April 20, 1861 (Saturday)

Beginnings....

The decision of Robert E. Lee is explored in this excellent article.  The author states, "...daughter Mary's letter, along with other previously unknown documents written by his close family and associates, belies such easy assessments [that the decision was easy to make, a no brainer.]  These newly found sources underscore just how complex and painful a choice it was to make.  At the link below, there is an interactive with the letter that his daughter, Mary, wrote.    "The General in His Study:  Robert E. Lee," by Elizabeth Brown Pryor, Disunion--New York Times, April 19, 2011.

"The writing is blurred and the paper nearly translucent, but the scene it portrays is vivid.  In a recently discovered letter, Mary Custis Lee, the eldest daughter of Robert E. Lee, describes how her father wrestled with the decision to resign his commission in the United States Army and side with the South...it provides the most reliable information currently available to historians, overshadowing the questionable second-hand accounts that scholars once had to rely on."  (Read the whole article for all the details on how he came to his decision.)


The narrative of the day from Civil War Daily Gazette, "'Now We are in a State of War Which Will Yield Nothing'--Robert E. Lee, Seizing the Telegraph Office, Burning Your own Bridges, Getting to Washington Somehow or Another, Sacrificing the Gosport Navy Yard."


Some say that this rally in Union Square was the greatest assemblage of people ever in the United States.  Many from New York were part of the early defense of Washington DC.  The author states, "Were it not for the enthusiasm generated by the Sumter rally...the Confederates might have gained a greater advantage in the early days of the war --  changing its outcome decidedly." 
"The Great Sumter Rally in Union Square," by Michael Shapiro, Disunion--New York Times, April 19, 2011.


Letters of a Family During the War for the Union:  Jane Stuart Woolsey to Cousin Margaret Hodge -- "The most extraordinary mixture of feeling," Daily Observations from the Civil War.  (excellent read on the rally in New York City)

"War Diary of a Union Woman in the South -- The Volunteers -- Fort Sumter," Daily Chronicles of the American Civil War. 

"The last few days have glided away in a halo of beauty.  I can't remember such a lovely spring ever before.  But nobody has time or will to enjoy it.  War, war! is the one idea.  The children play only with toy cannons and soldiers; the oldest inhabitant goes by every day with his rifle to practice; the public squares are full of companies drilling...we have been told that it is best for women to learn how to shoot, too, so as to protect themselves when the men have all gone to battle.  Every morning after dinner we adjourn to the back lot and fire at a target with pistols.

In the evening I attended a farewell gathering at a friend's whose brothers are to leave this week for Richmond.  There was music.  No minor chord was permitted."