In the late 80’s and early 90’s, fate and circumstance took me to the state of Maryland where I lived and worked for seven years. It’s a beautiful place, rich in history and culture. The people were different but easy to get to know and, after knowing them I found they were not much different after all.
For those who feel the history of a place, as I do, the east coast is a treasure of memories. Mine were memories brought forward through the genes and blood lines of my ancestors. My mind contains a compilation of the lives and experiences and remembrances of those who preceded me in earlier times. I can feel them always, and in certain moments and places I can see them.
I sat on the rock fence which forms The Angle at Gettysburg and watched Robert E Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia step out from the trees on Seminary Ridge and dress ranks for that fateful charge.
On the rise above Burnside’s Bridge at Antietam, I watched the men in blue try time and again to cross that span and finally succeed, at great loss of life, in driving the Georgia Grays from the hill.
I saw it all, just as if I had been there when it happened. But in the end I have to say that no place has ever touched my historical soul and evoked such visceral emotion as Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
At Harpers Ferry the supports for the original train bridge during the Civil War are still standing. I cast my eyes upon them and go back in time. Here is where John Brown was captured by Virginia Militia under the command of Robert E. Lee. Stonewall Jackson’s army passed here on its way to Antietam to fight Joe Hooker at the West Woods near the Dunker Church.
I walked down to the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and sat on the rocks at the water’s edge. Positioning myself as close to the conjunction of the two rivers as I could, where the water swirls around in little eddys, I took off my shoes, rolled up my pant legs, and put my feet into history.
As the cool waters of the Shenandoah gently washed over my right foot and the Potomac soothed my left, I closed my eyes and bowed my head and thought of this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5grgB-dV2o&feature=related
Looking down river, where the two rivers become one river which flows into and through Washington, the green covered hills of Maryland on the left and Virginia on the right remind me of a time that was different but not too different from the world in which we live today. The beauty and serenity of the landscape is but a temporary respite from the concerns of life; but it is a necessary respite.
ANTIETAM
I walked today on hallowed ground
Reclaimed by passing years
Where shot and shell and musket round
Cut trees and corn and heroes down
And summoned mother's tears
I lingered near the old west wood
Where the Dunker Church still stands
There Jackson's army turned and stood
Relinquished precious southern blood
And challenged patriot's hands
When Hooker's men, before he fell
In double line array
Charged like demons o'er the swell
Rushing headlong into hell
They sought to win the day
But Jackson braced and held the line
Then called on rebel zeal
Hood's Texans ran into the whine
Where stands today their noble shrine
And died there on that field
The battle shifted, as did I
To the center of Lee's line
Where D.H. Hill blocked passage by
New Yorkers there, prepared to die
For recompense Divine
At the sunken road, McClellan thought
Swift victory might be won
But Gordon's Alabamans fought
And havoc on the Union wrought
Beneath the midday sun
A haunting peace pervades that lane
And makes one stop and pause
Belies the suffering and the pain
Brings tears that fall like summer rain
For Country, Home and Cause
I lost myself, and wept inside
Within that furrowed way
Where ghosts in butternut abide
With honored Union, side by side
And pass the time of day
'Neath Burnside's bridge
Still runs the flood
None left now can remember
Whoever shed such noble blood
As those brave souls who on it stood
That day in mid September
Determined Federal flesh and steel
Disdainful of defeat
Crossed the span by utter will
Drove the Georgians from the hill
And threatened Lee's retreat
But "Little Mac" on a distant lea
Still plagued by cautious doubt
Failed to give his troops decree
To take the fight to "Bobby Lee"
And denied to them the rout
Virginia's gallant sons subside
Through Sharpsburg, west, and then
Across Potomac, swift and wide
To sanctuary on the other side
And form to fight again
A stillness there invades the soul
And makes the senses weak
The guns are silent on the knoll
The drums have ceased their martial roll
Along Antietam Creek
I sat in silence, grieved, alone
I heard the soldiers speak
And welcome me as one they've known
No seeds of hatred there are sown
Beside Antietam Creek
When I return, as I'm wont to do
They greet me through the pall
And every heart is brave and true
My brothers now in gray and blue
And God reigns o'er us all
Yes, God reigns over all
http://adventures-in-time.blogspot.com/2007/12/antietam.html
[c 1994 Jack Dallas 2-1-94]
For those who feel the history of a place, as I do, the east coast is a treasure of memories. Mine were memories brought forward through the genes and blood lines of my ancestors. My mind contains a compilation of the lives and experiences and remembrances of those who preceded me in earlier times. I can feel them always, and in certain moments and places I can see them.
I sat on the rock fence which forms The Angle at Gettysburg and watched Robert E Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia step out from the trees on Seminary Ridge and dress ranks for that fateful charge.
On the rise above Burnside’s Bridge at Antietam, I watched the men in blue try time and again to cross that span and finally succeed, at great loss of life, in driving the Georgia Grays from the hill.
I saw it all, just as if I had been there when it happened. But in the end I have to say that no place has ever touched my historical soul and evoked such visceral emotion as Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
At Harpers Ferry the supports for the original train bridge during the Civil War are still standing. I cast my eyes upon them and go back in time. Here is where John Brown was captured by Virginia Militia under the command of Robert E. Lee. Stonewall Jackson’s army passed here on its way to Antietam to fight Joe Hooker at the West Woods near the Dunker Church.
I walked down to the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and sat on the rocks at the water’s edge. Positioning myself as close to the conjunction of the two rivers as I could, where the water swirls around in little eddys, I took off my shoes, rolled up my pant legs, and put my feet into history.
As the cool waters of the Shenandoah gently washed over my right foot and the Potomac soothed my left, I closed my eyes and bowed my head and thought of this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5grgB-dV2o&feature=related
Looking down river, where the two rivers become one river which flows into and through Washington, the green covered hills of Maryland on the left and Virginia on the right remind me of a time that was different but not too different from the world in which we live today. The beauty and serenity of the landscape is but a temporary respite from the concerns of life; but it is a necessary respite.
ANTIETAM
I walked today on hallowed ground
Reclaimed by passing years
Where shot and shell and musket round
Cut trees and corn and heroes down
And summoned mother's tears
I lingered near the old west wood
Where the Dunker Church still stands
There Jackson's army turned and stood
Relinquished precious southern blood
And challenged patriot's hands
When Hooker's men, before he fell
In double line array
Charged like demons o'er the swell
Rushing headlong into hell
They sought to win the day
But Jackson braced and held the line
Then called on rebel zeal
Hood's Texans ran into the whine
Where stands today their noble shrine
And died there on that field
The battle shifted, as did I
To the center of Lee's line
Where D.H. Hill blocked passage by
New Yorkers there, prepared to die
For recompense Divine
At the sunken road, McClellan thought
Swift victory might be won
But Gordon's Alabamans fought
And havoc on the Union wrought
Beneath the midday sun
A haunting peace pervades that lane
And makes one stop and pause
Belies the suffering and the pain
Brings tears that fall like summer rain
For Country, Home and Cause
I lost myself, and wept inside
Within that furrowed way
Where ghosts in butternut abide
With honored Union, side by side
And pass the time of day
'Neath Burnside's bridge
Still runs the flood
None left now can remember
Whoever shed such noble blood
As those brave souls who on it stood
That day in mid September
Determined Federal flesh and steel
Disdainful of defeat
Crossed the span by utter will
Drove the Georgians from the hill
And threatened Lee's retreat
But "Little Mac" on a distant lea
Still plagued by cautious doubt
Failed to give his troops decree
To take the fight to "Bobby Lee"
And denied to them the rout
Virginia's gallant sons subside
Through Sharpsburg, west, and then
Across Potomac, swift and wide
To sanctuary on the other side
And form to fight again
A stillness there invades the soul
And makes the senses weak
The guns are silent on the knoll
The drums have ceased their martial roll
Along Antietam Creek
I sat in silence, grieved, alone
I heard the soldiers speak
And welcome me as one they've known
No seeds of hatred there are sown
Beside Antietam Creek
When I return, as I'm wont to do
They greet me through the pall
And every heart is brave and true
My brothers now in gray and blue
And God reigns o'er us all
Yes, God reigns over all
http://adventures-in-time.blogspot.com/2007/12/antietam.html
[c 1994 Jack Dallas 2-1-94]
