The Joy of Having Relatives who Preserved History

14 Jul

Elsie was certainly too genteel to be labeled a hoarder. She was a keeper of bits of history. I am thankful for the bits of history I inherited from her. Her cedar chest contained a treasure secured years ago, a Civil War Brain teaser game. Perhaps there is a better name for it, but that was the label my daughter Carin came up with. It consists of 24 heavy-duty card stock cards that have great illustrations drawn with pen and ink. There was a sheet included with the answers. I wonder if it was possibly given to my great-grandfather when he was injured as a child during the Civil War? That is a fascinating story found in the second Elsie book, “Elsie’s Mountain.” Alonzo became injured when Union soldiers mistakenly fired cannons at what they assumed was an abandoned farmhouse located about where the Pentagon stands today. The farmhouse actually was Alonzo’s family home. After Alonzo Hayes was wounded they took him to the Union surgeon to sew up his wound. Elsie said her father limped all his life, as a result of that injury. I can imagine a soldier telling the young Alonzo to be brave and he’d give him a game. See if you can guess what some of the answers are, I will include answers after the pictures.Some answers were unreadable.

1. Independence
2. Condescending
7. Seesaw
8. Saxsony
9. Dominoes
10.Duchess
11. Easy
12. Pennies
14. Prickley Pear
16. Elbowed
17. barbeque
18. An ingrate
19. Defaced
22. Candy
20. Tenants
24. thinking
25. infancy

3 Responses to “The Joy of Having Relatives who Preserved History”

  1. Amy Bergman July 14, 2017 at 11:51 pm #

    Thank you for sharing these treasures with us! I just Love it!

  2. Julia Alluson July 17, 2017 at 11:42 am #

    It would be great to copy these and use them in Civil War Reenacting. Going to a reenenactirs study time in two weeks. Anyway, possibly get guesses at answers for some of the unknown ones using it at an event. I think people would have fun with it.

    • Barb Waite July 17, 2017 at 7:59 pm #

      Thanks Julia, Will try to send better reproductions to you. Barb

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