In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
Emma Mordecai regularly visited wounded soldiers at a nearby hospital, and on one particular day she was tending to a handless soldier whom she called my interesting Cavalry man. She bathed his wounds and rubbed his cold feet, but then she watched helplessly as he complained of an intolerable itch where his hand used to be, scratching at the amputated spot with his remaining hand. Having cared...
Lewis E. Parsons served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War as a private in the Washington Artillery of New Orleans. During his time of service in the war, Parsons wrote around twelve letters that he sent to his family in Talladega, Alabama. Parsons tried to write a letter every chance he had some free time to himself. He specifically states in a May 28 letter “I write whenever I get...
After the Emancipation Proclamation, many former slaves sought to join the Union army. However, during the Atlanta campaign that lasted from May-September 1864, General William T. Sherman, a Union commander, forbade the entry of African-Americans into the army. Sherman did not hide the fact that he was a white supremacist. His view represented the views of many of his men, who came from the Midwest,...
During the course of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was responsible for shutting down more than 300 newspapers (1). In a telegram sent to Major General Dix on May 18th, 1864, Lincoln orders military occupation of the New York World newspaper for something that was "wickedly and traitorously printed and published," (1). In another telegram sent on May 18th, 1864, it is discovered that a forged document...
Lewis E. Parsons wrote many letters during the Civil War to his family in Talladega, Alabama. Parsons talks about many different things in his letters to home. He mainly asks questions about the home front, and he also talks a great deal about how war is an awful thing. He describes many different situations that he and his fellow men have to go through during the time of war. One of the situations...
“Steady men, forward.” These words, spoken by the Union Colonel Russel A. Alger of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, encouraged a new line of union soldiers as they reinforced the Sixth Michigan in the midst of a bitter struggle with confederate forces led by Brigadier General Thomas L. Rosser during the Battle of the Wilderness. Their reinforcement proved vital to the maintenance...
William Davis did not talk of gallantry or heroics in his Wilderness Campaign report. The Lieutenant Colonel was simply carrying out orders, and his regiment had been involved in the Union’s struggle since 1861. His 69th Pennsylvania was accustomed to the reality of war; they had fought in the most famous battles: Yorktown, Antietam and Gettysburg. However, the Wilderness was not a normal battle....
There were no heroics, tragedy, emotion or names in Joseph Barnes’ report of the Wilderness. Rather, his report of the onerous seven day battle was like a warehouse manager’s inventory report. Perhaps, the thirty one year old man did not want to relive one of the worst times of his life. At the age of 28, Joseph Barnes joined the Union army on May 18, 1861. A few months later he was promoted...
He became famous and celebrated through his death. War stories are always full of heroes that appear larger than life and worthy of reverence, and those stories revolving around the Battle of Gettysburg are no different. Sergeant Amos Humiston of Company C of the 154th New York was one such man. Though not a hero in the traditional sense, in his death he became somewhat of a legend. During...