Aunt Martha Keeps Memorial Day Quietly For Love
A narrator shows Aunt Martha arranging a memorial wreath on Henry Peters’ rusty war scythe, explaining she never attends Memorial Day but tends the sick and the dead. The tale reveals a deep, unspoken devotion and the family’s quiet burden of lost love.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Henry Peters
Henry
Silas
Martha
Geythe
Hiram
Mma
Forks
West Branch Cemetery
Georgie
Grand Army Post
Aunt Martha
Aunt Patience
Uncle Wall
Little Creek
Forks Durin
Catlin Hollow
Stony Fork Giants
Eges
Sint Martha
Patience
Widder
Story of Grant reflects quick judgment in crisis
Fred Grant shares his favorite tale about his father illustrating the elder's talent for sizing up a situation in a few words. An old coachman named John, not bright about horses, bungles tasks for Mrs Grant, prompting her to consider dismissal. The father quips that if John could do everything perfectly he would not be their coachman, showcasing practical wisdom.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Grant
Fred Grant
John
Philadelphia Ledger
Memorial Day Reflections by Blue and Gray Voices
A poem in the Wide Awake voice contemplates Memorial Day beyond a holiday. It recalls graves and garlands, flags and bells, and the blue and gray veterans joining in a ceremony. The verse honors fallen soldiers while emphasizing national unity and progress through shared sacrifice.
Night on the Chattahoochee River During Sherman Advance
A Confederate memoir recalls July 15 in Barrage of Kenesaw and Allatoona campaigns. Soldiers describe crossing streams, the tempting Chattahoochee, and a skirmish with Federal cavalry at Nickajack. They recount retreating to the riverbank and resuming positions as Sherman pressed up river.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Nikajack Creek
Allatoona Hills
Nickajack
Chattahoochee
Sherman
Atlanta, Constitution
Phantom Army of the Nation
Poem recounts a spectral marching army of the dead from battles at Malvern Hill Gettysburg Chancellorsville and Pillow’s fight. The speaker witnesses unknown dead and dusky martyrs marching under a moonlit sky toward dawn, a sign of kinship and national remembrance.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Malvern Hill
Gettysburg
Chancellorsville
Pillow
Drummer Boy of Shiloh and Hooker’s Chestnut Charger
A republication recounts Colonel John L. Clem known as the drummer boy of Shiloh and his path into the regular army. It also notes General Hooker and Lookout a chestnut horse once intended for England, bought in New York amid competition with a French agent.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
John L. Clem
Shiloh
Grant
Clem
West Point
Leslie
Hooker
Enron
Lookout
Kentucky
England
New York
France
Louis Napoleon
Relic of John Brown Warehouse in Springfield
The Boston Globe recounts a dilapidated Springfield wool warehouse once used by John Brown and his men between 1847 and 1851. It details Brown’s early life in Massachusetts, his Worcester ties, his talks with white and Black supporters, and his Springfield network including Thomas Thomas. It notes a billboard now obscuring the building and mentions Brown’s 1849 fiery rhetoric against slavery alongside the Harpers Ferry raid.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Emery Company
Railroad Row
Springfield
Mass
John Brown
John
Jason
Massachusetts
Hin
Brown
Parape
Saxony
Obie
England
Dee
G. W. Brown
Perkins
Frank B. Sanborn
Sherman Uses Mountain Position to Silence Confederate Guns
On the west front of the valley Sherman and Generals Thomas Hooker Brannan witness the assault on Confederate batteries sheltered by rugged terrain. After labor, the Indiana battery is hauled to a crest and guns aim to force a breakthrough as the siege unfolds under stifling August heat.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sherman
Mieventh Tdiana
Second Massachusetts
George i. Thomas
Chickamauga
Joe” Hooker
J. M. Brannan
Thomas
Louniah
Batterviseg
Strane
Eesture
Phen
Auriitiers
Brannan
Shernings
Shelly
Llarywits
Ransom's Bold Charge Ends With Confederate Death
At Charleston Missouri in August 1861 Lieutenant Colonel Ransom of the Eleventh Illinois, urged his troops, faced an officer who accused him of killing friends. Ransom declared loyalty to his own plan, confronted the Confederate who fired first, and Ransom killed his attacker with a pistol shot to end the duel.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Charleston
Ransom
Illinois
Jeff Davis
Sailor Dead Laid Beneath the Waves Laid to Rest
Poem fragment urging offerings for fallen sailors at sea. Call for fragrant lilies daisies and white gold flowers to honor the deceased and float on the waves, with lilies preferred over lilacs.
Bridge Work Finishes Overnight Says Engineer
Fragmentary report describes a scene where a bridge crew works through the night to finish a bridge. An engineer hints at a plan while a narrator questions if a picture matches the actual bridge. A general signals, and an old man responds that the bridge is present regardless of the image.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Stonewall
Benice Jacksonss
Phecade Sowers
Circinia
Dauckson
Valiey
Essing
Miles Settee
Eaphy
Yiornil
Miles
Vollsikol
Fackson
Swearing In the Cook During Civil War Service
Recounted scene shows Union officers training black cooks among contrabands. Drums and bugles signaled formal swearing in as cooks, with vows to serve loyally, keep plates clean, and perform duties properly amid pomp and joking.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Darky
The Unknown Dead Poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
A somber poem recalls soldiers whose resting places are unknown yet whose memory endures. Crossed hands, drifting soil, and fading traces anchor the widowed memory as flowers and turf mark where they fell. The verse pledges their memory to live unfading.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Also Mentioned on This Page
Sons of the Blue
Sons of the
Adam
Bret Harte
the Watch
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!