Cosmic America: Archive

June 2013

2 posts

Keith Harris History » Who is Harrison Gray Otis? → keithharrishistory.com

Jun 12, 2013

Keith Harris History » California as an Imagined Place → keithharrishistory.com

Jun 11, 2013

September 2012

1 post

Calling for Reconstruction Era documents

Yesterday, through the usual social media channels, I noted that I am currently in the process of compiling a comprehensive collection of documents pertaining to the Reconstruction Era. The collection will span the years 1862 to 1877 and will be arranged thematically. A master list will provide links to each individual document. Once compiled, I will post the list here for anyone’s use - and will update it regularly as I transcribe new material or I become aware of available online sources. The collection is intended for supplementary reading for a course on Reconstruction history I am teaching this winter, but in the spirit of making Cosmic America a valuable resource, I figured I would share the collection with the world. For now, I am asking for links to documents on the Internet. I am looking for political papers, letters, diary entries, and especially first-hand accounts. Document ranging from THIS to THIS to THIS are perfect for my purposes. This should be a collaborative effort - please spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, and wherever you see fit. Your help will further illustrate the significance of social media in the world of higher education (in case you were not already aware of how things are changing). Thanks in advance, K

Sep 12, 2012

#reconstruction #civil war #social media

August 2012

3 posts

Poem for a Sunday

A New Yorker’s Verse

The Cosmic America files are filled with Civil War era poetry. Some epic, some heroic, but much of it banal, trite. Now and again, little snippets of poetry resound with meaning – a few lines crystallize what the war was about in verse…at least for some who shouldered muskets and marched off to fight for a cause.

In terms of emancipation – few in the north enlisted with that in mind. It was only after the war that the destruction of the institution rang true as the moral equivalent of Union. Retrospectively, veterans included emancipation as a fundamental component of their cause.

In 1905, an aging New York veteran recalled such sentiment at a Grand Army of the Republic meeting in Brooklyn. Recorded in the post’s minute book, these few short lines tidily joined the twin themes of Union and emancipation.

In God’s name let us march to the mutinous South
I shall fall, as will many of you
But halt not till slavery’s rebellion shall cease –
Till the Father of Waters shall flow
Unviewed by a slave form Itasca Lake
To the far Gulf of Mexico

Striking a tone of moralizing self-righteousness, this short piece nevertheless indicated that an emancipationist memory lived on with the veterans who had determined that the Union should survive – ultimately, without slavery.

Aug 26, 2012