The Outpost 
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SALT CREEK CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE 
VOLUME XLIII No. 10 June 2006 
392nd Regular Meeting 

DATE: 2nd June 2006 
PLACE: Lisle Hilton, 3003 Corporate West Dr., Lisle/Naperville 
TIME: 6:30 P.M. Cash Bar, 7:30 P.M. Dinner, 8:30 P.M. Speaker 
SPEAKER: Dr. Gordon Dammann 
TOPIC: “Civil War Medicine-an Overview” 

Our previously scheduled speaker, Patrick Brennan, is currently receiving medical 
treatment and is there fore unable to appear at the year-end banquet. Fortunately, Dr. 
Gordon Dammann has graciously consented to step into the breach at this late date. We 
owe him a debt of gratitude. Those of you who remember his previous presentation to 
our roundtable will be looking forward with a great deal of excitement! The topic for 
his presentation is : “Civil War Medicine-An Overview”. Gordon will cover surgical 
procedures, embalming, and the “war on disease” as they were understood at the time 
of the Civil War 

Gordon E. Dammann is a graduate of Loyola University School of Dentistry, and 
maintains a practice in Lena, Illinois, where he lives with his wife, Karen. Gordon is a 
long-time member of the Civil War Round Table of Chicago and will be the recipient of 
the Nevins-Freeman Award later this year. Gordon is also well known for the founding 
of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland. A visit to that 
museum is time well spent, and you can “visit” by way of the web-site: 
www.civilwarmed.org. He has also published several books on the topic of “Civil War 
Medical Instruments and Equipment” The SCCWRT is proud to welcome this 
distinguished scholar-physician. 

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MAY MEETING 

BY 

CINDY INTRAVARTOLO 
(With assist by Rick Zarr and Dan McCarthy) 

On May 5th, 41 members and guests 
of the Salt Creek Creek Civil War Round 
Table attended a presentation by Phil 
Lauricella, “A Magic Lantern Slide 
Show of the 50th Anniversary 
Gettysburg Reunion.” 

The feeling of attending an actual 
event from the early part of the last 
century was heightened when Phil 
informed us that the projector he was 
using had been manufactured by the 
Eastman-Kodak Company in 1897-98, 
and retained the original 500-watt light 
bulb and the original wiring. 

The Magic Lantern was the successor 
technology to the camera obscura device, 
a darkened room with a pinhole in the 
surroundings to allow a small amount 
of light, in front of which was held an 
object that was thereby projected onto a 
screen. The effect was basically the 
same as children making shadow 
puppets in front of a projector screen 
today. This technology was known to 
the Egyptians and Romans and 
remained the same until about 1420. 

In that year, Giovanni di Fontana, an 
Italian, put together a chimneystack, 
candle, and lens to project an image. 
This was considered devilry and magic 
by the Church and was duly 
condemned by that organization. In 
about 1640, a Jesuit priest named 
Anastasius Kirchner violated the 
Church’s laws by manufacturing many 
camera obscura projectors. He even 
wrote a book on these. He managed to 
grind the lenses very fine so that an 
actual image could be projected rather 

than just something dark. At about the 
same time, the Dutch astronomer 
Christian Huygens worked out the 
mathematics of the lenses. He worked 
with another man, a mathematician, to 
project a work they called, “The Music 
of the Spheres”, a representation of the 
planets. The famous diarist, Samuel 
Pepys, was a customer of these kinds of 
shows. 

As time went on, more and more 
improvements were made in the 
technology. Johannes Song began using 
the technique in his clocks. When the 
clock struck the hour, an image, 
appropriate to that hour, would be 
projected on the wall. Even the Royal 
Society of London became interested 
now, and these things became a form of 
entertainment. 

As always, when some technology 
becomes popular, people start using it 
to scare other people. This was the birth 
of “Phantasmagoria” shows. In the time 
of Louis XVI, a Frenchman named 
Etienne Robbertson began projecting 
images onto smoke. This gave the 
images a life-like appearance as the 
smoke swirled and dissipated. The 
effect was very scary. People began 
paying big money to see these shows 
and sometimes they would be projected 
from behind a translucent screen, which 
gave a 3-D effect. Robbertson became 
very famous and rich. Of course, as 
usual, he was then accused of stealing 
the idea. It was he who brought the 
technique to the common people 
throughout Europe. As a traveling 

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showman, he put wheels on his 
projectors so he could move them and 
changed the name from 
“Phantasmagorascope” to “Fantascope”. 
He gave fantasy to the masses. Mass 
advertising was done in the form of 
handbills and the shows became 
enormously popular. In fact, they were 
the origin of vaudeville shows in 
England. Opening nights would see 
people dressed as fantastic creatures 
mingling with the projected images. 

Other showmen now began bringing 
biblical shows to the churches and there 
grew to be so many of these devices that 
the price came way down and more and 
more showmen were able to come into 
the business. Robbertson began losing 
money and, now, an unfortunate thing 
happened that put him out of business. 
He was employed by Louis XVI during 
the French Revolution. On a 
particularly foggy night, Louis paid 
Robbertson to project images of demons 
onto the fog. The idea was to convince 
the people that the Church was bringing 
down these creatures upon them 
because of their threats to the monarch. 
The ploy failed as people became more 
riled up thinking the king had called 
down these creatures. 

Ordinary people began buying these 
machines and showing their own 
cellulose slides. These were mostly 
made of the membranes of sheep 
intestines sandwiched between two 
glass slides to keep the air from getting 
to them and causing the cellulose to 
deteriorate. Soon, with the advent of 
photography, photographs could be 
transferred from glass to cellulose and 
actual images used. “Professors” took 
these all around Europe and the great 
universities began offering degrees in 
the craft. It is now that the shows were 
brought to America and these, along 
with minstrel shows, became the 
entertainment Americans craved. Magic 

Lanterns became the precursors to 
everything from slide projectors to 
streaming web video. 

Ably assisted by Jason Kladiva, Mr. 
Lauricella began the show using an 
actual script from the time. Sort of the 
“Movietone News” of the day. The first 
slide was generally a patriotic tableau 
during which the audience would stand 
and sing a favorite song or “The Star 
Spangled Banner”. There were then 
scores of slides, hand-operated, from 
Lincoln’s Philadelphia speech of Feb. 22, 
1861, through the personalities, scenes, 
and maps of the Gettysburg Campaign, 
a tour of significant monuments, the 
50th reunion and 10 or 12 of 
indeterminate subject but thought to be 
of the 75th reunion of 1938. The 
SCCWRT gives vociferous thanks to 
Phil Lauricella for this walk through 
technological and Civil War history. 
BTW, MAX COME AND GET YOUR 
SLIDES! -Phil 


PRESERVATION REPORT 

BY 

LEN OVERCASH, SR. 

(With Assist by Gale Pewitt) 
JOHNSON’S ISLAND, OH-As of 
3/4/06 the Friends and Descendants of 
Johnson’s Island Prison Depot has a 
$264,639.32 mortgage on 17.1 acres of 
the island at $2296 a month. They also 
have grants worth $50,000 payable by 
June of ’07. The purchase price was 
$350,000 at 10.5% with penalty for 
advance payment. The bank (5th/3rd) 
refused to renew the 3-yr. note figuring 

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the association would go belly-up, as 
the previous developer did. The 
organization got a 6.5% loan from SKY 
Bank for $293,000. The Treasurer of the 
“Friends”, Mr. Rex Felton and a Dr. 
Bush have co-signed the note. CWPT 
sponsored a “clean-up day” which 
accomplished a lot; however, they are 
constrained by their focus on 
“battlefield” preservation from 
contributing any funds. The Friends 
are, as you might guess, aggressively 
seeking funds, not only to pay off the 
note, but also to place a fence around 
the property with information signage. 
Heidelberg College is raising funds for 
Johnson’s Island work. 
(http://www.heidelberg.edu/johnsonsi 
sland/. 


THE 

VACANT 

CHAIR 

It is the sad duty of 
this newsletter to report the passing of 
member and Sgt. at Arms Ron Kumnick. 
His good humor, depth of knowledge, 
and plain good sense will be missed. 
The SCCWRT extends its deepest 
condolences to his wife, Delores, and 
daughters Linda, Kathleen, and Amy. 


ALL 

FOR THE 

UNION 

Seen a good movie lately? If not, go to 
the Arcada Theater, North Ave. at the 
Fox River, St. Charles, IL.., Sat. 5/27 at 
6:00 P.M. for the World Premiere of the 
Civil War movie, “Prairie Rose” for its 
only area showing before it hits the film 

festival circuit. Last months speaker; 
Phil Lauricella is featured as the evil 
“Dr. Bluel”. More info. at: 
www.prairierosemovie.com. 
EDITOR’S 


NOTES 

The SCCWRT welcomes new member 
Robert J. Vanderwagen of Downers 
Grove. Glad you’re coming along for 
the ride, pard! 

Everyone Have a Safe, Enjoyable, 
and Relaxing Summer! 


CALENDAR OF EVENTS 

August 5th-97th Regimental Band 
Concert at Methodist Campground, Des 
Plaines. 
Sept.1-Kurt Carlson-Pat Cleburne 
October 6-Bill Hupp-Virtual Battlefield 
Tour 

The Salt Creek Civil War Roundtable 

www.saltcreekcwrt.org. 
President: Rick Zarr 
Vice-President: Gil Mitchell 
Treasurer: Bill Hupp 
Secretary: Jan Rasmussen 
Historian: Cindy Intravartolo 
Sgt. At Arms: Ron Kumnick 
Meeting Liaison: Mary Lord 
Newsletter Editor: Dan McCarthy, 4358 
Lawn Ave., Western Springs, IL,60558. 
708-246-7873, macarthaig@aol.com 

Newsletter Staff: Cindy Intravartolo, Len 
Overcash Sr., Jan Rasmussen 

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