Table Of ContentT h e A m e r ic a n
Civil War
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T h e A m e r i c a n
Civil War
An Anthology of Essential Writings
Ian Frederick Finseth
New York London
Routledge is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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Published in 2006 by Published in Great Britain by
Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
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New York, NY 10016 Milton Park, Abingdon
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© 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
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International Standard Book Number-10: 0-415-97743-6 (Hardcover) 0-415-97744-4 (Softcover)
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-97743-2 (Hardcover) 978-0-415-97744-9 (Softcover)
Library of Congress Card Number 2006007644
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The American Civil War : an anthology of essential writings / edited by Ian Frederick Finseth.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-97743-6 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-415-97744-4 (paperback : alk. paper)
1. American literature--19th century--History and criticism. 2. United States--History--Civil War, 1861
1865--Literature and the war. 3. War and literature--United States--History--19th century. 4. American
literature--19th century--History and criticism. 5. War in literature. I. Finseth, Ian Frederick.
PS217.C58A43 2006
810.9'358--dc22 2006007644
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CONTENTS
(cid:2)
List of Illustrations xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: The Written War 1
I. ORIGINS 17
Herman Melville
from Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866)
Th e Portent 22
Misgivings 23
Walt Whitman
from Collect (1882)
Origins of Attempted Secession 24
Ulysses S. Grant
from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant (1885–86)
Chapter XVI – Resignation – Private Life – 28
Life at Galena – Th e Coming Crisis
Jeff erson Davis
Speech in U.S. Senate (Farewell Address) (January 21, 1861) 35
Henry Timrod
Ethnogenesis (February 1861) 38
Abraham Lincoln
First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1861) 41
Mary Chesnut
from A Diary from Dixie (1905)
Chapter 2 47
Walt Whitman
from Drum-Taps (1865)
Drum-Taps 55
Emily Dickinson
“A Day! Help! Help!” (1859) 57
“Success — is counted sweetest” (1859) 57
Th e Texts 58
Notes 58
v
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vi CONTENTS
II. BATTLEFIELDS 61
Herman Melville
from Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866)
Th e March into Virginia 66
A Utilitarian Account of the Monitor’s Fight with the Merrimac 67
Shiloh: A Requiem (April 1862) 68
Malvern Hill (July 1862) 69
Th e Swamp Angel 70
George Moses Horton
from Naked Genius (1865)
Th e Dying Soldier’s Message 72
Execution of Private Henry Anderson 73
Th e Spectator of the Battle of Belmont, November 6, 1863 75
Th e Terrors of War 76
Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt
from Th e Nests at Washington and Other Poems (1864)
Hearing the Battle—July 21, 1861 77
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Th e Cumberland (December 1862) 78
Killed at the Ford (April 1866) 80
Lucy Larcom
from Songs for War Time (1863)
Th e Sinking of the Merrimack 81
Walt Whitman
from Specimen Days (1882)
A Night Battle, Over a Week Since 82
A Glimpse of War’s Hell-Scenes 84
Th e Weather. – Does It Sympathize with Th ese Times? 86
Two Brothers, One South, One North 87
from Drum-Taps (1865)
By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame 88
Th e Dresser 89
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night 91
Camps of Green 92
S. Weir Mitchell
Th e Case of George Dedlow (1866) 93
Helen Hunt Jackson
from Sonnets and Lyrics (1886)
Songs of Battle 104
Louisa May Alcott
from Hospital Sketches (1863)
Chapter III: A Day 105
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CONTENTS vii
Abraham Lincoln
Address at the Dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery 113
(November 19, 1863)
Emily Dickinson
“To fi ght aloud is very brave —” (1860) 114
“Th e name — of it — is ‘Autumn’ —” (1862) 114
“Whole Gulfs — of Red, and Fleets — of Red —” (1862) 114
“Th ey dropped like Flakes —” (1863) 115
“If any sink, assure that this, now standing —” (1863) 115
“Th e Battle fought between the Soul” (1862) 116
“My Portion is Defeat — today —” (1863) 116
“Th e hallowing of Pain” (1863) 116
Ambrose Bierce
from Bits of Autobiography (1909)
On a Mountain 117
from Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891)
A Horseman in the Sky 120
A Son of the Gods: A Study in the Present Tense 124
One of the Missing 128
from Can Such Th ings Be? (1893)
A Tough Tussle 135
Stephen Crane
from Th e Little Regiment, and Other Episodes of the American Civil War
(1896)
A Gray Sleeve 140
An Episode of War 150
A Mystery of Heroism 153
Ulysses S. Grant
from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant (1885–86)
Chapter 67: Negotiations at Appomattox – 159
Interview with Lee at McLean’s House – Th e Terms of Surrender –
Lee’s Surrender – Interview with Lee aft er the Surrender
William T. Sherman
from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, Written by Himself (1875)
Chapter 24: Conclusion – Military Lessons of the War 166
Th e Texts 182
Notes 183
III. AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE 187
George Moses Horton
from Naked Genius (1865)
Th e Slave 193
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viii CONTENTS
Susie King Taylor
Reminiscences of My Life in Camp (1902) 195
Th omas Wentworth Higginson
from Army Life in a Black Regiment (1869)
Camp Diary 223
Rebecca Harding Davis
John Lamar (1862) 239
Abraham Lincoln
Final Emancipation Proclamation (September 22, 1862) 253
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Th e Emancipation Proclamation (1862) 255
Boston Hymn (1863) 259
Voluntaries (1863) 262
Frederick Douglass
Th e Mission of the War (1863) 264
Louisa May Alcott
from Hospital Sketches; and Camp and Fireside Stories (1869)
My Contraband 277
Charles Chesnutt
from Th e Wife of His Youth, and Other Stories of the Color Line (1899)
Cicely’s Dream 290
Paul Laurence Dunbar
from Lyrics of Lowly Life (1895)
Th e Deserted Plantation 302
When Dey ‘Listed Colored Soldiers (August 1899) 304
Robert Gould Shaw (October 1900) 305
W. E. B. Du Bois
from Th e Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Chapter 1: Of Our Spiritual Strivings 306
Chapter 2: Of the Dawn of Freedom 311
Th e Texts 323
Notes 323
IV. THE CIVIL WAR IN SONG 329
Daniel Emmett
Dixie’s Land (1859, 1860) 334
Anonymous
John Brown’s Body (1859?) 336
Septimus Winner
Abraham’s Daughter (Raw Recruits) (1861) 337
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CONTENTS ix
A. E. Blackmar
Allons Enfans (Th e Southern Marseillaise) (1861) 338
William B. Bradbury
Marching Along (1861) 339
Ethel Lynn Beers
All Quiet Along the Potomac (1861) 340
Harry McCarthy
Th e Bonnie Blue Flag (1861) 342
Julia Ward Howe
Th e Battle Hymn of the Republic (1862) 344
Walter Kittredge
Tenting on the Old Campground (1862) 345
Charles Carroll Sawyer and Henry Tucker
Weeping, Sad and Lonely; or, When Th is Cruel War Is Over (1862) 346
Anonymous
Parody on When this Cruel War is Over 347
A. E. Blackmar
Goober Peas (1866) 349
M. B. Smith
Th e Battle of Shiloh Hill (1863) 350
Patrick S. Gilmore
When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1863) 351
George F. Root
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (Th e Prisoner’s Hope) (1863) 352
Just Before the Battle, Mother 353
Henry C. Work
Marching through Georgia (1865) 354
Th omas Wentworth Higginson
Negro Spirituals (1867) 355
Th e Texts 375
Notes 376
V. THE HOME FRONT 377
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Th e Chimney-Corner (January 1865) 383
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Chiefl y about War-Matters: By a Peaceable Man (July 1862) 390
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