Poem: "The Unlocked Door"

“The Unlocked Door”

 

I had dwelt for many years, within the warm and welcoming hall

But life like a flame’s fickle flicker of felicity is filled with false fortune

So on that night, a dreadful eve of shadowed fears, there came the knock

A lonely knock upon an unlocked door

 

Deep and foreboding the first sound swept across the room

The warmth of hearth and home with haste did suddenly flee

A sudden sense of forbidding at which my heart beat slowed then froze

A fear that burned like poison flowed through my every vein.

 

No veneer of safety remained, slight were my defenses

I turned timidly toward the portal, which reverberated with a second knock

Slim was the defense, now so plainly seen,

 no longer could I hide,

beyond that unlocked door stood the oft dreaded fateful call

for now time stood still and knocked upon an unlocked door.

 

Hand stretched forth then withdrawn,

a mighty battle fought within, I struggled movement to impart

debt stored and long forgotten awaits it long avoided accounting.

The third knock came like thunder, it echoed in my ears

I knelt and prayed to Jesus “please take away this fear”

 

Confusion doubt and panic all wed within my soul,

I slowly turned the handle, the motion like a dream.

And then the door was open as I peered into the night,

the door step was quite empty, devoid of any life

My shaking hands betrayed me as I sought to calm myself,

then weakly came the pitiful plea.

“Is anybody there?”

 

The world was clothed in darkness,

 an ocean bleak and black in which no hope was certain

for calm had fled the scene

I closed the floor most quickly and I took a long deep breath

It must have been the wind, I said in short to reassure myself

My chair so inviting and secure was near within my reach

And then with sudden stabbing pain that sound so deadly and so cold

Came echoing in my ears again and I began to feel so old.

 

I flung the portal open in anticipation of my end

I found the step was glowing

With a light that calmed my fear,

for on the steep was sitting an amazing sight for sure

A gilded cage so golden and a bird within it sang

Sweet songs of far past childhood, familiar and so fine

I was swept in the moment, divinity at my door

The call to home forever, forgiven at my unlocked door


Written by Mark R. Day, date unknown, Copyright by Mark R. Day 1/21/13, all rights reserved

Poem: 'White Shoes [Black Shoes]"

White Shoes {Black Shoes}

 

White yes white they strolled down the hall

White yes white observed by one and all

 

Pure so pure no stain upon them seen

Plop yes Plop they entered the machine

 

Laugh yes Laugh at the sight so comic

Laugh yes Laugh for it seems so ironic

Plop yes Plop they emerge less bucolic

 

Black yes Black they strolled down the hall

Black yes Black observed by one and all

 

Laugh yes Laugh at the site so comic

Laugh yes Laugh for it seems so ironic

 

Plop yes Plop they emerge less bucolic

 

Friends yes Friends call out, look down you foolish man

Friends yes Friends point out the awful truth, with laughing eyes

 

White turned Black the machine has done its work

White turned Black bring forth the sound of  mirth

 

 

Written by Mark R.  Day unknown date, copyright by Mark R. Day 1/21/13, all rights reserved

 

This was inspired by a shipmates retelling of a story about a night in Tel Aviv, a bottle of Bourbon, and a shoe shine machine.  Thanks for reminding me Joe.

Poem "Ruin"

Ruin

 

Solemn silence fills the space

unfinished stories flung here about

the refuse of many thoughts and dreams

a sight of shattered hopes

 

Seal up the heart, shutter the mind

the searcher has departed

 

Poem by Mark Day 11/17/10.  Copyright by Mark R. Day 17 November 2010, all rights reserved

Poem: 'Endings"

Poem "Endings"

Tension, Pain, and Sleeplessness

my constant companions in the night!

eyes worn and unfocused

The sanguineous touch of age.

Oh! I pray for a serene existence

but live a servile life in quiet restraint

shadowy are the former memories

so severe the penalties of time

the inevitable fall to ruin

a salacious servitude to natures law!

 

by Mark Day 3:38 am 11/15/10, Copyright by Mark R. Day 15 November 2010, all rights reserved

Patriotic Essay: Thomas Nast, Christmas, and the Civil War

Patriotic Instructor Christmas Message

 

     During the American Civil War the celebration of Christmas was new to both the North and South.  Many of the traditions which we follow today such as; Christmas trees, caroling, and the exchange of gifts were just begining to enter the popular culture.  

     On his first Christmas in  office; the President and Mrs. Lincoln set aside time to have dinner guests to the White House. This was the only Christmas that included the entire Lincoln family.[1] The evening's entertainment likely included a Christmas tree and the singing of popular Carols such as:  Deck the Halls, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Hark the Herald Angels Sing (1840); It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (1850); Jingle Bells(1857); and Up on the Housetop (1860)[2].  Here at the end of the first year of a war, filled with disaster and sorrow,  there was still joy and hope in the hearts of the Lincoln's but sadly this was the last Christmas filled with such happiness for the Lincolns; Young Willie Lincoln would die just a few months later. 

     Likewise Young Soldiers, encamped near Washington City,  also celebrated Christmas, which while not an official holiday, held special meaning for men far from home and hearth.  Soldiers from both sides of the war decorated trees with food or personal items and in some units officers would provide a special holiday meal to their men.   Some individuals even sought and obtained furloughs {leave from the front}  so they could spend the holidays with their families.  On December 25th 1862 Corporal J. C. Williams, Co. B, 14th Vermont Infantry wrote the following;  "This is Christmas, and my mind wanders back to that home made lonesome by my absence, while far away from the peace and quietude of civil life to undergo the hardships of the camp, and may be the battle field. I think of the many lives that are endangered, and hope that the time will soon come when peace, with its innumerable blessings, shall once more restore our country to happiness and prosperity." Corporal Williams, like all soldiers, far from home at Christmas wished for the end of war and the institution of peace of Christmas among all men.

     As the war years continued to unfold the symbols of Christmas began to take on significant meaning to the Union.  In 1862 the illustrator Thomas Nast combined his own personal German traditions of Saint Nicholas, a fourth century bishop known for his kindness and generosity, with another German folk traditions of elves to create his Santa.  Nast was a clever man who supported the Union by using his images of Santa to rally the spirits of Northerners throughout the War.  Nast first drew Santa Claus for the 1862 Christmas season Harper’s Weekly cover and center-fold illustration to memorialize the family sacrifices of the Union during the early and, for the north, during the darkest days of the Civil War.[3] Nast’s Santa appeared as a kindly figure representing Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of Christ. His use of Santa Claus was melancholy, sad for the faltering Union war effort in which Nast so fervently supported, and sad for the separation of soldiers and families. The Harper's Weekly front cover drawing, below, called "Christmas Eve 1862"[4] is an excellent example of Mr. Nast's work which buoyed the spirits of the northern citizenry and army



December of 1862 also saw two additional powerful expressions of the Christmas spirit which arose amidst the cruelties of war.  During the Battle of Fredericksburg Richard Kirkland, the humane hero of Fredericksburg near the foot of Marye's hill, with light heart and buoyant step, armed only with all of the canteens he could carry filled with water, crossed the now famous wall, , and relieved the suffering of his enemies, pouring down their parched throats the life-giving fluid, putting them in a more comfortable positions, and leaving them a canteen filled with water.  Amazingly for an hour and a half, amid the plaudits of both armies, this angel of mercy went on his mission from man to man of the wounded enemy.  Similarly President Lincoln's son Tad was moved by the plight of the wounded in hospitals surrounding Washington; the boy touched by the images of the men asked his father to ensure that presents would be distributed to each soldier, in the hospitals, at Christmas for the remainder of the war.  These two events illustrate the human ability to have compassion and in them we can see the begins of a tradition of mercy and care of the wounded soldiers, which carry on to this very day. 

     Then as now Christmas has always been an important element in creating hope amid war. A time when men seek to do good; symbols, like Santa, unite us; and carols bring us closer to perfection in spirit.  It is the later item, the Christmas carol, which will provide the conclusion for this message.  On December 25th 1864 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow contributed to the wealth of carols sung each Christmas season, when he composed the words to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"  For Longfellow the impetus for the words arose from the pain he felt when informed, that very day,  that his son Charles had suffered a crippling wound in the war. This carol;  like the dinner given by Lincoln, the drawings of Nast, and the humanity of Richard Kirkland give rise to hope and provided a sense of a shared desire to, as Lincoln stated in his Second inaugural address, "Bind up the wounds" brought on by the war

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

---

[1] http://www.whitehousechristmascards.com/category/abraham-lincoln-1861-1865/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_the_American_Civil_War#Celebrating

[3] http://cartoons.osu.edu/nast/images/santa_claus_camp100.jpg

[4] http://cartoons.osu.edu/nast/images/santa_claus_camp100.jpg

Letter to the Editor: "The Issues of American Media"

Letter to  the Editor

Lynchburg News and Advance

15 September 2009

     In the recent days we have seen the true price of a public discourse which has been radicalized to a point if  Insanity.   The question of our time has become:  why has our society become less civil?  Many may think this a modern phenomena but they would be wrong.  The divisive nature of the current national rhetoric has emerged from a pattern of public interaction with the media that was established  in the earliest years of the Republic. The founders rightly saw the need for a free flow of information and ideas in order to realize personal and national success. 

     From the very  beginning it was the men who operated media outlets who established the direction of our collective national debate and discussion.  In the early republic journalistic rhetoric was used to develop a national consensus and identity.  Our sense of unity under a common set of political and cultural virtues arose from the media's creation of what might be called Americanness.   Media fueled patriotic fervor and as a result America was born out of an intense sense of nationalism, heightened by media editorials, such as journalist  John L. O'Sullivan's Manifest Destiny,  which  propelled the expansion of our country from thirteen states on the eastern shore of this continent to a continental power win fifty years. 

    However as with most things there was a negative side to a proactive media.   By the time of Thomas Jefferson's campaign for President in 1800 a new element had appeared in the rhetoric which by then was the mainstay for discussing the politics in the nation.  It was felt by some that the "Public" would need the media to illustrate,  illuminate and frame the context of a proper national dialogue in the public sphere.  In other words the media would tell or inform us what traits were to be contained in the American identity and the values we should share.  Founding Father John Adams felt the value of a independent media was in the spread of knowledge,  which in turn created a public that would be more sensible to the wrongs being done them.   Adams hoped that educated and aware American's  would be emancipated from ignorance and timidity,  better equipping them to participate in the governance of the country.

    Over the succeeding 200 plus years the media, now grown to include Movies, Radio, Internet etc.,  has become even more so the arbiter of what it means to be an American.  Always an influential force in the molding of popular culture it has become even more powerful as the illustrator of public opinion.  Over the last twenty years Americans have become thoroughly inundated with a plethora of news and information, which when coupled to our tradition of accepting the media as the arbiter of American values has left  us open to indoctrination and less inclined to self evaluation.   In the last few years the rhetoric has become so polarizing, we have come to a point in the history of our nation where the model created so long ago is broken.  Whereas in the In the past media liberated us from ecclesiastical and civil tyranny, we now find ourselves exposed to a manipulative and omnipresent tyranny of the global media itself.   The media is no longer the watchdog of our rights, but rather the ownership of the media would  have us subordinate our right to think independently to the power of their opinion. 

Instead of creating a national consensus the media now seems to serve the cause of disunion and disharmony.  So much of what passes for news and information is little less than entertainment packaged to ensure commercial success to the corporation and its shareholders.  Wild innuendo and rumor have replace the true reporting of facts.  Media personalities have attained star status and they value shock and awe over truth.  It has become common place for the media itself to display a lack of decorum and respect for what in the past were the values of a more virtuous America. If we are truly concerned with the tone of public discourse ,the lack of personal courtesy, and the failure of our politicians and people to act with respect for the institutions that we cherish, we shall have to shed our dependence on the popular twenty-four hour news media and the politically stilted presentations they employ.  We must quickly and firmly demand that America's  media reclaim the moral high ground and return to their original purposes.  There must be a  re-examination of practices followed by the media and a demand for higher standards of professionalism and non-partisanship.  To not do so will only perpetuate and accentuate the collapse of our Republic.   Even a free press must be held  accountable and responsible to the values of Republicanism.

 

Mark R. Day

Lynchburg, Virginia

 

 

 

Patriotic Essay: "Lincoln and the Coming of Civil War"

January Patriotic Instructor Message

     As we enter the new year, we are also embarking on a celebration of sesquicentennial events, which will commemorate the lives of our "Boys in Blue."  This month my  message will look at the events of January 1861 and the converging clouds of conflict, which swirled and churned with the winds of fate as our nation slid  toward disunion and war.

     The months of December 1860 and January 1861 saw tensions mount as the deep south states of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas joined  with the fire-eaters  of South Carolina in succeeding from the Union.  In Springfield Illinois, Abraham Lincoln took refuge from hordes of office seekers.  Working at his brother-in-law's store he began writing what would become his  first inaugural address.  For references, in preparing that speech, Lincoln used four documents: Henry Clay's 1850 Speech on compromise, Daniel Webster's reply to Hayne, Andrew Jackson's proclamation against nullification, and the U.S. Constitution.  In analyzing his choice of documents we can gain an insight to Lincoln's future governance of the nation.  Seek compromise if possible, take a firms stand on principles, preserve of the union, and anchor your policies on constitutional law.  In Lincoln's correspondence during the months of December and January we can see how Lincoln used his beliefs in a series of initiatives and letters through which, he sought to find a peaceful way to preserve the union.

     Lincoln's correspondence from the middle of December through January shows that he is already dealing with the number one issue that propelled southern secession, slavery. In a letter, dated 18 December 1860, to John D. Defrees, a republican supporter, Lincoln says "I am sorry any republican inclines to dally with Pop. Sov. [Popular Sovereignty] of any sort.  It acknowledges that slavery has equal rights with liberty and surrenders all we have contended for.[i]  Clearly Lincoln does not desire to see popular sovereignty become the accepted policy for determining the validity of slavery. 

     We can examine Lincoln's intense feeling on the connection between Constitutional Union and personal liberty [rights] by reviewing a fragment of his written thoughts on the idea of liberty and the foundational nature of the constitutional union.  In the following statement Lincoln postulates that;  "Without the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained . . . our great prosperity."  Lincoln further writes that "there is something back of these, entwining itself more closely about the human heart. That something, is the principle of "Liberty to all"—the principle that clears the path for all—gives hope to all—and, by consequence, enterprise, and industry to all. The expression of that principle, in our Declaration of Independence, was most happy, and fortunate. Without this, as well as with it, we could have declared our independence of Great Britain; but without it, we could not, I think, have secured our free government, and consequent prosperity. No oppressed, people will fight, and endure, as our fathers did, without the promise of something better, than a mere change of masters."[ii] Evidently Lincoln believes that personal liberty is the key to American Democracy.

     In keeping with the search for compromise, on 22 December 1860, in a letter written to Alexander Hamilton Stephens, future Vice President of the Confederacy,  we can see that Lincoln is actively seeking to allay the fears of the southern states when he  writes "I fully appreciate the present peril the country is in, and the weight of responsibility on me.  Do the people of the South really entertain fears that a republican administration would, directly, or indirectly, interfere with their slaves, or with them, about their slaves? If they do, I wish to assure you, as a friend, and still, I hope, not an enemy, that there is no cause for such fears. You think slavery is right, and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought be restricted.  That I suppose is the rub.  It certainly is the only substantial difference between us."[iii]  In this letter Lincoln seems to be offering Stephens a compromise; there will be no need for southern succession; the institution of slavery will be allowed to remain in those places where it already exist but the south will have to accept that slavery would not be allowed to expand beyond its current boundaries. 

     Lincoln's dedication to Constitutionalism was displayed in late December 1860.  Lincoln received word of a proposed Congressional act which included the following: ART. 13. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize to give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere within any State with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.  On December 28th Lincoln wrote to General Duff Green on the topic of making an amendment to the Constitution.  "My Dear Sir:  I do not desire any amendment of the Constitution.  Recognizing, however, that questions of such amendment rightfully belong to the American people, I should not feel justified nor inclined to withhold from them, if I could, a fair opportunity of expressing their will thereon through either of the modes prescribed in the instrument.[iv].   This letter offers proof that Lincoln was a man of the Constitution and was always prepared to let the Constitutional processes do their job.  He believed that the people should exercise their rights under that document to determine the direction that the nation would take on the issue of slavery and he was willing to submit to their judgment.

     By late January 1861 Lincoln had come to understand that there could be no compromise with the southern leadership and Like Webster, Lincoln began to realize he had to stand firm on his principles.  Revealing his angst for the southern leadership Lincoln told Presbyterian Minister Albert Hale the following:  "Compromise is not the remedy, not the cure. The South (that is, the leaders) don't want it — won't have it — no good can come of it. The system of compromise has no end. Slavery is the evil out of which all our other national evils and dangers have come. It has deceived and led us to the brink of ruin, and it must be stopped. It must be kept where it now is." As January came to an end Lincoln was standing on his beliefs.  However, Lincoln did not seek to create controversy; hoping rather that the south would really not secede and accept the constraints on the expansion of slavery he offered them"  Writing to  John Gilmer, a southern Democrat, on the topic of slavery's expansion into the western territories  Lincoln said " on the territorial question, I am inflexible."  This is evidence that Lincoln was not going to negotiate the expansion of slavery.

     Abraham Lincoln was a man who faced a great challenge, his election had incited a southern rebellion against the institutions which he had come to see as the best hope of man.  The first months following his election were traumatic but Lincoln showed great leadership in pursuing his plan for dealing with southern secession.  Only the intransigence of the south to accept Lincoln's proposals stood in the way of a peaceful resolution of the matter.  For Lincoln the matter was never that complicated, he would strive to preserve the Union by the best means available.  Inevitably the legacy of Clay, Webster, Jackson, and the founding fathers to which Lincoln had ascribed clung proved the greatest influence on Lincoln's actions as President elect and later President.

---

[i] Abraham Lincoln "His Speeches and Writings" ed. Roy P. Basler, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, 2001p. 566 [unabridged republication of the edition published in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1946]

[ii] http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=29

[iii] Abraham Lincoln "His Speeches and Writings" ed. Roy P. Basler, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, 2001p. 567 [unabridged republication of the edition published in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1946]

[iv] Lincoln's Stories and Speeches, Ed. Edward Frank Allen, Books Inc., New York, No Copy write date, p.47

 

Written by Mark R. Day January 1, 2011.  Copyright by Mark R. Day, all rights reserved

Patriotic Essay "Why We Must Proclaim Lincoln's Legacy"

     Most men would consider the praise of friends and family enough to evaluate ourselves successful.   However, there are those rare individuals who deserve to be remembered, by the entire world , with the  honor reserved only for  those who do great deeds in the service of mankind.  For those of us in the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War; Abraham Lincoln is such a man  As we approach the celebration of his birth later this month,  how are we telling the story of this man who carried the our nations survival on his shoulders. 

Who shall recount our martyr's sufferings for this people? Since the November of 1860, his horizon has been black with storms. By day and by night he trod a way of danger and darkness. On his shoulders rested a government dearer to him than his own life. At its integrity millions of men at home were striking; upon it foreign eyes lowered. It stood like a lone island in a sea full of storms; and every tide and wave seemed eager to devour it. Upon thousands of hearts great sorrows and anxieties have rested, but not on one such, and in such measure, as upon that simple, truthful, noble soul, our faithful and sainted Lincoln.                                                                         Henry Ward Beecher

     The words of from Henry Ward Beecher, in the quote above, stand as a tribute to Lincoln and provide an example for us to follow today .  We are the progeny of Abraham Lincoln.  To us passes the task of inculcating the public with the knowledge of Lincoln; we must ensure he is given the adoration he so richly earned.   We must fight to preserve the regular celebration of his birthday as a singular national holiday.  One Hundred and fifty years ago this March, Lincoln surrendered himself to the harness of leadership at the most critical point of our young republics life.  In the midst of the calamity of civil war he employed prudence, patience, and integrity to bring forth the nation based on the lofty ideals of equality, our founding fathers had conceived.   

His occupation has become associated in our minds with the integrity of the life he lived. In Lincoln there was always some quality that fastened him to the people.                                                                                                                                                David Swing

   

     We are the people to whom Lincoln has been fastened.  We must  accept custody of  Lincoln's legacy and find the way to accommodate our duty to history amid personal interest.  We must act with due diligence or through apathetic  neglect Lincoln's virtuous sacrifice will be reduced to myth and innuendo.


Written by Mark R. Day, Feruary 1, 2011, Copyright Mark R. Day 1 February  2011, all rights reserved

Patriotic Essay: The Diplomacy of Abraham Lincoln"

MD Department Patriotic Instructors Message for March 2011

Today is March 4th and one hundred fifty years ago today that Abraham Lincoln took the oath as the 16th President of the United States.  In his epic biography of Lincoln, historian Carl Sandburg explains the low opinion southern politicians had of Lincoln.  Sandburg uses Texas Senator Louis Wigfal[1] as his orator saying  that on March 2nd, in the Senate, Wigfal made the following statement  about Lincoln "under the apprehension that, on Monday next, at the precise hour of twelve, the aforesaid  Abraham is to swallow the Chicago platform and go for peace.  I do not know how this is.  I rather suspect it is true.  I do not think that a man who disguises himself in a soldiers cloak and a scotch cap and makes his entree between day and day, into the capital of the country he is going to govern, I hardly think he is going to look war sternly in the face . . . "[2] How wrong they were to hold Lincoln in such contempt, these men of the south who thought him ill prepared, uneducated,  inexperienced, and weak.    In retrospect we can see that many people were unsure and unaware of Lincoln's immense and innate leadership qualities.  Little was expected from the man of the west.  Even among his supporters doubt lingered.  Even Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, Sandburg says "could not get rid of his misgivings as to how this seemingly untutored child of nature [Lincoln] would master the tremendous task before him."[3]

How then did Lincoln overcome the doubts and convince the southern gentlemen that they were wrong about his determination to preserve the Union?  Well he simply gave a speech, which was written in well reasoned prose but  presented with emotion.   Lincoln's first inaugural was a triumph of intellect and language, which explained why he would go to war if it were just and unavoidable.  Lincoln' concluded the 1st Inaugural with the following statement:

"My countrymen, one and all, think clearly and well upon this whole subject.  Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.  If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot has to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it.  Such of you as are now dissatisfied, still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either.  If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single reason for precipitate action . . . . In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.  The government will not assail you.  You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors.  You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I have the solemn one to "preserve, protect and defend it."[4]

Clearly Lincoln was not calling for war with the south, he proposed no "war of northern aggression." Rather Lincoln called upon the people of the south to use reason and tradition to guide their decisions, while reminding the south that his oath of office, taken that very day, required him to take action  to preserve the sanctity of the Union.  A model of conservative values; Lincoln became our nations strength, moral compass and possibly greatest political leader of all time

---

[1] Wigfall was among a group of leading secessionist known as Fire-Eaters, advocating the preservation and expansion of an aristocratic agricultural society based on slave labor. He briefly served as a Confederate Brigadier General of the Texas Brigade at the outset of the American Civil War before taking his seat in the Confederate Senate.

[2] Abraham Lincoln: The War Years - I, Carl Sandburg, Vol. 3, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1944 p. 115

 

[3] Abraham Lincoln: The War Years - I, Carl Sandburg, Vol. 3, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1944 p. 114

 

[4] Abraham Lincoln: The War Years - I, Carl Sandburg, Vol. 3, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1944 p. 133-135

 

 

 

 

Written by Mark R. Day, March 2011, Copyright by Mark R. Day 1 March 2011, all rights reserved

Patriotic Essay: "The Patriotism and Leadership of Abraham Lincoln"

Maryland Department Patriotic Instructors Message for October 2010

The Patriotism and Leadership of Abraham Lincoln

As we near election day in November, let us remember an earlier time when America also seemed to be moving towards  a political and constitutional chaos.  In Abraham Lincoln the nation found a man who would lead it through four arduous years of civil war and preserve the sacred Union that had been crafted by the founding fathers. 

Abraham Lincoln was a sincere and passionate defender of the great republican principles first laid out in the Declaration of Independence  by Jefferson and later codified in James Madison's United States Constitution.   Lincoln had undoubtedly been brought up to believe that the prosperity of America, depended on the virtue of the people,  as exemplified by self sacrifice.  Virtue could be seen in every man's contribution of a portion of himself,  lest the nation would face self destruction.   Patriotism for an American , as Lincoln most likely saw it, would be defined by obedience to the law and discharge of the social responsibility and duties of his citizenship

On October 20th Lincoln received a confidential note which stated that the writer " On a recent visit to the east . . . was informed that a number of young men in Virginia had bound themselves, by oaths the most solemn, to cause your assassination, should you be elected."  Many a man in receipt of such a letter might have sought to remove himself from the van guard of controversy which shrouded the political stage of the time.  However, for Lincoln his love of country was a force stronger than that of self interest and Lincoln placed his trust in providence and was obedient to the call he had been given .  Abraham Lincoln understood the value of his and every mans moral virtue to the betterment of the American nation.  He weighed the merits of self interest and national interest and committed himself to the preservation of his nation. 

Virtue was then and  is still now the principal force at work in Patriotism.  As Lincoln put aside his individuality and exemplified the ethics of Patriotism so must all the progeny of the founding fathers work to ensure the nations survival and prosperity for future generations yet unborn by exhorting virtue and self sacrifice

 

Mark R. Day

MD Department Patriotic Instructor

Patriotic Essay: "MD Department Patriotic Instructor May 2010"

MD Department Patriotic Instructor May 2010 

"Memorial Day"  General Logan's  Instructions and a Message

       With Memorial Day near at hand, we find ourselves in a new battle to preserve the true spirit in which it was established.  In many ways the purpose for celebrating Memorial Day has passed out of the conscience of America.  Today small groups of men and women, hold to tradition, attend ceremonies in cemetery's, town squares, and memorial parks in hope of honoring the heroes of Americas past.  However, the  great mass of Americans pass the day with little thought to the men who have given all for the freedom they enjoy.  We have lost part of ourselves; apathy and ignorance have permeated the fabric of America, caused people to question their sense of Patriotism, or worse still label it unpopular and anachronistic. 

     In  the opening paragraphs of General Order #11 General  John Logan gives two important instructions to the future generations of America.  First we have a duty and a sacred trust to preserve the resting places of the fallen heroes.   General Logan underscores the point of preserving the memory of the fallen by saying "What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead . . .  We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance."  As camps and members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the descendant group of the GAR,  General Logan's Order #11 reminds us that our generation too; has a duty to find, mark, and preserve the resting places of the "Boys in Blue.  In large measure this is how we can ensure that physical evidence of the sacrifice made between 1861 and 1865 survives within the corporate American memory. The second instruction that General Logan passed on to us is that, we as members must ensure that the story of that sacrifice is taught to the next generation of Americans less the lesson of that sacrifice be lost to them.  The following quote from order #11 defines our task; "o vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of a free and undivided republic." We must share the responsibility to secure a future in which apathy and ignorance for sacred days such as Memorial Day have no place.  We must stand up, testifying to the values of Patriotism and the values of the men we seek to honor.  Camps should become involved with their local schools.  The National SUVCW has a program for "Adopt-a-School.  Identify and contact the people who teach history in all grades. K - College.  Camps can put together a speakers bureau that local history teachers can call upon to present programs in the classroom.  Have your camp start up a local history teacher of the year award, this is great way to gain local community media exposure.  In order to educate the public we must become involved at the grassroots in our communities by seeking out and working with the other patriotic groups such as the  SAR or DAR  to increase awareness.  If you have not already established an Eagle Scout or JROTC program do so.  The requirements for these programs can be found on the national web site and their cost is small in relation to the benefits and rewards they reap. 

     If we are to preserver in our goals to bring Memorial Day back to the original purpose we must educate the public to that original purpose.  We are the front line in this endeavor and it is up to us to take an action and take it soon.

 

The Battle Cry of Freedom (excerpts)

Yes, we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again

shouting the battle-cry of freedom

We will rally from the hill-side, we'll gather from the plain

Shouting the battle-cry of freedom

The Union forever, hurrah boys, hurrah!

Down with the traitor, up with the star

While we rally round the flag boys, rally once again

Shouting the battle-cry of freedom

We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,

Shouting the battle-cry of freedom

                                                                                                  George Frederick Root

 Written by Mark R. Day, May 2010, Copyright Mark R. Day 1 May 2010, all rights reserved