A Young Man and His War Legacy

The Civil War was a terrible and devastating division in our country's history. Brothers often fought brothers, and sons fought fathers. Families were split, and some never healed.

A young man with musical talent was sent to a music school in the South just before the war started. His family thought he would be safe, as he was from the North and only studying in the South.

His father was Captain Ellicombe in the Union Army.

One day his troops came to a field called Harrison's Landing, in Virginia, after a battle had been fought. The captain ordered his men to bury the Confederate soldiers.

The captain looked at the young faces and saw his son's. Why his son left school and joined the Confederacy, the captain didn't know. With love, he searched his son's pockets and found a scrap of paper with music notes on it. After the captain asked for and received permission to give his son a special burial, he gave his bugler the music, and it was played at the funeral.

The music drifted over the countryside, giving everyone the chills.

The division commander, General Daniel Butterfield, heard the haunting tune and inquired who wrote it. Captain Ellicombe gave the scrap to the general, who had it copied and gave it to his bugler, Oliver Morton, and ordered him to use it as a new bugle call. Before the Civil War was over, both sides of the conflict were playing the piece at the gravesites.

It is still played today for military funerals. It is called "Taps." "...it signals the end of a soldier's struggle as he is laid to rest."

At all military funerals, we are reminded of the heartbreak of war by the music of one young man.

From the book Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate

Please let me know if these history tidbits are interesting. Shall I continue? Shall I stop?

Email pstinson23@comcast.net. 

 

                                            U.S. History

                    

                    Not Satisfied! Wanting More!

Robert Morris financed the American Revolutionary War on credit. He controlled the tobacco market and a vast banking and shipping empire. He wanted more. His thirst for more money led him to a scheme to build a large town along the Potomac River. The land was cheap, a town could be developed, and lots could be sold at prices that would yield astronomical profits. 

His problem was that he needed more capital. He decided to enlist Light-Horse Harry Lee, the father of General Robert E. Lee, to help finance the project. 

Light Horse Harry Lee was known as a brilliant general in the Revolutionary War, a governor of Virginia, and a member of Congress. He said the famous words at George Washington's funeral, "irst in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

Light Horse Harry Lee invested his entire family fortune.

It turns out that a technicality prevented the land titles from being obtained. (I have no idea what the technicality was.)

Mr. Morris and Mr. Lee were sent to a debtor's prison.

Congress acted and passed the Bankruptcy Act in 1800. This allowed Morris and Lee to go free. Morris died soon after his release, but Lee was humiliated at home. He abandoned his family and went to the West Indies. In 1818, he decided to return home, but he was stricken with typhoid fever and died at sea. The ship's crew buried him on Cumberland Island, Georgia.

Resource: Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate

                                                       Gerrymandering

I do not take political sides. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all have a place in our election system. Everyone should vote for what they think is best for the country, not for party or family biases.

There is a lot of news about gerrymandering in some states. That is not new. In the State of New Jersey in 1797, women could vote. Aghast!

In 1790, New Jersey changed their constitution. It said,:No person shall be entitled to vote in any other township or precinct than that in which he or SHE doth actually reside at the time of the election. But they did have to be property owners, and women could not own property. At marriage, the property went to the husbands. 

Then, in 1797, the wording in the Constitution was changed again. This time, it became that property owners no longer needed "clear estate," or clear ownership of their property.  Women in the state went to the polls and voted!!!

The following year, the women voted to block a Republican candidate. The local newspaper wrote this,

 "Although reinforced by the petticoat band

The Republican valor they could not withstand

And of their disasters in triumph we'll sing

For the petticoat faction's a dangerous thing."

 In 1807, the New Jersey constitution was revised again to limit the vote to white male taxpayers (Sorry to say it was the Republicans).

In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution stated that African Americans could vote.

However, it wasn't until 1920 that the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was ratified, and all women could vote throughout the country. 

My take from this snippet of our history is: watch the gerrymandering in your state so you are included.