As I reflect on what it must be like for our soldiers in Iraq and other far off places, as well as their families who had to spend Christmas without their loved ones, I have to wonder what it must have been like for families during the American Civil War.
The Civil War occurred during the height of the Victorian era. And Christmas was very important to the Victorians.
Here are a few links to give you a glimpse of what Christmas was like during the Civil War.
http://www.brotherswar.com/19th_Century_Christmas.htm
http://www.cartoonstock.com/vintage/directory/a/american_civil_war.asp
http://dburgin.tripod.com/cw_xmas/cwarchristmas.html
I hadn't realy thought about that, but those sites were very interesting.
ReplyDeleteJust yesterday I read a small news item about one of our soldiers in Afghanistan, who had with him his great-grandfather's war medal--from when he served in Afghanistan. The soldier's comment was that he really hoped his great-grandson wasn't called to serve in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had a chance yet to research this, but has anyone ever heard of the Trash Campaign?
Here's a link (I hope) to cut and paste:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080101/national/
afghan_cda_medals_1