Sherman At Atlanta

At the end of the Western Campaign of the Civil War the river systems were secured. Sherman had pushed Hood out of Atlanta, and burned the city. The only thing left to do in the Western Campaign was to burn a sixty-mile path to the sea. Here is an interesting story of Sherman leaving Atlanta. I received this as an e-mail and I have no idea who the author is. If you know please let me know I will be happy to give the author credit. Enjoy! Sherman had an army of 100,00 to 125,000 well-trained seasoned soldiers. ( SEASONED They are like me they have been around a long time.) Sherman’s army is taking I-20 as they leave. Then they turn onto the Stone Mountain Freeway. Low and behold when they get to Stone Mountain there is a Rebel soldier on top of the mountain. He is waving his saber. His scarf is blowing in the wind. From the Reb’s mouth Sherman hears ugly names about his Yankee army. “Boys, we can not have this! We have CNN, USA Today, and ABC NEWS with us. This is not what we want to see on their headlines. Who is the toughest Yankee we have here?” They all yell “Tyson, Tyson!” Son go up that mountain and get the Reb! Tyson climbs the mountain. He is there a minute and his body comes flying off that mountain and lands in front of Sherman’s horse. (Now I don’t need to describe you what that pool in front of Sherman looked like.) Sherman gets mad and orders the ten top Yankees to go get the Reb! Sad, sad not a one lives to tell their story. Sherman is furious, his neck is getting red, and there is a little smoke coming from his ears. He sends 150 of his best Yankees after that Reb. Later a lone soldier staggers down off the mountain. He is bleeding from every square inch of his body. “What is your story son?” “General Sherman it was a trick! There were two of them Rebs!”

FLAMES OF WAR

There has never been a War so devastating to the United States of America as the Civil War. There were over six hundred thousand killed during those four long years of slaughter between our Northern and Southern armies. How many hundreds of thousands were left with one or more of their limbs on those battlefields that ran red with their blood. Their young men left with the idea that they would whip those yanks or rebels (depending on the army they joined) in a few months and come back home to their families. Those months turned into a year, a bloody year. The year stretched into four gruesome years for all. Those boys, men learned that war was not a glorious affair. It could be a blood bath with death. There has never been a more destructive force that swept through our nation. Many of the railroads were pulled-up, the rails heated and twisted around a tree in a bowtie. Cannons with their monster noises hurled their cannon balls at their targets. Many were cities and they leveled them. Fires destroyed crops, homes and anything in their path. How many soldiers cried when the bugler played “Taps” for their dead comrades? How many times was it played before that horrendous War ended? How long did a family have to wait before they knew what happened to their loved ones? Some never did. It took the Civil War to set the slaves free. It was taken another one hundred and forty-four years to grant real equality and respect.

CIVIL WAR SLANG

"Number Ones" First in the order of soldiers firing the cannons
"Spotted Papers" Playing cards
"Mud Heads" Mississippi boys
"Follow Me Lads" Shoulder length curls
"Army Graybacks" Lice
"Job's Turkey" Thin or badly fed
"Gloot" A green Raw recruit
"Bark Juice" Liquor
"Fimble Famble" A poor excuse"
"Skin Plasters" Muster or mud applied to the skin
"Kenning" The sound of the rebel yell
"Rib" Wife
"Hish Hash" Meal of edibles
"Pumpkin Rind" Union lieutenant
"Wet Goods" Whiskey
"Graveled" Sudden night blindness results of a bad diet
"Hunger Munger" Underhanded, Sneaking
"Fire Eater" Zealous Secessionist
"Smeller" A blow to the nose
"Bummer" Taking food and needed items from townspeople and farmers
"Saw Your Timbers" Get out of here
"Lay Downs" Knife and Fork
"Sheet Of Iron" Hardtack
"Fizzing" Stunning
"Barrack Hack" A soldier who avoided drill or a prostitute
"Rusty Gut" A bought of old yeller
"Hunger Munger" Underhanded or Sneaking
"Ace of Spades" The name given Lee for his skillful directions he gave his troop to dig trenches
"Pepper Box" Pistol
"Buttons with Hens" Buttons from a Confederate uniform were prized souvenirs for the Union soldier
"Bee hive" Soldier’s knapsack
"Bermuda Bacon" Contraband of Union pork taken to Bermuda and put on a blockade runner and sold in the South for huge profits
"Silent battles" An acoustic shadow phenomenon when battles were not heard – Perryville KY
"Toothpicks" Knives with blades four to eighteen inches long
"Black Terror" Dummy gunboat build by David Porter to test the Vicksburg fortress
"Leg Case" Deserter
"Yankee Chills" Confederate coward. They said he had a case of Yankee Chills
"Kepi" A Confederate soldier’s hat or cap
"Deadwood" Incompetents, Cowards
"Top Rail" First class – Number one
"Hireling" A southern soldier who only wanted a pay Check

THE CHRISTMAS BALL

Enjoy this excerpt from "Natches Above The River"

We are determined to have a wonderful Christmas. Vicki decided to have a Christmas Ball on December the twenty second at Popular Bluff. Vicki and I were busy making arrangements for the ball.

Vicki and Ted’s ballroom was perfect for a Christmas Ball. The drapes were green velvet. All the tables were adorned in red lacey cloths over white ones. The flowers were white with the Christmas red and green velvet ribbon.

All of Natchez and her homes were gaily decorated. There were none that were more impressive than Popular Bluff’s. Tonight Vicki’s drive was lit with Christmas lanterns. Papa and I arrived early. There was another carriage in the drive and it was not Mama Charlie’s. Inside we found that Uncle Jake had just arrived.

I gave him a big hug and said, “We decided that you were not going to make it.”

“We just docked a half an hour ago. I wanted to be sure to be here before the crowd. Vicki says I am worst than a woman making a grand entrance.”

“You always had an interesting entrance. I remember once that you entered in your hunting clothes. You swore that you had chased a wily fox all over the county. Vicki swears there wasn’t a bead of sweat on your brow. She also said the fox probably had long blond hair.”

“Vicki, Darling, surely you didn’t doubt me. That sounds more like Charlene. Vicki, I am wounded, totally wounded."

“What sounds more like me?” Mama Charlie says from the doorway.

“Charlene, don’t you have a hug and kiss for your brother?”

“No, not at the moment. Why didn’t you get here this morning and have lunch with me?”

Jake looked at his watch and said, “I have only been here for forty-five minutes. That wasn’t enough time for you to have lunch with your favorite brother.”

“I am well aware when you arrived.”

“Oh, were you that eager to see me that you sent a spy to the docks?” Jake asked.

“No, indeed. It was an accident that I knew.”

“Charlene that is interesting.”

“Jake, I am glad that everyone has made you so welcome. Would you like to stay at Grand Oaks tonight?” Papa asked.

“No, he wouldn’t. I have his room all prepared,” Mama Charlie said.

“Mother, I have some things I would like to discuss with Jake. You can have him for the rest of his stay.”

“I don’t want Tess playing poker,” she said.

Lu laughed and said, “Mother, you don’t want anyone playing poker without you. Tess is old enough to play if she likes. I think it was you that taught her or was it Jake?"

“It is a shame that I have lived so long to see my son being so disrespectful.”

“Ted I believe I hear voices in the foyer. Perhaps we can form some kind of receiving line,” Vicki said.

The butler announced each person at the door of the ballroom. Most of the guests stood talking while waiting for the first dance. The butler in a distinctive voice said, “May I present Miss Louise Marie Shaw of Charleston? There was silence in the ballroom. All eyes were on the vision of loveliness that walked through the door. She was tall, slender and carried herself like Vickie. There was no mistaking her face. It was a duplicate of Jake’s.

She was wearing a soft green gown that highlighted her emerald eyes. Her golden hair was piled on her head and a few curls fell down the back of her head. You could hear whispers asking who she was. I heard Mama Charlie’s intake of breath. Vicki was stunned.

Jake nudged Vickie and said, “It is time you and Ted start the dance. I will dance this first dance with this Louise.”

Vicki was in control again. To the wonderful music of the string quartet Vicki and Ted started the first dance. Vicki was so graceful that even Ted with his limp looked great on the dance floor. Jake started toward Louise but Papa was there first. He turned Louise around the dance floor. My partner and I had just started our first dance. Jake tapped him on his shoulder and said, “Please excuse me but I have just steamed down the great Mississippi to have this first dance with this lovely southern belle.”

“Well Jake, you are improving. You didn’t call him a peacock.”

“Oh, dear me! I certainly meant to do it.”

“Jake, you are bad to the bone. Who is Louise?”

“Tess, I am so glad that you are not being followed around by another peacock.”

I shook my head and asked again, “Who is Louise? You and Papa nearly broke your necks trying to get to her first.”

“I do not know who Louise is. However, it is very obvious that
she is a member of this family. I would say she is older than you
by three years. That would make me only twelve years old. She is
not mine.”

Cannons Waiting

Natchez Above The River

NATCHEZ ABOVE THE RIVER

Give me a few minutes and let me take you to Natchez. The year is eighteen sixty. The tension is great between the North and the South. The antebellum South wanted to keep cotton king. It was the most exported product of the United States at that time. The masters of the great plantations needed their slaves to produce this crop of gold.

There were Southerners that didn’t believe that one man should own another. Most of the South wanted the Federal Government to leave their way of life alone. Many didn’t want to give up their slaves however they didn’t want to leave the Union. They looked at the Northern factory's employees as the North’s slaves. The Missouri Compromise and The Compromise of Eighteen Fifty did not solve this monumental problem.

Natchez high above the Mighty Mississippi River was a Southern city of the antebellum South. This beautiful city with its Southern mansions wanted to whip those Yankees in a couple of months and go on with their life. There were a few families that found themselves in the middle of Natchez that had strong Union ideas. They could hear the winds crackle with the flames of war.

“Natchez Above The River” is the first of my series of books about the Civil War. Theresa Shaw, Tess must become a woman in the raging Civil War. She faced betrayal, the grueling work in her father’s hospital, and the importance of family ties. She must learn to forgive and trust before she can love a second time.

You can find this book on Amazon. “Natchez Above The River” by Ruth Thompson ISBN 978-1-4327-0679-1