Francis Bret Harte (1836-1902) was well known for his humorous verse and tales of California mining life. He also wrote both serious and humorous poetry about the Civil War. Harte spent much of the Civil War as Secretary of the California Mint, which allowed him ample time to devote to writing. He became nationally famous [...]
By the fall of 1861, the song John Brown’s Body (also known as The John Brown Song) had become a popular marching song with Union Army soldiers. When Julia Ward Howe–poet, abolitionist, and social activist–paid a visit to a Union Army troop review and camps near Washington D.C. in November 1861, she was inspired to [...]
Continue reading about The 6th Wisconsin Infantry and the Writing of The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Here is a poem by newspaperman, George Morrow Mayo, written during World War I, referencing the Civil War, which became quite popular. He hoped the spirit of Ulysses L. Grant would be with soldiers from the North, and the spirit of Robert E. Lee with sons of the South. The poem received stirring tributes all [...]
By 1863, dozens of major battles and hundreds of smaller actions had claimed the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers. Regiments in the Civil War were often made up of men from small geographic areas, so that many men had friends, neighbors, and relatives serving with them. A small town might lose dozens of [...]
Sally Field has been cast as Mary Todd Lincoln in director Stephen Spielberg’s upcoming biographic film about Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War presidency. Daniel Day-Lewis will portray Lincoln in the film, which is based on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The film is to be released in the fourth quarter of 2012. Day-Lewis [...]
