Amos Bennett, First African-American Settler

Amos Bennett was the county's first African-American settler, arriving in Gurnee by the fall of 1835.

Despite this remarkable distinction, Bennett's story was sparsely documented in early histories and went unresearched by historians until the 1990s. The discovery that sparked the museum's groundbreaking primary research on Bennett occurred in 1993 when museum volunteer Al Westerman was researching land records at the Lake County Recorder of Deeds. There, Westerman came across records of Bennett's land purchases. The find aroused curiosity since local legend and one published history claimed that Bennett had been merely a "squatter" and not a land owner.

If the squatting story was incorrect, what else might we find about this pioneering settler? The research eventually took myself and Al Westerman to Delhi, New York, where we met historian Shirley Houck, who was also interested in the Bennett Family story.

Amos Bennett (1797-post 1852) was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, to enslaved parents Timothy Bennett and Lil Disbrow Bennett. In 1799, Timothy and Lil were given a manumission paper freeing them "by the consent" of their enslaver, Joseph Bennett. The Bennetts then moved their family to Delhi, New York, taking the paper verifying their freedom and safe passage with them. The Bennetts became the first free Blacks to settle in Delhi and leased property in an area known as the Hardenburgh Patent on Federal Hill. They worked as sheep shearers, laborers, and farmers.

Elijah Haines wrote in his Past & Present of Lake County, Illinois (1877) that Bennett arrived in 1834. He "was a colored man, and the first of the African race who came to what is now Lake County; he is said to have once remarked, with much self-satisfaction, speaking apparently with reference to the Indians, that he was the first white man that ever planted corn in Lake County. He was a very intelligent man and much respected."

Gravemarker for Miles Bennett, the brother of Amos Bennett. Bennett Family Cemetery, Delhi, NY. 

Photo courtesy of Shirley Houck.

However, I believe that Amos Bennett left for Lake County, Illinois, in the fall of 1835. He left behind his parents and siblings, including a twin brother, Almon. His first wife, Clara, and their children, Henry and Emily, likely joined him after he settled in Illinois. This timeline follows the last record of Amos Bennett in Delhi, which is dated August 28, 1835, when he paid a portion of his father’s lease.

Historian John Halsey also felt that the 1835 date was likely. Halsey stated in his county history of 1912 that Amos arrived "before the close of 1835," settling "on the River above Vardin's Grove [Libertyville]."

Others have speculated that Bennett came west much later and may have been part of the westward migration of 100 families from Delhi that settled in the Gurnee area. This group included Philip Blanchard, a friend and neighbor to Bennett, and an abolitionist.

Bennett built a log cabin southwest of the intersection of Washington Street and Milwaukee Avenue in Gurnee. He later had a house and property on Dilley’s Road north of Grand Avenue near today’s Gurnee Mills. His brother Alfred (1805-1881) and his family lived with him for a time in Gurnee and purchased property in what is now Greenbelt Forest Preserve. Alfred later moved his family to Ottawa County, Michigan.

Amos Bennett owned 148 acres in Lake County. He sent his children to the local one-room school. Bennett was known as Dr. Bennett for his healing skill with herbs. He is reported to have saved the life of Hannah Blanchard (wife of Philip) after she was struck by lightning.

According to primary research by Debra Mieszala, in the spring of 1840, Bennett appeared at the first session of the circuit court in Libertyville. His complaint? He wanted a divorce from his wife, Clara. Mieszala's published article on the proceedings "Clara, Clary, Clarice! Amos Bennett's First Wife Identified Through the Use of Court Records," appeared in the Lake County Illinois Genealogical Society newsletter, (Volume 21, No. 4, Apr-Jun 2001) excerpted as follows:

"Amos told the court that he had married his present wife, Clara, in the State of New York in July 1820. He stated that in July 1836, Clara had committed adultery with Thomas Wilkinson, a Mr. Wood, and other persons unknown to Amos.... he "remonstrated" against the "wicked practices of said Clary," and as a result, she left him. Clara removed to Cook County, where Amos claimed she was living with other men... The case was found in Amos's favor in April 1841."

By 1843, Bennett remarried. The story is that he "traveled south," and when he returned, he brought a new wife, Ann Frances. 

In August 1843, Bennett ran (unsuccessfully) for public office as Lake County Commissioner against William Shephard, Seth Washburn, and Stephen Bennett. This makes him the first African-American to run for public office in Lake County.

He and his children were welcome at community gatherings, including a Fourth of July celebration at Third Lake in 1844. It was the first Fourth of July celebration in Lake County and was held at the confluence of Second and Third Lakes (northwest of Washington Street and U.S. Route 45). Nearly 100 people gathered from neighboring communities, including the Bennetts. When dinner was ready, all the families paraded in a circle and came together at the chowder kettle, where Reverend Dodge (Millburn Congregational Church) blessed the food. After the meal, Reverend Dodge prayed for the freedom of the slaves in the South, and Nat Doust read a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1846, Bennett and 30 other families pooled their money, purchased a three-acre tract of land, and created the Warren Township Cemetery.

Bennett bought and sold many acres of land and borrowed money using his land, horses, and a wagon as collateral. The last record documenting Bennett in Lake County is dated May 13, 1852. That is the day he sold his remaining land (40 acres) to Philip Blanchard for $200 and paid his mortgage.

Despite much effort, the story of Amos Bennett ends in 1852. We have been unable to discover what became of him and his family. Although at least one source claimed he moved to Wisconsin, the Bennetts do not appear in census records there or elsewhere in the United States. It would probably take visits to county courthouses to find records verifying where Bennett re-settled his family.

Delhi, New York historian Shirley Houck (1926-2013), visiting the Bennett Cemetery on Federal Hill near Delhi. 

Photo courtesy of Shirley Houck.

In 1997, the Lake County Forest Preserves placed a memorial plaque commemorating Bennett along the Des Plaines River trail near Washington Street in Gurnee.

In 1997, the Lake County Forest Preserves honored Amos Bennett by placing a plaque near the site of his homestead in Gurnee. 

Photo courtesy of LCFPD. 

In 2008, descendants of Tim and Lill Bennett gathered in Delhi, New York, for a family reunion. 

In 2023, the Village of Gurnee and Warren Township High School's Black Student Union dedicated a new plaque to Bennett at the historic Mother Rudd Home site in Gurnee. 

The Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County staff continues researching the Amos Bennett Family. We would very much like to hear from descendants or historians with more information. 

- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org

The Treaty of Chicago, September 26, 1833

The private ownership of land was a European convention unfamiliar to Native Americans. Land came down to tribes from their ancestors, and in turn they passed over the stewardship to their children and their children's children for countless generations.

American Historian, Clarence Walworth Alvord (1868-1928), wrote: "To allow the whites to use the land was one thing; to cede to them the permanent possession of the land was quite different."

Westward migration by Euro-American settlers after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 (which connected the Great Lakes with New York City via the Hudson River), put pressure on the U.S. Government to expropriate lands from Native peoples. The Erie Canal increased efforts to open northeastern Illinois to non-native settlement and brought hundreds of settlers into Michigan and Illinois.

Often, mistakenly, the Treaty of Prairie du Chien (there were four between 1825-1830) is cited as the reason Native Americans left northeastern Illinois. In fact, it was not until the Treaty of Chicago in 1833 when their Natives lands were expropriated. 

The Treaty of Chicago brought an estimated three thousand Native Americans, traders, government officials, army troops, land speculators, and adventurers to Chicago, then a small village. Aptakisic (Ah-be-te-ke-zhic) of the Half Day area Potawatomi was one of the leaders present.

American author, Washington Irving (1783-1859), and Englishman, Charles J. Latrobe (1801-1875) (shown at right) happened to be in Chicago at the time of the treaty. (LaTrobe later became the first lieutenant-governor of the colony of Victoria in Australia).

LaTrobe wrote about the event extensively in his book, "The Rambler in North America," published in London in 1835, and excerpted here from John J. Halsey's "History of Lake County, Illinois" (1912). Latrobe noted that the tribal chiefs did not wish to sell their land, but the U.S. commissoner said, "That nevertheless, as they had come together for a council, they must take the matter into consideration."

Latrobe wrote of the scene on September 21, 1833: "The council fire was lighted under a spacious open shed on the green meadow, on the opposite side of the river from that on which the fort stood, [near the north end of the present Rush Street Bridge in Chicago]... Even though convinced of the necessity of their removal, my heart bled for them in their desolation and decline... and their speedy disappearance from the earth appears as certain as though it were already sealed and accomplished." 

Cover page from "Treaty of Chicago" 1833. National Archives at Chicago. 

Indeed, by September 26, 1833, the treaty was signed between the U.S. Government and the United Nation of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians. Five million acres were sold to the United States including the last tracts of Native occupied Great Lakes’ land.

The treaty stipulated that these tribes resettle west of the Mississippi River by the time the treaty was ratified by the U.S. Congress, which did not occur until 1835. However, fewer than half of the Potawatomi moved onto reservations in western Missouri and Kansas. Some went north into Canada, while others resettled in northern Michigan and Wisconsin.

Settlement of the newly ceded land was not to occur until the treaty was ratified in 1835. Notably, the county's first Euro-American settler, Daniel Wright, arrived in 1833. Wright fondly recalled that Native people assisted him with building his first cabin and in planting crops along the Des Plaines River near today's Lincolnshire. 

Native Americans returned to Lake County for decades after the Treaty of Chicago to hunt and to honor their ancestors. Today, people from many tribal nations call the Chicago region home, and continue to sustain their cultures, languages and traditions. 

Revolutionary War Veterans

In 1928, the Daughters of the American Revolution designated two Revolutionary War veterans buried in Lake County–Henry Collins and Reuben Hill.

"Battle of Lexington" April 19, 1775.
Postcard circa 1910, Curt Teich Postcard Archives G1274.

The American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) was the culmination of a political revolution in which the thirteen united former British colonies rejected the right of Great Britain’s Parliament to govern them and formed a Continental Army to fight for independence.

Henry Collins (1763 – 1847) was born in Southborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts. He enlisted from Southborough on March 3, 1781, at the age of 16 years and 10 months, when a levy was placed on the town to supply a number of men for the army.

These men were mustered in at Sutton, Massachusetts. Henry served in a company commanded by Captain Sewall in the regiment commanded by Colonel Ebenezer Sprout (1752–1805). From Sutton the regiment was marched to Springfield, Massachusetts, and from there to West Point.

Portrait of Ebenezer Sproat (aka Sprout), from "History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts," by Thomas Weston, 1906.

Henry Collins served his two year enlistment in the same regiment, and was discharged at West Point in December 1783 at the end of the war. Collins' discharge was signed by General Henry Knox.

After the war, Collins lived in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Canada. In 1832, he returned from Canada to Vermont where he applied for a war pension. He was placed on the pension rolls of Vermont at the rate of $80 per year.

In 1844, Collins moved to Lake County, Illinois with his son Joseph H. Collins. They settled on land in Newport Township along Edwards Road east of Hunt Club Road.

On April 10, 1847, Henry Collins died and became the first burial at Mount Rest Cemetery. The cemetery is located just south of the State Line on the Skokie Road. His son Joseph left Lake County in 1855 and re-settled in Iowa.

In 1964, the American Legion Post of Gurnee added a new marker to his grave which mistakenly stated that Collins was the “only American Revolutionary Service Man buried in Lake County.”

Reuben Hill (1765 - 1858) was born in Goshen, Connecticut. While living in New York State, he enlisted in the fall of 1780, at the age of fifteen, with Captain Shaw’s Company. He enlisted twice more with different companies and was discharged as a private on January 1, 1783. In 1834, he successfully applied for a military pension.

About 1840, Reuben's son, Seth Hill, purchased property in Wauconda Township, Lake County. It is probable that the entire family, including Reuben and his wife Patience, came west at that time. In the 1850 census, Reuben and Patience, both aged 85, are living with their son's family. The family farm was in Section 25, along Route 176, south of Bangs Lake.

The Hills are buried at the Wauconda Cemetery.

I came across one more mention of a Revolutionary War veteran. The Biddlecome School History (Newport Township), written in 1918 by students, lists Oded Eddy as a veteran having "served seven years" in the war. However, Oded never lived in Lake County.

Elijah Eddy, grandson of Revolutionary War veteran, Oded Eddy.

Oded Eddy (senior) was the grandfather of Newport Township settler, road commissioner, and Biddlecome School director, Elijah Eddy (1821-1902). I believe the children mentioned Oded on their list of veterans, simply because of the connection to their school's former director.

Oded served as a lieutenant in the Continental Army from 1776 to 1778 (and not for seven years as the children stated). He died in Oneida, NY in 1825.

Philip Brand, the Man Who Shaved Lincoln

In March and April of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was in Chicago attending sessions of the United States District Court, as counsel for the defendants in the "Sand Bar" case, which involved rights over sand bars along the Lake Michigan coast. By then, Lincoln was frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for the presidency, and it was thought he would be nominated at the Republican convention in May.

Lincoln received frequent invitations to speak, and accepted one from the citizens of Waukegan as presented by his friends and fellow attorneys, Elisha Ferry (also Mayor of Waukegan) and Henry Blodgett.

The day of the speech—April 2, 1860—Lincoln rode up to Waukegan on the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, accompanied by Illinois Senator, Norman B. Judd.

View of Brand's barber shop at 57 Genesee Street, Waukegan. Circa 1870. 

Miltimore family photo, Ancestry.com

That afternoon, Lincoln got a shave at Philip Brand’s barber shop on Genessee Street. In 1860, Brand's shop was new, since he had just immigrated from Germany the year before. How Lincoln came into Brand's shop is not known, but his patronage certainly increased the shop's business thereafter.  

Philip Brand, circa 1860. Miltimore family photo.

Brand (1840-1914) was a German immigrant from the Hesse region and came to Waukegan in 1859. His sense for business and a visit by Lincoln did a good deal to making his clientele grow. In the years to come, Brand's shop served Waukegan's elite businessmen. He eventually built a three-story building for his business interests, which included a bath house complete with bathtubs, shaving and hairdressing facilities.  

Brand was rightfully proud that Abraham Lincoln had come to him for a shave. Brand even stated that he was the last man to shave Lincoln. This claim to fame stuck with him for the rest of his life. However, it would have been more accurate had Brand said he was one of the last to shave him, since Lincoln grew his famous beard months after his visit to Waukegan. 

Lincoln was encouraged to grow a beard by 11-year old Grace Bedell of Westfield, New York. In a now famous letter dated October 15, 1860, Grace wrote: " I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin." In his reply of October 19, Lincoln wrote: "As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now?" 

On the evening of April 2, 1860, hundreds of Waukeganites attended Lincoln's speech at Dickinson's Hall, including Philip Brand, William Besley (brewer), and George Lyon (store clerk). Lincoln spoke of the wrong of slavery, and that the country was half slavery and half freedom, and no government divided against itself in such manner could stand.

J.W. Hull, also in attendance, recalled that "While [Lincoln] was speaking, such was the sledge-hammer force of his logic, that we forgot the humble appearance and the squeaky voice, and were carried away by the man's simple eloquence, his power of reasoning...."

Twenty minutes into the speech, word came that there was a fire at the Case Warehouse at the North Pier. Elisha Ferry rose and said that he believed the alarm was a Democratic plot to break up the meeting. Lincoln in turn said, "Well, gentlemen, let us all go, as there really seems to be a fire, and help put it out." Local legend states that indeed, Lincoln helped to extinguish the blaze, ruining his suit in the process.

It has also been said that Lincoln promised to come back to finish his speech another time, but he never made it back to Waukegan.

A white-haired Philip Brand standing at the front of his shop on Genesee Street, circa 1895. 

Dunn Museum 2010.24

Philip Brand continued as a barber until his retirement about 1900 when he leased his building to the Waukegan Savings Bank Company. Lake County Independent, Libertyville, IL, 16 February 1900.

News of Philip Brand's death on May 11, 1914 made headlines in the Waukegan Daily Sun. Newspapers.com

Though it seemed Brand's barber shop was lost to time, in the spring of 1964, the shop was re-discovered during excavation work on Genesee Street. J.W. Peterson plumbers were digging a hole under the street and unexpectedly found barber mugs, bearing the names of former citizens.

J.W. Peterson and Einar Christensen on site of discovery of Brand's barber shop, 1964. 

News-Sun Collection, Dunn Museum.

Brand barber mug for G.P. Fleming, circa 1890. Note cement inside the mug. 

Dunn Museum 70.83.6

Brand barber mug for George R. Lyon, circa 1890. 

Lyon attended Lincoln's speech at Dickinson's Hall and served in the Civil War. 

He took over his father's general store in 1893, served on the county board 1886-1887, and state legislature 1896-1900. 

Dunn Museum 70.83.7

Robert Vogel, the director of the Lake County Museum of History in Wadsworth was notified about the discovery. Vogel managed to dig out other mugs and barber bottles, which became part of his museum's collection. 

Brand barber mug for Chase E. Webb, circa 1890. 

Webb was a Civil War veteran, Lake County Sheriff (1886-1890), and Chief of Police in Waukegan (1891-1897). 

Dunn Museum 70.83.1

The barber shop, which had originally been on the first floor of the building, was moved at some point to the basement. It was filled in when Genesee Street was widened and paved. 

The surviving mugs are in remarkably good condition considering the circumstances, and are part of the permanent collections of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County (formerly the Lake County Discovery Museum).



Sources: 

• Currey, J. Seymour. “Mr. Lincoln’s Visit to Waukegan in 1860.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1911): 178-183.
• "Waukegan: Doings at the County Seat of Interest to Our Readers." Lake County Independent, Libertyville, IL, 16 February 1900. 
• "City Shocked to Learn of Death of Phillip Brand." The Daily Sun, Waukegan, Illinois, May 12, 1914.
• "Unearth Shop of Man Who Shaved Lincoln," Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1964. 
• Collections of the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County. 

Bonner Heritage Farm, Lindenhurst

One landmark to Lake County's agricultural past is the Bonner Heritage Farm in Lindenhurst, operated by the Lake County Forest Preserves through the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County. Five generations of Bonners lived and worked this farm from 1842 to 1991, farming up to 1,000 acres of land and caring for a herd of up to 100 cows.

The farm was homesteaded by William Bonner (1815 - 1881) and Margaret Gordon Bonner (1810 - 1895) of Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

William Bonner (1815 - 1881) built the main barn, carpenter's shop and two houses on the historic Bonner Farm site. Photo courtesy of the Bonner Family.

In 1840, they settled in Somers, Wisconsin, approximately 23 miles north. Two years later, William purchased the property on Sand Lake Road in today's Lindenhurst for its "good supply of trees." William was a carpenter by trade and built many homes and barns in the area using the trees from this property.

Barn section at right with peaked roof is the original main barn constructed by William Bonner, circa 1842.

The first building William constructed on the farm was the main barn used for housing five cows and storing hay.

Bonner used hewn oak and hickory from the property to build the 40' x 44' barn. To this day it is the most important building on site, and is possibly the oldest surviving “great barn” in Lake County. The term “great barn” refers to the period between 1840 and 1910 when many large barns were constructed in the United States. East face of William Bonner's main barn.

View of north face of the great barn complex. (above) The concrete stave silos were constructed by a commercial company. The east silo (at left) was constructed in 1932 and connected to the milking hall by a small gable roofed structure that was modified when the second silo was added around 1950.

Over a 100-year time span, the main barn was expanded with five additions and two silos. Each generation added onto the barn, to accommodate more cows and refrigeration equipment, reflecting the farm’s growth from a small herd of dairy cows to a herd of up to 100 cows and heifers in the 1950s.

Other structures on site built by William Bonner include a carpenter's shop and two farmhouses (one for his family and one for his brother James’ family). A portion of the carpenter's shop (right), was used as a granary. The building also has original blacksmith forged iron hinges and handmade nails reaffirming this as one of the oldest buildings on site.


The chicken weathervane (above) was found in the carpenter's shop in 2003. "Shorty" Bonner confirmed that the weathervane belonged to William Bonner and had been on top of the cupola of the main barn in the 1800s. Its date is unknown, but pre-dates William's death in 1881. A metal conservator assessed the weathervane's condition and determined that it is beyond the capabilities of current conservation technology to repair. It is now in the museum's temperature-humidity controlled storage.

In 1965, William's great-grandson, Howard "Shorty" Bonner (1918-2009), sold off the dairy herd when his son John went off to college. The Bonners continued to actively farm the property until 1991. Shorty Bonner and his sons, Bruce and John, carving pumpkins on the porch, circa 1951. Courtesy of the Bonner Family.

In 1995, the Bonner Family donated 8.5 acres of the farm, including the buildings to the Lake County Forest Preserves. Since 2004, the public has enjoyed self-guided, interactive outdoor exhibits on site about the Bonners and the buildings, and school programs are offered on a regular basis, focusing on agricultural topics.

Bonner Farm Country Fair, Lindenhurst. Photo by Joyce Dever.

Edward Amet's Films, 1896-1898

Edward Amet’s contributions to the early motion picture industry included the invention of the first practical 35mm motion picture projector—the Amet Magniscope—and the pioneering of special effects in motion pictures.

In last week’s post, I wrote about Amet’s wonderful Magniscope, which was completed in 1894 and ready for production in 1895.

This Magniscope, made by Edward Amet, was originally owned and operated by Arthur E. Johnson (1886-1974) during his career as a theater projectionist in Minnesota. It became part of the Dunn Museum's permanent collection in 2001, and is on exhibit in the museum's galleries. (BBDM 2001.12)

Magniscope advertisements stated it was "The perfect projecting machine. The Magniscope is simple, durable and compact, the pictures sharply defined and clear." The projector weighed about 90 pounds and the "model 1898" sold for $100. Since films weren't readily available, simply selling his invention to traveling showmen wasn't enough. Amet needed films to go along with the projector.

A traveling theatrical troop used the Amet Magniscope to show the first moving pictures in the Arizona Territory in 1897. For audiences accustomed to viewing color lantern slides, anything that moved was a wonder to behold on the screen. The first silent films were short—only 2 to 3 minutes in length—and featured circus parades, a winter sleigh ride, a horse-drawn fire department rushing to a call, and even prize pigs at the county fair.

"Boxing Boys" featured Amet's brothers, Percy and Herbert, duking it out in a ring at the Scale Company in Waukegan where the Magniscopes were produced.

Like films produced by others, Amet's first films were straightforward recordings of movement, such as the "Boxing Boys," or his wife and daughter playing in their backyard in Waukegan.

But quickly, Amet began thinking more in terms of each film having a theme or story to tell. His first "theatrical" films featured a marionette and tableau vivant (motionless performance in theater).

Still from "McGinty Under the Sea," the dancing skeleton.

Growing sentiment to free Cuba from the Spanish inspired this Amet tableau vivant "Freedom of Cuba" featuring Uncle Sam, Lady Liberty and little Cuba.

One of Amet's most endearing films was called "Morning Exercise" and featured two young women from Waukegan—Bess Bower Dunn and Isabelle Spoor (George Spoor's sister).

When the Bess and Belle arrived at the inventor’s home on North Avenue in Waukegan, Amet handed each a pair of boxing gloves. Bess Dunn thought she was doing “our town inventor” a favor. “We whipped those long skirts out of the way and had a fine old time.” For several historic minutes, the girlfriends punched each other while Amet took their picture with his camera, becoming the first women in motion pictures.

In 1909, while traveling in Spokane, Washington, Bess Dunn discovered that Amet had sold prints of the film. She was recognized by an usher of a local theater as one of the “boxing girls.” Amet’s film had traveled 2,000 miles and was still being shown 11 years later.

Amet's best known films are related to the Spanish-American War of 1898.

When war broke out, Amet allegedly sent a request to the U.S. War Department asking for permission to travel to Cuba to film the battles. His request was denied, but his enthusiasm for the idea did not diminish. He used accounts in newspapers to re-create the battles.

The land battles were filmed at Third Lake, a favorite fishing location of Amet. He enlisted his brothers and neighbors to be the actors. Shown are a still from the film, and the cast taking a break. Amet Collection, Dunn Museum.

The majority of Amet's work on the theme of the Spanish-American War presented challenges, since it was mainly a naval war. Amet made a series of films showing the naval battles in his backyard, including one titled “Spanish Fleet Destroyed” or “The Battle of Santiago Bay."

Edward Amet standing in his backyard with his set for the filming of "The Battle of Santiago Bay," 1898. (BBDM 61.33)

For "The Battle of Santiago Bay," Amet constructed a shallow water tank 18 x 24 feet with a painted backdrop of Cuba. Five or six of the important naval vessels in the battles, such as the USS Olympia, USS New York and USS Oregon were reproduced at a 1/70 scale in sheet metal, 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 feet in length.

The USS Olympia model built by Amet for the film as shown on exhibit in 2007. (BBDM 61.33.2) Photo © 2007 Jess Smith/PHOTOSMITH

The models were constructed with firing gun turrets, and smoking stacks and flags. The gunfire was replicated with blasting caps, and gunpowder and camphor soaked cotton wadding, which was electrically ignited and provided smoke for the ships’ smokestacks. All of these effects were controlled from an electrical switchboard off camera. Additionally, waves were created by underwater jets and a large fan off camera.

Amet's artful use of special effects was so convincingly portrayed that he was asked to show his “war movies” at the opening of the Naval Training Center Great Lakes in 1911. Amet's "Battle of Santiago Bay" film (right)

The Spanish-American War was a popular topic in all sorts of media, including film. The American Vitagraph Company also made a version of the "Battle of Santiago Bay" in 1898, directed by J. Stuart Blackton. This film (rather than Amet's) is the one most often referenced in the history of early motion pictures, but it is a far cry from Amet's film with its pioneering use of special effects. Blackton's film features small wooden model ships in a bathtub with cigar smoke blown onto the scene by an assistant off camera. If Amet saw this film he probably rolled his eyes and laughed.

To be fair to Blackton, he was pivotal in the early years of the industry, and was among the first filmmakers to use the techniques of stop-motion and drawn animation. He is also considered the father of American animation.

Since most of Amet's films are lost, historians rely on published catalogues of films available for sale. These lists give us insight to the wide range of topics popular with motion picture audiences. Amet's 1898 catalogue listed (in part) the following films (50 feet in length, price $9.00 each):

"Passing of the Milwaukee Fliers on the C & NW Railroad" (train in each direction)

"Mamma's Pets" (old pig and ten little ones)

"Tugs Towing Barge"

"Clothes Race" (swimming contest in Lincoln Park)

"The Ducks" (seventy young ducks in a pond)

"Interrupted Tea Party on the Lawn" (comic)

"Chicago Fire Department Runs"

Amet left for California sometime after 1913, and continued working on motion picture devices. In the image above, Amet (left) is making a film using an early sound recording camera he invented.

For the museum's permanent exhibition on Edward Amet, the staff tracked down a copy of the "Battle of Santiago Bay" from the Killiam Collection* (distributed by Worldview Entertainment), which is probably the best source for silent film era movies. The collection was assembled in the 1960s by Paul Killiam through acquisition from the Estate of D.W. Griffith, and later, a large portion of the collection of Thomas Edison. 

We ordered the film (sight unseen) and crossed our fingers that it was not Blackton's version. Thankfully, it was Amet's film, and all 20 seconds of it plays in the museum's galleries everyday to the delight of visitors.

Special thanks to Carey Williams and Kirk Kekatos for years of research on Amet and his contributions to the early motion picture industry.

*The Killiam Collection was sold and no longer exists. 10/28/19