Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years.
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When I was a kid during the early 1940s, one of my favorite places in town was Bert Sawyer’s house at the corner of West Fourth and Cedar Streets. I lived only a short distance away on Fifth Street.
Going to Bert’s house, was better than going to the playground because there were so many fun things to do there. There was a tennis court in the backyard. There was also a basketball hoop at one end. Then there was Bert’s tree house, a two-story structure that even had electric lighting. And if it was raining, he had a pool table it his basement.
There was one other attraction – a sandbox. I think Bert’s dad, Elwood, built it for Bert’s little sister, Mary, but I never saw her use it. In fact, I hardly ever saw anyone use it. It just sat there behind the garage.
I remember one day, however, when I spent a couple of hours at that sandbox with a friend of mine named Fi McAllister. You may remember Fi from a column I wrote quite some time ago. He was the boy next door who could fold up his ears and stick them inside his head so it looked like he had no ears. Then, using only his facial muscles, he could pop his ears back out, one at a time, or both together. I mean, that kid was really talented.
Fi was a history buff. I think he knew more about the Civil War then anyone else I ever met. You could name any Civil War battle, and he could tell you all about it … you know, where and when it took place, who the generals were, how many casualties there were and all kind of details like that.
One day Fi asked me to bring my toy soldiers to the sandbox. I had 40 or 50 of them, as I had collected them for years. Fi’s idea was to use the sandbox as a teaching tool. He would create a model of the battlefield in the sand, and use it, with my toy soldiers, to show how the battle took place.
I don’t remember what battle it was, but Fi constructed a long sloping hillside at one end of the sandbox. At the other end, he dug a river in the sand. All of the Union troops were assembled on the hillside. The Confederate troops were near the river.
General Grant led his soldiers down the hillside, forcing the confederate troops to retreat. Finally, with their backs to the river, they started a counterattack, and the two sides tried to out maneuver each other. All of this happened about 80 years ago, so I don’t remember a lot of the details. But in the end, General Grant’s Union troops won the battle.
Over the years, I learned a lot from Fi McAllister. The last I heard of him he was a history professor at some California college. I bet he was their expert on the Civil War. Of course he had to do it without the aid of Bert Sawyer’s sandbox. That’s too bad because it was a great teaching tool.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at bill@davidwboyd.com