*Bric-A-Brac Of The American Civil War- Strictly For Aficionados
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1861/us-civil-war/index.htm
abraham lincoln, JOHN BROWN, harpers ferry, american civil war, abolitionism, revolutionary abolitionist, preserve the union,
Click on title to link to Marx/Engels Internet Archives for their writings on the American Civil War. Remember we,as Marxists, were fervent partisans of the Northern side in this one.
On the 168th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War.
Book Review
Civil War Curiosities; Strange Stories, Oddities, Events, and Coincidences, Webb Garrison, Rutledge Hill press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1994
In the course of a life long study of history, especially when looking at the impact of great revolutions on the course of history, and the American Civil War fits into that category, I have read many books that narrate the main events of those upheavals. I have honed in on the lives of the most important political actors in those dramas as well. Further, I have gone to the backs streets of the events to find out what the “people”, who formed the backbone for all the major revolutions, at least in the West, had to say. I have even, and here is where this book, “Civil War Curiosities”, falls run into compilations of the oddities and contradictions that have emanated from this historic events. This, my friends, as the headline to this entry indicates is a task for aficionados. So once you’ve gotten the main narrative of the Civil War down, have read about the major actors and checked out was happening in the back streets then you can take some time for some light, but informative , reading about the oddities.
Of course, on the subject of the American Civil War there is no shortage of books covering individual oddities and topics, or at least the subject has been covered in such depth that at this distance from the event there is not much room for fresh commentary except for the running through the ephemera. Personally, my tastes run to more detailed mainstream studies, like James McPherson’s, that center on the fight to abolish slavery or of Bruce Catton’s that detail the struggle to preserve a unitary state on this part of the continent. However, Mr. Garrison, a noted author with a resume filled with books that center on compiling the bric-a-brac of this war fills a rather different niche. And along the way provides some interesting information about the personage of Lincoln, his adversary Jefferson Davis, the women of the Civil War, plenty of material on battles and leaders, and most importantly, some new information about the role of blacks in their own liberation as soldiers. Not a book for everyone but interesting nevertheless.
*****
An example of an American Civil War song that I gleaned from reading this book.
In the event, although the United States Congress authorized and budgeted for those 300,000 soldiers, I do not believe that the quota was met.
WE ARE COMING, FATHER ABRAHAM
Words by James Sloan Gibbons
Music L.O. Emerson
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more,
From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore.
We leave our plows and workshops, our wives and children dear,
With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear.
We dare not look behind us but steadfastly before.
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more!
CHORUS: We are coming, we are coming our Union to restore,
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more!
If you look across the hilltops that meet the northern sky,
Long moving lines of rising dust your vision may descry;
And now the wind, an instant, tears the cloudy veil aside,
And floats aloft our spangled flag in glory and in pride;
And bayonets in the sunlight gleam, and bands brave music pour,
We are coming, father Abr'am, three hundred thousand more!
CHORUS
If you look up all our valleys where the growing harvests shine,
You may see our sturdy farmer boys fast forming into line;
And children from their mother's knees are pulling at the weeds ,
And learning how to reap and sow against their country's needs;
And a farewell group stands weeping at every cottage door,
We are coming, Father Abr'am, three hundred thousand more!
CHORUS
You have called us, and we're coming by Richmond's bloody tide,
To lay us down for freedom's sake, our brothers' bones beside;
Or from foul treason's savage group, to wrench the murderous blade;
And in the face of foreign foes its fragments to parade.
Six hundred thousand loyal men and true have gone before,
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more!
CHORUS
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1861/us-civil-war/index.htm
abraham lincoln, JOHN BROWN, harpers ferry, american civil war, abolitionism, revolutionary abolitionist, preserve the union,
Click on title to link to Marx/Engels Internet Archives for their writings on the American Civil War. Remember we,as Marxists, were fervent partisans of the Northern side in this one.
On the 168th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War.
Book Review
Civil War Curiosities; Strange Stories, Oddities, Events, and Coincidences, Webb Garrison, Rutledge Hill press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1994
In the course of a life long study of history, especially when looking at the impact of great revolutions on the course of history, and the American Civil War fits into that category, I have read many books that narrate the main events of those upheavals. I have honed in on the lives of the most important political actors in those dramas as well. Further, I have gone to the backs streets of the events to find out what the “people”, who formed the backbone for all the major revolutions, at least in the West, had to say. I have even, and here is where this book, “Civil War Curiosities”, falls run into compilations of the oddities and contradictions that have emanated from this historic events. This, my friends, as the headline to this entry indicates is a task for aficionados. So once you’ve gotten the main narrative of the Civil War down, have read about the major actors and checked out was happening in the back streets then you can take some time for some light, but informative , reading about the oddities.
Of course, on the subject of the American Civil War there is no shortage of books covering individual oddities and topics, or at least the subject has been covered in such depth that at this distance from the event there is not much room for fresh commentary except for the running through the ephemera. Personally, my tastes run to more detailed mainstream studies, like James McPherson’s, that center on the fight to abolish slavery or of Bruce Catton’s that detail the struggle to preserve a unitary state on this part of the continent. However, Mr. Garrison, a noted author with a resume filled with books that center on compiling the bric-a-brac of this war fills a rather different niche. And along the way provides some interesting information about the personage of Lincoln, his adversary Jefferson Davis, the women of the Civil War, plenty of material on battles and leaders, and most importantly, some new information about the role of blacks in their own liberation as soldiers. Not a book for everyone but interesting nevertheless.
*****
An example of an American Civil War song that I gleaned from reading this book.
In the event, although the United States Congress authorized and budgeted for those 300,000 soldiers, I do not believe that the quota was met.
WE ARE COMING, FATHER ABRAHAM
Words by James Sloan Gibbons
Music L.O. Emerson
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more,
From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore.
We leave our plows and workshops, our wives and children dear,
With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear.
We dare not look behind us but steadfastly before.
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more!
CHORUS: We are coming, we are coming our Union to restore,
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more!
If you look across the hilltops that meet the northern sky,
Long moving lines of rising dust your vision may descry;
And now the wind, an instant, tears the cloudy veil aside,
And floats aloft our spangled flag in glory and in pride;
And bayonets in the sunlight gleam, and bands brave music pour,
We are coming, father Abr'am, three hundred thousand more!
CHORUS
If you look up all our valleys where the growing harvests shine,
You may see our sturdy farmer boys fast forming into line;
And children from their mother's knees are pulling at the weeds ,
And learning how to reap and sow against their country's needs;
And a farewell group stands weeping at every cottage door,
We are coming, Father Abr'am, three hundred thousand more!
CHORUS
You have called us, and we're coming by Richmond's bloody tide,
To lay us down for freedom's sake, our brothers' bones beside;
Or from foul treason's savage group, to wrench the murderous blade;
And in the face of foreign foes its fragments to parade.
Six hundred thousand loyal men and true have gone before,
We are coming, Father Abraham, 300,000 more!
CHORUS
No comments:
Post a Comment