Comments on: Chaplain B.H. Roberts Pleads for the Lives of His Men

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:59:04 +0000

Dear Auntie Audacious, I just want to use that term as I tell you how much I enjoyed this post.

Your Humble Nephew

By: Bill MacKinnon

Bill MacKinnon — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:41:14 +0000

Ardis (#16), if Keepa has high-quality commenters (commentators?), it’s because of our leader-blogger, Auntie Audacious. You consistently come up with the most interesting posts told marvelously in such a way that we are all led down the path — continuing to read your threads much as we eat peanuts…It’s nice to be out of the lane marked “Ego/Put-Down/Finger-Pointing/Vitriolic.”

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:22:30 +0000

Bill, there were two Seymour Bicknell Youngs. One was Brigham’s nephew (son of Brigham’s brother Joseph), and the other was the son of the first Seymour Bicknell. The older one (1837-1924) was an academically trained doctor (University Medical College of New York, class of 1874) and treated Brigham during his last illness. The younger one (1868-1941) was the veteran of the Spanish-American War.

I really like B.H. Roberts’s history. His wording may be a little quaint now, and certainly more sources are available which would require adjustments to his history in many places, but he did seem to tackle everything head-on, regardless of its difficulty, while still being unqualifiedly faithful.

I haven’t acknowledged most comments individually, but I enjoyed and appreciate each of them — more proof for my claim that Keepa has the best group of regular commenters in the bloggernacle!

By: Bill MacKinnon

Bill MacKinnon — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:32:21 +0000

Wasn’t Seymour B. Young a physician by training and occupation, or do I have him confused with someone else? The man I have in mind was sent to Columbia Medical School in NYC and treated B.Y. in his last illness in 1877. I think he was a great-nephew or similar relative. Re B.H. Roberts, I’m happy to hear of this chapter in his varied life for the first time. My first experience with LDS history was in 1958 reading his multi-volume “Comprehensive History” in the stacks of the Yale Library. I was impressed by his study’s objectivity (as I remember it), and the elegance of its printing/binding; the plates had tissue-paper guards. This study made such an impression on me that I bought a set of the 1930 volumes a few years ago from Hugh McKell, then at Benchmark Books. Upon re-reading one volume, I found B.H. Roberts persuasively debunking the old folktale that B.Y. had entrapped U.S. Army Brevet Lieut. Col. E.J. Steptoe in a sexual indiscretion on Christmas day 1854. a myth accepted and merchandised by many Mormon and even non-Mormon historians such as Nels Anderson in “Desert Saints.” Not B.H. Roberts — he got to the root of that story, examined its origins, and did Steptoe justice in a way that many less careful historians have not. I’m not carrying water for Steptoe, but I do have a lot of admiration for B.H. Roberts, his dispassionate defender. Ardis’s post only adds to my admiration for this leader of the old school.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:39:37 +0000

11: This DesNews article is only a fragment of BHR’s speech, and it sounds more like one made as the unit was leaving that place for the last time than the one that Dewey describes — a formal farewell, rather than a prayer for deliverance. It’s interesting, though, and I’ll put it up by tomorrow.

By: Tatiana

Tatiana — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 07:03:55 +0000

Wow, this is so inspiring! Thanks for posting these things, Ardis.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:09:42 +0000

I’ll look it up tomorrow, Justin, and let y’all know. If it’s a different speech, it would probably be worth posting on its own. Thanks for the pointer.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:48:46 +0000

Ardis, I noticed that Madsen’s bio mentions that the Deseret News (Memorial Day 1932) published BHR’s final address at Camp De Souge. I wonder if he mentions this story.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:19:35 +0000

Elias Kimball, and probably others in different units and at different times, was chaplain of a volunteer corps (engineers?) during the Spanish-American war. The 145th was regular Army, with Lieut. Roberts holding a regular army commission. That’s probably a clarification that needs to be made, although the distinction probably doesn’t matter except to military people or those like me who grew up around the military. (Volunteer units were raised to serve for as little as 30 days or as long as the duration of an emergency; they appointed their own officers, outfitted themselves, and may have been quite skilled and faced all the same dangers as the regulars, but regulars were the professional soldiers, with long-term training and career intentions. Maybe somebody like S.Faux or another military-experienced reader can elaborate.)

Certainly I don’t mean to slight the service of any man!

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:01:22 +0000

Very interesting post, Ardis.

Re #5, I gather that Elias Kimball was a chaplain of some sort during the Spanish-American war.