Tag Archives: Gettysburg

Decoration Day Honored U.S. Civil War Veterans; Later Became Memorial Day

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Polishing Your Prose

I posted this last year, but think it deserves posting again. On May 5, 1868, Major General John A. Logan, the head of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans, declared Decoration Day as a time … Continue reading →

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“It is for us the living…”

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Polishing Your Prose

Originally posted on Emerging Civil War:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged…

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What the Private Saw: Antietam

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Polishing Your Prose

On Sept. 25, 1861, Private Oney Foster Sweet wrote to his mother, Caroline Foster Sweet, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He and his comrades in the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, Battery F, believed the war would be over in a few months, … Continue reading →

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‘The music commenced’— Gettysburg turns tide for Union army

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Polishing Your Prose

One hundred and fifty-two years ago today, “the music commenced” at Gettysburg. The quoted phrase comes from Private Oney F. Sweet, who made reference to the artillery barrages that signaled the beginning of battle. Confederate General Lee had marched his … Continue reading →

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Mother’s Day and the U.S. Civil War

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Polishing Your Prose

With Mother’s Day just a few days away, I began to wonder about the history of the day purported to honor mothers. Did it exist during the U.S. Civil War? If it did, Oney F. Sweet never mentioned it. It … Continue reading →

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Civil War Thanksgiving: Nov. 26, 1863

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Polishing Your Prose

A Civil War Thanksgiving: Something to think about as we sit in safe, warm places, feasting on our turkey dinners this coming Thursday. Private Oney F. Sweet, a Union soldier in the 1st Pennsylvannia Light Artillery, Battery F (Ricketts’ Battery), … Continue reading →

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