“Recalling” Ford’s Theatre - a personal indulgence in Civil War “memory”

I didn’t learn about Edwin Arthur Emerson until about a year or so ago. I think the thing that most intrigued me was that, while I had been fascinated with the soldier family members who had served in the war, I did not realize that I had a family member present, on stage, on the [...]

Returns for the 1860 Presidential Election in the Shenandoah Valley

I found the information for the 1860 Presidential election on a West Virginia Division of Culture and History site. Incidentally, it was rare for Lincoln to appear on a ballot in western Virginia (or most of the Commonwealth), but it appears he was present on the ballot in Shenandoah County, Virginia.

County
Abraham Lincoln (Republican)
John Bell (Constitutional [...]

Coercion and the vote for secession

I can’t help but think of that scene in Gods & Generals when it came to the vote for secession in Rockbridge County, Virginia. Some may remember it, where the actor playing William Nelson Pendleton announced the vote and that there had been only one vote against secession in the county (after which, a person [...]

Reflections on Hewitt’s statements about the “Lost Cause”

I found Hewitt’s comments about the Lost Cause while surfing the Web a couple of years ago and they have lingered with me ever since. I know that there were many in the North who wanted severe policies when it came to dealing with the postwar South. Despite what some have to say about reconstruction, [...]

Lincoln on C-Span

I found this link and thought it would be of interest to some. After attending the kick-off Lincoln event (the Lincoln Birthday event at the Lincoln Family Cemetery in Rockingham County, Virginia)for the Commonwealth of Virginia, I’m looking forward to the different reflections of Lincoln that will be coming out over the next year (and [...]

The need to lay aside animosities for dead men

While I clearly have grievances with the way some people like to distort history for modern agendas, I think that there should be a cut-off point between being aggravated with people today and bashing people of yesterday. To some degree, it reminds me of modern political campaigns where mudslinging runs rampant in an effort to [...]

The he-man Lincoln-haters club

About a week ago, I had the opportunity to attend the annual Lincoln Birthday event (sponsored by the Lincoln Society of Virginia) held at the Lincoln family cemetery near Broadway in Rockingham County, Virginia (the Lincoln family resided in this county since the 1760s, and Thomas Herring Lincoln, President Abraham Lincoln’s father, was born here in [...]