Re: [Harp-L] Theory, etc. - history of positions

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Feb 23, 2007, at 9:52 AM, David Coulson wrote:

> In Winslow's  response to Iceman's posting he states that the  
> popular image of harmonica playing in the Civil War was the  
> creation of Hollywood screen writers, and that harmonica production  
> was too low until the 1870s or 1880s for the instrument to have  
> been widespread.

I agree with Winslow. More later.

> However, in the Alan Bates

Who IS Alan Bates? I consider myself a fair hand at history.  
Certainly no expert, but well read nonetheless. In my life time, I  
have many times seen cases where what we were lead to believe about  
history, turns out to be bogus. It's all in the hands of the writer  
and it seems that the winner gets the opportunity to write as THEY  
see it, while the looser can only sit there discredited. After all,  
they DID loose, didn't they? so why should we believe THEM?

Now whether a writer is good or bad opens up that old 'Whose best/ 
worst subject'.

> collection site he links to in the same response, it says this:  
> "First imported in quantity in the early 1860s, they (harmonicas)  
> became popular with soldiers from both north and south.

Several words now come under scrutiny. A writer will use the words  
that they feel best describe a situation and the outcome of how the  
article is received rests heavily on their ability to express  
themselves with the words they use. This therefore becomes a matter  
of semantics.

Item #1... 'quantity'? quantity can be what ever figure the writer  
feels is sufficient to convey the meaning. Would that quantity be a  
cigar box full, a crate, a sea-land container, an entire ship? My  
guess would be crate, as anything less isn't worth the effort,  
anything more and you may have them sitting for years. Yes, see,  
while it's quite possible that harmonicas came here one year, it's  
another matter to say they were ALL distributed THAT year.

Item #2... 'Imported'? why would the item have to be imported?  
Couldn't it have arrived as someone's personal possession? That seems  
more plausible to ME because why would a factory who is sellig ore  
than enough of their product at home risk sending them thousands of  
miles on speculation?

Item #3... 'soldiers'? the harmonica was more likely to be carried by  
SAILORS. Shipping was expensive then as it is now and a couple days  
sailing time was big money. Much goods coming to America came into  
Boston. Boston was mainly Anglo Saxon. U.S sailors were mainly Anglo  
Saxon. Harmonica fit the music that they played (jigs, reels,  
waltzes). I believe the French Arcadians also picked up on this and  
took them to the Maritime Provinces, where, guess what? It also fit  
THEIR music.

Item #4... 'from both sides'? (meaning Union AND Confederacy). I feel  
that the harmonica went across to Pgh (which was known as the gateway  
to the west) and travelled with the 'flatboat men' down the  
Allegheny, Ohio, & Mississippi river systems and landed in the delta  
lands. There, the French (Cajuns this time) embraced it with open  
arms. Why? It FIT their music. From there it moved onto the Creoles  
and then the Blacks. When the flatboats got to New Orleans, they were  
dismantled for building materials and the crews went back to Pgh over- 
land. Along the way, harmonicas made their way into all the towns  
along the river system.

>   Many harmonica remains have been found around Civil War camp sites."

Finding many harmonica remains doesn't impress me. Why? Again: Just  
how MANY harmonica remains constitute 'many'? You were more likely to  
find these remains with the remains of UNION soldiers. Mainly because  
of the Boston connection. Many Irish immigrants were plucked right  
off of the boat and 'pressed' into service for the north. The policy  
of the north was to throw as many bodies as possible at the south and  
run the south out of ammunition. The Union leaders were incompetent  
but that's another story, but just as the Russians did to the  
Germans, the Union smothered the Confederates in corpses.  Now there  
were several BLACK Union units and they were commanded by WHITE New  
Englanders and trained IN New England. Again, the Boston connection.

I have never heard of 'many', but there ARE remains at Gettysburg.  
Gettysburg was very late in the war. BTW, no one has ever proven who  
made them OR what country they are from. The importation of  
harmonicas was stated as being early 60s. That means 61, 62, & 63.  
Gettysburg wasn't till 65. Going back to 1835 when I think is the  
'disputed' beginnings of the harmonica, it isn't inconceivable that  
harmonica remains could'nt be found at the ALAMO (circa 1836). I was  
never convinced that the harmonica WAS a German invention anyway. It  
seems quite possible to me that 49ers in the gold fields could have  
dropped harmonicas in Sutter's creek that were CHINESE. No, not made  
IN China, made by an Chinese man (for his children) after he had just  
done his 16 hour shift in the laundry.

I feel that just as it is impossible to say who started Bar-B-Que  
(which 'I' believe was by PRE-historic man), it is just as hard to  
say when, how, and why, the harmonica spread the way it did. Giving  
credit to anyone is moot, but I would have to lean towards the French  
& Irish (in that order). Why? Because the Irish were far from Germany  
and had little contact with them save sea-faring, whereas the French  
were right next door and everything Germany had France had too (and  
moreso). In fact, I would go so far as to shimmy out a long limb and  
say the French came up with the (modern) harmonica as I have found  
out that anything I like that's neat, cool, artistic, architecturally  
beautiful, sensual, romantic, or just plain swell is from there.


> So which is correct?

View ALL writing as skeptical and consider the sources and  
research......... Smokey Joe
> David
>
> On Feb 23, 2007, at 8:00 AM, winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> > Harmonica production was too low in the 1860s for harmonicas to have
> > been very widespread in the US during slavery times. Production  
> > wasn't
> > really large enough until about the 1870s or '80s, which was in  
> > fact a
> > time of great hope for black folks, with African Americans actually
> > getting elected to State office, until white racists figured out ways
> > to shut them out of the entire democratic process for the better part
> > of a century.
> >
> > The popular image of the harmonica being played by Civil War soldiers
> > was created by Hollywood screenwriters. They remembered the very real
> > phenomenon of the harmonica being very widespread during the first
> > world war of 1914-1918, when annual harmonica production (and
> > exportation) was well into the multiple millions, and projected that
> > back to the Civil war scenes they were writing (soldiers gone off to
> > war, a past era, harmonica). Some folks I know will disagree, but I'm
> > pretty certain this is a false image. The production and distribution
> > just weren't there.
>
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