The Timeless Gettysburg Address

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

The Copse, Gettysburg Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

In March 2022, spouse and I visited Gettysburg for several days.  The area was the site for perhaps the most famous battle of the United States Civil War, fought July 1-3, 1863. 

I've been to many Civil War battlefields and related sites, from Prairie Grove, Arkansas (a battlefield I passed twice a day on my way to and from work for several years) to the home of Gettysburg hero and later Governor of Maine Joshua Chamberlain in Brunswick, Maine,  Monocacy in Maryland,  and sites of final surrender such as Appomattox Court House in Virginia and Bennett Place in Durham, North Carolina.  But nothing can prepare you for Gettysburg, a battlefield which is as much an outdoor memorial as it is a piece of land where some 50,000) people were killed or injured in a massive three day battle.  There are hundreds of memorials and many parts of the battle to learn and ponder.  No wonder that many choose to hire a licensed battlefield guide.

It is so peaceful today, except for the thousands of people who visit this sacred ground each year.

It wasn't pretty.  It wasn't romantic.  In some ways, we still haven't recovered.  We are still surrounded by reminders.  Today is the 159th anniversary of one of these reminders, a short speech that may be the most famous speech ever given in our country.

This speech began simply, as a verbal invitation, followed later by an invitation in writing.

On November 2, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln received this invitation:

"Gettysburg Nov. 2 1863
To His Excellency
A. Lincoln
President U. S.

Sir,
The Several States having Soldiers in the Army of the Potomac, who were killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, or have since died at the various hospitals which were established in the vicinity, have procured grounds on a prominent part of the Battle Field for a Cemetery, and are having the dead removed to them and properly buried.
These Grounds will be Consecrated and set apart to this Sacred purpose, by appropriate Ceremonies, on Thursday, the 19th instant. Hon Edward Everett will deliver the Oration. I am authorized by the Governors of the different States to invite you to be present, and participate in these Ceremonies, which will doubtless be very imposing and solemnly impressive.
It is the desire that, after the Oration, you, as Chief Executive of the Nation, formally set apart these grounds to their Sacred use by a few appropriate remarks. It will be a source of great gratification to the many widows and orphans that have been made almost friendless by the Great Battle here, to have you here personally; and it will kindle anew in the breasts of the Comrades of these brave dead, who are now in the tented field or nobly meeting the foe in the front, a confidence that they who sleep in death on the Battle Field are not forgotten by those highest in Authority; and they will feel that, should their fate be the same, their remains will not be uncared for.
We hope you will be able to be present to perform this last solemn act to the Soldiers dead on this Battle Field.
I am with great Respect, Your Excellency's Obedient Servant
David Wills
Agent for A. G. Curtin Gov. of Penna.[Pennsylvania] and acting for all the States"

In the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863,  some 2500 residents of Gettysburg were left to tend to the thousands of wounded and bury the thousands more who had died during the three day battle. Gettysburg was to be the costliest battle (in lives lost) of the Civil War.   I will spare you the details of the horrific conditions endured that summer by the farmers and others who owned the land where the dead fell, and what overwhelmed remaining Union soldiers and area residents went through, but if you are interested, here is one description. This article also has a harrowing description of what the Confederate soldiers left behind in Lee's retreat experienced.

Eventually, state and local governments came together.  With financial help from every Union state whose citizens died at Gettysburg, lawyer David Willis oversaw the purchase of 17 acres for what became a national cemetery.  It was to be dedicated on November 19, 1863, and the featured speaker was going to be....

...no, not President Lincoln.  He was invited to give some remarks after the featured orator.  You might say, he was invited almost as an afterthought. (more on that shortly).

It was, instead, a noted orator by the name of Edward Everett, a man who had served as a Congressman, a Secretary of State, a Senator and the Governor of Massachusetts, who was to give the main speech. 

It would seem as if the President was being slighted, being treated almost as an afterthought.  But, I have read that was not the case at all. In the 1860's Presidents were not expected to give speeches. That was the job of orators such as Everett, and Lincoln was invited to give a "few words" in his role as President.

Lincoln Memorial, Gettysburg National Cemetary

Ironically, perhaps, Everett would not live to see the end of the Civil War, and Lincoln himself only outlived the end of the war by a few days.  But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Today is the 159th anniversary of the dedication of Gettysburg's National Cemetery on November 19, 1863, and here is the address Lincoln thought would not long be remembered.

Gettysburg National Cemetery, March 2022

He was wrong.  But what I find most interesting is that no one today knows the exact spot where Lincoln stood to make his speech.  There are some educated guesses.  Nor, until recently, did we even have a photograph of Lincoln making his address.  In the one photo now known, Lincoln's head is barely visible.

There are five known copies of the address, with some differences.  I believe this one is the most commonly quoted, what is now known as the "Bliss copy".

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

Lincoln now belongs to the ages, and it it our turn to protect those hard fought liberties.

Lincoln #AtoZChallenge

On November 19, 1863, the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, gave a short speech at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 

 This is the background of why Lincoln was there that day.  For my non-United States readers, please know that our country was in the midst of a civil war.  Lincoln was President to a country that had lost 11 states between late 1860 and the first part of 1861.  A major battle in the war that followed took place July 1, 2 and 3rd, 1863, in Gettysburg, killing 7,058 people on both sides, and another 5,000 or so horses and mules.

Lincoln wasn't even the featured speaker of the day.  That honor went to one Rev. Edward Everett, a man who had served as a Congressman, a Secretary of State, a Senator and the Governor of Massachusetts.  Everett was a noted orator.  In those days, Presidents were not expected to give speeches.  The speech is recognized today as one of the greatest in United States history.

Everett spoke for some two hours and Lincoln for about two minutes.  Later, he said of Lincoln's speech (see below for text)  "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes." Generations of school children were required to memorize Lincoln's speech.

When you walk through modern day Gettysburg, Lincoln is everywhere.

 

In this work of art called "Return Visit", which is more realistic than the photo shows, Lincoln speaks to a modern day tourist.

Lincoln is on bicycle racks.

In our motel room. (There was also a portrait of Lincoln, but my picture didn't come out well.)

At the Gettysburg battlefield.

Here is Lincoln's speech.  It's hard for us to put ourselves in the shoes of a President whose country is torn apart and at war, but the effort is worth it.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

"L" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme:   "From Florida to Vermont With Stops In Between".

 

He Had a Secret

Yesterday, February 12, would have been the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln.  Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, and our country's President during the United States Civil War.  He was assassinated in April of 1865, several days after the official conclusion of the war.

I blogged about our Civil War during its 150th anniversary, from 2011 to 2015.  Here are several older posts about Abraham Lincoln.

Dining with Abraham Lincoln 

The Handwriting of Abraham Lincoln 

Moments that Changed History 

Something I Saw in the Capitol of South Carolina, the first state that seceded

In the last post above, I had a discussion with a fellow blogger about my belief that this Civil War never ended. If you've listened to news recently, you may be thinking along the same lines, or a different line - that we are on our way to a second Civil War.

When I was born, survivors of that era were still alive and it may be interesting to see a man who claimed to have witnessed Lincoln's assassination. He appeared on a game show in 1956 at the age of 96, months before his death. (He was born in 1860.)

The man's name was Samuel Seymour, the son of a Maryland man who owned enslaved people. (Another little detail of history - states that allowed slavery but did not leave the union were permitted to keep slavery going through out the war.   Maryland was one of four such states.)

His story (his memory mainly is seeing John Wilkes Booth "falling out of the balcony") may or may not be true but it is interesting reading some of the details of Mr. Seymour's life.

Let us remember, today, that history isn't a boring story of dates and battles.  It is the story of real people and real suffering.

History moves on.  What story will we write for the history books?

Post 4400 Thanksgiving Thoughts

On November 25, my United States will be celebrating Thanksgiving.  And today, I celebrate my blog's 4,400th post.  

But it seems there isn't much to celebrate.

The last almost two years have been a tremendous strain on us and our country, as it has been for everyone all over the world.

Our country may be on the brink of a Civil War.  I've thought for a long time that the American Civil War never truly ended. Now, as the days pass, it seems that we are headed to a brink that we won't be able to pull back from.

It won't be geographic this time, at least not in the way our Civil War of 1861-1865 was. Political divisions are already splitting families - and marriages - apart.

This is not a political post, so I am not going to get into details or express my opinions.

Rather, I want the Americans reading this to stop and think.

Today, I think of November 19, 1863 when our country was literally being torn apart by a Civil War.   Just in the three day Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863), there were some 23,000 Union casualties and 28,000 Confederate casualties.

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave a short speech at a battleground of the Civil War in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as part of a ceremony to dedicate a cemetery on the battle grounds.

It's short and to the point.  Some people think it's one of the greatest speeches in American history.

Prior to that, in October of 1863, Lincoln had also signed a Proclamation of a particular Thanksgiving which had a large religious component.

It's humbling, reading these words below that were written in the midst of a war that killed some 750,000. Americans.  Note that some authorities think the total casualties, which include injuries, might have been in excess of 1,500,000.

At the time of the 1860 census, our population was about 31,443,000, which included about 3,953,762 enslaved individuals.  Our population now is about 331,400,000.

What do we think a modern Civil War would do to us?

Perhaps we should reflect on Lincoln's words (red for the Gettysburg address, blue for the Thanksgiving Proclamation) this year at Thanksgiving.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.


By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
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 theatre of military conflict; while that theatre 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 defence, 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 battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness 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 Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

What can we do to make things better, this coming Thanksgiving? 

Our children and their childrens's freedoms depend on it.

One Short Speech

I first blogged this in 2013.  Now that there are those claiming our political divisions will result in a second United States Civil War, it is well we step back and reread history to discover just what the first Civil War did to our country.

It wasn't pretty.  It wasn't romantic.  In some ways, we still haven't recovered.  We are still surrounded by reminders, such as a speech generations of school children had to memorize.
Possibly the most famous speech in United States history began simply, as a verbal invitation, followed later by something in writing.

On November 2, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln received this invitation:

"Gettysburg Nov. 2 1863
To His Excellency
A. Lincoln
President U. S.

Sir,
The Several States having Soldiers in the Army of the Potomac, who were killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, or have since died at the various hospitals which were established in the vicinity, have procured grounds on a prominent part of the Battle Field for a Cemetery, and are having the dead removed to them and properly buried.
These Grounds will be Consecrated and set apart to this Sacred purpose, by appropriate Ceremonies, on Thursday, the 19th instant. Hon Edward Everett will deliver the Oration. I am authorized by the Governors of the different States to invite you to be present, and participate in these Ceremonies, which will doubtless be very imposing and solemnly impressive.
It is the desire that, after the Oration, you, as Chief Executive of the Nation, formally set apart these grounds to their Sacred use by a few appropriate remarks. It will be a source of great gratification to the many widows and orphans that have been made almost friendless by the Great Battle here, to have you here personally; and it will kindle anew in the breasts of the Comrades of these brave dead, who are now in the tented field or nobly meeting the foe in the front, a confidence that they who sleep in death on the Battle Field are not forgotten by those highest in Authority; and they will feel that, should their fate be the same, their remains will not be uncared for.
We hope you will be able to be present to perform this last solemn act to the Soldiers dead on this Battle Field.
I am with great Respect, Your Excellency's Obedient Servant
David Wills
Agent for A. G. Curtin Gov. of Penna.[Pennsylvania] and acting for all the States"

In the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863,  some 2500 residents of Gettysburg were left to tend to the thousands of wounded and bury the thousands more who had died during the three day battle. Gettysburg was to be the costliest battle (in lives lost) of the Civil War.   I will spare you the details of the horrific conditions endured that summer by the farmers and others who owned the land where the dead fell, and what overwhelmed remaining Union soldiers and area residents went through, but if you are interested, here is one description. This article also has a harrowing description of what the Confederate soldiers left behind in Lee's retreat experienced.

Eventually, state and local governments came together.  With financial help from every Union state whose citizens died at Gettysburg, lawyer David Willis oversaw the purchase of 17 acres for what became a national cemetery.  It was to be dedicated on November 19, 1863, and the featured speaker was going to be....

...no, not President Lincoln.  He was invited to give some remarks after the featured orator.  You might say, he was invited almost as an afterthought. (more on that shortly).

It was, instead, a noted orator by the name of Edward Everett, a man who had served as a Congressman, a Secretary of State, a Senator and the Governor of Massachusetts, who was to give the main speech. 

So it sounds like the President was being slighted, being treated almost as an afterthought.  But, I have read that was not the case at all - that, in the 1860's Presidents were not expected to give speeches. That was the job of orators such as Everett, and Lincoln was to give a "few words" in his role as President.

Ironically, perhaps, Everett would not live to see the end of the Civil War, and Lincoln himself only outlived the end by a few days.  But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Today is the 156th anniversary of the dedication of Gettysburg's National Cemetery on November 19, 1863, and here is the address Lincoln thought would not long be remembered.

He was wrong.

There are five known copies of the address, with some differences.  I believe this one is the most commonly quoted.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
 
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
 
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

 

Perhaps I should start rerunning my Civil War Sunday posts which I wrote between 2011-2015, during the 150th anniversary of that dread event, so that my readers (and I) can get a refresher.  But, for now, let's remember one thing - a short speech.

Dining with Abraham Lincoln - Throwback Thursday

Today -a sequel to my hunt for the perfect tuna fish sandwich.

Where I ate it was its own story, first told in 2013 (with some edits):

It isn't every day you get to eat lunch with a sitting President of the United States.  Or, to be more exact, the sitting statue of a former President.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, and our country's President during the United States Civil War.


In the summer of 2013 my spouse and I drove from our home in upstate New York to Arkansas for a visit.  On the way back home, we stopped for a rest break in Vandalia, Illinois.

Back in the 1830's, Vandalia was the capital of the state of Illinois - the second capital of Illinois,  from 1819 to 1839.  It no longer is the capital and you may be surprised to learn who is partially responsible for that.

This was the Vandalia state capital building, built in 1836.

In the city of Vandalia, a young Illinois state legislator got some of his early political experience.  His name was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln and some of his colleagues wanted the capital closer to the geographic center of the state.  Ironically, this particular statehouse was built to try to convince Lincoln and some of his colleagues to keep the capital in Vandalia.   It replaced a different building that was torn down while the legislature was in recess.  The hope was, the building would so impress the legislature that they would stay in Vandalia.

Looks nice, but Lincoln never tried any cases in this room.

The bribe (if you could call it that) didn't work, and Lincoln was not a beloved figure in Vandalia due to his actions in moving the capital away from their city.  But, time has a way of dimming memories.  Now, Lincoln is quite beloved in Vandalia.

In 2001, Lincoln Park was built near the statehouse. It features a statute called "Sitting with Lincoln".

On this bench, I ate lunch with Abraham Lincoln in 2013- the  tuna sandwich we had purchased in Missouri that morning, to be exact.  It was a hot sunny day, a day I would later treasure that winter, a harsh one, when below zero wind chills were the order of the day.

I hope Lincoln enjoyed that wonderful Missouri tuna sandwich as much as I did.

Have you ever met a famous person, or a person who became famous later in life?

Lincoln's Addresses

This post, with some small edits, was originally posted on November 20, 2011, back when I used to feature a United States Civil War Sunday post each Sunday. 

I'm thinking about starting to rerun some of these posts on Sunday, and perhaps even post a few new ones based on photos I've accumulated from my visits to various Civil War sites.

We commemorate two important dates in Civil War history this week involving Abraham Lincoln.

Yesterday, November 19, was the 153rd anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, one of the greatest speeches (some consider it the greatest speech) made by a United States President. Additionally, Civil War General and future 20th president of the United States, James Garfield, was born on November 19, 1831. (He was assassinated only 200 days into his first term as President.)

In  four days we will be celebrating Thanksgiving.  Although the celebration of Thanksgiving was nothing new by the time of the Civil War, it was not declared a national holiday until 1863.  Prior to this, each state scheduled Thanksgiving at a different time.

I will allow Lincoln to write the remainder of today's blog post.  The Gettysburg Address is first, followed by the Thanksgiving proclamation. 

You may note that this proclamation declared the holiday to be the last Thursday of November.  That is not how it is celebrated today.  This quiz on Thanksgiving will teach you a lot of fascinating things including why Thanksgiving is now celebrated the fourth Thursday in November - but keep in mind that our national celebration of Thanksgiving here in the United States started during the Civil War.


The Gettysburg Address in red - The Thanksgiving Proclamation in blue.

Day 20 of NaBloPoMo.
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.


By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
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 theatre of military conflict; while that theatre 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 defence, 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 battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness 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 Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

The Rail Splitter President

You would think, by now, that we would know everything there was to know about Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, who was born on February 12, 1809.

He grew up to be President during one of the most dangerous times in the history of the United States - a time when our country was at war with ourselves.  In many parts of the country, he is revered.  He was a man of the backwoods, a man of little education, who self educated himself and rose to the highest position in our land.  At one time, he even earned his living by splitting wood into rails - an arduous and skilled task.


It would seem that a mallet belonging to Lincoln in his rail splitting days was kept by a family and passed on from generation to generation until now.  It's a fascinating story, and I invite you, my readers, to read this link.  This mallet from his young adulthood in Indiana will be on display starting today.

The mallet is now at the Indiana State Museum, and experts believe the mallet, some 187 years old, was the property of Mr. Lincoln.  Indeed, Lincoln's early life as a rail splitter has become folk legend in our country.

Speaking of Lincoln, I have written many blog posts about him - this one, perhaps, is my favorite.  Enjoy this rerun from February 12, 2015.

Happy birthday to one of our greatest, if not our greatest, Presidents.

Dining with Abraham Lincoln

It isn't every day you get to eat lunch with a sitting President of the United States.  Or, to be more exact, the sitting statue of a former President.

Today, February 12, would have been the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.  Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, and our country's President during the United States Civil War.

I enjoyed some vintage photos of the late President and then remembered I had a couple of pictures of my own.

In the summer of 2013 my spouse and I drove from our home in upstate New York to Arkansas for a visit.  On the way back home, we stopped for a rest break in Vandalia, Illinois.

Back in the 1830's, Vandalia was the capital of the state of Illinois - the second capital of Illinois,  from 1819 to 1839.  It no longer is the capital and you may be surprised to learn who is partially responsible for that.

This was the Vandalia state capital building, built in 1836.

In the city of Vandalia, a young Illinois state legislator got some of his early political experience.  His name was Abraham Lincoln.  (One day, I will blog more about Lincoln).  Ironically, this particular statehouse was built to try to convince Lincoln and some of his colleagues to keep the capital in Vandalia.  Lincoln and some of his colleagues wanted the capital closer to the geographic center of the state.  It replaced a different building that was torn down while the legislature was in recess.  The hope was, the building would so impress the legislature that they would stay in Vandalia.

Looks nice, but Lincoln never tried any cases in this room.

The bribe (if you could call it that) didn't work, and Lincoln was not a beloved figure in Vandalia for his actions in moving the capital away from their city.  But, time has a way of dimming memories.  Now, Lincoln is quite beloved in Vandalia.

In 2001, Lincoln Park was built near the statehouse. It features a statute called "Sitting with Lincoln".

On this bench, I ate lunch with Abraham Lincoln in 2013- a tuna sandwich we had purchased in Missouri that morning, to be exact.  It was a hot sunny day, a day I would treasure today, when I think of the subzero wind chills outside at this moment.

I hope Lincoln enjoyed that wonderful Missouri tuna sandwich as much as I did.

Civil War Sunday - When Reenact?

150 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln, the assassinated 16th President of the United States, was buried in Springfield, llinois.  His body was brought there by train, the main long distance mode of transportation in 1865.

The route of the train was, itself, a type of reenactment, as it retraced (in reverse) the train trip that Lincoln made from his home in Springfield to his first inauguration in 1861.

At each stop, except for New Jersey, Lincoln's body lay in state.  Over 10,000. people watched the train leave Washington, DC.  Thousands more mourned at each stop:  Baltimore, Maryland.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  New York City.  Albany (the capital of New York State).  Buffalo, New York (where, in 1901, another President would be assassinated).  Cleveland, Ohio.  Columbus, Ohio. Indianapolis, Indiana.  Michigan City, Indiana.  Chicago, Illinois and, finally, Springfield.

The route wasn't a straight line but made a loop. It was a long journey home.

All this weekend, solemn remembrances and ceremonies were held in Springfield.  Many observers dressed in Civil War era clothing.  Over twelve hundred Civil War reenactors participated. Blogs carried live coverage.  Six descendents of the 12 pallbearers who bore Lincoln's casket in 1865 attended. 

Why?  Why, when we have photos (some in stereo), and written accounts, do we need to dress up in costumes and reenact events?  Well, it may surprise you to discover that Civil War reenactments were already being held even while the Civil War was still being fought.

The earliest men and women reenacted successful hunts.  As for the Civil War reenactments held prior to the end of the war, there are various explanations-  fund raisers, battle practice, and to educate the people back home supporting (or not supporting) the war effort.

Reenactments are how we touch the face of history.  It is how history comes alive for us.  Instead of reading history in some history book (I have to admit I am not big on reading books on history, despite my interest in history) I would much rather go to a well-researched and historically accurate reenactment.

Apparently, many people feel the same way I do, and it isn't just the United States that does this.  In June of 2015, there will be a major reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo in Europe.  It will be, after all, the 200th anniversary of the final defeat of Napoleon.

Have you ever been to a historical reenactment of a battle or other historical event?

Vandalia

Vandalia, Illinois was not even on our trip itinery when we passed nearby in late August, 2013, on the way to Arkansas.   We were in a hurry, trying to make a nearly 1,300 mile  (2,093 km) car trip in only two days.  But then, we found out the importance of this small city of 7,043 people to the history of the United States.

We were going to take another route home but circumstances forced a change - and, suddenly, we were traveling near Vandalia again. 

For V day at the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, I want to talk about a road almost not taken, and what happened when we did take it and took the detour to Vandalia.

For example, we found the Madonna of the Trail statue.

I was amazed to discover that,by 1909, the old Santa Fe trail used in the 19th century for transportation purposes between Franklin, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico, was disappearing.   Eventually, a plan was formed by the Daughters of the American Revolution to both honor the old trails but also the pioneer women who traveled those trails, sometimes with young children in hand.

This is the Madonna of the Trail statue in Vandalia, Illinois, one of twelve such statues erected along the old "National Road".

Nearby, you find this sign.  Of course, being lovers of Civil War history, we had to spend some unscheduled time in Vandalia.

Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President and the President during the Civil War may not have slept here, but he began his political career in Vandalia, in the building that preceded this building.

No tours were scheduled on the hot afternoon we walked into this building, but a knowledgeable woman talked to us for some time, before we had to leave.

Lincoln, she told us wanted to move the state capital to a site more in the center of Illinois and eventually succeeded.  But first, Vandalia built this structure above, trying unsuccessfully to convince legislators to keep the capital in Vandalia.

For years, Lincoln was not a popular person in Vandalia, but all is forgiven.  Now, they honor their link with him.

I was so sorry to leave- I could have listened to her all day.

If only this staircase could talk,what tales would it tell us.


I highly recommend a visit to the Old Statehouse if you are in the area of Vandalia, or St. Louis, Missouri.  I wish I could let the woman who talked to us know how much I enjoyed listening to her.

Tomorrow, is my Civil War Sunday feature. Monday, the Blogging from A to Z Challenge resumes with W.  And, for W, I have a treat in store for you.

Civil War Sunday - Will the Nation Survive?

April, 1865.

One hundred fifty years ago, the United States was in the midst of an April it would long remember.  The first major Confederate surrender on April 9 signaled, to many, the end of the war (although, that really wasn't true.).  The April 14 assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the first President of the United States to be killed in office, stunned the nation..

Lincoln's killer, 27 year old actor John Wilkes Booth, became the subject of a nationwide manhunt.  After shooting Lincoln in the back of the head while Lincoln was watching a play at Ford's Theatre (just six blocks from the White House), Booth jumped onto the stage, breaking his leg.

Before fleeing, he shouted either ""Sic semper tyrannis" (thus ever to tyrants) or"The South is avenged.".  Eye witness accounts vary.

As a point of trivia, one eyewitness to the 1865 assassination lived long enough to appear on an American game show in 1956, shortly before his death.

Now people were afraid.  The last four years, our country has been at war, with well over (estimated) 1,100,000 casualties (dead/injured/captured). If we used the same percentage of today's population, this would have been over six million people. 

Additionally, recent evidence has come to light that the generally accepted casualty figures were understated - some of this research done locally, where I live (Binghamton University).

Parts of the nation were in ruins. Our President was dead, our Secretary of State seriously wounded and Lincoln's assassin was on the loose. (As part of the plot, the Secretary of State was also attacked in a different location, but survived.)  People asked: Will our government, will our nation survive?

The New York Times, a major New York City newspaper that still publishes today, said YES.  And the newspaper was right.

But the month of April, 1865, was not yet over.

Lincoln

My "L" post for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is not a place, but a person.

150 years ago, April 14, 1865, was Good Friday.  Just a few days before, April 9, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General U.S. Grant.  Although this action did NOT end the Civil War, (and I am one of many who believe it has never truly ended), many had rejoiced at the news.

But not everyone.

Some of those "not everyones" plotted to assassinate the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and two of his successors - the Vice-President and the Secretary of State, to totally disrupt the United States government.

The night of April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, his wife, Henry Rathbone (an Army officer) and Rathbone's fiance,  watched a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC.  In those days Presidents were not guarded.

At around 10:15pm, an acclaimed actor and Confederate sympathizer,  John Wilkes Booth, entered Lincoln's private box and shot Lincoln in the back of his head.  The wound proved to be fatal.  Lincoln died the next day.

So what is so beautiful about that?  Well, 150 years later, the ways we pay tribute to Abraham Lincoln show how deep he is embedded in our national consciousness.

In Columbia, South Carolina, the capital of the first state to secede from the Union after Lincoln was elected President, I found this silver maple bust of Abraham Lincoln in a university museum exhibit called Crafting Civil (War) Conversations last month.

 In New York City, this plaque, near to one of the entrances to the High Line (on West 30th between 9th and 10th Avenues) tells a story of long ago.

In Vandalia, Illinois, I found a duplicate of a Lincoln Life Mask made in 1960.

In Vandalia, I also found a city park .  Lincoln began his political career in Vandalia, a city where his memory is constantly honored.  I once blogged about eating a tuna sandwich on that bench.

The aftermath of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln still echoes in our country even today, 150 years later.  Many cites or towns in our nation are called Lincoln or a variation (i.e. Lincoln Park) but not all of them are named after Abraham Lincoln (I found, for example, at least one error in this map).  Even today, there are people who revere Lincoln's memory and people who despise it.

However you feel, Lincoln has become an integral part of America the Beautiful.

Civil War Sunday - The Making of a Country

Today, Sunday, is a "free day" from the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  On Sundays I normally feature a "Civil War Sunday" based on my thoughts on the United States Civil War.  I am not a buff or a historian, just someone who enjoys learning about history.

As so many have pointed out, there are several months in the history of the United States that shaped, for good or for bad, what our country is today.  One of these months was April, 1865.

One hundred fifty years ago yesterday, a sitting president of the United States walked the street of a smoldering, defeated city.  In these, the final days of the Civil War, the city of Richmond, Virginia (the capital of the Confederate States of America) had been abandoned by its defenders.  On April 2, 1865, orders were given to evacuate the city, and fires were set to destroy what the fleeing people could not carry.

On April 3, the city of Richmond fell to Federal troops.  The Confederate government fled to Danville, Virginia (and eventually, to several other points South as the war ended and Virginia was increasingly full of Federal troops).  One of those fleeing was its President, Jefferson Davis.  Today, near Richmond, his name exists - in highway signs, in historical markers, and in other ways.

(Richmond, Virginia, is rich in history, and well worth a visit.  Shamefully, I have only passed through, on a train, and have never stopped.)

On April 4, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, walked the streets of Richmond with his son, Tad.  This would be unimaginable today.

In the coming days, Confederate generals, starting with Robert E. Lee (on April 9, 1865-Palm Sunday), would surrender their troops.  (Contrary to popular belief, Lee's surrender DID NOT end the war.)  President Lincoln would be assassinated and the Vice-President (a native of a Confederate state) would assume the Presidency. 

There was the possibility of the Confederates continuing the Civil War in a guerrilla action.

If that had happened, the United States might not exist today.  Guerrilla wars are not easy to fight, as the U.S. learned, to its sorrow, in the 20th century.

If it wasn't for the Civil War, our country would not be the country it is today.  Others have written more eloquently on this topic, but, until the Civil War, our primary allegiance was to our state  We were citizens of New York, of Virginia, of whichever state we lived in.  After the war, and into today, we still are proud of where we were born, but we are citizens of the United States.

On April 5, 1865, our nation had no idea what was to come in the month of April.  Join me every Sunday this month, and explore this history with me.  Next Sunday - Lee's surrender.

(Tomorrow -the letter E in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.)

Civil War Sunday - With Malice Towards None

On March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President for his second term.

The nation had been at war with itself for almost four years.  Four long years, and the end was finally in sight.  The atmosphere at the inauguration, it is said, was joyous.

In Washington DC, the weather had been rainy, and Pennsylvania Avenue was described as a "sea of mud".  But, it is said, the sun broke through the clouds as the inauguration commenced.  The crowd's size was estimated at between 30,000 and 40,000 people.


This is the speech that Lincoln gave that day.  It isn't quite as short as the Gettysburg Address, one of the shortest (and well remembered) speeches in United States history.  This speech, instead, is mostly remembered for its last line, and for the deep religious belief it expressed.

Imagine yourself hearing this speech at the end of almost four years of terrible war, the cliche of brother against brother that was not a cliche. "With malice towards none, with charity for all...."

Lincoln would be assassinated some five weeks later.

Fellow-Countrymen:   At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Dining with Abraham Lincoln

It isn't every day you get to eat lunch with a sitting President of the United States.  Or, to be more exact, the sitting statue of a former President.

Today, February 12, would have been the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.  Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, and our country's President during the United States Civil War.

I enjoyed some vintage photos of the late President and then remembered I had a couple of pictures of my own.

In the summer of 2013 my spouse and I drove from our home in upstate New York to Arkansas for a visit.  On the way back home, we stopped for a rest break in Vandalia, Illinois.

Back in the 1830's, Vandalia was the capital of the state of Illinois - the second capital of Illinois,  from 1819 to 1839.  It no longer is the capital and you may be surprised to learn who is partially responsible for that.

This was the Vandalia state capital building, built in 1836.

In the city of Vandalia, a young Illinois state legislator got some of his early political experience.  His name was Abraham Lincoln.  (One day, I will blog more about Lincoln).  Ironically, this particular statehouse was built to try to convince Lincoln and some of his colleagues to keep the capital in Vandalia.  Lincoln and some of his colleagues wanted the capital closer to the geographic center of the state.  It replaced a different building that was torn down while the legislature was in recess.  The hope was, the building would so impress the legislature that they would stay in Vandalia.

Looks nice, but Lincoln never tried any cases in this room.

The bribe (if you could call it that) didn't work, and Lincoln was not a beloved figure in Vandalia for his actions in moving the capital away from their city.  But, time has a way of dimming memories.  Now, Lincoln is quite beloved in Vandalia.

In 2001, Lincoln Park was built near the statehouse. It features a statute called "Sitting with Lincoln".

On this bench, I ate lunch with Abraham Lincoln in 2013- a tuna sandwich we had purchased in Missouri that morning, to be exact.  It was a hot sunny day, a day I would treasure today, when I think of the subzero wind chills outside at this moment.

I hope Lincoln enjoyed that wonderful Missouri tuna sandwich as much as I did.

Have you ever met a famous person, or a person who became famous later in life?

Civil War Sunday - The DNA of History

Sometimes, I wonder what I would find out if I took a DNA test to discover my ancestry.  I can do that, apparently for "only" $159.

Two actors, one of the 20th century, one still alive and acting today, turn out to have interesting ancestry.  Wouldn't it be nice if I was related to someone who change history?

DNA tests won't reveal that, but it sometimes seems that famous people through the ages are related to each other.

To find out about one of them, we need to go back 150 years.

150 years ago this week, a man by the name of Francis P. Blair, Sr. was working to try to broker a peace agreement between the United States and the Confederate States of America. The war between our States had been going on since April of 1861.  Many people were exhausted, and efforts were being made to negotiate a peace. (Those efforts did not succeed, in case you are wondering.)

If you saw the Steven Spielberg movie Lincoln, you saw this character in action, played by actor Hal Holbrook.

Blair's role in American history is extensive, although he is not a household word today. For trivia lovers, his life contains plenty to be fascinated about.  For example, if you've ever heard of Silver Springs, Maryland, you can thank Frances Blair. He fell in love with a spring, made silvery by flecks of mica, when his horse threw him near it - or, so the story goes.  Silver Springs grew up around that spring.

If you have ever visited Washington, DC, our nation's capital, you may have seen Blair House, the guest house for visitors to the White House.  Yes- it was once the house of Frances Blair.

It was in Blair's house that Robert E. Lee was offered command of the Union Army - but, when Virginia seceded from the Union, Lee resigned and took command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

Union General William Sherman (of "March through Georgia" fame - or infamy- was married at Blair's house.

And, in 1950, two men tried to assassinate then President Truman at Blair House.

So many famous and influential people have stayed at Blair House.

But, as infomercials tell us - But wait!  There's more! (Sometimes, I love clichés.. Sorry about that.)

Francis Blair, Sr., the founder of the Republican Party, and the father of a Civil War General, was also the great-great grandfather of actor Montgomery Clift. (I have also read that Clift was adopted, so I am not certain if that relation is by blood or adoption.)  Apparently, this was not the only connection Clift had with the Civil War.

Clift starred in a movie called From Here to Eternity in 1953.  His character's name was Robert E. Lee Pruitt.

Clift starred in a movie called Raintree County (with Elizabeth Taylor) in 1957.  The plot was related to the Civil War.  But the movie was still being filmed when Clift (who had a major drinking problem) got into a car accident during the filming of the movie. 

He was permanently disfigured. He was only 45 when he died, in 1966.

Meanwhile, it turns out Abraham Lincoln has a link with a movie actor of modern times - George Clooney. Clooney, it would seem, is a half-first cousin five times removed from Lincoln. 

A DNA test wouldn't tell me who I was related to, but I wonder what untold stories are waiting to be told by my DNA. 

I might just think about saving up for that test.

Would you want to get your DNA tested, if you could afford it?

Civil War Sunday - The Descendents

Today, a major genealogy website, ancestry.com, is offering free searches of various databases for its non-paying members.

I decided to take the opportunity to do a little research on my mother's side of the family, one that I don't have that much knowledge of.  I am more fortunate with my father's side, as an uncle did extensive research years ago.  I quickly found I needed skills I did not have enough time to learn, but spent an interesting hour or more stumbling around the site.

Then, I decided to satisfy some curiosity today - do major figures of the Civil War have living direct descendents? Years ago, I had met a man who had claimed George Armstrong Custer (although best known for his death in the famous Battle of Little Big Horn,  he was also a Civil War general) as one of his ancestors. What other people related to the Civil War had descendents, and what had those descendents accomplished?

What I found would take me many days to read about.

Many people who know they are descended from historical figures in the Civil War are proud of that fact, but many also have the philosophy of "don't depend on your ancestry".

It turns out there are a number of famous Civil War related figures who have living descendents- Confederates and Federal figures, abolitionists, and slaves.

Reading through their stories is fascinating, and there are thousand of more stories waiting for the reading - civilians, soldiers and others who lived through the war.  It is estimated that one in 17 people in the United States have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.

The story of Kenneth Morris, Jr, in particular, inspires me.  A descendent of both Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, he fights to abolish modern day slavery- just as his great-great-great grandfather, Frederick Douglass, fought to abolish slavery in our country.

Then there is Ulysses S. Grant's great-great grandson, a native of Syracuse (a city about an hour from where I live) who is a museum curator and art expert.

There is Bertram Hayes-Davis, who preserves the memory of his ancestor Jefferson Davis, best known as the President of the Confederate States of America. 

Confederate General Stonewall Jackson (who has a number of ties with New York State) has living descendents although he did not survive the war- his granddaughter, who passed away in 1991, was 104.

Meanwhile, Dennis Chamberlain, a direct descendent of Union General and Battle of Gettysburg hero Joshua Chamberlain, is the latest of a long line of Chamberlains to service in the military.

The Lee family of Virginia also has had a distinguished history, although many of them were not direct ancestors or descendents of the famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

There is one missing name, though, from people alive today.  Abraham Lincoln.  The man who was President of the United States during the Civil War, has no direct descendents alive today.  This is his genealogy.

Do you have a famous person or historical figure in your family tree?