Day 22: Ghosts in the Walls

I'm learning so much. I'm trying to suspend my judgement about all aspects of the war so that I can have an open heart and mind. Sometimes it is easy, but I must say that I'm becoming pretty uncomfortable with my new appreciation for the obstinance of Confederate descendants.

Jim Morin, The Miami Herald

Don't be confused by this, though. I in no way condone the flying of the Confederate flag, which is a long-time symbol of hate and racism. That flag should have been retired long ago. It is a symbol of slavery and the oppression of black people, you know, racism.

"...the Federal Government having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slaveholding States." Virginia Ordinance of Secession (April 17, 1861)

 But how fresh are the wounds? Did you know that there is a child of one Civil War veteran who was still receiving benefits from her father in 2015. I'm not making that up!

I got some stats today that are so heartbreaking. At the end of the Civil War there were only 2,719 boys in VA who would reach the age of 17. VA was the most populated in the south! 89.7% of all slave holders in the south were enlisted in Lee's army.



Could you imagine seeing some kid decapitated by a cannon ball? This kid, Edwin Jemison, was on July 1, 1862 at the Battle of Malvern Hill. How terrible the whole thing was. But the Union was right to fight for the abolition of slavery in the south.

I got some amazing pictures today! We went to two different places, The Graffiti House and Ben Lomond Historic Site. The reason that these images and the text are preserved is because of plaster. But you'll have to wait until I do my presentation to get the rest. Or look it up!

The house we went to today has been worked over really well so that it can be a legitimate museum, or so it feels. There was a stark contrast between both of today's visits and yesterday's, which is just an old house with graffiti permanently living in the walls, much like the ghosts of the soldiers who left their marks.

So there was much fakery, kind of like when I visited the Shaolin Temple. The temple has been located at the same place for 1500 years, but it has been burned down and rebuilt a number of times. It's latest manifestation seems fake in so many ways. When I was there I never felt further or closer to Disney World.

Again, though, I must learn to suspend my judgement so that I can be open to learning. How do I impart that to the kids? Speaking of kids, I was walking through the lobby of the hotel where I'm staying. There was this kid sitting there talking to some old dude, who turned out to be the kid's father. And the kid turned out to be one of my kids from Florida! He was my advisee for four years! I watched him grow from a 14 year old boy to a young man. And he just graduated college! Good on you Brett!

But the graffiti on the wall was not fake. Why did these guys vandalize these properties? Who were these guys? And why did it take so long for me to learn that those who were affected by the war lived well beyond 1865?

There were some pretty competent draftsmen who made the graffiti! There were all sorts of drawings with which I'm smitten! There are portraits, drawings of animals, and some great cartoons.

But the majority of the marks on the wall are text, and the majority of that text names the soldiers who passed through the houses for one reason or another.

And I found the veteran I'm going to research in the National Archives tomorrow in D.C. I don't know anything about him at this point except that he was a Union soldier. I've never done this type of research, and man is it fun! I will better be able to help my kids at school because of this trip, I'm sure. I don't know how the content will matter, but I hope it does. The form of this study, though, will definitely help because I'm going to use it as a model!

Then I had Chinese food for dinner. Yep. Kung Pao tofu ties into the theme of American Civil War very well.

Zaijian, lao pengyou!