Cobblestone articles from November 2005

Cobblestone archives from November 2005

Preparing for war.(United States Civil War)
November 1, 2005... President Abraham Lincoln had been in office less than four months, and he had a civil war on his hands. To make matters worse, his most senior advisor, Northern major general Winfield Scott, seemed like the voice of doom. Scott warned Lincoln...

You are all green alike.(Abraham Lincoln)
November 1, 2005... When Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17, 1861, there was concern that Washington, D.C., might be attacked. Major General Winfield Scott called on Brigadier General Irvin McDowell to devise a plan of attack on northern Virginia. When...

Battle style blunders.(military uniform, United States Civil War)
November 1, 2005... The Confederate soldiers squinted through the haze as sweat dripped into their eyes. Cannon boomed nearby, and smoke filled the air. In the distance, they could see gray figures. Should the Rebels fire? The approaching unit carried a limp flag...

A rude awakening.(United States Civil War)
November 1, 2005... The North was in shock when the Battle of First Manassas ended. The Union army had abandoned wagons, guns, and any other supplies slowed their hasty retreat back to Washington, D.C. Many fled in panic, not stopping until they crossed the River....

Fanny Ricketts to the rescue.(wife of Union armyman, United States Civil War)(Biography)
November 1, 2005... Fanny Ricketts was in church on the morning of July 21, 1861. She desperately tried to focus on the service, but found it too difficult. Fanny kept hearing the gunfire echoing from nearby Manassas, where her husband, Union army captain James B....

Not-so-civil wars.(Going Global)
November 1, 2005... When we use the word civil, we ordinarily think of "polite" and "courteous," and to be civilized implies acting with a degree of culture and refinement. But civil also means "pertaining to a nation or community and its citizens"--and so,...

Cavaliers and roundheads.(civil war in England)
November 1, 2005... Surely one of the more "civilized" nations in the world, England plunged itself into a civil war (1642-1648) in which 10 percent of the adult male population died. The king, Charles I, went to war with Parliament (the English body of elected...

Reds and Whites.(Russian Civil War)
November 1, 2005... Often throughout world history, a successful revolution has resulted in civil war, as the victors fight among themselves. Thus, the Russian Revolution (1917) became the Russian Civil War (1918-1920). The Bolsheviks (Communists) emerged as the...

Afghan connection.(Afghan civil wars)
November 1, 2005... Although civil wars involve conflicts between inhabitants of the same country, their effects may sometimes influence events all over the world. Take Afghanistan, for instance. The Soviet Union had long sought to control Afghanistan. Finally, in...

A continent at war.(Going Global)(Africa)
November 1, 2005... Over the past 50 years, no region has suffered the ravages of civil war more than Africa. Much of the brutality stems from the tragic consequences of European colonialism. Although most European powers granted independence to their former...

Hidden word: puzzle power.
November 1, 2005... Can you find the hidden world? Once you solve the crossword puzzle, you will have the clues you need. Simply unscramble the letters in the orange spaces. Of course, all the answers to the crossword puzzle can be found in the pages of this...

Did you know?(United States Civil War)
November 1, 2005... During the campaign of First Manassas, railroads were used for the first time by the military, allowing easy and swift transportation of reinforcements to the front. One Union army veteran gave this advice to new recruits at a musket...

The road to second Manassas 1862.(Second Battle of Bull Run, 1862, United States Civil War)(Chronology)
November 1, 2005... July 27 Confederate general Robert E. Lee, defending Richmond from Union major general George B. McClellan's 110,000-man army, sends Major General A.P. Hill and 13,000 troops to join Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's 12,000 men...

Jackson makes his move.(Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson)
November 1, 2005... From his headquarters at Bristoe Station, Virginia, Union major general John Pope saw an orange glow in the sky on the night of August 27, 1862. The bright light told him that Confederate major general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's troops...

The blame game.(United States Civil War, Union army officers' politics)
November 1, 2005... A thunderstorm marked the official end of the Battle of Second Manassas. On September 1, 1862, two Union divisions under Major General Isaac Stevens completely surprised Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's troops at an intersection...

History's mysteries revealed.(THE PAST IS PRESENT)(United States Civil War, battlegrounds reveal past )
November 1, 2005... The Civil War may be long over, but there is still a battle going on--to preserve, and simultaneously continue to learn from, the historic sites connected to that conflict. Repeated relic hunting and plowing destroys archaeological sites,...

Dodging bullets.(United States Civil War)
November 1, 2005... Imagine looking out your window to discover armed soldiers approaching your house. What if your family had to flee to escape a battle that was raging in your own yard? In the summers of 1861 and 1862, such scenes were all too real for families...

Louisa May Alcott.(Your LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... Writing palace [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Casey Beaudoin Tyngsboro, Massachusetts

Miles and miles.(Poem)
November 1, 2005... All we could see, for miles and miles, was nothing but trees, for miles and miles. When the oxen got tired, we gave them rest in the shade of those trees. When we got near a river and looked to the left and right, ...

Our Past.(Poem)
November 1, 2005... A soft breeze is blowing quietly through these trees, as I recall what happened here in the past and pray that peace will always last. For such a price was paid in pain--why, here some soldier once may have lain! ...

What I am thankful For.(Poem)
November 1, 2005... I am so grateful to live in the greatest nation in the world. Why do I say this? I say this because I am a Jew. I am an American Jew. I am a citizen of this great country, the United States. However, my ancestors lived...

A Sign of Freedom.(Poem)
November 1, 2005... A soldier comes home. He stands in a crowd and salutes at attention, while the flag flies proud. He has serve his country, when so many lost their lives. He remember those images of how his young friends...

Sod Houses.(Poem)
November 1, 2005... I live in a house made of Kansas bricks. I cook breakfast over a fire with sticks. The roof leaks, and the beds are made of hay, but I hope we are in Kansas for good, to stay. With walls made of dirt and a roof of hay and...

Remember the Alamo!
November 1, 2005... Remember the Alamo! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Elizabeth Bunetta Englewood, Florida

Books to read.(The First Battle of Manassas: An End to Innocence)(The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era)(Civil War! America Becomes One Nation)(Landmarks of the Civil War)(Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself)(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... The First Battle of Manassas: An End to Innocence by John Hennessy (Lynchburg, Virginia: H.E. Howard, Inc., 1989, www.eparks .com/), part of the National Park Civil War series, describes the first major campaign of the Civil War and how this...

More media.(DiGGinG DEEPER)(The Civil War)(Video Recording Review)
November 1, 2005... The Civil War is a nine-part video series by filmmaker Ken Burns. Archival photographs, personal experiences of soldiers and civilians, and battleground scenes re-create the war between the North and the South. For more information, contact PBS...

On the Web.(www.nps.gov/mana/, www.uscivilwar.com/ )
November 1, 2005... www.nps.gov/mana/ is the Web site for Virginia's Manassas National Battlefield Park. Check out the on-line text for a handbook by Francis Wilshin, which provides a comprehensive look at Manassas and its role as the site of two major Civil War...

Places to visit.(DiGGinG DEEPER)(Manassas National Battlefield Park)
November 1, 2005... Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, Virginia. This is, of course, the place to experience the history behind the Manassas campaigns. The park, which preserves both First and Second Manassas battlefields, was established in 1940 and...

Embry's review.(Bull Run)(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... BULL RUN by Paul Fleischman (New York: Laura Geringer, an imprint of HarperCollins: 1993, www.harpercollins.com) seeks to answer questions regarding the "ordinary" people behind the bloody campaign of First Bull Run. Most Americans have a...

The ghost of Harpers Ferry.(FLASHBACK TO ...)(Dangerfield Newby)
November 1, 2005... I'm sitting up here on Jefferson Rock, watching the boys in blue parade around Harpers Ferry. I hope they manage to hang onto it this time. It's been back and forth between the Confederates and the Yankees a couple of times now. Of course, only...

Brain ticklers.
November 1, 2005... GIVE YOUR BRAIN A LITTLE TICKLE TO SEE HOW WELL YOU READ AND UNDERSTOOD THIS ISSUE on THE BATTLES OF MANASSAS. IF YOU BELIEVE THE ANSWER TO BE FALSE, GIVE YOURSELF THE ULTIMATE TEST AND SEE WHETHER. YOU CAN EXPLAIN WHY IT IS FALSE. ANSWERS...

A final word.
November 1, 2005... IMAGINE THAT THE BATTLE OF FIRST MANASSAS, WON BY THE CONFEDERACY, HAD BEEN THE ONLY BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR. IN WHAT WAYS D0 YOU THINK AMERICA'S HISTORY WOULD BE DIFFERENT? Answers to Brain Ticklers from above: 1. False. Northern...

Cartoon connection with Ebenezer & the Colonel.(Cartoon)
November 1, 2005... STONEWALL JACKSON isn't the ONLY ONE who got his NICKNAME at the first BATTLE OF MANASSAS... Oh, really? "When my great-great-great-GREAT-uncle was a young crow, he traveled out from Washington, D.C., with a crowd of SPECTATORS to...