By Ellen Shubart, Class of 2006
Over the past few weeks, we’ve had some interesting guests on CAC tours. Here’s a quick roundup:
It was a “sighting” at Rosehill Cemetery: A young man walked up (with his parents) for the tour, completely decked out in a full Union soldier uniform, from the keppie (hat, used to hold the food the soldier would carry to eat as he marched), to the leather cartridge case on his right shoulder (hanging down to his waist) and canteen on the left.
The cemetery tour is titled Rosehill Cemetery and Chicago’s Role in the Civil War, and so Union blue should not be that unusual. But in all the years that this tour has been given, we haven’t seen another dressed-to-specifications uniformed soldier. It certainly was a first.
What do you think when, as a docent, you see a miniature soldier walk up for the tour? Well, Mary Jo Hoag was a bit astonished, but then her nephew Gideon walked around the corner and things were explained. It was his uniform the little guy was wearing, a uniform Gideon received when he was a youngster and fascinated to learn as much as he could about the Civil War. When he found his neighbor’s boy was equally fascinated, Gabriel took out his old uniform and let the boy wear it.
Gideon noted that when he was doing his Civil War investigating, he lived in Virginia; most of his neighbors there didn’t appreciate the Union blue. He said it was much more appreciated at Rosehill.
Our soldier, his mom, dad and siblings, stayed for most of the tour, enjoying the stories of the graves and monuments. And we enjoyed seeing the uniform, from which everyone on the tour learned something.
The other encounter was not with a soldier, for the guest was too young to have participated in the Vietnam War. But at the Vietnam Memorial, Riverwalk West docent Betsy Mahon was talking about the memorial and the war with a Vietnamese man.
Awkward? Not at all. The touree was a businessman from Saigon whose wife was here for a conference. It was interesting talking to someone from Vietnam about the Vietnam Memorial, Betsy reported. He appeared engaged but said he was born after the war ended. She added, “I’m sure to him this was ancient history.”
What our tourist was really interested in was the possibility of creating a riverwalk in Saigon. “He took a lot of pictures. He was curious about building out into the water and concerned about how many government entities would have to get involved,” Betsy reported. “Evidently, he didn’t think Saigon would be able to come up with a financial arrangement like Chicago did. But he did understand the idea of “happy hour” and thought that the Riverwalk for a great spot for it!”
Interesting encounters, for sure!
If you have any interesting encounters yourself, share them with us on The Bridge. Send your story to Leslie Clark Lewis – le**************@co*****.net.