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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 »David Hunter Strother«
On Thomas Nast’s 176th Birthday
It’s his art and the way he could say so much in it, with so few words. That’s why I take time to remember Thomas Nast on his 176th birthday… and the fact that Facebook reminded me that, for whatever reason that compelled me at the time, I paid tribute to him on his birthday, back in […]
A Southern Unionist goes home, pt. 2.
June 17, 2015 by The Wild Pretanī
Continuing with Porte Crayon’s “Home”… but first, as mentioned in the blog post on Tuesday, keep in mind that Crayon (David Hunter Strother) lays out a story that differs from his actual experiences of returning home to Martinsburg and then later, Berkeley Springs. Still, one has to wonder where reality might intersect with fiction. We […]
A Southern Unionist goes home.
June 16, 2015 by The Wild Pretanī
By far, one of my favorite blogging experiences of the Sesqui was posting David Hunter Strother’s accounts of the early war (before he joined the Union army), in real time. It should be no surprise, therefore, that I often find myself returning to Strother for the rich content he left behind. Interestingly, in addition to […]
Charles T. O’Ferrall remembers the trial of Southern Unionist, Col. John Strother
December 8, 2014 by The Wild Pretanī
Something I ran across again, just recently… and, a pleasant “revisit” of a couple of my favorite topics (Southern Unionism and David Hunter Strother). As some may recall, I have mentioned the incident relating to the capture and trial of Col. John Strother in a previous post… as remembered by his son, David Hunter Strother. No […]
Things old that are new again…
October 14, 2014 by The Wild Pretanī
I’ve come into some unusually good deals lately and have added significantly to the “old wing” of my library… hence old things are indeed new again. The majority of these (in fact, all but the two on the top) date prior to the Civil War. Essentially, all that you see here have connections to the […]
Thinking about the Sesqui of Strother’s farewell from the army
August 9, 2014 by The Wild Pretanī
Around 1:30 p.m. (I’m almost to the very minute when posting this), 150 years ago on this day, David Hunter Strother boarded a train at Harper’s Ferry, bound for Baltimore. He was just taking 20 days leave of absence… but ultimately, it sure appears as if he had had his fill of war. Was it […]
D.H. Strother observes… “negro servants bearing arms”
June 29, 2014 by The Wild Pretanī
This afternoon, I spent some time revisiting Strother’s recollections of the early war. As always, “Porte Crayon” never disappoints… Still a civilian at the time, Strother made various notes regarding what he saw on Saturday, June 15, 1861 (153 years ago this month), as Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederates marched through Charles Town, Virginia… Looking along […]
A Father’s Day story with a Sesqui tie-in
June 15, 2014 by The Wild Pretanī
It’s ironic, but today is the 150th anniversary of an event that is unique… it’s about fathers… and it happens to fall on Father’s Day. That said, I wish I could say it will leave you with a warm feeling, but… June 15, 1864 was a Wednesday. Of that day, David Hunter Strother remembered Early […]
Strother and the 1st New York Cavalry on African-American Conscripts in Winchester
June 14, 2014 by The Wild Pretanī
I’ve been enjoying myself much this morning by reading through David Hunter Strother’s coverage of events from March to June 1864. Whenever I read Strother, I’m never disappointed at his observations and what he is thinking. That said, I’m pretty sure if I actually had the opportunity, this guy would be at the top of […]
Was Gen. David Hunter the same man in ’64 as in ’63?
June 10, 2013 by The Wild Pretanī
Blogging pal Craig Swain’s post today caught my eye… well, actually, all it probably took was to see “Shenandoah Valley” in the title. 🙂 Anyway, after another excellent post about Gen. David Hunter’s activities on the Georgia coast (since, we are right there, time-wise, in the Sesqui of those events) he asks an excellent question… […]
“Favoriting” people in history… responsibly
June 2, 2013 by The Wild Pretanī
Recalling that David Hunter Strother’s memoirs picked-up again (the last entry, just before that, was May 19, 1863) around June 1, 1863, or so, I started this morning (somewhat of a “Sesqui moment”) by flipping to a page in A Virginia Yankee in the Civil War. After campaigning in the deep South, Strother had returned […]
He gave them victories
May 1, 2013 by The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 […]
Strother, April 22, 1861
April 22, 2011 by The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 The Wild Pretanī
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 […]
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Southern Unionists Chronicles
- 34th Massachusetts POWs and Harrisonburg Unionists
- Letter from Botts, laying “bare the tyranny of Jeff. Davis”, November 21, 1863
- Hensley-Lamb (Rockingham & Page County) refugees, documented in Gettysburg newspaper
- In the case of Mr. Nicholas Breeden, Rockingham County, Virginia
- When a Confederate soldier came-a-courtin’ a Southern Unionist’s daughter
- Rebecca Wright: Winchester Unionist and Sheridan’s “Little Quaker Girl”
- “The reign of terror in Loudoun, Va.”
- Looking for photos of Galvanized Yankees
- Reuben Kite’s story
- New markers in Waterford, Va. highlight Southern Unionism there
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September 27, 2016 by The Wild Pretanī
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