It comes through in another historian's great work -- Bruce Catton's trilogy (now in a Library of America three volume boxed set), "The Army of the Potomac."
Its main fact: that the soldiers of Lincoln's armies really, truly believed in the war for which so many of them died and were otherwise mang…
It comes through in another historian's great work -- Bruce Catton's trilogy (now in a Library of America three volume boxed set), "The Army of the Potomac."
Its main fact: that the soldiers of Lincoln's armies really, truly believed in the war for which so many of them died and were otherwise mangled on battlefields.
I think Americans feel as strongly now for the democracy currently beleaguered by bribed, corrupt, perjured far right ideologues on the Supreme Court, by a U.S. Congress full of white trash illiterates, and by mobs who got their working-class jobs offshored by essentially criminal corporate elites.
We have several dozen really fine Dems in office at varying levels across the land. They could quote our humanities -- novels, memoirs, films, and songs -- which testify to the goading ranges of hurt abroad the land, and to the resonating beliefs yet animating America's promise.
Lincoln stood for that belief, for the people whose husbands and sons then sacrificed so much.
Our Dems could speak to that, if only they'd learn to quote humanities in the schools they attended.
Lincoln had a deep seated sense of decency, and I think he was interested in molding the country in such a way that people could live good, prosperous lives, and that he lacked interest in lining his own pockets. I suspect the soldiers felt that, and respected, and dare I say it--loved him for that.
I got that sense from a wonderful, but little known book, Rufus: A Boy's Extraordinary Experiences in the Civil War, by Phoebe Sheldon, which she constructed from her great great grandfather, Rufus Harnden's letters home. The book provides a soldier's eye view of the war.
And Lincoln, who picked so badly in the case of General McClellan, made up for it in picking Ulysses S. Grant, an incredibly decent man, who was well loved by his soldiers. (The book provides a fascinating window on the death of confederate general Stonewall Jackson, in which Harnden may have inadvertently played a major role, as well as the fact that apparently a lot of Union soldiers had a profound respect for him, including Harnden.) (I can't remember for certain whether Harnden was there when future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was shot up so badly he was almost left for dead, or whether I read that somewhere else. Holmes remained on the Court into his 90s.) (Rufus is a must for Civil War buffs. He enlisted in 1862 at 17, but he was preternaturally wise, and his observations and experiences are fascinating.)
To spend some time with Grant and his men during the Civil War, see Grant, by Ron Chernow. That book is >900 pages, and drags in spots, but is well worth reading, even if one skips over spots where it drags.
Lincoln carried on for the Union until the dismal tide turned. He carried on despite suffering the loss of beloved children, a wife with mental health issues, and his own depression. Thank goodness for Mr. Lincoln!
You charactetize Grant as an incredibly decent man. He was by no means. He drove Indigenous Peoples off their homelands w mounted soldiers forcing them into conentration camps in places that were inhabitable where they were forcibly starved, raped, tortured, given disease ridden blankets and denied promised life essential supplies.
True and awful. He maintained a horrific tradition. It is hard to say, but from a white European perspective, a white settlers (thieves of land) view, and the norm of the time, he was doing what was expected. As disgusting as it seems to us now. All of what you describe is indefensible in our minds.
It is entirely possible that if Lincoln had not selected him to prosecute the war, we would now be two countries. Some would argue that perhaps that would have been a good idea as the bigotry of many in the south has only intensified. Maybe we should have become three countries - a third for Native Americans!
But if you read Ron Chernow's "Grant" you will meet someone who had been selflessly dedicated to the service of his country. Grant literally saved the union and he did it in a way that was required. Brutally.
Grant was many things. He was humble. He wore the uniform of a private. He suffered all manner of ailments but forged on. He was an occasional drunkard but managed to rally when needed. He may have been one of the most respected generals in our history.
But yes, he and "we" did all those horrible things to Indigenous Americans. Most "whites" of the time would have supported him.
Tecumseh, a native American, wanted to, and I think tried to unite Indian tribes from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf of Mexico, when a lot of that land was still in Native American hands.I haven't gotten very far in Peter Stark's book, Gallop Towards the Sun, which covers that, but if he'd succeeded, what is now the United States would be a much more interesting and diverse place, or so I'd like to think. I'd love to be able to travel--on foot or by bicycle, through territory that was pretty much as it would have been under Indian governance two centuries ago. OK, so maybe I'm just a romantic. But it would be a much more interesting place.
Lincoln, as well, visited depredation on the native people. The Homestead Act, cited by Dr. R above, finalized the land grab on the plains. Natives were being driven off their lands, including in Minnesota, and kept in starving encampments. On December 26, 1862, due to Lincoln't order, 38 Dakota men were hanged at Mankato, MN, the largest execution in our country's history. They were participants in the Dakota War, which started when one group raided a settlement for food, resulting in five settlers dying. At the base of it all are the Papal bulls of the 14th century which created the Doctrine of Discovery, still part of our laws today.
Yes, and that Doctrine of Discovery was finally repudiated by the Catholic church in March of last year, 2023.
Elaine, is that Mankato, MN where the massacre occurred? I know of Mankato but not Makato. (I used to teach on Native American reservations, hence my interest.)
Yes, Mankato. I will fix it, migwech. They still ride, the Dakota 38+2, to honor those who died that day.
The Dakota 38+2 Reconciliation Ride began in 2005 and has continued every year to promote reconciliation between American Indians and non-Native People. Horseback riders, runners and supporters alike make the 330-mile journey from Lower Brule, South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota during the dead of winter. StJo.org
Thanks for th einformation and link, Elaine. I had never heard about this event: I've been away from the reservations for along time. (I taught at Marty, S.D., a boarding school for about 500 kids.)
After perusing the St. Jos. Indiana School website, I am hoping the school is as dedicated to the native population as the site portrays. The boarding schools underwent so much criticism and even hatred due to past abuse and alienation of the students from their families and cultures. But this one seems to be thriving even!
I don't trust any schools, considering what I went through in public school and what my family has gone through as well. My grandparents went through boarding school, and both remained committed to education and got their family through to high school graduation when it was rare. Their commitment was for their children to succeed in the society they lived in. I learned to take everything in school with about a pound of salt, so critical thinking was a given.
the land grabs began in the early 1800s. William Henry Harrison, who later became president, was involved in that. These began in what's now Ohio and Indiana.
And much before that as well, and continuing today. Think of Manhattan, Plymouth, the west coast, Texas, all that land seized and presented fait accompli upon statehood.
Different from what occurred before that. What I'm talking about is where and how it became Federal policy. In contrast, Manhattan, Plymouth, et al. were much more haphazard.
So true, but it all looks the same from here, same results anyway. Mad Anthony Wayne was inviolved in the pre-Jackson sweeping of the natives out of Michgan, Ohio and Indiana. He was recalled to the service by George Washington in 1791 to lead the the US Forces in the Northwest Indian War. His victory led to the Treaty of Greenville, 1795, opening most of Ohio to settlement.
I suspect that what I'm describing was more systematic, having the Federal Gov't behind it. And I suspect it happened faster than it would otherwise have happened. I haven't gotten very far in the book, but I think it was done without much resort to warfare--more by tricking the Indians with phony agreements. See: Gallop Towards the Sun: Tecumseh and Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation, by Peter Stark.
War does not bring out the best of any group even in the 21st century. Was is distructive and cruel. Currently, some nations have moved toward democracy and diplomacy. Biden has a cabinet and departments of diplomats negotiating solutions. GOP has a stable of representatives shouting opinions and promoting violence.
It’s human! It’s that simple. We are complex beings and the more complexities we face, the more complex we become. Some of each person’s decisions and actions turn out well, others not so well to badly, all for a variety of reasons.
Susan, think of a musical instrument say a piano. From very high to low. Yes, positive if well played. I think we all must know at least one person who can be charming, smart and admirable but have another darker side that is frightening: a violent temper and a belief system that seems at odds with his-her other side. That’s the more extreme of course like Ted Bundy?
NOt clear who you're saying had a serious drinking problem. Grant definitely did. I've never heard of that in Lincoln's case, and I've read Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals, twice. (Although not recently)
My husband's Lakota relatives remember Lincoln as a man who ordered the execution of a number of Native Americans involved in an uprising. He could have had more executed, but did not execute all of them. I had no idea about this until one of them told me about it. Another perspective.
I see that now. It wasn't there when I posted or just up, I wasn't reading carefully. I had no idea until there was some modern happening and I don't remember what, and I had to ask and then I learned. I see pictures of the ride posted from hubby's relatives every year.
Lincoln himself considered Blacks inferior to caucasians until Frederick Douglass visited him in the White House. It was a different era. (Nonetheless, Lincoln still felt Blacks shoiuld be freed. I don't know what he thought about native Ameircans.)
As others have thanked you below here, David, I thank you, too.
During the Viet war, I was in the army as Viet translator-interpreter (Spec 5, enlisted), and I read Grant's memoirs. I'd already long known of Lee's General Order #9, dismissing his Army of Northern Virginia. In it he claimed loss to the North's "overwhelming numbers and resources."
Grant in his memoirs said no. His men won that war for two reasons: 1) they could all read and write and 2) they believed in their fight.
I remember publishing that bit of info in one of the many underground rags we had then -- so many G.I.s absolutely not believing a thing "the best and the brightest" had to say in all their Ivy League idiot abstractions then defending that mass stupidity.
You're most welcome Phil. thank you for providing this additional perspective. (I do think our resources were superior to those of the South. If I remember correctly, that was in Chernow's book.)
OK. Going to the used book store on Wed (sale day), or the library today. I am sure my brother has one or two by Chernow (all his books are his favorite child). There has been so much talk of genocide here that I picked up "The Nazi Doctors" by Robert Jay Lifton, which had a long chapter on genocide. 25 cents.
Learned recently that the Christian Nationalist’s favorite spiritual guru is Gerhardt Kittle, a German Protestant theologian who was also Hitler’s personal counselor. He was anti Semitic, of course.
Read Chernow's Hamilton and agree, but I found Ron White's biography of Grant much more sympathetic, noting that in striving to overcome his problem with alcohol, he always turned his glass upside down at social gatherings. Also mentioned the severe and extended isolation he experienced when stationed far from family. I thought White's tone matched Grant's memoirs, which reflect the type of character our Founding Fathers declared as virtuous (love of country and its laws).
You may need to order it on Amazon. Sheldon did a damn good job with the book, but she self published it, and is not great at getting it out there. And I the title wrong. It's Rufus: A Boy's EXtraordinary EXPERIENCES in the Civil War. (Not "adventures")
Grant and Sherman were among the greatest generals ever—far better than Lee. Oliver Wendell Holmes was wounded severely at Ball’s Bluff, very early in the war. When he recovered—not fully—he was assigned to the defenses of Washington, being not fit for field service. In 1864, a Confederate raid got as far as the Washington lines, where Holmes was serving. According to a possibly apocryphal story, he saw a tall civilian strand up in the trenches and yelled, “Get down, you fool!” only to realize it was the President.
David There has been almost at much written about Lincoln than about Jesus.James McPherson’s Pulitzer-winning BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM for me is the best single volume related to the Civil War. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s LEADERSHIP highlights Lincoln’s remarkable skills. Walt Whitman’s poem at the time of Lincoln’s assassination still bring tears to my eyes.
In my youth I read Sanders’s Lincoln volumes and have been fixated by Lincoln’s extraordinary news ever since. An individual with sadness, sense of mission, and the salvation of humor.
Yes, I was also heartened to read of the support of Union soldiers for Lincoln, who expressed his sadness at the war so profoundly when he lost his own son. Another parallel to Biden. How the Republicans today have spit on his loss. Their voting block against VA funding and compensation for Burn Pit victims seemed almost designed to break him. Their despicable fist bump when they did. Cruz trying to be a man. ugh
Trump's disdain of all service members. It must make Biden want to, well, we can't imagine ... and then the latest, nasty fiction of Biden supposedly forgetting the date of his son's Death from the cancer he suffered from his service to our country. The standard just keeps dropping.
And yet, there is no recourse. Has that slime Hurr been recommended to the bar? Reprimanded and taken off the rarefied list of future Special Counsels? Anything at all?
Please someone reply and tell me yes. Tell me Garland DID something.
In Brazil they call this swallowing the frog. Biden and the rest of us are swallowing the frog. Every day.
Well, I for one have a Very sore throat.
I am now just at the very beginning of comprehending the toll such un-repudiated injustice must take on black Americans. Still. Today! I can feel Willis holding back her rage in my bones.
I feel privileged to have belonged to a senior group for many years who have read through various members’ recommendations books both fiction and non that delve deeply into the history of Blacks and Indians in the ‘settling’ of America. My stomach turns at the savage cruelty both groups of Americans have endured and still do without accountability for such crimes. And it still goes on. Witness Trump’s promise to turn our police forces into vigilantes who are free to go after anyone they even suspect of wrong doing and freely teach them a lesson. Some say he doesn’t mean it. A commentator wisely said if so that he’d dare say such a thing indicates that he is too mentally ill to qualify to run for president. As my Black friends who a racist Trump and his racist MAGAs especially intend this
for, continue to live in fear. I will work with others as this election approaches as we do all we can to stop these vile people.
Such a great book. I cried all the way through it and I can still bring on the waterworks just thinking about several scenes. When the horse laid his head in his lap and died--we should all be so lucky. (sob)
I still haven't picked up the two books, one about cotton slavery and one about the removal of Native Americans from the southeast, because they made me sick and I couldn't continue to read. Right now I am in ancient history which is terribly bloody, but distant enough: a history of Rome and Persia(at first, Parthia) for 700 years. Now I am reading about the Sumerians including the problems with excavations during the colonial period. Then we went to war with Iraq and secured oil, but not the national museum which was looted. Then ISIS which looted sites to sell what they could....I think Chik-Fill-A top dog bought some for his Bible museum. Talk about aiding and abetting...then ISIS destroyed the sites.
Time to turn to another fact of that war.
It comes through in another historian's great work -- Bruce Catton's trilogy (now in a Library of America three volume boxed set), "The Army of the Potomac."
Its main fact: that the soldiers of Lincoln's armies really, truly believed in the war for which so many of them died and were otherwise mangled on battlefields.
I think Americans feel as strongly now for the democracy currently beleaguered by bribed, corrupt, perjured far right ideologues on the Supreme Court, by a U.S. Congress full of white trash illiterates, and by mobs who got their working-class jobs offshored by essentially criminal corporate elites.
We have several dozen really fine Dems in office at varying levels across the land. They could quote our humanities -- novels, memoirs, films, and songs -- which testify to the goading ranges of hurt abroad the land, and to the resonating beliefs yet animating America's promise.
Lincoln stood for that belief, for the people whose husbands and sons then sacrificed so much.
Our Dems could speak to that, if only they'd learn to quote humanities in the schools they attended.
Lincoln had a deep seated sense of decency, and I think he was interested in molding the country in such a way that people could live good, prosperous lives, and that he lacked interest in lining his own pockets. I suspect the soldiers felt that, and respected, and dare I say it--loved him for that.
I got that sense from a wonderful, but little known book, Rufus: A Boy's Extraordinary Experiences in the Civil War, by Phoebe Sheldon, which she constructed from her great great grandfather, Rufus Harnden's letters home. The book provides a soldier's eye view of the war.
And Lincoln, who picked so badly in the case of General McClellan, made up for it in picking Ulysses S. Grant, an incredibly decent man, who was well loved by his soldiers. (The book provides a fascinating window on the death of confederate general Stonewall Jackson, in which Harnden may have inadvertently played a major role, as well as the fact that apparently a lot of Union soldiers had a profound respect for him, including Harnden.) (I can't remember for certain whether Harnden was there when future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was shot up so badly he was almost left for dead, or whether I read that somewhere else. Holmes remained on the Court into his 90s.) (Rufus is a must for Civil War buffs. He enlisted in 1862 at 17, but he was preternaturally wise, and his observations and experiences are fascinating.)
To spend some time with Grant and his men during the Civil War, see Grant, by Ron Chernow. That book is >900 pages, and drags in spots, but is well worth reading, even if one skips over spots where it drags.
I'm staggered by the depth of Lincoln.
His core was as solid as an old oak, same with Joe.
Lincoln carried on for the Union until the dismal tide turned. He carried on despite suffering the loss of beloved children, a wife with mental health issues, and his own depression. Thank goodness for Mr. Lincoln!
Anne-Louise, such a wonderful expression of extolling someone or something!
I'm staggered by the shallowness of Trump and the Republicans.
You charactetize Grant as an incredibly decent man. He was by no means. He drove Indigenous Peoples off their homelands w mounted soldiers forcing them into conentration camps in places that were inhabitable where they were forcibly starved, raped, tortured, given disease ridden blankets and denied promised life essential supplies.
True and awful. He maintained a horrific tradition. It is hard to say, but from a white European perspective, a white settlers (thieves of land) view, and the norm of the time, he was doing what was expected. As disgusting as it seems to us now. All of what you describe is indefensible in our minds.
It is entirely possible that if Lincoln had not selected him to prosecute the war, we would now be two countries. Some would argue that perhaps that would have been a good idea as the bigotry of many in the south has only intensified. Maybe we should have become three countries - a third for Native Americans!
But if you read Ron Chernow's "Grant" you will meet someone who had been selflessly dedicated to the service of his country. Grant literally saved the union and he did it in a way that was required. Brutally.
Grant was many things. He was humble. He wore the uniform of a private. He suffered all manner of ailments but forged on. He was an occasional drunkard but managed to rally when needed. He may have been one of the most respected generals in our history.
But yes, he and "we" did all those horrible things to Indigenous Americans. Most "whites" of the time would have supported him.
Nothing is simple.
Tecumseh, a native American, wanted to, and I think tried to unite Indian tribes from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf of Mexico, when a lot of that land was still in Native American hands.I haven't gotten very far in Peter Stark's book, Gallop Towards the Sun, which covers that, but if he'd succeeded, what is now the United States would be a much more interesting and diverse place, or so I'd like to think. I'd love to be able to travel--on foot or by bicycle, through territory that was pretty much as it would have been under Indian governance two centuries ago. OK, so maybe I'm just a romantic. But it would be a much more interesting place.
Lots of cognitive dissonance to be had in our history, and today…
Lincoln, as well, visited depredation on the native people. The Homestead Act, cited by Dr. R above, finalized the land grab on the plains. Natives were being driven off their lands, including in Minnesota, and kept in starving encampments. On December 26, 1862, due to Lincoln't order, 38 Dakota men were hanged at Mankato, MN, the largest execution in our country's history. They were participants in the Dakota War, which started when one group raided a settlement for food, resulting in five settlers dying. At the base of it all are the Papal bulls of the 14th century which created the Doctrine of Discovery, still part of our laws today.
Yes, and that Doctrine of Discovery was finally repudiated by the Catholic church in March of last year, 2023.
Elaine, is that Mankato, MN where the massacre occurred? I know of Mankato but not Makato. (I used to teach on Native American reservations, hence my interest.)
Yes, Mankato. I will fix it, migwech. They still ride, the Dakota 38+2, to honor those who died that day.
The Dakota 38+2 Reconciliation Ride began in 2005 and has continued every year to promote reconciliation between American Indians and non-Native People. Horseback riders, runners and supporters alike make the 330-mile journey from Lower Brule, South Dakota to Mankato, Minnesota during the dead of winter. StJo.org
Thanks for th einformation and link, Elaine. I had never heard about this event: I've been away from the reservations for along time. (I taught at Marty, S.D., a boarding school for about 500 kids.)
After perusing the St. Jos. Indiana School website, I am hoping the school is as dedicated to the native population as the site portrays. The boarding schools underwent so much criticism and even hatred due to past abuse and alienation of the students from their families and cultures. But this one seems to be thriving even!
I don't trust any schools, considering what I went through in public school and what my family has gone through as well. My grandparents went through boarding school, and both remained committed to education and got their family through to high school graduation when it was rare. Their commitment was for their children to succeed in the society they lived in. I learned to take everything in school with about a pound of salt, so critical thinking was a given.
Evidently you've done really well even through the hardships. Congratulations!
the land grabs began in the early 1800s. William Henry Harrison, who later became president, was involved in that. These began in what's now Ohio and Indiana.
And much before that as well, and continuing today. Think of Manhattan, Plymouth, the west coast, Texas, all that land seized and presented fait accompli upon statehood.
Different from what occurred before that. What I'm talking about is where and how it became Federal policy. In contrast, Manhattan, Plymouth, et al. were much more haphazard.
So true, but it all looks the same from here, same results anyway. Mad Anthony Wayne was inviolved in the pre-Jackson sweeping of the natives out of Michgan, Ohio and Indiana. He was recalled to the service by George Washington in 1791 to lead the the US Forces in the Northwest Indian War. His victory led to the Treaty of Greenville, 1795, opening most of Ohio to settlement.
I suspect that what I'm describing was more systematic, having the Federal Gov't behind it. And I suspect it happened faster than it would otherwise have happened. I haven't gotten very far in the book, but I think it was done without much resort to warfare--more by tricking the Indians with phony agreements. See: Gallop Towards the Sun: Tecumseh and Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation, by Peter Stark.
War does not bring out the best of any group even in the 21st century. Was is distructive and cruel. Currently, some nations have moved toward democracy and diplomacy. Biden has a cabinet and departments of diplomats negotiating solutions. GOP has a stable of representatives shouting opinions and promoting violence.
We are “products” of our times.
Hmmm...two sides of the same man...how does that fit together?
It just does. As does LBJ’s sides..
It’s human! It’s that simple. We are complex beings and the more complexities we face, the more complex we become. Some of each person’s decisions and actions turn out well, others not so well to badly, all for a variety of reasons.
Susan, think of a musical instrument say a piano. From very high to low. Yes, positive if well played. I think we all must know at least one person who can be charming, smart and admirable but have another darker side that is frightening: a violent temper and a belief system that seems at odds with his-her other side. That’s the more extreme of course like Ted Bundy?
He also had a serious drinking problem
NOt clear who you're saying had a serious drinking problem. Grant definitely did. I've never heard of that in Lincoln's case, and I've read Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals, twice. (Although not recently)
My husband's Lakota relatives remember Lincoln as a man who ordered the execution of a number of Native Americans involved in an uprising. He could have had more executed, but did not execute all of them. I had no idea about this until one of them told me about it. Another perspective.
If you scroll up you will see a post by Elaine in MI which discusses the Mankato MN massacre. I only learned about it a couple years ago.
I see that now. It wasn't there when I posted or just up, I wasn't reading carefully. I had no idea until there was some modern happening and I don't remember what, and I had to ask and then I learned. I see pictures of the ride posted from hubby's relatives every year.
Lincoln himself considered Blacks inferior to caucasians until Frederick Douglass visited him in the White House. It was a different era. (Nonetheless, Lincoln still felt Blacks shoiuld be freed. I don't know what he thought about native Ameircans.)
See posts above.
As others have thanked you below here, David, I thank you, too.
During the Viet war, I was in the army as Viet translator-interpreter (Spec 5, enlisted), and I read Grant's memoirs. I'd already long known of Lee's General Order #9, dismissing his Army of Northern Virginia. In it he claimed loss to the North's "overwhelming numbers and resources."
Grant in his memoirs said no. His men won that war for two reasons: 1) they could all read and write and 2) they believed in their fight.
I remember publishing that bit of info in one of the many underground rags we had then -- so many G.I.s absolutely not believing a thing "the best and the brightest" had to say in all their Ivy League idiot abstractions then defending that mass stupidity.
You're most welcome Phil. thank you for providing this additional perspective. (I do think our resources were superior to those of the South. If I remember correctly, that was in Chernow's book.)
Thanks for these recommendations, David!
You're welcome Lynell!
"Grant" by Chernow was a revelation. What a complex person. The general we needed.
But then, please read ANTHING by this fine author.
OK. Going to the used book store on Wed (sale day), or the library today. I am sure my brother has one or two by Chernow (all his books are his favorite child). There has been so much talk of genocide here that I picked up "The Nazi Doctors" by Robert Jay Lifton, which had a long chapter on genocide. 25 cents.
Learned recently that the Christian Nationalist’s favorite spiritual guru is Gerhardt Kittle, a German Protestant theologian who was also Hitler’s personal counselor. He was anti Semitic, of course.
Read Chernow's Hamilton and agree, but I found Ron White's biography of Grant much more sympathetic, noting that in striving to overcome his problem with alcohol, he always turned his glass upside down at social gatherings. Also mentioned the severe and extended isolation he experienced when stationed far from family. I thought White's tone matched Grant's memoirs, which reflect the type of character our Founding Fathers declared as virtuous (love of country and its laws).
Thanks for the recommendation, Bill!
Read Hamilton by Ron Chernow as many have, and will check this book out.
Thanks, David. Will order Sheldon's book "Rufus" to add to our Civil War book collection. Bruce Catton grew up 15 miles from here.
You may need to order it on Amazon. Sheldon did a damn good job with the book, but she self published it, and is not great at getting it out there. And I the title wrong. It's Rufus: A Boy's EXtraordinary EXPERIENCES in the Civil War. (Not "adventures")
Found on Amazon. Thanks!
You are most welcome! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I actually proofed the book.
Grant and Sherman were among the greatest generals ever—far better than Lee. Oliver Wendell Holmes was wounded severely at Ball’s Bluff, very early in the war. When he recovered—not fully—he was assigned to the defenses of Washington, being not fit for field service. In 1864, a Confederate raid got as far as the Washington lines, where Holmes was serving. According to a possibly apocryphal story, he saw a tall civilian strand up in the trenches and yelled, “Get down, you fool!” only to realize it was the President.
Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson was also a terrific general. His death was a great boon to the North.
David There has been almost at much written about Lincoln than about Jesus.James McPherson’s Pulitzer-winning BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM for me is the best single volume related to the Civil War. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s LEADERSHIP highlights Lincoln’s remarkable skills. Walt Whitman’s poem at the time of Lincoln’s assassination still bring tears to my eyes.
In my youth I read Sanders’s Lincoln volumes and have been fixated by Lincoln’s extraordinary news ever since. An individual with sadness, sense of mission, and the salvation of humor.
I copied your comment into my file of books I want to read.
David Check our Walt Whitman’s O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN Lincoln eulogy.
Thanks for the recommendations, Keith!
Thanks. To search for it, the title is Rufus: A Boy's Extraordinary "Experiences," not Adventures.
Thanks. You're right. Damn these H. sapiens brains!
Chernow's Grant is unforgettable. Strongly recommended.
Grant is excellent.
Yes, I was also heartened to read of the support of Union soldiers for Lincoln, who expressed his sadness at the war so profoundly when he lost his own son. Another parallel to Biden. How the Republicans today have spit on his loss. Their voting block against VA funding and compensation for Burn Pit victims seemed almost designed to break him. Their despicable fist bump when they did. Cruz trying to be a man. ugh
Trump's disdain of all service members. It must make Biden want to, well, we can't imagine ... and then the latest, nasty fiction of Biden supposedly forgetting the date of his son's Death from the cancer he suffered from his service to our country. The standard just keeps dropping.
And yet, there is no recourse. Has that slime Hurr been recommended to the bar? Reprimanded and taken off the rarefied list of future Special Counsels? Anything at all?
Please someone reply and tell me yes. Tell me Garland DID something.
In Brazil they call this swallowing the frog. Biden and the rest of us are swallowing the frog. Every day.
Well, I for one have a Very sore throat.
I am now just at the very beginning of comprehending the toll such un-repudiated injustice must take on black Americans. Still. Today! I can feel Willis holding back her rage in my bones.
Very much respect, and feel, too, your burning, smoldering, ongoing rage, disbelief, Patrice.
I feel privileged to have belonged to a senior group for many years who have read through various members’ recommendations books both fiction and non that delve deeply into the history of Blacks and Indians in the ‘settling’ of America. My stomach turns at the savage cruelty both groups of Americans have endured and still do without accountability for such crimes. And it still goes on. Witness Trump’s promise to turn our police forces into vigilantes who are free to go after anyone they even suspect of wrong doing and freely teach them a lesson. Some say he doesn’t mean it. A commentator wisely said if so that he’d dare say such a thing indicates that he is too mentally ill to qualify to run for president. As my Black friends who a racist Trump and his racist MAGAs especially intend this
for, continue to live in fear. I will work with others as this election approaches as we do all we can to stop these vile people.
(Love your last name! La chat. 😽 )
Well put. I’ve just finished “Horse” by Geraldine Brooks. It was shattering.
Such a great book. I cried all the way through it and I can still bring on the waterworks just thinking about several scenes. When the horse laid his head in his lap and died--we should all be so lucky. (sob)
My husband was shocked by the tears running down my face. Theo’s death had such a ring of reality.
I loved "March" and "People of the Book". Waiting to read "Horse".
I still haven't picked up the two books, one about cotton slavery and one about the removal of Native Americans from the southeast, because they made me sick and I couldn't continue to read. Right now I am in ancient history which is terribly bloody, but distant enough: a history of Rome and Persia(at first, Parthia) for 700 years. Now I am reading about the Sumerians including the problems with excavations during the colonial period. Then we went to war with Iraq and secured oil, but not the national museum which was looted. Then ISIS which looted sites to sell what they could....I think Chik-Fill-A top dog bought some for his Bible museum. Talk about aiding and abetting...then ISIS destroyed the sites.
Hurr has just charged the FBI informant who made up the whole slur about Burisma and the Bidens. Just came out yesterday.
That is interesting. That is really interesting! btw, just one "r". Hur.
Thank you! I had been spelling Hur with one “r”, but seeing it spelled with two, thought I might have missed something.
Nope. You didn't miss anything.
Love your words, Phil.
You've said it, Phil Balla. Superbly. And that's something that attracts and promises, not threatens. A good dinner, or a hamberder?
I'm living in a small river valley town in the mountains of Kyushu, Japan, Anne-Louise.
No hamburger possibilities anywhere near here.
But lots of very good food otherwise.
I'm very glad to know that HCR's letters reach to the other side of the globe
Best, Swbv, the decent conversations among those also reading her on her Substack.
Ooh, who needs a hambURGer when you can get a bento. How beautiful! my imagination soars.