Happy Halloween

[donna]

Happy Halloween to all of you. Hope you have many treats.

 

[Stony]

Happy Halloween!

 

[nitrofd]

Happy halloween everyone, this day is a little special as it's my oldest son's birthday.believe me this boy has had the devil in him for 45 years.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Thus starts the holiday weight gain through New Years,
Happy Halloween.

 

[Pat Young]

Happy Halloween, a holiday brought here by Celtic immigrants in the Civil War era.

 

[Buckeye Bill]

Enjoy and be safe!

 

[chellers]

Take a flashlight and be safe, y'all!

 

[Northern Light]

Happy All Hallows Eve, Everyone!

 

[TinCan]

If any of you are at Gettysburg tonight please say hello to Jennie Wade for me will you.

 

[Northern Sympathizer]

I apologize if bumping this old thread is offensive to some people, but I have a short story I would like, if I may, to please tell that is related to October 31st and the War between the States. I hope you the reader find it entertaining.


I dressed as an 1860's United States infantry soldier for Halloween 2010 and that is a very controversial and scary costume to wear in the part of Dixie where I'm from. I'm joking. It wasn't that bad. In any case, I was in my local downtown area and I recall going into a restaurant where a small group of young Caucasians drunkenly complimented my attire. I announced that slavery wasn't going to be going on anywhere tonight as long as I was present. A young man in that clique raised his glass to me and cheered. The others seemed confused by my statement and their friend's response to it however. They were clearly not history buffs sadly.


I later returned outside and an adult Nordic male dressed interestingly enough as a 1940's U.S. sailer said to me upon viewing my outfit,

"Oh no. A Yankee?"

"Yes Sir." I replied.

"That's not good."

"Hurrah for Abe Lincoln!" was my response and I marched on.


I recall there were a few angry looking Anglo-Saxon yokels glaring at me. On the flip side - I had random African-Americans "thank" me. In one of the most amusing encounters I experienced, an inebriated black man (whom I think was homeless and who I could barley understand) gave me a huge bear hug, indicated that he loved my costume by lifting his hands up and down in the direction of my uniform and had a smile on his face while nodding his head, and then he shook my hand. I recollect saying something along the lines of "God bless you Sir." to him.


It was interesting. As an American Civil War fan and contemporary Lincoln Loyalist, I absolutely loved the experience because I got to feel 1/10th of how actual Union troops must have felt during the War of the Rebellion when they were in Federally occupied southern towns. The men in President Lincoln's army had reported that when in those areas, they often had angry white locals glaring at them and heckling them, but also were greeted by very happy slaves who treated them with kindness and acted as if the blue warriors were celebrities. One-hundred-and-forty-seven years later, the response was still the same in the land of cotton.