Stars in their Courses

Chapter 47

Peaceful Morning not 1862

History with pleasure – unexpected opportunities follow disasters -- 1981

There goes Robert E. Lee

Now I don't mind choppin' wood

And I don't care if the money's no good

You take what you need

and you leave the rest

But they should never have taken the very best

- Levon Helm – The Night they Drove Ole Dixie Down The Band Greatest Hits


Stars in their Courses

“Yes, we checked out this morning; I’m using a pay phone.”

“They were both in promptly at two this afternoon, signed the releases. One of the paralegals here has recorded the agreements. I met Mr. Capuano’s attorney this afternoon. Call me sometime next week. You’re going to Antietam and Gettysburg then home. It sounds like a great time.”

“Thank you, Mr. Finn. We will leave and head up there then.”

“Back to the Civil War Mr. Greene everything is finished here it seems. I hope it is; last night was a flood of tears, but this morning was all joy. The Psalm was certainly proved true. ‘For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’ Mark you bring me much joy, and the coming part is really great.”

As Mark blushed, “I am not sure that verse was ever applied as you just applied it. You study the Bible often?”

Carol continued- “Ruth had it stuck on our refrigerator. “

“Scripture served with milk.”

“I am a forward-looking person, yet you are making me wade deep into the past. Were you always fascinated with history and the Civil War?”

“Yes, and Yes, the centennial happened when I was a kid. Toys, games, and even comics in the Sunday papers I loved them all. We are headed over to the Blue Ridge and the Shenandoah Valley. There were many skirmishes and battles. Winchester is where we should be able to find a motel. Winchester changed hands from Union to Confederate more times than any other town. It will be a short drive to Sharpsburg. Winter may cause some worry over roads but less worry about a No Vacancy sign.”

“I thought we were going to Antietam, not Sharpsburg. “

“Sharpsburg is the nearby town; Antietam is the creek that runs through the battlefield. The Union and Confederates still fight over the names of the battles.”

“Why do you want to see this battle?”

“It was a horrific one-day battle, more casualties than on any other singe day. It was enough of a Union victory for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. It is a significant part of the war.”

“Wars, we seem to continue to fight them. Do you learn anything by studying them if they keep happening?”

“History teaches lessons. The world is complicated, and the lessons are easily forgotten or misunderstood.”

“Of course, some of us didn’t pay much attention in class.”

“It will be all new to you. Antietam happened in September of 1862. It is the first of Lee’s grand raids, as I call them, into the North. Gettysburg was his second in July 1863. The Union was able to turn Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia back on both occasions. Lincoln followed the Union Victory at Gettysburg with his famous address in November of 1863. These are two very important battles and very key events in making our country.”

“I wish we had connected earlier, but I had never met you until the reunion JB took me to in his Orange beast.”

“I remember you in Sunday School and Bible School, but I didn’t have much interest in girls back then. Especially you older women.”

“Two or three years means so much when you are a kid. I think you are the most mature man I know. You were calm, cordial, and a rock of support. I feel like that song Lizzie sang at Ruth and JB’s wedding I will always love you.”

“It’s a breakup song; Lizzie sang it at their wedding.”

“Lizzie explained that to me when we practiced, but she had rewritten the lyrics. It was a breakup from her parents and a new commitment to JB when she finished her editing. Lizzie soared on the chorus and no one much cared if it was a breakup song, it was beautiful.”

“I wanted to be there with you. It went better than I had feared. You are a very controlled and courageous woman.”

“I am just moving finding the best course from moment to moment. Now I’m going to relax and enjoy being with you enjoying history. I will not look to a future today. Why did Lee make these grand raids, as you call them?”

“General Lee always knew the North needed to stop the war. The South couldn’t actually defeat them. He hoped to make the North war weary, then they would agree to separate countries. The North was very motivated to preserve the United States. Lee brought his army to Antietam after several victories. Victories where he took great risks because the Confederacy’s back was against the wall when he took command. He faced Union generals who did a less than spectacular job and did not work together. The South had completely turned the momentum of the war in the East around when the Army of Northern Virginia marched into Maryland. "

"Sharpsburg is in Maryland?"

"Yes, Maryland was considered a border state. Lee actually hoped people would see his army as a liberation force, but the supporters had already joined the Confederate armies. People just viewed them as a pestilence. The Union's Eastern army desperately needed to stop the Army of Northern Virginia. People from where we live were called Western. Our troops were called Western men and battles in KY and Tennessee were considered Western battles. Lincoln was also considered a Western man, an uncouth woodsman until people got to know him.”

“Even in winter this is a beautiful country."

-

“It looks like we have choices.”

“Go with that chain I’ll feel more comfortable.”

“They have a Stewarts. I don’t think their root beer is as good as Dog and Suds, but it is good. Feel like reliving high school.”

“I sometimes wish I could, much of my life is better, now. Except for a marriage in shambles, treacherous black mailers, and  losing so much to a charming charlatan. Let’s go, do they have good fries?”

“Decent, they are no McDonalds.”

“Sounds like a good place, I am not a big fan of root beer. I will have a shake. When I was finishing college living with my parents, I somehow fell in love with Shamrock Shakes. If I see a McDonalds in March I still stop and get one. It tasted pretty much like a vanilla shake, but it was a lovely shade of green.”

-

“We can head back, not as fancy a restaurant as last night.”

“I enjoyed our drive-in meal. Did you like the root beer?”

“I did. I asked the desk clerk; he says there is a café in Sharpsburg. We can get there early and have breakfast then go out to the military park.”

“You are seriously want to be there for breakfast. No morning joy?”

“I think we can have a joyous evening and still get to Antietam early.”

“Well I am just a passenger on the trip now. Lead on General Greene.”

“There was a General Greene, he was instrumental in the victory at Gettysburg. We will see that at Gettysburg.”

“What is he famous for?”

“He occupied and defended Culp’s Hill. It was essential to hold or the Union right flank would collapse. He directed the building of very effective fortifications. He commanded as the Union repulsed many determined assaults even with very limited troops available to him. I always imagined we might be related as I learned about Gettysburg, but I do not think we are. He was from Rhode Island and our family was already farming like the Parkers near Franklin before the Civil War.”

“Were there any general Parkers?”

“I am sure there may have been, but none I can think of.”

“You may need to research some more, because this Parker is about to breach your defenses General Greene.”

“Culp’s Hill did have one of the few night battles, a very intense affair.”

“Shut up Mark and start your assault or I’m going to attack you.”

-

“It must have been awful to be here during and after the battle. All the dead horses as well as the dead and wounded men. Clara Barton was here, I read a Landmark biography about her. I didn’t remember it was this Civil War location. Lincoln looks very tall. How tall was he?”

"The hat makes him look even taller, but he was 6’4” and average height was 5’8” he was tall.”

“It seemed like the Confederates were about to collapse several times. Why didn’t the Union attack all in the morning instead the three separate battles they kept talking about? Those troops from Harper’s Ferry would not have been there then.”

“Now you are asking why McClellan was McClellan. The ranger told me he knew the owner of the house where Lincoln stayed before the famous speech. He would let people rent a room if the rangers recommended them. He says the house will soon be sold to the historical society. I thanked him profusely, we have to find Mr. Smith’s house, now. History knows it as the David Wills Home. We should be there in thirty or forty minutes.”

“It seems rather spooky.”

“Some people believe in spooks at Gettysburg, but Lincoln only stayed there. It is not Ford’s theater. I had to promise not to go up in that dreadful tower as the ranger phrased it. There are two park service towers we can climb. “

“Climb?”

“You’ll love it”

-

“I’m glad we saw that electric map, it helped me orient the different stages of the battle. It seems odd the South came to Gettysburg from the North and North from the South.”

“The Confederates had left Virginia and came into Pennsylvania; the Union followed when they pulled together it was at Gettysburg. It wasn’t a planned location. I researched; a Parker was part of the 8th Illinois Cavalry. Not everyone believes Lt. Jones did fire the first shot at Gettysburg, but someone in the 8th IL Cavalry did. It could have been a Parker. He was a private but who knows.”

“General Greene certainly did play a large role at Gettysburg. Now that we will stay in a place more modern without all the ghosts. I might countenance a night assault General Greene. I listened to some of the people touring especially on Little Round Top. They were complaining people didn’t know history anymore. They asserted the war was for states rights. What is that all about?”

“The Union won the war but lost the peace. Even in Chicago if we looked at any Civil War chapters in your textbooks, it is likely the Southern point of view prevails. After the war Southerners rewrote the ‘causus belli’ of the Civil War. The secession documents of the states clearly state they were seceding to preserve the institution of slavery. Even when the Union had withered the Confederacy to a lingering corpse, Jefferson Davis and the Rebel leaders still tried to hang on to slavery in any peace agreement. "

"Did all the Southern troops own slaves?"

"No, a few large plantation owners did own the majority of slaves. The majority of the soldiers for the confederacy did not own slaves and many Union troops were not fighting for emancipation. These are facts used to support a false premise. The better interpretation of the cause of the war is White Supremacy. Even Lincoln in 1858 running for Senate in the Lincoln Douglas debates had to asset he was not saying a black was an equal to a white man. He was opposed to the expansion of slavery, he felt it was a brutal institution. Racism was too prevalent in every American when it was time to reconstruct the nation."

"Weren't the ex-slaves uneducated and not ready for freedom?"

"Many were uneducated, but all were ready for freedom. Our modern sons and especially the daughters of the Confederacy have to turn this into a noble struggle. Their ancestors were heroic fighting overwhelming odds in a noble cause for liberty, individual rights. They were defenders against an invading North. Many fought for all sort of motivations; many fought because everyone in their hometown signed up, so they did too. White Supremacy caused the course of the war to run as it did. White supremacy ruled public opinion to the ruin of Grant and Lincoln’s plans for reconstruction. Blacks both well educated and uneducated did very well after the war when left alone and allowed to make their own way. “

“I never looked at it like that, I never really thought about the real history as anything other than old statues. Gone with Wind we all knew it was about the Civil War.”

“Yes, “Gone with the Wind’ and D. W. Griffith’s ‘Birth of the Nation’ became the greatest rewriting of history ever accomplished. Let’s drop the war on the way home. We have a long drive and I have likely buried you in more Civil War history than any one woman can take.”

“You are not wandering off into some sexist narrative, are you?”

“What?”

“More history than any woman can take, implying women can’t or don’t understand history?”

“Sorry I suppose it is mostly men who study the Civil War, but I realize this is likely because we buy into traditional roles. I hope you enjoyed our diversion from the main purpose of the trip. On the way out you talked about wanting children and how that is where Stephen had hurt you the most.”

“I see Della and think this is a great place to raise a family. It has always been the purpose of people farming making a living to support a family. I didn’t expect Stephen to live there and be a day to day father. I didn’t know he was lying about everything. I expected a marriage like a Navy wife with occasional service deployments. I could have lived with that, but it wasn’t even,, I will not cry again I am done.”

“Now you are married for four years and not married?”

“This is my choice, but I still want children. I am not getting younger very important to women especially in the motherhood field. Too bad babies cannot be grown like cabbages.”

“Carol, I love you, I love you more passionately than anyone I’ve ever known. Now, no one can be your husband for four years.”

“Mark, I knew that when I made my decisions. My life is fulfilled on my farm. Your life is fulfilled by leaving your farm. We each have left behind our childhood to find fulfillment. My brother is good, something of a jerk at times. You will soon have your foreign service career. The path in life you were meant for. You are too giving. I won’t allow you to change for me. It was part of why I made this agreement.”

“I would have a good life on the farm with you. A life many of my fellow farm boys would dream of, being married and enjoying Franklin is good life. A life I do enjoy.”

“Not the life you were meant for, not the life our country needs from you. We desperately need people like you making the world a better place. The trains of our life run on different tracks.”

“I’ve never started a fight, but if you ask me to go beat Stephen to a bloody pulp I would gladly do so.”

“I know, but I think JB might be a better choice for a brawl, It never helped him either, Ruth saved JB. Please be my lover, a strength to sustain me, and a super nice guy. I need that now more than I ever have, even more than a traditional husband.”





The Cornfield on an early morning at Antietam - only a deer none of Hooker's Union men