Four Hundred pages

Today, the school in Cotopaxi does not teach local history.  But in 1978, the students at Cotopaxi High School conducted a series of local interviews in order to preserve history.  Between 1984 and 1989, Lanell Bullard and Joann Gillespie conducted additional interviews.  I have always known that these interviews existed.  But I had never read them.

All of these interviews have been typed up and put into pdf files.  They total over 400 pages!  What an incredible testament to preserving the oral histories of this tiny community.  They are kept by the Western Fremont Historical Society.

Two weekends ago, I sat down and read all 400+ pages.  Word after word verified and confirmed what I had already documented about the area.  And for the most part, the oral stories handed down by the gentile families who resided in Cotopaxi when the Jews were there....are the same stories that the Jewish families have handed down to their descendants.  Interesting that the 2 sets of oral histories match up almost perfect.

Some of the highlights of these interviews:

After the Civil War and the loss to the Union, many people who lived in the south and had been sympathetic to the Confederate side, left and moved west.  And as they came west, they tended to find work in the mining operations, or in other fields that supported the mining communities.  That's how many of the ancestors of those living in Cotopaxi got there.  Although there are only 2 Confederate graves in the cemetery, many of the genealogies trace back to Confederate soldiers buried elsewhere....or to those sympathetic about the South.

Many of the early residents of Cotopaxi were Catholic - but there was no Catholic church in the area.

There were Indians in the area, but they were not "wild" or "murderous".  These interviews show us that they were  just hungry.  And the people who lived in Cotopaxi gave them food when they could.

The photo I shared earlier from 1927 - right before the great depression.  The mine wasn't producing and there was little means of income in the areas.  Might explain the desolation of the photo.

Lots of stories about gold nuggets being found, bones being dug up, and deaths.  I could tell that the students had a set list of questions to ask each resident.

The Mullins place was the Hart store.  The building that was just to the west of it, used to be the Dyer's boarding house (now the Post office parking lot) is where Gold Tom died.  About as many different versions of how he died as there are of the date he died!  But I can solve that one!  He died on or before May 30, 1884.  I have found a note from the person who cleaned his body and prepared it for burial and it is dated  May 30, 1884.

And it was confirmed in these interviews that the train used to go down much closer to the river.  I have documents that tell me DG&R plotted land down there and now this interviews confirm that's where the tracks originally went.

E. H. Saltiel - brought the Jews to Cotopaxi to farm, but really wanted them to wok in his mines.

The Jewish immigrants starved and had to leave.

I totally enjoyed reading through all the interviews and give a huge congratulations to the students and others who conducted these interviews.  Job well done.

Cotopaxi schools

The "london" Saltiel stated in the Westword article:

 points out that the subject is kept alive in Colorado. “The students of Cotopaxi senior year study this story as part of their local history program,” he says. “The Cotopaxi library has it as well. I can’t oblige them to set out my point of view." 

So Thursday, I drove out to the school to see what they have and what they teach.  The librarian was quite shocked!  She said they have very little about the history of Cotopaxi and that the students do not study the history of Cotopaxi.   She suggested that I contact Betsy Denney who is active in the Western Fremont History Society.  Betsy descends from longtime Cotopaxi residents and has done a great job collecting and preserving information on Western Fremont County which includes just about everything west of Canon City.

Betsy has also been a substitute teacher in the Cotopaxi school and she said,

The school does not teach anything about Cotopaxi history.    4th grade does teach Colorado history but only what is printed.  They don't ask for guest speakers.  If it isn't in the curriculum,  they don't go over any history. 

And that would make sense.  Teachers today are mandated to follow a curriculum and that is not going to include the history of Cotopaxi...and certainly nothing to do with the Jews who settled in Cotopaxi.   Anything related to Colorado history would be limited to history that was generic to the entire state.

One has to wonder where the "london" Saltiel came up with the idea that the story of the Jews in Cotopaxi is kept alive in Colorado.....considering the senior year students do not have a local history program.

The earliest school yearbook is dated 1950 and there wasn't anything else dating earlier than that about Cotopaxi.  I wish there had been!

Once again, a person can write anything.  My "job" is to prove it true or false.  In this case - 100% false!!!


*********c2016Cotopaxi-Colony.blogspot.com All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.

Research tools and updates to blog posts

As I find new information, I will go back and update each blog post.  Most of that information will be put at the bottom of the post with the word "update" and highlighted in pale blue.  You can go to the home page of this blog and in the upper lefthand corner, there is a search box.  Just enter the word "update" and it will take you to each blog that has been changed.

Any time I quote another source, I will highlight that in pale peach.  

When I refer to a document, I will either type it up or cut and past a snippet from it.

In order to help you understand why I cut and paste, I thought I'd help you out with the resources I use as well.

For years, I have used ancestry.com.  Sometimes I don't pay for a subscription, when I don't have time to research.  Sometimes I pay for a basic subscription.  If I link to their website, to a census record or a ship's manifest....you won't be able to see what I see, unless you pay for access to their site as well.  So in order to let you see what's there, I cut and paste just that portion of their page.

If you want the actual link, and you pay for their services, just let me know.  I'll be more than happy to send you the link.  And again, you can reach me through a link on the home page of this blog.

For the last 6 months, I have tried out the "all access" account.  Yes, it is very, very expensive - $399 per year!!!  But it includes a subscription to newspapers.com and fold3.com.

After using this for 6 months, I would definitely recommend it if you have exhausted other sources.  I have found so much.  I even upgraded the newspapers.com subscription to include the "lifestyle" sections.

But here's a thought.  I doubt a ph.d candidate, or someone just looking for a "story" will pay $399 for a subscription to ancestry.....let alone pay for any other research site!  My question is, how can you research if you don't exhaust all the possibilities out there?

I have 70 family trees posted on Ancestry.  Most of them are private - so no one can see them unless I invite them to do so.  27 of those trees relate to Cotopaxi, either the Jews or the other people living there in 1882.  I can quickly look up any relationship, any grave, any person that I find in a newspaper article or other document.

For the most part, I have linked each person in those 27 family trees to every census record, ship's manifest, document, gravesite, newspaper article, etc that is out there.  And in this blog, I am trying to share on a very limited basis some of those findings, such as the post on "Finding Little Lena."  That post was an attempt to show the genealogist how to read a census, but to also share my findings about that family's history.

I can download any tree in a ged.com file and upload it to my personal software.  I use a Mac, so I prefer Reunion, but I have used FamilyTreeMaker for the last 5 years as well.  Now that ancestry no longer supports it, I will be going full time to Reunion - I love the style of trees that it creates.  I've shared plenty of them in this blog so you can get a feel for how it color codes each generation, making it easy to "count cousins".

The rest of those 70 trees are either my own family, or families of people I'm doing research for.  Once again, I have never received a penny of compensation for the work I've done.  Well, I take that back.  Someone once gave me $50 and I sent it to a charity in Israel.  You can feel free to donate anything you want....I've put some links over on the right side of the home page of this blog.

Let's pause here for a moment and talk about links.  When you see something underlined, click on it.  That will take you to something else - another blog post, a website - something that will help you have further understanding of what I am writing about.  Don't just ignore those links.  They can be critical to a story....and keep me from repeating myself!

I use familysearch.org.  It's free.  Has a ton of valuable information.  And you can post your trees there as well.  This site is sponsored by the Mormon church and I took all of their classes back in the 1980s.  I highly recommend that you consider taking their classes if you haven't done so.

Cemeteries.  I can't begin to explain the value of walking through a cemetery even though you can see almost every headstone at findagrave.com.   There is something about seeing the placement of headstones - who is buried beside your ancestor, that puts a story together.  The middle name of your ancestor could be the last name of someone buried in the same row as they are.  It's the relationship of headstones, one to another, that you can't see on a website.

I have been to the cemetery of a 3rd great grandmother back in Indiana.  Buried next to her is one of her great nephews.  Why?  It certainly brings questions to mind when you see the actual layout of the headstones and you won't see that on findagrave.com.

Obviously newspapers.  Almost every state has a list of historical newspapers and many are free.  But many require a subscription.  I'd recommend only one at a time - otherwise you'll get overwhelmed!

Libraries.  Many old microfilm rolls have not been digitized and are not online at this time.  Many of those old newspapers have been microfilmed at the library and are not yet online.  I know - it is incredibly hard work to sit and read column after column, page after page of newspapers on a microfilmed roll.  But when you find something - it's great!!!  I'm heading out later today to take another look at some old Canon City Newspapers.  They haven't even been put on microfilm yet!

Clerk & Recorders offices.  The same thing.  Most of the documents have not even been indexed, let alone digitized.  But access is free.  I can't begin to count the number of hours I have sat looking at these old ledgers, scanning page after page - just to find a familiar name and then realize it was something that happened in a different part of the county!  On the other hand, I have yet to find the   land declaration at Cotopaxi for Schradsky and I know they had a farm close to Zedek and Nudelman.  I have looked at every single document in 1882 and it's just not there. (ok, that link under those last 4 words will take you to a blog where I've already told you about hundreds of documents being found in a local trash bin - the importance of looking at these links!)

State Archives.  In Colorado - it's in a box in storage and you have to decide from an index what box you might want, then make arrangements to go to Denver and physically inventory that box.  A lot of museums are the same way.  Takes forever to find something, but well worth the search!  And when I say "forever" - I have spent days looking for a single item.  I don't live in Denver - I'm 125 miles away.  So I spend the night with friends, or pay for a hotel and go do my research.  It takes money to be a genealogist!

JGSCO.org.  I'm a gentile, but I have attended all of the Jewish genealogy classes this group offers....and I have learned so much about my own family tree.  The classes forced me outside my normal little box of thinking.  Could my ancestors  be Jewish.  They aren't.  But these classes forced me to think differently and I value what I have learned with them.

This past year, JGSCO has focused their training on DNA and again, I have learned so much.  Membership is just $30 per year and again, I highly recommend their meetings.

Land records, surveys, patents can all be found at blm.gov - I used this site all the time.  Unfortunately, they have not digitized all of their records so manual microfilm searches are still a good source of information.

You can't do it all online.  I started this in 1968 before there was a hint of an internet.  And in genealogy, you still need to go out in the field and manually search through records one at a time.

Learning how to read 1800s handwriting is critical to your success.  The ability to be creative at how a surname might have been spelled, how the spelling might have been changed or why/how a name might have been changed is essential as well.    Saltiel, Saltiele, Saltiell, Saltell, Saltwell.....not to mention someone who made a typo, or just wrote it down wrong.  Every single surname can be digitized incorrectly.  Something as simple as Annie Hart had been digitized as Annie Hurt because someone interpreted the handwriting incorrectly!

Here in this tiny little town of Canon City, we have the library, the history center, the Fremont County Historical Society, the Western Fremont County Historical Society and then the Southern Colorado Genealogical Society in Pueblo.  We have a Mormon library in town as well.  I'm sure your community has all that or more to offer assistance with your research.

Finally, a reminder about copyright.  That's another reason I cut and paste just one line from ancestry. I do not want to violate their copyright laws.   And while I have the entire page linked to my family tree, I do pay for the right to use their site.

You will rarely see a newspaper article in it's entirety here.  That's a good copyright question.  Anything that is over 75 years old is not bound by copyright law.  But I have decided to type up each one so that it can be easily searched.  I recently paid a lot of money for a digitized book that could not be searched.  What a pain!  I had to read every single page and then still didn't find what I was looking for!  So while I will put my typed versions out here, I do have the original copies in my files.

For this blog, you do not have permission to cut, paste, copy, or reuse anything that I have written.  All you have to do is link to an individual page or the blog in general.  That's pretty simple.  But it protects what I have written in the context I have written it in.

As of today, there are 40 posts in just 3 1/2 months!  These post have been viewed 1270 times.  I think that's amazing!  I hope that the story excites you and that my research hints and tips will help.

With all the resources available today, you can prove your family tree, and you can prove the oral stories that your family has handed down from one generation to the next.  And you can prove history.  Which is exactly what I'm doing with the history of Cotopaxi and the Jews who were there.

*****
 c2016.  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.

Saltiel in prison in Denver in November, 1882

The Colonists arrived in Cotopaxi in May and just 6 months later we find E. H. Saltiel in prison in Denver.  To my research friends - here is a reason to search newspaper articles long after an event has occurred.

In October 1884, in the Salida Mail, Mr. M'Sweeny had a history column:

A charge of Criminal Libel
In the Superior court of Denver, yesterday afternoon John C. Stallcup, attorney for Emaeuel H. Saltiel, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, in hopes of securing the release of Saltiel, who is held by the sheriff on a charge of criminal libel.

When I first read this, I thought is was from 1884 - so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it.  But that's just it, one has to pay attention to every written word.  Sometimes, you need to read, re-read, and then re-read it several more times for the significance to settle in.

Here we see that Saltiel is at some point in time, sitting in a prison in Denver.  Charged with criminal libel.  Are you surprised?

The warrant was issued in Fremont county on Complaint of E. S. Hart, who charges that about the 20th of last month Saltiel caused to be published in the Canon City Record the following:

Once again, I am thinking this was  "last month" from the date of the article, October 1884.  Here we see that Hart issued the warrant that put Saltiel in prison.  These guys are cousins?  Nice family!

Cotopaxi Placer Mining Company, 50 and 52 Exchange Place.

To all whom it may concern:

New York, October 20, 1882.

The office of the Cotopaxi Mining company having been informed that the one E. S. Hart, supposed to be a foreigner and not a citizen of the United States, claims certain lands belonging to the Cotopaxi Placer Mining company of Colorado, hereby warns all persons from buying, selling, leasing or receiving from said Hart any of the houses, lands, rentals, tools or goods belonging to said company, the said Hart being a totally irresponsible person and of bad record in New York City. 

Witness seal of this corporation, by Emanuel H. Saltiel, president.

And now we see it.   This letter is dated October, 1882.  Saltiel was in prison in Denver in November, 1882 - one month later.

In this letter, Saltiel is stating that Hart is a foreigner, not a citizen and warns you not to buy, sell, leave or receive anything from Hart - that Hart is a totally irresponsible person and of bad record!

This is the "libel" upon which Hart has issued a warrant for Saltiel's arrest.

The warrant was sent to Denver and served here.  The petition for the writ of habeas Corpus declares that the warrant is irregular and illegal, and that the offense charged is not sufficient to constitute a cause of criminal action.

The case will be given a hearing within the next two or three days.

This article shows us that in October, 1882, just 6 months after the Colonists arrived in Cotopaxi, E. H. Saltiel was in Denver.  He wrote this letter out of his headquarters at 50 and 50 Exchange Place.  I will show you later that he had sold his residence in Cotopaxi to Hart in 1881, then claimed it back.  There were issues between the 2 of them before the Colonists ever arrived.

Thus Saltiel wrote this letter to destroy Hart's business.

And Hart had him arrested in Denver on libel charges.  Saltiel was in prison sometime in November, 1882.

Here are a set of unanswered questions to ponder:

1. We know that the crops of the first year failed and the Colonists had to go to work in Saltiel's mines that winter.  Were they working for him in November while he was in prison?
2. We have heard the stories that Hart gave them script in his store for the work they did in the mines.  We do not know this is true - it's just a story.  But if it is true, then Hart surely felt Saltiel would repay him for the credit he afforded the Colonists.  
1. But why would Hart even consider that Saltiel would repay him when Saltiel was in prison due to Hart's warrant?  That doesn't make an ounce of sense!
2. Did we just prove that Hart did not extend credit to the colonists?
3. Or did Hart, being Ashkenazi, extend credit on his own account thinking the Colonists would repay him when they got on their feet?  This is a scenario I could justify.
3. We have a miner's lien which proves that Saltiel did not pay the Colonists for the work they did in his mine for up to 3 months.
1. The lien is dated April 1883.  
1. it only shows the total days and rate per day due

It's obvious that Saltiel was released from prison.  I haven't searched the Colorado Archives for records of this court case.  I might get that done next month.  But to me, the results are inconsequential. This shows us there were issues between Hart and Saltiel.  It shows us that Saltiel was absent from Cotopaxi.  This would be in November, 1882 - after the Tuska report was published in which we see that management of the Colony was taken away from Saltiel in July.

Putting this information to a timeline we find:

Fall 1881 - Hart/Saltiel land/property dispute

May 1882 - Colonists arrive in Cotopaxi.  No houses had been built.  The day before their arrival, Saltiel contracts with Hart to build their homes

July 1882 - houses still not built.  Tuska to Cotopaxi.  Management of Colony taken away from Saltiel

Oct 1882 - Saltiel writes letter against Hart

Nov 1882 - Saltiel in prison for libel over letter he wrote against Hart.

fall/winter 1882 - Colonists go to work in Saltiel's mines in order to survive

Once again, timelines are crucial to the understanding of what happened.  Paying detailed attention to dates can make all the difference when looking at what happened to a person, or to a place.

And there's just a ton that I haven't even started to write about.  There are more liens against other mines owned by Saltiel  - I'm starting to wonder if he paid anyone.

There was an ongoing battle between Henry Thomas (Gold Tom) and E. H. Saltiel over who actually owned the mines at Cotopaxi.  This court battle extends from 1881 to 1884 when Gold Tom was murdered.

And we cannot ignore Saltiel's personal life - he divorced his wife in 1881, sent her and their 2 youngest kids to NYC.  He had a 10/11 year old son with him in Cotopaxi.  He remarried Fanny Shelvelson in Feb, 1883. 

E. H. Saltiel was a very busy man.  But for the moment, shall we just leave him in prison in Denver?

***** c2016Cotopaxi-Colony.blogspot.com  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.

The Morris Tuska Report Oct 6, 1882

 One of the things I like to do with genealogy research is to take newspaper articles, letters and other documents in a chronological order and dissect them line by line.  It helps put perspective on the content of the article.  In this blog, the highlighted text is always the article.

1882, Oct 6American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger  p 2
The Russian Emigrants.

This report was published in the American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger on Oct 6, 1882.    It does not show us the date it was written.  Tuska arrived in Cotopaxi on July 30.  We don't know how long he stayed.

Mr. Morris Tuska, who was appointed by the Executive Committee to investigate the condition of the Cotopaxi colony, has made the following report:
I left for Cotopaxi on the 26th of July and arrived there on the 30th inst.  I immediately called on Mr. Julius Schwarz, the General Manager of the colony, whom I found master of the situation and who willingly gave me all information required as to the doings of E. H. Saltiel in whose care the colony was entrusted.

Why was Tuska sent to Cotopaxi?  Because Colonists had written to HEAS complaining about the fact that they had no homes, no land, no animals, no farm implements when they arrived.  So just imagine for a moment - HEAS had given thousands of dollars to Saltiel to build homes.  Yet they get letters stating this had not happened.  Wouldn't you send someone to investigate?   Of course they are going to be suspicious of Saltiel...and rightfully so!   This was less than 3 months after the Colonists arrived.

Earlier writers have stated that Julius Schwarz was not there from the beginning of the Colony (May 1882).  This report leads us to believe that he was.

The general condition of the colony is, considering the many difficulties having arisen from the mismanagement of Saltiel and from his omission to furnish the colony with the necessary funds, a favorable one.  Owing to the indefatigable perseverance of Mr. Schwarz, who rendered himself worth of the trust put in him the refugees were settled on Government land on 160 acres for each family.  The lands are very fertile, full of Phosphate and of almost surprising growing power.  

Here, Tuska clearly states that the Colony has been mismanaged by E. H. Saltiel.  And that he did not furnish them with the necessary funds.  I would remind you that Saltiel had not surveyed the land, had not built their homes....he failed on every single aspect of his agreement with HEAS.

The farms situated on the first division of the lands called Oak Grove Creek, are drained by a creek that is always supplied with water and is more than sufficient for irrigating purposes.  Here three farms are located. 

Tuska's visit was in July 1882.  There would have been a good water supply coming down Oak Grove Creek with the summer melt-off of snow in the mountains.  What Tuska could not have known is that there are many years when this creek dries up completely by August, if not earlier.

A high mountain range separates these farms from the second division of the lands from the so-called Wet Mountain Valley.  Here the rest of the farms are located.  Mr. Schwartz told me that although no water is extant to irrigate still he is confident that the farmers will in the winter be able to care for the necessary supply of water to be used next summer, by digging a three mile long ditch and filling the same with water which is in abundance in the lake, situated on the mountains that border the farms and separate Fremont County from Custer County.  

By 1882, all water rights had been allocated.  The Colonists would need to purchase water rights in order to fill the ditch they dug.   Most likely, Tuska was not informed about the need to purchase water rights. It's a moot point as to where the money would come from to dig a ditch....where would the money come from to buy the water rights to fill it?

The colonists sowed mostly potatoes, about 17,000 pounds altogether. 

The equivalent of 1,700 ten-pound bags of potatoes.  Later writers give us a wide range on this number.  This is the earliest report.

Mr. Schwarz assured me that he repeatedly requested Mr. Saltiel to give him the means to sow a larger quantity of potatoes, as they are salable and greatly wanted; but Mr. Saltiel did not give him the funds required. 

Why didn't Saltiel give him the funds?  Did he intentionally want them to fail?  If they succeeded, who would work in his mines?

Seventeen thousand pounds will, as Mr. Schwarz says, yields about 140,000 lbs; 40,000 lbs he intends to save for seeding purposes, and 100,000 lbs, he will put on the market. 

Once again, keep in mind that Tuska was there in July.  He did not know about early fall frosts at the altitude of 8000'.  Most likely, he did not understand the short growing season.

The general price of potatoes varies from 1 1/2 to 2cts. per pound, thus about $2000 are expected from the potato crop.  Cabbage, peas, beans, cucumbers, beets, turnips, etc., have been sowed, but owing to the slowness with which the houses have been built, or better said, owing to them not having been built at all, most of the garden stuff was destroyed by grazing cattle, and what has been spared is just sufficient to cover the household requirements.

This is quite an interesting statement.  The houses had not been completed at this time.  With no fences up, the cattle would consume just about anything edible above the ground.  Did Saltiel set them up to fail?

Tuska is from NYC.  He has no experience with the arid, dry, mountain climate of Colorado.  We cannot expect him to understand summer/fall droughts, flash floods that can wipe out everything in it's path, early freezes, snow in July.  Nor could he, in 1882, realize that in the next 134 years, absolutely no one would successfully grow crops on this land.

Had Mr. Saltiel used the money so readily put at his disposal for the purposes of the colony, for buying or hiring teams and ploughs, buying potatoes and other seeds, purchasing agricultural implements, erecting houses and buying wire for fencing, the colony not only would have been made self-supporting, but been able to repay every cent that has been spent for their sake.

Once again, Tuska is pointing the finger at Saltiel.  And the unanswered questions remain to this day - why didn't Saltiel have their houses built before they arrived?  Why hadn't their land been surveyed?   We now know he did not even start this process until after they arrived in May.

As matters stand at present, the colonists will be able to pull through; they must, however, be provided with cows and wire fences. 

Tuska is making an assumption here that they will pull through.  But he is not taking into consideration weather.

Mr. Schwarz proposed to purchase twelve cows and wire fence for ten acres on each farm, and assured me that by means of the income of the crop and by means of the cows, that will furnish them the two chief feeding articles, namely, milk and butter, they will make a livelihood and will next year get along splendidly; so much the more as Mr. Schwarz has been offered labor for the refugees during the winter, which will help them towards defraying their expenses for living.

Again - had Saltiel set them up to fail? It is obvious the offer of work during the winter is in his mines.  He did not provide them with the promised cows, fence, houses, implements.  One most certainly needs to question why not?  HEAS had given Saltiel the money.  What had he done with it? (I believe we will see that in future posts.)

The financial condition of the colony.  The facts are that Mr. Saltiel used the money put in his hands for his own purposes

Saltiel was in the midst of numerous lawsuits in the summer of 1882.

and left several bills unpaid, which he said were paid to him.  He did not built the houses, although having received the money for them, he thereby caused the colony great damage, much annoyance and disgrace.

It would be impossible to get around this no matter how you want to look at it.  This was July.  Saltiel had clearly failed to live up to his end of the agreement.

  On account of his actions and fully trusting in the ability, integrity and energy of Mr. Julius Schwarz, I took the charge out Mr. Saltiel’s hands and put it into the hands of Mr. Schwarz, who in my strong belief is the only man that prevented the colony’s final destruction. 

Tuska has removed Saltiel's authority over the colony.  Can we expect retribution?  Saltiel is 39 years old.  Schwarz is about 20.  Pretty sure this is not going to set well with Saltiel.  Why didn't HEAS ask for a refund from Saltiel?  Did they at some future point?

It is with much satisfaction that I note that the Society possesses a faithful, energetic, honest persevering officer in Mr. Schwarz, who gives his heart, mind and all his time to his duties.  Mr. Schwarz is now the only manager of the colony, and is ably assisted by Mr. Leon Tobias, who acts a field overseer.

We know that Tobias came with the colony in May.  We can assume that Schwarz did as well.  We also know that Saltiel has been absent much of the time since the Colonists arrived.  This was probably the only logical choice to make.

Permit me now to give you a statistical statement of the families that compose the colony. 

There have been on the 30th of July, fourteen families with 61 souls, 34 males and 27 females.  One family consisting of six souls, I sent to Denver on request of the head of the family, Abr. Moskovitz.  Another family the Schochet Joseph Friedman, who was sent on recommendation of Mr. Saltiel who promised to assist him, but failed to do so, was also sent to Denver as there was no prospect for his making livelihood in the colony.  Since my leaving Cotopaxi, 15 more persons, relatives of the colonists were sent, thus making the total number of families 15, with 64 souls, 34 males and 30 females.  the working force amounts to 25 persons.

The family genealogies that I have assembled over the past several years agree with these counts.  I have been unable to locate anything about Abraham Moskovitz (Moshkowitz, Mosko, etc) in Denver.  And I have not located Joseph Friedman.

It's interesting that Saltiel sent Friedman to Denver.  A Schochet is a butcher.  Had they had the promised cattle, perhaps his services would have been needed.

The sanitary condition of the colony leaves nothing to be wished for.  No serious cases of sickness have occurred.  The refugees show a very favorable appearance, look well and robust, since Mr. Schwarz took charge of the colony.   

Kosher meat is procured from Denver and the people are satisfied with their food.  
The colonists are clean and neat and take good care of their children.  The children will receive education at the public school, recently erected in Cotopaxi.  Mr. Schwarz will see that the houses are finished and the crop sold for the best price.  The colonists keep their religion in accordance with the ancient customs, keep the Sabbath and holiday, possess a Sephar Thora donated by Rev. Dr. Baar and are on friendly terms with their Christian neighbors. 

I contacted the schools and they have no records before about 1904.  But here we have evidence that there was a school in Cotopaxi before July, 1882.

As of the end of July, 1882, their homes had not been finished.

The colony required thus far the following funds.  $5250 paid to Saltiel, $500 paid to E. S. Hart by me, $1000 sent to Mr. Schwarz so far.  Total $6750.  

It doesn't really matter how you want to do the math, even in 1882, this is not much for 70 people.

Mr. Schwarz wrote me that $500 more will be required for food, $600 for cows and about $350 for wire, making the sum of $8,200 that this colony cost the society. 

There are many documents in the Fremont County Clerk & Recorder's office showing cattle transactions at this time.  Even the sale of a single cow was documented.  But nowhere do I find the sale of cattle to Saltiel, Schwarz, Tobias, or any of the Colonists.

The colonists are aware that they will have to repay the expenses laid out for them and I have no doubt whatsoever that the society will be partly repaid.  

He said this with great confidence - assuming that the crops would be ripe before the first freeze.

I hope that despite of the many drawbacks this colony had to undergo,—it will be maintained and stand as a monument of Jewish charity, and as the best proof of the laboring abilities of the refugees and of their capacity and competency to become farmers.  Jewish farmers were looked upon with scorn, the Cotopaxi colony has and will render evidence that such scorn is nothing but prejudice, and that the Jew can make as good a farmer as any other human being.

Respectfully submitted
Morris Tuska

It has been said that Morris Tuska was an uncle to Julius Schwarz.  I cannot find that relationship documented anywhere.  I have built a family tree and Julius Schwarz had a brother who married a woman who's maiden name is Tuska, but there is no relationship between this sister-in-law and Morris Tuska.  So while they may have known each other, there was no nephew/uncle relationship between the 2 of them.

Schwarz was back in NYC by October.  He was a lawyer.  Perhaps a bit young, but nonetheless, well qualified for his position at Cotopaxi.

Tuska is definitely pointing a finger at Saltiel in this report.  And no wonder!  If you recall a previous blog, Saltiel himself, tells us in a letter to a newspaper that he did not make a contract with a builder to build the houses until the day before the Colonists arrived.  He had not surveyed their lands until AFTER they arrived.  So while Saltiel has already confessed that he did not live up to his end of the contract with HEAS, in this report, we have Tuska verifying this to HEAS.

Do you think there will be a rebuttal from Saltiel?  His "management" position has been stripped.  Will he attempt to make Schwarz look incompetent?  You can almost forecast the future at this point!


***** c2016Cotopaxi-Colony.blogspot.com  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.

War Name - part 2 - a confederate flag on a confederate grave

In Fagin's article, he has a photo of a confederate flag next to the fence surrounding the Jewish graves at the cemetery.  He writes:

In this photo, it’s hard to tell whether the flag attends grave or fence. Maybe it’s just a trick of perspective, but this ambiguous placement enables two interpretive possibilities: support for the Confederacy and its white-supremacist ideology. Or wry commentary on Saltiel’s Confederate past as it relates to the death of these children. Which possibility is more ironic? Either way, this spatially dislocated symbol of racism is, for me, punctum, waving-in-the-wind ellipse in the ongoing narrative of the Cotopaxi settlers.

Hmmm.....time to do a little more research?  Here's the photo with the flag that he used (did he take it from this angle to purposefully make it appear to be next to the fence?  Did he intentionally shade the headstone so you couldn't see who it belonged to?  Does he not know about photoshop software?)

I looked at this photo in photoshop, cropped it and enhanced it - this is what I got.  You can clearly see the shadow of the menorah across the upper left hand corner of the stone.  You can clearly see that the flag is placed at the base of this headstone, not at the base of the fence.  Feel free to double-click on any photo to enlarge it and then zoom in for a closer view.)

And you can now make out an O, E, P, H, G and the numbers 9, 1, 8

Could it be this headstone?  Right next to the Jewish fence?

 JOSEPH G. Dyer  1847 - 1918

(compare the underlined to what we can see in the prior image)

Thanks to Nelson, a simple google search of Joseph G Dyer at Cotopaxi and look what appeared.....

Confederate Soldiers buried in the State of Colorado

Oh my gosh!  Joseph Dyer is a confederate soldier, buried in the Cotopaxi Cemetery, right next to the fence where the Jews are buried!!!  And someone placed a confederate flag next to HIS headstone!

I'll be!   This flag has absolutely nothing to do with the Jews buried at Cotopaxi.  It has nothing to do with the Jewish settlers who were in Cotopaxi between 1882 and 1884.  And it is certainly NOT "a spatially dislocated symbol of racism is, for me, punctum, waving-in-the-wind ellipse in the ongoing narrative of the Cotopaxi settlers." as stated by Adam Fagin in his article!!

This is 2016.  You would think with all the resources available to us that a writer would do a little bit of research.  Fagin had the name on the headstone.  All he had to do was google it.  He is a ph.d candidate!   But no - he would rather write fantasy and make up a story about this flag being placed next to the Jewish graves as a mark of antisemitism.  Then put his story under the category of creative non-fiction.  I suppose that was much easier than trying to find out the truth.

Starting to think I should go for a ph.d.  But what's the point?  I'd much rather spend my time researching the Cotopaxi Colony and making sure the world knows the true story....not fabrications and outright lies such as this.

update:

Nelson sent me this photo he took on May, 18, 2016

He wrote:  "The confederate medallion by the Dyer grave is still there, it has its own support, but is right next to the flag. In order for the medallion not to appear in his photograph, he covered it with the confederate flag.  If you look close at his second photo, you can see the shiny support of the medallion...it is straight/vertical just at the grass level, vs the slanted wooden support of the flag.  Both the flag and medallion have been in place since at least last Memorial Day, if not longer."

Did Fagin actually cover the medallion with the flag for the photo in his article?

as a reminder, here's what Fagin wrote about this flag.....

A Confederate flag is planted in the pale, gold grass.  In this photo, it’s hard to tell whether the flag attends grave or fence. Maybe it’s just a trick of perspective, but this ambiguous placement enables two interpretive possibilities: support for the Confederacy and its white-supremacist ideology. Or wry commentary on Saltiel’s Confederate past as it relates to the death of these children. Which possibility is more ironic? Either way, this spatially dislocated symbol of racism is, for me, punctum, waving-in-the-wind ellipse in the ongoing narrative of the Cotopaxi settlers.Jews wanting to honor the fact that a Jewish cemetery is located at Cotopaxi.

"it's hard to tell whether the flag attends grave or fence"

Fagin KNEW it attended the grave of Joseph Dyer, a confederate soldier.  He KNEW!!!  Yet he told a whopper of a lie to promote his agenda.  Who then is the real racist?

***** c2016Cotopaxi-Colony.blogspot.com  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.

War name - war games?

Once again, an article has been published belittling my research.

I will dissect it line by line hoping to make clarifications not afforded by the writer.

War Name by Adam Fagin.

Under the category of "Creative Nonfiction".  (see the top of the page in the link)  Is this an oxymoron? "Creative fact" - creative meaning one can take liberties with the facts? So thus it is not fact, but fiction?  From wikipedia:  "Ultimately, the primary goal of the creative nonfiction writer is to communicate information, just like a reporter, but to shape it in a way that reads like fiction."

Thus, Fagin's article is merely fiction based on fact.

Before I start, a bit of "history" between myself and Fagin.  He first emailed me on Sep 30, 2015:

My name is Adam Fagin. I'm a PhD student in Creative Writing at the University of Denver, and I'm working with Jeanne Abrams, who gave me your email address, to research the Cotopaxi settlement. I am hoping to write about the colony, but I've found that there's a dearth of primary sources related to the settlers and what transpired. It's these primary sources that I'm most interested in for my project, and I was wondering if, perhaps, you'd been able to find any additional documents. I'd also appreciate any leads or suggestions for tracking these sorts of documents down that you might have.

I received this email after Miles Saltiel had posted his bounty the first time around.  So my presumption was that this was a student wanting copies of my research in order to submit them to Miles to obtain money.....for work that I had done.

Here's what I emailed back:

 I am not sure that the Cotopaxi Colony is a topic for a creative writing class. It is a very serious historical study that will take quite some time to finalize its research.  Trust me, I have been doing research on it for at least 6 years.  A student could spend years researching this story and still not be done.  If you want to invest that much time and energy, I would consider helping.  Otherwise, it is just a story and I am not interested in that.

To which he replied:

I didn't mean to suggest that I'm not committed to Cotopaxi or to studying its history. Part of what's motivated me to study the colony is my own Jewish heritage and the commonalities between my own ancestors and the colonists, the idea of home and homeland and my own experience as part of the Jewish diaspora; so it's personal as well as professional. 
Let me also put the work I do into context for you: This research into Cotopaxi is for my PhD dissertation, the completion of which is years away. I work in a branch of literature called documentary poetics, which takes into account images, language, and documents from the past in an effort to place these things in the context of art--but an art that is committed and fully responsible to historical thought and historical fact; it is where scholarship meets language on its own level. I'm very committed to my work, and my projects take years to reach completion. My last project, for example, was about the 19th century painter and naturalist Abbott Thayer. As a naturalist, Thayer discovered the principle of counter-shading, which was used in the development of camouflage in WWI. I carefully read Thayer's entire archive, including journals, correspondence, every word he ever wrote really and produced a work equal to his thought and labors. This project took me five years to complete, and the resulting writing was published in a number of journals and magazines, some nationally reputed.
I hope the above makes clear that I'm committed to the study of Cotopaxi, to the people who lived there, and to the descendants; and I hope you can help me in this study. 

On October 15, I responded:

 Adam, if you are still interested, I will be speaking about Cotopaxi on 1/9/16 at 12:30 pm at the Pueblo public library on Abriendo.  You might benefit from the presentation for your long term research.

I did not hear from him again, and he did not attend the presentation in Pueblo.  He published his article on April 28, 2016.

It's interesting to see his take on the Fort Laramie article.  I think he did a good job.  But he stopped short.  Then he completely switches gear and starts in on Nelson Moore's emails to Miles Saltiel.  While I will not comment on these - one would like to think that emails are private between 2 individuals.  Because Fagin has published them, I presume I have Fagin's permission to publish our emails as I have done above.

He writes about me:

When I scan Jennifer Lowe’s genealogical charts of the Cotopaxi settlers, I’m therefore unnerved. Not due to what I find but because of my lack of response. Lowe’s sifted ship manifest and public record, constructing family trees brimming with names like Milstein, Schames, and Cohn. For me, these names are historical silences.

Why has Lowe,  a born-again Christian or Messianic Jew, depending who I talk to, chosen Cotopaxi for her genealogical rescue mission?  

1. I am not Jewish, but starting to wonder if I can use these allegations to make aliyah to Israel?
2. I believe and trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  But for the life of me I do not understand why my religious beliefs have a thing to do with research.  Does Fagin share his religious beliefs with us in this article? Why bring up mine?
3. "rescue mission" - this is neither a "rescue" or a "mission".  As I have often stated before, I was asked by descendants of the Colony to do this research.  And I'm interested in local history.  Why is this a question?
4. Should I be honored or just curious that Fagin is apparently talking about my religion to multiple other people?  Is this how a graduate student conducts research these days?

With every name, I feel history displaced by a present populated with thriving descendants. The themes are persistence and survival in this cheap resurrection fantasy.

I am not clear here - is Fagin referring to his cheap resurrection fantasy?

When I visit the old Cotopaxi cemetery in October, I find the graves of three settlers, all children, who’ve failed to come back from the dead. 

What is the intent of writing that they failed to come back from the dead?  Who would expect that?

At some point, the Jewish subplot was enclosed in an austere black fence. As I approach this fence, I wonder whose memory it is meant to protect–and from what? 

It's obvious that Fagin did not research this aspect at all.  If he had done so, he might know that no one had tended to these graves in 124 years.  He might understand that this fence was erected by donations received from Jewish entities.  It's well documented on Nelson's website.

A Confederate flag is planted in the pale, gold grass.  In this photo, it’s hard to tell whether the flag attends grave or fence. Maybe it’s just a trick of perspective, but this ambiguous placement enables two interpretive possibilities: support for the Confederacy and its white-supremacist ideology. Or wry commentary on Saltiel’s Confederate past as it relates to the death of these children. Which possibility is more ironic? Either way, this spatially dislocated symbol of racism is, for me, punctum, waving-in-the-wind ellipse in the ongoing narrative of the Cotopaxi settlers.Jews wanting to honor the fact that a Jewish cemetery is located at Cotopaxi.

Much ado about nothing?  This is a public cemetery.  Anyone could have placed it there.  It could be next to a confederate grave outside the fenced in Jewish area?  I do not visit the cemetery very often, so I couldn't begin to explain.  Yet Fagin takes great strides to make this look as though someone planted it there intentionally.

SEE UPDATE HERE  - FAGIN KNEW THIS WAS A CONFEDERATE GRAVE - HE COVERED UP THE CONFEDERATE MEDALLION ATTACHED TO THIS FLAG, AND HE ANGLED THE CAMERA FOR HIS PHOTOS

and in the same paragraph he adds:

“[T]heir stories will be told,” Lowe promises purposefully, “should Jehovah allow me the honor of living to do so.” But I want to account for the story, which, in its telling, can’t be told. How can I memorialize as historical process my unlocatable, unnameable present, the long march from identity to self and back.         

Is he insinuating that I put the flag there???  I did not.  And yes, I plan to tell whatever stories that I uncover - from a factual standpoint.   While I have an MBA and thus, to some extent, have experience with the academic world, I am lost as to the gibberish of this phd candidate.  Clear, concise writing based upon facts would be my preference.  One can only attempt to decipher the statement "I want to account for the story, which, in its telling, can't be told."

In an another blog post, Lowe discovers the death records for a family killed one morning in Brest Litovsk, October 15, 1942: “A brother and his wife, their children and all of their grandchildren. Another brother, all 6 of his children, and their children…. and the list just went on.” This is the Brest Ghetto liquidation, which took 50,000 lives. “Now, while this may be hard for you to read,” Lowe says, “and you may be one who has been led to believe that this didn’t really happen…. when you do genealogy and see that an entire family of 3 generations ALL died on the very same day…..you know that it is real.” I wonder how many Holocaust deniers Lowe imagines in her audience. Following Lowe’s reality check, she turns the subject to butterflies she’s made from wire and colorful swaths of fabric. These butterflies, she writes with somber self-congratulation, will memorialize the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered in the Holocaust.

Fagin did not research my art blog.  Had he done so, he would quickly find that at that time, I was promoting an event at the Houston Children's Museum called "the Butterfly Project".  At the same time, I was working with Amaco to teach artists how to use their product - Friendly Plastic. I wrote the piece about the Holocaust to educate fellow artists. Feel free to google my art blog with the word "butterfly" to see all the art submitted to Houston.

What’s the ratio of butterflies to murdered children? 1 to 1,000? Or 100,000? How many butterflies are sufficient to memorialize historical atrocity? These words are masks for memory’s future sweet as children’s dreams.

Fagin would need to contact the Houston  Museum to get his answers to that.  Does he not comprehend art?  The project was sponsored by Jews - I was just a participant hoping to promote it.  He has completely taken this out of the context it was written in.  In most cases, blogs are a continuing story from one post to another. You need to read the entire story.  And a good researcher would have done that.

Lowe’s butterflies dream away from mass death with retrospective grace. Maybe she believes she’s engaged past horrors, but she’s turned away with sickening warmth in her heart.

Again - it was an art project, nothing more.

I am descended, I think, hovering above the negative space her words open inside me. This is myhistorical condition. Like when I tell my grandfather that some people say Jews aren’t white. “Those people are anti-Semites,” he responds. In his voice, I hear conviction masking anger masking fear. Most of all, I notice his defensiveness.
Memorialize that! I want to tell Jennifer Lowe.

Which he could have done!  I find it interesting that he does not share that he has had email contact with me in the past and that he knows how to reach me.  Why didn't he contact me?  Why didn't he  ask his questions about the butterfly project?   Interesting!

Based on the title "War Name" - I have to wonder, does Fagin perceive himself at war with me?  Why does he even mention my name or refer to my posts?  Why does he question my research, my religion?  Is this because I refused to hand over my research to him?  He is a phd candidate at Denver University, the same place where Adam Rovner is collecting documents for Miles Saltiel's bounties.  Are the 3 of them at war with me because I will not turn over my findings to them?

Perhaps in the world of academia, research is freely shared.  Rovner has made it clear that I am not a "professional" researcher.  I have come to realize that the term "professional" simply means paid.  Think in terms of a "professional" athlete or a "professional" seamstress.  Paid for what they do.

I am more than happy to help anyone who wants to research Cotopaxi.  They will need to come to Canon City and I will show them where to look for documents, how to do the research, and even provide hints and tips.  For free.  That's a pretty generous offer.  Sad to say, I don't think phd candidates want to go to that much work.  They just want someone to do it for them.  So here's my offer:  anyone who wants to give me reasonable compensation for 10 years worth of research can have copies of everything I've found to date.  But then, they would have to say my research was "professional".  I don't see that happening - so I suppose the "war" will continue and others will try to discredit what I am doing.

If you'd like to send your thoughts to Fagin just click here.  And you can email me here.

update:  adam fagin is one of 2 paid researchers on Miles Saltiel's website.  That explains even more.  I was able to quickly put together a family tree for fagin.  ALL of his ancestors immigrated after 1888 (that's his earliest immigrant.)  The colony disbanded in 1884.  He does not descend from the Cotopaxi Colony.  Why is he interested in Cotopaxi?  Is Miles paying him to do his dissertation on this topic?

Click HERE for part 2 of this story.

***** c2016Cotopaxi-Colony.blogspot.com  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.

Fort Laramie, WY - E. H. Saltiel charged with mutiny, found guilty of disloyalty.

Many people have asked me about Fort Laramie when E. H. Saltiel was drummed out of the military at Fort Laramie.   William E. Unrau thoroughly researched this incident and published a lengthy article in Arizona and the West titled "Justice at Fort Laramie: The Trial and Tribulations of a Galvanized Yankee" in the summer of 1973.  I have Mr. Unrau's written permission to republish the article in it's entirety at some future point in time and would like to acknowledge the enormous amount of research he conducted in writing his article.

This is a very condensed synopsis of his article, interspersed with questions for future researchers.

As a bit of background, I need to show that in the 1861 England Census, we find E. H. Saltiel living with his mother and grandmother at 46 Crispin St, Artillery, Spitalfields, Middlesex England.  It shows he was age 16 and a "warehouseman."

Crispin St is located close to Aldgate where his grandmother, Rachel (Hart) Harris was born.  

E. H. Saltiel immigrated to America on the "Great Eastern" (ship) sailing on August 18, 1862.

He is listed as a "draper" which means he was a fabric maker.  From "foreign parts".  He is unmarried and age 18.    Being age 18 as of August 18, 1862 agrees with a date of birth of 1844.

Being a "draper" would make sense as the area where they lived in the 1861 census was an area of silk manufacture.

Here are a couple of questions for future researchers to ponder.    It has been written by others that E. H. Saltiel had a university degree and had military experience in England.  How did he do that by the age of 18?  In England, high school is sometimes called "university".  So that would explain how it has been said that he has a university degree - it is merely a high school diploma.

But the military service - how much did he have, what kind, when did he enroll?  No proof has been uncovered to date of any military service in England.  Only what he tells us in the US military records. 

In Aug, 1863, he is listed in the US Civil War Draft.  Living at 7th & Chestnut St, St Louis.  His occupation is Peddler.  His is unmarried. Shows his place of birth as “U. S.”  Age 21 in August 1863 makes him born before August 1841 and we know he was born in 1844 in England.

Is this the beginning of altering the facts?  He was not born in the US.  And being 21 would make his year of birth 1842, not 1844.

In the same year (1863) this happened at his address:

ST. LOUIS • A wagon escorted by Union soldiers pulled up to a fashionable home on Chestnut at Seventh streets. Ten women climbed on board for a clattering ride to the steamboat landing.
Among them were the wife of a Confederate general and the lady of the house, which had been converted into a prison for women accused of being disloyal. By Union decree, they were being banished to the Confederacy.
At the landing, soldiers marched them and 13 like-minded men onto the packet Belle Memphis on May 13, 1863, for a trip down the river. One month before, President Abraham Lincoln approved instructions for banishing civilians whose public sympathies were too comforting to the rebel cause.

No record has been located showing when he joined the U. S. military. But his military records show he was employed as a clerk prior to the civil war.  Nowhere else do we find that.   They also show he was a native of Alabama....again, incorrect.

E. H. Saltiel states that he was conscripted into the “rebel Army” (Confederate army) against his own will,  for service in Company B of the Third Georgia Infantry.  And later in his "career" he states that this should not have happened as he was still a member of the British forces.  Remember, no record of his enrollment in the British forces has ever been located.

Nonetheless, he was in the Confederate Army and on September 2, 1864, he was captured by Sherman’s army (Union) at Atlanta.  He became a prisoner of war.  On October 26, 1846, he was

incarcerated at the Louisville (Kentucky) prison Camp. He was placed in the "retaliation barracks" and most likely feared for his life.  From the article "Justice at Ft Laramie":

"That night, taking advantage of the slack security of the prison, he disguised himself with "a huge mustache" and a Union overcoat taken from the officer's sleeping quarters, marched across the prison yard, issued some hurried (and obviously vague) orders to the sentinel, and then boldly walked through the outer gate of the prison.  He then proceeded to the ferry landing, where he "endeavored to catch sight of the passes that all officers had to show" as they boarded the boat for New Albany.  Satisfied with the information he had obtained, he quickly walked to the home of "a banker well known in that city," where he apparently obtained the uniform of a Confederate enlisted man,  as well as papers that would allow him to identify himself as an enlisted man in the Georgia Infantry. 

Still in his Union disguise, Saltiel retraced his steps to the prison, gave the guard the proper password, and then walked body to the barracks where a group of Georgia prisoners were awaiting transportation to Camp Douglas for service with one of the Union or "Galvanized," regiments.  "The mustache and brown hair were hurried to the stove...and a plentiful supply of powder rubbed on his face and neck, and there appeared a very young and fair rebel soldier in full uniform, with remarkable dark eyes for one so fair..."  

It was at this point that Saltiel began using the name Joseph Isaacs, so that by the time he arrived at Camp Douglas (armed with the properly forged papers he had obtained in Louisville), there was no easy way to identify him with his real Confederate past."

One has to wonder how he thought he could get away with a false identity....but he did...for a time.  From this point forward, he was known as Joseph Isaacs or J. M. Isaacs.

He was next sent to Camp Douglas, IL.  This was a known Union prisoner's camp.  He took advantage of Lincoln's amnesty program and obtained release from prison by enlisting for service in Indian country, aka a "Galvanized Yankee."  He swore his allegiance to the United States.

Now an enlisted man in Company H under Capt Charles W. Ferrers, E. H. Saltiel, known as Joseph Isaacs was promoted to First Sergeant and arrived at Camp Rankin in Colorado Territory.  His Company was stationed with Company I under Capt John T. Shanks.  Isaacs (Saltiel) entertained ambitions of rapid advancement.  They were then located at Fort Laramie, Wyoming.

Ferrers and Shanks were occasionally expected to provide military escorts for civilian wagon trains.  The wagon masters paid nominal sums of money to the enlisted men for their services.  In late June, 1885, Leander Black agreed to pay $1 per day to each enlisted man in Co H & I who made the trip from Rankin to Fort Laramie with his train.  Shanks seized the money at gunpoint and the men threatened violence.  The money was returned to the men and the commanders were able to persuade their superiors that no outright theft had been attempted.  This was known as the "Black affair."

Isaacs (Saltiel) next landed a sympathetic ear to reasonable complaints voiced by the enlisted men and made sure that additional misconduct on the part of Ferrers came to the attention of the regimental Commander in Denver whom he was friends with.  Tensions between Ferrers and Isaacs (Saltiel) increased and Ferrers saw Isaacs (Saltiel) mounting influence in company affairs as a threat to his own position.  

An August 12, 1865, Ferrers placed Isaacs (Saltiel) under arrest after a confrontation in which Isaacs (Saltiel's) words were considered a direct attack on Ferrers.  Ferraris then searched Isaacs (Saltiel's) quarters and discovered private correspondence that might terminate Isaacs (Saltiel's) military career.  This included papers showing his real name was Emanuel H. Saltiel, he was and Englishman, an Officer of Cadet in the Tenth Tower Hamlet Riflemen in England....and that his loyalty was with England.  

More words/threats ensued and Isaacs (Saltiel) found himself confined to the Fort Laramie guardhouse awaiting a general court-martial  The charges were:

1) mutiny and sedition, carrying a possible death sentence

2) encouraging desertion

3) entertaining and promulgating disloyal sentiments.

His trial began November 13, 1865.  In the interim, he did hard labor.  He was kept in irons.  During his trial, E. H. Saltiel said that he had fought under the confederate flag for 3 years.  The trial was quite involved with much testimony. 

The mutiny, sedition and desertion charges were dropped.  He was found guilty of 2 counts of disloyalty to the government.  His sentence was "to be reduced to the ranks and to be publicly drummed out of the service of the U. S. and forfeit all pay now due him and be marched outside the garrison to the tune of the Rogue's March." This happened in May, 1866.

Saltiel openly stated that his allegiance was with England.  This is after he had pledged his allegiance to the US in order to take advantage of Lincoln's amnesty program and join the Union Army in Indian territory.  The charges he was found guilty of were justified.  Today, it might not mean much to pledge your allegiance to a country, but in 1866 - it was a significant crime.

Of note is that he was never charged with using a false identity in the Army.  While he did this to potentially escape death while in the retaliation camp, keep in mind that he was a prisoner, who escaped prison, obtained the false identity papers, came back and used this identity to escape death.

While he was not found guilty of mutiny, he was charged with that.  Mutiny in the Civil War had to be considered a great crime in this country.  I assume that if HEAS had known any of this, they would not have allowed the Jews to come to Cotopaxi.

I will let you decide the character flaws in this man....but it is becoming more and more apparent that at a very young  age, he was incapable of being truthful. He was just 21 years old when he was drummed out of the military at Fort Laramie.

***** c2016Cotopaxi-Colony.blogspot.com  All content is copyright protected and may not be copied, reproduced, reused or reposted in any manner without permission.