The Nameless and the Faceless of the Civil War

ECW welcomes back guest author Lisa Samia.

The premise of my Civil War poetry is that not everyone who experienced the Civil War made it into the history books. What of all those unknowns? Who were they? What happened to them?

Of course, I could not give them a name or a face; however, I could provide them with a voice, a voice to tell their story through the rhyme and narrative of poetry, combined with actual Civil War events. In my Civil War poetry, the lines of North and South are blurred, for I believe that for all people and all soldiers, suffering had no boundaries. The battle of Stones River, fought from December 31, 1862 to January 2, 1863, resulted in nearly 25,000 casualties. A vast wealth of Civil War events inspired the voices and stories of the unknown.

An event that purportedly occurred on the eve of the battle of Stones River inspired this poem.

Samuel Seay of the 1st Tennessee Infantry, CSA described what happened as darkness fell: “Just before ‘tattoo’ the military bands on each side began their evening music. The still winter night carried their strains to a great distance. At every pause on our side, far away could be heard the military bands of the other. Finally, one of them struck up ‘Home Sweet Home.’ As if by common consent, all other airs ceased, and the bands of both armies as far as the ear could reach, joined in the refrain. Who knows how many hearts were bold next day by reason of that air?”^[1]

The inspiration for the following poem is based on an event that some claim took place on December 30, 1862, in Middle Tennessee, the eve of the battle of Stones River. The Federal Army of the Cumberland and the Confederate Army of Tennessee were camped on either side of Stones River, only several hundred yards apart. Some 76,000 soldiers clashed in the resulting battle, yielding 25,000 casualties.

But on the eve of battle, during this damp and cold night, some say a battle of bands began to resonate between the Union and the Confederate Army.[2] Military bands were utilized by both sides of the Civil War, often playing inspirational or patriotic songs and, in some instances, songs of longing for home. On that particular night, after the patriotic songs of both sides subsided, some say the beginning strains of “Home Sweet Home” began to fill the night air, and the competition or battle of the bands ceased as both sides joined in the playing and the singing of “Home Sweet Home.” It is then to imagine the longing for home for all the soldiers on that cold and long-ago night. And to know for some of them, there would be no going home.

This is the voice of an unknown soldier as he recounts how this experienced may have played out.

Home Sweet Home

I remember it so clearly in my mind’s eye and recollect it so

The night of December 30 eighteen sixty-two

And what happened long ago

It was the time of the Civil War that brought us to this space

Stones River, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was the name of this terrible place

Both the Army of the Cumberland and the Army of Tennessee were brought to fight

Of three days of battle into the New Year, and what happened on that night

And here is the story of that late December eve, a night frozen and bitter cold

When voices were raised in togetherness, and humanity took hold

I was a member of the Union band that bivouacked with the Cumberland you see

We played for our soldiers before the battles and even in between

Yet as we played our most patriotic of tunes, there was commotion from across the way

We could see the Confederates bivouacked on the riverbank and they began to play

And so, this battling of music drifted across the river bend and each side did its best

To try to outdo one another in this game and Musicfest

And then there came a lull in the music that hung sadly in the air

It was suddenly quiet, and, at that moment, it almost felt like despair

It was as if in unison, although perhaps not so exact, the chords began to slowly rise

The soulful tune of Home Sweet Home filled the thoughts of those too sad and lonely to cry

And it was what happened next as I raised my violin to join this moment in time

Both sides began to play and then in unison, the voices began to chime

“To thee, I’ll return, overburdened with care,

The heart’s dearest solace will smile on me there
No more from that cottage again will I roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”

Then, as quietly as the song began, it faded into the frozen night air

The voices of eighty-one thousand men had said their prayer

Yet I could not help but wonder at the multitude of men

And the thirty-five thousand casualties they would eventually lend

For some on that very cold December eve, the song Home Sweet Home would be their last

Of dreams of home and hearth and love, dreams that would never come to pass

 

Lisa G. Samia is an Award-Winning Poet & Author who researches, writes, and lectures on American Civil War History. Her latest accomplishments are being selected as the National Parks Arts Foundation’s Artist in Residence for Gettysburg National Battlefield Park 2020 & National Parks Service’s Artist in Residence for Manassas National Battlefield Park 2021, both for her Civil War Poetry.

 

Endnotes:

[1] The Battle of the Banks, 2021, Stones River National Battlefield, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/stri/learn/photosmultimedia/botb2021.htm.

[2] The full scale of how the battle of the bands occurred remains something in dispute, with some claiming it was large, while others note it was small in scale. Still others studying the battle of Stones River do not mention it al all in their analysis simply because details cannot be proven to any real extent.