|
A Weekly Look Back at the Civil War
Volume 3, Issue 39 (103 Issues Since 15 October 2010) |
September 28, 1862/2012
|
|
Produced by
|
Visit American Heritage for American History at Your Fingertips
|
|
Poor Southern Women Object to Class-Biased Confederate Conscription Act
On September 27, 1862, the Confederacy's second conscription act was passed, making men 18-45 years of age (and not just men ages 18-35) subject to the draft. But the law included exemptions from the draft that were useful only to slave owners. Many poor Southerners, particularly women, saw the legislation as class-biased.
Martha Coletrane, the wife of a North Carolina soldier, wrote to her governor, "[A]s we are nonslave holders in this section of the state I hope you and our legislature will look to it and have justice done our people as well as the slaveholders. . . . Without my husband we are a desolate and a ruined family. . . . Hold the rane in your own hands, . . .and do not let the confederate congress have the full sway over your state[.] I appeal to you to look to the white cultivaters as strictly as congress has to the slaveholder.'" - Submitted by Peter A. Gilbert, Executive Director, Vermont Humanities Council SOURCE
Stephanie McCurry, Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, p. 165. INTERESTING LINK Letter from Martha Coletrane to Governor Zebulon B. Vance, The Home Front: Hardships of War, North Carolina Museum of History
|
Lincoln's Poignant Visit to Confederate Wounded
October 4, 1862. Lincoln spent most of the first week of October with the Army of the Potomac in Maryland. In the morning of October 4, he visited wounded soldiers near Antietam. A Baltimore newspaper reported on his visit to wounded Confederate soldiers:
"Passing through one of the hospitals devoted exclusively to Confederate sick and wounded, President Lincoln's attention was drawn to a young Georgian -- a fine noble looking youth -- stretched upon a humble cot. He was pale, emaciated and anxious, far from kindred and home, vibrating, as it were, between life and death. Every stranger that entered [was] caught in his restless eyes, in hope of their being some relative or friend. President Lincoln observed this youthful soldier, approached and spoke, asking him if he suffered much pain. 'I do,' was the reply. 'I have lost a leg, and feel I am sinking from exhaustion.' 'Would you,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'shake hands with me if I were to tell you who I am?' The response was affirmative. 'There should,' remarked the young Georgian, 'be no enemies in this place.' Then said the distinguished visitor, 'I am Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States.' The young sufferer raised his head, looking amazed, and freely extended his hand, which Mr. Lincoln took and pressed tenderly for some time.'"
- Submitted by Peter A. Gilbert, Executive Director, Vermont Humanities Council
|
|
The Civil War Book of Days
The Civil War Book of Days is a weekly newsletter marking the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. Published by the Vermont Humanities Council, it commemorates what happened each week 150 years ago.
VHC invites people to submit texts linked to specific dates -- an excerpt from a poignant or inspiring letter, an excerpt from a secondary source, or 100-500 words of original descriptive prose.Please forward the e-mail to friends so they can subscribe -- using the forward link at the bottom of the e-mail. Read previous editions at the Civil War Book of Days Archive, including the most recent:
Sign up for the Civil War Book of Days.
|
|
Sign Up and Pass it Forward
We hope you will sign up to receive these weekly Civil War Book of Days e-mails. You can do so safely and securely here.
Please forward the e-mail using the forward e-mail to a friend link below so they can sign up, too!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vermont Humanities Council
The Vermont Humanities Council is pleased to present this Civil War Book of Days newsletter. To learn more about VHC and its 1,200 annual events, visit vermonthumanities.org.
And sign up for the biweekly VHC enewsletter to stay up-to-date on humanities programming throughout Vermont! |
|
|
|