My new blog, Diaries of the Civil War, is moving along nicely. I’ve been tweaking, a little bit at a time on the format and styling. It’s still a “plain Jane” blog, but I’ve figured out how to format the text so that it has more of a book look, with indented first lines and a reduced space between paragraphs. There are currently 335 posts, with 314 of them scheduled for future publication. I’ve created a website for background reference material. It’s called Rebellion Documents.
The actual splintering of the Union didn’t occur until November, 1860 and the conflict didn’t start until the firing on Fort Sumter in April, 1861. The idea behind the blog is to post material — day by day — from the corresponding day 150 years ago. While November is still a ways away, this is one time I don’t want to procrastinate. I have a number of documents identified for use and have a spreadsheet showing when each one starts. This is already helping me with planning and implementation. A few of the documents contain relevant material from before the war and I’ll be posting them as I get to to them — and, later, I’ll change the posted date to 150 years after the original date so that posts are sequenced correctly.
Diaries of the Civil War will likely continue for some period after the end of the war. The diary I am working with now has some interesting material that deals with the aftermath of the war. The following is scheduled to be published June 9, 2015. June 9, 1865, was about 2 months after the end of the war.
June 9th, 1865.—Nellie went away today and the parting between her and Sister Mag was pitiful. She has nursed Eddie all his life and for three weeks now, the three weeks Sister Mag has been so ill, she has been almost constantly at her side, while I took care of Eddie. He is sorely distressed but it is as nothing compared to his mother’s grief at giving her up.
Nellie knelt on the floor and put her arms about sister, both were sobbing and both faces were wet with tears.
“I wouldn’t leave you Miss Mag,” she gasped out, “but my husband says I got ter go. He says if I don’t go with him now I shant never come and he says I b’longs ter him now an’ so I’ll have ter go.”
“Can’t you persuade him to stay here with you, Nellie?” pleaded the almost heart-broken mistress, but no, he did not like country life, he had work in the iron foundry and would not give it up.
From the porch, just outside, Emperor Dulan’s loud voice was heard, “Come on, Nellie—I shore is tired waiting.”
He was evidently impatient and she could stay no longer.
“God bless you, Miss Mag, God bless Marse Amos an’ de sweet chillun an’, over everything else, may the Lord bless Marse Ned an’ Mis’ Patsey.”
Another link broken and it is only the beginning of the end. I hope Emperor will be kinder than he sounds. I love Nellie, myself. She has been Sister Mag’s maid for years, they grew up together, she has nursed the children and has been friend as well as servant.
I wonder what Aunt Harriet Beecher Stowe would think of the farewell of this morning? We were afraid the excitement would be too much for our dear invalid, but she is sleeping quietly; has been ever since she ate her very light luncheon at twelve o’clock. Adeline does not give us dinner until three o’clock, sometimes later, but she is such a good cook that nobody feels like finding fault with the hour.
Several years ago, I took a blogging journey through the American Civil War. Each day, I posted material from the corresponding day in a specific year of the war. I started with the fall of 1860, the last several months before the war started
At first, the material was from news articles, including images, from both sides, with a semi-regular entry from the diary of a Washington, D.C. clerk. Over time, a couple of more diarists were added with fewer and fewer news articles.
On of the things I was trying to do was to – like so many others – “make money online.” While I was making virtually nothing from the civil war chronicles, I was making a couple of hundred dollars a month on another website.
With another year until the diarists would reach the end of their war, I made the decision to abandon the civil war chronicles and concentrate on trying to capitalize on the success of the other site.
Two years later, that site is still earning money – a couple of hundred dollars a month.
I keep getting distracting off into other things that interest me more.
That being the case, I’m taking a step back to the beginning – a new civil war based blog.
It’s called Diaries of the Civil War, though it will also include letters and other narratives. Most posts will be for the corresponding day 150 years earlier.
The blog is organized as though there is a community of authors. Each diary, letter, and journal writer will appear in the blog as a contributing author.
And, yes, it is already live.
The main events don’t begin until later in 1860. Until then, I will be populating the blog with material, for the most part, that occurred before the current date in 1860.
It is at http://dotcw.com. Please come visit.
It’s pretty plain right now. I will be adding graphics later and links later on. Yes, there will be advertizing, but the ads will not intrude into the content.
I’m already learning new stuff – and, it’s hardly even started.
I’ve started work on a blog project which will use the WordPress scheduling feature.
I’m returning to working with material written at the time of the Civil War. Next year, 2011, will be the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war.
I will be publishing material day by day associated with the same day 150 years earlier. The material is coming from a number of sources – all from the time of the civil war or written by people who lived during that time.
So far, I have 127 posts scheduled.
Right now, the earliest post is for December 17, 1860 – which will be published December 17, 2010. (Tensions are escalating between the North and the South. South Carolina is on the verge of seceding from the Union. )
The latest post, so far, is for May 19, 1861, and will be published one year from today, May 19, 2011. (The nation is split asunder. Five weeks ago, South Carolina forces under Confederate General Beauregard opened fire on United States troops in Charleston Harbor’s Fort Sumter, reducing it to rubble in the 34 hour bombardment. Miraculously, there were no Union soldiers killed during the battle. A Confederate soldier bled to death from wounds resulting from a misfired cannon.)
“Insanity Revisited” is actually the name of Karen’s second “Dear Jane” quilt. She still has a couple more rows to complete and the scalloped blocks around the outside.
Dear Jane quilts are based on a Civil War era quilt made by Vermont resident Jane A. Stickle.
A Dear Jane has 169 blocks, each with a unique pattern and has a total of about 5,600 pieces.
The original quilt was finished in 1863, during the American civil war. It is in the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont, and is on display every September and October.
Karen’s first Dear Jane was named “Insanity.”
The lower quilt picture is the original 1863 quilt by Jane Stickle.
Gallery:
Silverton and Animas Forks area – September 6, 2009
(click on image for larger version)
Ore from the Mayflower Mine in Arrasta Gulch was carried nearly two miles on an aerial tram to Mayflower Mill while miners often rode the buckets up to work. Since the heavily loaded buckets ran downhill, gravity did all the work and little power was needed to pull the empty buckets back up to the mine. Except for a few years in the 1950s, the mill ran continuously for over 60 years.
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Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
Woolly State Park, Arkansas, November 4, 2007
William Riley Woolly and his family migrated from Waynesboro, Tennessee in 1851, settling on land that came to be known as Woolly Hollow in Faulkner County, Arkansas. In 1882, a son, Martin Alfred Woolly, built a one room log home on land that he had homesteaded in 1859. Constructed of logs more than a foot thick and eighteen feet long, the cabin was originally located less than a mile southwest of the park. In 1975, it was moved to its present site and restored.
Information:
Woolly Hollow State Park
Gallery: Woolly Hollow State Park
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The Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, Virginia, May 10, 2009
Unable to build or buy enough warships to contest Northern control of the seas, the South purchased several fast cruisers in Britain and sent them out with orders to raid Union shipping. The most famous of these vessels was the Alabama, commanded by Raphael Semmes. Prowling the seas from the West Indies to the Indian Ocean, the Alabama captured 63 vessels in just 22 months.
The Alabama was caught by the Kearsarge at Cherbourg, France. Although his ship was worn out by many months at sea, Semmes chose to meet the Kearsarge in battle. The Alabama was sunk within two hours. Semmes and many of his crew were rescued by the English yacht Deerhound and escaped captivity.
Gallery: The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, May 10, 2009
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Mountain Farm Museum
May 6, 2009
near Cherokee, North Carolina
The Mountain Farm Museum is a unique collection of farm buildings assembled from locations throughout the park. Visitors can explore a log farmhouse, barn, apple house, springhouse, and a working blacksmith shop to get a sense of how families may have lived 100 years ago. Most of the structures were built in the late 19th century and were moved here in the 1950s. The Davis House offers a rare chance to view a log house built from chestnut wood before the chestnut blight decimated the American Chestnut in our forests during the 1930s and early 1940s. The museum is adjacent to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. – National Park Service website
Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
Tennessee and North Carolina
Gallery: Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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