Well, technically it's been done since Wednesday; but now I'm completely done with all things school until August! So all I have left to do at SLU is pack up my things and walk across that stage.
It's weird how time works like that. I remember coming up here for a visit and thinking "Maybe if I'm good enough, I can come here." I remember my dad and I driving home from that visit (I was driving) and my dad turned to me and said, "Well?" I was in a daze thinking about SLU and how cool it would be to come here, so I believe my response was something along the lines of "Huh?" "Well, do you think this might be a good school?" he asked. I think I paused, then glanced quickly at him, smiled, and said "yea... yea, definitely."
I also remember getting the acceptance letter, receiving SLU-related gifts from many relatives at Christmas, and moving in on that first day in August. I remember thinking many times over the past four years that senior year couldn't come quickly enough, and I also remember wishing that time would slow down, just for a moment.
And now, four years later, I can honestly say that I don't regret anything here at SLU. Sure, there were good times and bad; there were days I wanted to leave this school in the middle of nowhere and go somewhere that had a few more people. But after four years, I don't regret any of it, the good or the bad.
Just as a few examples, over the past four years, I have:
- played hide-and-seek with a two-year-old Indonesian girl using an old piece of velcro from my backpack
- traipsed around in a snowstorm while drawing pictures with an umbrella in freshly fallen hail
- Been to Narnia every time it snows
- found the best place on earth for french onion soup and a grilled cheese sandwich
- written a dictionary of a dying language in the Pacific Islands
- butchered a lamb (already dead) with my own hand-made obsidian tools
- lived off the grid
- eaten haggis
- seen deer eating grass on the golf course just as the sun rose
- sat on the quad and gazed at the stars
- written the best thesis my department has ever seen
- built a chicken coop in the middle of a downpour
- sent chocolate to my professor through an origami owl named Hedwig that I taped to her door in 2009
I have also:
- crashed my bicycle into a telephone pole
- failed an exam for which I spent hours studying
- been stuck on the side of the road, waiting for assistance more times than I would like to count
- been stopped by border patrol and questioned as to why I had so much stuff in my car (the semester was over... it wasn't illegal!)
- baked some very, very poor bread
- spent hours working on a map, a dataset, or an essay only to have the whole thing disappear in all five locations to which it was saved.
- killed several computers completely unintentionally (I still don't know why they bit the dust)
And I don't regret any of it. You know, a lot of my life I have concentrated on the things that didn't work out so well, the things I wish I could change about life or the things I wish hadn't happened at all. But, looking at these four years, I'm glad that I failed that exam, and I'm glad I failed in my baking of bread. I'm glad that my data disappeared (though I would appreciate it if it kept that to a minimum), because throughout it all, I've learned something. I've learned why I failed that exam and went on to be one of the best in that class. My professor doesn't even remember me failing that exam and still looks at me in disbelief when I tell him. I have learned why my bread failed, though I still haven't made perfect bread. But I will. And that's the beauty of it. I wouldn't have written a darn good thesis if I hadn't had my datasets crash on me once in a while. that was part of the experience, and made me realize exactly how much I cared about my research. It's like crashing your bike. You look like an idiot, and you feel like an idiot, but you have two choices: you can sit there and feel like an idiot or you can laugh at yourself, examine the grass stains on your jeans, fix the chain on the bike and continue riding. And while you may have liked to get to your destination without skinning your knee, you realize that it made the journey more interesting.
Let's face it, if life were only full of good things, then how would we learn? Isn't that the whole point of education? It's one big game of trial and error until you get it right, but often you get it right because of something you learned not to do, something that didn't work.
So in the end, it has been a very interesting four years. There have been ups and downs, and many times it's felt like more downs than ups. But none of it was a mistake, and all of it is worth remembering.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Honors Thesis is DONE!!!!!
Hello All,
I thought I would just write mostly because I haven't written in a while, but also because I turned in my thesis last week and just defended it this afternoon. After working on it for forever and a day, I have been granted Honors by the anthropology department!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!
Sorry, thought I'd get that out of my system. So the thesis, the monster of a thesis is done. It was 97 pages in the end, 57 cited sources, hundreds of consulted sources, 7 tables, 23 figures, 5 maps, and a LOT of time and energy, but it's done.
And I must say, even I am impressed with myself. Now that I've done this, I'm pretty ok with the idea of getting my PhD. Granted, a dissertation is nothing like an undergraduate thesis, but it certainly seems doable now. Most thesis are 3-4 times this size, but I think if I really wanted, I could have turned this into a dissertation. It would have taken longer, but I think I could have done it.
So now I'm sitting here with my thesis done, the conference is over, and I really have about three assignments standing between me and the end of the semester. I must say, after writing a 100-page thesis, I'm not worried about those other assignments. This calls for a celebration. I'm not sure what kind of celebration, but it calls for a celebration. Maybe I'll take myself out to dinner, i don't know. Either way, the thesis is done, and I am incredibly proud of myself.
I thought I would just write mostly because I haven't written in a while, but also because I turned in my thesis last week and just defended it this afternoon. After working on it for forever and a day, I have been granted Honors by the anthropology department!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!
Sorry, thought I'd get that out of my system. So the thesis, the monster of a thesis is done. It was 97 pages in the end, 57 cited sources, hundreds of consulted sources, 7 tables, 23 figures, 5 maps, and a LOT of time and energy, but it's done.
And I must say, even I am impressed with myself. Now that I've done this, I'm pretty ok with the idea of getting my PhD. Granted, a dissertation is nothing like an undergraduate thesis, but it certainly seems doable now. Most thesis are 3-4 times this size, but I think if I really wanted, I could have turned this into a dissertation. It would have taken longer, but I think I could have done it.
So now I'm sitting here with my thesis done, the conference is over, and I really have about three assignments standing between me and the end of the semester. I must say, after writing a 100-page thesis, I'm not worried about those other assignments. This calls for a celebration. I'm not sure what kind of celebration, but it calls for a celebration. Maybe I'll take myself out to dinner, i don't know. Either way, the thesis is done, and I am incredibly proud of myself.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Grad School and Southeast Asia
I've finally decided on a grad school! This fall I will be a graduate anthropology student at the University of Illinois at Chicago!
You know, I must say that this is all a HUGE relief, knowing where I'm going to be for the next however many years of my life. Far better than not knowing, I can assure you. And now I'm just really excited for summer digs and fall classes and life away from Canton and St. Lawrence. Not that SLU is bad or anything, but I feel like I've already graduated in my head and I just want to move on with my academic career.
So I'm going to UIC. Now I just need to figure out the logistics of living in Chicago and finding a place to stay and sorting all that out. That's going to be interesting being that I won't be here much of the summer...
Speaking of Southeast Asia, I think I'm going to have about a week between the end of the dig in the Philippines and the beginning of the dig in Cambodia. At first, I thought I would just fly to Cambodia and stay in Siem Reap for a week, but I just bought the first ever Lonely Planet Guide "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring" (mostly because the bookstore didn't have a guide for the Philippines and I needed one for both the Philippines and Cambodia and because Southeast Asia on a budget was probably a good thing to have). They recently updated the guide to apply to the 21st century and I just spent several hours figuring out that I could travel from the Philippines to Laos, then take buses and trains through Sukothai and Ayuthaya in Thailand, and then cross the border into Cambodia and get to Siem Reap before the Cambodia dig starts. So I could actually hit about four countries this summer and see some really amazing sites before returning to the US in August. No guarantees, I only thought of it this morning, but I can definitely afford it and people backpack through these areas quite a bit. They're all pretty common places for tourists to go, so I don't think there would be much of an issue... It's certainly an interesting thought, and I'm going to keep thinking about it...
You know, I must say that this is all a HUGE relief, knowing where I'm going to be for the next however many years of my life. Far better than not knowing, I can assure you. And now I'm just really excited for summer digs and fall classes and life away from Canton and St. Lawrence. Not that SLU is bad or anything, but I feel like I've already graduated in my head and I just want to move on with my academic career.
So I'm going to UIC. Now I just need to figure out the logistics of living in Chicago and finding a place to stay and sorting all that out. That's going to be interesting being that I won't be here much of the summer...
Speaking of Southeast Asia, I think I'm going to have about a week between the end of the dig in the Philippines and the beginning of the dig in Cambodia. At first, I thought I would just fly to Cambodia and stay in Siem Reap for a week, but I just bought the first ever Lonely Planet Guide "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring" (mostly because the bookstore didn't have a guide for the Philippines and I needed one for both the Philippines and Cambodia and because Southeast Asia on a budget was probably a good thing to have). They recently updated the guide to apply to the 21st century and I just spent several hours figuring out that I could travel from the Philippines to Laos, then take buses and trains through Sukothai and Ayuthaya in Thailand, and then cross the border into Cambodia and get to Siem Reap before the Cambodia dig starts. So I could actually hit about four countries this summer and see some really amazing sites before returning to the US in August. No guarantees, I only thought of it this morning, but I can definitely afford it and people backpack through these areas quite a bit. They're all pretty common places for tourists to go, so I don't think there would be much of an issue... It's certainly an interesting thought, and I'm going to keep thinking about it...
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Chicago-bound!
It's Spring Break! And I must say this is probably the happiest I have ever been for Spring Break. This semester has been rather intense (perfectly doable, but intense) and I'm very happy to finally have a break.
The other fun and exciting thing about this break (other than its existence) is that I'm going to be visiting the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Wisconsin at Madison! I'm going to be meeting with a bunch of students, professors, and researchers at both universities to try to see what the programs are like and trying to see if I can finally make a decision as to where to go in the fall.
So I'm sitting in the airport in Syracuse waiting for my flight to Chicago! I don't have much other news than that, but hey, this is pretty cool in my opinion. I'll be in Chicago from today until Thursday with a day trip to Madison on Tuesday! I'm sure I'll have more to talk about over the next few days... til then, then! :)
The other fun and exciting thing about this break (other than its existence) is that I'm going to be visiting the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Wisconsin at Madison! I'm going to be meeting with a bunch of students, professors, and researchers at both universities to try to see what the programs are like and trying to see if I can finally make a decision as to where to go in the fall.
So I'm sitting in the airport in Syracuse waiting for my flight to Chicago! I don't have much other news than that, but hey, this is pretty cool in my opinion. I'll be in Chicago from today until Thursday with a day trip to Madison on Tuesday! I'm sure I'll have more to talk about over the next few days... til then, then! :)
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Abraham Lincoln and Trash Collectors...
I know it's been a while since I last posted, but there hasn't been a whole lot going on. Well, actually, maybe there has now that I think about it; I just haven't had time to write it all down until now.
First things first, an update on academic stuff. I've been elected into Phi Beta Kappa, which I think is really, really great! I also received a fellowship from both UIC and UW-Madison and my potential advisor from UIC wants to bring me to the Philippines this summer for free! (Well, not for free, I'd be doing archaeology the whole time, which is backbreaking work, but I love it so it's no big deal!) So I think I'll be able to go to both the Philippines AND Cambodia this summer and end up with a heck of a lot of experience by the time I get back (Not to mention some really great stories and photos)! I'm visiting both universities next week during Spring Break, and once that's done I'll make my decision and let you all know where I'm going to end up next year.
So that was the academic update, and now here's the bit about Abraham Lincoln. See, I've been trying to talk about interesting letters and things from the Historical Association, but lately I've just been going through town records and muster rolls, which are interesting, but not interesting enough to write about on here. But last night, the SLCHA did a reading of Lincoln's first inaugural address, and I must say that was certainly interesting enough to write about. First, I was surprised as the amount of things Lincoln said in there that we don't necessarily attribute to him. For example, he said that he was not in favor of eliminating slavery, as that would be unconstitutional. He says "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." We always think about Lincoln being anti-slavery, but this statement is very non-anti-slavery. It's not pro-slavery, to be sure, but it isn't staunchly anti-slavery either.
What struck me most about his address was the constant feeling of trying to keep the Union together. The largest theme of the speech wasn't slavery or states rights, it was maintaining the unity of the nation. And I think that is completely understandable for what was going on in the country at the time. Seven states had already seceded from the union before Lincoln gave his address on March 4, 1861. Lincoln's biggest problem wasn't freeing the slaves, it was keeping the country in one piece. He probably felt that slavery was morally wrong, but he had larger things to worry about in that first inaugural address, namely war.
Another thing that struck me was his use of logic to argue in favor of the union. He says that it is illogical to think that the union would fail so long as every party of the union continued to play its role. "It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself...If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it—break it, so to speak—but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?...It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances." He has a lot more in there, and you should all read it, but that is one of the most sound arguments I have seen for continuing the union of the United States.
It also struck me that Lincoln's words still resonate so much today. I could go into detail here, but that could be a thesis in and of itself, so I'll refrain. I do highly recommend that you all read this speech, even if you've read it already, because I believe it to be one of the best speeches I have ever heard. Here's a link to it, so you don't even have to search for it: http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html. I'll leave you to ponder the rest...
I realize that the title of this post might be a bit odd, Abraham Lincoln and trash collectors, but I want to leave Lincoln here for now and continue on to explain the trash collectors portion. You see, when I was cleaning out my car this morning, a group of children (two girls, about six and seven, and a boy, about eight) were walking down the street. The boy and the elder girl were carrying bags with them, and they were chatting about something that I don't quite remember. I had just finished cleaning out my car when they got to the end of my driveway and the elder girl said "wait, stop, there's a car." My car wasn't even on yet, so I told them they could go ahead; they smiled, and crossed the driveway. As I got into my car wondering what they were doing with their bags, the youngest girls said "I found a piece!" She bent down, picked up a piece of plastic wrap that was lying on the sidewalk, and put it into the other girl's bag. As I pulled out of the driveway and headed down the street, I saw them picking up pieces of candy that had fallen on the sidewalk outside the frat house next door.
I must say that I found this to be absolutely adorable, yet also quite pathetic. Not the kids, the kids were just adorable and they're my personal heroes for at least this weekend, but the fact that children are picking up the trash that adults throw on the side of the road is, in a word, pathetic. Pathetic on our part, because yes, I am now a part of the cohort of adults in this world, however young an adult I might be. You know, it's a bit disheartening to think of it that way: that the children of this world are often seen as doing amazing things and reminding adults when to behave and as a kid, you're quite proud of yourself for being among the world's children who do all these great things. But then you grow up and become an adult, and while I certainly don't throw trash on the side of the road, I'm a bit ashamed to now belong to the segment of society that does. And lets face it, needing children to remind us about good behavior is pathetic.
But talking about how pathetic it is without actually doing anything gets us nowhere, so I propose a challenge. I realize that half of you probably won't do this, but you can't say I didn't try. I challenge everyone who reads this to try to find some way to make this world better for the children in it. Go to a local elementary school and clean the trash off of their playground. Donate used books to the local library. Say please and thank you to people you encounter, and smile when someone says hello. Be honest. Take any of these ideas, however many you want, and maintain them for the month of March. Because children shouldn't have to be our role models, we should be theirs. So go and be the person you were when you were a child.
First things first, an update on academic stuff. I've been elected into Phi Beta Kappa, which I think is really, really great! I also received a fellowship from both UIC and UW-Madison and my potential advisor from UIC wants to bring me to the Philippines this summer for free! (Well, not for free, I'd be doing archaeology the whole time, which is backbreaking work, but I love it so it's no big deal!) So I think I'll be able to go to both the Philippines AND Cambodia this summer and end up with a heck of a lot of experience by the time I get back (Not to mention some really great stories and photos)! I'm visiting both universities next week during Spring Break, and once that's done I'll make my decision and let you all know where I'm going to end up next year.
So that was the academic update, and now here's the bit about Abraham Lincoln. See, I've been trying to talk about interesting letters and things from the Historical Association, but lately I've just been going through town records and muster rolls, which are interesting, but not interesting enough to write about on here. But last night, the SLCHA did a reading of Lincoln's first inaugural address, and I must say that was certainly interesting enough to write about. First, I was surprised as the amount of things Lincoln said in there that we don't necessarily attribute to him. For example, he said that he was not in favor of eliminating slavery, as that would be unconstitutional. He says "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." We always think about Lincoln being anti-slavery, but this statement is very non-anti-slavery. It's not pro-slavery, to be sure, but it isn't staunchly anti-slavery either.
What struck me most about his address was the constant feeling of trying to keep the Union together. The largest theme of the speech wasn't slavery or states rights, it was maintaining the unity of the nation. And I think that is completely understandable for what was going on in the country at the time. Seven states had already seceded from the union before Lincoln gave his address on March 4, 1861. Lincoln's biggest problem wasn't freeing the slaves, it was keeping the country in one piece. He probably felt that slavery was morally wrong, but he had larger things to worry about in that first inaugural address, namely war.
Another thing that struck me was his use of logic to argue in favor of the union. He says that it is illogical to think that the union would fail so long as every party of the union continued to play its role. "It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself...If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it—break it, so to speak—but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?...It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances." He has a lot more in there, and you should all read it, but that is one of the most sound arguments I have seen for continuing the union of the United States.
It also struck me that Lincoln's words still resonate so much today. I could go into detail here, but that could be a thesis in and of itself, so I'll refrain. I do highly recommend that you all read this speech, even if you've read it already, because I believe it to be one of the best speeches I have ever heard. Here's a link to it, so you don't even have to search for it: http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html. I'll leave you to ponder the rest...
I realize that the title of this post might be a bit odd, Abraham Lincoln and trash collectors, but I want to leave Lincoln here for now and continue on to explain the trash collectors portion. You see, when I was cleaning out my car this morning, a group of children (two girls, about six and seven, and a boy, about eight) were walking down the street. The boy and the elder girl were carrying bags with them, and they were chatting about something that I don't quite remember. I had just finished cleaning out my car when they got to the end of my driveway and the elder girl said "wait, stop, there's a car." My car wasn't even on yet, so I told them they could go ahead; they smiled, and crossed the driveway. As I got into my car wondering what they were doing with their bags, the youngest girls said "I found a piece!" She bent down, picked up a piece of plastic wrap that was lying on the sidewalk, and put it into the other girl's bag. As I pulled out of the driveway and headed down the street, I saw them picking up pieces of candy that had fallen on the sidewalk outside the frat house next door.
I must say that I found this to be absolutely adorable, yet also quite pathetic. Not the kids, the kids were just adorable and they're my personal heroes for at least this weekend, but the fact that children are picking up the trash that adults throw on the side of the road is, in a word, pathetic. Pathetic on our part, because yes, I am now a part of the cohort of adults in this world, however young an adult I might be. You know, it's a bit disheartening to think of it that way: that the children of this world are often seen as doing amazing things and reminding adults when to behave and as a kid, you're quite proud of yourself for being among the world's children who do all these great things. But then you grow up and become an adult, and while I certainly don't throw trash on the side of the road, I'm a bit ashamed to now belong to the segment of society that does. And lets face it, needing children to remind us about good behavior is pathetic.
But talking about how pathetic it is without actually doing anything gets us nowhere, so I propose a challenge. I realize that half of you probably won't do this, but you can't say I didn't try. I challenge everyone who reads this to try to find some way to make this world better for the children in it. Go to a local elementary school and clean the trash off of their playground. Donate used books to the local library. Say please and thank you to people you encounter, and smile when someone says hello. Be honest. Take any of these ideas, however many you want, and maintain them for the month of March. Because children shouldn't have to be our role models, we should be theirs. So go and be the person you were when you were a child.
Friday, February 11, 2011
A Soldier's Letter
It's Friday again, and so I find myself typing up the contents of the Civil War collection at the historical association. I came across one of my absolute favorite files in the collection and wanted to share it with you all (whoever you may be). This is the file of Robert B. Nicol, who enlisted in March 1862 at New York, Company I. He was appointed corporal (date not given) and later wounded and discharged for disability in July of 1864. Well, the wound isn't terribly happy, but he didn't die from it; he lived to the age of 82!
The main reason that this is my absolute favorite file is that Robert enjoyed composing songs, and in this file, we happen to have a copy of a letter that we wrote to his uncle composed entirely in verse! Can you believe it? Neither can I, but it's pretty fantastic.
So rather than be going on and on about how much I love this letter, I'd rather just type it up for you so that you can get the full experience of Robert B. Nicol:
"Dear Uncle,
As writing materials often are scarce,
I purpose to write you a letter in verse;
To condense my ideas, save paper and time,
Is my object for writing this letter in rhyme.
Of course you will know it is one of my pranks!
It will take but a minute to fill in the blanks.
[Note that this letter is typed, and some blanks left for his uncle to fill in. I've italicized the blanks.]
I received your kind letter just one year ago,
Which found me a member of "Uncle Sam's Show;"
And for two years or better, expect to remain,
Unless, like full many, I chance to be slain;
Should this be my fate, the last boon I crave
Is to mark on my tombstone, "A Patriot's Grave!"
In the hist'ry of wars, as we carefully scan,
Since the first was waged by man against man,
In all the fierce conflicts no records remain
Which can be compared to the present campaign.
The war has been general! on both land and sea,
And many have fallen for "Liberty's Tree!"
It would fill many volumes to pass in review
What our various armies this year have gone through.
Though my space is not large, yet 'twill not be amiss
To give a slight sketch on a small sheet like this.
The Potomac's great army has nobly withstood
The wiles of the traitors, and written in blood
The route it has taken o'er mountain and plain,
Through forests and rivers, in hot sun and rain;
And now like a giant, aware of his power,
Aims a death-blow at Secessions "left bower!"
In the siege of Atlanta, and Charleston, too,
What subjects for History's pages we view!
Generations to come will exult in the name
Which their fore-fathers carved in the records of fame.
At the Gulf, on the flank of Secession's domain,
From the shores of "Red River" our brave comrades slain
Are calling for vengeance; Ah! traitors shall feel
A full share of this in the siege of Mobile.
The reb who surrender'd the stronghold, Fort Gaines,
We aver, was possessed for less valor than brains!
Our heroes at sea have had plenty to do:
The ports to blockade, and pirates subdue;
Let the famed Tallahassee beware of the day
When our "Yankee Tars" meet her in battle array!
I am sure they have not forgotten so soon
The victory we gained on the 19th of June.
Thus we see every part of our army so grand,
In the "War for the Union," on sea and on land,
Are working in concert, our cause to maintain,
To crush the rebellion, and end the campaign.
I have the honor to be your affectionate nephew,
Signed, Robert B. Nicol"
The main reason that this is my absolute favorite file is that Robert enjoyed composing songs, and in this file, we happen to have a copy of a letter that we wrote to his uncle composed entirely in verse! Can you believe it? Neither can I, but it's pretty fantastic.
So rather than be going on and on about how much I love this letter, I'd rather just type it up for you so that you can get the full experience of Robert B. Nicol:
"Dear Uncle,
As writing materials often are scarce,
I purpose to write you a letter in verse;
To condense my ideas, save paper and time,
Is my object for writing this letter in rhyme.
Of course you will know it is one of my pranks!
It will take but a minute to fill in the blanks.
[Note that this letter is typed, and some blanks left for his uncle to fill in. I've italicized the blanks.]
I received your kind letter just one year ago,
Which found me a member of "Uncle Sam's Show;"
And for two years or better, expect to remain,
Unless, like full many, I chance to be slain;
Should this be my fate, the last boon I crave
Is to mark on my tombstone, "A Patriot's Grave!"
In the hist'ry of wars, as we carefully scan,
Since the first was waged by man against man,
In all the fierce conflicts no records remain
Which can be compared to the present campaign.
The war has been general! on both land and sea,
And many have fallen for "Liberty's Tree!"
It would fill many volumes to pass in review
What our various armies this year have gone through.
Though my space is not large, yet 'twill not be amiss
To give a slight sketch on a small sheet like this.
The Potomac's great army has nobly withstood
The wiles of the traitors, and written in blood
The route it has taken o'er mountain and plain,
Through forests and rivers, in hot sun and rain;
And now like a giant, aware of his power,
Aims a death-blow at Secessions "left bower!"
In the siege of Atlanta, and Charleston, too,
What subjects for History's pages we view!
Generations to come will exult in the name
Which their fore-fathers carved in the records of fame.
At the Gulf, on the flank of Secession's domain,
From the shores of "Red River" our brave comrades slain
Are calling for vengeance; Ah! traitors shall feel
A full share of this in the siege of Mobile.
The reb who surrender'd the stronghold, Fort Gaines,
We aver, was possessed for less valor than brains!
Our heroes at sea have had plenty to do:
The ports to blockade, and pirates subdue;
Let the famed Tallahassee beware of the day
When our "Yankee Tars" meet her in battle array!
I am sure they have not forgotten so soon
The victory we gained on the 19th of June.
Thus we see every part of our army so grand,
In the "War for the Union," on sea and on land,
Are working in concert, our cause to maintain,
To crush the rebellion, and end the campaign.
I have the honor to be your affectionate nephew,
Signed, Robert B. Nicol"
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Allen Letters
So classes have started off pretty well and everything is going relatively according to plan. Actually, to be honest, I didn't have much of a plan to begin with, so I'm quite content with the world at the moment. I'm also currently baking rolls, which are making my apartment smell divine, so that has probably added to my contentment.
But I've also decided that this semester I am going to take at least 24 hours off each week. So from Friday night to Saturday afternoon, I make sure to plan absolutely nothing class-related so I can do whatever I feel like doing. Today is the first attempt, and I must say I am quite happy with it. I mean really, who can complain with watching a great movie, sleeping in, getting food, baking rolls, and just doing nothing for a span of 24 hours?
So yea, hopefully this 24 hour span of not doing anything will help me stay less stressed this semester. After all, I've been accepted to all the grad schools I applied to (yay!) and I was told yesterday that the draft of my thesis was better than some of the final versions that the department had printed. That's pretty cool. And on top of that, I'm going to be going to Angkor Wat this summer. I mean really, why should I stress out about my last semester with all these good things happening?
The rest of February (all four days so far) has been rather snowy. We now have over two feet on the ground, I would say, and we get more snow showers every other day. Wednesday was the worst, though; I think we got about 10 inches overnight and another 3-6 over the course of the day. But the funny thing about this is that this is the first real Canton winter that we've had since my freshman year. The past two have been unseasonably warm and all the underclassmen keep talking about how Canton winters aren't that bad. Then they hit this year, with the -42 degree days followed by 15 inch snowfalls and now they're beginning to rethink the whole not-so-bad thing. I, for one, am a bit happy that winter up here has returned to normal, because I personally like the snow (so long as no buildings collapse).
I also just spent about 3.5 hours at the historic society yesterday. I'm reorganizing their Civil War collection for the 150th anniversary celebrations that will be held this year through 2015. The collection hadn't really been organized in years and the last person to organize it did it in a very odd manner, so it was in need to fixing. Anyway, I'm in the process of writing a finding aid, which is a document that will help people locate the documents we have in the archives. In writing it, I'm giving some background on each soldier that's given in the adjutant general reports: where and when they enlisted, if they were wounded, if they were discharged or killed or mustered out with their company and when, stuff like that. It's kind of bittersweet, because half the time I end up reading a letter from a soldier to his wife or his father or his uncle or something and he always talks about seeing his loved ones again, but then I check his information and realize he was killed in action or died of typhoid or some other unfortunate circumstance. The worst was a high ranking officer (I forget how high) from the 16th NY Infantry Regiment who wrote to his wife telling her that he couldn't wait to see her again. A month later, the officer was shot in the head. He lived, but he lost both of his eyes and was discharged shortly after. So even though he lived, he never actually saw his wife again.
So one thing I was thinking of doing was telling you all a little about these documents, because after reading them for months, I feel a little attached to the soldiers and it makes the war so much more... real than it was before.
Yesterday, I didn't intend to spend 3.5 hours at the historic society. I got there at 4 and planned to get through typing up the info for one box (which was the 106th NY Infantry box) and maybe start on the next one (the 142nd NY Infantry box). But I finished the 106th by 5:30 and looked at the 142nd box and realized there were only about ten documents. I could finish the box before 6:30 and be done with two boxes instead of just one. It seemed like a good plan.
Each box has some general documents in the front pertaining to the entire regiment, such as reunion photos, muster rolls, and other such documents. Those are easy enough to type up, especially since there's no soldier-specific information to include. The first folder I got to said "Allen Letters", and I figured they were letters to a soldier whose last name was Allen. I looked at the letters to try to figure out his first name and realized that the folder contained 86 letters all written to and Stewart Allen by various people and vice versa. Generally, we file letters under the person who wrote them, but if a soldier receives letters from someone, then we generally file it with the soldier. Basically, we try to keep things filed with soldiers as opposed to people not serving in the war because the boxes are organized by regiment.
The problem here was that Stewart Allen never served in the war. He stayed home to watch the farm while his father, cousin, and various friends served in various regiments. What's interesting is that Stewart was connected to six different soldiers in three different regiments. His father (Robert Allen) and cousin (William Allen) served in the 142nd, his friends Francis Dana, Theodore F.H. Dana, and William Wright served in the 106th, and his friend George Elderkin served in the 60th, all of which were among the most prominent regiments in the state. All of them enlisted in the summer of 1862.
Most of the letters to and from Stewart tell of farming practices, prices for wheat or potatoes, and the loneliness of the war. I get the feeling from Stewart's letters that he wants to go join the soldiers and can't for one reason or another. I also get the feeling from most of the others' letters that they don't really want to be fighting anymore. All except Francis Dana, who has a few letters complaining that he hasn't seen action for weeks.
Of the six soldiers connected to Stewart, only one made it out of the war with no injuries. Stewart's father, Robert, enlisted in 1862 and was mustered out with his company in 1865. William Wright enlisted in 1862 and deserted in November of that year. George Elderkin was discharged for disability in 1863. Theodore F.H. Dana deserted at the end of his furlough in 1864. Francis Dana was wounded in July of 1864 and was mustered out from the hospital in 1865, though not with his company. Stewart's cousin, William, was killed in action on January 15th, 1865 at Fort Fisher, North Carolina. We only have one letter dating to after his death, and it's from Robert, who served in the same company and shared tents with his nephew. The letter speaks of sorrow, loneliness, and a strong desire to come home.
When you read about these things in textbooks and such, it's played off as a deadly war that happened a long time ago. But 150 years isn't that long ago. In reality, it's about four or five generations away. And it wasn't just a bloody war, it was a war that took lives. Sometimes I feel that we don't pay enough attention to that in the classroom or the media or whatever. We don't remember the actual people who fought and the sacrifices they made. William died only six months before his unit was mustered out. He served for two and a half years. He was so close to seeing the war come to an end, and he didn't. Two of the soldiers deserted, either for fear or the harsh conditions or the plain fact that they didn't want to fight anymore. Two of the soldiers were injured and probably suffered complications from it the rest of their lives.
Why don't they tell us that in the history books? There's something about reading their letters, reading their concerns about weather and wheat sales and taking over a mill to grind flour for the company that makes them far more personal than anything else I've come across. Even just standing at a memorial of cemetery for the deceased doesn't do it quite like this because you still don't know much about the people themselves. With this, you read their daily concerns, smile at the things they write (for much of it is quite funny), and then you realize that they were killed a month after writing that letter. I think it's something we've taken out of history lessens for fear of scaring students, but I think it's worth it a bit. Perhaps if we had a stronger connection to the wars in our past, we wouldn't be so quick to create them in our present. And if we had a stronger connection to the wars in our present, then we would hopefully think long and hard before starting them in the future.
But I've also decided that this semester I am going to take at least 24 hours off each week. So from Friday night to Saturday afternoon, I make sure to plan absolutely nothing class-related so I can do whatever I feel like doing. Today is the first attempt, and I must say I am quite happy with it. I mean really, who can complain with watching a great movie, sleeping in, getting food, baking rolls, and just doing nothing for a span of 24 hours?
So yea, hopefully this 24 hour span of not doing anything will help me stay less stressed this semester. After all, I've been accepted to all the grad schools I applied to (yay!) and I was told yesterday that the draft of my thesis was better than some of the final versions that the department had printed. That's pretty cool. And on top of that, I'm going to be going to Angkor Wat this summer. I mean really, why should I stress out about my last semester with all these good things happening?
The rest of February (all four days so far) has been rather snowy. We now have over two feet on the ground, I would say, and we get more snow showers every other day. Wednesday was the worst, though; I think we got about 10 inches overnight and another 3-6 over the course of the day. But the funny thing about this is that this is the first real Canton winter that we've had since my freshman year. The past two have been unseasonably warm and all the underclassmen keep talking about how Canton winters aren't that bad. Then they hit this year, with the -42 degree days followed by 15 inch snowfalls and now they're beginning to rethink the whole not-so-bad thing. I, for one, am a bit happy that winter up here has returned to normal, because I personally like the snow (so long as no buildings collapse).
I also just spent about 3.5 hours at the historic society yesterday. I'm reorganizing their Civil War collection for the 150th anniversary celebrations that will be held this year through 2015. The collection hadn't really been organized in years and the last person to organize it did it in a very odd manner, so it was in need to fixing. Anyway, I'm in the process of writing a finding aid, which is a document that will help people locate the documents we have in the archives. In writing it, I'm giving some background on each soldier that's given in the adjutant general reports: where and when they enlisted, if they were wounded, if they were discharged or killed or mustered out with their company and when, stuff like that. It's kind of bittersweet, because half the time I end up reading a letter from a soldier to his wife or his father or his uncle or something and he always talks about seeing his loved ones again, but then I check his information and realize he was killed in action or died of typhoid or some other unfortunate circumstance. The worst was a high ranking officer (I forget how high) from the 16th NY Infantry Regiment who wrote to his wife telling her that he couldn't wait to see her again. A month later, the officer was shot in the head. He lived, but he lost both of his eyes and was discharged shortly after. So even though he lived, he never actually saw his wife again.
So one thing I was thinking of doing was telling you all a little about these documents, because after reading them for months, I feel a little attached to the soldiers and it makes the war so much more... real than it was before.
Yesterday, I didn't intend to spend 3.5 hours at the historic society. I got there at 4 and planned to get through typing up the info for one box (which was the 106th NY Infantry box) and maybe start on the next one (the 142nd NY Infantry box). But I finished the 106th by 5:30 and looked at the 142nd box and realized there were only about ten documents. I could finish the box before 6:30 and be done with two boxes instead of just one. It seemed like a good plan.
Each box has some general documents in the front pertaining to the entire regiment, such as reunion photos, muster rolls, and other such documents. Those are easy enough to type up, especially since there's no soldier-specific information to include. The first folder I got to said "Allen Letters", and I figured they were letters to a soldier whose last name was Allen. I looked at the letters to try to figure out his first name and realized that the folder contained 86 letters all written to and Stewart Allen by various people and vice versa. Generally, we file letters under the person who wrote them, but if a soldier receives letters from someone, then we generally file it with the soldier. Basically, we try to keep things filed with soldiers as opposed to people not serving in the war because the boxes are organized by regiment.
The problem here was that Stewart Allen never served in the war. He stayed home to watch the farm while his father, cousin, and various friends served in various regiments. What's interesting is that Stewart was connected to six different soldiers in three different regiments. His father (Robert Allen) and cousin (William Allen) served in the 142nd, his friends Francis Dana, Theodore F.H. Dana, and William Wright served in the 106th, and his friend George Elderkin served in the 60th, all of which were among the most prominent regiments in the state. All of them enlisted in the summer of 1862.
Most of the letters to and from Stewart tell of farming practices, prices for wheat or potatoes, and the loneliness of the war. I get the feeling from Stewart's letters that he wants to go join the soldiers and can't for one reason or another. I also get the feeling from most of the others' letters that they don't really want to be fighting anymore. All except Francis Dana, who has a few letters complaining that he hasn't seen action for weeks.
Of the six soldiers connected to Stewart, only one made it out of the war with no injuries. Stewart's father, Robert, enlisted in 1862 and was mustered out with his company in 1865. William Wright enlisted in 1862 and deserted in November of that year. George Elderkin was discharged for disability in 1863. Theodore F.H. Dana deserted at the end of his furlough in 1864. Francis Dana was wounded in July of 1864 and was mustered out from the hospital in 1865, though not with his company. Stewart's cousin, William, was killed in action on January 15th, 1865 at Fort Fisher, North Carolina. We only have one letter dating to after his death, and it's from Robert, who served in the same company and shared tents with his nephew. The letter speaks of sorrow, loneliness, and a strong desire to come home.
When you read about these things in textbooks and such, it's played off as a deadly war that happened a long time ago. But 150 years isn't that long ago. In reality, it's about four or five generations away. And it wasn't just a bloody war, it was a war that took lives. Sometimes I feel that we don't pay enough attention to that in the classroom or the media or whatever. We don't remember the actual people who fought and the sacrifices they made. William died only six months before his unit was mustered out. He served for two and a half years. He was so close to seeing the war come to an end, and he didn't. Two of the soldiers deserted, either for fear or the harsh conditions or the plain fact that they didn't want to fight anymore. Two of the soldiers were injured and probably suffered complications from it the rest of their lives.
Why don't they tell us that in the history books? There's something about reading their letters, reading their concerns about weather and wheat sales and taking over a mill to grind flour for the company that makes them far more personal than anything else I've come across. Even just standing at a memorial of cemetery for the deceased doesn't do it quite like this because you still don't know much about the people themselves. With this, you read their daily concerns, smile at the things they write (for much of it is quite funny), and then you realize that they were killed a month after writing that letter. I think it's something we've taken out of history lessens for fear of scaring students, but I think it's worth it a bit. Perhaps if we had a stronger connection to the wars in our past, we wouldn't be so quick to create them in our present. And if we had a stronger connection to the wars in our present, then we would hopefully think long and hard before starting them in the future.
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