As we celebrate the coming of 2014 and remember all we wish to do in the future, this is also the time to recall what we have done in the past. The year 2014 will mark the 150th anniversary of the year 1864. In honor of those 150 years America has lived, I would like to share what was happening during the American Civil War in 1864. Remember that 1864 marked the third year of the four year long brother vs. brother conflict. 1864 was also the final full year of war, though no one knew it at the time.
As a note, I'm writing this while watching the Walking Dead for the first time. These dates are nowhere near chronological order.
June 30, 1864 saw the beginning of the Siege of Petersburg in Virginia. This would last until April 3, 1865 when Petersburg and then Richmond would fall.
On September 1, 1864, General Hood evacuated Atlanta as General Sherman moved closer.
September 2, 1864 found General Sherman and his army at the gates of Atlanta, Georgia. The capture and burning of the city was a massive boost to morale in the North and helped to ensure the reelection of President Lincoln.
On November 15, 1864, Sherman’s army left Atlanta and began their March to the Sea. Sherman decided to leave his supply line behind and live off the land.
November 30, 1864 marked the Battle of Franklin in Tennessee. General Hood's Confederate forces fought 40,000 troops left behind by Sherman. Hood's army was crippled and, when later asked where his men were, he replied that they were "dead on the field."
In March of 1864, President Abraham Lincoln made General Grant commander of all Union armies. General Grant and the Army of the Potomac would eventually defeat General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.
May 31 to June 12, 1864 saw the Battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia, one of General Grant's later regrets.
On June 15, 1864, General Lee's home in Arlington, Virginia became Arlington National Cemetery.
On July 18, 1864, President Lincoln called for 500,000 military volunteers since the crumbling southern armies were running low on man power.
October 20, 1864 was marked when President Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday.
On November 8, 1864, President Lincoln was reelected to his second term as President.
December 10, 1864 found General Sherman and his army in Savannah, Georgia. The city would fall on December 21, 1864.
Sometime in 1864, John Wilkes Booth and his fellow conspirators began planning to kidnap President Lincoln. They met at least once in early December of 1864.
The Confederacy began to fall apart and a cold winter fell across the southern states. In the North, the situation seemed brighter than ever before.
Of course, this is only a handful of important dates. Many more events happened during the year of 1864. It was marked by many battles and countless amounts of bloodshed, including many Confederate leaders. No one knew but, by December of 1864, the bloody Civil War was reaching the end of the road.
Wishing everyone a very happy New Year :)
Until next time,
XOXO Kate
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
A Civil War Christmas
Merry Christmas!
I'm currently in the middle of cooking dessert for Christmas dinner. So while the cookies are cooling, I thought I would share some fun facts about Christmas during the American Civil War.
Christmas and its customs fell in and out of practice between the time of settlement and the American Revolution. It was not until the early 1800's that Christmas, with elements such as Santa and the tree, began being celebrated as the peaceful family holiday we know today. In 1870, in an effort to unite the states, President Ulysses S. Grant, former General of the Army of the Potomac, made Christmas a Federal holiday.
Speaking of Santa and the Christmas tree, in 1853 Eleanor Custis Lee wrote about how her family had a Christmas tree that sat on a table at West Point. At the time, her father, Robert E. Lee, was the superintendent of the school.
It was Thomas Nast, an artist for Harper's Weekly, who created the "American Santa." In the January 3, 1863 issue, Nast drew Santa on a sleigh and had him hand out presents to Union soldiers. The image would remain unchanged until 1931 when Coca Cola created a new version of Santa. After the Civil War ended, Nast made the North Pole Santa's official residence.
Due to the various shortages being caused in the South by the Union blockade, southern children were told that Santa might not be able to pass through. This helped reinforced the evil image of the Yankees. Nevertheless, one little girl attempted to diagram the best way for Santa to avoid the Yankee troops.
The tradition of singing carols was revived and tunes such as "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "We Three Kings," and "Up On The Housetop" became popular. When famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow learn that his son, a Union solider, had been wounded, he wrote a poem that would later would be set to music and become "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."
Soldiers tried to enjoy Christmas any way they could. Games were played and small Christmas trees were decorated with hardtack. Some stories from sailors describe music being played aboard ships as the crew danced and the captain gave out an extra ration of grog. Some camps even received a special dinner.
Cyrus Goodwin of the 59th Massachusetts wrote from City Point, Virginia on Christmas of 1864 that "for Christmas we had turkey, preserved peaches, and apples...We are going to have oysters for dinner today."
On Christmas in 1861, Newburyport’s homefront hosted a celebration that served ice cream, coffee, and tea and featured a decorated tree, dancing, recitations, a vocalist, and the reading of an original poem. In 1862, Newburyport City Hall held a Christmas Fair to benefit the Soldiers' Relief Society. The Newburyport Daily Herald reported that "the women of Newburyport have acted nobly in this humane work."
John Haley of the 17th Maine wrote that "it is rumored that there are sundry boxes and mysterious parcels over at Stoneman’s Station directed to us. We retire to sleep with feelings akin to those of children expecting Santa Claus."
However, many soldiers still had to perform guard duty and other tasks of war. Sometimes Christmas went by unnoticed. Thomas Cutter of the 35th Massachusetts only wrote in his diary that it was cloudy in Knoxville on Christmas in 1862.
Most families were still separated and many men were more homesick around Christmas than any other time of the year. Christmas during the Civil War always seemed to represent going home.
The following picture was published in Harper's Weekly on December 31, 1864.
Also printed was this picture of Christmas morning.
This must be depicting a northern household since another article carried the headline "Sherman Reaches Savannah" and two more showed Warren's Raid and the destruction of southern railroads.
Though spirits were heightening in the North, the South was reaching its breaking point by the winter of 1864. In four months time, the war would finally reach the end of the road.
The first sketch was drawn by Thomas Nast and given the rather long name of "The Union Christmas Dinner, Peace on Earth, and Good Will Toward Men." The image reflected the nationwide hope that the long and bloody Civil War would soon end. Abraham Lincoln holds out a hand of friendship to the South and is opening the door to a large banquet hall, inviting hungry rebel soldiers in from the cold. The scene in the lower left corner shows Robert E. Lee surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant. At the time Nast finished the drawing, this was simply a hope for the future. No one knew it would occur four months later. However, not all southerners would accept a peaceful handshake from Father Abraham and I think we all know how that story went.
Okay, I think the cookies have cooled long enough now. From my home to yours, have a very Merry Christmas.
Christmas Day will always be, just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand.
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
I'm currently in the middle of cooking dessert for Christmas dinner. So while the cookies are cooling, I thought I would share some fun facts about Christmas during the American Civil War.
Christmas and its customs fell in and out of practice between the time of settlement and the American Revolution. It was not until the early 1800's that Christmas, with elements such as Santa and the tree, began being celebrated as the peaceful family holiday we know today. In 1870, in an effort to unite the states, President Ulysses S. Grant, former General of the Army of the Potomac, made Christmas a Federal holiday.
Speaking of Santa and the Christmas tree, in 1853 Eleanor Custis Lee wrote about how her family had a Christmas tree that sat on a table at West Point. At the time, her father, Robert E. Lee, was the superintendent of the school.
It was Thomas Nast, an artist for Harper's Weekly, who created the "American Santa." In the January 3, 1863 issue, Nast drew Santa on a sleigh and had him hand out presents to Union soldiers. The image would remain unchanged until 1931 when Coca Cola created a new version of Santa. After the Civil War ended, Nast made the North Pole Santa's official residence.
Due to the various shortages being caused in the South by the Union blockade, southern children were told that Santa might not be able to pass through. This helped reinforced the evil image of the Yankees. Nevertheless, one little girl attempted to diagram the best way for Santa to avoid the Yankee troops.
The tradition of singing carols was revived and tunes such as "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "We Three Kings," and "Up On The Housetop" became popular. When famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow learn that his son, a Union solider, had been wounded, he wrote a poem that would later would be set to music and become "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."
Soldiers tried to enjoy Christmas any way they could. Games were played and small Christmas trees were decorated with hardtack. Some stories from sailors describe music being played aboard ships as the crew danced and the captain gave out an extra ration of grog. Some camps even received a special dinner.
Cyrus Goodwin of the 59th Massachusetts wrote from City Point, Virginia on Christmas of 1864 that "for Christmas we had turkey, preserved peaches, and apples...We are going to have oysters for dinner today."
On Christmas in 1861, Newburyport’s homefront hosted a celebration that served ice cream, coffee, and tea and featured a decorated tree, dancing, recitations, a vocalist, and the reading of an original poem. In 1862, Newburyport City Hall held a Christmas Fair to benefit the Soldiers' Relief Society. The Newburyport Daily Herald reported that "the women of Newburyport have acted nobly in this humane work."
John Haley of the 17th Maine wrote that "it is rumored that there are sundry boxes and mysterious parcels over at Stoneman’s Station directed to us. We retire to sleep with feelings akin to those of children expecting Santa Claus."
However, many soldiers still had to perform guard duty and other tasks of war. Sometimes Christmas went by unnoticed. Thomas Cutter of the 35th Massachusetts only wrote in his diary that it was cloudy in Knoxville on Christmas in 1862.
Most families were still separated and many men were more homesick around Christmas than any other time of the year. Christmas during the Civil War always seemed to represent going home.
The following picture was published in Harper's Weekly on December 31, 1864.
Also printed was this picture of Christmas morning.
This must be depicting a northern household since another article carried the headline "Sherman Reaches Savannah" and two more showed Warren's Raid and the destruction of southern railroads.
Though spirits were heightening in the North, the South was reaching its breaking point by the winter of 1864. In four months time, the war would finally reach the end of the road.
The first sketch was drawn by Thomas Nast and given the rather long name of "The Union Christmas Dinner, Peace on Earth, and Good Will Toward Men." The image reflected the nationwide hope that the long and bloody Civil War would soon end. Abraham Lincoln holds out a hand of friendship to the South and is opening the door to a large banquet hall, inviting hungry rebel soldiers in from the cold. The scene in the lower left corner shows Robert E. Lee surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant. At the time Nast finished the drawing, this was simply a hope for the future. No one knew it would occur four months later. However, not all southerners would accept a peaceful handshake from Father Abraham and I think we all know how that story went.
Okay, I think the cookies have cooled long enough now. From my home to yours, have a very Merry Christmas.
Christmas Day will always be, just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand.
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Merry Christmas Eve Day
Merry Christmas Eve Day everyone. Both an eve and a day. It's a Christmas miracle.
Have fun trimming the tree, singing carols, and watching those Christmas classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's not Christmas without Snoopy and Woodstock :)
And keep an eye out tomorrow for some Civil War Christmas excitement.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Have fun trimming the tree, singing carols, and watching those Christmas classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's not Christmas without Snoopy and Woodstock :)
And keep an eye out tomorrow for some Civil War Christmas excitement.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
The Civil War Music Box: The Battle Hymn of the Republic
A few days ago I posted a hint about my next blog topic that read, "He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat."
Did you guess that the posted lyric is from the song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic?" If you did, you guessed correct. Since there are no music posts thus far, I figured this would be a good starting point.
Did you guess that the posted lyric is from the song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic?" If you did, you guessed correct. Since there are no music posts thus far, I figured this would be a good starting point.
But before you start reading, please click on the link and listen to the song in the background. Thank you :)
There were many songs written during the four years of the American Civil War. However, no song is more connected to the Union or their cause than Julia Ward Howe's patriotic anthem "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
However, the history of this famous song goes back much further. The actual tune was taken from a Methodist hymn written by William Steffe and titled, "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us?" The original text was as follows.
Say, brothers, will you meet us
On Canaan's happy shore
Glory, glory, hallelujah
For ever, evermore!
By the grace of God we'll meet you
Where parting is no more.
By the grace of God we'll meet you
Where parting is no more.
Glory, glory, hallelujah
For ever, evermore!
Jesus lives and reigns forever
On Canaan's happy shore.
On Canaan's happy shore.
Glory, glory, hallelujah
For ever, evermore!
For ever, evermore!
The lyrics were rewritten at the start of the Civil War and the song was renamed as "John Brown's Body." According to an account written around 1890, the original song referred to both John Brown the abolitionist and to Sergeant John Brown of a certain battalion. Additional verses were published by various authors that changed the meaning of the song. Below is one of the texts from "John Brown's Body" and you can see that it has more to do with Union ideals than with Harper's Ferry.
John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave
His soul's marching on!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
He's gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord!
His soul's marching on!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back!
His soul's marching on!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
His pet lambs will meet him on the way
They go marching on!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
They will hang Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree!
As they march along!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
Now, three rousing cheers for the Union
As we are marching on!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
The next set of lyrics were written by William Patton and tell the story of John Brown and his famous raid.
Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave,
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;
But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on.
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;
But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,
And Kansas knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;
Now, tho the grass grows green above his grave,
His soul is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
He captured Harper’s Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,
And frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled thru and thru;
They hung him for a traitor, they themselves the traitor crew,
But his soul is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see,
Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,
And soon thruout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free,
For his soul is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
The conflict that he heralded he looks from heaven to view,
On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.
And heaven shall ring with anthems o’er the deed they mean to do,
For his soul is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,
The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,
For the dawn of old John Brown has brightened into day,
And his soul is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His soul's marching on!
In November of 1861, Julia Ward Howe was touring Union army camps and heard the song "John Brown's Body." Inspired, she decided to pen new lyrics. She "awoke...in the gray of the early dawn, and to my astonishment found that the wished-for lines were arranging themselves in my brain. I lay quite still until the last verse had completed itself in my thoughts, then hastily arose, saying to myself, 'I shall lose this if I don't write it down immediately.'"
The new lyrics made their first public appearance on the front of the Atlantic Monthly in February of 1862. Editor James T. Fields, who paid her five dollars for the piece, got credit for giving the song its name.
"The Battle Cry of Freedom" has gone down in history as one of the finest patriotic songs. It was sung at a rally that was attended by President Lincoln and the story goes that Lincoln said, with tears in his eyes, "Sing it again." It was sung again and has continued to be sung more than 100 years later.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps,
His day is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His Judgement Seat.
Oh! Be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me;
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me;
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
Do you have a favorite song from the Civil War? Let me know in the comments. It may get its own entry.
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Monday, December 16, 2013
Alive and Well but Not Living in Paris
Hey,
You may have noticed that this Down Yonder Diary has been silent until...well, until right now. So this is a quick message to explain why...and tell you that I am still alive :)
For the past week I have been engaged in the epic battle of College Finals and my brain has either been in a front row seat at the Lincoln Conspiracy Trial of 1865 or wandering through the halls of the HH Holmes Murder Castle of 1893.
You may have noticed that this Down Yonder Diary has been silent until...well, until right now. So this is a quick message to explain why...and tell you that I am still alive :)
For the past week I have been engaged in the epic battle of College Finals and my brain has either been in a front row seat at the Lincoln Conspiracy Trial of 1865 or wandering through the halls of the HH Holmes Murder Castle of 1893.
And now that the winter semester has finally closed, my brain is doing this. (You go, Brain)
Since finals are finished, I will be posting more Civil War tales again. Keep an eye out in the coming days for new blog entries. Here is a hint to what is coming.
"He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat."
I also want to send a "Happy Birthday" shout out to my best friend who celebrated her 29th birthday December 12th. Happy birthday, bestie!
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Proclamation of Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoy my Thanksgiving post with a Civil War twist.
Thanksgiving was not always a national holiday. However, on October 3, 1863, in the very midst of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln Issued a Proclamation of Thanksgiving to set aside the last Thursday in November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." Thus, Thanksgiving became the national holiday we know and love. The document was originally hand written by Secretary of State William Seward and sold a year later to benefit Union troops.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
Diaries kept by soldiers tell us a lot about the food troops were served on Thanksgiving. Because rations were few and far between on the battle field, organizations collected donations of food.
One soldier wrote that the Sanitary Commission put together a meal consisting of turkey, chicken, and apples. However, it was a day late. The soldier wrote that "it isn’t the turkey, but the idea that we care for."
In 1864, a New Yorker named George W. Blount led a civilian campaign to bring a Thanksgiving meal to every Union soldier stationed in Virginia. The goal soon grew to reaching as many soldiers as possible. Newspapers, charities, food sellers, and shippers all pledged their support. Organizations across the Union cooked feasts for their state army posts and veterans hospitals. The Soldiers Aid of Norwich, Connecticut organized the shipment of 215 turkeys, 199 pies, and a long list of other goods to Connecticut regiments fighting in the James River and Shenandoah Valley. Steamers delivered food to sailors along the coast of Dixie. And more than 300,000 pounds of poultry and other festive ingredients were sent to the Army of the Potomac. According to the many surviving letters and diary entries, the Thanksgiving of 1864 was a great success and the majority of the shipments reached their destination. When Sherman’s army reached Savannah on December 10th, Union ships delivered to them the Thanksgiving dinner they had missed during their March to the Sea.
Sadly, the Confederate forces did not fare as well due to the Union blockade and lack of supplies. However, that is a story for another time. My goal for today is to focus on the good memories of Thanksgiving in the Civil War.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving y'all :)
Thanksgiving was not always a national holiday. However, on October 3, 1863, in the very midst of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln Issued a Proclamation of Thanksgiving to set aside the last Thursday in November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." Thus, Thanksgiving became the national holiday we know and love. The document was originally hand written by Secretary of State William Seward and sold a year later to benefit Union troops.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
Diaries kept by soldiers tell us a lot about the food troops were served on Thanksgiving. Because rations were few and far between on the battle field, organizations collected donations of food.
One soldier wrote that the Sanitary Commission put together a meal consisting of turkey, chicken, and apples. However, it was a day late. The soldier wrote that "it isn’t the turkey, but the idea that we care for."
In 1864, a New Yorker named George W. Blount led a civilian campaign to bring a Thanksgiving meal to every Union soldier stationed in Virginia. The goal soon grew to reaching as many soldiers as possible. Newspapers, charities, food sellers, and shippers all pledged their support. Organizations across the Union cooked feasts for their state army posts and veterans hospitals. The Soldiers Aid of Norwich, Connecticut organized the shipment of 215 turkeys, 199 pies, and a long list of other goods to Connecticut regiments fighting in the James River and Shenandoah Valley. Steamers delivered food to sailors along the coast of Dixie. And more than 300,000 pounds of poultry and other festive ingredients were sent to the Army of the Potomac. According to the many surviving letters and diary entries, the Thanksgiving of 1864 was a great success and the majority of the shipments reached their destination. When Sherman’s army reached Savannah on December 10th, Union ships delivered to them the Thanksgiving dinner they had missed during their March to the Sea.
Sadly, the Confederate forces did not fare as well due to the Union blockade and lack of supplies. However, that is a story for another time. My goal for today is to focus on the good memories of Thanksgiving in the Civil War.
As a special treat, here is the recipe for Pumpkin Chips, straight from my Civil War Recipe Box.
- Cut slices from a high-colored pumpkin, and cut the slices into chips about the thickness of a dollar.
- Wash them, dry them thoroughly, and weigh them against an equal weight of sugar.
- Add to each pound of sugar half a pint of lime or lemon-juice.
- Boil and skim it, then add the pumpkin.
- When half boiled, take the slices out of the syrup and let them cool.
- Return them and boil until the pumpkin becomes clear.
- Peel the lemons or limes very thin and boil until tender.
- Add to the chips when nearly done.
Leave a comment down below with your opinion on the dish. And maybe even a picture of it.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving y'all :)
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
I Don't Feel Afraid to Go
Powerful women are awesome! Nothing makes me prouder to possess the features (ahem) that make me a women more than a female who is not afraid to stare into the face of death and walk forward anyway. Courageous women of the American Civil War are my inspirations for reenacting as a disguised female soldier. On that note, I am going to tell you all the story of one of my heroes, Sarah Rosetta Wakemen aka Lyons Wakemen.
Keep in mind that Sarah was just one of hundreds of women who disguised themselves in order to fight on the front lines. However, Sarah is more well known because the letters she wrote home were kept by her family and eventually published, giving insight into both her soldier life and her masquerade life. If you are interested in reading about the personal side of the Civil War, pick up a copy of An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman.
Sarah was born in New York on January 16, 1843. She had fair skin and blue eyes and grew to be about five feet tall (according to her enlistment papers). She was the oldest of nine children in a poor farming family. The story of her early life ended here.
Sarah wrote home that "our army made an advance up the river to Pleasant Hill about 40 miles. There we had a fight. The first day of the fight our army got whip[ped] and we had to retreat back about 10 miles. The next day the fight was renewed and the firing took place about eight o'clock in the morning. There was a heavy Cannonading all day and a Sharp firing of infantry. I was not in the first day's fight, but the next day I had to face the enemy bullets with my regiment. I was under fire about four hours and laid on the field of battle all night. There was three wounded in my Co. and one killed. I feel thankful to God that he spared my life, and I pray to him that he will lead me safe through the field of battle and that I may return safe home."
On May 3, Sarah reported to the regimental hospital because she was suffering from chronic diarrhea. She was transferred to a hospital in New Orleans and arrived there on May 22. She died on June 19, 1864. Her true sex was not discovered and she was buried under the name "Lyons Wakeman." Her grave can still be seen in Chalmette National Cemetery in Louisiana.
What is your opinion of Sarah Wakeman's story? Leave a comment down below if you so wish.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, spare a thank you for brave, strong women like Sarah Rosetta Wakeman. Remember the past and present female soldiers that fought and still fight for our freedom and way of life.
"I don't know how long before I shall have to go into the field of battle. For my part I don't care. I don't feel afraid to go. I don't believe there are any Rebel's bullet made for me yet."
-Private Lyons Wakeman
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Friday, November 22, 2013
The Civil War Recipe Box: Hardtack
Last weekend I purchased The Life of Johnny Reb and The Life of Billy Yank by Bell Wiley. It's an interesting read and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about the personal side of the Civil War. The book gives insight into the lives of Union and Confederate soldiers off the battlefield, covering everything from favorite games to popular camp songs to mealtime rations. Frequently mentioned is hardtack, a staple of the soldier diet. The biscuit like thing was really a food group in itself, although it didn't always have the consistency (or appearance) of actual food.
I have never actually tried hardtack. Someone in my history class thought about baking some but decided against it at the last minute. I guess his fear was ending up with a lot of leftovers he wasn't about to eat with his coffee. However, if you're one of those brave foodies who love trying new, and maybe even slightly bizarre dishes, or just want to do a little reenacting without leaving home, I present to you, straight from my Civil War Recipe Box, the recipe for hardtack.
Remember that this hard, repeat, hard cracker like bread must be dipped into milk, tea, hot chocolate, or coffee before eating. Hence the name, you could break your teeth eating it dry.
Ingredients
Steps
If you decide to try hardtack, leave a comment below on what you thought of it. And maybe even a picture of what it looked like :)
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
I have never actually tried hardtack. Someone in my history class thought about baking some but decided against it at the last minute. I guess his fear was ending up with a lot of leftovers he wasn't about to eat with his coffee. However, if you're one of those brave foodies who love trying new, and maybe even slightly bizarre dishes, or just want to do a little reenacting without leaving home, I present to you, straight from my Civil War Recipe Box, the recipe for hardtack.
Remember that this hard, repeat, hard cracker like bread must be dipped into milk, tea, hot chocolate, or coffee before eating. Hence the name, you could break your teeth eating it dry.
Ingredients
- Butter for greasing the baking pan
- 5 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 TB of baking powder
- 1 TB of salt
- 1 2/3 cups of water
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Grease the baking sheet.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and water.
- Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon.
- With freshly washed hands, squeeze the flour mixture with your fingers. This will be a very stiff dough.
- Flatten the dough to about 1/2 inch into a large rectangle.
- Using a knife, lightly trace lines into the dough to divide the pieces into 3X3 square pieces.
- Use a toothpick to poke holes across the entire surface in neat rows 3/4 of an inch apart. Be sure the holes go all the way through the dough to the baking sheet.
- Bake the dough about 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Allow to cool 10 minutes.
- Remove from the baking sheet with a metal spatula.
If you decide to try hardtack, leave a comment below on what you thought of it. And maybe even a picture of what it looked like :)
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Thus Perished Four
Although I am a Civil War historian, my main interest is the Lincoln Assassination and Conspiracy. Below is the text of a presentation I gave on the July 7, 1865 execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt.
Please remember that these poor souls were not characters in a story or a movie. They were real people, just like you and me. They had friends and families that were left behind to suffer after their deaths. I ask you to please show a little respect for the departed and spare a kind thought for them.
Hundreds of people were arrested after John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and famous actor, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, just five days after the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. It was Good Friday and the following Sunday was coined "Black Easter." Jails overflowed with suspects but eight were eventually put on trial. They were charged for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to kill President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. All were found guilty. Four, Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt, were sentenced to death by hanging. The other four were given various prison sentences. Dr. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O'Laughlen were sentenced to life in prison. Edmund Spangler was sentenced to six years. They were sent to the Dry Tortugas, an island down near the Florida Keys. All were eventually pardoned in 1869 with the exception of Michael O'Laughlen. He had died in 1867 after being bitten by a mosquito and contracting yellow fever. I am only going to discuss the first group. If you want to learn more about the second group, I recommend reading Memoirs of a Lincoln Conspirator by Samuel Arnold.
First is Mary Elizabeth Surratt. She ran a boardinghouse at 541 H Street in Washington DC. Before turning to murder, Booth planned to kidnap President Lincoln. During the early years of the war, members of the conspiracy team were seen in the house but there is no evidence that any plot was formed there or conspiratorial meetings took place there. However, the government decided that she "kept the nest that hatched the egg" and deemed her guilty of conspiracy. She was 42 when she was sentenced to death by hanging. This was, and still is, a very controversial sentencing. She was the first woman to be executed by the Federal government and historians still debate whether she deserved death or was unaware of an assassination plot and should have been given a lesser sentence instead. The main witnesses against her were a drunk and a Confederate sympathizer who both gave questionable and contradictory statements that showed reasonable doubt of her guilt.
Then we have Lewis Thornton Powell, who went by the alias of Paine. Powell was assigned by Booth to kill Secretary of State William Seward. He failed due to dim lighting in Seward's bedroom. Medical headgear Seward was wearing while recovering from a carriage accident also helped block vital organs from Powell's knife. Seward’s cheek was severed and remained scarred forever. However, Seward, his sons Fredrick and Gus, Sergeant George Robinson, and messenger Emerick Hansell, all survived being attacked by Powell. Lewis Powell was only 21 when he was sentenced to death.
Third is David Edgar Herold. Herold met up with Booth in southern Maryland about an hour after Lincoln's assassination. Historians still debate what Herold's role was on the night of the assassination since he was the only one not assigned to kill someone. He guided Booth through Maryland and Virginia for twelve days. On the night of April 26, he and Booth were sleeping in a tobacco barn that belonged to Richard H. Garrett, a Virginia Farmer. The 16th New York Cavalry, made up of 26 Union soldiers and led by Everton Conger, Lafayette Baker, and Edward Doherty, surrounded the barn. Thomas "Boston" Corbett would fatally shoot Booth in the neck. Herold surrendered when the soldiers threatened to set fire to the barn. He was barely 23 as his birthday was on June 16 and he was executed on July 7.
Last is George Andrew Atzerodt. He was assigned to kill Andrew Johnson but got drunk in the bar of the hotel where Johnson was staying instead. Overcome with fear, he fled into the night and made no attempt to go near Johnson. He was captured a few days later, around 4 AM, at the home of his cousin in Maryland. Although he made no effort to kill Johnson, he was 33 years old when he was given the death penalty.
The trial only lasted seven weeks, from May 10th to June 30th. Interesting fact about the trial was how the prisoners were seated in court. The four who would be executed sat together and the four who received prison sentences sat together. Whether that was done on purpose will never be known. The sentences were read to the condemned on July 6th and carried out the very next day. Priests and family members barely had time to be contacted. Lewis Powell asked that his family not be called since they would not make it to Washington from Florida in time. Some jerk did make sure to send the family pictures of their deceased son hanging from a rope though. The scaffold from which the four condemned were executed was built overnight. The sawing and hammering of the carpenters could be heard throughout the prison. One can only imagine what was going through the minds of the prisoners as they heard the loud noises of the construction and the silence when it finally ended. We do know that none of them got much sleep that night. The strips of cloth that would bind the condemned and the death hoods they would wear were made from canvas Union tents. The nooses were also made overnight. Mary Surratt's was made by the hangman, Captain Christian Rath, that morning. Tired from making nooses all night, and not believing a woman would hang, he made her noose with five turns instead of seven. The scaffold stood 28 feet high and 30 feet long.
(Side note: it was here I stood on a table to demonstrate the height of the gallows. I used the technique once before because it always got the audience's attention. I was planning to jump off but my professor decided to help me down instead, fearing I was going to kill myself. I guess I can't blame him for worrying about my well being :)
The four walked up thirteen steps to reach the top and then stood on two trapdoors that were supported by wooden props. On July 6th, the troops stationed in the Old Arsenal Penitentiary were assembled in front of Rath. Without saying exactly what he wanted, Rath said, "I want four able-bodied men to volunteer for a special duty." Knowing that most soldiers would volunteer to do something other than their monotony normal routines, Rath had plenty to pick from. He selected Corporal William Coxshall, Private Daniel Shoup, Private George Taylor, and Corporal Joseph Haslett. The four men were marched to where the scaffold was being constructed and Coxshall remembered that it was not long before they "had the first hint of what we were to do." They were to actively participate in the execution as "prop knockers." When Rath gave the signal, they would knock out the beams that supported the gallows traps the condemned would be standing on. Rath promised them a canteen of whisky if they did a good job. For Coxshall, as he stood below the gallows on the morning of the execution, "the strain was getting worse. I became nauseated, what with the heat and waiting, and taking a hold of the supporting post...I vomited. I felt a little better after that, but not too good." When the traps sprung, the four fell. They hit the end of the rope and were stopped and yanked up by the neck. If done right, that would break the neck and lead to instant death. The four men returned to camp to boos and jeers. Their fellow soldiers called them "hangmen" and a fight almost broke out. Coxshell wrote in defense, "None of us relished the work we had done...Had we known what it was we were to do that day we volunteered, none of would have stepped forward." He called his involvement "one of the grimmest events I ever participated in." And they never did get that whisky.
Before the execution, the condemned were seated on top of the gallows with umbrellas over their heads. The fear of the soldiers in charge of the hanging was that the conspirators would get to the top of the gallows and faint. It was over 100 degrees and there was no shade. They were all wearing dark clothing. Mary Surratt had on about six layers of clothing and the men were dressed in pants, sweaters, and jackets. All but Powell had taken sedative drugs and were not very steady on their feet. They were also walking to their death, seeing the looming gallows and rope nooses moving in the breeze, passing the pine gun box coffins and shallow open graves. The execution had to be done between ten and two. The soldiers held off as long as they could thinking that a plea would come in for Mary Surratt. They emerged from the prison a little after one and all was done in about a half hour to forty minutes. Even after the condemned, all of whom were chained wrist and ankle except for Mary Surratt, made it up the stairs to their seats, the death warrant had to be read, the priests had to say their final prayers, and the four needed to be prepared. Fearing that one or more of them would collapse and prolong the already long execution schedule, the soldiers decided to cover them with umbrellas.
Remember how I said that the purpose of hanging is to achieve quick death? Sadly, that did not happen in this case. The execution was faulty and none of the conspirators died instantly. Their heights and weights were not taken into account and the drop was too short to kill any of them by way of snapping their necks. All fell 5 feet. Lewis Powell needed to fall about 5 feet 11 inches to die instantly. Mary Surratt, Herold, and Atzerodt needed to fall about 7 feet.
Mary Surratt fell and ceased moving and Atzerodt only shuddered once. This was due to the fact that the rope hit a certain part of their necks and knocked them unconscious. Herold and Powell remained conscious and both strangled to death, Herold for about five minutes and Powell for about seven. This article was published by the New York Herald on July 8, the day after the execution.
"There was no struggle on the part of Mrs. Surratt. She hangs and swings as if within the dark folds of her puffed dress no life had ever been. A bag of old clothes if might be but for that flesh we see between the rope and the cap. Atzerodt still shakes as if the fear of death were to continue beyond it, and outlive consciousness itself. Harold struggles-his chest heaves. Payne slowly draws himself up till he assumes for a second the shape of a man sitting in a rather low chair. He straightens again, but the broad chest heaves and swells. It is twenty-six minutes and fifteen seconds after one. Six minutes and a half have they swung there, and again a curving of the body and bending proves Payne still alive, but it is the last."
The government hired Alexander Gardner, a well-known photographer, to take pictures. This was the first photographed execution. It was also public. Many Union soldiers were in attendance. About 1,000 other people applied for tickets to the execution. However, only about 100 were printed. Most were given to high ranking members of the government, some witnesses, and newspaper reporters. Oddly enough, friends and family of the condemned could have obtained passes to see the execution. I'm not quite sure how well that was thought through and it still baffles me how some of those same people actually won the Civil War. However, no one who had a personal connection to one of the conspirators attended. Citizens stood outside the prison and sold cake and lemonade as if they were attending a party. Some stood on the other side of the wall and asked the soldiers for information. Other sailed up the river in order to watch. Gardener's photos captured many interesting details. For example, one of the prop knockers was missing part of his finger. Gardner also captures the story of 13 year old John Collins, probably the youngest person to witness the execution. He recalled later in life, "I have never quite known exactly how I did it, but I actually went through all these lines of troops without a pass, and in less than twenty minutes from the first attempt, I was stationed not thirty feet away from the scaffold and in full view of everything said or done in connection with the execution...Boy though I was, I turned away with a sensation of horror and faintness and a feeling that I have never since lost, that I had no wish ever to witness another such scene."
Because no woman had ever been executed, no one thought Mary Surratt would be killed until she fell. In fact, soldiers were set up between the Old Arsenal and the Executive Mansion should Andrew Johnson send any pardon for her. Her lawyers, Fredrick Aiken and John Clampitt, tried to secure a writ of habeas corpus for her. They succeeded in getting it but Andrew Johnson suspended it. A few members of the military commission would sign a petition asking Johnson to spare her life because of her sex. Although a messenger claimed to deliver it, Johnson said he never saw it. Anna Surratt tried to see the President to beg for her mother's life. Politician Preston King from New York and Senator James Lane from Kansas refused to let her by, even when she threw herself sobbing at their feet. Both would commit suicide within the year. King would walk off a Hoboken ferry into the Hudson River and Lane would proclaim "goodbye, me" before firing a pistol into his mouth.
The sisters of David Herold also tried to see the President in the hopes of saving their brother's life. Also unsuccessful, they went home to their distraught mother. She had lost her husband in October of 1864 and was now going to lose her only surviving son. In an effort to shield their mother from knowing when it was time for the execution of her son, since the time was set between ten and two, the girls stopped all the clocks in their home. However, they forgot that church bells rang out the hour. When the bells chimed two o'clock, the sound seeped into the house, and Mary Herold knew her son was dead.
Speaking of the dead, their last words were recorded minutes before the drop fell. Mary Surratt whispered to a soldier standing nearby, "Please don't let me fall." Lewis Powell called out to the crowd below, "Mrs. Surratt is innocent. She doesn't deserve to die with the rest of us" and then said to a guard through his hood, "I thank you. Goodbye." George Atzerodt address his companions, "Farewell, Gentleman. May we all meet in the other world." Herold was silent.
The dead were allowed to hang for about twenty minutes before being cut down. Atzerodt fell the twenty eight feet and landed with a thud. The soldiers cutting the ropes were reprimanded and told to take the others down more carefully. Mary Surratt's head fell forward and a soldier remarked that she "would make a good bow." He was also reprimanded. They were unbound and unchained but were buried with the death hoods on. The nooses were also removed from around their necks. As soldiers tried to remove Mary Surratt's noose, they noticed that the rope had dug into her flesh and the skin was not detaching from it. As they tried to take it off, the skin of her neck peeled off and stuck to the rope. This morbid image remained with the men for the rest of their lives.
The four were buried in shallow graves alongside the gallows. About the same times letters began coming in from Edwin Booth asking for the remains of his younger brother, John, Anna Surratt began asking Andrew Johnson for the return of her mother's body. All requests were denied. The prison was torn down a year later and all coffins were moved into a warehouse. Four years later, the bodies were released to their families. Mary Surratt is buried Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Fredrick, Maryland. George Atzerodt is buried in Saint Paul's Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland under a fictitious name. David Herold is buried in an unmarked grave in Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC. Lewis Powell's body was the only one not claimed and his skull ended up as an exhibit in the Smithsonian. Like the revolver that killed Booth, where his body went remains a mystery. The skull was eventually discovered by historians and buried in Geneva Cemetery in Seminole County, Florida.
All the conspirators were punished with the exception of one. Mary Surratt's youngest son, John Surratt Jr., who was involved in the earlier kidnapping plot, fled. He was captured in Egypt a year later and sent back to Washington for trial. Similar evidence was brought against him. However, the jury deadlocked and decided that John Surratt had no knowledge or involvement in the assassination. He was released and lived to be 72. However, he was labeled a coward for not attempting to save his mother. And what became of the men responsible for this? Andrew Johnson went down in history as arguably the worst President to hold office. Four years after the execution, as Johnson packed his office, Edwin Stanton would die suddenly at the age of 55 after suffering from an asthma attack and dying due to lack of oxygen. How ironic.
Please remember that these poor souls were not characters in a story or a movie. They were real people, just like you and me. They had friends and families that were left behind to suffer after their deaths. I ask you to please show a little respect for the departed and spare a kind thought for them.
Hundreds of people were arrested after John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and famous actor, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, just five days after the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. It was Good Friday and the following Sunday was coined "Black Easter." Jails overflowed with suspects but eight were eventually put on trial. They were charged for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to kill President Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward. All were found guilty. Four, Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt, were sentenced to death by hanging. The other four were given various prison sentences. Dr. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O'Laughlen were sentenced to life in prison. Edmund Spangler was sentenced to six years. They were sent to the Dry Tortugas, an island down near the Florida Keys. All were eventually pardoned in 1869 with the exception of Michael O'Laughlen. He had died in 1867 after being bitten by a mosquito and contracting yellow fever. I am only going to discuss the first group. If you want to learn more about the second group, I recommend reading Memoirs of a Lincoln Conspirator by Samuel Arnold.
First is Mary Elizabeth Surratt. She ran a boardinghouse at 541 H Street in Washington DC. Before turning to murder, Booth planned to kidnap President Lincoln. During the early years of the war, members of the conspiracy team were seen in the house but there is no evidence that any plot was formed there or conspiratorial meetings took place there. However, the government decided that she "kept the nest that hatched the egg" and deemed her guilty of conspiracy. She was 42 when she was sentenced to death by hanging. This was, and still is, a very controversial sentencing. She was the first woman to be executed by the Federal government and historians still debate whether she deserved death or was unaware of an assassination plot and should have been given a lesser sentence instead. The main witnesses against her were a drunk and a Confederate sympathizer who both gave questionable and contradictory statements that showed reasonable doubt of her guilt.
Then we have Lewis Thornton Powell, who went by the alias of Paine. Powell was assigned by Booth to kill Secretary of State William Seward. He failed due to dim lighting in Seward's bedroom. Medical headgear Seward was wearing while recovering from a carriage accident also helped block vital organs from Powell's knife. Seward’s cheek was severed and remained scarred forever. However, Seward, his sons Fredrick and Gus, Sergeant George Robinson, and messenger Emerick Hansell, all survived being attacked by Powell. Lewis Powell was only 21 when he was sentenced to death.
Third is David Edgar Herold. Herold met up with Booth in southern Maryland about an hour after Lincoln's assassination. Historians still debate what Herold's role was on the night of the assassination since he was the only one not assigned to kill someone. He guided Booth through Maryland and Virginia for twelve days. On the night of April 26, he and Booth were sleeping in a tobacco barn that belonged to Richard H. Garrett, a Virginia Farmer. The 16th New York Cavalry, made up of 26 Union soldiers and led by Everton Conger, Lafayette Baker, and Edward Doherty, surrounded the barn. Thomas "Boston" Corbett would fatally shoot Booth in the neck. Herold surrendered when the soldiers threatened to set fire to the barn. He was barely 23 as his birthday was on June 16 and he was executed on July 7.
Last is George Andrew Atzerodt. He was assigned to kill Andrew Johnson but got drunk in the bar of the hotel where Johnson was staying instead. Overcome with fear, he fled into the night and made no attempt to go near Johnson. He was captured a few days later, around 4 AM, at the home of his cousin in Maryland. Although he made no effort to kill Johnson, he was 33 years old when he was given the death penalty.
The trial only lasted seven weeks, from May 10th to June 30th. Interesting fact about the trial was how the prisoners were seated in court. The four who would be executed sat together and the four who received prison sentences sat together. Whether that was done on purpose will never be known. The sentences were read to the condemned on July 6th and carried out the very next day. Priests and family members barely had time to be contacted. Lewis Powell asked that his family not be called since they would not make it to Washington from Florida in time. Some jerk did make sure to send the family pictures of their deceased son hanging from a rope though. The scaffold from which the four condemned were executed was built overnight. The sawing and hammering of the carpenters could be heard throughout the prison. One can only imagine what was going through the minds of the prisoners as they heard the loud noises of the construction and the silence when it finally ended. We do know that none of them got much sleep that night. The strips of cloth that would bind the condemned and the death hoods they would wear were made from canvas Union tents. The nooses were also made overnight. Mary Surratt's was made by the hangman, Captain Christian Rath, that morning. Tired from making nooses all night, and not believing a woman would hang, he made her noose with five turns instead of seven. The scaffold stood 28 feet high and 30 feet long.
(Side note: it was here I stood on a table to demonstrate the height of the gallows. I used the technique once before because it always got the audience's attention. I was planning to jump off but my professor decided to help me down instead, fearing I was going to kill myself. I guess I can't blame him for worrying about my well being :)
The four walked up thirteen steps to reach the top and then stood on two trapdoors that were supported by wooden props. On July 6th, the troops stationed in the Old Arsenal Penitentiary were assembled in front of Rath. Without saying exactly what he wanted, Rath said, "I want four able-bodied men to volunteer for a special duty." Knowing that most soldiers would volunteer to do something other than their monotony normal routines, Rath had plenty to pick from. He selected Corporal William Coxshall, Private Daniel Shoup, Private George Taylor, and Corporal Joseph Haslett. The four men were marched to where the scaffold was being constructed and Coxshall remembered that it was not long before they "had the first hint of what we were to do." They were to actively participate in the execution as "prop knockers." When Rath gave the signal, they would knock out the beams that supported the gallows traps the condemned would be standing on. Rath promised them a canteen of whisky if they did a good job. For Coxshall, as he stood below the gallows on the morning of the execution, "the strain was getting worse. I became nauseated, what with the heat and waiting, and taking a hold of the supporting post...I vomited. I felt a little better after that, but not too good." When the traps sprung, the four fell. They hit the end of the rope and were stopped and yanked up by the neck. If done right, that would break the neck and lead to instant death. The four men returned to camp to boos and jeers. Their fellow soldiers called them "hangmen" and a fight almost broke out. Coxshell wrote in defense, "None of us relished the work we had done...Had we known what it was we were to do that day we volunteered, none of would have stepped forward." He called his involvement "one of the grimmest events I ever participated in." And they never did get that whisky.
Before the execution, the condemned were seated on top of the gallows with umbrellas over their heads. The fear of the soldiers in charge of the hanging was that the conspirators would get to the top of the gallows and faint. It was over 100 degrees and there was no shade. They were all wearing dark clothing. Mary Surratt had on about six layers of clothing and the men were dressed in pants, sweaters, and jackets. All but Powell had taken sedative drugs and were not very steady on their feet. They were also walking to their death, seeing the looming gallows and rope nooses moving in the breeze, passing the pine gun box coffins and shallow open graves. The execution had to be done between ten and two. The soldiers held off as long as they could thinking that a plea would come in for Mary Surratt. They emerged from the prison a little after one and all was done in about a half hour to forty minutes. Even after the condemned, all of whom were chained wrist and ankle except for Mary Surratt, made it up the stairs to their seats, the death warrant had to be read, the priests had to say their final prayers, and the four needed to be prepared. Fearing that one or more of them would collapse and prolong the already long execution schedule, the soldiers decided to cover them with umbrellas.
Remember how I said that the purpose of hanging is to achieve quick death? Sadly, that did not happen in this case. The execution was faulty and none of the conspirators died instantly. Their heights and weights were not taken into account and the drop was too short to kill any of them by way of snapping their necks. All fell 5 feet. Lewis Powell needed to fall about 5 feet 11 inches to die instantly. Mary Surratt, Herold, and Atzerodt needed to fall about 7 feet.
Mary Surratt fell and ceased moving and Atzerodt only shuddered once. This was due to the fact that the rope hit a certain part of their necks and knocked them unconscious. Herold and Powell remained conscious and both strangled to death, Herold for about five minutes and Powell for about seven. This article was published by the New York Herald on July 8, the day after the execution.
"There was no struggle on the part of Mrs. Surratt. She hangs and swings as if within the dark folds of her puffed dress no life had ever been. A bag of old clothes if might be but for that flesh we see between the rope and the cap. Atzerodt still shakes as if the fear of death were to continue beyond it, and outlive consciousness itself. Harold struggles-his chest heaves. Payne slowly draws himself up till he assumes for a second the shape of a man sitting in a rather low chair. He straightens again, but the broad chest heaves and swells. It is twenty-six minutes and fifteen seconds after one. Six minutes and a half have they swung there, and again a curving of the body and bending proves Payne still alive, but it is the last."
The government hired Alexander Gardner, a well-known photographer, to take pictures. This was the first photographed execution. It was also public. Many Union soldiers were in attendance. About 1,000 other people applied for tickets to the execution. However, only about 100 were printed. Most were given to high ranking members of the government, some witnesses, and newspaper reporters. Oddly enough, friends and family of the condemned could have obtained passes to see the execution. I'm not quite sure how well that was thought through and it still baffles me how some of those same people actually won the Civil War. However, no one who had a personal connection to one of the conspirators attended. Citizens stood outside the prison and sold cake and lemonade as if they were attending a party. Some stood on the other side of the wall and asked the soldiers for information. Other sailed up the river in order to watch. Gardener's photos captured many interesting details. For example, one of the prop knockers was missing part of his finger. Gardner also captures the story of 13 year old John Collins, probably the youngest person to witness the execution. He recalled later in life, "I have never quite known exactly how I did it, but I actually went through all these lines of troops without a pass, and in less than twenty minutes from the first attempt, I was stationed not thirty feet away from the scaffold and in full view of everything said or done in connection with the execution...Boy though I was, I turned away with a sensation of horror and faintness and a feeling that I have never since lost, that I had no wish ever to witness another such scene."
Because no woman had ever been executed, no one thought Mary Surratt would be killed until she fell. In fact, soldiers were set up between the Old Arsenal and the Executive Mansion should Andrew Johnson send any pardon for her. Her lawyers, Fredrick Aiken and John Clampitt, tried to secure a writ of habeas corpus for her. They succeeded in getting it but Andrew Johnson suspended it. A few members of the military commission would sign a petition asking Johnson to spare her life because of her sex. Although a messenger claimed to deliver it, Johnson said he never saw it. Anna Surratt tried to see the President to beg for her mother's life. Politician Preston King from New York and Senator James Lane from Kansas refused to let her by, even when she threw herself sobbing at their feet. Both would commit suicide within the year. King would walk off a Hoboken ferry into the Hudson River and Lane would proclaim "goodbye, me" before firing a pistol into his mouth.
The sisters of David Herold also tried to see the President in the hopes of saving their brother's life. Also unsuccessful, they went home to their distraught mother. She had lost her husband in October of 1864 and was now going to lose her only surviving son. In an effort to shield their mother from knowing when it was time for the execution of her son, since the time was set between ten and two, the girls stopped all the clocks in their home. However, they forgot that church bells rang out the hour. When the bells chimed two o'clock, the sound seeped into the house, and Mary Herold knew her son was dead.
Speaking of the dead, their last words were recorded minutes before the drop fell. Mary Surratt whispered to a soldier standing nearby, "Please don't let me fall." Lewis Powell called out to the crowd below, "Mrs. Surratt is innocent. She doesn't deserve to die with the rest of us" and then said to a guard through his hood, "I thank you. Goodbye." George Atzerodt address his companions, "Farewell, Gentleman. May we all meet in the other world." Herold was silent.
The dead were allowed to hang for about twenty minutes before being cut down. Atzerodt fell the twenty eight feet and landed with a thud. The soldiers cutting the ropes were reprimanded and told to take the others down more carefully. Mary Surratt's head fell forward and a soldier remarked that she "would make a good bow." He was also reprimanded. They were unbound and unchained but were buried with the death hoods on. The nooses were also removed from around their necks. As soldiers tried to remove Mary Surratt's noose, they noticed that the rope had dug into her flesh and the skin was not detaching from it. As they tried to take it off, the skin of her neck peeled off and stuck to the rope. This morbid image remained with the men for the rest of their lives.
The four were buried in shallow graves alongside the gallows. About the same times letters began coming in from Edwin Booth asking for the remains of his younger brother, John, Anna Surratt began asking Andrew Johnson for the return of her mother's body. All requests were denied. The prison was torn down a year later and all coffins were moved into a warehouse. Four years later, the bodies were released to their families. Mary Surratt is buried Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Fredrick, Maryland. George Atzerodt is buried in Saint Paul's Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland under a fictitious name. David Herold is buried in an unmarked grave in Congressional Cemetery in Washington DC. Lewis Powell's body was the only one not claimed and his skull ended up as an exhibit in the Smithsonian. Like the revolver that killed Booth, where his body went remains a mystery. The skull was eventually discovered by historians and buried in Geneva Cemetery in Seminole County, Florida.
All the conspirators were punished with the exception of one. Mary Surratt's youngest son, John Surratt Jr., who was involved in the earlier kidnapping plot, fled. He was captured in Egypt a year later and sent back to Washington for trial. Similar evidence was brought against him. However, the jury deadlocked and decided that John Surratt had no knowledge or involvement in the assassination. He was released and lived to be 72. However, he was labeled a coward for not attempting to save his mother. And what became of the men responsible for this? Andrew Johnson went down in history as arguably the worst President to hold office. Four years after the execution, as Johnson packed his office, Edwin Stanton would die suddenly at the age of 55 after suffering from an asthma attack and dying due to lack of oxygen. How ironic.
With a Thousand kind wishes for your future happiness,
XOXO, Kate
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
The Gettysburg Address Turns 150
Happy birthday to the Gettysburg Address! One of Abraham Lincoln's most remembered speeches turns 150 today.
The two minute monologue is, in my opinion, Lincoln's most famous speech and has gone down in history as one of the greatest speeches ever given. The words are immortalized on the left wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is carved on the right.
The program for the day was as follows:
Music by Birgfeld's Band (Homage d'uns Heros)
Prayer by Reverend TH Stockton
Music by the Marine Band (Old Hundred)
Oration by Hon. Edward Everett (The Battles of Gettysburg)
Music Hymn (Consecration Chant) sung by the Baltimore Glee Club
Dedicatory Remarks by the President of the United States
Dirge (Oh! It is Great for Our Country to Die) sung by a Choir selected for the occasion
Benediction by Reverend HL Baugher
Edward Everett spoke before Lincoln with an oration that lasted two hours. Lincoln's speech lasted two minutes and summarized the war in just ten sentences. Ironically, everyone thought that Everett's speech would become famous and historic. However, hardly anyone remembers it.
Although there was a photographer present, there are no photographs of Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address. The speech was so brief that the photographer did not have time to set up his equipment for a picture.
The Gettysburg Address is one of the few speeches Lincoln affixed his full signature to. He was known for just signing "A. Lincoln." However, he signed the Address "Abraham Lincoln."
So, without further ado, Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Damn that man could write :)
Leave a comment down below and join me in wishing a happy 150th birthday to the Gettysburg Address!
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
The two minute monologue is, in my opinion, Lincoln's most famous speech and has gone down in history as one of the greatest speeches ever given. The words are immortalized on the left wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address is carved on the right.
Lincoln wrote drafts of the address in the telegraph office of the Washington DC War Department. He would often hide out there for long periods of time during the first few years of the conflict when it was unclear whether the Union could achieve victory over the Confederacy. The speech was given on November 19, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. On July 1, 1863, the bloody battle of Gettysburg began. General George Meade and the Army of the Potomac defeated General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North. The fighting would last until July 3, 1865 and claim at least 46,000 lives. Deceased soldiers on both sides were buried on the battlefield and it was decided that the grounds would be consecrated into a national cemetery for those that rested below the grass. The committee for the November 19th Consecration of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg invited President Lincoln to speak. He agreed and arrived by train three hours early. There were about 15,000 spectators, including 6 state governors and various reporters.
The program for the day was as follows:
Music by Birgfeld's Band (Homage d'uns Heros)
Prayer by Reverend TH Stockton
Music by the Marine Band (Old Hundred)
Oration by Hon. Edward Everett (The Battles of Gettysburg)
Music Hymn (Consecration Chant) sung by the Baltimore Glee Club
Dedicatory Remarks by the President of the United States
Dirge (Oh! It is Great for Our Country to Die) sung by a Choir selected for the occasion
Benediction by Reverend HL Baugher
Edward Everett spoke before Lincoln with an oration that lasted two hours. Lincoln's speech lasted two minutes and summarized the war in just ten sentences. Ironically, everyone thought that Everett's speech would become famous and historic. However, hardly anyone remembers it.
Although there was a photographer present, there are no photographs of Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address. The speech was so brief that the photographer did not have time to set up his equipment for a picture.
The Gettysburg Address is one of the few speeches Lincoln affixed his full signature to. He was known for just signing "A. Lincoln." However, he signed the Address "Abraham Lincoln."
So, without further ado, Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Damn that man could write :)
Leave a comment down below and join me in wishing a happy 150th birthday to the Gettysburg Address!
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Rustic Courtship
Rustic Courtship. Painted by William Henry Midwood in 1865 aka the year the Civil War ended. I found this painting while looking for blog inspiration and loved it so much that I had to share it. Being the storyteller that I am, I began thinking of a story for the young couple in their quiet country home. Was this man a soldier just returned from war to his sweetheart? Or did he hold another job during the conflict? Here's what I came up with.
Their names are Lucy and David. He was a southern clerk in a Washington DC pharmacy during the war. She was a wealthy northern belle and volunteer nurse engaged to marry someone else. They fell in love, became engaged, and ran away, leaving behind their lives in the city. They are now a newlywed couple living in peaceful obscurity on a small farm in southern Maryland.
So that's my tale. What's yours? Leave a short synopsis of your story in the comments below. Or just enjoy the beautiful painting.
Until next time.
XOXO, Kate
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Welcome
Welcome! Being a Civil War historian and reenactor, I have decided to share my interest and open a blog. Visit me here for all sorts of rants and raves...and even a few recipes. So take your blanket, take your gun, and come follow me on my various adventures.
XOXO, Kate
XOXO, Kate
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