A Burning Shame

I certainly do not intend to turn this blog into a review of poems from and/or about the Civil War era, but if I find verses that interest me of that I think are worth sharing, I will post them here.

Today's poem comes from the antique Under Both Flags book that I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago. It is on page 211 and I thought it a bit humorous and amusing. Perhaps "reconciliation" is a theme of these lines too, though in a different format. I don't know if Dixie Wolcott is the suthor or the character in the poem

A BURNING SHAME

Dixie Wolcott

That there wasn't a saucier rebel

In all the sunny South,

'Twas easy to tell by the mischievous eyes

And the smile of her roguish mouth.

But how she hated the Yankees

She couldn't bear the name;

"How dared they come and whip us;

It was a burning shame!"

One of those self-same Yankees

Came to her Dixie one day,

And ere the week was over

She'd stolen his heart away.

But how should she treat her captive?

He couldn't be shot you know,

Because the war was ended

Two dozen years ago.

So in order to keep him prisoner

The rest of his life instead

She reckoned she'd have to marry him, tho'

"'Twas a burin shame," she said.

October 31, 1864: "Sheridan's Ride" Makes its Debut

Sheridan's Ride is a poem that Thomas Buchanan Read wrote in late October 1864 in Cincinnati at the request of well-known  actor and performer James Murdoch, who was looking for fresh material to perform on stage. General Phil Sheridan had just become the hero of the fight at Cedar Creek in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. He had left the area for a meeting in Washington D.C. As he was returning on the morning of October 19, he received reports of a battle going on and son found many of his men fleeing from the enemy. He rallied his troops, yelling "Give 'em hell boys! We'll sleep in our old camps tonight!"

The union troops did rally and earned one of the more spectacular victories - snatching victory from the jaws of defeat - of the late war. This victory gave the Union control of "the Valley" and earned great fame for Sheridan. It also inspired Murdoch with an idea for the new material he needed and Reed wrote it in quick fashion. Manty different artistic renditions of the charge, featuring Sheridan riding his horse, waving his hat or sword as he rallied his troops, also appeared.

Murdoch performed this poem on October 31 at the Pike Opera House in Cincinnati, and it became a quick national sensation, with newspaper coverage across the north telling the story of an aggressive leader on his heroic horse. Of course, Winchester is actually 12 miles from Cedar Creek, not 20 as the poem says, which I guess is an example of poetic license.

It may have even created additional enthusiasm for Abraham Lincoln and the Union cause as the 1864 Presidential election approached, though the short span of time before the November 8 election probably limited its potential influence, even as technology like railroads and the telegraph sped up the spread of information throughout the land.

Sheridan reputedly noted that the poem made his horse Rienzi (later renamed Winchester) the real hero, and laughed at his fairly accurate observation.

I have copied the verses from this site.  Here is another, more thorough  report on this campaign and poem and more information about Cincinnati's role in the creation of the poem.

Up from the South, at break of day,
Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,
The affrighted air with a shudder bore,
Like a herald in haste to the chieftain's door,
The terrible grumble, and rumble, and roar,
Telling the battle was on once more,
And Sheridan twenty miles away.

And wider still those billows of war
Thundered along the horizon's bar;
And louder yet into Winchester rolled
The roar of that red sea uncontrolled,
Making the blood of the listener cold,
As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray,
With Sheridan twenty miles away.

But there is a road from Winchester town,
A good, broad highway leading down:
And there, through the flush of the morning light,
A steed as black as the steeds of night
Was seen to pass, as with eagle flight;
As if he knew the terrible need,
He stretched away with his utmost speed.
Hills rose and fell, but his heart was gay,
With Sheridan fifteen miles away.

Still sprang from those swift hoofs, thundering south,
The dust like smoke from the cannon's mouth,
Or the trail of a comet, sweeping faster and faster,
Foreboding to traitors the doom of disaster.
The heart of the steed and the heart of the master
Were beating like prisoners assaulting their walls,
Impatient to be where the battle-field calls;
Every nerve of the charger was strained to full play,
With Sheridan only ten miles away.

Under his spurning feet, the road
Like an arrowy Alpine river flowed,
And the landscape sped away behind
Like an ocean flying before the wind;
And the steed, like a barque fed with furnace ire,
Swept on, with his wild eye full of fire;
But, lo! he is nearing his heart's desire;
He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray,
With Sheridan only five miles away.

The first that the general saw were the groups
Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops;
What was to be done? what to do?--a glance told him both.
Then striking his spurs with a terrible oath,
He dashed down the line, 'mid a storm of huzzas,
And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because

The sight of the master compelled it to pause.
With foam and with dust the black charger was gray;
By the flash of his eye, and his red nostril's play,
He seemed to the whole great army to say:
"I have brought you Sheridan all the way
From Winchester down to save the day."

Hurrah! hurrah for Sheridan!
Hurrah! hurrah for horse and man!
And when their statues are placed on high
Under the dome of the Union sky,
The American soldier's Temple of Fame,
There, with the glorious general's name,
Be it said, in letters both bold and bright:
"Here is the steed that saved the day
By carrying Sheridan into the fight,
From Winchester--twenty miles away!"

A Soldier's Offering

I recently posted an entry with a  poem called The Palmetto and the Pine from the introduction of an old book Under Both Flags.

In the same section of that book is another brief poem, A Soldier's Offering that I had overlooked but that I do think is worth posting since it continues the theme of reconciliation and seems to explain the title of the previous piece of verse I shared here. George M. Vickers is listed as the author of the following lines


The laurel wreath of glory,
That decks the soldier's grave,
Is but the finished story,
The record of the brave;
And he who dared the danger,
Who battled well and true,
To honor was no stranger,
Though garbed in gray or blue.

Go, strip your choicest bowers,
Where blossoms sweet abound,
Then scatter free your flowers,
Upon each moss-grown mound;
Though shaded by the North's tall pine
Or south's palmetto tree,
Let sprays that soldiers' graves entwine,
A soldier's tribute be.

The Palmetto and the Pine

I just acquired an old book Under Both Flags  edited by C. R. Graham, published in 1896. It's title page describes it as an "unprejudiced representation of the issues that divided our country, as told in the personal recollections of those who participated in the campaigns, marches, sufferings, anecdotes, and instances of dauntless heroism which glorified send ennobled this gigantic struggle for the supremacy of the Union."

Of course, it does not note that such recollections rarely, if ever, are "unprejudiced" but that at least was the object of this oversized book or at least its editor. I have not looked through it all to judge its success at meeting that lofty  ambitionbut the book's introduction certainly claims a theme of reconciliation and togetherness as its goal.

Included in this section is a poem called The  Palmetto and the Pine which I am publishing below. It's pulse obviously matches what the book itself wished to accomplish and I thought it was worth reading.

While the months to years are fleeting like a river's ceaseless flow,

And the landmarks old grow dimmer in the distant long ago,

Let us glance once more behind us, where our battle days were seen, 

Where our blood, like holly berries, sprinkled thick the grassy green.

There, in rifle pit, on rampart, or upon the open field,

Come the visions of battalions that would rather die than yield - 

Come the stately forms of vessels with their crews of sailors brave,

Whose memorial crests of glory are the white caps of the wave.

Once these men were happy, peaceful, till that bloody war, and then -

When it ended they returned homeward from their dead to peace again.

Why the fought, why lost, who triumphed, who was wrong, or who was right,

Matters not ; there our brothers, and we're not afraid to fight.

'Neath the fairest flag that flutters under Heaven's azure dome

Dwell these warriors and their children in sweet Freedom's chosen home.

In his heart each holds a welcome for the soldier at his door,

And he never stops to question which the uniform he wore.

We were soldiers, only soldiers of the nation let us be.

Let us meet and greet as comrades though we fought with Grant or Lee;

Let us form a noble order with sweet Freedom for our shrine,

And for each enwreathe a token - the Palmetto and the Pine.

---

After these verses, the introduction continues: 

The sons and daughters of the North and South will always honor the gallantry of their American sires. No moral attainder should dim the path of a soldier's child; and it is to bind together fraternally the millions yet unborn that these truths be recognized and held aloft now.

In this spirit it is hoped that Tales of the Civil War as Told by the Veterans will be accepted and read, never forgetting that the proudest tribute we can pay to the memory of the brave men of both armies, is they were Americans.

An Elegy

From The Civil War in Song and Story 1860-1865, collected and arranged by Frank Moore, page 69

An Elegy - The following lines were written by a soldier in the hospital at New Haven, Conn., who lost his leg in the battle of Fair Oaks:


Good leg, thou wast a faithful friend,
And truly hast thy duty done;
I thank thee most that to the end,
Thou didst not let this body run.


Strange paradox that in the fight
Where I of thee was thus bereft,
I lost my left leg for "the Right,"
And yet the right's the one that's left!


But while the sturdy stump remains,
I may be able yet to patch it,
For even now I've taken pains
To make an L-E-G to match it.

2009: Year in Books, Part 2

Continuing my look at some of the books I read in 2009, I'll start now with Why the Civil War Came, edited by Gabor Boritt, which is a very nice collection of essays about the coming of the war, including his own thoughts on how Lincoln refused to see the war coming in time to try to prevent it, some interesting discussion of the failure of the U.S. political system, and other thought-provoking essays on topics like the Northern reaction to the war, as well as the pre-war actions of women and of African-Americans. It is a bit difficult to read at times, but is well worth the effort.

All That Makes a Man: Love and Ambition in the Civil War South by Stephen W. Berry is a book that I found difficult to read at times, trying to understand the language and themes he used, especially when he discussed psychological and philosophical themes . For some reason, it did not fit my personal style of what I like to read, or maybe I just did not fit it. This book discusses the role of love and ambition in Southern men, discussing gender roles and how that influenced the way men handled the controversies leading to the war. I liked how he used pairs of men as examples in different sections, showing how the experiences and lives of each compared and contrasted. It is a really good subject, with a lot of potential, but I just did not find this book as readable or as easy-flowing as his next book House of Abraham: Lincoln and the Todds, a Family Divided by War, which I read a couple of years ago.

I believe the following books (or most of them) have already been the subjects of reviews on my blog, but I will give them brief mention again here.

James P. Duffy's Lincoln's Admiral: The Civil War Campaigns of David Farragut is a very enjoyable, informative and smoothly-flowing review of the career of David Farragut, concentrating on his Civil War experiences on the Mississippi River, at New Orleans, Mobile Bay and other locals. I do wish it had included endnotes or footnotes, however.

I claim no objectivity on this one, as I do know Dr. James A Ramage and am privileged to work at the museum named in his honor, but still found his Rebel Raider: The Life of General John Hunt Morgan to be a very informative look at the life of this famed Confederate, offering both praise and critical analysis of Morgan's actions and decisions.

Another book that I found to be absolutely outstanding, both in style of writing and, especially, for its subject and treatment thereof was Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War by Tom Wheeler. It is a concise, but informative review of Lincoln's uses of this new technology, which had not been available to any war-time U.S. President previously. Wheeler shows how Lincoln had no precedent on how to use such a tool, but how he found an effective way to employ it to his advantage.

One book which was a bit confusing at times due to the many voices used, yet still provided many unique and interesting perspectives was The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves  , edited by Andrew Ward. The confusion came from so many different sources used, yet that added to the variety and diversity of opinions and viewpoints. There were surprising views as well, such as slaves thinking of Yankees as monsters, or protecting their masters' valuables from invading Northern forces. It took me some time to get used to the format but once I did, I found this to be a very interesting look at life from the perspectives of these who had lived as slaves during the war.

1776 by David McCullough took me away from pure Civil War studies, but I actually found several themes throughout the book that reminded me of various discussions of the "2^nd American Revolution," including the one large, powerful existing government versus the upstart Rebels and some mentions of sectional discord or distrust among the American leadership and troops. It is an outstanding book to read and gives a fascinating look at this pivotal year in American history.

A Yankee Goes to Gettysburg is a series of beautiful photographs from the Gettysburg battlefield followed by original poetry by Todd Patrick Coleman, a local author whom I have been fortunate enough to meet and befriend and whose book is available at the Ramage Museum. I enjoyed these short tributes to those who fought at that Pennsylvania town – they are not the typical poems with rhyming lines, but are of a more abstract style, while still adding meaning to the wonderful pictures. This is a book that can be read in one sitting, and is well worth it.

Daniel Mark Epstein wrote a fine book entitled Lincoln's Men: The President and his Private Secretaries that provides a nice perspective at some of the background work taking place in Lincoln's White House, and how Lincoln and these young men came to rely on each other for support and developed close relationships over the years. The amount of work these men (John Nicolay, John Hay & William Stoddard) did was amazing.

I did read one collection of diary and journal entries this year, and it was another fascinating book, concentrating on the last year and 4 months of the Confederacy. No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentary & Desertion: A Composite Diary of the Last 16 Months of the Confederacy compiled by Jeff Toalson, is exactly what its long title suggests. It takes excerpts from many people and locations to provide a diverse set of views of the end of the Civil War, including comments from soldiers, sailors and people at home, including women, some of whom had very strong opinions on Confederate leadership. This work is very enjoyable and informative.

William Lee Miller's President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman is a good solid look at Lincoln during his presidential years, focusing on his new-found role as not just a local lawyer and politician, but a statesman who now had worldwide correspondents and responsibilities. It focuses mostly, though, on h is role in America as a statesman and how his personal set of values and morals guided him through the tough job of war-time leader. I found it to be very enjoyable and informative, and a fairly easy read.

Lincoln at Peoria: The Turning Point by Lewis Lehrman was the final book I finished in 2009, and is one of my favorites, not just from that year. It is a very detailed, organized and fascinating look at the importance and impact of the speech Lincoln gave at Peoria, Illinois in October 1854. Lehrman argues, convincingly, I may add, that this speech marked a change in Lincoln's professional life, in terms of how he prepared and delivered his speeches, and about the topics he argued in those speeches. It simply is an outstanding book that I enjoyed about as much as any other I can recall reading. It, along with White's & McCullough's works, is one of the best I read in 2009, and perhaps in my life.