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As a Southerner and native of the Shenandoah Valley, I offer reflections on the Civil War-era South… and sometimes a little more. But… expect the unexpected
Browsing Archives of Author »Robert Moore«
“Important from Texas” – The Alamo as considered by Virginians… at that time
On the 177th anniversary of the fall of the Alamo, I was wondering how long it took for word to reach the papers here in the Shenandoah Valley, and, in general, how the event was viewed from this area. On the day after the fall, the following appeared in the Virginia Free Press… In this, of […]
Unionism: Stacking the Valley against the rest of Virginia
March 4, 2013
The following is the result of tallying raw figures (for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia) from Fold3. I simply added the total number of claims that appear in their approved & barred/disallowed categories for Virginia and West Virginia. Sixty-three Virginia counties and nine West Virginia counties are represented in the approved claims. Meanwhile, all ninety-five […]
A Unionist woman, who was also wife to a Ranger riding with Mosby
March 2, 2013
Yes, you read that right. I happened upon this when I “strayed” beyond my normal boundaries, and took a look at claims submitted by those “deep” in Northern Virginia. Letitia Follin Strother (of Vienna, Fairfax County) submitted the claim to which I refer, and was approved. I’ll add to that… we not only know that […]
Logan Osburn throws in the towel… but later tries to backtrack
March 1, 2013
The measure of conditional Unionism varied from person to person. Jefferson County’s Logan Osburn provides an excellent example of that, and I’ll show how in just a minute. Ultimately, in measuring Unionists… and yes, even some “eventual Confederates”… Unionism is the common thread from which “conditionals” broke. Going back even further, there is a valid […]
It’s the little things… an evaluation of blogging’s “seedlings” on the Web
February 28, 2013
Some folks obsess on numbers; some way too much. Some even write to score numbers. That’s fine. To each his/her own. Don’t get me wrong, I like to see that folks are visiting the blog, but I’ve moved on from the ”obsessed by numbers phase”. In my first year or two of writing the blog… oh, yes; […]
A desperate appeal from John Minor Botts
February 27, 2013
I abstracted the following from the May 9, 1861 edition of the Virginia Free Press (Charles Town, Virginia). The same letter had actually preceded the Free Press printing by almost a week, in the New York Times. Along with various remarks throughout, I find his five year prediction most interesting. For those who may be […]
The Finest Wares: The Old Dominion Coffee Pot
February 24, 2013
Since I began frequenting Harpers Ferry a few years ago, I’ve found an interest in items that were sold/used in the mid-19th century. Antiques… yes, but usually specific to the years between 1830 and 1870. In addition to the narrow span of years, I generally seek out items that would have been used in my neck […]
Visualizing the Valley’s Unionism
February 20, 2013
With an interest in seeing Southern Unionism from a different perspective, I’ve been tinkering with data a bit. The following pie charts are just some examples of the ways in which I’m reviewing some of the data I’ve compiled. Each illustrates the different levels of completeness for the various counties of the Shenandoah Valley. Comparing […]
Cenantua’s Blog reaches five year mark!
February 18, 2013
I guess in one of my two posts from yesterday, I should have mentioned this, but… As of yesterday, Cenantua’s Blog has been running for five years (at least consistently. I don’t count my first entry from November 2007, since the blog didn’t really gain traction until three months later). It’s been an interesting ride, […]
Christian F. Laise’s ties to Berkeley County’s freedmen and Unionists
February 17, 2013
A couple of years ago there was a good article in The Journal (Martinsburg, W.V.), in which postwar (1880s, actually) efforts by Christian Frederick Laise were part of the focus. Berkeley County has an African-American area listed in the National Register. After their freedom at the end of the Civil War, many former slaves had […]
Richard Williams and his forthcoming book, Lexington, Virginia and the Civil War
February 11, 2013
Earlier today, Richard Williams revealed my small part in his forthcoming book, Lexington, Virginia and the Civil War. It was indeed an honor for me, that Richard asked if I could contribute something pertaining to Southern Unionists in Lexington and Rockbridge County. The contribution also gave me thoughts as to where I want to […]
Not in the claims, and not in blue, but… some of the other Southern Unionists of Harpers Ferry
February 9, 2013
Though I often focus on the stories tucked-away in Southern Claims Commission applications, there were more Southern Unionists than those identified in the claims, or even in those who wore Union blue. There are also those Unionists who appear merely as a name in passing, in between the pages of a couple of books that […]
The “wafflers” (a rebel today; a yank tomorrow)
February 6, 2013
From time to time, we see this sort on the big screen… a reb when the Confederate soldiers are present, and a yank when the Union soldiers are present. Take for example, the ferry boat man (“Sim Carstairs”), in the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales… So, encountering (by happenstance) what may be the “real deal” […]
Were USV enlistees making a statement… re: the great state of…EAST TENNESSEE?
February 2, 2013
It’s been quite sometime since I’ve mentioned anything about the United States Volunteers. You know… the Confederate POWs who were offered a chance to get out of POW camp and serve in the U.S. Army. Anyway, recently, I was perusing the records of the USV* and noticed that, in their records of enlistment, the fellows […]
New blog focused on a Georgia family and Unionism
January 28, 2013
It’s rare that this sort of thing pops-up, but when it does, I like to be quick to point it out… enter a new blog with Southern Unionism at the core… John Rogers’ “To Preserve Family and Farm”. The objective of John’s blog is as follows: To Preserve Family and Farm is the historical account of […]
Examples of compromised unconditional Southern Unionism
January 24, 2013
Re-reading a book or re-watching a movie often make us realize things we didn’t earlier realize/see. So it goes with recent revisit of David Hunter Strother’s diaries in A Virginia Yankee in the Civil War. I never grow tired of reading his accounts, and with each reading I realize his Southern Unionism is more complex […]
How a picture and an antique beer bottle led to interesting ancestral connections… (conclusion)
January 20, 2013
Picking-up where I left off in yesterday’s post… Ah, yes, but even Draden’s association with alcohol distribution runs further back than that. The 1880s census shows him, as of June 2nd of that year, as a “Bar Keeper”, and boarding at the hotel (“The Crawford”, located on Main Street) owned by W.D.F. Duval, in Salem, Roanoke […]
How a picture and an antique beer bottle led to interesting ancestral connections… (part 1)
January 19, 2013
Sometime in the 1980s, I received a photocopy of a picture (ca. 1887-89) from one of my distant cousins. It showed three men (and a dog & horse) standing in front of a C.C. Moore bottling wagon. I took it that the three men were my third great grandfather, Cyrus S. Moore, and my gg […]
Georgia on my mind… and a different sort of Southern Unionist
January 18, 2013
While the Shenandoah Valley is first in my heart among favorite places, Georgia holds a very special place in it as well… specifically, coastal Georgia. That’s where my mind seemed to wonder off this past weekend, as temps here in the Valley teetered between the upper 50s/lower 60s. That’s weather reminiscent of winters in coastal […]
The future of Civil War history entails ___ (fill-in the blank)
January 14, 2013
History is an interesting field. There are a wide variety of practitioners, some on the “inside”, some on the “outside”, and some, to some degree, with one foot in both (some overlapping occasionally, and some on a regular basis). But, the inside/outside thing is a matter of perspective. People work in certain circles, and from within […]
Coincidence?
January 2, 2013
Off topic… sorta, but… In the last week, I’ve scored three major pieces on Ebay; at least “major” to me, personally. All three have to do with my Moore family, specifically rooted in my third great grandfather (the same one I mentioned in the blog post the other day) or his sons. The first piece […]
Another perspective on Emancipation Day
January 1, 2013
It didn’t dawn on me until I read a post on Facebook… Yes, I know it’s the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and I’ve been keenly aware of that since midnight. Some see the document and its reach as meaningless, but those who do so seem to look at it more from the surface… […]
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by Robert H. Moore, II
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