"Disunion": EXCELLENT NYTimes blog commemorating the American Civil War

Thoughtful Thug said:

Well that is a lot of research to find all the articles of speeches from newspapers and writings that existed at that era to the CW.

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In the second of the three longboats crouched Capt. Abner Doubleday, scanning the moonlit harbor around him. Ahead, in the lead boat, he could make out an unmistakable figure, hawk-like with its beaked nose and enshrouding cloak, clutching something tightly under one arm. This was the garrison’s commander, Maj. Robert Anderson. For weeks, as hostile secessionists drew an ever-tighter cordon around their tiny Union force, Doubleday had speculated endlessly about his close-lipped superior’s intentions. Did Anderson plan to stay put in their pathetically indefensible little citadel at Fort Moultrie, docilely awaiting orders from Washington, until the enemy overwhelmed him? Was the major, a known apologist for slavery, scheming to betray his loyal men to the rebels? Or could he – as Doubleday fervently hoped – be plotting somehow to slip the trap and make a run for the far more secure position that Sumter offered?

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As an immigrant who, on his enlistment form, described his occupation as “laborer,” Thompson was typical of the men who were now about to risk their lives in defense of Fort Sumter. Some two-thirds of the men in the Union Army in the antebellum years were foreigners, mostly German and Irish. Officers often complained of soldiers who could not understand commands in English, and a significant share of recruits were unable to sign their own names to the enlistment form, let alone pen a letter. (Thompson’s missive to his father may well have been dictated to a better-educated superior.)

Sumter’s garrison was even more heavily foreign-born than average: of the 73 enlisted men whose birthplaces are known, just 13 were from the United States. The roster of privates reads like the roll call in an old World War II movie: Murphy, Schmidt, Onorato, Klein, Wishnowski.

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Eran of Arcadia said:

Interesting thing I learned, that the first 2 casualties of the war were accidental, and that the first soldier to die was Irish.

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Eran of Arcadia said:

Since it looks like the New York Times is limiting the number of articles that people can read for free, I am going to have to choose between not keeping up with this blog, and getting a subscription just for the blog. I may actually do the latter . . .

Interesting thing I learned, that the first 2 casualties of the war were accidental, and that the first soldier to die was Irish.

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Waite was wrong; two-thirds of Texas had voted to secede. Yet some Union sentiment would linger throughout the war. As many as a third of all Texans would continue to support the Union, historians later estimated. Some, out of love for Texas, would resign themselves to fight for the Confederacy. Some would be effectively silenced or would flee. And still others would pay for their loyalty with their lives, strung up or shot down.
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All together some 2,000 Texans would fight for the Union. Edmund Jackson Davis, a south Texas judge, led the Union’s First Texas Cavalry, which fought in south Texas early in the war. A second Texas Union cavalry regiment was led by John L. Haynes, a former state legislator from Rio Grande City, composed primarily of Mexicans. Both units would fight later in the war in Louisiana.
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In Cooke County, north of Dallas, a Unionist organization known as the Peace Party began to form in secret. But a drunken party leader revealed the group’s plans and Confederate officers penetrated the organization. The news spread like wildfire and ignited rumors of Unionists planning arson and murder. The population took matters into its own hands and hanged 25 Unionists without a trial. A little later a trial was held for others, where more than 40 were hanged.

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