Browsing All posts tagged under »David Hunter Strother«

He gave them victories

May 1, 2013 by

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May 1, 2013… so begins the Sesqui of the Battle of Chancellorsville. As such, I’ve been thinking… What if Stonewall Jackson lived to command beyond Chancellorsville? Frankly, any forward speculation of his possible performances in battles after Chancellorsville is subject to so many factors that it’s not even funny. As such, forward speculation is a […]

Interpreting USCTs in places where they were not…

March 10, 2013 by

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Recently, there’s been a flurry of posts about USCTs (see Craig Swain’s, here; Emmanuel Dabney’s, here; Kevin Levin’s, here; and Jimmy Price’s, here), and, as I’m in the process of compiling a list of USCTs born in Shenandoah Valley counties, I find it timely. Should the interpretation of USCTs be incorporated into places in which they were not… […]

Examples of compromised unconditional Southern Unionism

January 24, 2013 by

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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 […]

“Did people call him a Union man?” “Yes, sir, and a great many called him a damn Yankee all the time.”

July 7, 2012 by

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My attention to the details of his life just weren’t there… it seemed they didn’t need to be… as a father-in-law to one of my distant uncles, John William Neer was an indirect link in the family tree… and, at one time, I knew nothing of his life, other than that indirect connection. Over time, […]

Turner Ashby, in family and personal… “memory”

June 6, 2012 by

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There are several posting Turner Ashby’s death picture today. After all, it was on this day that the “Black Knight”* met his end, just outside Harrisonburg, Virginia. As for me, I’ll opt out on posting that pic, and any lengthy account of the circumstances surrounding his death… but, will post some of my thoughts on […]

Wading through life to get to the Civil War…

April 10, 2012 by

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So… the balance of time between getting the new house prepared for moving in, and the old house for going on the market continues. Please pardon the absence of posts. In the interim (also known as… in the midst of everything I’m doing to accomplish the above), there’s still much time for thinking… and I still think […]

“Pressed”, drafted, and conscripted – a quick note

March 15, 2012 by

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Yesterday, I posted a piece about Thomas C. Suter, and his change from gray (Confederate service) to blue (Union service). I also posted a link to the piece on Western Maryland’s Historical Library’s Facebook page, as a response to their having posted the brief newspaper clip. In response, Tom Clemens, Professor of History at Hagerstown […]

Virginia Unionist Goodhart continues: more on the referendum on secession

May 23, 2011 by

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Picking up from yesterday’s post on the referendum, and, as promised in a post a few weeks back, more about the referendum on secession in Virginia from Briscoe Goodhart… … and as by these troops the United States Government property at Harper’s Ferry had been seized and the immense navy yard at Norfolk had been […]

The part of the story that Strother would not enjoy…

April 30, 2011 by

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While we saw this morning, in an earlier post, where Strother encountered Virginia militia troops from Berkeley and Jefferson counties, hoping for a reversal on secession in Virginia, we also see these two letters (courtesy of the Staunton Vindicator, April 26, 1861); one from Capt. Absalom Koiner (Augusta Rifles), and the other from Capt. William […]

D.H. Strother, April 27, 1861

April 27, 2011 by

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On the 27th of April I met a friend who was on his way to Annapolis for the purpose of visiting his son, then a cadet in the Naval Academy. I was easily persuaded to accompany him, and at an early hour we took the steamer for that place. As we passed Fort McHenry the […]

Strother, April 22, 1861

April 22, 2011 by

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On Monday, 22d of April, the excitement still continued, the mobs occasionally breaking into shops in search of arms. The battle of Cockeysville did not take place as was expected. The Pennsylvanians, who were for the most part unarmed and altogether unprepared for a warlike encounter, had received warning of the proceedings in Baltimore, and […]

Strother in Baltimore, April 21, 1861

April 21, 2011 by

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On Sunday, April 21, in pursuance of important private business, I went from Charlestown to Harper’s Ferry, and thence by the train to Baltimore. As Maryland was at that time supposed to be one of the elect, and Baltimore, by the acts of the 19th, had earned the right to be regarded as a true […]

Strother, April 20, 1861

April 20, 2011 by

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April 20, Charlestown. – To-day we received confirmation of the passage of the ordinance of Secession by the Virginia Convention. This was followed by news of the riots of the 19th in Baltimore, and the destruction of the Navy-yard at Norfolk. Under these accumulating proofs of the inability or unwillingness of the general Government to […]

Strother, April 19, 1861

April 19, 2011 by

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On going down into the town this morning I found that there had been considerable accessions to the State forces, seven or eight hundred having arrived during the night and morning, while as many more were reported on the way. Confusion reigned supreme, ably seconded by whisky. The newly-arrived troops having nothing to eat, consoled […]

Strother, Evening of April 18, 1861

April 18, 2011 by

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The troops were now marching up the southern slope of the hill, since called Bolivar Heights, the crest of which was covered with pine woods and dense thickets of undergrowth, and furnished a favorable position from which to resist their advance. From certain unmistakable symptoms I concluded that very little force would have been required […]

About the right time, and, perhaps… at the right place

April 18, 2011 by

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Some people are into this sort of thing, and some aren’t, but for those of us who are… it’s cool to be at a particular place exactly 150 years to the day… and sometimes to within the hour or so… of an event in the Civil War. So, check your watches… the time is currently […]

More from Strother, April 18, 1861

April 18, 2011 by

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Picking-up from this morning… when Strother was present for the actions leading up to the taking of Harper’s Ferry by Virginia militia… and when he encountered “old friends” who were partaking in the endeavor… As these gentlemen had unadvisedly, perhaps, communicated their plans to me, I might under ordinary circumstances have felt averse to saying […]

D.H. Strother, morning of April 18, 1861

April 18, 2011 by

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This morning I took the cars at Sir John’s for the purpose of visiting Charlestown on personal business. A stranger from the West who sat beside me opened conversation on the all-absorbing subject: Would Virginia secede? [Word had not been received yet, of the Convention's vote the day before] I replied, somewhat dogmatically perhaps, “That […]

Strother on rumors of a plot to seize the arsenal

April 17, 2011 by

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… It is reported that certain Secessionists in a neighboring county are arranging a plot to seize upon the Government arsenals at Harper’s Ferry. Several members of the Union Association at Martinsburg have applied to me to take command of five hundred volunteers, who are ready to march to the defense of the place against […]

More thoughts from “the Porte”

April 17, 2011 by

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I had hoped the decisive results of the recent election would have quieted the ferment about secession in Virginia, but it seems not. The people appear uneasy and distrustful of those they have chosen to represent them. The reports from Richmond are unfavorable, they say. The Union delegates are parleying with their adversaries, arguing questions […]

“The Porte” reflects on these days, 150 years ago…

April 16, 2011 by

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For those who know me, and David Hunter Strother’s writings as they covered the next few days, 150 years ago, you know darn well that I can’t let these next couple of days of the Sesqui go by without bringing “the Porte” back into focus… 150 years ago yesterday, Strother noted… For Sumter surrendered; President […]

Virginia’s Person of the Year for 1861 would be… ???

February 26, 2011 by

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Yes, I know, there are lots of folks out there who would immediately proclaim Robert E. Lee as Virginia’s Man Person of the Year for 1861… without giving the question further thought. Yet, I think that identifies a problem. Personally, I think the question merits further thought. What, exactly, would make someone a “person of […]

Complex connections

November 22, 2010 by

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I saw this today, and the first thing I thought was, “oh, I bet Harry would be interested in this”… The thing is, I was looking for the headstones of David Hunter Strother’s (aka Porte Crayon… or, around these parts, simply, “The Porte“) parents. Well, this stone was not ten feet from John Strother’s stone… […]

… and from Harper’s Ferry, Strother writes…

October 18, 2010 by

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Picking-up from where Strother left off yesterday… Early on the morning of the 18th I went up street and there met Joe Burns who informed me that our boys had had a fight and that seven or eight of them had been wounded, two supposed mortally, this was exciting and hurrying to the Depot I […]

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