergeant on New Year’s Day, 1865; following his honorable discharge with his company on Christmas Day of that same year, he returned home to the Lehigh Valley, where he found work as a carpenter, married and began a family; by 1880, he had moved his family west to Williamsport in Lycoming County, where he had found work as a machinist; employed as a leather roller with a tanning factory, he was promoted to a position as a leather finisher after the turn of the century, while his two sons worked as leather rollers in the same industry; he died in Williamsport on July 29, 1912 and was buried at the East Wildwood Cemetery in Loyalsock;
* Slayer, Joseph (Private, Company E; also known as “Dead Eye Dick” and “E. J. McMeeser”): A native of Philadelphia, Joseph Slayer was a nineteen-year-old miner residing in Willliams Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania at the dawn of the American Civil War; after enrolling for military service in Easton, Northampton County on September 9, 1861, he was officially mustered in as a private with Company E of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers; he continued to serve with his company, re-enlisting as a private with Company E, under the name of Joseph Slayer, at Fort Jefferson in Florida’s Dry Tortugas on January 4, 1864; honorably mustered out with his company in Charleston, South Carolina on Christmas Day, 1865, he relocated to Zanesville, Ohio sometime after the war, where he joined the Grand Army of the Republic’s Hazlett Post No. 81; he may then have relocated briefly to St. Paul, Minnesota sometime around the 1870s or early 1880s, or may simply have had a child and grandchild living there, because newspaper reports of his death noted that he had been carrying a photograph of a toddler named Robert—a photo that had “To Grandpa” inscribed on it and indicated that the grandchild, Robert, was a resident of St. Paul in 1892; by the 1880s, Joseph had made it as far west as the Dakota Territory—but this was where his life’s journey took a strange twist; discarding the name he had used in the army (“Joseph Slayer”), he changed his name several times over the next several years, as if he were trying to shed his prior life and all of its associations; acquaintances he met in the southern part of the Dakota Territory during the early to mid-1880s knew him as “Dead Eye Dick” while others who met him after he had resettled in Bismarck, in the northern part of the Dakota Territory, knew him as “Eugene McMeeser” or “E. J. McMeeser” (alternate spelling: “McNeeser”); by the time that the federal government conducted its special census of Civil War veterans in June 1890, Joseph was so comfortable fusing parts of his old and new lives together that he was convincingly documented by an enumerator as “Eugene McMeeser,” a veteran who had served as a private with Company E of the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry from September 9, 1861 until January 11, 1866; in 1890, Joseph became a married man; documented as having rheumatism so severe that he was “at times confined at home,” he filed for a U.S. Civil War Pension from North Dakota on March 28, 1891—but he did so as “Joseph Slayer”—the name under which he had first enrolled for military service in Pennsylvania in 1861; ultimately awarded a pension—which would not have happened if federal officials had not been able to verify his identity and match it to his existing military service records, he was diagnosed with angina pectoris in 1904, but still managed to secure a U.S. patent for one of his inventions—a napkin holder; he died in Bismarck less than a month later, on January 12 or 13, 1905; found on the floor of his rented room, his death sparked a coroner’s inquest which revealed that he had been living under an assumed name; he was buried at Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Bismarck; the name “Joseph Slayer” was carved onto his military headstone;
* Snyder, Timothy (Corporal, Company C): A carpenter who was born in Rebuck, Northumberland County, Tim Snyder was employed as a carpenter and residing in the city of Sunbury in that county by the dawn of the American Civil War; after enlisting for military service as a private in August 1861, he was wounded twice in combat, once during the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina (1862) and a second time, in the knee, during the Battle of Opequan, Virginia (1864), shortly after he had been promoted to the rank of corporal; he survived and returned to Pennsylvania, where he resumed work as a carpenter; after relocating to Schuylkill County, he settled in the community of Ashland; in 1870, he married Catharine Boyer and started a family with her; he continued to work as a carpenter in Schuylkill County until his untimely death in May 1889 and was laid to rest with military honors at the Brock Cemetery in Ashland; John Hartranft Snyder, his first son to survive infancy, grew up to become a co-founder of the Lavelle Telegraph and Telephone Company, while his second son to survive infancy, Timothy Grant Snyder, became a corporal in the United States Marine Corps during the Spanish-American War; stationed on the USS Buffalo as it visited Port Said, Egypt, he also served aboard Admiral George Dewey’s flagship, the USS Olympia, in 1899;
Drummer Boy William Williamson, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company A, circa 1863 (public domain).
* Williamson, William (Drummer, Company A): A farmer from Stockertown, Northampton County, William Williamson was documented by a mid-nineteenth-century federal census enumerator as an unmarried laborer who lived at the Easton home of Northampton County physician John Sandt, M.D.—an indication that William’s parents may have either died or were struggling so much financially during the 1850s and early 1860s that they had encouraged him to “leave the nest” and begin supporting himself, or had hired him out as an apprentice or indentured servant; like so many other young men from Northampton County, when President Abraham Lincoln issued his call for help to protect the nation’s capital from a likely invasion by Confederate States Army troops, he stepped forward, raised his hand, and stated the following:
I, William Williamson appointed a private in the Army of the United States, do solemnly swear, or affirm, that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposers whatsoever, and observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the rules and articles for the government of the Armies of the United States.
Later in life, William Williamson became a champion for an older woman who had been struggling to convince officials of the federal government that she was worthy enough to be awarded a U.S. Civil War Mother’s Pension, after her son had died in service to the nation as a Union Army soldier.
Post-war, William Williamson found work at a slate quarry, married, began a family in Belfast, Northampton County, and lived to witness the dawn of a new century. Following his death at the age of sixty in Plainfield Township on June 17, 1901, he was laid to rest at the Belfast Union Cemetery.
Sources:
- “A Badge from Admiral Dewey and Schuylkill County” (announcements of Timothy Grant Snyder’s service on Admiral Dewey’s flagship). Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Eagle: October 3, 1899 and November 21, 1899.
- Baptismal, census, marriage, military, death, and burial records of the Snyder family. Pennsylvania, California, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, etc.: Snyder Family Archives, 1650-present; and in Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records (baptismal, marriage, death and burial records of various churches across Pennsylvania). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1776-1918.
- Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5, vol. 1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869.
- James Crownover, James Downs and Samuel Kern, et. al., in Camp Ford Prison Records. Tyler, Texas: The Smith County Historical Society, 1864.
- Civil War Muster Rolls, 1861-1866 (47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
- Civil War Veterans’ Card File, 1861-1866 (47th Pennsylvania Infantry). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State Archives.
- Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, U.S. Army; Admissions Ledgers, U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers; federal burial ledgers, and national cemetery interment control forms, 1861-1935. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Office of the Adjutant General (Record Group 94), U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
- Schmidt, Lewis. A Civil War History of the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. Allentown, Pennsylvania: Self-published, 1986.
- U.S. Census Records, 1830-1930. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
- U.S. Civil War Pension Records, 1862-1935. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
#47thPennsylvania #47thPennsylvaniaInfantry #47thPennsylvaniaRegiment #47thPennsylvaniaVolunteers #47thRegimentPennsylvania #AlleghenyCounty #Allentown #America #AmericanCivilWar #AmericanHistory #ArlingtonNationalCemetery #Army #Ashland #Baker #Beaufort #BerksCounty #Bethlehem #Bismarck #BlackHistory #Blacksmith #Blain #BlairCounty #Boatman #bricklayer #Brookville #Butcher #Cabinetmaker #California #CampFord #canal #CarbonCounty #Carpenter #Catasauqua #CentreCounty #CharlesEvansCemetery #Charleston #Chicago #Cigarmaker #Circus #CivilWar #ClearfieldCounty #coachTrimmer #coachmaker #Coalport #CommonwealthOfPennsylvania #DakotaTerritory #Dayton #Duncannon #Easton #Factory #Farmer #fireman #firemen #FirstDefenders #FloridaAndSouthCarolina #ForepaughCircus #FortJefferson #FortTaylor #FruitvaleAvenue #Germany #goldProspecting #GoldRush #Hampton #Harrisburg #HiltonHead #History #Illinois #Immigrants #Immigration #Infantry #inspector #Iowa #Ireland #Irish #Iron #JeffersonCounty #JohnsonCity #Kansas #KeyWest #LaborDay #LaborDayWeekend #Laborers #Leavenworth #LehighCounty #LehighValley #lockTender #Louisiana #LuzerneCounty #LycomingCounty #Machinist #Maryland #Masons #Miner #Minnesota #NapaValley #Nebraska #Nevada #NewJersey #NewMexico #NorthDakota #NorthamptonCounty #NorthumberlandCounty #Nurses #Oakland #Ohio #Oregon #PacificExpress #PennsylvaniaHistory #PennsylvaniaInTheCivilWar #PennsylvaniaRailroad #PerryCounty #Philadelphia #Phillipsburg #Pittsburgh #Pocotaligo #POW #prisonerOfWar #Quarry #railroad #ReadingRailroad #Rittersville #Robesonia #rollingMill #SanFrancisco #SchuylkillCounty #Seattle #Shenandoah #ShenandoahValley #Slavery #SouthCarolina #StPaul #Sunbury #tanner #tannery #Teamsters #Tennessee #Texas #TheUnionArmy #Tyler #USMilitaryAndTheUnionArmy #USPostOffice #veteran #VeteranVolunteers #veterans #Virginia #Washington #WestwardMigration #Whaler #Williamsport #Zanesville
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States with the most “City” communities
Source: garden-city.orgListed below are the states with the most communities that include “city” in their name. This includes cities, towns, villages, hamlets, municipalities, unincorporated places, and census designated places. It does not include ghost towns, townships nor equivalent “towns” in Wisconsin, New York and elsewhere.
When one thinks about it, the popularity of Garden City makes sense given humans love living in scenic and/or bucolic locations. What name epitomizes those feelings better? Also among the top ten “city” names are Lake City and Forest City. Peace!
Source: townofgardencity.com——-
Leading states:
- Texas = 54
- Illinois = 51
- Missouri = 40
- Florida and Michigan = 38 each
- Iowa = 34
- California = 29
- Indiana = 27
- Kansas and Oklahoma = 26 each
Most common “city” names or variations:
- Garden City = 16
- Lake City = 12
- Junction City = 11
- Union City = 10
- Forest City = 8
- Central City, Oil City, Silver City, White(s) = 7 each
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ALABAMA = 11
Alexander City, Dodge City, Frisco City, Garden City, Hobson City, Midland City, Morgan City, Pell City, Phenix City, Rainbow City, and Sardis City
ALASKA = 0
ARIZONA = 13
Arizona City, Black Canyon City, Bullhead City, Central Heights-Midland City, Circle City, Colorado City, Huachuca City, Joseph City, Lake Havasu City, Rainbow City, Sun City, Sun City West, and Tuba City
ARKANSAS = 11
Arkansas City, Bluff City, Buffalo City, Cave City, Central City, Cherokee City, Diamond City, Forrest City, Junction City, Lake City, and Star City
CALIFORNIA = 29
Amador City, Big Bear City, Brandy City, Butte City, California City, Cathedral City, Cave City, City of Industry, Crescent City, Culver City, Daly City, Foster City, Holy City, King City, Lake City, Marin City, Montgomery City, National City, Nevada City, Oil City, Queen City, Redwood City, Sand City, South Yuba City, Spicer City, Suisun City, Temple City, Union City, and Yuba City
COLORADO = 10
Adams City, Canon City, Central City, Colorado City, Commerce City, Garden City, Lake City, Ohio City, Orchard City, and Sugar City
CONNECTICUT = 1
Jewett City
DELAWARE = 0
FLORIDA = 38
Amelia City, Angel City, Cooper City, Crescent City, Cross City, Dade City, Dade City North, Dickerson City, Everglades City, Floral City, Florida City, Forest City, Greenacres City, Grove City, Haines City, Highland City, Highlands City, Intercession City, Jacob City, Kenneth City, Lake City, Leisure City, Little Lake City, Miles City, Myakka City, Ocean City, Orange City, Palm City, Palm River-Clair-Mel City, Panama City, Panama City Beach, Plant City, Polk City, St. James City, Sun City, Sun City Center, and White City (2)
GEORGIA = 15
Garden City, Iron City, Junction City, Lake City, Lumber City, Mountain City, Peachtree City, Pebble City, Pecan City, Ray City, Sale City, Silver City, Tate City, Twin City, and Union City
HAWAII = 2
Lanai City and Pearl City
IDAHO = 6
Butte City, Elk City, Garden City, Idaho City, Malad City, and Sugar City
ILLINOIS = 51
Bay City, Bayle City, Beecher City, Bluff City (2), Calumet City, Central City, Clay City, Coal City, Crescent City, Dallas City, Dalton City, Fairmont City, Farmer City, Forest City, Future City, Gibson City, Granite City, Grove City, Hanna City, Hervey City, Hunt City, Illinois City, Johnston City, Junction City, Lake City, Mason City, Midland City, Miller City, Monroe City, Mound City, New City, Norris City, North City, Park City, Pearl City, Piper City, Prairie City, Rapids City, Rend City, Rock City, Schram City, Shale City, Shanghai City, Standard City, Star City, Steel City, Texas City, West City, White City, and Yates City
INDIANA = 27
Burns City, Cambridge City, Clay City (2), Coal City, Columbia City, Fountain City, Garden City, Gas City, Grant City, Harris City, Hartford City, Lincoln City, Michigan City, Mineral City, Monroe City, Oakland City, Parker City, Prairie City, Rome City, Saline City, Star City, State Line City, Switz City, Tell City, Union City, and Valley City
IOWA = 34
Albert City, Barnes City, Cedar City, Central City, Charles City, Columbus City, Dakota City, Davis City, Decatur City, Dow City, Forest City, Garden City, Gilmore City, Grant City, Iowa City, La Porte City, Lake City, Maharishi Vedic City, Mason City, May City, Orange City, Polk City, Prairie City, Promise City, Rockwell City, Sac City, Shannon City, Silver City, Sioux City, Stone City, Story City, Swea City, Walnut City, and Webster City
KANSAS = 26
Arkansas City, Baldwin City, Bird City, Bluff City, Bush City, Cawker City, Dodge City, Elk City, Empire City, Forest City, Garden City, Gove City, Hill City, Johnson City, Junction City, Kansas City, Lake City, Mound City, Ness City, Osage City, Page City, Park City, Scott City, Strong City, Sun City, and White City
KENTUCKY = 17
Bell City, Calvert City, Cannel City, Cave City, Central City, Clay City, Elkhorn City, Gold City, Junction City, Lee City, Mining City, Oil City, Park City, Silver City, Sublimity City, White City, and Whitley City
LOUISIANA = 6
Amite City, Bossier City, Bridge City, Junction City, Morgan City, and Oil City
MAINE = 1
Forest City
MARYLAND = 7
Chesapeake City, Cottage City, Ellicott City, Maryland City, Ocean City, Pocomoke City, and West Ocean City
MASSACHUSETTS = 0
MICHIGAN = 38
Barton City, Bay City, Beal City, Boyne City, Brown City, Cass City, Cement City, Copper City, Filer City, Foster City, Garden City, Gould City, Grindstone City, Howard City, Huron City, Imlay City, Kent City, Lake City, Mackinaw City, Maple City, Marine City, Mass City, Minden City, National City, Nessen City, Oil City, Pearl City, Rapid City, Reed City, Rogers City, Rose City, Sherman City, Star City, Summit City, Tamarack City, Tawas City, Traverse City, and Union City
MINNESOTA = 17
Alma City, Big Bend City, Cannon City, Center City, Chisago City, Clara City, Forest City, Garden City, Grove City, Hill City, Holmes City, Illgen City, Lake City, Minnesota City, Murphy City, Pine City, and Rush City
MISSISSIPPI = 5
Calhoun City, Delta City, Morgan City, Silver City, and Yazoo City
MISSOURI = 40
Appleton City, Bates City, Bell City, Benton City, Bragg City, Crystal City, Forest City, Garden City, Gilman City, Golden City, Grant City, Green City, Gunn City, Haywood City, Jefferson City, Junction City, Kansas City, Kimberling City, King City, Kingdom City, Lowry City, Missouri City, Monroe City, Montgomery City, Mound City, Neck City, North Kansas City, Pierce City, Platte City, Queen City, Schell City, Scott City, Southwest City, Stark City, Stotts City, University City, Velda City, Webb City, Wilson City, and Wright City
MONTANA = 7
Cooke City, Jefferson City, Martin City, Miles City, Montana City, Park City, and Virginia City
NEBRASKA = 14
Beaver City, Central City, Dakota City, David City, Falls City, Howard City, Loup City, Mason City, Nebraska City, Pawnee City, Republican City, Rising City, South Sioux City, and Steele City
NEVADA = 5
Boulder City, Carson City, Mountain City, Silver City, and Virginia City
NEW HAMPSHIRE = 0
NEW JERSEY = 14
Atlantic City, Bordentown City, Burlington City, Corbin City, Egg Harbor City, Gloucester City, Jersey City, Margate City, Neptune City, Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Surf City, Union City, and Ventnor City
NEW MEXICO = 5
City of the Sun, Cotton City, Navajo City, Silver City, and Whites City
NEW YORK = 6
Garden City, Garden City Park, Garden City South, Johnson City, New City, and New York City
NORTH CAROLINA = 15
Bessemer City, Boger City, Bryson City, Cove City, Elizabeth City, Elm City, Forest City, James City, Morehead City, Oak City, Siler City, Silver City, Soul City, Surf City, and Tabor City
NORTH DAKOTA = 8
Canton City, Grace City, Michigan City, Pick City, Tower City, Valley City, Watford City, and Willow City
OHIO = 22
Beach City, Cream City, Crown City, Dexter City, Grove City, Holiday City, Jerry City, Jones City, Junction City, Lime City, Lore City, Miller City, Mineral City, Murray City, Ohio City, Oval City, Plain City, Pleasant City, Quaker City, Tipp City, Union City, and Valley City
OKLAHOMA = 26
Boise City, Cimarron City, Cox City, Custer City, Del City, Dill City, Eagle City, Elk City, Elmore City, Empire City, Harden City, Kaw City, Little City, Lost City, Marble City, Midwest City, Oil City, Oklahoma City, Ponca City, Ratliff City, Silver City, Spelter City, Strong City, Union City, Webb City, and Wright City
OREGON = 19
Baker City, Canyon City, Columbia City, Dunes City, Elk City, Falls City, Island City, Johnson City, Junction City, Kansas City, King City, Lincoln City, Mill City, Oregon City, Pacific City, Pelican City, Prairie City, Tri-City, and White City
PENNSYLVANIA = 21
Arnold City, Broad Top City, Central City, Dickson City, Evans City, Fayette City, Ford City, Forest City, Grier City, Grove City, Harrison City, Homer City, James City, Jamison City, Karns City, Lake City, Lumber City, Mahanoy City, Oil City, Spring City, and Union City
RHODE ISLAND = 0
SOUTH CAROLINA = 2
Garden City and Lake City
SOUTH DAKOTA = 10
Big Stone City, Central City, Claire City, Crook City, Garden City, Hill City, Lake City, Mound City, North Sioux City, and Prairie City
TENNESSEE = 14
Ashland City, Bluff City, Cumberland City, Jefferson City, Johnson City, Lenoir City, Maury City, Morrison City, Mountain City, Park City, Spring City, Summer City, Tracy City, and Union City
TEXAS = 54
Archer City, Arthur City, Bay City, Beach City, Bridge City, Caney City, Citrus City, Clarksville City, Close City, Coffee City, Colorado City, Crystal City, Dell City, Denver City, Dodd City, Dogwood City, Falls City, Frankel City, Gary City, Garden City, Gun Barrel City, Haltom City, Horizon City, Jacinto City, Johnson City, Karnes City, Knox City, Lake City, Lake Colorado City, Lakeside City, Lane City, League City, Liberty City, Mirando City, Missouri City, Mobile City, Monroe City, Mound City, Mountain City, Ore City, Pearl City, Post Oak Bend City, Queen City, Rio Grande City, Rose City, Royse City, Selman City, Sterling City, Sullivan City, Texas City, Todd City, Universal City, Warren City, Wolfe City,
UTAH = 13
Bear River City, Brigham City, Bryce Canyon City, Cedar City, Garden City, Heber City, Oak City, Park City, Plain City, Salt Lake City, Spring City, West Valley City, and White City
VERMONT = 0
VIRGINIA = 7
Charles City, Chase City, Dale City, Gate City, Pamplin City, Stephens City, and Weber City
WASHINGTON = 12
Basin City, Bay City, Benton City, Coulee City, Electric City, Elmer City, Fall City, Gould City, Junction City, Navy Yard City, Ocean City, and Royal City
WEST VIRGINIA = 12
Coal City, Cub City, Dupont City, Elk City, Hartford City, Lost City, Mineral City, Paden City, Raymond City, Star City, Sulphur City, and Union City
WISCONSIN = 14
Bay City, Bloom City, Buffalo City, Coral City, Cuba City, Fountain City, Genoa City, Glenwood City, Hager City, Junction City, Marathon City, Oil City, Slab City, and Tunnel City
WYOMING = 2
Atlantic City and Jeffrey City
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SOURCES: en.wikipedia.org for each state – cities, towns, municipalities, census designated places, villages, hamlets, and unincorporated places.
#CDPs #central #cities #forest #fun #garden #geography #hamlets #history #junction #lake #placenames #places #towns #travel #typonymy #union #villages
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States with the most “City” communities
Source: garden-city.orgListed below are the states with the most communities that include “city” in their name. This includes cities, towns, villages, hamlets, municipalities, unincorporated places, and census designated places. It does not include ghost towns, townships nor equivalent “towns” in Wisconsin, New York and elsewhere.
When one thinks about it, the popularity of Garden City makes sense given humans love living in scenic and/or bucolic locations. What name epitomizes those feelings better? Also among the top ten “city” names are Lake City and Forest City. Peace!
Source: townofgardencity.com——-
Leading states:
- Texas = 54
- Illinois = 51
- Missouri = 40
- Florida and Michigan = 38 each
- Iowa = 34
- California = 29
- Indiana = 27
- Kansas and Oklahoma = 26 each
Most common “city” names or variations:
- Garden City = 16
- Lake City = 12
- Junction City = 11
- Union City = 10
- Forest City = 8
- Central City, Oil City, Silver City, White(s) = 7 each
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ALABAMA = 11
Alexander City, Dodge City, Frisco City, Garden City, Hobson City, Midland City, Morgan City, Pell City, Phenix City, Rainbow City, and Sardis City
ALASKA = 0
ARIZONA = 13
Arizona City, Black Canyon City, Bullhead City, Central Heights-Midland City, Circle City, Colorado City, Huachuca City, Joseph City, Lake Havasu City, Rainbow City, Sun City, Sun City West, and Tuba City
ARKANSAS = 11
Arkansas City, Bluff City, Buffalo City, Cave City, Central City, Cherokee City, Diamond City, Forrest City, Junction City, Lake City, and Star City
CALIFORNIA = 29
Amador City, Big Bear City, Brandy City, Butte City, California City, Cathedral City, Cave City, City of Industry, Crescent City, Culver City, Daly City, Foster City, Holy City, King City, Lake City, Marin City, Montgomery City, National City, Nevada City, Oil City, Queen City, Redwood City, Sand City, South Yuba City, Spicer City, Suisun City, Temple City, Union City, and Yuba City
COLORADO = 10
Adams City, Canon City, Central City, Colorado City, Commerce City, Garden City, Lake City, Ohio City, Orchard City, and Sugar City
CONNECTICUT = 1
Jewett City
DELAWARE = 0
FLORIDA = 38
Amelia City, Angel City, Cooper City, Crescent City, Cross City, Dade City, Dade City North, Dickerson City, Everglades City, Floral City, Florida City, Forest City, Greenacres City, Grove City, Haines City, Highland City, Highlands City, Intercession City, Jacob City, Kenneth City, Lake City, Leisure City, Little Lake City, Miles City, Myakka City, Ocean City, Orange City, Palm City, Palm River-Clair-Mel City, Panama City, Panama City Beach, Plant City, Polk City, St. James City, Sun City, Sun City Center, and White City (2)
GEORGIA = 15
Garden City, Iron City, Junction City, Lake City, Lumber City, Mountain City, Peachtree City, Pebble City, Pecan City, Ray City, Sale City, Silver City, Tate City, Twin City, and Union City
HAWAII = 2
Lanai City and Pearl City
IDAHO = 6
Butte City, Elk City, Garden City, Idaho City, Malad City, and Sugar City
ILLINOIS = 51
Bay City, Bayle City, Beecher City, Bluff City (2), Calumet City, Central City, Clay City, Coal City, Crescent City, Dallas City, Dalton City, Fairmont City, Farmer City, Forest City, Future City, Gibson City, Granite City, Grove City, Hanna City, Hervey City, Hunt City, Illinois City, Johnston City, Junction City, Lake City, Mason City, Midland City, Miller City, Monroe City, Mound City, New City, Norris City, North City, Park City, Pearl City, Piper City, Prairie City, Rapids City, Rend City, Rock City, Schram City, Shale City, Shanghai City, Standard City, Star City, Steel City, Texas City, West City, White City, and Yates City
INDIANA = 27
Burns City, Cambridge City, Clay City (2), Coal City, Columbia City, Fountain City, Garden City, Gas City, Grant City, Harris City, Hartford City, Lincoln City, Michigan City, Mineral City, Monroe City, Oakland City, Parker City, Prairie City, Rome City, Saline City, Star City, State Line City, Switz City, Tell City, Union City, and Valley City
IOWA = 34
Albert City, Barnes City, Cedar City, Central City, Charles City, Columbus City, Dakota City, Davis City, Decatur City, Dow City, Forest City, Garden City, Gilmore City, Grant City, Iowa City, La Porte City, Lake City, Maharishi Vedic City, Mason City, May City, Orange City, Polk City, Prairie City, Promise City, Rockwell City, Sac City, Shannon City, Silver City, Sioux City, Stone City, Story City, Swea City, Walnut City, and Webster City
KANSAS = 26
Arkansas City, Baldwin City, Bird City, Bluff City, Bush City, Cawker City, Dodge City, Elk City, Empire City, Forest City, Garden City, Gove City, Hill City, Johnson City, Junction City, Kansas City, Lake City, Mound City, Ness City, Osage City, Page City, Park City, Scott City, Strong City, Sun City, and White City
KENTUCKY = 17
Bell City, Calvert City, Cannel City, Cave City, Central City, Clay City, Elkhorn City, Gold City, Junction City, Lee City, Mining City, Oil City, Park City, Silver City, Sublimity City, White City, and Whitley City
LOUISIANA = 6
Amite City, Bossier City, Bridge City, Junction City, Morgan City, and Oil City
MAINE = 1
Forest City
MARYLAND = 7
Chesapeake City, Cottage City, Ellicott City, Maryland City, Ocean City, Pocomoke City, and West Ocean City
MASSACHUSETTS = 0
MICHIGAN = 38
Barton City, Bay City, Beal City, Boyne City, Brown City, Cass City, Cement City, Copper City, Filer City, Foster City, Garden City, Gould City, Grindstone City, Howard City, Huron City, Imlay City, Kent City, Lake City, Mackinaw City, Maple City, Marine City, Mass City, Minden City, National City, Nessen City, Oil City, Pearl City, Rapid City, Reed City, Rogers City, Rose City, Sherman City, Star City, Summit City, Tamarack City, Tawas City, Traverse City, and Union City
MINNESOTA = 17
Alma City, Big Bend City, Cannon City, Center City, Chisago City, Clara City, Forest City, Garden City, Grove City, Hill City, Holmes City, Illgen City, Lake City, Minnesota City, Murphy City, Pine City, and Rush City
MISSISSIPPI = 5
Calhoun City, Delta City, Morgan City, Silver City, and Yazoo City
MISSOURI = 40
Appleton City, Bates City, Bell City, Benton City, Bragg City, Crystal City, Forest City, Garden City, Gilman City, Golden City, Grant City, Green City, Gunn City, Haywood City, Jefferson City, Junction City, Kansas City, Kimberling City, King City, Kingdom City, Lowry City, Missouri City, Monroe City, Montgomery City, Mound City, Neck City, North Kansas City, Pierce City, Platte City, Queen City, Schell City, Scott City, Southwest City, Stark City, Stotts City, University City, Velda City, Webb City, Wilson City, and Wright City
MONTANA = 7
Cooke City, Jefferson City, Martin City, Miles City, Montana City, Park City, and Virginia City
NEBRASKA = 14
Beaver City, Central City, Dakota City, David City, Falls City, Howard City, Loup City, Mason City, Nebraska City, Pawnee City, Republican City, Rising City, South Sioux City, and Steele City
NEVADA = 5
Boulder City, Carson City, Mountain City, Silver City, and Virginia City
NEW HAMPSHIRE = 0
NEW JERSEY = 14
Atlantic City, Bordentown City, Burlington City, Corbin City, Egg Harbor City, Gloucester City, Jersey City, Margate City, Neptune City, Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Surf City, Union City, and Ventnor City
NEW MEXICO = 5
City of the Sun, Cotton City, Navajo City, Silver City, and Whites City
NEW YORK = 6
Garden City, Garden City Park, Garden City South, Johnson City, New City, and New York City
NORTH CAROLINA = 15
Bessemer City, Boger City, Bryson City, Cove City, Elizabeth City, Elm City, Forest City, James City, Morehead City, Oak City, Siler City, Silver City, Soul City, Surf City, and Tabor City
NORTH DAKOTA = 8
Canton City, Grace City, Michigan City, Pick City, Tower City, Valley City, Watford City, and Willow City
OHIO = 22
Beach City, Cream City, Crown City, Dexter City, Grove City, Holiday City, Jerry City, Jones City, Junction City, Lime City, Lore City, Miller City, Mineral City, Murray City, Ohio City, Oval City, Plain City, Pleasant City, Quaker City, Tipp City, Union City, and Valley City
OKLAHOMA = 26
Boise City, Cimarron City, Cox City, Custer City, Del City, Dill City, Eagle City, Elk City, Elmore City, Empire City, Harden City, Kaw City, Little City, Lost City, Marble City, Midwest City, Oil City, Oklahoma City, Ponca City, Ratliff City, Silver City, Spelter City, Strong City, Union City, Webb City, and Wright City
OREGON = 19
Baker City, Canyon City, Columbia City, Dunes City, Elk City, Falls City, Island City, Johnson City, Junction City, Kansas City, King City, Lincoln City, Mill City, Oregon City, Pacific City, Pelican City, Prairie City, Tri-City, and White City
PENNSYLVANIA = 21
Arnold City, Broad Top City, Central City, Dickson City, Evans City, Fayette City, Ford City, Forest City, Grier City, Grove City, Harrison City, Homer City, James City, Jamison City, Karns City, Lake City, Lumber City, Mahanoy City, Oil City, Spring City, and Union City
RHODE ISLAND = 0
SOUTH CAROLINA = 2
Garden City and Lake City
SOUTH DAKOTA = 10
Big Stone City, Central City, Claire City, Crook City, Garden City, Hill City, Lake City, Mound City, North Sioux City, and Prairie City
TENNESSEE = 14
Ashland City, Bluff City, Cumberland City, Jefferson City, Johnson City, Lenoir City, Maury City, Morrison City, Mountain City, Park City, Spring City, Summer City, Tracy City, and Union City
TEXAS = 54
Archer City, Arthur City, Bay City, Beach City, Bridge City, Caney City, Citrus City, Clarksville City, Close City, Coffee City, Colorado City, Crystal City, Dell City, Denver City, Dodd City, Dogwood City, Falls City, Frankel City, Gary City, Garden City, Gun Barrel City, Haltom City, Horizon City, Jacinto City, Johnson City, Karnes City, Knox City, Lake City, Lake Colorado City, Lakeside City, Lane City, League City, Liberty City, Mirando City, Missouri City, Mobile City, Monroe City, Mound City, Mountain City, Ore City, Pearl City, Post Oak Bend City, Queen City, Rio Grande City, Rose City, Royse City, Selman City, Sterling City, Sullivan City, Texas City, Todd City, Universal City, Warren City, Wolfe City,
UTAH = 13
Bear River City, Brigham City, Bryce Canyon City, Cedar City, Garden City, Heber City, Oak City, Park City, Plain City, Salt Lake City, Spring City, West Valley City, and White City
VERMONT = 0
VIRGINIA = 7
Charles City, Chase City, Dale City, Gate City, Pamplin City, Stephens City, and Weber City
WASHINGTON = 12
Basin City, Bay City, Benton City, Coulee City, Electric City, Elmer City, Fall City, Gould City, Junction City, Navy Yard City, Ocean City, and Royal City
WEST VIRGINIA = 12
Coal City, Cub City, Dupont City, Elk City, Hartford City, Lost City, Mineral City, Paden City, Raymond City, Star City, Sulphur City, and Union City
WISCONSIN = 14
Bay City, Bloom City, Buffalo City, Coral City, Cuba City, Fountain City, Genoa City, Glenwood City, Hager City, Junction City, Marathon City, Oil City, Slab City, and Tunnel City
WYOMING = 2
Atlantic City and Jeffrey City
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SOURCES: en.wikipedia.org for each state – cities, towns, municipalities, census designated places, villages, hamlets, and unincorporated places.
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