Huzzah for Spring (despite it not really being all that warm yet)!

Happy Easter and slightly late Purim to all. This is the first time in maybe three years that I have not been able to make any hamantaschen.

Another personal note, I've been selected as a semi-finalist for a very prestigious scholarship from the Lenfest Foundation... $12,000 a year for four years of college if I find myself at the end of the process. The only bad thing about this is I now have to write more essays for them. One of them is about where I feel most at home. Perhaps I will say that I find myself most at home walking down the streets of 19th century Gettysburg, Pennsylvania :)

Happy Presidents' Day!

My annual Presidents' Day cookies. I really get way too into this holiday.
Unfortunately they all got extremely damaged during transport to school and thus are edible but not hand-outable. So I am going to be eating Lincoln and Washington crumbs for the next few days.

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I have not posted for quite a while. This is mainly due to my lacking anything even remotely interesting to say.

In my History Seminar class in school we have been talking about the Cold War and so my mind has basically been filled with Joseph McCarthy and that sort of thing for the past few weeks. It will continue to be filled with the Junior Senator from Wisconsin for at least a few weeks longer, as I just checked out a book on him for a report. McCarthy has even invaded my other classes, as I have a random sticky note on my AP Calculus binder with his name on it (I'm not sure why) and I just completed a Spanish project that basically summarizes the McCarthy/Murrow situation with all of the main players as animals. Eisenhower is a giraffe.

Hope everyone has had a nice Valentine's Day (or Velociraptor Day, if you so choose).

I decided to take this opportunity to publicly declare my love for the following:
♥ My friends.
♥ My family.
♥ Those who have influenced me (er, positively) over the years.
♥ Cookies. Oh! and dark chocolate.
♥ Presidents' Day (which is quickly approaching!).
♥ Classical music and music history.
♥ Henry Clay and his failed presidential campaigns. Clay in Oh-Ay(t)!
♥ Abraham Lincoln and his always being around for me to talk to outside of the train station.
♥ Old documents and artifacts.
♥ My readers. Especially those who leave me comments or have contacted me personally to give me your input.
♥ The history community.
♥ Anyone who has any part in the preservation of historic sites.
♥ Riding on carouselles. This is much more fun to do as a teenager than I remember it being when I was a little kid.
♥ Politics, for being interesting.
♥ Monty Python's "Hungarian-English Phrasebook" sketch (and Zack Fry for reminding me of it just now).
♥ Life.

And that's sort of a short list!

You can expect another post from me on Presidents' Day. It will be picture-filled (and delicious!) hopefully.

Departures

I find it very appropriate that today, New Year's Eve, marks the 65th anniversary of the departure of the last passenger train from the train station in Gettysburg. I would give you the details myself, but I think Jerry Bennett does a much better job:

At 4:00 p.m., Thursday, December 31, 1942 conductor George Hardesty called, "All Aboard," and waved a "highball," the traditional hand signal that the train was clear to move, to the engine crew. Ahead in the cab of locomotive #202, engineer George Kelly pulled twice on the whistle and eased out the throttle starting train #44 on its journey to Baltimore. As the large drive wheels gained traction the train slowly gained momentum and then quickly pulled away from the passenger platform and the old brick station for the last time. In less than two minutes it had crossed Stratton Street and passed out of sight. Left behind at the station was a sad sense of finality, for after eighty-three years and 15 days, railroad passenger service to and from Gettysburg on its oldest and most historic line was a thing of the past.

When the train reached Baltimore and the last passengers departed, its cars were turned over to the U.S. War Department to help meet the growing requirement for rail transportation of service men. The curtain had close on the last act.

(From The Gettysburg Railroad Station by Gerald Bennett, available at the train station for a $5 donation.)

Beem letter: December 25, 1863

The third and final Christmas letter from David Beem. This is the first I transcribed and by far my favorite. Merry Christmas!

New Culpepper, Va.
Dec. 25th, 1863.

My dear Wife:

It is a great length of time since I wrote to you than I usually let pass without writing, but I will try to make up for it to-day.

A merry Christmas to you! What would I not give to be able to look in and see what my darling wife is doing to-day! I hope you are enjoying yourself as all persons ought on this usually happy day. How is it, my dear?

As for myself, I cannot say that there is anything more than usual to mark the day. Indeed there is nothing in camp to distinguish the day from others, unless it be the unusual flow of whiskey, which is abundant. Last night it was quite noisy, and from all present indications it will not be any more quiet to-day and to-night. At this moment I hear several expressing themselves in various parts of the camp in so decided a manner as to show that whiskey is the chief performer. Last night some of the men were disposed to celebrate Christmas Eve by shooting their guns, and the consequence was we had to place guards all about to maintain order. But this picture of Camp only applies to this particular occasion, for usually we have a very quiet time. Our Sutler agreed to bring us some good things to eat from Washington, such as poultry &c., but he did not do so, and therefore we have to do without the good dinner we expected to obtain. So you see I am enjoying Christmas in a very quiet way, and if I do not have what some call a "big time" I at least am having a pleasant time, and unlike some of them, I do not expect to have the head ache when I get up in the morning.

I have no doubt you are eating a good turkey dinner about this time. At least I hope so, and may you have a good appetite to eat some of the choice dressing and bosom of the turkey. Next Christmas, my dear, I will be with you, and will you have a turkey dinner for me?

I think I remember what I did, and where I was at, this day two years ago. I was in Romney, boarding at Mrs. Bowles', and had a nice turkey, and oyster soup, for dinner. Then I wrote on that day a love letter, which I suppose contained all sorts of sweet things, for you know you and I were two then, but yet had a kind of lovin' way towards each other. One year ago I was at Falmouth, and I think I also wrote you a letter on that day; so this is the 3rd Christmas letter to my absent darling since this "cruel war" commenced, and my love, I sincerely hope that it will prove to be the last one.

I yesterday had an invitation to take dinner to-day with Col. Taylor of the 20th Indiana. Col. Taylor and myself were formerly very well acquainted, and I regretted that I could not accept the invitation. The camp of the 20th Indiana is about five miles from here, and Col. Cavins and myself intend to visit them in a few days. Being now in winter quarters, and permanently situated, we are enabled to enjoy something like a social system; at least Officers in different Corps in the Army can visit each other, which at other times they cannot well do.

There has been quite an agitation among the enlisted men in our Regt. for a few days on the subject of reenlisting. Some seventy five have already gone in, and perhaps a number of others will yet go in. None of Co. "H" have reenlisted, nor do I think any will. They all know that I do not propose to stay in the service, but whether my example has influence on them or not is more than I can tell. I am neither trying to persuade them to go in, nor saying anything to keep them from it, but leave them to decide for themselves. I think those who reenlist for another three years are entitled to great praise, but I do not blame those who do not do so, since they have certainly done their duty already; at least, until those who have not yet been out shall have served a term.

We are having some very cold weather here, but it is dry, and we get a long very comfortably. We have plenty of wood, and keep rousing fires. The boys, however, have just put on a knotty back-log which causes it to smoke, and I am consequently provoked somewhat, but will try to get over it.

My dear, I have since I last wrote, received two letters from you, one dated the 5th, and I presume the other was written a few days later, it had no date on it.

You say in one of your letters that Mollie contemplates visiting her husband sometime this winter. Well, I am glad he is situated so she can do so, and I hope if she goes her trip will be pleasant, and her visit a happy one. I would be very glad if we were situated so that I could have you with me, but that is out of the question here, as we are in a part of the country where accomodations for ladies are not to be found. You say that if I cannot go home to stay you wish me to go and stay a while this winter any way. Well, my dear, do you want to see me right bad? I am sure I want to see you the baddest in the world, but I can't go without a leave of absense; and this makes it a question which only the future can decide. There is one way, however, by which I could get to go home for thirty days - by getting the company to reenlist and promissing to serve three more years myself. Do you advise me to do this?

I presume this is almost long enough to write when I have nothing to say, and therefore I will close. I do so my darling love as I commenced, by wishing you a merry Christmas, and may your slumbers to-night be sweet and sound. I also wish you all a merry Christmas, and a good time.

Goodbye, sweet wife, with my love and a kiss.

Your loving husband
David.

David Beem letter: December 25th, 1862

The second of the Beem Christmas letters. I'm unsure if it is complete, since it does not have any signature and ends rather abruptly.

Falmouth, Va.
Christmas, 1862

My dear Wife,

It is with pleasure that I again find myself seated to write you a letter.

You will see from the date of this that it is Christmas. At home, it means something; but in the army it means nothing. At home, we might have our nice turkey dinner, and a jolly time; but in the war there is no turkey for dinner, and as for a jolly time, if we have one at all, it is of that kind that I do not much enjoy. Last night a number of men in camp were a little too sociable on account of having an abundance of whiskey in camp. I hope that the friends at home are to-day having a nice time enjoying Christmas. Last Christmas I fully expected I would be at home to spend this one, but providence has kept me in the army. I would like to spend the day with you. How did it pass off? Did any of the folks have turkey and nice "goodies" for dinner? I will tell you about our dinner, and you must tell me about yours. Well, we had potatoes, pork, dried apples stewed, fried onions, beef, crackers and coffee. Now, I expect you will think that was a great Christmas dinner but I can assure you that it is better than we get for common. I tried to get a ham, but failed; and sent into the country for a chicken, but the breed seems to have become extinct in this region. So we had to confine our Christmas luxuries to the articles I have named.

Last night the Surgeon of our Regt. invited me to call in at his tent. I did so, and found five or six already there, among them two colonels, two majors besides a Surgeon or two. During the evening, a pitcher of egg-nog disappeared; how, I will leave to your imagination to guess. I must acknowledge, however, that a couple of the aforesaid gentlemen had previously imbibed a little too freely, and were therefore somewhat more boisterous than dignity would allow. As to myself, I was snugly in bed by 9 o'clock, but had scarcely got to sleep until some drunken rascals fired off their guns in camp and awakened me. Of course, they were arrested.

The day has been decidedly a dull one. To me, it appeared more like Sunday than any day for a long time. Nothing has been done, and everything except whiskey drinkers remarkably quiet. They have been exuberant all day. In fact the army of the Potomac has been on a general Christmas drunk. One or two of Co. "H" have been a little "tight," with which exception has maintained respectable sobriety. Boys whom I am well convinced would have been drunk as Bacchus were they at home, have here been duly sober.

This is the kind of Christmas we have had here in the army. I quit writing just here this morning and take it up to-night. Christmas night! a time for enjoyment and pleasure; a time for good old fashioned rejoicings. How much of this do you suppose falls to our lot? I don't think we have more than our share of it; we have none of the big fires of the old fireside to sit by, none of the big turkeys to eat and what is worse than all, none of the big girls to squeeze. Our chief source of enjoyment is in anticipation. What nice Christmas we will have, and how we'll enjoy them. Then, the big fires will crackle, the turkeys will be devoured, and the girls take care of their [illegible, looks like ribs]. But we make the best we can of our situation, and although deprived of the pleasures and enjoyment of home, we are by no means a downcast and gloomy set, for many an anecdote and many a joke pass the rounds.

I expected to attend church to-night, but for some reason or another there is none. Bro. Sabin told me there would be, but he was mistaken. There was preaching in one of the adjoining Regts. to-day but I did not attend. So you see there is still a spark of the religious element left in the army. While on this subject, I must tell you that Billy Rice lost his Bible in our Battle of Fredericksburg on the 13th. I believe it is one that was presented to him, and he regrets it very much. Billy is a good soldier, and I think a genuine Christian.

While I am writing I hear a band discoursing sweet music; they are playing "The Star Spangled Banner," "The Red, White, and Blue," "Yankee Doodle," and other lively and entertaining airs. All of which tend to remind me that it is Christmas night, and that I am not at home.

But still, I hope to hear that those who are at home are enjoying the occasion hugely, especially you.

I have been building me a snug little cabin, consisting of four rounds of logs, a fire place and a chimney, and covered with my tent, making it a very good comfortable abiding place. I have a snug little bed made in the back part, about two feet high, on which Dan and myself sleep. Jack sleeps with Adjutant, and has a good situation. You ought to see our domestic arrangements. Our parlor, sitting room, bed room and kitchen combined in fine order. All of which is good enough for soldiers. Next Christmas may find us in the Army; but if I am fortunate enough to be out, I hope to have a good, jolly time to make up for this.

David Beem letter: December 24th, 1861

I found a series of letters in the Digital Image Library on indianahistory.org and decided to transcribe them.
David Beem, an officer of the 14th Indiana, wrote to his fiancee (and later wife), Mahala Joslin, on Christmas eve/day in 1861, 1862, and 1863.
I intend to post the second letter tomorrow and the third on Christmas Day. This is the first of the three, written from Romney, Va in 1861.

Romney, Va. December 24th 1861.

Dearest Hala;

Your very welcome favor of the 15th came to hand just now, and I really don't think I have received one since I left home that I was so glad to get. It had been almost a month since I had heard from you, and although I knew the uncertainty of the mails, especially as we have been changing our position, yet I could not think how it was that I was unable to hear any more from my dearest friend. You say in your letter that you had not written to me for about three weeks, thinking that I would be at home, I am very sorry indeed that you should be so disappointed, and regret it all the more because your disappointment is owing mostly to my own fault. But when I told you that I thought I could go home, we were at Huttonville, expecting to stay there during the winter, and if we had staid there, I could have got a leave of absence; but as we have left, and got to a place where we are more needed, it is very hard to go away, for unless an officer gets sick, he cannot at present get a leave of absence. Yet they still promise me that I can go home sometime this winter, and although I shall not depend on it, yet I shall certainly do the best I can. I desire exceedingly to go home for your sake, and I am certain the disappointment is almost as great for me as for you. I hope, however, that this disappointment will be followed by happier events. Let us hope for the best, and although it may seem hard now, I doubt not it will be much brightter [sic] for us both in the future.

I am sorry that I did not get your letter a little sooner. Supposing that your answer to my letter in which I spoke about your meeting me at Wheeling would not reach me, I wrote a similar letter a short time ago, which you will likely get before this reaches you. But as you think best not to go to Wheeling as I suggested in my first letter concerning it, we will think no more of it. My reason for suggesting it was because I wished to fulfill the promise that I made you if it was at all possible. You need not think for a moment that it will be a disappointment to me, or that I will think you unkind. The matter I left to your own judgement and inclination, and perhaps you are right. I am entirely satisfied for you to exercise your own pleasure, and although nothing would afford me so much delight as to meet you anywhere, even for a short time, and be able to call you mine, yet I suppose we must try to content ourselves to wait for a better time. I shall try in the future, my love, not to disappoint you again. But although separated by a cruel necessity, may we not still anticipate future bliss, and be happy in each other's love? I can assure you there is not a day but what you are uppermost in my mind, and always first in my affections.

To-night, dear Hala, is Christmas eve, and I do wonder what my love is at now. How happily we could spend a few hours together. I trust that you are enjoying yourself with friends at home. I think if I was there I could get your Christmas gift; but certainly it would afford me a great deal of pleasure to be able to give you a gift of some kind, which I would most assuredly do if I was with you to-night. It will be a dry Christmas to me. We will have but a little to amuse us, and nothing to remind us that it is merry Christmas. But I am very comfortably situated, boarding with a pleasant and religious family, and I could not expect anything better while in the war -

I do not know, dearest, that I have anything more to write. I shall in my next letter try to send you my picture, as there is an artist here. Please write often to me. If I could do anything to contribute to your happiness, I would do so most assuredly. I hope some of these times to be able to give you some substantial token of my love to you. Perhaps this will reach you before New Year's day. Enjoy it as well as you can, and think of me kindly. I would tell you what to do on New Year's day, but my letter may not reach you - so do just as you please, and if possible have a jolly time, for yourself and me; and I will be thinking of you -

But I must bid you good-night, and a happy one. Will you allow me a kiss before I quit writing?

My love to you always,
Yours in love,
David E. Beem