Question of the Week: 6/6-6/12/16
From Sarah Kay Bierle: If you could meet a civilian from the war era, who would it be? (Remember political leaders often fall into the civilian category too.)
From Sarah Kay Bierle: If you could meet a civilian from the war era, who would it be? (Remember political leaders often fall into the civilian category too.)
That’s an easy one–Abraham Lincoln. As George Will said in a recent talk: “One of the most luminous lives in American and even world history.”
Frederick Douglas. He would chide the devil out of me for not better supporting equality for all people, and might startle me into activity.
Clara Barton. She went well beyond what middle-class women of the era were expected (or permitted) to do, both professionally and personally.
Anna Dickenson. And maybe Oliver Morton…
Dan Sickles. Love to have a beer and chat.
May I come?
William H. Seward. He always had a cigar, swore like a sailor, and had a story for every occasion. Man after my own heart.
John Brown. (Sarah did say Civil War era, after all.)
I’d ask him if he really ever believed his raid on Harpers Ferry could succeed in sparking a Southern-wide slave rebellion?
Or did he figure, from the beginning, it was a suicide mission; that he’d probably wind up a martyr to many Northerners; and that his raid would be one of the reasons the Lower South seceded?
Pres. Jefferson Davis so many things to ask and learn. . Wish he was running now .:-)
Wow – a lot of good answers here. Lincoln was my first thought, but, trying to be different, I will go with either John Nicolay or John Hay to get their uncensored thoughts on the war, the Lincolns, etc. Picking only one, I’ll say Hay.
I was waiting until I got home to answer, but you beat me to it!
That would have to be my great-great-grandmother, who saw her husband and three sons go off to war!
Uncle Abe, of course!
My top choices are already taken, so I will dig deeper & add Ward Hill Lamon. Let’s see if he is really such a yarn spinner!
Since Abe is taken and I like would go to dinner with you Meg and Ward Will Lamon but we would ask Allan Pinkerton to join us. I think you’ll find Ward very entertaining! The person besides Abe would be John Wilkes Booth. I have too many “why” questions I would liked answered.
John Jasper.
Oops, meant to include this link: http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/hatcher/menu.html