Iain C. Martin's Blog, page 3
January 3, 2013
Inspiring Authors: J.R.R. Tolkien -- Embracing Faith
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
--Gandalf
Today marks the birthday of one of the greatest writers of the last century, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. He was born 121 years ago today in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Professor J.R.R. TolkienI believe that often books find us at the right time in our own journey. Tolkien's writing found me later in life that it does for most people who read The Hobbit as children. My best friend was telling me for YEARS "You should be reading Tolkien!" By the time I did manage to take an interest in The Lord of the Rings I had completed a masters in history and knew a great deal about the industrial revolution and the First World War. When I learned Tolkien had been a combat veteran of the Somme I immediately took to the themes of his writing and the underlying often hidden messages.
Second lieutenant Tolkien, Lancashire Fusiliers in 1916 It has been pointed out that the major theme of Tolkien's writing is death. By 1918 many of his closest friends from school had been killed in the war--deaths which profoundly affected him as a writer. He later said:
One has indeed personally to come under the shadow of war to feel fully its oppression; but as the years go by it seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead.
He also conceded that his writing was primarily a religious and Catholic story:
The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.
Art by Ted NasmithWhat I find most inspiring about Tolkien is that he came out of the First World War and wrote an epic Christian novel fundamentally about hope against evil and despair. The youth of his era have been called the "lost generation"--they were stripped of their beliefs in God and country in a war unparalleled in history for its meaningless, catastrophic waste of life. Many survivors abandoned their faith in God.
Thomas Shippey, a leading Tolkien scholar, refers to authors such as Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and others as "traumatized writers"--combat veterans whose life and death experiences on the Western Front defined their lives in stark and often bleak realities. Other great writers belong here: the British poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the novelists Robert Graves (Goodbye to All That), Ernest Hemingway (A Farewell to Arms), Erich Maria Remarque (All Quiet on the Western Front), and Henri Barbusse (Under Fire), to name just a few. In their writing one feels the cynicism, the despair and hopelessness they experienced in war.
Tolkien chose another path. He took the loss of friends--the fear and darkness of his own past and wrote an epic of friendship, of sacrifice and the triumph of good over evil. Ultimately he wrote about hope and salvation. By creating Lord of the Rings Tolkien felt he would bring himself and his readers closer to God. He explained:
We have come from God and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed, only by myth-making, only by becoming a "sub-creator" and inventing stories, can Man ascribe to the state of perfection that he knew before the fall.
I believe Tolkien witnessed one of the darkest moments in human history and felt compelled to write on his faith as a Christian that humanity will not succumb to to evil. This he expressed through The Lord of the Rings. At the heart of Tolkien's writing is a belief in the true Christian myth, that we are created in the image of the Maker and exist in an evil and fallen world to be redeemed if we seek God's truth. In seeking truth one can live optimistically, without despair.
Tolkien reminds us that time is short, to hold our loved ones close, to cherish our friends, to be true and noble to each other, to believe in God and our ultimate salvation. In doing so his writing transcends from the written page and into our everyday lives.
Happy birthday John, we miss you.
January 2, 2013
Ties to the Past: Amos Humiston--The Unknown Soldier of Gettysburg
Word over all, beautiful as the sky!
Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time
be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly
softly
wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world:
... For my enemy is dead -- a man as divine as myself is dead;
I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin -- I
draw near;
I bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in
the coffin.
--WALT WHITMAN, Reconciliation
Sgt. Amos Humiston, 154th New York Volunteers
During the research for this new book the most important discovery was learning that the the unknown soldier of Gettysburg, Amos Humiston, was born in my hometown of Owego, New York. As a writer, it just made the connection to my subject that much stronger.
The story is quite famous. As the Gettysburg townspeople began burying the dead, the body of a Union soldier was discovered tucked off a street where he had crawled, mortally wounded, to die. His jacket had no badges, no signs of rank or unit, and his pockets contained nothing to identify him—no letters or diary. Yet in his hand he grasped a small photo of three young children. The last act of his life had been to gaze upon their faces.
Franklin, Frederick and Alice Humiston
No name — but a soldier brave, he fell.
We shall find her, without a name;
This picture, sometime, will tell whence he came.
— Emily Latimer, “The Unknown"
The photo came into the possession of Dr. J. Francis Bourns, a Philadelphia doctor on his way to help the wounded from the battlefield. He hoped to locate the mother of the children in the photograph by publishing a detailed description of the children in all the local papers. A major story ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer on October 19, 1863, entitled, “Whose Father Was He?” As the story grew in fame and as the photo of the children was printed onto thousands of small post cards, the nation waited in suspense. Would anyone identify the children?
Dr. Bourns soon received a letter from a woman in Portville, New York, who had not heard from her husband since the battle of Gettysburg. She requested a copy of the photograph. When she received it in the mail she looked upon the faces of her three children—Franklin, Alice, and Frederick—who were now fatherless. The woman’s name was Phylinda Humiston. Her fallen husband was Sergeant Amos Humiston of Company C, 154th New York Volunteers. Sergeant Humiston came to symbolize the thousands of missing men at Gettysburg and other battles, whose widows and orphaned children waited for them in vain.
The following is a poem he wrote to his wife a few months before his death:
To My Wife
You have put the little ones to bed dear wife
And covered them over with care
My Frankey Alley and Fred
And they have said their evening prayer
Perhaps they breathed the name of one
Who is far in southern land
And wished he too were there
To join their little band
I am very sad to tonight dear wife
My thoughts are dwelling on home and thee
As I keep the lone night watch
Beneath the holly tree
The winds are sighing through the trees
And as they onward roam
They whisper hopes of happiness
Within our cottage home
And as they onward passed
Over hill and vale and bubbling stream
They wake up thoughts within my soul
Like music in a dream
Oh when will this rebellion cease
This cursed war be over
And we our dear ones meet
To part from them no more?
March 25th 1863
Three years after the battle, an orphanage was established at Gettysburg—called The Homestead Association—for the benefit of children whose fathers had been killed in the service of their country. Mrs. Humiston and her children were among the first to reside at the home. James Garfield, future president of the United States, was on the board of trustees. Dr. Bourns served as the first general secretary. The founding of the orphanage was reported nationwide for a citizenry still trying to understand the meaning of the great sacrifices made during the Civil War.
Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time
be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly
softly
wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world:
... For my enemy is dead -- a man as divine as myself is dead;
I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin -- I
draw near;
I bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in
the coffin.
--WALT WHITMAN, Reconciliation
Sgt. Amos Humiston, 154th New York VolunteersDuring the research for this new book the most important discovery was learning that the the unknown soldier of Gettysburg, Amos Humiston, was born in my hometown of Owego, New York. As a writer, it just made the connection to my subject that much stronger.
The story is quite famous. As the Gettysburg townspeople began burying the dead, the body of a Union soldier was discovered tucked off a street where he had crawled, mortally wounded, to die. His jacket had no badges, no signs of rank or unit, and his pockets contained nothing to identify him—no letters or diary. Yet in his hand he grasped a small photo of three young children. The last act of his life had been to gaze upon their faces.
Franklin, Frederick and Alice HumistonNo name — but a soldier brave, he fell.
We shall find her, without a name;
This picture, sometime, will tell whence he came.
— Emily Latimer, “The Unknown"
The photo came into the possession of Dr. J. Francis Bourns, a Philadelphia doctor on his way to help the wounded from the battlefield. He hoped to locate the mother of the children in the photograph by publishing a detailed description of the children in all the local papers. A major story ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer on October 19, 1863, entitled, “Whose Father Was He?” As the story grew in fame and as the photo of the children was printed onto thousands of small post cards, the nation waited in suspense. Would anyone identify the children?
Dr. Bourns soon received a letter from a woman in Portville, New York, who had not heard from her husband since the battle of Gettysburg. She requested a copy of the photograph. When she received it in the mail she looked upon the faces of her three children—Franklin, Alice, and Frederick—who were now fatherless. The woman’s name was Phylinda Humiston. Her fallen husband was Sergeant Amos Humiston of Company C, 154th New York Volunteers. Sergeant Humiston came to symbolize the thousands of missing men at Gettysburg and other battles, whose widows and orphaned children waited for them in vain.
The following is a poem he wrote to his wife a few months before his death:
To My Wife
You have put the little ones to bed dear wife
And covered them over with care
My Frankey Alley and Fred
And they have said their evening prayer
Perhaps they breathed the name of one
Who is far in southern land
And wished he too were there
To join their little band
I am very sad to tonight dear wife
My thoughts are dwelling on home and thee
As I keep the lone night watch
Beneath the holly tree
The winds are sighing through the trees
And as they onward roam
They whisper hopes of happiness
Within our cottage home
And as they onward passed
Over hill and vale and bubbling stream
They wake up thoughts within my soul
Like music in a dream
Oh when will this rebellion cease
This cursed war be over
And we our dear ones meet
To part from them no more?
March 25th 1863
Three years after the battle, an orphanage was established at Gettysburg—called The Homestead Association—for the benefit of children whose fathers had been killed in the service of their country. Mrs. Humiston and her children were among the first to reside at the home. James Garfield, future president of the United States, was on the board of trustees. Dr. Bourns served as the first general secretary. The founding of the orphanage was reported nationwide for a citizenry still trying to understand the meaning of the great sacrifices made during the Civil War.
December 24, 2012
Daniel Skelly: A Young Gettysburg Hero Part One
To tell the truth is very difficult, and young people are rarely capable of it.
― Leo Tolstoy
What makes any memoir of value to a historian is its attention to detail, its objectivity, its descriptive qualities, and if the author is someone of historical importance, its interpretive analysis. What is remarkable about the memoirs by Daniel and Tillie are the details they remembered years later about what they witnessed, and their honesty. Each had a remarkable story to tell. Tillie would meet General Meade as she passed out water alongside the road. Much of her time over the three days of battle was spent at the Jacob Weikert farm helping the wounded. She also gave one of the most remarkable and accounts of the battle's aftermath--a catastrophe she described as "a strange and blighted land." Daniel Skelly gave his own detailed account of the battle from his vantage point within the town of Gettysburg. Daniel was an eighteen-year-old employee of the Fahnestock Brothers dry goods (clothing and supplies) company in Gettysburg. His brother, Johnston Hastings "Jack" Skelly, was a Union soldier—a corporal in the 87th Pennsylvania. Rumors of a coming invasion by a Confederate army were rife in the months preceding the battle. He wrote in his memoir years later:
Daniel Skelly in 1863
The month of June, 1863, was an exciting one for the people of Gettysburg and vicinity. Rumors of the invasion of Pennsylvania by the Confederate army were rife and toward the latter part of the month there was the daily sight of people from along the border of Maryland passing through the town with horses and cattle, to places of safety. Most of the merchants of the town shipped their goods to Philadelphia for safety, as was their habit all through the war upon rumors of the Confederates crossing the Potomac.
The 28th and 29th were exciting days in Gettysburg for we knew the Confederate army, or a part of it at least, was within a few miles of our town and at night we could see from the house-tops the campfires in the mountains eight miles west of us. We expected it to march into our town at any moment and we had no information as to the whereabouts of the Army of the Potomac.
The next day, Tuesday June 30, two brigades if Union cavalry arrived in Gettysburg--almost 3,000 troopers and six cannons under the command of Brigadier General John Buford. The citizens of Gettysburg rejoiced and welcomed the soldiers as heroes. Daniel watched them arrive through town along Chambersburg Street:
Surely now we were safe and the Confederate army would never reach Gettysburg.… General Buford sat on his horse in the street in front of me, entirely alone, facing to the west in profound thought... It was the only time I ever saw the general and his calm demeanor and soldierly appearance... made a deep impression on me.
Tillie Pierce witnessed the arrival of the troopers with awe remembering years later:
It was to me a novel and grand sight. I had never seen so many soldiers at one time. They were Union soldiers and that was enough for me, for I then knew we had protection, and I felt they were our dearest friends.
Brigadier General John Buford
Little did they know that two entire Confederate corps--50,000 men, were headed towards Gettysburg and would begin to arrive the following morning. General Buford knew their only chance was to delay the enemy long enough for the Union army to arrive in force before his two brigades were pushed aside. When one of his brigade commanders spoke confidently of whipping any rebels the next day, Buford said, “No, you won’t. They will attack you in the morning; and they will come ‘booming’—skirmishers three deep. You will have to fight like the devil to hold your own until supports arrive.”
Daniel knew none of this except that the next day he might get to see some real action. He made plans to be in a position to witness the big show....
To Be Continued....
― Leo Tolstoy
What makes any memoir of value to a historian is its attention to detail, its objectivity, its descriptive qualities, and if the author is someone of historical importance, its interpretive analysis. What is remarkable about the memoirs by Daniel and Tillie are the details they remembered years later about what they witnessed, and their honesty. Each had a remarkable story to tell. Tillie would meet General Meade as she passed out water alongside the road. Much of her time over the three days of battle was spent at the Jacob Weikert farm helping the wounded. She also gave one of the most remarkable and accounts of the battle's aftermath--a catastrophe she described as "a strange and blighted land." Daniel Skelly gave his own detailed account of the battle from his vantage point within the town of Gettysburg. Daniel was an eighteen-year-old employee of the Fahnestock Brothers dry goods (clothing and supplies) company in Gettysburg. His brother, Johnston Hastings "Jack" Skelly, was a Union soldier—a corporal in the 87th Pennsylvania. Rumors of a coming invasion by a Confederate army were rife in the months preceding the battle. He wrote in his memoir years later:
Daniel Skelly in 1863The month of June, 1863, was an exciting one for the people of Gettysburg and vicinity. Rumors of the invasion of Pennsylvania by the Confederate army were rife and toward the latter part of the month there was the daily sight of people from along the border of Maryland passing through the town with horses and cattle, to places of safety. Most of the merchants of the town shipped their goods to Philadelphia for safety, as was their habit all through the war upon rumors of the Confederates crossing the Potomac.
The 28th and 29th were exciting days in Gettysburg for we knew the Confederate army, or a part of it at least, was within a few miles of our town and at night we could see from the house-tops the campfires in the mountains eight miles west of us. We expected it to march into our town at any moment and we had no information as to the whereabouts of the Army of the Potomac.
The next day, Tuesday June 30, two brigades if Union cavalry arrived in Gettysburg--almost 3,000 troopers and six cannons under the command of Brigadier General John Buford. The citizens of Gettysburg rejoiced and welcomed the soldiers as heroes. Daniel watched them arrive through town along Chambersburg Street:
Surely now we were safe and the Confederate army would never reach Gettysburg.… General Buford sat on his horse in the street in front of me, entirely alone, facing to the west in profound thought... It was the only time I ever saw the general and his calm demeanor and soldierly appearance... made a deep impression on me.
Tillie Pierce witnessed the arrival of the troopers with awe remembering years later:
It was to me a novel and grand sight. I had never seen so many soldiers at one time. They were Union soldiers and that was enough for me, for I then knew we had protection, and I felt they were our dearest friends.
Brigadier General John BufordLittle did they know that two entire Confederate corps--50,000 men, were headed towards Gettysburg and would begin to arrive the following morning. General Buford knew their only chance was to delay the enemy long enough for the Union army to arrive in force before his two brigades were pushed aside. When one of his brigade commanders spoke confidently of whipping any rebels the next day, Buford said, “No, you won’t. They will attack you in the morning; and they will come ‘booming’—skirmishers three deep. You will have to fight like the devil to hold your own until supports arrive.”
Daniel knew none of this except that the next day he might get to see some real action. He made plans to be in a position to witness the big show....
To Be Continued....
December 23, 2012
Tillie Pierce: A Young Gettysburg Hero Part One
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
--Mark Twain
The 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg battle is next July. A year ago I decided that I wanted to write an account of the battle and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address for young readers. The question became, how could I find a way of approaching this epic event in a way that could captivate teens? How could I find a way of telling this story in a way that could interest young women as well as young men?
Digging around the original accounts of the battle I quickly learned that two of the best civilian accounts were written by teenagers. Daniel Skelly was an 18 year-old store clerk with a young man's penchant for adventure. Tillie Pierce was an innocent 15 year-old student, the daughter of a well-to-do Gettysburg family. Each of them witnessed and participated in the events of those three tragic days in July 1863 that marked them forever. Decades later, each would pen those experiences in a short memoir.
Daniel's family urged him to write his memories a few months before he passed away in 1932 in a self published volume: A Boy's Experiences During The Battle of Gettysburg. Tillie Pierce wrote her own memoir in 1889: At Gettysburg, or, What a Girl Saw and Heard of the Battle. A True Narrative.
I realized between the two accounts there was the kernel of a joint narrative that would be ideal for retelling the Gettysburg story from their own voices.
Tillie Pierce photographed in 1863 when she was fifteen.
Daniel Skelly photographed in 1863 when he was eighteen.
One passage of Tillie's truly inspired me to writing their story. When the fighting on July 1 could be heard approaching Gettysburg, Tillie's neighbor, Mrs. Schriver, arrived and suggested she evacuate with her family to her father's farm a few miles outside of town along the Taneytown road. No one could know that Jacob Weikert's farm, located at the foot of Little Round Top, would be a mere few hundred yards from some of the most savage fighting of the Civil War the next day.
The Jacob Weikert Farm as it looks today. Photo courtesy of The Gettysburg Daily.
She spent that afternoon passing out water to Union soldiers as they marched past the front of the house along the road. That night, she decided to explore what was happening as more of the wounded began to arrive. This passage is from Tillie's memoir:
That evening Beckie Weikert, the daughter at home, and I went out to the barn to see what was transpiring there. Nothing before in my experience had ever paralleled the sight we then and there beheld. There were the groaning and crying, the struggling and dying, crowded side by side, while attendants sought to aid and relieve them as best they could.
We were so overcome by the sad and awful spectacle that we hastened back to the house weeping bitterly.
As we entered the basement or cellar-kitchen of the house, we found many nurses making beef tea for the wounded . . . a chaplain who was present in the kitchen stepped up to me while I was attending to some duty and said:
“Little girl, do all you can for the poor soldiers and the Lord will reward you.”
The first day had passed, and with the rest of the family, I retired, surrounded with strange and appalling events, and many new visions passing rapidly through my mind.
The Jacob Weikert Barn as it appears today. Photos courtesy of The Gettysburg Daily.
Thus began what must have been a terrible and quick journey for Tillie from the warm security of childhood to the stark realities adult responsibilities over the next few days. Telling of the grit this girl was made of, she wiped away her tears, and went back to help those men. Over the next two days she would see much worse.
This was my inspiration to write a new book for teens. Nothing could make history more alive for readers that putting the experiences of Tillie and Daniel onto the page in their own words. Their courage and determination, not to mention the honesty of their memoirs, are truly inspiring even 150 years later.
To Be Continued....
--Mark Twain
The 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg battle is next July. A year ago I decided that I wanted to write an account of the battle and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address for young readers. The question became, how could I find a way of approaching this epic event in a way that could captivate teens? How could I find a way of telling this story in a way that could interest young women as well as young men?
Digging around the original accounts of the battle I quickly learned that two of the best civilian accounts were written by teenagers. Daniel Skelly was an 18 year-old store clerk with a young man's penchant for adventure. Tillie Pierce was an innocent 15 year-old student, the daughter of a well-to-do Gettysburg family. Each of them witnessed and participated in the events of those three tragic days in July 1863 that marked them forever. Decades later, each would pen those experiences in a short memoir.
Daniel's family urged him to write his memories a few months before he passed away in 1932 in a self published volume: A Boy's Experiences During The Battle of Gettysburg. Tillie Pierce wrote her own memoir in 1889: At Gettysburg, or, What a Girl Saw and Heard of the Battle. A True Narrative.
I realized between the two accounts there was the kernel of a joint narrative that would be ideal for retelling the Gettysburg story from their own voices.
Tillie Pierce photographed in 1863 when she was fifteen.
Daniel Skelly photographed in 1863 when he was eighteen. One passage of Tillie's truly inspired me to writing their story. When the fighting on July 1 could be heard approaching Gettysburg, Tillie's neighbor, Mrs. Schriver, arrived and suggested she evacuate with her family to her father's farm a few miles outside of town along the Taneytown road. No one could know that Jacob Weikert's farm, located at the foot of Little Round Top, would be a mere few hundred yards from some of the most savage fighting of the Civil War the next day.
The Jacob Weikert Farm as it looks today. Photo courtesy of The Gettysburg Daily.She spent that afternoon passing out water to Union soldiers as they marched past the front of the house along the road. That night, she decided to explore what was happening as more of the wounded began to arrive. This passage is from Tillie's memoir:
That evening Beckie Weikert, the daughter at home, and I went out to the barn to see what was transpiring there. Nothing before in my experience had ever paralleled the sight we then and there beheld. There were the groaning and crying, the struggling and dying, crowded side by side, while attendants sought to aid and relieve them as best they could.
We were so overcome by the sad and awful spectacle that we hastened back to the house weeping bitterly.
As we entered the basement or cellar-kitchen of the house, we found many nurses making beef tea for the wounded . . . a chaplain who was present in the kitchen stepped up to me while I was attending to some duty and said:
“Little girl, do all you can for the poor soldiers and the Lord will reward you.”
The first day had passed, and with the rest of the family, I retired, surrounded with strange and appalling events, and many new visions passing rapidly through my mind.
The Jacob Weikert Barn as it appears today. Photos courtesy of The Gettysburg Daily.
Thus began what must have been a terrible and quick journey for Tillie from the warm security of childhood to the stark realities adult responsibilities over the next few days. Telling of the grit this girl was made of, she wiped away her tears, and went back to help those men. Over the next two days she would see much worse.
This was my inspiration to write a new book for teens. Nothing could make history more alive for readers that putting the experiences of Tillie and Daniel onto the page in their own words. Their courage and determination, not to mention the honesty of their memoirs, are truly inspiring even 150 years later.
To Be Continued....
Tillie Pierce: A Young Hero of Gettysburg Part One
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
--Mark Twain
The 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg battle is next July. A year ago I decided that I wanted to write an account of the battle and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address for young readers. The question became, how could I find a way of approaching this epic event in a way that could captivate teens? How could I find a way of telling this story in a way that could interest young women as well as young men?
Digging around the original accounts of the battle I quickly learned that two of the best civilian accounts were written by teenagers. Daniel Skelly was an 18 year-old store clerk with a young man's penchant for adventure. Tillie Pierce was an innocent 15 year-old student, the daughter of a well-to-do Gettysburg family. Each of them witnessed and participated in the events of those three tragic days in July 1863 that marked them forever. Decades later, each would pen those experiences in a short memoir.
Daniel's family urged him to write his memories a few months before he passed away in 1932 in a self published volume: A Boy's Experiences During The Battle of Gettysburg. Tillie Pierce wrote her own memoir in 1889: At Gettysburg, or, What a Girl Saw and Heard of the Battle. A True Narrative.
I realized between the two accounts there was the kernel of a joint narrative that would be ideal for retelling the Gettysburg story from their own voices.
Tillie Pierce photographed in 1863 when she was fifteen.
Daniel Skelly photographed in 1863 when he was eighteen.
One passage of Tillie's truly inspired me to writing their story. When the fighting on July 1 could be heard approaching Gettysburg, Tillie's neighbor, Mrs. Schriver, arrived and suggested she evacuate with her family to her father's farm a few miles outside of town along the Taneytown road. No one could know that Jacob Weikert's farm, located at the foot of Little Round Top, would be a mere few hundred yards from some of the most savage fighting of the Civil War the next day.
The Jacob Weikert Farm as it looks today. Photo courtesy of The Gettysburg Daily. She spent that afternoon passing out water to Union soldiers as they marched past the front of the house along the road. That night, she decided to explore what was happening as more of the wounded began to arrive. This passage is from Tillie's memoir:
That evening Beckie Weikert, the daughter at home, and I went out to the barn to see what was transpiring there. Nothing before in my experience had ever paralleled the sight we then and there beheld. There were the groaning and crying, the struggling and dying, crowded side by side, while attendants sought to aid and relieve them as best they could.
We were so overcome by the sad and awful spectacle that we hastened back to the house weeping bitterly.
As we entered the basement or cellar-kitchen of the house, we found many nurses making beef tea for the wounded . . . a chaplain who was present in the kitchen stepped up to me while I was attending to some duty and said:
“Little girl, do all you can for the poor soldiers and the Lord will reward you.”
The first day had passed, and with the rest of the family, I retired, surrounded with strange and appalling events, and many new visions passing rapidly through my mind.
The Jacob Weikert Barn as it appears today. Photos courtesy of The Gettysburg Daily.
Thus began what must have been a terrible and quick journey for Tillie from the warm security of childhood to the stark realities adult responsibilities over the next few days. Telling of the grit this girl was made of, she wiped away her tears, and went back to help those men. Over the next two days she would see much worse.
This was my inspiration to write a new book for teens. Nothing could make history more alive for readers that putting the experiences of Tillie and Daniel onto the page in their own words. Their courage and determination, not to mention the honesty of their memoirs, are truly inspiring even 150 years later.
To Be Continued....
--Mark Twain
The 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg battle is next July. A year ago I decided that I wanted to write an account of the battle and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address for young readers. The question became, how could I find a way of approaching this epic event in a way that could captivate teens? How could I find a way of telling this story in a way that could interest young women as well as young men?
Digging around the original accounts of the battle I quickly learned that two of the best civilian accounts were written by teenagers. Daniel Skelly was an 18 year-old store clerk with a young man's penchant for adventure. Tillie Pierce was an innocent 15 year-old student, the daughter of a well-to-do Gettysburg family. Each of them witnessed and participated in the events of those three tragic days in July 1863 that marked them forever. Decades later, each would pen those experiences in a short memoir.
Daniel's family urged him to write his memories a few months before he passed away in 1932 in a self published volume: A Boy's Experiences During The Battle of Gettysburg. Tillie Pierce wrote her own memoir in 1889: At Gettysburg, or, What a Girl Saw and Heard of the Battle. A True Narrative.
I realized between the two accounts there was the kernel of a joint narrative that would be ideal for retelling the Gettysburg story from their own voices.
Tillie Pierce photographed in 1863 when she was fifteen.
Daniel Skelly photographed in 1863 when he was eighteen. One passage of Tillie's truly inspired me to writing their story. When the fighting on July 1 could be heard approaching Gettysburg, Tillie's neighbor, Mrs. Schriver, arrived and suggested she evacuate with her family to her father's farm a few miles outside of town along the Taneytown road. No one could know that Jacob Weikert's farm, located at the foot of Little Round Top, would be a mere few hundred yards from some of the most savage fighting of the Civil War the next day.
The Jacob Weikert Farm as it looks today. Photo courtesy of The Gettysburg Daily. She spent that afternoon passing out water to Union soldiers as they marched past the front of the house along the road. That night, she decided to explore what was happening as more of the wounded began to arrive. This passage is from Tillie's memoir:That evening Beckie Weikert, the daughter at home, and I went out to the barn to see what was transpiring there. Nothing before in my experience had ever paralleled the sight we then and there beheld. There were the groaning and crying, the struggling and dying, crowded side by side, while attendants sought to aid and relieve them as best they could.
We were so overcome by the sad and awful spectacle that we hastened back to the house weeping bitterly.
As we entered the basement or cellar-kitchen of the house, we found many nurses making beef tea for the wounded . . . a chaplain who was present in the kitchen stepped up to me while I was attending to some duty and said:
“Little girl, do all you can for the poor soldiers and the Lord will reward you.”
The first day had passed, and with the rest of the family, I retired, surrounded with strange and appalling events, and many new visions passing rapidly through my mind.
The Jacob Weikert Barn as it appears today. Photos courtesy of The Gettysburg Daily.
Thus began what must have been a terrible and quick journey for Tillie from the warm security of childhood to the stark realities adult responsibilities over the next few days. Telling of the grit this girl was made of, she wiped away her tears, and went back to help those men. Over the next two days she would see much worse.
This was my inspiration to write a new book for teens. Nothing could make history more alive for readers that putting the experiences of Tillie and Daniel onto the page in their own words. Their courage and determination, not to mention the honesty of their memoirs, are truly inspiring even 150 years later.
To Be Continued....
December 11, 2012
The American Civil War: The Crossroads of Our Being
Through our great good fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.--Memorial Day Speech, Keene, NH, 1884.
I have started this journal to share some of the things that inspire me as a writer. For the last year or so I have been working on a new book for teens to mark the 150th anniversary of the battle at Gettysburg in July 2013. The project is entitled, Gettysburg: The True Account of Two Young Heroes in the Greatest Battle of the Civil War. Essentially it is the Gettysburg story as told by those who were there, but especially from the memoirs of two teenagers caught in the epic struggle--Tillie Pierce, the 15 year old daughter of a well-to-do family, and Daniel Skelly, an 18 year old country store clerk. Each witnessed great moments of the battle and participated in events that helped shape the course of history. More on them later...
I thought it might be worth starting this journal by reflecting on why history is so important. The American Civil War is now an event 150 years in the past. Why should we care? Is the Gettysburg epic nothing but a dusty story of an age long gone? What relevance does the study of history give us in our modern age? In regards to this new book, why should young people care about our shared past as Americans?
The High Water Mark by Don Troiani
Bruce Catton was a great Civil War historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1954. As a young boy growing up in the small town of Benzonia, Michigan, he would sit on the front porch of his neighbor’s house and listen to the stories of Union veterans. Speaking in 1961 on the meaning of the Civil War, Catton noted, “It was the biggest single event in our national history. In a way it is the central theme of our existence as a people; it is our Iliad, our Odyssey , the one tremendous legend which expresses what we are and what we mean. We can no more ignore it than we can ignore the American Revolution itself. Here was our most significant and tragic experience.”
Bruce Catton
If we are to understand ourselves as Americans and as a unified nation, we must have an understanding of the Civil War. Shelby Foote, an eminent historian from Mississippi, put it this way: “The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things . . . It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.”
Shelby Foote
Gettysburg was one of the great turning points of American history. Certainly there were other battles and other turning points of equal importance that decided Union victory. Yet Gettysburg is the one battle Americans seem to remember the most. For the South, it was a supreme moment of honor, courage, and sacrifice for their cause of independence. For the North, it was another step toward what Lincoln called “a new birth of freedom.” And what ultimately emerged from the Civil War was a united country free of slavery. Today, looking back, we understand that the war between North and South is the American story and in every way worth knowing so that we might better understand ourselves and our country.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.--Memorial Day Speech, Keene, NH, 1884.
I have started this journal to share some of the things that inspire me as a writer. For the last year or so I have been working on a new book for teens to mark the 150th anniversary of the battle at Gettysburg in July 2013. The project is entitled, Gettysburg: The True Account of Two Young Heroes in the Greatest Battle of the Civil War. Essentially it is the Gettysburg story as told by those who were there, but especially from the memoirs of two teenagers caught in the epic struggle--Tillie Pierce, the 15 year old daughter of a well-to-do family, and Daniel Skelly, an 18 year old country store clerk. Each witnessed great moments of the battle and participated in events that helped shape the course of history. More on them later...
I thought it might be worth starting this journal by reflecting on why history is so important. The American Civil War is now an event 150 years in the past. Why should we care? Is the Gettysburg epic nothing but a dusty story of an age long gone? What relevance does the study of history give us in our modern age? In regards to this new book, why should young people care about our shared past as Americans?
The High Water Mark by Don TroianiBruce Catton was a great Civil War historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1954. As a young boy growing up in the small town of Benzonia, Michigan, he would sit on the front porch of his neighbor’s house and listen to the stories of Union veterans. Speaking in 1961 on the meaning of the Civil War, Catton noted, “It was the biggest single event in our national history. In a way it is the central theme of our existence as a people; it is our Iliad, our Odyssey , the one tremendous legend which expresses what we are and what we mean. We can no more ignore it than we can ignore the American Revolution itself. Here was our most significant and tragic experience.”
Bruce CattonIf we are to understand ourselves as Americans and as a unified nation, we must have an understanding of the Civil War. Shelby Foote, an eminent historian from Mississippi, put it this way: “The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things . . . It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.”
Shelby FooteGettysburg was one of the great turning points of American history. Certainly there were other battles and other turning points of equal importance that decided Union victory. Yet Gettysburg is the one battle Americans seem to remember the most. For the South, it was a supreme moment of honor, courage, and sacrifice for their cause of independence. For the North, it was another step toward what Lincoln called “a new birth of freedom.” And what ultimately emerged from the Civil War was a united country free of slavery. Today, looking back, we understand that the war between North and South is the American story and in every way worth knowing so that we might better understand ourselves and our country.
November 1, 2012
New Book Announced!! GETTYSBURG: THE TRUE ACCOUNT OF TWO YOUNG HEROES IN THE GREATEST BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR
GETTYSBURG: THE TRUE ACCOUNT OF TWO YOUNG HEROES IN THE GREATEST BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR
My new book is written for young adult readers on the battle of Gettysburg in time for the 150th anniversary next year.
This is a book I have wanted to write since I first visited Gettysburg in 1985. The narrative is centered on the accounts of two Gettysburg teenagers who were caught in the middle of the epic battle, Tillie Pierce and Daniel Skelly. It also covers the course of the campaign and three day battle plus Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address.
The book includes numerous maps, full color prints by Don Troiani, historic photos and is bursting at the seams with first person accounts from those who were there. Anyone new to reading about the Civil War--students, teachers, parents, will find this an accessible account of the greatest battle ever fought on American soil.
$16.95 hardcover (Can. $19.95)
World (E) • CQ TK
ISBN 978-1-62087-532-2
8" x 10" • 144 pages
25 color illustrations
25 b/w photos and illustrations
Ages: 13–16
Juvenile Nonfiction/History
JUNE
My new book is written for young adult readers on the battle of Gettysburg in time for the 150th anniversary next year.
This is a book I have wanted to write since I first visited Gettysburg in 1985. The narrative is centered on the accounts of two Gettysburg teenagers who were caught in the middle of the epic battle, Tillie Pierce and Daniel Skelly. It also covers the course of the campaign and three day battle plus Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address.
The book includes numerous maps, full color prints by Don Troiani, historic photos and is bursting at the seams with first person accounts from those who were there. Anyone new to reading about the Civil War--students, teachers, parents, will find this an accessible account of the greatest battle ever fought on American soil.
$16.95 hardcover (Can. $19.95)
World (E) • CQ TK
ISBN 978-1-62087-532-2
8" x 10" • 144 pages
25 color illustrations
25 b/w photos and illustrations
Ages: 13–16
Juvenile Nonfiction/History
JUNE
May 26, 2011
NYT Best Selling Author Richard Miniter Reviews The Greatest USMC Stories Ever Told
I recently had the pleasure of meeting New York Times best-selling author Richard Miniter when he visited Tantor Audio to record his latest book, Mastermind: The Many Faces of the 9/11 Architect, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. It turns out his father was a Marine so I gave him a copy of my book. He kindly posted the following review on Amazon:
5.0 out of 5 stars
History Needs Heroes--and Marines have always been mine.
May 14, 2011 By Richard Miniter -- New York Times best-selling author of Shadow War and Losing bin Laden.
5.0 out of 5 stars
History Needs Heroes--and Marines have always been mine.
May 14, 2011 By Richard Miniter -- New York Times best-selling author of Shadow War and Losing bin Laden.
If you've got a Marine in the family, this is an ideal Father's Day, birthday, or Marine Corps birthday (November 10) gift. It is accessible, interesting and puts individual Marines at the heart of the story. Too often in schools today they teach that individuals don't make history but impersonal forces (economic trends, class, race, whatever) do; this book implicitly reminds us that individual choices do actually drive great historical events. Bravery and courage do matter and do change history. Also, too many school teachers say they "don't want to teach the wars," leaving generations in the dark about great turning points in our shared history. Does Belleau Wood or Henderson Field mean anything to you? If not, you need to read this book. It is a fast-paced, interesting read and will make you feel better once you've read it.
