Marking and Finding History

The other day a friend and I went out to look at Michigan Historical Markers that relate in someway to the Civil War in Detroit.  There were about seven markers in the City that mention the War.  Of course, there are many more markers on other topics and time periods all over the City.  Out of the seven we went searching for two were missing.  The first was for a St. Matthews Episcopal Church which closed during the War for declining membership.  Unfortunately, if quickly became obvious that the church and marker were removed to make room for the Ford Field complex and parking.

The other missing marker was for the Detroit Free Press as the oldest daily Michigan newspaper.  The building is still there but only an outline remains where the marker was on the stone.  Driving around the City looking for these was a lot of fun even if only one of the makers still stood next to its original structure, Fort Wayne.  If your not familiar, Fort Wayne is a star fort built in the 1840's.  The Fort served the State and Country from the Civil War to Vietnam.

We finished the Detroit tour at Fort Wayne and decided to press on to a marker at an old cemetary in Taylor about 15-20 minutes away.  The cemetery is Sandhill Cemetery on Telegraph just west of Eureka.  It is not much to look at and is fairly small with many headstones not legiable or broken.  What made it worth the drive is finding out someone that we were familiar with was interred there.  This man was in the 24th Michigan which we both did much reading and research on a year earlier.  His photograph is also one we have seen many times.

Barney Letogot's image has been seen by tens of thousands every year at Greenfield Village.  He was Henry Ford's uncle and his photographs from 1862 and 1865 are at the Ford Home in the Village.  In the 1862 photo he stands next to his brother John who was killed at Gettysburg, I believe.  Barney was wounded there along with being wounded at the Wilderness.  He continued to serve in the 24th Michigan taking part with the rest of what was left of the Regiment as honor guard at Abraham Lincoln's funeral in May 1865, before coming home to Michigan.  Sadly he only lived to age 35, passing in 1873, when Henry Ford would have been ten years old.  Next time you are at the Village take a moment to visit Barney and John's photos in the Ford Home.  I always find it amazing to see how much Barney aged in appearance in just 2-1/2 years from his photo at enlistment in 1862 and the below photo taken in May 1865.  It is a testament to how hard life was in the army during the Civil War.