Monroe County Civil War Roundtable Exploring, preserving and sharing the history of the American Civil War. The Sentinel. Volume 9, No.

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1 Exploring, preserving and sharing the history of the American Civil War The Sentinel Volume 9, No. 9 May 2013 The American Civil War...in Poems?? The Civil War was undoubtedly one of the pivotal events in American history. The unique effects of the conflict were felt not only by the soldiers who faced each other across a battlefield, but by their family and friends who endured many hardships of their own on the homefront. The story of the Civil War has been and continues to be told in many ways and in many formats. There is one format (although pervasive in the mid 19 th century) that may not be the first one to pop into most people s minds: poetry. In May s program, member Dick Durisen shared with us poetry s role in telling the story of the Civil War. We learned about poets Thomas Buchanan Read, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Herman Melville and how they used the medium to express the war s effects on them. [ Editor s note: Mr. Durisen provided a handout with the poetry selections listed below for each author it will soon be available on our website, so keep checking back!] Thomas Buchanan Read- Read was Pennsylvanian poet and portrait painter. Without a doubt his most famous work was Sheridan s Ride. He wrote the words as well as painted a famous portrait that goes with it. It should be noted that he also painted a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Selection: Sheridan s Ride. Walt Whitman- Whitman was a well recognized poet in his time and famously served as a nurse during the Civil War. He wrote in a style that very few contemporaries wrote in. His poetry was very visceral, energetic, boisterous and celebratory. It could also be sexually explicit. This made his work very controversial at the time. He was a big believer in the idea of America and that fact was often reflected in his work. He said that America was, and is, the greatest of poems. Whitman s early Civil War poems were more directed toward a call to arms but as he became more acquainted with the horrors of war (primarily through his nursing duties) his poems became tinged with a more graphic realism. Selections included: Best! Beat! Drums! (a call to arms), The Wound Dresser (a more realistic portrayal of the effects of war), and O Captain! My Captain! (a tribute to Lincoln following his assassination). As a special treat, Durisen was able to find and play a recording of Whitman himself reading his poem, America. 1 Emily Dickinson- Dickinson was not known as a poet during her lifetime and even now is not considered a war poet. She did live during the time of the Civil War but was considered a recluse. Although she did not directly see the war, she was undoubtedly affected by it. She likely knew people who fought and died and, in fact, wrote about half of her poems during the war years. Her writing style was, and remains very different. She used dashes, capitals and slant rhymes as well as other devices. It was not until the 1950s that her poems were published in, essentially, their original versions. Dickinson did not title her poems. Editors have chosen to name them based on their first lines for easier reference. Selections included: The name of it is Autumn (a thinly veiled work about the Battle of Antietam), they dropped like flakes, He fought like those Who ve naught to lose-, and it feels a shame to be alive. Herman Melville- Melville, though more famous now for works like Moby Dick, was also a poet. In fact some critics place him as the first modernist poet. He gained some early success in the 1840s but it did not last. He was virtually unknown by the time of his death in His work was rediscovered in the 1920s and has been the recipient of great critical and popular success since that time. Selection: Shiloh: A Requiem (April, 1862). Poetry, with its unique qualities, opens a window into the deepest thoughts and emotions of each writer. In the words of American poet and literary critic J.D. McClatchy, the writers of the Civil War era were able to capture the crisis by using poetry s unique ability to stir the emotions, to freeze the moment, to sweep the scene with a panoramic lens and suddenly swoop in for a close-up of suffering or courage. We encourage all our readers to explore some of the poetry of the Civil War as it is sure to be an eye-opening and thought provoking experience. [Note: See the next page for an original Civil War poem.]

2 150 Years Ago in June 7th Battle of Milliken s Bend, LA 9th Battle of Brandy Station, VA 14th Second assault on Port Hudson, LA 14th Battle of Winchester, VA. Shortly after this, Lee s 2nd Corps crosses the Potomac to move through Maryland and Pennsylvania and, essentially, the Gettysburg Campaign begins. 15th Battle of Stephenson s Depot, VA 17th Engagement in Warsaw Sound, GA 20th West Virginia becomes the 35th state. 23rd Tullahoma Campaign begins in Middle TN 28th Meade replaces Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac 30th Newly minted (May 24) CSA Major General Harry Heth spends the night in Cash town, Pennsylvania with his army and gets up to look for shoes the next morning...or so he says in his memoirs Another New Civil War Book Out A new book is out by author Traie Shelhart. Enough To Make Angels Weep: A History of the 38th Indiana Infantry is an objective, in-depth look at the military service history of this Indiana unit in the war. This narrative, filled with period photographs and recollections of the soldiers written both during and after the war, focuses specifically upon the activities of the common western soldier within the Thirty-eighth s ranks, including camp life, adventures on the march, and the extreme hardships they suffered during active campaigns. Author Traie Shelhart is a 2001 graduate of Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI, and a former resident of Louisville, KY. Traie has maintained a fervent passion for 18th and 19th Century American history throughout his years spent as a field archaeologist, state park ranger, and medical assistant. The book is available through OutskirtsPress.com/bookstore, or on Amazon.com, and through- Barnes&Noble.com. Annual Dues/Donation Form Our Own World Premiere Poem! Our speaker this month, Dick Durisen, aside form being an aficionado of both poetry and the Civil War, also writes his own poems. We are pleased and proud to include in this newsletter what we believe is the first publication of a poem Dick wrote about the Battle of Gettysburg. We felt it was especially fitting to offer this piece now as the 150th anniversary of this pivotal event of the war is only weeks away now. Gettysburg By Richard Durisen At first, the gallant amble of his stride Enhanced a glint of bayonets in his eyes, But sadness underneath belied this pride With visions of the violent way he died. A martyr s cause can scarcely recompense For friends and foes so savagely dispensed. Which side was his is now a mute pretense When measured by the heart and common sense: Some mother s son, some lover s forlorn bed, His life cut short by a mini-ball to the head Was full of wistful dreams and somber dreads, And then the useless scrambling by the lead. He came in dream to tell his ghostly tale When will rationality prevail? Every sword we flourish to impale A brother testifies to another way we fail. Are You a Poet, Too? We are curious to know if there is anyone else out there who dabbles in poetry. If you have written something about the war, or would like to, please feel free to send it to us and we will include it in a future issue of the Sentinel. We would also be curious to know your thoughts on this program. On the surface, poetry may seem to many an odd way to express the thoughts and feelings about such an event. Do you feel that poetry is an effective way to share the extremely difficult concepts that anyone must deal with in something as horrible and all-encompassing as the American Civil War? Let us know and we will share your comments next time. Name Date Address Mail to: c/o Monroe County History Center 202 E. 6th St. Membership $15 Bloomington, IN Speakers Fund $ [NOTE: unspecified donations over $15 will be considered as membership first with the balance toward the Speakers Fund.] Thank you!!! 2

3 One of Our Own Named New HC Director! Our parent organization, the Monroe County History Center, has named a new director to follow our friend Diane Ballard who retired in March. It is our own Helmut Hentschel! Helmut moved to Bloomington to retire about three years ago after spending 24 nomadic (his description) years in the US Army, and he was very quickly active in our roundtable due to a lifelong interest in history, especially military history. He also began doing volunteer work for the HC after moving here and the two have clearly come together now in a mutually beneficial way. He has already begun thinking of new ways for the HC and the roundtable to work together, perhaps even in a way to bring the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and Monroe County/ Civil War history together. Please stop by the HC and wish him well in his new endeavor! Tullahoma Campaign Tour in Still Ahead Greg Biggs, an excellent tour guide and speaker who has presented before our own roundtable in the past, will be leading a tour on June 22 of the 150th anniversary of the Tullahoma campaign. Indiana s own John Wilder of Wilder s Brigade will be featured in this one. The details are two numerous to tell here, but this tour is cheap and is really a great bargain, aside from being excellent! For any questions please call Greg Biggs at (931) or him at: Biggsg@charter.net Louisville Civil War Tour Is Tomorrow! If you have never been to Cave Hill Cemetery on the near east side of Louisville, here s your chance and with a Civil War Tour tossed in! Begun in 1846 to balance a burial ground on the west side of town, it is still serving the community. A number of famous people are interred here, including George Rogers Clark, Henry Watterson (we ll bet you ve driven the expressway!), Lincoln s Attorney General and friend James Speed and, who could miss this one, Col. Harlan Sanders of Kentucky Fried The Confederate section at Chicken fame. Cave Hill National Cemetery There is also a national cemetery on the property that contains the remains of both Union and Confederate veterans along with a replica of the Bloedner Monument to the 32nd IN. The original has been moved to the Frazier International History Museum in Louisville due to deterioration from weather. There is no organized trip now, but if you would like to go, just plan to to leave Bloomington very early on Saturday morning, June 8, so you can arrive for a tour with Civil War historian Bryan Bush from 9:00-11:00 am. After the tour, other Civil War stops in town are possible such as the site of Galt House where Bull Nelson was shot and killed by Jefferson C. Davis, and an impressive monument to the Confederacy that sits on a traffic median in front of the Speed Art Museum. 3 The train that took Lincoln home to Springfield, sitting at a stop in Lincoln Funeral Train Re-creation Under Way We have just learned of an exciting event coming for the last year of the 150th commemoration of the Civil War in And a local person is involved! Shannon White with IU Residential Programs and Services marketing department is doing some publicity for this event, the Lincoln Funeral Train. It is a project out of northern Illinois that will produce a full-scale, fully functional replica of the train that carried President Lincoln s body and that of his son Willie home to Springfield in 1865 and re-trace the route from Washington to Springfield. Shannon tells us that the locomotive and tender are complete, and the master mechanic who is the brains behind this project is now working on the replica funeral car. We hope to get Shannon to speak to the roundtable in the fall. For details and some great video clips, go to their website: An image of the entrance to Camp Morton in Indianapolis is featured in the IHS Lanham Gallery exhibit. The Civil War from Gettysburg to Appomattox on Exhibit at the IHS in Indy This second part of a two-part exhibit at the Indiana Historical Society in Indianapolis covers the second half of the war and includes items depicting the war from the beginning of 1863 through Lee s surrender on April 9, Included are representations of events, places and people of particular interest to Hoosiers. These include CSA General John Hunt Morgan s raid into Indiana; a panoramic photograph of an 11th Indiana Battery encampment at Chattanooga; photographs of Camp Morton in Indianapolis which held Confederate prisoners (see above); a diary entry from a Miami County soldier in the 26th Indiana Infantry Regiment,, and an emancipation record of a former slave who became a member of the Weaver Settlement in Grant County. [The IHS is at 450 West Ohio Street in Indianapolis. It is open 10-5, Tuesday thru Saturday. Call for more information or go to ]

4 MCCWR Roster of Honor Capt. Ephraim Waterman Wiley, Co. H, 8th Maine Inf. Grandfather of former MCCWR President David Wiley. Present or active at Port Royal, Fort Pulaski, Drewery s Bluff, Cold Harbor, Chaffin s Farm, Deep Bottom, Spring Hill, White Oak Road, Fort Gregg, Fort Baldwin, Petersburg and Appomattox. Sgt. Charles Thomas Shanner, Co. A, 63rd Indiana Volunteer Inf.- Great-grandfather to MCCWR board member John Crosby. Chattanooga-Atlanta Campaign, Clay Springs, Battle of Atlanta. Col. James McMannomy, Commander, 63rd Indiana Volunteer Inf.- Ancestor of MCCWR member Matt Hoagland. Second Manassas, fought Morgan s Raiders at Shepherdsville, Kentucky. Pvt. William Nicholas Shiflet, Co. I, 10th Alabama Infantry 2nd Great Grand Uncle to Kevin Shiflet, MCCWR member. Engaged, to some degree, at Dranesville, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Gaines Mill, Frazier s Farm, Second Manassas, Harpers Ferry, Sharpsburg, Hazel River, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Second Cold Harbor, Petersburg, High Bridge, Farmville and Appomattox. Pvt. Shiflet is only one of a total of seventeen of Kevin s ancestors who served the Confederacy, including thirteen cousins, two third great granduncles and two second great granduncles. Jacob Mann, Co. A, 16th Iowa Inf.- Ancestor of Allan Sather, MCCWR member. Fought at Resaca, Adairsville, New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, and Bald Hill (Atlanta) where he was captured and sent to Andersonville Prison. Sgt. Miles M. Oviatt, US Marine Corps- Great grandfather of Mary Pat Livingston, MCCWR member. Served aboard USS Vanderbilt, USS Brooklyn. Fought in Battles of Mobile Bay and Fort Fisher. Commended for Medal of Honor for his service at Mobile Bay. Voyages included south Atlantic, Indian Ocean chasing blockade runners and capturing those renegades ships. Pvt. Luther Oviatt, Pennsylvania 14th Cavalry, Co. I- Gr-Gr-Gr Uncle of Mary Pat Livingston, member MCCWR. Harper's Ferry, Monocacy Bridge protection of B&O RR. Died at Hammond Hospital, Point Lookout while on duty. Buried Arlington Cemetery. Pvt. Cyrenas A. Young, 85th New York Infantry, Co K.- Oviatt ancestor of Mary Pat Livingston. Plymouth, Kingston, New Bern, Petersburg, Suffolk. Spent time at Andersonville Prison, then sent to Florence Prison where he died days before the war ended. Cpl. James Dickson- 10 th Wisconsin Infantry, Co. D; 3 rd great grandfather of MCCWR member Scott Schroeder. His only real engagement was at the Battle of Perryville where he was killed in action. Pvt. William Taylor Neville- 8 th Iowa Infantry, Co. A; 3 rd great grandfather of MCCWR member Scott Schroeder. Engagements: Battle of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Red River Campaign. Captured at Shiloh in the Hornets Nest. Exch. Oct. 62 and returned to his unit. Reuben Newman 27th Indiana Infantry, Co. I, Putnam County Grays - Great-great-grandfather of member Eric Newman. Wounded at Antietam. Also fought at Gettysburg, Winchester, etc. Served Aug. 61-Nov. 64. Died June 13, Buried in New Providence Cemetery in Putnam County, IN. Contact Information [Note our new officer/board line-up effective with the April meeting!] President & programs Scott Schroeder sts.mccwr@gmail.com Secretary, newsletter ed. Steve Rolfe srolfe@indiana.edu Treasurer Kevin Shiflet keshift@aol.com Hospitality open please consider helping out at least one meeting a year! Board Rep John Crosby marjohn28@comcast.net Board Rep Ray Beeker marvin.beeker4117@comcast.net Board Rep Larry Cady pencil66@gmail.com Board Rep & webmaster Rick Watson rawatson@indiana.edu Board Rep & tech help Randy Stevenson rks_jfs@yahoo.com [Anyone is welcome to attend board meetings on the first Tuesday of each month at 11:30 at the History Center.] c/o Monroe County History Center 202 E. 6th St. Bloomington, IN

5 Area Civil War Events Page Upcoming events that might be of interest and are not too far away, and other CW related activities/sites Civil War Trust 150th Events Site The Civil War Trust is an excellent resource for information on both the timeline and upcoming events for the Sesquicentennial of the war. Just go to Lew Wallace Study and Museum Crawfordsville, IN, is the home of perhaps the state s most famous general of the war. Wallace, and the Civil War controversy arising from his division s tardiness during the first day of the Battle of Shiloh, was the subject of his biographer, Gail Stephens, when she spoke at our roundtable last year. You can read all about it in her excellent new book Shadow of Shiloh: General Lew Wallace in the Civil War which is available in the Monroe County History center gift shop. Kentucky s Generals- Kentuckians in the Civil War is an ongoing exhibit of portraits of prominent native sons of the state who were US and CS generals Battle of Richmond Visitors Center, Richmond, KY. Contact phillip.seyfrit@madisoncountyky.us. To Kill and To Heal Weapons and Medicine of the Civil War - through 2013 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, IL, through For more info, go to Indianapolis CWRT upcoming programs- The next meeting of the Indianapolis Civil War Round Table will be June 10, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. at the Indian Lake Country Club, E. 75 th Street. Larry Stuart will be speaking about the Sacred Scars, Shadowed Ground: Images of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania County Civil War Battlefields. Discovering the Civil War, a landmark exhibition from Washington D.C. s National Archives opened in February at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, TN. It will run through September. The original Emancipation Proclamation will be on view for a limited time during the exhibition. For more, see page 2 or go to The Filson Civil War Field Institute- East Tennessee in Turmoil The Filson Historical Society in Lousiville is hosting a Civil War Field Institute to explore the complex history of the Civil War era in the Upper South with this field trip that will allow participants to follow the footsteps of the armies and stand on the grounds where they fought. For details and registration, go to Abraham Lincoln Freedom Festival Rockport, IN June 29 Patriotic festival celebrating the life of the 16th president. Parade, music, fireworks, food & games. FREE! For details call Battle of Corydon Reenactment; July Hayswood park, Corydon, IN 150th anniversary commemoration of the famous Southern Indiana battle and Morgan s Raid. FREE!- For details go to or call Civil War Days Princeton, IN Sept. 6-8 FREE!- Encampments, reenactments, school day, ladies tea, battles, living history, Lincoln at the train station, skirmishes. For details go to or call Civil War Days Angola, IN Sept FREE!- Battles, dance, artillery exhibition, living history. For details go to or call 800-LAK-E101. 3rd in USPS Commemorative Stamp Series Now Out The United States Postal Service has just issued the third in their five-year series of commemorative forever stamps citing two significant events of the year exactly 150 years earlier. It can be argued that this years honorees, Gettysburg and Vicksburg, may have been the most significant of the war. There is also a special folio with first day cancellations, a sheet of stamps and other historical information available for $ You can get these items at any post office or at while supplies last. Don t Miss the June Meeting! Keep June in mind and on your calendar. The last program of the year before our summer break will be Indiana s Battle Flag by Donna Schmink from the Indiana War Memorial Flag Preservation Project. Donna is a seventh generation Hoosier. Her Great Grand Father, and his brother fought in Colonel Benjamin Harrison's regiment, the 70th Indiana Volunteers. 5