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The Hard Hand of War

The Hard Hand of War, Union military policy toward southern civilians 1861-1865, by Mark Grimsley. He writes about the Hard hand of war, which is the policies they had on the civilians in the south. On page 176-177 Grimsley writes that the two practictitioners of hard war were Philip H. Sheridan and William T. Sherman. On page 178 he sais that “Sheridan ordered the burning of all houses within a five-mile radius.” He did this because one of his generals was killed by guerrillas. Grimsley tells us that Sherman wanted the South to believe that their government could not protect them from him and the rest of the Union army. He thought that if they felt this way the civilians would realize it and want the Union to protect them. In one part on page 200 he writes that in Georgia, Sherman’s army had created at least 100,000,000 dollars in damage. This was to their property and military resources. Toward the end of the war Sherman was making his was up the coast to go to South and North Carolina. He knew that Lee was getting a lot of supplies from South Carolina and Sherman also wanted to punish them for starting the war. He destroyed everything in his path along the way attacking civilian property. Overall Grimsley feels that the way the Union Army treated the Southern civilians was harsh and did not follow Lincoln’s views on just keeping the Union together. I found it very surprising that they did such harsh things to the civilians as well, I did not think that they would destroy all of the civilians things just to try and end the war. Sherman felt the need to increase the harm he was creating towards them to help end the war.

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Philip Sheridan

William Sherman

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No place for the Sick by Dr. Kathryn Meier

In “No Place for the Sick” by Dr. Kathryn Meier we learn about the dreadful diseases that were all around during the Civil War. “Disease caused two-thirds of soldier moralities by war’s end.” This is an astonishing number. The main thing that the soldiers had to worry about was getting sick. “Fevers claimed the second most number of soldiers after diarrhea, and soldiers frequently connected bad air to fevers on the Peninsula.”  They knew that nature was causing their diseases, but they did not know enough to know how, or how to stop it. Them not having caretakers any more forced them to have to learn their environment and the effects it can have This caused them having to rely on self care. Doing things such as bathing, and keeping up their hygiene, they needed to wash their clothes more, eat more vegetables, and etc. They figured this out later on in the war, at first they had not properly been trained on how to take care of themselves and stay healthy. Another main point I got from this article was that they had mental health issues also. They could have self care by doing things such as writing home to help their mental health. This helped them to be able to express themselves and also not to feel as lonely or depresses. Which overall helped their mental wellness. From this article the mental part was new to me, I had only learned about the battlewounds and deaths on the battlefield and a little about the diseases I had never learned anything about how the war messed them up mentally as well.

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This Fiery Trail by William E. Gienapp

            While reading the last part of This Fiery Trail it starts with a message to congress on December 8, 1863. In this message Lincoln hailed the impact of emancipation on the Union war effort and pointed to the recent elections, in which the Republicans had done well (Gienapp 185).  Lincoln says in the message “that if, in any of the States named, a State government shall be, in the mode prescribed, set up, such government shall be recognized and guarantied by the United States” Lincoln is saying what a state has to do to come back into the United States. Later in the message he says that an oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States would be proper to require. On page 188 Lincoln says that “The suggestion in the proclamation as to maintaining the political framework of the States on what is called reconstruction, is made in the hope that it may do good without danger of harm, it will save labor and avoid great confusion.” We do not know what reconstruction would have been like if Lincoln was in charge, but we do have this message and other things to tell us what he was planning on doing with reconstruction. On December 8, 1863 he also released the Proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction. In this he says, “I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have, directly or by implication, participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them and each of them” Lincoln pardoned all the people involved with the confederacy. Later in the last parts of the book he writes a letter to Albert G. Hodges, on April 4, 1864. In this he brings up the topic of slavery again he writes “I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think, and feel” (Gienapp 194). Lincoln bring up his stance of slavery again, the last section of the Gienapp book gives us a good stance on where Lincoln was after the war and what he wanted to do about reconstruction. I did not find a good solution to how he wanted to help the now freed slaves though.  In Lincoln’s last speech that dealt with the subject of reconstruction, on April 11, 1865 he uses the government of Louisiana as an example and at the end he states that “In the present “situation” as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new announcement to the people of the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to act, when satisfies that action will be proper.” We do not know what would of happened but in making assumptions, reconstruction would have been more successful if Lincoln was the President.  

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Turned Inside Out

 Wilkeson’s book Turned Inside Out is a recollection of his experience during the civil war. He was a Union army soldier in the army of the Potomac. He talks about life outside of the battlefield and how the men would torture each other. The fighting seems to be better than when they weren’t. “the punishments inflicted on the enlisted men were various, and some of them were horribly brutal and needlessly severe” (Wilkeson 32). They did such things as tying people to wheels and leaving them there for hours. They also had one called “tying on the rack” where they are tied to a wheel and left leaving their body weight on the “rack” which was sharp and they were gaged. I found these punishments and the way that they treated each other to be the most shocking while reading Wilkeson’s book. They were brutally tortured by one another and this was not something that I had heard of before this book. Since it is a recollection and he was not writing it while actually in war, I have to be cautious about all of it being accurate. There is the chance of him actually feeling different after than how he felt during the war. He could also be changing it a little to get more people to like and want to read the book. I feel like the punishments were something that he remembered very well and described well.

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Gender and The Civil War

Divided Houses Gender and the Civil War, Catherine Clinton & Nine Silber

            Chapter six of Divided Houses Gender and the Civil War is an essay by Kristie Ross called “Arranging A Doll’s House: Refined Women as Union Nurses.” After the civil war had started a group of women came together in New York City to create the Women’s Central Relief Association. They planed on recruiting and training female nurses. This essay tells stories of the Nurses and shows their roles during the army. When we think of nursing today many people would think of women but before the Civil War Nursing had been seen as a man’s job. The elite women went to nurse because they thought “their superior education constituted and area of particular competence” also that they wanted the opportunity to have different experiences. The female superintendents were under the lead of a male, in this case Frederick Law Olmsted; He put them to work where he thought they were needed (101). They did things that women would be seen to do at home such as the linens, clothing, and cooking. Over time and as more needed the women became more of “actual nurses,” doing more of the medical things; Some even became apothecaries, making the medicine for the soldiers. While reading this I was mostly astonished by the fact that the nurses before were mainly men. It was not surprising that they mostly did household duties at first. In the end of this it shows how gender roles changed during the time because the job of nursing is seen better fit by a woman, because of her intuition, kindness, or compassion.

            Chapter thirteen of Divided Houses Gender and the Civil War is an essay by Martha Hodes. “Wartime dialogues on Illicit Sex: White Women and Black Men.” This essay is telling stories of cases where white women were having sex with their slaves. It was interesting to know this happened because I had only heard about white males having sex with the black slave women. In this essay it shows examples of occurrences, such as when a white woman took a slave into the woods and demanded that he had sex with her or that she would yell rape (235). Another told of a women that didn’t have anything to do with the slave until her husband died. These are stories that were told to a man named Redpath, although it did not happen too often it did happen and it became a “highly charged political issue” (230).

-http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/AHM/civilwarimagery/Civil_War_Nurses.cfm

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Abraham Lincoln

This Fiery Trial. The speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln. William E. Gienapp        

         While reading the second part of This Fiery Trial the first time he mentions slavery was in his message to Congress, March 6, 1862. It is titled “Gradual . . . emancipation is better for all” and in it he says that “the United States ought to co-operate with any state which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such state pecuniary aid, to be used by such state in it’s discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences public and private, produced by such change of system.” Here he is asking Congress to offer money to the states that wish to adapt gradual emancipation, they would not have to even get rid of all their slaves immediately and they would also receive aid just for adopting it. Later in he writes a proclamation revoking General Hunter’s order of emancipation, May 19, 1862. In this Lincoln overturned Hunter’s order that he had issued to free the slaves in the military district of South Carolina. He said  still in question “I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the Slaves of any state or states, free, and whether at any time, in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the government, to exercise such supposed power,” (123).  He first denied any thing that Hunter had said and proclaimed that he did not have any power to do so and that the United States did not back him on any of it.

            Again in his letter to Horrace Greeley, August 22, 1862 he says “If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union;” (135) At this point this quote shows that Lincoln will do anything that he believe right for the Union, and to save the Union and end the war. In part five of the book in his emancipation proclamation on January 1, 1863 “and by virtue of the power, and for the purples aforesaid, I do so order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated states, ad parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free” Lincoln’s emancipation declared that the slaves would be free.

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Abraham Lincoln

This Fiery Trial. The speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln. William E. Gienapp

            While reading the first half of this book I was able to first handedly read Lincoln’s speeches and writings. From this I got his views and takes on things happening in the country. I felt like I got to know Lincoln better and it was straight from him to me, not like reading what other people said about what he said. In this I found that the topic of slavery was brought up many times. In his speech at Peoria October 16, 1854, on pages 28-34, he brought up what he called the “larger question of domestic slavery.” He went on to say that “I wish to make and to keep the distinction between the EXISTING institution, and the EXTENSION of it.” This was , his first stance on slavery. Lincoln showed that he did not want to get rid of slavery where it already was but to prevent it from spreading any further or into anything larger and this was his take on slavery for the majority of the time. In the same speech he said that he “has no prejudice against the southern people. They are just what we would be in their situation.” He makes sure to show that he is not against the Southerners for having slaves. He also says that “its sudden execution is impossible.” Throughout this speech alone it shows that he is torn on the topic, he does not know what he would do if he had the power, he does not know how the institution would end, he does not know what would come of the freed slaves.

            Later in a letter to Joshua Speed, August 24, 1855 he writes “I hate to see the poor creatures hunted down, and caught.” This shows that Lincoln is in fact a racist, because he sees them as “creatures” and not as people. He also says that he does oppose the extension of slavery. In his speech at the Cooper Union, February 27 1860 he states that the Republicans have nothing to do with insurrections among the slaves and that John Brown was not a republican and that no one associated with the rebellion was found to be a republican. Lincoln is showing that the republicans are not trying to cause the slaves to go against their owners and is trying to keep peace with the slave owners.

           In his First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861 he requoted himself saying “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” Later in his Inaugural Address he speaks about how the Country is divided into two sides dealing with slavery. At the end of the first section of the book in his letter to John C. Fremont he shows that he does not want to “alarm the Southern Union Friends” he wants to keep them on his side and not mess with their slaves to do so.

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-www.whitehouse.gov 

-barronclasswiki.wikispaces.com

-http://www.amazon.com/This-Fiery-Trial-Speeches-Writings/dp/0195151011

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What Caused the Civil War?

In this articles Ayers ask the simple question of what caused the civil war, the short answers that Americans often give are listed, such as slavery, economics, or states rights. He goes on to explain what the actual reasons are for the civil war starting. “The challenge of expanding the civil war has led historians to seek clarity in two ways of thought” (Ayers 132). The first school of thought is the fundamentalists and the second arer the revisionists. He explains to us which topics each school of people put emphasis on. This helped to show me that different people have different points of views on what is more important to them which reflects when they try to answer a question on such a topic as the civil war.  I have known that slavery was not the simple answer of what started the war, but Ayers made me realize that there should not have to be a short and simple answer to a complex question, not just about the war but about any complex situation in life. “We should simply refuse to settle for simple expatiations for complex problems” (Ayers 143).  This article also showed that while slavery can be a wrong simple answer it can also be a good answer if you understand what you mean when you say it, such as all the topics that lie behind the simple answer. I enjoyed reading the article, while some things I have heard before in previous history classes it went deeper into showing me why simple answers are just not correct, and that the Civil war was a big dispute and that it has more reasons than one.

www.urspidershop.com -

www.dcc.vccs.edu    msbellows-ushistory.wikispaces.com   rouviere.com