Civil War Sunday - Civil War Christmas

Since Christmas this year is on a Sunday - the day of my normal Civil War Sunday feature - it is only natural to look back on how Christmas was celebrated during the Civil War. 

Many of you are aware that some of the Christmas traditions celebrated here in the United States during modern times aren't that old, historically speaking - but many of them were in place by the time of the American Civil War (1861-1865).

There is actually a wealth of Civil War Christmas information online, I found.  Way too much to read during this busy season, so I include some of the links below.  Keep in mind that many of the soldiers were away from home for the very first time.  Extensive travel was not the rule in those days for many:  many rural men didn't travel more than a few miles from their birthplace during their entire lives.  So there was homesickness, hunger for family, hunger for decent food - and in the later days of the Civil War, much privation (especially for the soldiers of the Confederacy).  Civilians suffered too, especially in the South.

Some of the sites I found with information include:

Christmas During the Civil War:  posted by the Civil War Trust.

A Civil War Christmas poem written by a Confederate soldier. "Christmas Night of '62"

A Wikipedia article on Christmas in the American Civil War.

If you celebrate Christmas, may you have a very Merry Christmas - to my friends and readers both North and South.