Thursday, May 3, 2012

Saturday, May 3rd, 1862

Clara has had no school today and we have had time to talk over many things, her struggles and privations, the sickness in her family, little Lucy's death, etc.  She has seen sore trials but as her day so has her strength been.  God has sanctified to her these sorrows and her Christian character has been improved by them.  
Clara took us this afternoon to Rosemond, a place four or five miles west of Pana on the St. Louis and Terre Haute R. R.  The place is settled almost exclusively by Yankees and is said to be a very enterprising and intelligent community.  They have pleasant farms under cultivation.  I saw miles of young hedges, neatly pruned, of the Osage orange, large peach orchards now in bloom and other fruits were being cultivated. I noticed among other things dwarf pears, peaches, cherries, raspberries, Lawton blackberries, strawberries, etc.  
On our return we went to the graveyard where little Lucy Walton lies  It is a sunny spot on a mound in the midst of the prairie, the wild flowers springing up among the graves.  I noticed here a fine marble monument erected to the memory of a young soldier named Glasgow who fell by the hand of the traitor McGoffiin in Missouri.  By his side rests another soldier who died of wounds received at Fort Donelson, Tenn.  While we were gone to Rosemond, Mrs. De Levie, Miss Hooper, the Misses Lewis, Mrs. Bacon, Mrs. Morrison and Mrs. McCoy called.


Peggy's comments:
Lucy Walton was Clara's daughter who died the previous June at the age of four.

Beriah Magoffin was the governor of Kentucky.  He was definitely sympathetic to the South and refused to send troops when Lincoln called for volunteers in 1861.  His telegram to the Secretary of War read:
 " Your dispatch is received. In answer, I say emphatically that Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States.
B. MAGOFFIN, Governor of Kentucky."
During 1862, Governor Magoffin was in an ongoing political battle with the Kentucky state legislature which was more inclined to support the Union.  There were a series of bills passed, then vetoed by the governor, then overridden by the legislature.   In this book, there are copies of correspondence between Lincoln and Magoffin as well as between Jefferson Davis and Magoffin.

No comments:

Post a Comment