Teaching the Civil War with Technology

Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic
Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868

I. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the
purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise
decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense
of their country during the late rebellion, and whose
bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and
hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no
form or ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades
will in their own way arrange such fitting services
and testimonials of respect as circumstances may
permit.

We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell
us, for the purpose, among other things, “of
preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal
feelings which have bound together the soldiers,
sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late
rebellion.” What can aid more to assure this result
than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic
dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our
country and its foe? Their soldier lives were the
reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their
death a tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We
should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All
that the consecrated wealth and taste of the Nation
can add to their adornment and security is but a
fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders.
Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed
grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and
going of reverent visitors and found mourners. Let no
vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time,
testify to the present or to the coming generations
that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of free
and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and
other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep
it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain
in us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around
their sacred remains and garland the passionless
mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime;
let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved
from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew
our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have
left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation’s
gratitude,–the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and
orphan.

II. It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to
inaugurate this observance with the hope it will be
kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war
remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades.
He earnestly desires the public press to call
attention to this Order, and lend its friendly aid in
bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of
the country in time for simultaneous compliance
therewith.

III. Department commanders will use every effort to
make this order effective.

By command of:
JOHN A. LOGAN,
Commander-in-Chief.

N. P. CHIPMAN,
Adjutant-General.

Posted under Miscellaneous, Primary Sources

A quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

In the spirit of keeping this on topic, I share the following image from abelincoln.com

Posted under Uncategorized

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it is a holiday steeped in tradition. I wonder how many of you know that it was Abraham Lincoln who, on October 3, 1863, proclaimed “the last Thursday of November” as Thanksgiving Day. Another interesting bit of information is that a lady by the name of Sara J. Hale, the Editress of the “Ladys Book”, wrote a letter to President Lincoln on September 28, 1863 and asked him proclaim that day in November as a National Thanksgiving Day. I have included a copy of Lincoln’s proclamation at the end of this post.

Of course, George Washington also recommended a day of public Thanksgiving in 1789.

In addition, I thought it would be interesting to show the following Alfred Waud sketch from the Library of Congress. This is a sketch of a Union camp on Thanksgiving in 1861. If you look closely you can see a soldier carrying a turkey and a dog waiting for him to drop a scrap. There are pots cooking over fires, and hungry men awaiting at a table on the right hand side. The TIFF version of the photo can be found HERE.

So, while you are watching the parade and eating your turkey, pause and say thanks to the soldiers not only of today but of the Civil War era, for without them, what we have to be thankful for might be vastly different.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed,

Done at the city of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State

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References:
The history place – Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved November 22, 2006, from The History Place Web site: http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/thanks.htm

Posted under Famous People, Primary Sources