A First at Being a Gettysburg Nurse

July 2, 1863

I am a Civil War nurse that helped the patients that were wounded or sick in the Battle of Gettysburg. One day when the battle was in full force someone got wounded pretty badly. To me it looked like he got shot in the arm. It made a hole the size of a baseball in his arm! It looked very nasty! It was my first day as a nurse so I guess I was considered a trainee. When the wounded man came in, my trainer, Doctor J.W.C. O’ Neal, was the one who had to help him. He asked me if I could hand him the tools he needed when he needed them. I thought this was my time to shine and earn some money. While he was looking at the hole in the man’s arm he told me to give him a bone saw. I asked him what a bone saw was and he said it was a tool used to cut off a person’s hand or arm. After he said that I shivered for a minute and then gave it to him. He smiled and told me to look away. I didn’t waste any time doing that. I didn’t see anything, but what was weird was that I didn’t hear the man scream either.                                                                                     After the wounded man left, I asked my trainer why he didn’t scream. He said that he used a tool called Chloroform, which is used to help the patient not give a big, loud scream when the doctor is operating on them. After he said that another soldier came in with a really bad disease. I never found out what the disease was called, but my trainer fixed him right up. He gave the patient a medicine called mercury, which made the soldier go a little crazy. The soldier was acting so crazy that he led himself out the door and never came back. I was so relieved that the day was almost over until another soldier came in. This soldier looked the worst of them all. He was covered in blood and he couldn’t move at all. After we cleaned up all the blood on the beaten up soldier we found out that a bullet had gone straight through his chest. He ended up staying over night, so he could stay safe while we tried to find a way to help him. Finally, the moon had come up and the day was over. I asked my trainer if I would get any money for the hard work I did. That was the day I found out that these Civil War nurses don’t get paid. That day turned out to be the saddest and most disgusting day for me.                                                 

                                                                             -Preston H.  

There Went Richmond

                                 There went Richmond                                                                                                                                              April 17, 1861-April 2, 1865

                        My name is Bradley W., and I'm a Union soldier. I remember when General Ulysses S. Grant invited President Lincoln to join him in Petersburg,  the confederate capital of Richmond. I thought that was awesome and I wanted to meet him so bad. In the burning of Richmond, there were over 100 Confederate soldiers dying every day, and later on it went to over 50,000 Confederate soldiers. Our President Lincoln met Ulysses S. Grant in Petersburg before Grant left to lead the Union. Here’s the whole story. I’ll try to remember everything I can. First the state of Virginia seceded from the union. I thought they should have stayed in the Union, why would they want to leave the Union? Secession was approved by Virginia voters by a vote of 125,950 to 20,373. Then I remember The Confederate capital relocating from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond.  Then, Bull Run was fought near Manassas Junction in Northern Virginia. Confederate troops under Joseph E. Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard decisively defeated Union forces commanded by Irvin McDowell. Jefferson Davis was inaugurated on Capitol Square. Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederate states of America. But why do we have him as a president, we should only have one president and that person is Aberham Lincoln. Robert E. Lee defeats George B. McClellan in a series of fierce engagements. I was so angry and I couldn’t believe that at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia defeated Union forces under John Pope. On Friday the 13th, an explosion at the Confederate States ordnance laboratory on Brown's Island killed more than sixty young women and children and briefly halted production. The Union Army of the Potomac laid siege to Petersburg. The siege was characterized by 30 miles of trenches stretching Confederate defenses thin, and occasional pitched battles, including the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, and the more-decisive Battle of Five Forks. After,-+ Union forces broke through Confederate lines around Petersburg at the Battle of Five Forks a day earlier, Richmond was evacuated. That’s about how I remember it. I’m so glad we won that war. And that’s the story of burning Richmond.

                          

Bradley W.

Super Stellar Styles of the Civil War

Dear Diary, April 28^th 1863

            It has been two months but I still cannot believe that I, Sophie Marie Culpepper, am maid to the first lady of this beautiful country, Mary Lincoln.  Even in these tough times of war, her sense of style never ceases to amaze me. She and her friends have formal gowns with silk, lace, and baring necklines.  Their tea dresses are so detailed and beautiful, they are among my favorites. I dream of wearing these wonderful dresses, but the stark reality is that being a lowly maid such as my self I will never achieve the level of wealth it takes to acquire these dresses. So in this entry, I will tell you, my dear reader, the formal wear fashions of the wealthier ladies of my time.

            We will start with one day during tea…I was sitting in a corner and in walked Mary Lincoln herself in a gorgeous hoop skirt that flowed from her corseted waist.  Mary always wore a corset like practically all ladies of her time.  Her corsets were braced with fine whalebone.  The whalebone was only reserved for the wealthiest in the highest class while the lower classes or less wealthy people used steel. I however did not own a corset.  It makes me sad because I long to be a true lady and wear one of these important pieces of fashion during my time.  Her corset was very important because it helped her achieve the perfect fifteen-inch waist.  Then there was her metal hoopskirt that made her dress billow to a full eighteen-foot circumference.  Of course, the fabric on the dress was exquisite and expensive like most tea dresses were.  It was easily the most ornate in the room, which had filled up quickly after Mary’s arrival due to the ladies large skirts_.  The fabric was a robin’s egg blue with tiny pink rosettes everywhere.  Like most dresses of her time, the dress used simple colors that worked harmoniously together and were influenced by nature.  Mary’s detailed, formal, and beautiful dress was like most tea dresses from her time.

            Some of her most wonderful dresses were the ones she wore to dinner parties.  They had intricately made lace panels.  The flowers on the lace looked as if they could bloom off the fabric.  They also had bared necklines and arms with sophisticated jewelry.  All the dresses I have mentioned were in style for this time period and breathtakingly beautiful. I can only dream of wearing these dresses one day.

Sophie Marie Culpepper

We Hate the Draft!

April 1863

Dear General Ulysses S. Grant,

            I heard about the Conscription Act that was passed last month.  I feel upset about how men, ages twenty to forty-five, have to enroll in the draft lottery.  My friend that got picked by the draft lottery said that he was in your army in the last battle.  If you know Bob Tucker, tell him I said hi.  I am now thirty years old and had to put my name into a box for drafting.  The only way we can get out of the situation is if we pay three-hundred dollars or if we can find someone to replace us.  You shouldn’t tell people that they have to go fight a war.  It’s stupid.  What if we don’t want to fight and can’t get out of it?  We should get to choose if we want to fight.  I had just come from Germany as an immigrant and was resistant to the draft.  I searched and finally found someone to gladly replace me.  Why would I want to fight for a country that I just came to, a country where I wanted to start a new life and relax for a while?  What did we do after the first names were picked? We started to protest.  I thought it got a little out of hand but the country needed it.  They burned draft buildings, destroyed rolls of names, etc.  If we want to fight, we will fight.  Another one of my friends saw you on battlefield.  We hate the draft.  Please get rid of it.

Sincerely,

Drafthater#1

(P.S.  I hope the Union wins the war!!!)    

Camp Life! What?

Hi my name is Maryanne Elizabeth Rew,                                                 January 9,1863

I am a Union cook here and what I see here is just wrong.  These soldiers are sleeping in these Sibly tents; the sibly tents sleep 12 soldiers comfortably. Though sometimes they would use wedge tents since, they are easily portable and smaller. They don’t have much of an option for food but they drink coffee most of the time.  The coffee cups are pretty much just tin cups some carve theirs and some just use what they have. The tin cups are for coffee, soup, and other foods so these tin cups were being used over and over again since we didn’t always have water around us all the time.   Coffee was the most popular on the (short) list of food & drink. This food sometimes would be cooked through an outside fire. The coffee isn’t the coffee you drink today its unground beans that the men crushed with a rock a, gun butt or sometimes a bayonet then they were boiled in their tin cups.  This war has turned the north upside down and inside out, and to think this all started just because the confederates fired on Fort Sumter! What I think is not fair are officers get more comforts I think everyone should get an equal amount of comfort because we are all in this war together, right?  These soldiers are using these bags called a haversack to get around their food and drink. When they get bored they usually sit around and play poker, this war is just WRONG! Instead, of poker some put their pocket knives to use and whittle. Whittling has become a known art some even call it soldier art! The arts they make are unbelievable!  Since the soldiers don’t get as much comfort they are not getting sleep and they have to wake up earlier which is not fair. I also saw Ulysses S. Grant sleeping in what we call a “mansion” during this war it’s not FAIR! That’s the camp life here during the war don’t you think it’s just cruel and demeaning?     

The Building of Andersonville

        Before the war, Andersonville was just a village.  But when the south kept capturing Union soldiers, they had nowhere to put them. So, I, Captain Richard B. Winder was sent to Andersonville to construct a prison. Getting there in December. of 1863, I decided it would be a perfect spot with it in a deep south location, fresh water, and it being close to the south western railroad. I made a prison design that was about 16.5 acres. This was big enough for 10,000 prisoners. The prison was rectangular with a small creek running through it. The prison’s name was Camp Sumter.  In January 1864, slaves from local farms were commanded to cut down trees and dig ditches for construction. The walls were made from pine logs.  The logs were so tightly packed, you couldn’t see out.  More prisoners started to come to Andersonville in late February 1864.  By June, the population had grown to 20,000.  It was decided to make the prison bigger and by mid-June work was begun.  The north walls were enlarged by 610 ft. It was built by 100 whites and 30 African Americans in about 14 days. By August, 33,000 Union prisoners were held in the 26.5 acre prison.  During the 15 months when Andersonville was operated, almost 13,000 Union soldiers died there.

                I, Captain Richard B. Winder

Woman Spy at Her Best!

Woman Spy at her Best! 4\23\1880

Hello, my name is Elizabeth Van Lew and I was a women spy in the Civil War. I was originally a Confederate, but after they denied my attempt to be a nurse at the Libby Prison for Union soldiers and every living Confederate started threatening my life for my simple attempt, I knew it was time for a change. Listen to me when I say this, this diary is TOP SECRET! If you dare tell another soul, I will never be able to trust you again. Here is my life adventure as a spy.

I, a prominent member of Richmond, Virginia, society decided that it was time to leave the Confederacy and leave behind my widowed mother as well. At age 43, I saw my first chance to be a spy for the Union after the Battle of Manassas in July 1861, so I packed up my bags and left for the war. At first I helped saving the Union prisoners at the Libby prison by my Underground Railroad secret trail. My first dispatch, on January 30, 1864, informed General Butler that the Confederacy was planning to ship inmates from Richmond’s overcrowded prisons to Andersonville Prison in Georgia. My note suggested the number of forces he would need to attack and free the prisoners and warned him not to underestimate the Confederates, because I know the Confederates, and there are a lot of them. My dispatches are written with colorless ink, but turn black when you pour milk over them. Shh, don’t tell anyone! 

By June 1864, my spy network had grown to more than a dozen people, and I was bursting with joy! Along with the agents in government service, I relied on an informal network of men and women, black and white—including my lovely African-American servant Mary Elizabeth Bowser. I was Grant’s greatest resource. Well, as times went on, I lost my fame and my fortune. I guess people just forgot about me after the war.   

                                                                                    Until next time,

                                                                                                            Elizabeth Van Lew