I've recently become a little obsessive about the history of the Civil War lately.
The elements that tie down the Civil War today for those of us so interested in it are other things that fascinate me as well. The existing photographs from this time, I'm finding are many more and well extended past the works of Matthew Brady and his photo team.
I've been reading just about anything I can get my hands on and my Amazon shopping cart is now empty of books that are currently in route to my little black mailbox.
Some of the elements and documentation of the war that have recently knocked me off my seat have been things such as a small navy book of Confederate war poems. I like to imagine a time when men with swords, funny cats and Avett Brother like beards, recited poetry to their fellow soldiers and "belles".
Also, the photographic evidence of animals in the presence of battle is also incredible.
Today I read about an eagle the Wisconsin regime named "Ole Abe" that would visit regularly with the soldiers, perch himself high above during battle and then rejoin after the fighting had subsided.
Reasons being for my extensive research have stemmed from a critical paper I'm writing for my MFA program. I encourage all my readers to do their own research in hopes to find your own family link to the men in gray or blue.
I should also mention the above photograph is one of South Carolinian war photographer, Samuel A. Cooley. He is the gentleman to the right of the camera, with his hand resting on it. In all my ancestry research, I hope to find a blood link to him.
I like the new fonts and pictures! I'm still feeling out how blogger works, and (clearly) I'm having some issues.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find a whole lot of family history specific to the civil war, but I did find this link:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jbl2403/lyles_family/Fairfield_Co._Lyles.html
PS- What area is your family from?
ReplyDeleteVery Cool! I love that one of your possible distant relative's name is Valentine (and a male).
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my blog! I need to work on creating a cool image "head liner" for my blog the way that you have one for yours.
My family is Irish descent on my fathers side also with a "chick a saw" Indian blood line in there somewhere. I don't know much about the indian bloodline and I know that Turner is a very common surname in Ireland.
As for my mothers side, not much is known. The name is from Swedish descent but the man my grandmother was married to died in Vietnam and she remarried and we don't really speak too much of the other guy now.
I also know that I had family in Newberry and Saluda, SC that were farmers.
There is so much to learn!
I simply can't get enough of ancestry genealogy!
Also, I now simply adore a blog you turned me on to called Everyday Musings.
The girl that writes it, absolutely has my dream job as a travel/food writer, sigh... :)
during the civil war my family was farming in Larkhall, Scotland so I've got no familial connections
ReplyDeletebut I'm interested in the animals part of the post! I've only ever researched animals in WWI (you should see the play War Horse, it's based off a book)
but I've never looked into Civil War animals. Thanks for teaching me something Austin!
I'm flattered you're reading my blog, thanks!
ReplyDeleteGlad I could teach you something too :)
I've actually been working on a series of poems on horses and some of them are based upon the role of the war horse.