Christmas

[Barrycdog]

150 years ago...in the middle of the great struggle for Southern Independence, My GGGrandfather wrote this letter to his wife on Christmas Day from the 3rd Georgia's camp near Fredericksburg, Va. "We are in a holy cause."

Camp near Fredericksburg, Va
Dec.r 25th /62

My Dear Wife-

As you will perceive I am writing you on Christmas day & tho I could not be with you as I fondly hoped yet all my heart & all my thoughts are there. Stern is the necesity Stern the requirements of Country that keeps me from a hapy reunion this day with those I love & cherish as my life. But so it is & verily I believe we will have our reward. God –as we are in a Holy cause- will bless us & our happiness I feel assured will come by & by. Another year of misery of bloodshed of devastation, of the moan of the dying & the wail of the widow & the fatherless is almost gone, but; we are still spared the pane of that sepparation that death brings tho we have offered in common with most of our felow citizenry our life & our all on the altar of our common country. So we may say God has blessed us always. I know my dear wife that you have long before this looked for me with that keen vision that constant anxiety that the wife, Nay, the fond loving wife can only keen & feel & know has been my sorrow & pane when I have thought of your disappointment. But you know it was unavoidable [unclear]. I would have come if I posibly could, but the judgement of those appointed to look over the directing of our young Republic said no & I could not come.

I have just laid aside my pen & eaten my dinner. What do you think darling I had for my Christmas dinner? Some biscuit & beef & that verry poor. Yesterday I ast all over the neighborhood for a turkery & some chickens but found none. So our dinner was dry. But we care not for that if we can get home soon & see our loved ones. The Yankees I see have dispensed with the services of the arch fiend Seward & I think this augurs well. I hope still to get home in two weeks, so must it be, Darling! I have me now a good tent & nice little stove & am as comfortable & happy as I can be with out you. We have hay & straw on our tent floor & the warmth from the stove makes it cosy & agreeable. Our comply held a meeting yesterday & subscribed $239 to the relief of of the wives & children of deceased soldiers. We heard that when a soldier died the Sup'r [Superior?] Court struck his name from the list & would not give his family any thing. So you see he or they took thing with what the Court gave & what the soldier deserves from the government. We thought this horrible & we made up this money to send to their relief. It is to be sent to Bob Rowland to be distributed by him. Give my love to all. I will not write any more now. Kitt is well. I believe I wrote you that miss Emma says if she can get a music school she will leave Portsmouth & take charge of it. Good by your loving husband Fes.

 

[Barrycdog]

The Christmas Season of 1889, was a time of sadness in Dixie. Hundreds of thousands of people came to remember and pay their last respects to Jefferson Davis in the crescent city of New Orleans.
On December 6, 1889, Jefferson Davis died at the home of a friend. Do our young people who who Davis was?

Jefferson Davis graduated from West Point Military Academy, served valiantly in the War with Mexico, was Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce, elected US Senator from Mississippi and was the first and only President of the Confederate States of America. Davis also wrote the book, "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government" at his last home in Mississippi.

Jefferson Davis, and wife Varina, found great contentment and peace at "Beauvoir" their beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast Home. This is where he wished to die when his time came but it was not to be.

In November 1889, Varina attended to their home as Davis left for Brierfield Plantation to take care of family business. As he traveled through New Orleans Davis was exposed to a cold-rain that caused him a severe cold and bronchitis that was further complicated by Malaria.

Milo Copper, a former servant of the Davis family, upon hearing of Davis' illness, made the long trip from Florida to New Orleans to be near Davis' side. As Cooper entered Davis' sick room, he burst into tears and fell on his knees and prayed that God would spare the life of Jefferson Davis and bless the family.

Jefferson Davis died between 12:30AM and 1:00AM on December 6, 1889. The news of his death hit the front page of many Southern newspapers. The praises and tributes read similar to that of a New Orleans paper that read,

"Throughout the South are Lamentations and tears; in every country on the globe where there are lovers of liberty there is mourning; wherever there are men who love heroic patriotism, dauntless resolution, fortitude or intellectual power, there is an sincere sorrowing. The beloved of our land, the unfaltering upholder of constitutional liberty, the typical hero and sage, is no more; the fearless heart that beats with sympathy for all mankind is stilled forever, a great light is gone----Jefferson Davis is dead!"

The body of Jefferson Davis laid in state at the city hall of New Orleans, Louisiana from midnight, December 6, 1889, to December 11th. The United States and Confederate flags hung from above and in the city hall that was covered with many flowers.

The church bells toiled as over 80,000 people lined the streets of New Orleans to pay their respects to a Southern legend. All schools and businesses were closed that day.

Those men who comprised the honor Guard for the procession to Metairie Cemetery included: the Army of Northern Virginia Association, the Army of Tennessee and the Washington Artillery. Metairie Cemetery would be a temporary burial place for Davis as he was moved in 1893, by funeral train to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

 

[Barrycdog]

here is a story about From the History of the Georgia Military Institute, Marietta, Georgia including the Confederate Military service of the Cadet Battalion by Boling C. Yates
From the History of the Georgia Military Institute Cadets by Boling C. Yates
Page 16

The cadets, leaving Savannah, were ordered to duty at Augusta, Georgia. They marched north to Bamberg, South Carolina, where they could obtain rail transportation over the South Carolina Railroad which linked Charleston to Augusta.
They were in Bamberg on Sunday, Christmas Day, far from home, tired and somewhat disheartened by their recent misfortunes. Just at this low ebb, fortune smiled. The good people of Bamberg, South Carolina, hearing of their coming, had prepared a feast for the soldiers. These boys had slim rations for a number of weeks. What food they had they coked themselves. They would long remember the "Abundant feast of delicacies as they had not seen for a month, provided by the citizens of that hospitable neighborhood."

 

[Barrycdog]

John Fisher, I was just going through some letters, not looking for a Christmas one, and happened to find this diary entry by Lewis H. Webb, Company A, 13th N.C. Light Artillery and remembered your request. Don't know if this is what you are looking for but here it is:

December 25, 1864
"Christmas! What delightful memories of the happy, happy past, are awakened by the return of this day. Oh with what glee in other days was the sacred anniversary welcomed, this one present with others we all remember. Now a sad pall like gloom hangs [over] the people who were [once] in the past. More than any others on this continent, on the return of this day to smile and extend to each other friendly and joyful greetings and to make the season one of happy rejoicings.

Will we ever again witness such joyful times? God in whose hands are the issues of life and death only knows. The sun shines cheerfully and with as much brightness as when our hearts as a people were cheerful and gay. This morning brought another alarming rumor of defeat to our arms and success to those of our enemy. Fort Fisher is said to have fallen."

 

[Custers Luck]

Really great Barry, What became of your gg grand pa???

 

[Barrycdog]

Really great Barry, What became of your gg grand pa???

I am sorry. I variety of these stories came from other. The top ios from John Hall and tow from books. I am also eating sweet gherkins and cannot type

 

[donna]

Nice post. Christmas fast approaches and good to hear of stories from the Civil War Era.

 

[Custers Luck]

Thats ok Barry , they are very interesting to read thanks!!

 

[Bill in Oregon]

Barry, I had not realized that President Davis lived so long after the war. I must look up his book.

 

[donna]

Barry a short book you might like to check out is "God Rest Ye Merry, Soldiers" by James McIvor.