Julia Ward Howe, the daughter of a well to do New York banker and the mother of six children, is credited with penning the immensely popular and stirring rendition of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.     Julia was married to Samuel G. Howe and together they published an abolitionist journal called Commonwealth.      
She was an advocate for women's rights, for abolition and wrote several articles and books.  The story goes that in 1861, she visited the Army of the Potomac while camped in Massachusetts.  Troops marched past her singing the John Brown song.  Back in her hotel room, she wrote down the words to the battle hymn using the tune from John Brown, saying that these were more fitting.  The words were first printed in February of 1862 in an issue of Atlantic Monthly.  It gained popularity and soon became the most enduring song of the Civil War and can still stir the soul today.

yelling at Jeopardy

We watch Jeopardy almost every weeknight, playing against one another and testing our knowledge.  The History categories are usually flipped to my daughter Stephanie or myself.  The other night I entertained the crew by yelling at Alex Trebek.  One of the questions was roughly asking where the Confederate Army marched looking for shoes.  The answer given was Gettysburg.  Now there are several reasons why Lee marched his Army of Virginia all the way to Pennsylvania but rest assured, not one of them involved shoes.  Yes they needed supplies, as all armies crossing the country on foot needed.  Robert E. Lee made to marches into northern states to attempt to relieve the suffering of the people of Virginia where the bulk of battles had been fought.  He wanted a victory on Union soil to push the northern people to seek a peace with  the south and to rally the people of the south.  He planned to strike at Harrisburg, to destroy bridges and communication and to force the Union army to attack him, giving him the defensive position.
When Lee finds out their are five Union Corps moving towards him under the direction of the new commander of Union forces, General George Meade, he consolidates his forces around Cashtown PA.  He is unfamiliar with the terrain, his cavalry is suspiciously absent and as such decides to stand and fight.  This is the setup for the Battle of Gettysburg

Gettysburg

July 1, 2 and 3 of 2013 is the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg.  I've been there a couple of times and took the kids along, but they were small.  We are taking another trip there the end of July.  I have two great-great uncles who fought for the 140th regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers, company F.  John Sunderland Bell was 21 and his brother George was all of 18 yrs old.  John was killed today, July 2nd, 150 years ago.  George was captured and spent a year in the horrible Confederate prison called Andersonville.  Their names are supposed to be inscribed on the Pennsylvania monument on the battlefield.  I am looking forward to sharing this experience about the Civil War with my children when they are now old enough to remember the trip.