From grave
Pasadena’s Civil War history comes to life in museum’s annual ‘Walk Through Time’
By Nyrie Chaparian 10/30/2008
During and after the Civil War, many who had fought decided to head west to California.
Many Union soldiers, their families and members of the abolitionist movement settled here, establishing homes and businesses and shaping the character of Pasadena and Altadena before these communities were even named.
This weekend, the Pasadena Museum of History and Pasadena Playhouse are teaming up to present a theatrical event that will bring some of these interesting characters to life.
“Shadows of Blue and Gray: California Stories of the Civil War,” the museum’s fourth annual “Walk Through Time” event, takes place at s Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, where more Civil War veterans (500 Union and 14 Confederate) are buried than any other California cemetery of its size.
At the cemetery, actors will portray five key figures from the Civil War era: scientist and inventor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, for whom Mt. Lowe is named; Ruth Brown Thompson, daughter of Harper’s Ferry raid leader John Brown (and brother of Owen Brown, who also lived here); Bridget “Biddy” Mason, a slave who won her freedom and became one of LA County’s wealthiest early residents; Eliza Griffin Johnston, whose husband fought in the Mexican War then died a general in the Confederate army; and Thomas Foulds Ellsworth, a war hero chosen to lead one of the first black regiments in the Union Army.
Lowe, Thompson and Ellsworth are buried at Mountain View.
The event, said community organizer Christle Balvin, “deals with women as well as men and the impact of the Civil War upon them, and also deals with the issue of race and [questions of] what we resolved through the Civil War.”
One of the more compelling tales is Mason’s. She and her daughters came to California and successfully petitioned the courts for their freedom, after which Mason went on to become a nurse and one of the first African-Americans to own land in Southern California — eventually a lot of land, making her one of the wealthiest women in the area and a sought-out philanthropist.
For those in Pasadena’s lauded scientific community, Lowe may be considered a founding father. During the Civil War, Lowe aided the Union Army as civilian chief aeronaut of the Union Army Balloon Corps, which won him the title of “the single most shot-at man in the war” by poet Carl Sandburg. After making a fortune in utilities-related inventions, he came to Pasadena to retire but ended up building the Mount Wilson Railroad.
Performances for “A Walk Through Time” take place at 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at Mountain View Cemetery, 2400 Fair Oaks Ave., Altadena. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling (800) 838-3006 or visiting pasadenahistory.org.
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