The Civil War between southern and northern states was raging on December 24.
Loved ones at home prayed for the safety of their soldiers in the field, as this drawing by Thomas Nast in Harper’s Illustrated so touchingly depicts:
On this Christmas Eve 2012, I pray for the safe homecomings of our armed forces in the service of our country, the United States of America, all around the world.
May our brave ones soon be reunited with their loved ones at home.
Posted in Beginnings, Progress
Recently, I concentrated on blogging about Key Persons, Key Events, Key Artifacts and Key Places in the life of my great-grandfather, Archibald Van Orden, during his service in the Union Army at the time of the Civil War. All of these posts reflect my research as I write the novel inspired by his exploits.
Now I turn back to societal context which spawned war itself, to set the stage.
Boiling it down, my studies lead me to conclude there were two irreconcilable positions held in the United States in 1860 (and all the years prior to that time).
The right to liberty collided with the right to property.
It is nearly impossible for us today to conceive, or accept, that slaves were not only considered inferior, they were the personal property of their slave holders.
Alexander Stevens, who became Vice President of the Confederate States of America, boldly spoke a noxious belief in the right to property at its extreme: “the negro is not equal to the white man; slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.” [I must add that I abhor and reject everything within his statement.]
On their right of personal property, the southern states would not budge an inch.
Against this stand stood the newly ascendant Republican Party in northern states, determined to restrict, diminish, and eventually destroy slavery in our nation. They believed in the self-evident and unalienable right to liberty, as written in the Declaration of Independence, in which “all men are created equal.”
By 1861, the right to liberty became the unstoppable force believed in the North, while the right to property remained the unmovable object believed in the South.
No compromise was possible. The clash was inevitable, cataclysmic, and deadly.
John Brown, an abolitionist executed for leading an insurrection to free slaves in 1859, expressed this certainty using these immortal words :
“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood.”
Posted in Beginnings, Key Person
Tagged Abolition, Alexander Stevens, Civil War, Freedom, History, John Brown
Three months after my great-grandfather, Archie Van Orden, enlisted in Company D of the NY 12th Infantry, orders were issued to move to Washington, D.C. The regiment assembled in Union Square of NYC, receiving a tumultuous sendoff from many residents. Marching along Broadway towards the wharfs, the clamorous cheering crowds grew in enthusiasm with every passing minute.
The soldiers then boarded the Steamship Baltic, bound for the Capitol of the USA, as the citizens of NYC continued to shout and wave with loud approval.
On the way to Washington, D.C, the 12th infantry was ordered by General Butler to proceed directly to Fortress Monroe in Virginia, preparing for battle. They transferred to a different steamship, The Goatzacoatcos, joining together with a grand fleet carrying Union troops, journeying towards the Peninsula Campaign.
Posted in Beginnings, Key Event, Key Place
Tagged Civil War, Freedom, History, New York 12th Infantry, Union Square
My great-grandfather, Archie, enlisted in the 12th Regiment of the US Infantry at Forth Hamilton, facing New York’s harbor from Brooklyn, on January 27, 1862. He soon met three young Union soldiers arrayed in their military regalia.
Drummers and buglers were vitally important to train new recruits in drills they would need to use in action one day. Drum tattoos and bugle calls initiated everything from charges to retreats, rallying troops in the din of warfare. Though still young boys, these three were already veterans of battle at Bull Run.
Posted in Beginnings, Key Place
The great-great-great-grandfather of Archibald Van Orden was named Pieter Casparszen VanNaerden. (Translated into English his name means Peter the son of Caspar from Naerden.) Pieter was the first Dutch ancestor of our family who sailed to the new world, arriving at Nieuw Amsterdam in 1623. By the time of Pieter’s death in 1664, the city known today as New York looked like this, with a stout wall on its north end to ward off attacks from native peoples:
Posted in Beginnings, Key Place
At the close of Lincoln’s first inaugural address, he spoke these prophetic words, that ring as portentously today as they did in March 1861, before the Civil War:
“…from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
Surely my great-grandfather must have heard those better angels calling him to sacrifice everything for the cause of Union in the nation he loved.
Posted in Beginnings
My great grandfather, Archibald Van Orden, carried this ribbon with him during the Civil War.
Though the Pledge of Allegiance would not be created until decades after the conflict, he would certainly agree that the USA was destined to be “one nation, under God, indivisible.”
Now, in 2012, Union will continue if we want it with all our hearts and strength, as Archie did. We must not let the divisive spirit of our times accomplish what war could not. Union must and shall be preserved.
Posted in Beginnings
I am an ordinary American. Yet I am blessed by extraordinary ancestors.
Foremost among them is my great-grandfather, Archibald Stark Van Orden. At age 18, Archie was a US Cavalryman in the Civil War. The adventures and dangers he encountered confound the imagination.
Inspired by the exploits of his youth, I am writing a book that tells his tale.
As Archie wrote to his family: “Half the truth hath not yet been told.”
Now, 150 years later, the hidden-half of truth will finally see the light of day.
Posted in Beginnings
The Assassin's Assassin 