Memorial Day

Here are a few post-card images of Decoration Day/Memorial Day from the early 1900s. The only one of these that has a date on it ("to my comrades") shows 1910 as the date, but I believe the others are from the same time frame, the 1910s or 1920s.

These represent what this holiday was intended to note (I think this is another case where "celebrate" may be inappropriate and perhaps "commemorate" is used too often though perhaps that is because it is the word that best fits the intention of this day.)

Looking at these and others I've seen, it's remarkable how different post cards then were from now. Of course, modern photography makes current cards more reliant on it than on artwork and the imagination that went into these scenes, but the artwork and the scenes so many cards from back then depict are remarkable. The pictures themselves get their powerful messages across, even when the artist decided to add some descriptive wording.

Though I, of course, focus on Civil War veterans, Memorial Day as we now know it is to honor all deceased Veterans of the United States Military and I hope everyone reading this will remember that, even if briefly, on this national holiday.

Book Review: My Old Confederate Home

 

My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans

Rusty Williams

copyright 2010

The University Press of Kentucky

After having read Anne Marshall's Creating a Confederate Kentucky (see my review here), I thought perhaps that Rusty William's book would make for a nice follow-up. That intuition proved to be correct, as I really enjoyed My Old Confederate Home.

In this book, Williams employs a very readable, free-flowing style to tell the tale of a property in Pewee Valley, Kentucky that served as a home for former Confederate veterans for over 30 years. 

William picks a pair of "characters" to build each chapter around, discussing how those two individuals knew each other or what other similarity they held. This is an effective tool and provides consistency throughout the book.

This book is easy to read, full of enjoyable writing and with a good flow.

Williams shows how the seeds for such a house were planted in post-Civil War Confederate groups that sprung up throughout the south and in Kentucky. 

He also discusses many of the people who played major roles in the establishment of this home, the maintenance and administration of it, as well as how state-wide Confederate groups such as the United Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy contributed and/or tried to contribute to the house.

The role women played - and tried to play - is a very interesting "story within a story" as women as individuals and as members of groups showed a keen interest in the upkeep of this institution.

Williams describes the changing roles of Kentucky state politics in the house, from its beginning to its end as the number of residents inevitably declined. The final chapter, with mentions of the numbers of inmates at the house at various time frames does a great job of serving almost as a "countdown" to the home's final days.

The book does concentrate specifically on the Confederate Home and events surrounding it, but the nature of this story does describe some of the same aspects of Civil War memory in Kentucky as does Marshall's book. Williams' piece adds to the study of just how far the image of Kentucky as a Confederate state spread in the late 1800s and early 1900s and the influence former Confederates and Confederate supporters had throughout the state. Marshall spends more time explaining how this happened, but this books provides a good specific example of the effects of that image. Reading these books back-to-back proved to be a terrific idea and one I certainly suggest other readers to consider.

My Old Confederate Home is a very fine book dealing specifically with the Confederate Veteran's Home in Pewee Valley, Kentucky and is a nice addition to the study of Kentucky's image as a Confederate state. 

I gladly recommend this book

Veteran's Day: Thank you

 
A hearty salute and thank you  to any and all veterans or active service men and women who may read this blog.

Here is a history of Veterans Day from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, as we honor all American veterans. Thank you to all those brave men and women for their service to our country.

Let's all take time today to remember those who have sacrificed so much to allow us to live as we do today, including those who have never yet returned home. At a Veterans Day ceremony I attended last weekend, I met a man whose brother was in the Korean War but has been missing since late 1951. I had heard such stories before but to meet someone whose life was affected by such an event was a different feeling, even humbling; it helped me realized know how lucky and blessed I have been and was an unmistakable sign of the affects of war.  I hope his brother, and all others like him, found the eternal peace they so bravely earned.

God bless America, and God Bless our veterans!

  










Thanks to Pleasure Gait Farms  for the image of the flag and the POW/MIA banner.   

I voted!

Today was a primary election day in Kentucky and after getting home from work I was able to make it to the polling place a few minutes before it closed. The people inside said they had had good turnout throughout the day, which was good news to hear.

And I know the rest of this post may sound a bit "corny" or "sappy:" and maybe this entire post is too self-congratulatory, but so be it. I feel this is a very appropriate post to make. 

Being a Civil War blogger, I naturally started to think about the men camped out in rain, snow, or heat, risking their lives in battle or through exposure, and all their friends and families at home who missed them. It was the sacrifices of these individuals and families - and those from other wars from the Revolution to the War on Terror - that have allowed people like me the right to vote and I'm very glad I was able to exercise that right today.

 (American Flag GIF courtesy of  Pleasure Gait Farms  )