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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 All posts tagged under »Augusta County«
All was not innocence and harmony (OTD, Augusta County, 1852)
I’m thinking that… in between blog posts which take time to construct, I’m going to start posting brief “On This Day” (OTD) material, shedding some light on news within the Shenandoah Valley (and, perhaps, the Cumberland Valley, to offer a chance for comparative analysis), during the antebellum. The hope is to provide a look at what life was really like […]
In the wake of Nat Turner – further encouragement to the American Colonization Society?
August 1, 2015 by Robert Moore
I find what follows to be worthy of introduction into the discussion about the American Colonization Society. How did the Nat Turner Rebellion impact the efforts of the ACS? Perhaps more importantly, what did the discussions of 1831/32 mean to Virginians by 1861? You’ll note that I link freely to Encyclopedia Virginia… a rich resource […]
The Jackson Prayer Oak/Tree, near Mt. Meridian, is no more…
June 3, 2011 by Robert Moore
See =>here, from NBC 29 out of Charlottesville, and =>here, from the Daily News Record, Harrisonburg. More to follow…
The part of the story that Strother would not enjoy…
April 30, 2011 by Robert Moore
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 […]
“Submission is Ruin.”
April 10, 2011 by Robert Moore
I’ll let a pro-secession paper in Virginia speak for itself… Nothing could be more preposterous, nothing more stupid, than the dogma that slavery is a curse to the country. On the contrary, the heaviest calamity that could befall any slave State on this continent, the greatest curse that an angry Providence could inflict upon the […]
John B. Baldwin on the threatened right(s?) of Virginians
March 31, 2011 by Robert Moore
From the Virginia Convention, Thursday, March 21, 1861… we catch Mr. Baldwin in the middle of his presentation to the members of the Convention (as documented by someone present)… She [Augusta County] was identified with every interest of the Commonwealth; and if there were extremes of opinion or prejudice in one quarter or another, Augusta […]
A reason why Virginians might fear an alignment with the “Northern Confederacy”
March 29, 2011 by Robert Moore
From the Staunton Vindicator, March 29, 1861: Mr. Bennett, one of the financial officers of the State [Virginia], has already called for an increase of 20 cents in the one hundred dollars on the present rate of taxation. If the policy of the submissionists is adopted, and Virginia becomes a part of the Northern Confederacy, her […]
Protect slavery or face “degredation and ruin.”
March 29, 2011 by Robert Moore
Looking back 150 years ago, from the Shenandoah Valley… this comes from the Staunton Vindicator, March 29, 1861… The question is not “Union”. That is irretrievably, hopelessly broken up. No compromise of right–no palliation of wrong, or denunciation of its resistance, can restore its fallen columns. Nor can past glory reconcile to a future of degradation. The only […]
Were Virginia’s Confederate Reserves a smokescreen of deception?
March 23, 2011 by Robert Moore
I’m really jumping the gun here, because I should be holding this story in reserve (sure, why not… pun intended) until 2014… marking the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Virginia’s Confederate reserve units. Still, I brought it up the other day (in “WYSIWYG Confederates?”) , so I figured that I would pick-up from where […]
The Vindicator addresses the Spectator’s “doing harm” piece
February 15, 2011 by Robert Moore
From the Republican Vindicator, February 15, 1861, in response to the piece I mentioned, =>here: The Spectator The Spectator, seeking an excuse to compliment its editor in the last issue of that paper, says it “understood that some of the extremists in this and the adjoining counties say that the Staunton Spectator is doing more […]
“What Can Virginia Do?”
February 9, 2011 by Robert Moore
From the secession-leaning Staunton Vindicator, February 8, 1861… 150 years ago yesterday… The return so far received from the election on Monday last, show that a majority of “Union” candidates have been chosen over their “Secession” opponents. The complete returns from the State will not be received in time for publication in our issue of […]
Newspapers that reveal something new to popular memory of the Civil War… perhaps…
February 6, 2011 by Robert Moore
Once again (as can be seen in my post from Friday), I’ve been perusing the Valley of the Shadow site. My focus in that post on Friday was on the two papers in Staunton, Virginia, at this particular time (the first week of February), 150 years ago. One of those papers happened to support secession, […]
Virginia newspapers “doing harm” to sentiments of disunion
February 4, 2011 by Robert Moore
As Ron Baumgarten pointed out in his post the other day over at “All Not So Quiet on the Potomac”, today marks the 150th anniversary of Virginians voting for delegates to the Virginia Convention of 1861. By the time of the vote, seven states from the deep South had seceded; Texas being the most recent, […]
The voice of the Southern people left unheard…
April 26, 2010 by Robert Moore
Took a little “virtual walk” among some items in the Valley of the Shadow today and found quite a bit that was of interest, but wanted to throw these out for consideration… all from the Feb. 26, 1861 issue of the Staunton Spectator… The Natchez Courier “Contends that the people of Natchez were not in […]
The 1860 Presidential vote in Washington County, Maryland
October 24, 2009 by Robert Moore
As you may recall from my post from the other day, there was discussion about “Black Republicanism” playing a factor in the sweeping display of Unionism in the Clear Spring District. I mentioned in the same post, however, that only two votes were casts in the Clear Spring District for Lincoln. With that in mind, […]
In search of the Christmas tree in the Civil War era home
December 20, 2008 by Robert Moore
Recently, while developing a two-part article for my newspaper column, I began thinking about our cultural understandings (or misunderstandings) of how the Christmas tree has developed in our historical memory. In terms of Christmas trees at the time of the Civil War, I was thinking specifically about the Christmas tree scenes from Gods & Generals. Was the […]
Number of voters in the Shenandoah Valley, 1856-1861
April 8, 2008 by Robert Moore
The following table specifies the number of votes cast in the three elections from 1856-1860 and the referendum vote on secession in 1861. I’ll comment more on this later. However, with a quick glance at the difference between numbers of voters in 1860 and 1861, in most cases (Rockingham and Shenandoah counties being the exception) […]
Southern Unionist Claims for the Shenandoah Valley
April 3, 2008 by Robert Moore
While the referendum vote on secession for the different counties of the Shenandoah Valley may reflect one thing (most especially to someone who doesn’t look beyond raw numbers), deeper probing into other numbers brings about a need to investigate even further. That said, the following is submitted for consideration in combination with my post from […]
Referendum numbers on secession in the Shenandoah Valley
April 2, 2008 by Robert Moore
Considering I brought up the use of coercion in the referendum for secession in Virginia (and more specifically in Page County in the Shenandoah Valley) in yesterday’s post, I thought it might be interesting to ride with this topic a little more. Today, I’m laying out the raw numbers on the referendum for all of […]
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