Category: WAR

Kate Stone’s Civil War: Capable of any horror

Stone had no idea that someday soon she also would be swept away into the growing river of refugees flowing into a new home: unconquered Confederate Texas.

KS2

From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.

Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.

(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)

Union forces under U.S. Grant moved southward to take Vicksburg, Miss., the key to control of the Mississippi River and the last major link between the eastern and western Confederate regions. Stone watched with absolute contempt as Union gunboats floated into view. As word spread of blue armies marching closer, Stone’s mother ordered Brokenburn’s slaves were to run away if Northern troops entered the plantation. Stone noted with disgust as slaves from other communities and estates snuck away to the Union lines or were simply gathered up by Union soldiers like provisions and sent to work on Union military fortifications.

Stone also made a prescient observation on what some families did with their threatened labor force — they sent them “to the back country” farther west. Forthcoming entries in this series will illustrate how, as the Union forces poured into the area around Brokenburn to prepare for the Vicksburg assaults, the “back country” would not offer sufficient protection. Slaves were only the first wave of people from Louisiana to move westward. Slaveowners, frightened of marauding Union soldiers, would soon follow them. Stone had no idea that someday soon she also would be swept away into the growing river of refugees flowing into a new home: unconquered Confederate Texas.

June 20

Good news from My Brother … he is now Adjutant of the 2nd Miss. Battalion. I am so glad. He ranks now as Captain. He is not ambitious for himself, but I am very ambitious for him. All my dreams of future glory for our name center in My Brother. God bless him.

June 25

Well, we have at last seen what we have been looking for for weeks: the Yankee gunboats descending the river. The Lancaster No. 3 led the way, followed by the ram Monarch .We hope they will be the first to be sunk at Vicksburg. We shall watch for their names. They are polluting the waters of the grand old Mississippi. Monday when Mamma and I went out to Mr. Newman’s to spend the day and stopped at Mrs. Savage’s to get Anna, Mr. McGee came down and told us the gunboats were in sight at Goodrich’s, and about 4 o’clock, while at dinner, one of the servants said they were coming around the bend. We all ran out on the gallery for our first sight of the enemy, and soon we saw one craft bearing rapidly down the river, dark, silent, and sinister. Very few men were in sight, and no colors were flying. There were no demonstrations on either side, but oh, how we hated her deep down in our hearts, not the less that we were powerless to do any harm. Soon three others came gliding noiselessly by, and we could have seen every boat and all the men sunk to the bottom of the river without a pang of regret. One transport was crowded with men. It looked black with them, and they had the impudence to wave at us. We would have been glad to return the compliment with a shot from a battery crashing right into the boat. One passed, then turned, and rounded into the hole just in front of the house, blowing the whistle.

We were certain she was going to land, and since the house is just at the river, a scene of excitement ensued. The gentlemen insisted we should leave the house and hide somewhere until the carriage could be hitched up for us to flee to the back country. We rushed around the house, each person picking up any valuable in the way of silver, jewelry, or fancy things he could find, and away we ran through the hot, dusty quarter lot, making for the only refuge we could see, the tall, thick cornfield just beyond the fence. Two soldiers who were taking dinner with us were hurried ahead, as we knew they would be captured if recognized. Just as we were in full retreat, a motley crew soldiers, women, children, and all the servants, in full view of the boat we could see the spyglasses levelled at us. Some one called for us to come back. It was a feint. The gunboat was not landing. So we turned back to the house, a hot excited lot of people, and the dinner cold on the table.

The boats ran up and down for awhile and then anchored for the night at the foot of the Island. A boat came ashore with three men, and they had quite a conversation with some of our fireside braves assembled to see the sights. The Yankees, one a Col. Elliott, were in full uniform and armed cap-a-pie. Some of the men, notably Mr. Newman and Mr. Hannah, answered all their questions, told them all they knew, and then tried to buy provisions from the boats, telling the officers they were nearly starving. It was an awful story, for the country is filled with every eatable that could be raised. Mr. Cox acted like a man of proper spirit and denied what the other men had said about starvation. …

June 26

Mrs. Savage and Emily came out this morning to breakfast, and as she thought there was no further danger, she took Robert home with her. The Yankee officers said they came ashore to “assure the inhabitants that they meditated no injury.” They had seen some ladies very much frightened, and they regretted it, as the ladies were in no danger and would not be molested in any way. …

June 27

Brother Walter is safe at home again. He got back last night looking as brown and weather-beaten as any soldier of them all and so tired and stiff that he can hardly walk. He crossed the river in a skiff and walked all the way from Vicksburg to Willow Bayou in one day, following the railroad track. Mrs. Morris sent him on the next day on horseback, and we were delighted when he rode up. Brother Coley is well and in high spirits. Aunt Laura and Beverly are in Jackson. Brother Walter would have remained over for the fight at Vicksburg, but the battle on land is not expected to come off for some weeks yet. So he very wisely came home. …

June 29

We hear today that the Yankees are impressing all the Negro men on the river places and putting them to work on a ditch which they are cutting across the point opposite Vicksburg above DeSoto. They hope to turn the river through there and to leave Vicksburg high and dry, ruining that town and enabling the gunboats to pass down the river without running the gauntlet of the batteries at Vicksburg. They have lately come up as far as Omega, four miles from us, taking the men from Mr. Noland’s place down. We hear several have been shot attempting to escape. We were satisfied there would soon be outrages committed on private property. Mamma had all the men on the place called up, and she told them if the Yankees came on the place each Negro must take care of himself and run away and hide. We think they will.

From a late paper we see that Butler is putting his foot down more firmly every day. A late proclamation orders every man in the city to take the oath of allegiance. There will be the most severe penalties in case of refusal. Butler had Mr. Mumford, a gentleman of New Orleans, shot for tearing down the first flag hoisted in New Orleans over the mint. The most infamous order and murder of which only Butler is capable. Is the soul of Nero reincarnated in the form of Butler? Why can he not fall of the scourge of New Orleans, yellow fever?

The drought was broken last night by a good rain and the planters are feeling better. This insures a good corn crop, and it was beginning to suffer. It is so essential to make good food crops this year. When we heard the cool drops splashing on the roof. … Such a lovely morning. It is a pleasure to breathe the soft, cool air and look out over the glad, green fields, flashing and waving in the early sunlight. …

June 30

The excitement is very great. The Yankees have taken the Negroes off all the places below Omega, the Negroes generally going most willingly, being promised their freedom by the vandals. The officers coolly go on the places, take the plantation books, and call off the names of all the men they want, carrying them off from their masters without a word of apology. They laugh at the idea of payment and say of course they will never send them back. A good many planters are leaving the river and many are sending their Negroes to the back country. We hope to have ours in a place of greater safety by tomorrow.

Dr. Nutt and Mr. Mallett are said to be already on their way to Texas with the best of their hands. Jimmy and Joe went to the Bend and Richmond today. They saw Julia and Mary Gustine, who sent me word that I was a great coward to run away. Mary had talked to a squad of Yankee soldiers for awhile and found them anything but agreeable.

All on this place, Negroes and whites, are much wrought up. Of course the Negroes do not want to go, and our fear is when the Yankees come and find them gone they will burn the buildings in revenge. They are capable of any horror. We look forward to their raid with great dread. Mrs. Savage sent for her silver today. We have been keeping it since the gunboats came. They will all leave in two days for Bayou Macon. Would like to see them before they get off. …

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Fashion at the Golden Globes / Breaking down the drone war / The Army’s brain drain / Why do wet fingers wrinkle? / Cities preparing for climate change

IMG_1629

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.

1. The Golden Globes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
TMZ | Jan. 13
“The 70th Annual Golden Globes are in full swing and as usual there’s sure to be some fashion fiascoes showing up and showing off.”

2. Texas Has Created a Costly Roadmap for Defunding Planned Parenthood
By Molly Redden | The New Republic | Jan. 11
“Since fading from our national memory as the presidential candidate who couldn’t remember the Department of Energy, Perry has gone home to oversee the dissolution of what was once a decent health-care partnership with the federal government, the Women’s Health Program.”

3. Everything We Know So Far About Drone Strikes
By Cora Currier | Pro Publica | Jan. 11
“You’ve certainly heard about drones. But the details of the U.S. campaign against militants in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia — a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s national security approach — remain shrouded in secrecy.”

4. Gwen’s Take: Why Do People Want to Be President?
By Gewn Ifill | The Rundown :: PBS NewsHour | Jan. 11
“Why do they turn over their lives to years of grueling fundraising, speech-making, handshaking, second guessing, bad foods, bad hotels and life inside the bubble?”

5. Funding for Human Expeditions in the Ocean May Have Run Aground
By Tony Dokoupil | Newsweek | Jan. 14
“Legendary explorer Sylvia Earle is saying goodbye to the ocean floor, but are machines good enough to take her place? Tony Dokoupil reports in Newsweek on the robot takeover of ocean science.”

6. Mashable’s Favorite Tech From CES 2013
By Lance Ulanoff | Mashable | Jan. 10
“We saw smartphones, humongous Ultra HDTVs, smartphone cases, Bluetooth speaker systems, advanced gaming systems and accessories, 3D sensors and more.”

7. An Army of None
By Tim Kane | Foreign Policy | Jan. 10
“Why the Pentagon is failing to keep its best and brightest.”

8. How American Cities Are Adapting To Climate Change
By Jeff Spross | ThinkProgress | Jan. 11
“Almost two-thirds are pursuing adaptation planning for climate change, compared to 68 percent globally, and virtually all U.S. cities report difficulties acquiring funding for adaptation efforts.”

9. Seeing Time Machine Let Go of the Past
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | September 2012
“My Time Machine program keeps alerting me that it is deleting old backups. Should I be worried about this message?”

10. To Grip Wet Objects, Wrinkle Your Fingers
By Sindya N. Bhanoo | The New York Times | Jan. 10
“[S]cientists report that wrinkled fingers and toes allow a better grip on wet objects — so they may have evolved to give early humans an advantage in wet conditions.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

The consequences of LiLo / Celebrating Richard Ben Cramer / Lima’s ugly side / Unborn babies can learn language / Public sees harm from U.S. politics

IMG_1540

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.

1. Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie
By Stephen Rodrick | The New York Times Magazine | Jan. 10
“[Director Paul] Schrader thinks she’s perfect for the role. Not everyone agrees. Schrader wrote ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘Taxi Driver’ and has directed 17 films. Still, some fear Lohan will end him.”

2. Hagel pick: Final snub of George W. Bush
By Alexandra Burns | Politico | Jan. 9
“[T]he most vehement objections have come from the conservative, interventionist foreign policy community — the so-called neoconservatives who created the ideological architecture for the wars Bush launched in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

3. What do think of Richard Ben Cramer now?
By Tom Junod | Esquire | Jan. 8
“Richard Ben Cramer is the only one I still read for that holy, misguided, and somewhat dangerous purpose — the only one whose blood I still welcome for the purposes of transfusion. The others carry the risk of infection, which is to say the risk of mannerism.”

4. Hiding From People-Search Sites
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | Aug. 29
“I recently found my name, address and other personal information listed on this Web site called Spokeo.com. How do they get this information and can I delete it?”

5. Wodehouse and Fitzgerald — emblems of a lost age
By Robert McCrum | The Guardian | Jan. 7
“The two authors incarnated very different visions of England and the US between the wars”

6. From the Slums of Lima to the Peaks of the Andes
By Alastair Bland | Off the Road :: Smithsonian | Jan. 7
“That there could be anything in the world but dust, rubble, traffic, burning trash heaps, mangy dogs and slums seemed impossible as we rolled northward through Lima.”

7. Babies Seem to Pick Up Language in Utero
By Nicholas Bakalar | Well :: The New York Times | Jan. 7
“A baby develops the ability to hear by about 30 weeks’ gestation, so he can make out his mother’s voice for the last two months of pregnancy.”

8. Rebooting Republican Foreign Policy
By Daniel W. Drezner | Foreign Affairs | January/February 2013
“Needed: Less Fox, More Foxes”

9. Most in U.S. Say Politics in Washington Cause Serious Harm
By Frank Newport | Gallup | Jan. 7
“More than three-quarters of Americans (77%) say the way politics works in Washington these days is causing serious harm to the United States, providing still another indicator of the low esteem in which Americans hold their elected officials. …”

10. Creative Aging: The Emergence of Artistic Talents
By Richard Senelick | The Atlantic | Jan. 4
“Depending which part of the brain is affected, different skills will be preserved or impaired in various types of cognitive decline and dementia. This gradual reformation is what may allow the emergence of new artistic abilities.”

*****************

TUNES

Tonight I’m spending some time with the blues, specifically with the Texas Blues Café. Check out the line-up and then listen here.

1. J.J. Grey & Mofro — Country Ghetto
2. Dr. Wu — I Don’t Need No Woman Like You
3. Delta Moon — Ghost In My Guitar
4. ZZ Top — Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings
5. Stoney Curtis Band — That’s Right
6. Kelleys Lot — Drive
7. The Fabulous Thunderbirds — Stand Back
8. Jeff Powers & Dead Guys Blues Band — Bad Luck Boogie
9. Ian Moore — Pay No Mind
10. Ray Wylie Hubbard — Down Home Country Blues
11. The Stone Coyotes — Trouble Down In Texas
12. Lost Immigrants — Dixie Queen
13. Band Of Heathens — Hallelujah

Kate Stone’s Civil War: Trembling hearts

Stone anchored her hopes on the steady breezes of war rumors swirling around Brokenburn, and any news reporting a Confederate victory warmed her heart.

KS1

From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.

Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.

(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)

Stone anchored her hopes on the steady breezes of war rumors swirling around Brokenburn, and any news reporting a Confederate victory warmed her heart, even as Union gunboats prowled the nearby Mississippi River, angling for a shot at Vicksburg. In the meantime, as another summer loomed, life went on. Boys fished. Hats were sewn. Dutiful visits to neighbors were politely endured.

June 6, 1862

Brother Walter went to Pecan Grove and Jimmy to the Bend trying to get molasses, but none to be had. Rumors are that the people at Baton Rouge, Natchez, and New Orleans had risen en masse and killed Butler and all his soldiers. We hoped I had almost said prayed that it might be so, but I am not yet so hardened that I can pray even for a Yankee’s death. We learned soon after that it was only a canard. …

Thursday we were all up betimes and Julia, Jimmy, Johnny, and I set off before 7 o’clock to fish at the head of Grassy Lake. The ride in the cool morning air through the dark still woods, sweet with the breath of the wild grape blossoms, and in such merry company, was a thing to enjoy. We stopped to gather the first blackberries, cool and wet with dew. How often I think of Ashburn when the pleasures he so enjoyed a year ago are in the world again. How many a merry ride we have taken together, enjoying all the sights and sounds of spring. Dear heart, I know he is happy now beyond our dreams of bliss, but oh, to see him once more now that spring is in the land. …

Letters from My Brother and Capt. Manlove dated May 20 at Richmond. He told us of their marching from Yorktown and the fight they were in at Williamsburg. Both escaped unwounded. He wrote us of our one-time friend, Mr. Hewitt. He is passing himself off in Nashville as a wealthy Louisiana planter and as a colonel of a Mississippi regiment taken at Donelson and on parole. He is engaged to be married to one of the nice girls of Nashville. He is such a dreadful fraud, a perfect adventurer, and we think gets married at nearly every town in which he spends a month. He is very handsome, tall and blond, with delightful manners and always manages to get in with the best people. My Brother took the liberty of writing to the girl’s father a full account of Mr. Hewitt, and we hope the girl will be saved.

The Jeff Davis Guards were highly complimented for their gallantry on the field of Williamsburg and Capt. Tom Manlove is praised for his heroism in battle. His father, Capt. Manlove. …. Such a gratification to his father. The battalions were in the two days at Chickahominy. All the officers escaped unhurt except the 3rd lieutenant who was killed. I think that is Lt. Floyd, to whom we sent things in My Brother’s box.

June 8

Anna, Robert, and Emily have just spent the last two days with us. Robert is home on sick leave. He has just spent five weeks in the hospital and looks dreadful. He does not want to talk, only to eat and sleep. So congenial Anna is more quiet than ever before. All went fishing in the afternoon.

No late news from Brother Coley. Why does he not write? Now that he has been in two battles, he must be better satisfied. We are glad to see his company so highly spoken of. Must stop. They are calling us to go to church.

Evening. What a budget of news we heard there … the fight at Fort Pillow, the evacuation of Vicksburg, the occupation of Memphis, the defeat of our gunboats and the loss of seven out of nine, and the falling back of Beauregard from Corinth to Holly Springs. What a long list of disasters. But there is some good news to offset it. Mrs. Dancy sent out Friday’s papers giving an account of the victory at Chickahominy after a two-day fight, capturing camp, breastworks, and ten guns. Stonewall Jackson has crossed the Potomac, whipped Banks’ army, and ten thousand Marylanders have flocked to his standard. Again, a rumor that France and Spain have recognized the Confederacy. We are hoping the bad news is all false and the good all true. …

June 11

We found Mrs. Savage in all the hurry of packing up. Dr. Lily and Robert have at last persuaded her to leave the river and go out to Bayou Macon until the war is over, for fear of the Yankees raiding the places when they come down the river. Mrs. Savage and the other ladies are much opposed to leaving home, but they have been over-persuaded. Her garden is lovely now. How Mrs. Savage will miss her flowers when she is far away. …

We still hold Vicksburg and will hold on as long as it is possible. … We hear that another grand battle has been fought near Richmond, resulting in the defeat of McClellan. Oh! that it may be true. Both Uncle Bo and My Brother must have been in it. Mamma just received a letter from them dated in April.

Yankee gunboats are looked for tomorrow or next day.

June 18

We got a paper with the latest news Stonewall Jackson’s successes in Maryland and his defeat of Shields and Fremont. The news is most encouraging, but we listen with trembling hearts for fear he may be surrounded and cut off there in the enemy’s country. …

June 17

Yesterday we spent at Dr. Carson’s. One of the hottest days possible. Gen. Breckinridge was in the neighborhood and was expected to dinner, but much to our regret did not come. We all wished to meet him. We have not yet seen a major general, and he is said to be exceedingly handsome. Mrs. Carson is much depressed, worrying all the time about Joe’s going to the army. She will not let him get off. Joe, Mr. Baker, and Mr. McNeely made themselves very agreeable. We had a charming time in the grand old garden. Mrs. Buckner and her three children came in the afternoon. How she does admire her husband, who is now a Major. …

Kate Stone’s Civil War: The sleep that knows no waking

It’s been a year since her beloved brother and uncle left for the front, and her sadness casts a shadow over Brokenburn’s springtime blooms.

sunlight

From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.

Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.

(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)

Stone mourns the loss of a dear friend to marriage, “Beast” Butler’s proclamations from conquered New Orleans outrage her, the weakened levee nearby worries her, and a bear frightens and exhilarates everyone. It’s been a year since her beloved brother and uncle left for the front, and her sadness casts a shadow over Brokenburn’s springtime blooms.


May 23

Have heard of my darling Katie’s marriage. Who would have thought after our long close intimacy that I would hear of her wedding only by accident. I know she has written me everything but no letters come now. So have passed our dreams of sisterhood. I hope, oh how I hope, she has been able to forget the old love and is content with the new. May my dear girl be happy. God bless her and hers. I shall miss her out of my life, my dearest girl friend. How it will affect My Brother I can hardly say, but I have thought of late he had given up his love dream and was willing to take the dismissal he forced upon her. …

The gunboats have been at Vicksburg for a week and have secured their answer to the demand to surrender some days ago, but there has been no bombardment. What we heard was the artillery men trying their guns.

In the Whig is Butler’s last infamous proclamation. It seems that the openly expressed scorn and hatred of the New Orleans women for Butler’s vandal hordes has so exasperated him that he issues this proclamation: That henceforth if any female by word, look, or gesture, shall insult any of his soldiers, the soldier shall have perfect liberty to do with her as he pleases. Could any order be more infamous? It is but carrying out the battle cry ‘Bounty and Beauty’ with which they started for New Orleans. May he not long pollute the soil of Louisiana.

The levee is still very insecure with the river rising and the rains bad on it. Many plantation hands are at work on it all the time, and the owners [are] watching it anxiously. We are almost overflowed from rain water as the ditches had to be stopped to keep out backwater. …

May 25

Everything shines out bright and fair in the spring sunshine after the gloom of the last few days. The flowers wave and glisten most invitingly across the grass beyond the shadows of the great oaks, but it is too wet to venture over Nature’s carpeting of soft, green grass. This evening we may plan what we please. The levees having stood so far we think will stand faithfully to the end. They have certainly been found faithful among few. …

May 26

Old Mr. Valentine is very despondent, foretelling the most abject poverty and starvation for the whole country. He came over to try and induce Mamma to have all the cotton plowed up in order to plant corn and to beg her not to let Brother Walter go to Vicksburg. … He has made himself very unpopular by his bitter opposition to the cotton burning and by not allowing his son to join the army. There is no doubt he should go at once. Some actually think Mr. Valentine is in favor of our enemies and advocate hanging him by mob law. A most unjust report and utterly without foundation. I suppose his being of Northern birth increases the prejudice. …

In the afternoon there was a cry raised that there was a bear in the cane. The boys with their dogs and guns turned out in force, assisted by Mr. McRae, Ben Clarkson, as did all the Negroes who could get mules, while the others armed themselves with axes and sticks and cautiously approached the outskirts. The excitement ran high and we at the house had full benefit as it was in the canebrake just back of the yard. We could hear the barking of the dogs, the reports of the guns, and the cries and shouts of the whole party. It was very exhilirating. They returned in the highest state of excitement but without the bear. They went out next morning but with no better success. …

May 28

Yesterday evening and far into the night we heard the roar of cannonading more distinct and rapid than ever heard before. It must be at Vicksburg. Today all is quiet. One understands after hearing the long rolling booms how deafening it must be on a battlefield. …

The river is falling all the way down.nd we are saved from overflow this year.

Papers and letters this evening, a month old.

May 30

We have a paper of the twenty-seventh. It brings the good news of a battle or surprise by Stonewall Jackson at Winchester and Front Royal and the capture of all the stores at the former place and many prisoners. All the news is rather encouraging. We are holding our own at Fort Pillow. At Corinth the enemy are reported in retreat to their gunboats which, now that the Tennessee River is falling, they are compelled to get out at once. All is well in Virginia. And nearer home at Vicksburg there is nothing to discourage us. The slight shelling did no harm, and the soldiers are full of hope and anxious for the Yankees to land to give them the “worst beating they ever had in their lives. …”

My Brother and Uncle Bo have been gone just a year and what a year of changes. Nature smiles as bright and fair now as under the May sun of a year ago, but where are all “the loved ones who filled our home with glee?” Four of the dear familiar faces are absent. One sleeps the sleep that knows no waking. For him we have no more fear or trouble, for we know he has passed from Death into Life that. … But oh, the weary days of waiting and watching for the other three.

Jimmy brought us two recent letters from My Brother. He encloses some violets gathered from the old trenches around Yorktown, dug there by Washington’s army. His tent stands just where Cornwallis gave up his sword. What supreme satisfaction if McClellan could be induced to do the same thing at the same place. They say history repeats itself. My Brother takes a most elderly brother tone regarding Tom Manlove’s love affairs. Four months ago Tom was desperate about Miss Eva, and now Miss Flora reigns sole empress of his heart for the next month. But My Brother need not be critical, as he is not so constant himself. He so regrets leaving Uncle Bo. They are now in different commands. He is anxious to get his clothes and speaks confidently of coming home. …

Kate Stone’s Civil War: Fashion is an obsolete word

Stone offers a fascinating portrait of how war changed even the smallest elements of daily life.

tree

From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.

Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.

(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)

Stone offers a fascinating portrait of how war changed even the smallest elements of daily life.

May 22

All yesterday and today we have heard cannonading at Vicksburg, sometimes so faint that it is more a vibration than a noise and again quite a loud, clear report. Oh, if we could only know just what is going on there. But it may be days before we get any authentic accounts. We do not know the importance of holding Vicksburg. We know nothing of the plans. Some say the resistance there is only a feint to give Beauregard more time at Corinth, Miss., but we hope it is a desperate attempt to hold the city against all odds. We are sick of hearing of these prudent, cautious retreats without firing a gun. Our only hope is in desperate fighting. We are so outnumbered. We think Dr. Buckner’s company is in Vicksburg, but being cavalry they may not be engaged.

Evening. Brother Walter rode out on the dangerous levee and he thinks it will hold. Heard that the attack on Vicksburg will be made this evening at 3 o’clock, the enemy landing at Warrenton and coming in the rear of the city. Brother Walter is almost wild to take part in the battle there. He has been in tears about it for the last week. … He says he must and will be in that fight, but we are not very anxious about him. We are sure all skiffs leaving Pecan Grove will have gotten away long before he reaches there, as it was two when he left. Mamma gave him some money but he took no clothes. He will be compelled to return soon. But Mamma feels that before many days she will be called on to give up this her third son to fight for his country. …

All the boats stopped running three weeks ago on the fall of New Orleans and we have not had a mail since. There is no communication with anywhere except by skiff as the levees are broken between here and Vicksburg.

All the boys are out on the river, and we expect them to bring Anna Dobbs back with them to stay a few days. It seems odd to be expecting company and no flour or any “boughten” delicacy to regale them on, but we have been on a strict “war footing” for some time cornbread and home-raised meal, milk and butter, tea once a day, and coffee never. A year ago we would have considered it impossible to get on for a day without the things that we have been doing without for months. Fortunately we have sugar and molasses, and after all it is not such hard living. Common cornbread admits of many variations in the hands of a good cook eggbread (we have lots of eggs), muffins, cakes, and so on. Fat meat will be unmitigated fat meat, but one need not eat it. And there are chickens, occasional partridges, and other birds, and often venison, vegetables of all kinds minus potatoes; and last but not least, knowing there is no help for it makes one content. …

Clothes have become a secondary consideration. Fashion is an obsolete word and just to be decently clad is all we expect. The change in dress, habits, and customs is nowhere more striking than in the towns. A year ago a gentleman never thought of carrying a bundle, even a small one, through the streets. Broadcloth was de rigueur. Ceremony and fashion ruled in the land. Presto-change. Now the highest in rank may be seen doing any kind of work that their hands find to do. The men have become “hewers of wood and drawers of water” and pack bundles of all sorts and sizes. It may be a pile of blankets, a stack of buckets, or a dozen bundles. One gentleman I saw walking down the street in Jackson, and a splendid-looking fellow he was, had a piece of fish in one hand, a cavalry saddle on his back, bridle, blankets, newspapers, and a small parcel in the other hand; and over his shoulder swung an immense pair of cavalry boots. And nobody thought he looked odd. Their willingness to fetch and carry is only limited by their strength. All the soldiers one sees when traveling are loaded down with canteen, knapsack, haversack, and blankets.

Broadcloth is worn only by the drones and fireside braves. Dyed linsey is now the fashionable material for coats and pants. Vests are done away with, colored flannel, merino, or silk overshirts taking the place. A gentleman thinks nothing of calling on half a dozen young ladies dressed in home-dyed Negro cloth and blue checked shirt. If there is a button or stripe to show that he is one of his country’s defenders, he is sure of warmest welcome. Another stops to talk to a bevy of ladies. He is laden down with a package of socks and tin plates that he is carrying out to camp, and he shifts the bundles from side to side as he grows interested and his arms get tired. In proportion as we have been a race of haughty, indolent, and waited-on people, so now are we ready to do away with all forms and work and wait on ourselves.

The Southerners are a noble race, let them be reviled as they may, and I thank God that He has given my birthplace in this fair land among these gallant people and in a time when I can show my devotion to my Country.

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Today’s slaves / Wireless printers / Rediscovering a lost Byzantine city / Conservative defeat in culture war / Naming winter storms

IMG_1539

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.

1. America’s Post-2014 Afghanistan Game Plan
By Daniel R. DePetris | The Editor :: The Diplomat | Jan. 5
“The war in Afghanistan has become a sore point for the Obama administration, punctuated by the enormous rise in insider attacks on coalition forces and the persistent tenacity and lethality of the Taliban insurgency.”

2. The Weather Channel Is Now Branding Winter
By James Poniewozik | Tuned In :: Time | Jan. 4
“Even assuming the most selfless intentions, there’s the obvious chance for TWC to benefit. Storms that people ‘follow’ and ‘pay attention to’ are storms that people turn on The Weather Channel for.”

3. The culture war is over, and conservatives lost
By Matt K. Lewis | The Week | Jan. 3
“It’s time we conservatives accepted an alarming truth: Americans no longer agree with us”

4. Ruins of Forgotten Byzantine Port Yield Some Answers, Yet Mysteries Remain
By Jennifer Pinkowski | Scientific American | Jan. 2
“After a drought revealed the seawall of a Byzantine Empire harbor town near Istanbul, archeologists excavated what was a thriving ancient center. But how does it fit into the city’s 1,600-year history?”

5. David Attenborough: A life measured in heartbeats
By Brian Cox and Robin Ince | New Statesman | December 2012
“In an exclusive interview with Brian Cox and Robin Ince, he talks about the BBC, Darwin and what keeps him moving.”

6. James Stavridis: How NATO’s Supreme Commander thinks about global security
TED | July 2012
“Imagine a global security driven by collaboration — among agencies, government, the private sector and the public.”

7. Setting Up A Wireless Printer
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | September 2012
“What’s involved in setting up a new wireless printer in Windows 7 on my home network?”

8. Turkey’s Moment
By Jonathan Tepperman | Foreign Affairs | January/February 2013
“A Conversation With Abdullah Gul”

9. Introducing the First Search Engine for Math And Science Equations
Smithsonian Magazine | December 2012
“Symbolab allows users to search for equations using both numbers and symbols as well as text. The engine returns results based upon their relatedness to theory and semantics rather than visuals.”

10. Slavery’s Global Comeback
By J.J. Gould | The Atlantic | December 2012
“150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, buying and selling people into forced labor is bigger than ever. What ‘human trafficking’ really means.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Hauling a rock into orbit / A comatose Senate / Fiction to understand Iraq War / Navy SEALS fighting Jabba the Hutt / John Kerry and Cuba

IMG_1538

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.

1. Senatus Decadens
By George Packer | The Daily Comment :: The New Yorker | Jan. 4
“The Senate is in a prolonged, self-induced coma. It does not produce creative legislation. It does not inspire important debate. It is not responsive to key national problems. Its pretense of institutional dignity is so battered that junior senators openly mock it.”

2. Emerging wave of Iraq fiction examines America’s role in ‘bullshit war’
By Paul Harris | The Guardian | Jan. 3
“Flood of books with ‘elegiac feel running through them’ tackle eight-year conflict and help US to understand the folly of war”

3. Be Cautious With Free Software
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | August 2012
“Is it safe to install freeware and shareware on my computer?”

4. Can Kerry make friends with Cuba?
By Nick Miroff | GlobalPost :: Salon | Jan. 2
“While the ex-senator’s been a harsh critic of U.S. policy toward Havana, he’ll have a hard time changing anything”

5. Louis C. K.’s Symphony Of Comedy
By Chris Duffy | WBUR | Jan. 3
“In a field notorious for compromise, where comedians routinely change personas and water down material to get sitcom deals, C.K. has managed to maintain his voice.”

6. High schooler suspended for poem on understanding Adam Lanza
By Natasha Lennard | Salon | Jan. 2
“A 17-year-old high school student in San Francisco has been suspended indefinitely after she wrote a poem in her personal notebook which included the lines, ‘I understand the killings in Connecticut; I understand why he pulled the trigger.’ ”

7. Good and Bad, the Little Things Add Up in Fitness
By Gretchen Reynolds | Well :: The New York Times | Jan. 2
“I was delighted to report … that the ‘sweet sport’ for health benefits seems to come from jogging or moderately working out for only a brief period a few times a week.”

8. How Real Navy SEALs Would Handle Famous Movie Missions
By Shane Snow | Underwire :: Wired | December 2012
“[W]e asked 17-year SEAL veteran Don Mann … how the SEALs would handle a few epic missions of our own devising. And by ‘our,’ we mean Hollywood’s.”

9. Dissatisfaction City
By Jesse Elias Spafford | The New Inquiry | Jan. 2
“The Las Vegas casino is a machine for social control that works not through repression, but disinhibition”

10. NASA mulls plan to drag asteroid into moon’s orbit
By Jeff Hecht | New Scientist | Jan. 2
“The mission would cost about $2.6 billion — slightly more than NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover — and could be completed by the 2020s.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Puerto Rico’s new governor / Our lifelong dreams / Cannibal insect sex / The Soviet’s Afghan lessons / Savoring Texas blues

IMG_1506

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.

1. Gerda Lerner, a Feminist and Historian, Dies at 92
By William Grimes | The New York Times | Jan. 3
“[The] scholar and author … helped make the study of women and their lives a legitimate subject for historians and spearheaded the creation of the first graduate program in women’s history in the United States. …”

2. Why You Won’t Be the Person You Expect to Be
By John Tierney | The New York Times | Jan. 3
“[W]hen asked to predict what their personalities and tastes would be like in 10 years, people of all ages consistently played down the potential changes ahead.”

3. What We Can Learn from the Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan
The Takeaway | Jan. 3
“Americans should take note of the Soviets’ success in funding the Afghan government, and that the Soviet-supported Afghan government did not fall to the Mujahedeen until 1992, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Boris Yeltsin cut off aid to the country.”

4. Cannibal insect sex caught on video
By Joanna Carver | New Scientist | Jan. 3
“This video shows a female insect feasting on her partner’s hind wings then drinking the blood from his wound, apparently with little interest in procreation.”

5. How Obama Decides Your Fate If He Thinks You’re a Terrorist
By Daniel Byman and Benjamin Wittes | The Atlantic | Jan. 3
“A look inside the ‘disposition matrix’ that determines when — or if — the administration will pursue a suspected militant.”

6. Puerto Rico charts new course with new governor
By Danica Coto | Associated Press | Jan. 2
“Alejandro Garcia Padilla was sworn in on a stage overlooking the Atlantic Ocean outside the Capitol building in San Juan amid the cheers of thousands of supporters from his party, which opposes statehood.”

7. Beate Gordon, Unsung Heroine of Japanese Women’s Rights, Dies at 89
By Margalit Fox | The New York Times | Jan. 1
“A civilian attached to Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s army of occupation after World War II, Gordon was the last living member of the American team that wrote Japan’s postwar Constitution.”

8. Is America Still the Land of Opportunity?
By Marcus Mabry | IHT Rendezvous :: International Herald Tribune | Jan. 1
“Over the last decade or two, the American middle has been hollowed out, with an affluent, well-educated class growing on one side of the divide and a poor and working-class majority on the other, faced with limited opportunities to change their circumstances.”

9. European disunion done right
The Economist | December 2012
“The [Holy Roman Empire] offers surprising lessons for the European Union today”

10. Adding Missing Titles to iTunes Tracks
By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | September 2012
“I have some old CDs that I want to convert to MP3 with iTunes. When I put the discs in the computer’s CD drive, iTunes lists the songs as Track 01, Track 02 and so on, instead of the titles. Where does this information come from and how do I get the song names on the files?”

**************

TUNES

Tonight I’m spending some time with the blues, specifically with the Texas Blues Café. Check out the line-up and then listen here.

1. Preacher Stone — Come Together
2. Hamilton Loomis — Bow Wow
3. Rocky Jackson — Shoulda Never Left Texas
4. Wynonna — Freebird
5. Lynyrd Skynyrd — T For Texas
6. Oreo Blues — Nobody Knows
7. Bluessmyth — Bluessmyth
8. Tommy Crain — Why I Sing The Blues

2012 in review

It’s been my best year ever. Thank you all for your interest.

WordPress.com prepared a 2012 annual report for Stillness of Heart.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 13 years to get that many views.

It’s been my best year ever. Thank you all for your interest. Click here to see the complete report.

Behind The Wall

Tabletop Games

Rebecca Aguilar

#CallingAllJournalists Initiative | Reporter | Media Watchdog | Mentor | Latinas in Journalism

Anna Fonte's Paper Planes

Words, images & collages tossed from a window.

Postcards from Barton Springs

Gayle Brennan Spencer - sending random thoughts to and from South Austin

The Flask Half Full

Irreverent travelogues, good drinks, and the cultural stories they tell.

Government Book Talk

Talking about some of the best publications from the Federal Government, past and present.

Fighting Irish Wire

Cadillac Society

Cadillac News, Forums, Rumors, Reviews

Ob360media

Real News That Matters

Talking Pictures Audio Description

Pintar Discover

Space Navy

Mealtime Joy

bringing joy to family meals

Øl, Mad og Folk

Bloggen Øl, Mad og Folk

a joyous kitchen

fun, delicious food for everyone

A Perfect Feast

Modern Comfort Food

donnablackwrites

Art is a gift we give ourselves

Fridgelore

low waste living drawn from food lore through the ages

BeckiesKitchen.com

MUSINGS : CRITICISM : HISTORY : NEWS

North River Notes

Observations on the Hudson River as it passes through New York City. The section of the Hudson which passes through New York is historically known as the North River, called this by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Delaware River, which they knew as the South River. This stretch of the Hudson is still often referred to as the North River by local mariners today. All photos copyright Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. For more frequent updates, please follow northriverblog on Facebook or Instagram.