ECW Archives
-
Recent Posts
Search by Post Categories
Subscribe BY RSS
Email Subscription
Tag Archives: Christmas
Gen. Sherman Sends Christmas Greetings to His Children
During a break from the scourge of war, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman penned a Christmas letter to his daughter Maria, whom he affectionately calls “Minnie.” The general and his army were in occupation of Savannah, Georgia, after a long march … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays, Primary Sources
Tagged Christmas, Minnie Sherman, Savannah, William T. Sherman
4 Comments
Weekly Whitman: A Christmas Greeting from a Northern Star-Group to a Southern. 1889-’90
Walt Whitman sent a Christmas card to the entire country of Brazil in 1889. That year, a Brazilian field marshal named Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca overthrew Emperor Dom Pedro II and declared the nation a republic. On Christmas Day, seventy-year-old Whitman wrote … Continue reading
Posted in Books & Authors, Holidays, Personalities
Tagged Brazil, Christmas, Walt Whitman, weekly-whitman
Leave a comment
Christmas In Winchester, Part 2
Continued from Part 1, which details the Civil War Christmas Winchester civilians always seemed to look back on with fond memories… By Christmas 1862, “Stonewall” Jackson had left the Shenandoah Valley for the final time. The general that Winchester adopted … Continue reading
Civil War Christmas is Coming and the Flag is Missing: Oh Dear!
I have a grandson who lives in Louisiana. He turned two this Fall and is getting much positive reinforcement from his grandparents (us!) for his Cajun background. One of his other grandparents suggested we send a set of Civil War … Continue reading
Posted in Civil War in Pop Culture, Holidays
Tagged Christmas, Flags, toy soldiers, Virginia Flaggers
12 Comments
Santa For the Yankees, Too
Santa, as we know him, is a creation of artist Thomas Nast who created the bearded old elf for the 1862-63 Christmas edition of Harper’s Weekly. In his famous drawing, he showed Union soldiers opening their Christmas boxes from home. One soldier … Continue reading
Keeping Tradition… “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day”
One of the ever-popular Christmas blog posts on Emerging Civil War is Meg Groeling’s article about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his war era poem that became a holiday song. As we come to the end of a day that is … Continue reading
“Good Cheer Prevailed” – Celebration and Reflection for a Confederate Surgeon in 1863 Arkansas
Christmas of 1863 was one of relief for the five-thousand men of the Confederate District of Arkansas. They had been settled in their winter encampment just west of Camden, Arkansas after months of battlefield defeats at Prairie Grove, Helena, and … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays, Medical, Trans-Mississippi
Tagged 1863, Arkansas, Christmas, St. Louis, Sterling Price, William McPheeters
1 Comment
Holiday Wishes from Emerging Civil War
Sending festive greetings from our headquarters and homes… May your day of celebration be merry, bright, and peaceful!
“Not Afraid”: Thinking About Literature The Soldiers Read
Some of us at ECW have a yearly tradition of reading classic literature from the 19th Century during the holiday season. For many, Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol is a beloved classic. I appreciate Dickens, his tale of Scrooge, and … Continue reading
Women’s Reflections on Christmas 1863
This holiday season I came across two Christmas entries in two very different civilian journals. One, tinged with reflective sadness, offers the words of a Virginian girl who has seen war and lost a loved one in the conflict but … Continue reading
