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Author Archives: Meg Groeling
“Strew the fair garlands where slumber the dead”
I have always loved ephemera—those bits and pieces of printed paper, originally meant to have only short-term popularity. I particularly like old postcards from the end of the 19thcentury up through the 1920s. Commercial artists like Ellen Clapsaddle and lithographers … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays, Material Culture, Memory
Tagged Decoration Day, Ellen Clapsaddle, Memorial Day, Tuck and Sons, vintage postcards
2 Comments
“And over here we have…”
On this day in history, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth walked into a two-star inn-and-boarding house in Alexandria. It was early in the morning, and a man in his nightshirt and pants was the only person awake on the first floor. The … Continue reading
Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Monuments, Personalities
Tagged Alexandria, Army of the Potomac, Elmer Ellsworth, VA
12 Comments
Wah-Who-Eeee! … And The War Came to the Rebels, Part 2
Author Margaret Mitchel wrote her version of the sound of the rebel yell as “Wah-Who-Eeee,” and that was the sound heard throughout the Southern states when Confederate general P. G. T. Beauregard opened his well-prepared cannon on shabby little Fort … Continue reading
Huzzah! …And The War Came to the Yankees, Part 1
Despite the messages, threats, and concerns, brave little Fort Sumter held on. The waters were cold, the food was minimal, and information even more scarce than the food. Major Robert Anderson, garrison commander, had moved his group of Army regulars … Continue reading
Posted in Armies, Civilian, Common Soldier
Tagged 11th NY Fire Zouaves, 1861, Elmer Ellsworth, Fort Sumter, Northern recruiting, the-war-came-series, Walt Whitman
4 Comments
Women’s History Month—Every Year!
It may have been 1965 or 66 . . . it was almost summer, and Joyce and I were looking for employment. We had a couple more years in high school and needed to keep our cars on the road, … Continue reading
“Powerful and Determined”: Susie King Taylor and Her Image as Seen by Stephen Restelli
I could not tell she was African-American in looking at the negative. When I scanned it as viewed her as a positive print, chills went through me. This was the most stunning portrait photograph I have ever seen. And I … Continue reading
Posted in Civilian, Photography, Slavery
Tagged African American photography, black history, black history month, Black images, black-history-2019, civil war photography, daguereotypes, Samuel William Bridgham, slave photography, Stephen Restelli, Susie King Taylor, U. S. Colored Troops, women's studies
3 Comments
Susie King Taylor: The First African American Army Nurse
“I was born under the slave law in Georgia, in 1848, and was brought up by my grandmother in Savannah.” So begin the memoirs of Civil War nurse Susie King Taylor, a most unusual woman in many ways. She was … Continue reading
Roses Have Thorns, Violets Proliferate: Vinegar Valentines During the Civil War
All was not hearts and flowers for lovers and others during the American Civil War. Sweethearts were separated, families were torn apart, Valentine’s Day was often a sad day of remembrance or longing unless you were of a certain disposition—a … Continue reading
“Blowed to Freedom!”: Abraham and the Vicksburg Mine
Every February ECW does a series of posts about African Americans and the Civil War. There are many from which to choose, but I have made it my mission, as it were, to find those who are not as well … Continue reading
