Special poetry edition
Thaddeus Stevens Society November 9 meeting to include tribute dinner to Bradley Hoch
The Thaddeus Stevens Society will have a membership meeting on Sunday, November 9, at 6 pm at Christ Lutheran Church, 30 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA. The meeting will also be a tribute dinner to Bradley R. Hoch, M.D., the author of Thaddeus Stevens in Gettysburg, the Making of an Abolitionist. Copies of his book will be available for purchase. The Society is asking for a tax-deductible donation of $50 or less per person for the dinner, though it is not required. Donation will be accepted at the door. If you plan to attend, please email info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com or call 717-347-8159.
Poetry for Thaddeus Stevens
Admiration often inspires poetry and this is also true for Thaddeus Stevens. In this issue we have two such poems. One is an epic poem written in recent years by Mike Barton of Michigan and another written in 1868 by Delphine P. Baker. Below is a piece by Barton on the origins of his poem and an article on Baker. These are the links to their poems:
Mike Barton Link Delphine P. Baker Link
Birth of "The Mad Dreams of Thaddeus Stevens" 
Mike Barton
I live in Novi, Michigan with my wife of 40 years, Lisa. We have two daughters, two sons-in-law and three grandchildren. I practiced law for 36 years, retiring in 2019.
After I retired, one thing I decided to do was to try to learn all I could about how the Reconstruction amendments emerged out of the trauma of the Civil War. Despite the fact that those amendments were for a time twisted into tools to support Gilded Age inequality and the Jim Crow regime, they show a type of idealism seldom seen in the history of governments. I hoped to understand how that idealism made its way into law, especially in the 14th Amendment.
Such a search, of course, necessarily leads to Thaddeus Stevens. So my effort to understand how ideals came to be embodied in law, became an effort to fully understand Stevens' work and thought during Reconstruction -- not just the facts and intellectual aspect, but also the inspirational/emotional aspect. The effort to develop that kind of complete understanding in my own mind led to the poem -- the poem being that effort; the quotes serving as some of the "authority" for the content of the poem.
When I discovered the Thaddeus Stevens Society, I realized there were other folks/civilians out there who had a similar interest in understanding Stevens. So I sent the poem to Ross to see what he thought of it. I was very happy to hear he liked it and that he thought it worth sharing with fellow "Thaddeites."
Delphine P. Baker: Civil War nurse, publisher, social activist, and poetess
Delphine P. Baker
Delphine P. Baker, born in 1828 in New Hampshire, worked in hospitals in Chicago and St. Louis during the early years of the Civil War and urged others to do the same. She also gathered medical supplies and carried them to places they were most needed. In the spring of 1862 she started the National Banner in Chicago, a monthly paper of 16 pages with the profits going to the medical needs of volunteer soldiers. Then in 1864 she moved to New York and started the National Literary Association and began advocating for the creation of a national home for disabled Union soldiers. She was able to get the support of such prominent people as Henry Longfellow, Clara Barton, Horace Greeley and Ulysses S. Grant. A bill was introduced to create the home and it was signed by Abraham Lincoln on March 1, 1865. The first National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers was opened in Togus Springs, Maine in 1866 and two more were later opened in Dayton, Ohio and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They were absorbed into the Veterans Administration in 1930.
No record of her interaction with Thaddeus Stevens in readily available, but she was obviously a great admirer and she penned a poem of tribute when he died. The original published poem can be seen at this link: Tribute
Bradley R. Hoch, Gettysburg's Stevens Expert
Bradley R. Hoch M.D. has been one the greatest supporters of Thaddeus Stevens and the Thaddeus Stevens Society. He is the author of the 2005 book, Thaddeus Stevens In Gettysburg: The Making Of An Abolitionist, the most authoritative book on Stevens during his time in Gettysburg. He has generously donated various historical documents to the Society along with his research files, which are now part of the museum's research room. He is also the author of many books ranging from Abraham Lincoln's travels around Pennsylvania, the creation of the Seminary Ridge Museum and a mission to Honduras to provide medical aid. He managed to do all this while being the leading pediatrician in the Gettysburg area for 44 years until he retired in December 2021. The Society will get a chance to express our gratitude to him at a dinner on November 9 at 6 pm at Christ Lutheran Church. A $50 donation or less per person is requested, but not required. If you plan to attend, please email info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com or call 717-347-8159. Donations will be collected at the dinner.
Help keep the Stevens museum open forever
Please help ensure that the Thaddeus Stevens Museum will be open for generations to come by donating to the Society's endowment fund held by the Adams County Community Foundation. The easiest way to do this is by asking for a donation form by emailing info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com or calling 717-347-8159 and providing your address. We'll even provide the stamp on the return envelope. Please mail the form during October to ensure the donation is counted towards a matching donation provided by the Community Foundation.
Stevens/Smith museum in Lancaster slated to open in May 2025
The opening of the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and Democracy has been pushed back from April to May 2026 to give the Lancaster Convention Center time to finish a renovation project in the adjoining Convention Center, according to Robin Sarratt, president and CEO of LancasterHistory.
Meanwhile, the historic society has exceeded the $20 million mark on its way to the $24 million fundraising goal, Sarratt said. The museum construction company, Benchmark Construction, has completed the work of knitting together the historic spaces to create the Center's future galleries and classrooms and Art Guild, Inc., the museum's exhibit fabrication team, is working on displays. LancasterHistory's staff is collaborating with teachers and students to design educational programs so that they will be ready when the doors open.
Leave a legacy for Thad
Support Thaddeus Stevens's legacy by leaving a legacy of your own. If you wish to include the Stevens Society in your will, please let us know by calling 717-347-8159 or by emailing info@thaddeusstevenssociety.com Thank you.
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