According to history, the Queen of Roman gods and goddesses, known as Juno, was honored every February 14th. It had become the custom for young girls to write their names on slips of paper and young men would draw these names from their container. During the festival that followed the following day, known as Lupercalia, the boy and girl matched by the paper slip would participate in the festivities together. Tradition has it that eventually some of these pairs would fall in love and even marry. Over time, Popes of the Roman Catolic faith were apt to replace pagan festivals with celebrations of their own faithful followers. Thus was the case in 496 AD when Pope Gelasius decreed that February 14th of each year would be a day of memorial to honor Saint Valentine.

Over time, Valentine became regarded as the patron saint of lovers and a custom of exchanging messages of love and friendship emerged. These simple yet intimate messages of endearing love were soon followed by poems, gifts and flowers.Modern commercialism has greatly affected the way in which Saint Valentine’s memorial is celebrated, but the central theme of love and friendship remains.

Of course, as is the case with many ancient customs and traditions, the actual source of the celebration is a matter of acedemic contention. Regardless of the exact history behind what is known today as Valentine’s Day, it would be wise not to engage in intellectual debate over its origins of February 14th. Instead, those who have a special love interest in their life would be well advised to leave history to scholars and arrive on time and with a token of love and gratitude. Such an act will honor the memory of Saint Valentine and keep the celebration a joyous one.

Today, however, is not the time for debating the rationality of political correctness in the United States military. There is a time and a place for that, and I do hope the discussion arises and is fruitful. On my mind today is the memory of those who fought, those who died, to make this nation a more free and safe place for their children and grandchildren, your children and grandchildren, and you.

I spent the first half of Saturday morning at a living history demonstration put on by the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry. The event was called “1944 Close Assault.”

I often try to attend events that I can that bring our military history to life and I was not disappointed by this effort. The format was more personal and instructional than any WWII event I had ever been to. Each weapon was displayed and demonstrated after a brief history was given. A short reenactment of a small unit attacking a fortified position was then given. The terrors these men faced were more apparent in the closer setting of this event, as was their bravery.

One of the things that stuck out in my thoughts that day though was that the crowd was much smaller than I have seen in the past at such events. Perhaps it was because I was at the morning event. I do hope more people showed up for the afternoon show.

I was pleased to see a few WWII vets in the audience and I always focus on their reactions to the presentations. You could see in their eyes their mental recollections of those days of their youth spent in fox-holes and trenches. The pride as they sat taller in their seats when the speaker touched on something they had experienced personally.

For all those that served and are serving, I thank you.

Additional Resources

Veterans Day Lesson Plans

• The Teacher’s Corner
• Lessons Plan Page
• A to Z Teacher Stuff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 28, 2009

For more information, contact:
Jim Campi, CWPT, (202) 367-1861 x7205
Mary Koik, CWPT, (202) 367-1861 x7231

CONGRESS ALLOCATES $9 MILLION TO PRESERVE AMERICA’S ENDANGERED CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELDS

CWPT praises Congress for its unprecedented commitment to protecting America’s hallowed grounds

(Washington, D.C.) – The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) today applauded members of the U.S. House and Senate for including the largest ever single-year allocation for the federal Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Interior Appropriations Act Conference Report (H Rept 111-316).

The conference report, scheduled for a final vote in both chambers later this week, includes $9 million for the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program, a mechanism that utilizes government matching grants and private funds to permanently protect historic Civil War battlefields throughout the nation.

“This is tremendous news that could not come at a more critical time,” said CWPT President James Lighthizer. Each day 30 acres of hallowed Civil War battlefield ground are paved over and lost forever. This money will allow us to preserve historic land that would otherwise be lost to development and urban sprawl.”

The Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program targets priority unprotected Civil War sites outside National Park Service boundaries. The program’s matching grants formula encourages state and private sector investment in historic land preservation. For example, in 2008 the Virginia General Assembly set aside $5.2 million to match federal Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program monies. Grants from the program are competitively awarded by the American Battlefield Protection Program, an arm of the National Park Service.

Since its creation in 1999, the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program has been used to protect more than 15,000 acres of hallowed ground at 60 battlefields in 14 states. Among the sites saved as a result of this program are historic properties at Antietam and South Mountain, Md.; Champion Hill, Miss.; Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Manassas, Va.; Chattanooga and Fort Donelson, Tenn.; and Harpers Ferry, W.Va. The program is funded through the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Although numerous members of the House and Senate have played important roles in ensuring the program’s continued success, the following individuals were pivotal in securing this year’s unprecedented federal commitment to battlefield preservation: Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairs Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Norm Dicks (D-WA); Senators Jim Webb (D-VA), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and Jeff Sessions (R-AL); and Congressmen, Bart Gordon (D-TN), Steve Israel (D-NY), Gary Miller (R-CA) and C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-MD). In addition, 16 Senators and 29 Member of Congress signed letters of support for the program earlier this year.

“It is welcome news that our $9 million funding request for battlefield preservation was accepted in the Interior Appropriations bill,” said Senator Webb. “As America prepares for the 150th anniversary commemoration of the Civil War, it is more important than ever that we preserve these landmarks for future generations to learn about the history of our nation.”

Senator Alexander concurred, saying, “The Civil War was a heartbreaking time in our history that we should never forget. Protecting our Civil War battlefields and historic sites is important both to honor the thousands who fought and to allow future generations to learn their heritage by visiting sites like Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Fort Donelson and Parker’s Crossroads. I’m glad to see that this funding was included to support this important program.”

“America’s Civil War battlefields are part of our nation’s rich heritage, but sadly thousands of acres of battlefields are being lost every year. It is incumbent upon all of us to ensure our children and grandchildren have the opportunity to visit these sacred grounds and experience part of history,” remarked Congressman Ruppersberger.

This vision was also shared by Congressman Miller, who first introduced legislation authorizing the program in 2002. Miller noted, “I have been a long time advocate for preservation of our nation’s historic battlefields. These battlefields offer a porthole to the past. The vivid imagery of an epic conflict can remind visitors of the struggles our country has gone through to preserve the banner of liberty and justice for all.”

Like Senator Webb, Lighthizer also stressed that the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War presents an ideal time to redouble efforts to protect this hallowed ground. “I can think of no more fitting – and lasting – tribute during this sesquicentennial commemoration than to preserve the places where these brave soldiers fought and bled.”

The Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program was reauthorized in March 2009 as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (PL 111-11). The legislation, introduced in the Senate by Senators Webb and Sessions and in the House by Congressmen Miller, Israel and Gordon, reauthorized the program for $10 million a year for five years. The popular bill enjoyed considerable bipartisan support, earning 33 cosponsors in the Senate and 108 cosponsors in the House.

With 55,000 members, CWPT is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Its mission is to preserve our nation’s remaining Civil War battlefields and to promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds through education and heritage tourism. The CWPT website is located at www.civilwar.org.

###

For more information about the program’s congressional supporters, visit CWPT online at www.civilwar.org/aboutus/news/news-releases/2009-news/congress-allocates-9-million.html.

I recieved word today that the goal was reached and the battlefield HAS BEEN SAVED!!!

Victory at Davis Bridge

Please join me and thousands of other like-minded lovers of the United States of America in opposing the construction of a 138,000 square-foot store upon Wilderness Battlefield!!

Civil War Preservation Trust: Wilderness Walmart

Page 39

Even then the proposition that has just been successfully carried would have been rejected with abhorrence. Great and little politicians declare’s that these concessions were made only because the Constitution demanded it. Their sacrifice was Jephtha’s, but so was their necessity, and their lamentation. But any attempt to remove an ancient landmark, any disturbance of ancient settlements, will never be allowed. No concessions to slavery. 0, no! Onily a painful fulfillment of agreements which our fathers made, only a declining to exasperate our brethren of the South by a useless proviso; and so, by soft words and a flattering tongue, by a heart that deceived itself; the governmnent became the bloodhound of the slaveholder, to track and catch his God-like property. So our vast possessiolns, acquired by our blood and treasure, became an Aceldama, a field of blood unto this day. And great men and good men shouted loud hlosannas over these peaceful measures, and declared that Ie who lioldeth the winds in Ilis fists would bind these contending breezes, and that there should be a great calm. Ah! the anaconda was only resting from his bloody feasts. Now and then he opes his ponderous jaws, and swallows dow-n, as a sweet morsel, the body and the soul of a Long, or a Sims, some poor Christian free man or free -Noman. But its fell hunIger does not yet gliaw within. And we only said, ” It is the price of the Uiiion, this precious Union. It is the condition of our couitry’s existence. Throw the slave Daniel into the Southern den of lions. Our farms, our stores, our schlools, must flourish even if a few negroes suffer slightly. They arc half brutes. They cannot feel tire chains, the whip, the auctionblock, the breaking of heart-strings, thle fiery stake of a death. What are they compared with our great and glorious Union?’Off with thleir heads! “‘ And on we marclhed, and boasted, and declared ourselves the standard-bearers of the race, and called onl Europe to witness our glory, to fall at our feet, and follow our illustrious leadership to universal democracy. But that great serpent awoke; nay, rather, lie never slept. IIe bided his time; and when our boasts were loudest, and political calm thle deepest, he said, ” Give up that useless Missouri Compromise. It aggravates the South. It does you no good. It will make no difference in thle end. Slavery can never flourish in those territories. Don’t woulid our feClings by adhlering to its punctilios. You very generously abandoned the WAVilmot Proviso, because of our sensitiveness. Do thle gelnerous thing once more.” We were struck aghast. “‘Give up the Compromise’? Open the gates of the Eden of the continent to this river of’ death, that has burned and blackened so many fair fields? Never! The Thirteen States fought eight years rather than submit to foreign tyranny. We will fight as long rather than surrender a domain twice as large as the Colonies embraced to a domestic tyralnny imimeasurably worse.” Loud rose the cry: “It is ours. It shall remain ours.” And behold, while we cry, our represeuItatives hold it out to the greedy clutch of the slaveliolder. It is grasped. It is swallowed, and to-day the arch tempter is the sole ruler in that Paradise. Freedom, intelligence, and enterprise, art, civilization, and Christianity, every grace and strength of humanity, have fled, as the angels that frequented the holy Eden, and Satan, sin, and death revel in its desecrated forests and prairies, their unquestioned possession. Thus these things are. Not by one step, nor two, have we reached this goal,Obut by a practical inmbruting of the conscience, by yieldi.ng to the demands of this awful iniquity, by violently opposing and abusing its earnest enemies. Had not these members of Congress fought against the anti-slavery movement with fiurious passion, they would not be found to-day enacting this bill. The lilght that was in them is darkness; and how great is that darkness! What an awful depth upon depth of darkness! Great men in the pulpit and the forum set the bad example of mocking at the higher law, and now their bayers on deride the very law which they so idolatrously worship. So comes Pandemonium, no law, but Chaos and old Night. ” Nor public flame, nor private, dares to shline; Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine! Lo, thy dread empire, Chlaos, is restored; Light dies before thy uncreating word: Thy hand, great Anarcib, lets the curtain fall, And universal darkness buries all.” Verily as we have sown, so do we reap this day. Saul is conseliting to the martyr of this first-born of Christianity. Saul, the Pharisee of Pharisees, we, who titlie mint and aniiise and cummin, and neglect the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and truth, we stand by while the murderous rocks are being hurled at its head; we share in the robber’s spoils -its sacred lands, with all their hidden but real wealth of happiness and prosperity. You and I, my brethren, have too much to do with this dire act. Have you not said, “Party first, liberty afterward”? Have you not cried, “Union, Union, Union, now and forever,” carefully omitting the word “Liberty,” which alone makes that Union an honor or a blessing? Have you not filled your ears with the shouts, “Our Nation, however bounded, and however ruled,” so that you could not and would not hear the wail of your oppressed fellow-citizens, that heart-broken entreaty fi’om the depths of that vast dungeon, covering a half million of square miles – ” Am I not a man and a brother?” Have you not said, “The slave belongs to his master; how can I interfere?” Hlave you not acknowledged the right of man to say to his brother, his sister, “Thou art my property, to be worked, whipped, starved, sold, ravished, killed, as I will?” IIave you not forgotten often in your daily prayers to pray for those in bonds as bound with them? Iin insolence of heart have you not despised “God’s image cut in ebony; ” ay, cut in ivory too, if that seems to you the more precious? for the blueeyed, yellowv-haired Saxon, no less than his swarthier brother, groans to-day inii that prison-liouse. lIave you not joined in jeers and slanders against the abolitionists, and given ground for the remark of a senator from Georgia, MIr. Toombs, but last Thursday, that “the governmenlt has but little to fear from thle abolitionists. Their greatest achievements have beenI to raise mobs of fugitives and free negroes, and to incite them to murder and other crimes, and their exploits generally end in subornation of perjury, to escape the criminal courts. The whole concern is not worth anI ounce of powder.” lIave you not apologized for, defended, and even applauded the system of slavery, commendilng the graces of the masters, the submission, contentrnent, and even happiness of the slave? IIave you not cherished a pride of caste, declared complexion a IIeaven-appoiiited barrier of separation between the children of Adam, a great gulf, across which no white and wealthy Dives could pass to mingle in perfect unity of feeling and life with a black or tawny Lazarus, barbarous, beggarly, and sore-smitten, as you saw and said, albeit he was even then lying in Abrahlam’s bosom, the best beloved of all his children? Have you not thus declared the diversity of the human race, and given yotr sinful aversion the authority of a divine decree?’ Let him that is without sin among us cast the first stone at those lofty in position and power, who but give the logical and inevitable conclusion to these feelings; who say, ” The negro has no identity of rights with the white,” as you say hlie has none of blood; ” the abolitionist is a madnmaii, scatterinug firebrands, arrows, and death. Money is everything. Alake money. Extend slavery. Crush out abolitionism! ” Anrd it is done. In their grand if gloomy palace of hell sit these slave masters of the people, all of whom are their slaves, and most of whom, if of white faces, hug their chains and kiss their conquerors’ feet. They exult, as did the Pandemonium chiefs over their mragnificent structure. They exclaim witlh the Babylonian monarch, “Is not this great Babylon that I have builded? ” “Surely a

ll the principalities and powers, all the offices and honor of the American continent, shall be ours, and ours forever.” They heed not the footstep of the descending God; they hear not that avenging voice whispering in their heart of hearts, “Tlhou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; ” then what becomes of thy stores of power, pomp, and pride? “An answer sweeps through the troubled night With a shout for the slave and a shout for the right. Hear ye not, hear ye not, through your marble arch, The iron tramp of the millions marlch? The earthquake awakes in a giant start, And breaks the clhain whichl has bound his heart.” By such slow and steady approaches the citadel of liberty has been enclosed, undermined, taken. America is no loinger a free nation. No longer can she boast that in ller borders the rights of man are inviolable. Icrlec may the oppressed find liberty, and the heavy laden rest. Not in obedience to constitutional scruples, not by a sudden surprise, temptation, or fall,tas this destruction come upon her. This act is against all constitutional statements or suggestions. She gives her hand, if not her heart, to the vote. So far from being the first triumph of the Tempter, it is the autumnal fruit of seeds sown by our fathers’ hands, and nurtured and enriched by the assiduous culture of three genlerations. From the ordinance of 1787, which admitted slavery to all our country south of the Ohio, by forbidding it north of that line, and which built up the enormous power of this crime in four of the largest and most influential of our Slave States, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabamna, and Mississippi, we have descended to tlhe ordinance of 1854, which prohibits freedom in all tlhe territory that had been pledged sacredly to liberty, which practically and intentionally forbids any restrictions on the march of this demon over any part of tlhe national domain. Thlere is no national life in us. Beftore the world, before God, wve stand to-day in a bl)acker infamy than rests upon any other power. We have become the basest of kin,gdoms. The lowest of tlhe nations of the earth look down upon us. France has liberated its slaves in Algiers and thle WAVest Indies. Russia has emancipated its serfs, Mexico its citizens. Brazil discourages slavery and encourages its extirpation. Turkey represses this accursed trade. AWe alone, of all Christian, of all heathen lands, avow the div-inc origin of slavery, and accord it unlimnited life. WQ alone tear down thle wvall of separation our fathers had built, and say to tlhe sea of unspeakable crime and agony, “N o longer sh-all it be said to thee, by man or God,’ iere shlall thy proud \waves be stayed;’ but dash, roar, roll onward and onward, engulfing all those vast and blessed regions with an arkless deluge of death.” If Jefferson could say, in his day, ” I tremble for my country when I remember that God is just,” what must we say, \who have seen that country descend from one point of baseness to another, until now African cruelty, Egyptian degradation, or Romanii corruption, in the heig,hts of their excesses, were hardly more vile, were far less guilty? There should be no more Fourth of July, its celebration is a mockery; no more reading of the Declaration of Indepen dence, – we are independent no longer: the slave’s collar and manacles burden our neck and arms; no more boast of our Christianity as a nation, wlhen our President and Con gress exceed Nero and his selate in pagan edicts and crimes; no more vaunts of our greatnless among the nations of the earth. They have heard of our sliameni, they have seeI it, and they rejoice in it. We, raised to heaven by free institutions and all the culture that has ever yet been giveln to man, have voluntarily cast ourselves dowjn to hell. Before God and all the world, America stands to-day the propagandist of slavery, the advocate and practicler of the dogma that man can, and should, and shall own his fellow lman; that we are endowed by the Creator, not with iualien able rights of life, liberty, and thel-c pursuit of happiiess, but of murder, bondage, and the destruction of haplpiness; that there is no sacredness in the miarriage tie, nlo duty to believe in or regard the affections of father or mother, husbaid or wife, brother or sister; thlat the “peculitar ” and very domestic ” institution ” of home life and love is coIifined exclusively to those who have not a drop of Afieican blood in their veiis; that the lhuman auction-block, the wNlhipping-post, the branding-iron, the bloodhound, the gallows-tree, and the stake —in a w-ord, every barbarisnmare the true elements of a nation’s grovwth and glory. Thlese are the doctrines enacted by tlhe prescot CoIigress of thle United States, approved by our present President, atld published to the w-orld as tlhe coinsummate flower of Christian civilization in this land of the Puritan, Ilugucieot, alnd Qualker, in the year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Cllrist, the cighteen hundred and fifty-fourthl. The pei that put tlhe figlures of that date of c redemption upon this satanic bill must have sllrunk Trol.the profianity, if the heart and hand that it served were so depraved as to be unconscious of the horrible sin. The deepest depth is reached. There may be a tableland of darkness upon which future legislators and executives shall erect other trophies of their wickedness, the abolition of all laws which tow prevent the bringing or keeping and trading of slaves in the Free States; the reinstatement of the African slave trade- a trade far less cruel than that which is regularly carried on under the protection of our government between Baltinmore and New Orleans; tile enslaving of white laborers as well as those of tie darker hue, who now pine in chains; the acquisition of Cuba by robbery or by open war with Spainl, as we fought with Mexico, to win a new region for this crime; and, at last, and not improbably, a war’ith Great Britain, to prevent Canada’s harborilngl the fugitives from our oppression. Then cometh the end – a return to violence, ignorance, idleness, and bestiality surpassed only by those in that “outer darkness,” the “dogs, sorcerers, whoremonigers, murderers, idolaters, and whosoever lovetli and maketh a lie.” Is this our filture? M\ust our star be hurled from the heavens up whose steeps it was marching with such a rapid, vigorous, and lustrous step? Shall our fiine gold become dimr, our name, long the terror of tyrants, become their byword, our strength for thlie oppressed of all lands change to a rotten reed whichl pierceth the hand that leans upon it, and snaps while it stings? This we are! It is no shall be. The eclipse is on the sun. Darkness is now over all the land. The glow is faded from the heavens, and all isles and continents, even to distant most Asia and Africa, gaze with awe and sadness at the pale, cold light which we shed upon their dreary realms. But yesterday the nation  “Stood against the world; now lies she here, And none so poor to do her reverence.

One of the major plot points in the story involves a rather obscure, rarely spoken of battle that occurred at a location known as either Hatchie’s Bridge or Davis’ Bridge.

This “small” encounter between opposing armies essentially closed the doors to Confederate attempts to recapture Corinth, Mississippi.

I spent many long hours researching this battle and due to my distant location from the site, have only been able to do so through the internet and magazine articles. I had hoped one day to visit the site in person, but because of urban sprawl and other issues, the battlefield is becoming “endangered” of being gobbled up as real estate just as has happened to many other hallowed battlegrounds.

Let me be clear. 900 men (500 Union and 400 Confederate) gave their lives at this location. Regardless of anyone’s North and South passions, this is hallowed ground and I believe it is worth protecting, preserving and educating.

Yesterday I learned that the Civil War Preservation trust has launched an effort to purchase and preserve this precious piece of our history. They have discovered an opportunity to transform $166,400 into $1,812,600 in matching grant money to purchase 643 acres of the battlefield.

What they (and I) are asking for is for your help. Rarely in Civil War Preservation has it been possible to turn $1 in donations into $12 in matching grants. That means if you can help with a donation of $50, in essence you are “donating” $600 to this worthy mission. Donations in excess of $50 are a wonderful gift indeed and increase incrementally the size of available preservation dollars.

If you are able, and have a desire to help save this piece of hallowed American History, please visit their website and donate to this wonderful opportunity today!

link —> Help Save Davis Bridge Battlefield today

More information on the battle and battlefield:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hatchie%27s_Bridge

http://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc2/davisbridge1.htm

I. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but Posts and comrades will, in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

We are organized, Comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, “of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers sailors and Marines, who united to suppress the late rebellion.” What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead? We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security, is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull and other hinds slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the Nation’s gratitude—the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.

II. It is the purpose of the Commander in Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to call attention to this Order, and lend its friendly aid in bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.

III. Department commanders will use every effort to make this Order effective.

—General Orders No. 11, Grand Army of the Republic Headquarters

More information on Memorial Day: US Memorial Day History

Multimedia Presentation:
Columbia Workshop Presents – Private Throgg (1939)
Includes interviews with surviving Civil War Veterans

Further Reading

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Though the letter of the Constitution does not use the word ” slave,” yet in its representative basis, if not in its fugitive clause, there is a recognition of its existence, a bowing to its behests, Two small States, by their firmness and vehemence, brought the other eleven to their feet, made them surrender their convictions, and obey the soft voice, but nailed arm, of Belial. AlViat though Franklin and Jay organize abolition societies, and Washington and Jefferson favor emancipation, and Madison gets the word ” slavery excluded from the Constitution? What though every cliinen-t tnan of the age is hostile to the iniquity? Still they let it find entrance into their Constitution. It is there, entrenched in the national fortress; it knocks at all objections and objectors, and commences its march to universal dominion.

When the sons of God came together for their sublime deliberations, Satan came also; and though, as in the days of Job, he gained not every point, yet, more than with him, he gained the chief, and, with the gleefulness of perdition, he snatched at his success, and plotted and waited, waited and plotted, year and year, for larger prizes. He won them.

A law to execute more perfectly the Fugitive Slave clause followed within six years. A law which never could have passed the First Congress passed the Third. A law which would have been pronounced unconstitutional by the founders of the Constitution triumphed under the very eyes of those founders. And the hand of Washington signed his name as president to an edict which five years before he would have abhorred himself for approving.

New territory is sought. Louisiana is purchased. She seeks erection into States. The strife commences afresh. Again the slave power gains all it wants by asking for more; and Missouiri, Louisiana, Arkansas wheel into line under its pirate flag, while the desert lands, which will not be needed for a generation, are professedly abandoned to freedom, then, as of old, driven into the wilderness thence, also as of old, to be driven out when its enemy would make this desert his dwelling-place. In that controversy slavery triumphed. Many then saw that when those remoter regions became the seat of population, it would claim them as its own, would make them its owni. But then it could not have been done. The spirit of the fathers was not yet utterly lost. One half only of the fair acres was given up to this ravenous beast. One half alone of its pure soil was to be wet with the blood of God’s persecuted saints. One half of its air was to be filled with shrieks under the scourge, with moans over sold and stolen children, with the unutterable agony of that prison-house of humanity. The anaconda rested content with its gorged appetite, which two hundred thousand square miles had momentarily satisfied, assured that thlose who had granted him so much would bestow the balance when his appetite returned. His assurance was well grounded.

But before that hour came, the old religious and philanthropic anti-slavery sentiment, which had glowed in the souls that burned with the revolutionary fires, was kindled afresh. A little, despised sect, their name a stench in the nostrils of the country and the Church, cast out of men as evil, lifted up their voice like a trumpet, and told the house of Israel its transgressions, and the house of Judah its sins. They started from the only Christian, the only true basis – sympathy with the slave as a son of man and a son of God, an heir of heaven, a joint heir with Jesus Christ. This was new doctrine to our degenerate fears – a doctrine no Church in this land had ever fully and faithfully preached. We mocked at and reviled them. We drove them from our churches, halls, and homes. We hauled them before our judgment-seats. We issued edicts against them from State and National Congresses, and executive speeches from the chairs of governors and presidents. What the Madisons and Jeffersons, the Hancocks and Storys, would have approved was denounced and proscribed by the Van Burens and Everetts of this generation.

Still they fought for the right. It may be with lack of discretion, yet how shall you and I in our idleness dare to take up a railing accusation against them? How dare you say that William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson, Orange Scott, and their compeers were not the wisest of their generation in action, as they certainly were in their fears, their prophecies, and their entreaties? Their errors will yet be lost in the splendor of their daring, sincerity, and zeal. If ever freedom becomes the possession, as it is the birthright, of every man in this land, he who will be honored with the loftiest monument a monument built by every hand that has been raised against him – will be that yet hated and proscribed, that somewhat error-led, but for more truth-led, man, William Lloyd Garrison.

This stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, rolled by few but tireless arms, grew, and grew, until, when the slave power set up its claim to national domain, a new voice mingled in the tumults of the hour, and made its triumphs Bunker Hill victories, that betokened an ultimate destruction.

Again the anaconda stirs. It demands Texas – Texas with a war; and it wins. It claims that the new regions acquired by war should be his, and they are given it. Maddened with lust and success, it says, ” Return to me my fugitives hiding in your own Free States; give me that nurse and playmate of your children; that industrious citizen whose family looks up to him for protection; the minister from the altar. They are mine.” And all the people hasten to give them up. No, not all. Among the faithless, faithful stood a few. Seven thousand were found who bent not the knee to this Baal of America. May they soon become seventy times seven, and deliver the land from this idolatry and the Jezreel abominations which so fiercely flourish under its dominion.

PART THREE (COMING SOON)

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Source: University of Michigan, Making of America, National Sermons, The Death of Freedom

Further Reading

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Defined by dictionary.com: a novel set among actual events or a specific period of history; also called historical novel

Defined by Wikipedia.org: Historical fiction is a sub-genre of fiction that often portrays fictional accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events. Writers of stories in this genre, while penning fiction, nominally attempt to capture the spirit, manners, and social conditions of the persons or time(s) presented in the story, with due attention paid to period detail and fidelity.

I believe most writers who set their stories in historical past would agree on these definitions. However, some writers I speak with prefer to interject some of their own interpretation of “dramatization”  and even prefer to lean more heavily upon the fiction than the historical.

Whichever the case may be, it is usually up to the target audience to determine what is and what is not historical fiction. I tend to write to a targeted group of people who have spent much time reading and researching the time periods my books are set in. I know that not only do I owe them historical truths, but they hold me accountable to those facts.

I think it is credible to be creative with historical fiction, but at the same time, remain honest and honor the reputations and realities of people we portray or come across in our writing.

I have read some great historical fiction writers and all of those that I respect and desire to read maintain consistency in their histories. Those that bring modern concepts, mannerisms and vocabulary into historical settings usually get set on the “sell at garage sale” shelf.

To my knowledge, there is no final authority on what is and what is not historical fiction, but however you set out to write, maintain consistency throughout your work. A far-stretching, near fantasy that in later chapters becomes a stick-to-the-ribs historical will lose the original audience and never obtain the respect of the more factual reader.