The war in the West went on long after Lee surrendered, and not just because it took a little while for news to travel. The Confederates appeared utterly defeated, and yet some still were willing to fight. But the South was not the only problem for the North. Corruption was rampant in Forts Smith and Gibson (Indian Territory, now Oklahoma); safe havens for both southern and northern refugees, from brutality, but both Government officials and Union officers practiced fraud, deception and robbery. They took livestock, and sold it back to the government to be given to those they took it from. Officers of the Indian regiments added names of dead, deserted or created soldiers to their rosters and collected their pay, but with the reinstatement of Colonel William A. Phillips, his command and agents were cleaned up. He had agents watched by trusted men, and made some seek political refuge.

But this was not Col. Phillips' only problem. General Ulysses S. Grant had ordered that all Indian troops must be mounted, but by this time Phillips had only forty useful horses left to give to his men. Scouting remained entirely necessary with the Confederates still fighting; with little bands of brigands and bushwhackers destroying everything and rumours abound that Confederate General Cooper was putting an army together for one last offensive into Missouri. Phillips sent his men south to learn all they could.

Lieutenant Francis J. Fox, of the First Indian Home Guard, sent out a party of four mounted and four dismounted men to see what was happening. The Sergeant reported a wonderful meeting of scouts, with nine mounted Southerners firing dismounted. Then they remounted and charged both the footmen and cavalry. The Sergeant wrote that his men decided on "prudence" as "the best part of valour and charged also, but with their ponies' tails toward the foe," which was probably a better idea.

Finally, on April 23, 1865, Phillips reported a capture of rebel mail from a rebel scouting party. The Union men killed three, and wounded several others, driving the rest back they way they had come. Furthermore, when Phillips discovered the news of Cooper and Stand Watie's intentions to push into Missouri, one last time; it was evident that Cooper had not heard that General Lee had surrendered at Appomattox earlier that month. Phillips prepared to evacuate both Forts Smith and Gibson of its refugees in case Cooper arrived with an army, but after heavy spring rains the Confederacy folded and "commands across the southern states followed General Lee's lead and surrendered."

All, that is, except the Indian tribes, with Cooper not wishing to sign a treaty on behalf of the almost obliterated Indian tribes, so he left it to the tribal leaders, with Brigadier General Stand Watie being the last Confederate Commander to surrender along with his people.

Born in Missouri and taken to Calhoun, Georgia with his brother, by his parents, Grigg and Diantha, Will Henry Thompson grew up in the foothills of the Cherokee Valley, living beside the "beautiful and scenic Coosawattee River." Both Will and his older brother Maurice learnt to hunt and fish, and eventually learned to use a longbow, thus leading to their toxophilitic nature (lovers of the bow and the art of archery). They both had a classical education, taught by their mother and live-in tutors, and both enjoyed reading and writing.

They lived a content, carefree existence, hunting, fishing, and "galloping around the country," but there easy, hard working life was not to last. The threat of this new war loomed and Maurice, at 17, joined the army of the Confederacy, followed by his father and lastly, his brother Will Henry. Thompson served in the 4th Georgian Infantry, and served in the Confederate army throughout the War.

His poem, "The High Tide at Gettysburg" is different from poems of wars from previous authors, as it is of an "elegiac strain." The poem is definitely in tune with the mid-nineteenth-century "preoccupation with mortality and morality," which makes sense as Will Henry would have been very young when he joined up, and still young when he wrote and published this work in 1888. It begins with the much repeated lines, "a cloud possessed the hollow field, the gathering battle's smoky shield. Athwart the gloom the lightning flashed, and through the cloud some horsemen dashed, and from the heights the thunder pealed." From this verse, the poem could be about any battle, or even any of the many Gettysburg battles, but it is not much later that Thompson mentions Pickett, and "leading grandly down," implying that this poem is about Pickett's Charge, the final surge of the Confederacy and Lee to push north. As we know, Lee failed and in the process many thousands died at the Battle of Gettysburg.

It is written without poetic flourish, and fluffy language; Thompson created a smoke filled atmosphere with guns and flashes and death surrounding it all. The reader of this poem is taken to Pickett's Charge, and shown in no uncertain terms that the war was gruesome and horrific, that men died, and for leaders who had almost forgotten the original cause. Thompson compared the fight to the fiery losses of the British at Waterloo, and shows how straggled the Confederates are by 1863, by discussing the colours or the battle flags. He writes "Virginia heard her comrade [Tennessee] say: 'Close round this rent and riddled rag'," and a little later, he says the "tattered standards of the South," both double entendres, as they don't just mean the actual flags are torn and full of holes, but the Confederates and the South as a whole, is tattered and torn, and full of holes.

The famous lines "they smote and stood, who held the hope of nations on that slippery slope," has been attributed the first use of Slippery Slope, by language specialists and the surprise is that here it is literally slippery from blood, but now means something different. The last verse is beautiful, with Thompson changing tack slightly, using love as a reason to stop fighting, and finishing with the image of a mother "lamenting all her fallen sons" This is possibly why Colonel Will Henry Thompson was commissioned to prepare "proper wording" for Edgar Allen Poe's mother's epitaph. He wrote similar words of a mother leaving someone very special behind. Not exactly unusual for a young son, who has seen other young sons fall in huge numbers.

The most infamous of slave traders, Captain Nathaniel Gordon was finally brought to justice, and the significance of that event was reported and commented on at length in the March 8, 1862 edition of Harper's Weekly summarizing from accounts in the Times and Herald. This was an important event because the international slave trade had been considered piracy but had not been prosecuted due to the existence of slavery in the United States. Now, however, the Lincoln administration changed all that with the first execution by hanging of one of the most notorious and successful of all of the slave traders.

Gordon, a native of Maine, had been engaged in the slave trade for many years. On August 8, 1860 off the West Coast of Africa his ship stopped and was boarded by Lieutenant Henry D. Todd, U.S.N. of the United States steamer Mohican. When Lieutenant Todd boarded the ship which was flying the American flag he was horrified by both the sight and smell of what he saw. On board, he found eight hundred and ninety-seven men, women and children. They ranged in age from six months to forty years; half were children and the other half, one quarter men and one quarter women. They were so crowded together he could not move without stepping on someone. The smell was so foul as to be sickening. Disease ran rampant. Twenty-nine had died and been thrown overboard.

The sailors claimed that they had been told this was a legitimate voyage or they would have never signed on. They also said that it was obvious that Gordon was the Captain. Gordon eventually admitted to them that the Erie was a slave ship and they were told they would receive one dollar for each slave who arrived safely at their destination.

Gordon was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. All attempts to have him pardoned were unsuccessful and he was scheduled to be hanged. The night before, he somehow managed to come into the possession of a poison, probably strychnine, and attempted to commit suicide rather than face the hangman's noose. Unfortunately for him, his attempt was thwarted by the efforts of physicians who pumped his stomach and saved his life.

Gordon's last request was that they cut a lock of his hair and send it to his wife along with a ring he removed from his finger. Gordon was given rather large amounts of whiskey to keep him alive for the execution and so he was not sober when he went to his fate.

The execution of Gordon was so important a signal of the impending end of the slave trade that the execution was held in an unlikely place – City Prison, New York City – better known as "The Tombs". Gordon was the only slave trader ever executed in the United States. The story was recently retold in Smithsonian magazine.

The place of President James Buchanan in the history of this country has always been a topic of hot debate. The Franklin Repository of April 27, 1859 contains a summary of the April 13th anti-Buchanan speech made by the Honorable John Hickman at the Independent Democratic Convention at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Hickman was outraged at the conduct of President Buchanan which he believed had violated the Constitution of the United Sates - particularly in relation to the issues of slavery and popular sovereignty. "Suddenly," said Hickman, in order to carry the election in his home state of Missouri, "he became transformed from the sympathizer with down trodden freedom, to the open and shameless defender of aggressive and law defying slavery." There is "an eternal antagonism between freedom and slavery", said Hickman. Buchanan, according to Hickman, exceeded the powers granted to him as President by the Constitution by usurping powers of Congress. His policies had driven the country to the point of insolvency by not providing for proper supervision of the country's finances. Public property, Hickman contended, sold for less than its value and high wages were paid to workers who do nothing because they are friends or supporters of Buchanan. The Post Office had been poorly managed and also the victim of patronage. As a result of their own policies, said Hickman, the administration had become unable to act they are so afraid. Hickman next attacked the advisability of the acquisition of Cuba particularly in light of the fact that it will add to the strength of the slave states. Finally, he made a call to stand up against the wrongs of the administration, to defend the Union and fight against slavery.

Buchanan was well aware the Union was in jeopardy but wanted desperately to preserve the status quo. He was not a defender of slavery but he recognized its economic importance to the South. He was troubled by the Constitutional guarantees of State sovereignty which applied to both the North and the South and the issue of the constitutionality of secession. As Hickman's speech implies, the issue of slavery very much involved balancing "the rights of a minority operating within a majority."

The stories about women and the unlikely role they played, in both the north and the south, during the Civil War are some of the most interesting stories of the Civil War. One such story, about Union spy Pauline Cushman appeared in the Valley Spirit on June 8, 1864. Ms. Cushman was arrested by the Confederates, freed by the Northern troops and rewarded with the honorary title of Major in the United States army.

When the war began in 1861, Cushman resided in Cleveland, Ohio. She was, however, originally from New Orleans and of French and Spanish descent. She was an actress by profession and, as such, moved to Louisville, Kentucky where she continued to perform. In March of 1863, while performing at the Wood's Theatre, some paroled Confederate officers asked her to make a toast to the Confederacy. Because of her own loyalties to the North, she consulted with the local provost marshal who then asked her to become a spy for the Union. As such, she did offer the requested toast. She was then subjected to a mock arrest and dismissed from the theatre. She went to work, thereafter, at a theatre in Nashville where she was called to the headquarters of Confederate General Bragg. She first swore an oath to the Government of the United States of America and then proceeded to join the Cumberland Army.

Eventually, she had been caught by the Confederates and charged with being a Union spy in June 1864. In particular, she was questioned about her "Yankee twang" which she explained by the fact that she had been playing Yankee parts. She was threatened with hanging if the letters she had been found carrying proved her to be a spy. Fortunately for Miss Cushman, after being found guilty of espionage, she became quite ill and was saved, by this illness, from being hanged. It was during this illness that she was rescued by Union troops.

Reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation, even among the common folk, was mixed and often violent. A letter to the Editor of the Harper's Weekly and published in the November 8, 1862 edition describes one reader's personal experience with such a reaction from a neighbor.

Charity Grimes writes that her neighbor, Sarah Blue, and she do not always agree but on this one occasion Blue had come storming into her home while Grimes was ironing "as mad as a march hair". Blue proceeded to give her interpretation of the Emancipation Proclamation – that Lincoln had told all the "niggers tu cut sticks and run from their marsters". She expressed her fear that the south would get angry. The President could stab, shoot them with pistols or cannons, but not take away their slaves, according to Blue. When Grimes disagreed, Blue took one of Grimes's flat irons and came after her. Grimes grabbed tongs and the two of them went at each other until they were bruised and swollen. Grimes has not been out of the house since that incident.

Grimes wrote a poem and sent it to Blue about "the abolishun ov nigger slavery." The poem was included in the letter and was published in Harper's Weekly along with the letter. In the poem she deals sarcastically with Blue's sentiments that Lincoln should not emancipate the slaves because of their economic worth to the South. Blue has not answered the poem.

Reaction to the Proclamation was mixed among northern intellectuals as well as among the common people. Many framed the issue in terms of Federal versus States rights while others thought the only way for this plan to be successful was to deport the slaves after their emancipation. It is interesting that someone as simple as Sarah Blue would have comprehended the magnitude of the economic consequences and importance of slavery for the South.

Rachel Cormany recorded her experiences of the civil war in her diary of the time that the Gettysburg campaign was taking place. She lived in a place close by called Chambersburg. On June 15, 1863 she wrote how she saw all sorts of wagon trains make their way through the town. She experienced the panic that shot through the town due to the Rebels. There had been a cry that the Rebels were in Greencastle, but it turned to be false, they would be there in an hour. She wrote that her confidence in God would keep her safe from the Rebels.

The Rebels had not moved in at the time she thought, but the next day about "11 ½" as she wrote it, they rushed by on horses. She actually saw them riding by her window, which shows how close she was to the action. Going to bed at 2:00 AM, Rachel reported that it was very quiet except for the occasional Reb. Eventually, around 5:00 AM, she said that the Rebels became active again and she would have to lie still in order to stay out of the sight. If the Rebels saw her she would be a part of the Contraband that she saw, only being children and women. This relates to a document that was reported to the Headquarters in Virginia by a Rebel force saying that they took few men and close to 175 women and 225 children as contraband.

The following day, she said that she had an interesting visitor, preacher Miller's daughter. She had run away from the Rebs and had no place to stay. Rachel quickly found out that this girl was a thief and was keeping a close eye on her. Rachel said she was acting strange before bedtime. After bedtime, she wrote of how the Rebs were leaving and carrying away men's clothing and other supplies too. She saw them leave and was relieved that they had left, although she did not see the Union soldiers come through that had been reported.

Lee's armies moved into the Cumberland Valley without problems after the battle of Winchester. After the Rebs left, the town was out and about doing all their things they had to do. A lot of women were doing the wash from the previous days, because the town was occupied by Rebs. Cormany put her experiences into writings for those who were away from the war to feel and see what she saw when her town was overtaken by the opposition.

Senator Oliver P. Morton of Indianapolis gave a speech in Indianapolis referring to The White League and the violence that goes on in southern states. Morton said, "The White League not only exists in Louisiana, but in other Southern States." The White League or the Order of the Pale Faces was a pre-Ku Klux Klan group that terrorized freedmen and white Unionists. Morton's statement illustrates that there are violent crimes happening in southern states, which led to killings and massacres.

Morton moved on to talk about Kellogg's Government that was 'overthrown'. This government, although recognized by the President, Congress and Senate, was not recognized by the Democrats of the South and they felt that they needed to resort to violence and bloodshed to get what they want. He talked of how the government became recognized as the State Government of Louisiana only after they passed a bill to set another election. He also visited the fact that this government was trying to get the right people into office with people resigning and people filling these positions. Another section of his speech focused on the controversial election of 1872. "The Democratic Party went into that election in 1872 relying wholly and entirely on upon fraud for their success." These were the words of Morton commenting on the problems associated with the election. This election had both Democrats and Republicans claiming office. Morton said that he was confident that Kellogg had won the popular vote and that this confusion led to more violence with whites and blacks not happy about the election results.

With this confusion and anger about the election, Morton talked about the massacre at Colfax that killed close to 300 African-Americans that were defending their parish against the White League paramilitary that was put together from neighboring communities. The massacre proved that there was something that needed to be done about the violence and Morton said that there cannot be any government until these things are solved. He preached about how there must be a stop to the murders and unnecessary acts of violence for security in Louisiana. His final challenge to Democrats or Republicans, "I appeal to you as a man, as a Christian, and as a father of a family, can you afford to aid indirectly or directly in this vast stream of murder that is now broadening and deepening throughout the Southern States?"

General W.T. Sherman sat down on May 3, 1864 and wrote a letter to inform General M. C. Meigs and more importantly, Secretary of War Stanton, how he felt about the quartermasters' headquarters being in inconvenient locations. Sherman began his letter by saying that if the quartermasters wanted to be in charge of the money situation with dealing out equipment for the armies, then they need not to be in places such as Louisville, Chicago, or Washington; rather they need to be in locations where it does not cost them a lot for transportation or where communication is not short and not clear. He then told Meigs that even though he felt this way, he understands that it is not his job to disturb the overall being of the army and felt that he should not mess with the flow.

Moving on in his letter, Sherman decided to give Meigs a little advice about how to use what was given to them by the quartermaster and then, when that runs out, to use the land, and what they have around them to make camp. According to "Life in a Civil War Army Camp", soldiers would use the tents that were supplied, but to support them they would use the boards from fences along the way, which Sherman also tells Meigs to do along with all the other advice he game him.

After the advice, Sherman wrote that his troops received less and less from the quartermasters, and that he sees them running out of gifts eventually. He said that he cannot wait for this to happen because he knows that his army will be able to live off the land very well, unlike the Confederates (at least that is his thought). He felt that this would give his troops a sense of confidence that would overtake that confidence level of the Southern troops, which came to be true as McPherson writes of a private in the 1st Tennessee saying, "We were going to whip and rout the Yankees." And in the next sentence McPherson jots, "But confidence soon gave way to dismay."

Sherman's intent was summed up when he wrote, "I would like Mr. Stanton to know this, my opinion."

Early in 1861 citizens of the Arch Street Church examined their lifestyles and made sure that they were in line with God. Reverend Wadsworth gave a sermon to his southern congregation based around the idea of how the 'American' people had come to a point where they needed help from Him to get their lives back to the way that God had intended them to live.

He talked of how the whole nation has violated the Ten Commandments and requires times of fasting and repentance in order for God to take back his people and helps them understand how to live. He presented his reasons for their sins based upon the personal sins that had taken place, not the issue of slavery that the northern churches had so heavily put on the shoulders of southerners. His testimony was based on an anti-abolitionist view.

Wadsworth argued for two reasons why God was not angry with the fact that the south owned slaves. First, even the Bible says it is proper to own slaves, and he feels that God has blessed the southern states with the right to this privilege. Second, he used the idea that God had not destroyed nations solely on the fact that they own slaves. He reiterated that slaves were a part of everyday life in many civilizations in biblical times. He supported these arguments by pointing to the New and Old Testaments, and nowhere does it mention that slavery is a sin. This shows that the people have nothing to fear of the wrath of God. Many people worried about the sole purpose of their religion which was salvation. In Southern Churches in Crisis, Samuel S. Hill reports that southerners lifted salvation above other things in the church, unlike other religious groups. Salvation and making sure that one lived as God would want them to live was the foundation where all the assumptions and programs of the church are based.

Wadsworth wraps up his sermon by pointing out that the northerners had "malignantly misrepresented" the South. Paul Harvey uses Governor Ross Barnett and his colleagues' ideas that "our Southern segregation way" was the "Christian way" to refute the Northern perspective. Wadsworth has provided a reason that slavery is not the reason that God is angry with his people. In his argument it gives a way for southerners to take care of their personal sins to get their lives back to the way they should be. Also, this made many southern citizens realize how much the north is against their way of life and that they are trying to take it away from them, which in turn give a sense of Southern Pride to fight for what they believe in most of all, Slavery.

Slavery proved to be an issue that was fought about in the churches because of the impact that it had on people's lives. The impact worked well for the group rather than an individual, which is supported by Samuel S. Hill in his autobiographical writings on Southern Religion and the Religious. According to Hill, "What marks off their (congregation) positioning may be a judgment that the whole is greater than the parts..." is referring to how people would gather around each other in order to get their point across.