Missed my stop...
Posts tagged Gettysburg
The 24th Michigan Volunteers of the famed Iron Brigade make a stand near the Seminary on the first day at the battle of Gettysburg, July, 1 1863.
Once again vandals struck Gettysburg National Battlefield on February 29th, 2012, defacing the monument on Sickles Avenue dedicated to the Andrews Sharpshooters, the 2nd Company of Massachusetts Sharpshooters. Vandals have been the bane of the Park Service for many years, with a spree of nine monuments vandalized recorded back in 1915.
Responding to those despicable acts, local citizen A.E. Reath wrote to the park superintendent. In closing his letter, he expressed the feelings of many who fought on both sides of the conflict:
“We all hope you will secure the maniac who injured the monuments. Unless he was insane, a rope’s end would be the proper thing for him.”
First published by F.D. Benteen in Baltimore in 1840, The Blue Tail Fly was performed by many minstrel shows for the next several decades. It was one of President Lincoln’s favorites, along with (suprisingly) Dixie’s Land. It is reported that he specifically asked a band to play this tune while in Gettysburg for the Dedication of the National Cemetery.
This version is performed by the 2nd South Carolina String Band, who perform at reenactments throughout the east coast. If you ever get the chance, take the opportunity to see them.
It is also my lovely wife’s favorite Civil War era song, and immediately transports me back to holding her hand on a sultry summer’s dusk with the smell of wood smoke and the sounds of a Civil War camp.
GPOC
Gratuitous picture of my Pembroke Corgi taken on historic Gettysburg’s Steinwehr Avenue.
