Renée Fleming and the Letter From Sullivan Ballou

Greetings Cosmic Americans!

It is my good fortune that those around me share their finds from time to time. I learned of this remarkable piece a while back, and I thought it would be a good idea to post it here. You all remember the "Letter From Sullivan Ballou" made famous by Ken Burns's epic documentary, The Civil War. Ballou wrote this moving letter to his wife, Sarah (which was never mailed) a week before he was killed at First Bull Run. The letter was found among Ballou's effects when his body was retrieved for burial after the war. After Ballou's death, Sarah moved to New Jersey with her son William. There she remained, never to remarry, until her death in 1917 at age 80. Sullivan and Sarah Ballou are buried side by side at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island.

This evocative operatic piece performed by American soprano Renée Fleming is at once hauntingly beautiful and a touching tribute. I have provided the transcription below:

July 14, 1861
Camp Clark, Washington

My very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days—perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more . . .

I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing—perfectly willing—to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt . . .

Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and seen our sons grown up to honorable manhood, around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness . . .

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights . . . always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again . . .

Peace,
Keith

Ken Burns Bonus Post

Greetings Cosmic Americans!

You all remember Ken Burns, right? Of course you do - the revolutionary documentary film maker with a bad haircut who brought the Civil War into the living rooms of millions of television viewers on five consecutive nights back in September 1990. Since, the film has undoubtedly been seen by untold gazillions across the world.

Burns's film has inspired a great deal of dialogue on the war - hell...books have been written in response. Many agree with what he says - and many disagree...not surprisingly, the arguments surrounding this film often fall along sectional lines.

But where ever you stand - the fact that people are talking still suggests to me that Burns must have done something right.

Well, here are Burns's comments at the commencement of the 150 Civil War Sesquicentennial. Enjoy - and feel free to add your own commentary. I think we are going to be in for some fun over the next four years.

Peace,

Keith

PS - if you have never seen The Civil War....come on out from under the rock and watch it.

Shelby Foote and the North's Other Arm (redux)

Greetings Cosmic Americans!

One of my favorite quotes from Ken Burns's epic documentary The Civil War comes from none other that Shelby Foote himself. Yes indeed...America's most well-known and much revered Civil War... ummmm..... interpreter.

Mr. Foote, like many who take a romanticized view of the gallant Confederates fighting hopelessly against long odds, cast the Confederate bid for independence as doomed from the start. "I think that the North fought that war with one hand behind its back," said Foote. If the Confederacy ever had come close to winning on the battlefield, "the North simply would have brought that other arm out from behind its back. I don't think the South ever had a chance to win that war."

This is my favorite quote precisely because it opens the door to so much discussion. Many - both scholars and popular writers alike, seem to think that a great deal of the citizens of the Confederacy were not really all that committed to winning the war. Not committed to establishing an independent slave-holding republic.

But the idea that white southerners were nothing more than a collection of individuals whose allegiance lay with their states and who, by the mid point of the war, were wallowing in defeatism and despair and more than ready to jump ship, obscures the profound connection that most had to the Confederate national state. Independence was foremost on their minds - and a great deal of the citizens of the CSA were willing to endure the greatest hardships to make sure the Rebs won.

So - I am sure you will find Mr. Foote charming, as he sits comfortably is his wrinkled blue shirt before an impressively dusty collection of old books. But he missed his mark by a Confederate mile. Suggesting that the Confederacy never had a chance and everybody knew it is just not correct. Who would fight a war they knew they had no chance of winning? They even had a good example to follow - remember, a loose confederation of colonies once defeated the British Empire to secure their independence. I am pretty sure the Rebs made note of that one.

And trust me...the Union used both hands - they had read some history too.

Peace,

Keith

Shelby Foote - Historian?

Well, not really.

Now friends, before you let me have it for saying such a thing about America's favorite storyteller, let me just make my case.

I have read nearly everything that Mr. Foote has written. His novels are delightful and well written, particularly Shiloh. And his so-called history, The Civil War: A Narrative is equally well executed. But that's just it - as the title suggests, The Civil War is a narrative - fine. But in terms of rigorous primary research and pointed analysis his magnum opus is wanting.

If anything, The Civil War represents a synthesis of the secondary materials that Foote undoubtedly collected in his study over the years. What is really troubling about this work is his somewhat casual use of the contemporary (of the Civil War era) speaking voice. It seems that much of the primary evidence used to narrate the war existed only in the mind of Foote himself.

So, when he described the carnage of Cold Harbor, to use a very famous example, by quoting a young diarist who wrote his last words on the battlefield: "I am killed," he simply duped his readers. I sure wish that that diary really existed - I could not imagine a more evocative entry in the diary of a mortally wounded soldier on the battlefield than this. But the diary has never surfaced.

Shelby Foote was a wonderful novelist. And his folksy wisdom added charm to Ken Burns's 1990 documentary, The Civil War. You know, I would have loved to have met him on a battlefield to hear him speak in all his anecdotal glory. I am not sure I would have believed anything he said as he stood, telling tales, smoking his pipe and drawing a circle in the dirt with his foot. I would have had a good time though. I can't think of a better storyteller.

Rest in peace, Shelby.

Keith