"Crete" is Debbie Weinkamer who portrays Lucretia Garfield, wife of Jame Garfield, our 20th President.  Usually she works with Ed Haney. who portrays the President at  various events thru out Ohio and other midwestern states. Debbie was invited to speak at one of our "Booked For Lunch" events while we were between books for discussion. Our contact with her was Lincoln Fan,  who knows Debbie as a friend.
Debbie consented to my posting her presentation on our RT website for others to read. Their website is noted at the bottom.
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6/7/2011 11:58 am (et) Crete: Greetings from Hiram, Oh.
6/7/2011 12:01 pm (et) Crete: I am pleased to be with all of you today.

6/7/2011 12:04 pm (et) Crete: When my husband offered his services to Ohio Governor Dennison, we were living in Hiram, Portage County, Ohio. The General (James) was the president of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later called Hiram College), a professor there, and a State Senator at that time,  August 1861.
6/7/2011 12:04 pm (et) Babs: Welcome to Booked for Lunch. We are honored to have with us Lucretia Garfield, wife of James Garfield who became the 20th president. We will be focusing on the Civil War years.
6/7/2011 12:05 pm (et) Babs: Please stay on topic until 1:00 and refrain from greeting late comers. I will do that via PM.
6/7/2011 12:05 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: What made him decide to enlist?
6/7/2011 12:05 pm (et) Crete: James was a State Senator in Columbus when someone burst into the legislative meeting and said that Fort Sumter had been fired upon. His sense of duty made him offer his services to Governor William Dennison of Ohio.

6/7/2011 12:07 pm (et) Babs: At what rank did he enter the service?
6/7/2011 12:07 pm (et) Crete: James had no military experience, but read widely about the military tactics of Napoleon, Wellington, and Washington. He felt he should be made a colonel and given a command of a regiment. However, the Governor offered him a lieutenant colonelcy and command of the 42nd OVI.
6/7/2011 12:07 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: did he enlist right away at the beginning of the war then?
6/7/2011 12:08 pm (et) Crete: He accepted the lt. colonelcy in August 1861.
6/7/2011 12:08 pm (et) Crete: That was the good news. The bad news was that there was no 42nd OVI! James had to fill the ranks by recruiting the boys, then train and equip them.
6/7/2011 12:08 pm (et) Babs: Was it hard for him to get enough volunteers?
6/7/2011 12:09 pm (et) Crete: Not at first. He recruited boys that he taught at Hiram and then went around Portage, Medina, and other areas to recruit.

6/7/2011 12:10 pm (et) Babs: SO, he had to recruit about a thousand men, right?
6/7/2011 12:10 pm (et) Crete: Yes, but he didn't have the full group until after arricing at Camp Chase in Columbus.
6/7/2011 12:11 pm (et) Crete: pardon me, arriving at Camp Chase.
6/7/2011 12:11 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: Not having military expience, how was he able to train troops?
6/7/2011 12:11 pm (et) Crete: James had no military experience, but read widely about the military tactics of Napoleon, Wellington, and Washington. He felt he should be made a colonel and given a command of a regiment. However, the Governor offered him a lieutenant colonelcy and command of the 42nd OVI.
6/7/2011 12:12 pm (et) Crete: And, he roomed with Jacob Cox who became a brigadier general. They read together.
6/7/2011 12:13 pm (et) Babs: Did you meet James at school?

6/7/2011 12:14 pm (et) Crete: The General and I met at the Geauga Seminary, a secondary school in Chester Township, Ohio, in 1848. We were merely classmates at that time. Surprisingly, we crossed paths a second time when both of us attended the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute in Hiram.

6/7/2011 12:14 pm (et) Babs: I understand he was quite charming.
6/7/2011 12:15 pm (et) Crete: Yes, but at first I thought he was some sort of strange genius.
6/7/2011 12:15 pm (et) Babs: He was a good student then?
6/7/2011 12:16 pm (et) Crete: Yes, he was ahead of all the rest of us in his studies. He wanted to be first in the class.
6/7/2011 12:16 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: So were you living in Columbus when he enlisted. What can you remember about the mood of the general public at that time about the war.
6/7/2011 12:16 pm (et) Babs: already showing leadership qualities.
6/7/2011 12:17 pm (et) Crete: When my husband offered his services to Ohio Governor Dennison, we were living in Hiram, Portage County, Ohio. The General (James) was the president of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later called Hiram College), a professor there, and a State Senator at that time  August 1861.
6/7/2011 12:17 pm (et) Crete: Yes, definitely showing leadership skills in Hiram -- and in the Ohio Senate.
6/7/2011 12:18 pm (et) Babs: Did you stay in Hiram while your husband was away at the war?
6/7/2011 12:18 pm (et) Crete: At the beginning of the War, there was a very patriotic fervor.
6/7/2011 12:18 pm (et) Crete: The General and I had been living in Mrs. Northrop's boarding house in Hiram, but after he joined the Union Army, I had to move back home with my parents, Zeb and Arabella Rudolph.
6/7/2011 12:19 pm (et) Babs: You had a little girl by then, correct?
6/7/2011 12:20 pm (et) Crete: I was very upset about moving back home. James had made no arrangements for me when he went into the War.

6/7/2011 12:20 pm (et) Crete: Yes, we had a daughter, Eliza Arabella, nicknamed "Trot." She was born in July 1860.
6/7/2011 12:21 pm (et) Pvt Miles: If I may jump a little ahead in his military career......how would you characterize your husband's relationship with Gen. Rosecrans, who he served as chief-of-staff? Did he disclose anything of that nature to you or was he tight-lipped about military matters?
6/7/2011 12:21 pm (et) Babs: I don't blame you. I remember moving back home when my husband went in the military. It is tough giving up independence.
6/7/2011 12:22 pm (et) Crete: James wrote lengthy letters about his "interviews" with Old Rosy. R. wanted to really know James before deciding if he should have a command or be his chief of staff.
6/7/2011 12:22 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: Was that typical of families or did a lot of the wives stay at home when their husbands left?
6/7/2011 12:22 pm (et) Crete: There were many arrangements made for the wives and families at home.
6/7/2011 12:23 pm (et) Crete: Due to finances, some of us had to move back home.
6/7/2011 12:23 pm (et) Crete: The General was very excited to send me a "V" -- a five dollar bill. And I was happy to receive it.
6/7/2011 12:24 pm (et) Crete: It was very difficult to give up my independence.
6/7/2011 12:25 pm (et) Crete: Old Rosy enjoyed talking about religion with my husband.
6/7/2011 12:26 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: Which battle do you think affected him the most?
6/7/2011 12:26 pm (et) Crete: Shiloh. Even though his troops arrived late in the day, he saw the horrors left from that battle.
6/7/2011 12:26 pm (et) Babs: Were you able to receive letters from him frequently?
6/7/2011 12:27 pm (et) Crete: Yes. Trot and I lived for those letters.
6/7/2011 12:27 pm (et) Pvt Miles: It is my understanding that Gen. Rosecrans harbored some hard feelings toward your husband after Chickamauga, am I correct?
6/7/2011 12:28 pm (et) Crete: It was quite a few years later, when my husband was the Republican candidate for President in 1880, that Old Rosy had a falling out with James.
6/7/2011 12:29 pm (et) Crete: James always had a warm place in his heart for R., even though he lost faith in R.'s military leadership.
6/7/2011 12:30 pm (et) Babs: Trot probably had trouble remembering her father since she was so young.
6/7/2011 12:30 pm (et) Pvt Miles: I can imagine those discussions about religion were quite interesting.
6/7/2011 12:30 pm (et) Crete: Actually, she remembered him quite well for a toddler.
6/7/2011 12:30 pm (et) Babs: Rosy was Catholic, right?
6/7/2011 12:31 pm (et) Crete: She knew somehow when a letter arrived from the General.
6/7/2011 12:31 pm (et) Crete: Yes, James came to a new understanding about Catholicism thanks to R.
6/7/2011 12:32 pm (et) Babs: Was James able to visit you during the war?
6/7/2011 12:32 pm (et) Crete: James even knelt to pray with Old Rosy, on occasion.
6/7/2011 12:32 pm (et) Crete: The General had to return home in August of 1862 because he was extremely ill with camp fever and needed to recuperate. His sick leave lasted about six weeks. This was a very important time in our marriage.
6/7/2011 12:33 pm (et) Babs: That's interesting since there was such suspicion of Catholics then.
6/7/2011 12:33 pm (et) Babs: Important in a good way?
6/7/2011 12:34 pm (et) Crete: James' and my religion, the Disciples of Christ, looks down on all the mumbo-jumbo of the Catholic religion.
6/7/2011 12:34 pm (et) Crete: Yes, because that's when he really fell in love with me.
6/7/2011 12:34 pm (et) Babs: Says something about both men that they were able to have civil discussions.
6/7/2011 12:35 pm (et) Crete: Yes, Old Rosy had a high regard for James, too.
6/7/2011 12:35 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: Was your marriage not good before. Or am I prying?
6/7/2011 12:35 pm (et) Babs: Really? not before you were married?
6/7/2011 12:36 pm (et) Crete: He liked me first, but then we had a long courtship because he was not sure I was the right one for him.
6/7/2011 12:36 pm (et) Babs: I don't want to be rude, but I have heard rumors of other women. Sec Chase's daughter and Rebecca Selleck.
6/7/2011 12:37 pm (et) Crete: On his sick leave, we were alone together for the very first time in our marriage and I was able to relax and show him how much I loved him.
6/7/2011 12:37 pm (et) Crete: James did live with Sec. Chase and Kate while waiting for his next assignment after sick leave.
6/7/2011 12:38 pm (et) Crete: There were rumors about Kate, but nothing happened.
6/7/2011 12:38 pm (et) Babs: She was a bit of a flirt.
6/7/2011 12:38 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: Did communities in your area experience any shortages of goods during the war?
6/7/2011 12:38 pm (et) Crete: True and several men were in trouble due to her!
6/7/2011 12:38 pm (et) Crete: An event of momentous consequences for my life occurred in December 1855: James met Rebecca Selleck while he was attending Williams College (Massachusetts) to complete his degree.
6/7/2011 12:39 pm (et) Crete: The War seemed somewhat remote in peaceful Hiram, Ohio. We were fortunate to never experience a battle near us or to suffer greatly from shortages. We did receive news daily of relatives or friends who were dead or dying.
. We tried to make our days endurable by filling them so full of some employment, that we could not contemplate all the sufferings and miseries of those fighting for us.
6/7/2011 12:39 pm (et) Babs: Please tell us about it,if it is not too painful.
6/7/2011 12:40 pm (et) Pvt Miles: Did you have ano other children beside you daughter, Trot?
6/7/2011 12:40 pm (et) Crete: He even wrote that she reminded him of me! At that point, I never thought to question James' fidelity. We were 'engaged' in the eyes of our families, friends, and neighbors.

6/7/2011 12:41 pm (et) Crete: We had a son born just after the battle of Chickmauga, Harry Augustus.
6/7/2011 12:42 pm (et) Babs: Wasn't he in contact with her again after you were married?
6/7/2011 12:42 pm (et) Crete: The specter of Rebecca and her relationship with James would hang over our marriage until the assassination in 1881, and beyond. When I begged him to give up this distressing relationship, he refused. He visited her periodically over the years  always telling me about his plans and emphasizing that it was me whom he loved. He could not see it from my point of view, that it was an anguish and humiliation for me.
6/7/2011 12:43 pm (et) Crete: After the General's death, she occasionally corresponded with me and we even visited Lake View Cemetery together in 1884. I could be gracious then. She died in 1909 having never married.
6/7/2011 12:45 pm (et) Babs: I'm sorry for you. It must have been difficult to hold your head up in the face of gossips.
6/7/2011 12:46 pm (et) Babs: Were you excited about become First Lady?
6/7/2011 12:46 pm (et) Crete: Yes it was, but I understood my husband's nature. I believe I helped him to become a better man through it all.
6/7/2011 12:46 pm (et) Babs: becoming
6/7/2011 12:47 pm (et) Crete: NO -- I was terrified even though I had been a Congressman's wife for 17 years and had lived in Washington off and on.
6/7/2011 12:47 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: Any recollections of Lincoln?
6/7/2011 12:48 pm (et) Crete: James saw President-elect Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln in Columbus on February 13, 1861 as his train wound its circuitous route from Springfield to Washington. Mr. Lincoln delivered one of his casual yet enigmatic little speeches to the governor and state legislature  of which James was a part.
6/7/2011 12:48 pm (et) Crete: James wrote to me that, "through all of Lincoln's awkward homeliness there is a look of transparent, genuine goodness, which at once reaches your heart and makes you trust and love him. "His wife is a stocky, sallow, pugnosed plain lady, and I think has much primitiveness of western life. He stands higher in the whole in my estimation than ever. She considerably lower."
6/7/2011 12:49 pm (et) Babs: So you didn't enjoy dressing up and hosting parties?
6/7/2011 12:49 pm (et) Crete: I answered, "Don't you think you were rather severe on poor Mrs. Lincoln? You were not called on to admire her beauty if she possesses none, of course, but must you place her lower in your estimation because she lacks it?"
6/7/2011 12:50 pm (et) Crete: I am basically a very shy and reserved person. I was worried about being in a fishbowl and receiving criticisms in the newspapers.
6/7/2011 12:51 pm (et) Crete: Mrs. Blain gave me some very helpful advice about hosting the parties, etc.
6/7/2011 12:51 pm (et) Babs: Your letters show a good command of the language. What did you study at school?
6/7/2011 12:51 pm (et) Crete: Mrs. James Blaine
6/7/2011 12:51 pm (et) Crete: I had a rigorous classical education.
6/7/2011 12:51 pm (et) Crete: Thank you for the compliment.
6/7/2011 12:52 pm (et) Crete: I am the second first lady to have a college "degree."
6/7/2011 12:52 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: Since time is short, I,d like to introduce Debbie Weinkamer who portrays Crete. Any questions for her?
6/7/2011 12:52 pm (et) Babs: Wow! That's impressive. Who was the first?
6/7/2011 12:52 pm (et) Crete: Lucy Hayes, the first lady before me.
6/7/2011 12:53 pm (et) mobile_96: How did your daughter get the nickname of "Trot"
6/7/2011 12:54 pm (et) Crete: The General nickmaned her after Aunt Trotwood in Charles Dicken's David Copperfield.
6/7/2011 12:54 pm (et) Babs: You had several children. How were you able to care for them financially after your husband's death?
6/7/2011 12:54 pm (et) Crete: He was always coming up with nicknames. It suited a toddler, don't you think?
6/7/2011 12:54 pm (et) mobile_96: interesting, so Dicken's must have been one of his favorite authors?
6/7/2011 12:55 pm (et) Babs: I picture a little girl trotting along in her bulky clothes.
6/7/2011 12:55 pm (et) mobile_96: or the parents trotting around after the little tyke
6/7/2011 12:55 pm (et) Crete: We had five survive childhood. Fortunately, the public raised money for us in a subscription fund -- over $350,000 in 1881.
6/7/2011 12:55 pm (et) Crete: LOL You're so right.
6/7/2011 12:56 pm (et) Babs: Quite a tribute to how the public repected him.
6/7/2011 12:56 pm (et) Crete: True. There was quite an outporing of grief -- and it was so soon after Mr. Lincoln.
6/7/2011 12:57 pm (et) Babs: A question for Deb- Are you ever thrown off by questions posed when you are in character?
6/7/2011 12:58 pm (et) Crete: Yes, but I know enough to get an answer of some sort. Sometimes I have to use the excuise that I'm 179 years old and the memory's going.
6/7/2011 12:58 pm (et) Babs: lol
6/7/2011 12:58 pm (et) mobile_96: that works
6/7/2011 12:59 pm (et) Crete: Yes, and the Garfields were both fans of Dickens.
6/7/2011 12:59 pm (et) Babs: During the war, were you involved in any volunteer activites like the sanitary commission or knitting socks?
6/7/2011 1:00 pm (et) Crete: I was frequently too busy with Trot and the household, but there was a fine stand of colors made for the 42nd OVI and given by the ladies of Portage County. My mother Arabella, my sister Nellie, and I helped make a banner that the Hiram boys would be proud of. The General's mother, Eliza, had a very patriotic excitement that sustained her. She followed the War news, made bandages, and knitted socks and mittens for the soldiers.
6/7/2011 1:00 pm (et) Lincoln Fan:
6/7/2011 1:01 pm (et) Babs: I think that sort of activity was theaputic to the women left behind. It gave them something to do so they could feel like they were helping.
6/7/2011 1:01 pm (et) Lincoln Fan: Who long have you been portraying Crete and what inspired you to do so?
6/7/2011 1:02 pm (et) Crete: Ten years. Ed Haney, who has portrayed Garfield for more than 20 years, asked me to be Lucretia because he was often asked, "where's your wife?"
6/7/2011 1:04 pm (et) Babs: Most of the time, do you enjoy it?
6/7/2011 1:04 pm (et) Crete: I love it!!
6/7/2011 1:04 pm (et) Crete: Except that I get really nervous every time I portry her.
6/7/2011 1:04 pm (et) mobile_96: Have you and Ed Harney done presentations at any CW symposiums in the Chicago area?
6/7/2011 1:04 pm (et) Babs: just as she would.
6/7/2011 1:05 pm (et) Crete: I have really enjoyed preparing for today's chatroom. It was good to relive Crete's war experiences again.
6/7/2011 1:05 pm (et) Babs: Thank you so much for coming.
6/7/2011 1:06 pm (et) Crete: We have not been in Chicago yet, but are appearing at the CCWRT (Cleveland) tomorrow evening. We're doing our "Letters from the Front" program.
6/7/2011 1:06 pm (et) Crete: I feel honored to have been asked to join all of you. Thank you for the wonderful, thought-provoking questions, too.

6/7/2011 1:07 pm (et) mobile_96: my RT has a symposium each year, now, I know the plans for 2012 will be for material on Illinois, but I'm going to send in a suggestion for you 2 to be considered
6/7/2011 1:07 pm (et) Crete: How delightful!
6/7/2011 1:08 pm (et) Crete: We would be thrilled to appear in Chicago and meet you in person.
6/7/2011 1:09 pm (et) Babs: This brings this session of Booked for Lunch to a conclusion.
6/7/2011 1:09 pm (et) Crete: You can find out more about us at www.WeMadeHistory.com.
6/7/2011 1:09 pm (et) Babs: Thank you for coming (both Crete and other visitors)
6/7/2011 1:09 pm (et) mobile_96: well, hopefully they will listen to me again, and invite you, I also wonder if I could post this morning discussion on my own website, or at least my RT's site
6/7/2011 1:10 pm (et) Crete: It's fine with me. Use whatever you think would be good.
6/7/2011 1:10 pm (et) mobile_96: Purpose is to both introduce people to you, and also help promote this website

6/7/2011 1:11 pm (et) mobile_96: Thank You, it was a very enjoyable morning

6/7/2011 1:12 pm (et) Crete: Here's the CCWRT site for info about the Garfields: http://clevelandcivilwarroundtable.com/.
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