Blog 4 History

I have written on this before, that the current outrage over adults and students lack of basic civics and American history knowledge is nothing new.

Yet the media and politicians consistently bemoan such ignorance and blame teachers when the student, family, and social structure of society is not even considered.We (media/culture) glamorize, indoctrinate, and assimilate young people to care more about style, than substance. What do we expect?

According a new study, for the third consecutive year, and hold on it’s a shocker, “the Intercollegiate Studies Institute has found that a large number of Americans cannot pass a basic 33-question civic literacy test on their country’s history and institutions.”

Surprise!

I have come to the conclusion that the reason for such ignorance is choice. It does not matter how great the teacher, if the student does not continue on a path of learning after school most of that knowledge fades. Other things replace it.

I guarantee at one time MOST of these people knew this information, they simply chose to let it go and remember something else. It’s about choosing what’s important and what is not, and our culture dictates this by design.

Today in history, President Lincoln delivered the “The Gettysburg Address” at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Lincoln’s short address, four and half months after the battle, is considered to be one of the greatest speeches in American history. Edward Everett delivered a two-hour oration before Lincoln’s historic 2+ minute lesson in brevity and intelligence established liberty and freedom for everyone, including blacks.

From Yahoo News:

DALLAS – A Texas museum hopes a document found in its archives turns out to be an authentic government copy of Abraham Lincoln’s eloquent letter consoling a mother thought to have lost five sons in the Civil War.

The famed Bixby Letter, which the Dallas Historical Society is getting appraised as it prays for a potential windfall, has a fascinating history.

The original has never been found. Historians debate whether Lincoln wrote it. Its recipient, Lydia Bixby, was no fan of the president. And not all her sons died in the war.

The letter, written with “the best of intentions” 144 years ago next week, is “considered one of the finest pieces of American presidential prose,” said Alan Olson, curator for the Dallas group. “It’s still a great piece of writing, regardless of the truth in the back story.”

So before this discovery historians disagreed on whether Lincoln was the true author of the letter, some suggesting that it may have been written for Lincoln by John Hay, one of the President’s secretaries. The text is as follows:

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine that would attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved, lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln

Hopefully this discovery will prove Lincoln did write the letter as it is one of my favorites, very touching indeed.

I’m sure I am way behind the curve here and that most of you knew of this, but I came across an interesting article dealing with A. Lincoln.

I have the “Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln” and have spent time, even recently, reading various selections. I was always struck by Lincoln’s control of his prose. Emotional responses of fear, anger or loathing were not things that are found easily; frankly rarely if ever. He was almost always reflective, somber, and articulate. These attributes should not be a surprise when we consider that he was a trained attorney and a superb politician; not to mention he was very intelligent.

So when I learned of a letter that reflected a different side of Lincoln I was intrigued.

We know that Lincoln probably battled depression throughout his life, that he suffered from various ailments, for example, he had a bad case of smallpox when he delivered the Gettysburg Address, and he had to deal with a lopsided face.

Also, according to James Cornelius, curator of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, “Abraham Lincoln was one of the four most hated presidents in U.S. history [when he was serving] … other three are Andrew Jackson, Harry Truman and George W. Bush.” Not sure I agree.

Anyway, back to the letter written on February 13, 1864 to a Mr. and Mrs. Vch (sic) Neagle, where Lincoln gives a fairly harshly worded tongue lashing to a couple for disloyalty, and according to some even suggests that the couple was insane. However, what I like most is that Lincoln was very clear on the issue of loyalty and what it meant to him.

The section of interest reads: “As I understand it your husband … knowingly and willingly helped a rebel to get out of our lines to the enemy to join in fighting and killing our people … You protest, nevertheless, that you and he are loyal, and you may really think so, but this is a view of loyalty which it is difficult to conceive that any sane person could take, and on which the government cannot tolerate and hope to live …”

Urban engagements during the Civil War were no doubt few and far between, but were there enough to justify some study? The only one that comes to mind is Fredericksberg. I do know of a couple small engagements, but really not a lot else. The reason I ask is there seems to be a void (and maybe for good reason) concerning urban combat during the Civil War. A couple of things: 1) How did this type of combat affect the soldiers?; 2) How did civilians adapt and were there civilian casualties as a result; and perhaps even some atrocities committed by troops engaged in the street-to-street fighting. But once again, there may simply not be enough out there to justify any kind of scholarly study.

I did find this (below) concerning Fredericksberg, which describes a little of the urban combat that took place. I’ll pick up the narrative after an intense artillery barrage on the city:

When night descended, the flames of burning houses still lit up the landscape, and though the continuous roar of the batteries was hushed, a sullen gun at intervals resembled the horse growl of a wild animal who retires with reluctance from his prey. The result of this bombardment was cruel, and the scenes which followed it sufficient to excite the sensibilities of the most hard-hearted.  Men, women, and children had been driven from the town ; and hundreds of ladies and children were seen wandering homeless and without shelter over the frozen highway, with bare feet and thin clothing, knowing not where to find a place of refuge. Delicately nurtured girls, upon whose frail forms no rain had ever beat, and whom no wind had visited too roughly, walked hurriedly, with unsteady feet, over the various roads, seeking some friendly roof to cover them. Whole families sought sheds by the wayside, or made temporary shelters of fence- rails and straw, knowing not whither to fly. Such were the cruel results of the cannonade. Night had settled down ; the shattered houses were visible only when the flames of the burning buildings soared up suddenly as they caught some new object ; and the enemy held the place. Barksdale had fallen back, fighting from street to street until he reached the suburbs, where, posting his troops behind a stone wall, he held his ground, and no further attack was made on him.

The author was far more appalled by what was happening to the civilians because he was a Confederate, but still the impact of urban warfare was certainly devastating for the civilian population. We see this with the siege warfare around Vicksburg and towards the end of the war around Richmond.

I kept looking and started to find some small engagements where urban combat was fairly intense, like this fight in and around August, Kentucky in 1862 that involved Rebel cavalry, a small union force, and a gunboat:

From every window our true and trusty boys were firing, and for one half-hour the leaden hail was doing its work of death ; rebel after rebel was made to bite the dust, while our boys, thus secreted, were fighting for their homes and firesides. But what a scene now followed! The houses in which our forces were posted were set on fire, the cannon of the enemy was planted in our streets, and, disregarding the women and children, they were firing shell into the houses. Yet, true to their work, the little band of Union men fought on until it was madness to try to hold out longer.

If there are any other fights that you are aware of that involved some urban warfare please let me know!

SoldierStudies.org has launched, gasp, another Civil War Discussion forum only this one focuses on soldiers, genealogy, and warfare. Please take a moment, register, and contribute. Thanks for your support.

I have been extremely busy with teaching, graduate school, family obligations, ect, and apologize for the lack of posts as I know there are countless people who visit in eager anticipation for what I might say…

Anyway, post election thoughts. What a historic event and it was something to see, our first black President elect. Obama is articulate and seems to be a good man and I hope he is a good President. I thought McCain was unelectable and the polls displayed that. No big surprise. But do not stick a fork in the Republican party just yet, Clinton and the Democrats also had a landslide victory and after four years we know what happened in Congress.

One thing I have mentioned before is the need to keep politics out of the classroom, and that itself is debatable; I understand that. Obviously, with such a historic election it deserved discussion in the classroom. I was at times very impressed with my students.

I was asked by my students, “Mr. Wehner who are you voting for?” I was pleased that they did not know, or at least were not sure. I refused to tell them, but instead pointed out the things I admired about both men, McCain the war veteran and Obama the first black President nominee from a major party.

What my students did not know and could not know until now, and since I am fairly sure none of them visit this blog, most will never know is I did not vote for either McCain or Obama. I did not feel either was my choice. I voted for Bob Barr the Libertarian Party candidate. I am a registered Independent and have in the past voted for both Democrat (Clinton) and Republican (Bush) candidates. What I saw from both sides this past election season, frankly, appalled me. From right to left wing the vitriol was disgusting. I do not know if I will anytime soon be able to vote for a Republican or Democrat candidate. I saw two parties so viciously slug it out that I could not have waited any longer for the election to be over. Good riddance. No where in the constitution does it say that political parties were to be a part of the election process, so I say the hell with them.

I have expressed a lot of concern  over the issues of energy and our economy and I felt neither candidate truly had a plan or a clue. Both were willing to take us one step closer to socialism; and if that’s what you want  so be it. The Republicans took control of Congress and what did they do? They spent money like there was plenty of it. The Democrats have had control  of the House of Representative and what have they done in the last 24 months? Spent money like there was no tomorrow. The $700 billion bail out has turned into over $2 trillion, did you know that?  If you really think a government owned mortgage industry and soon to be auto industry is really in our best interest, than I am frankly shocked.  Name me ONE government run entity that operates efficiently or even well? Let them go, if mortgage and auto companies fail, so be it. Spending trillions on top of trillions is frankly frightening. The cycle of business and open markets will adjust. Either way, jobs are at stake as is the economy. There is no end in sight.

Yet we had two Presidential candidates that had promised tax cuts and even more spending on things like nationalized health care. Yippee another government owned sector of our economy! (BTW, the reason why the Health Care industry is a mess is because of the Federal Government.)

Blame Bush for our economic situation, fine, the S.O.B. deserves SOME of it but do not be Ignorant. Do you know how Congress works? Our politicians, both Democrat and Republican are screwing us beyond belief. The Fannie and Freddie debacle started in Congress and with  deregulation (with Senators taking money for their votes) as a result of corrupt government ,out of control spenders and power seekers.

Give me a Libertarian or Give Me Death… well, you know what I mean.

I guess this is a shameless plug, but I have given a lot (time, money) to it so… SoldierStudies.org has hit 1001 letters and growing. With over 1,000+ unique daily visitors and thousands of search queries, I am very hopeful that we have something here. Though I will say, I wish we had some more support. So far zero donations or sponsors. We are running some ads for free in hopes of getting some support, but who knows. Devin thanks for your programming skills and those who have taken the time to enter and upload letters! Thanks again!